Andre Solomko – Recalling You

Saxophonist, composer, and engineer Andre Solomko, born in the Ukraine, has come up with an enticing new track on the Paris-based Favorite Recordings label. After two self-produced albums, he joined Favorite Recorings after a longer stint in Finland and has released another three albums there, the latest, “Le Deltaplane” (2018), a rich mélange of soul, jazz, and funk with the wonderful title track and the vocals of singer Charlotta Kerbs.

Now comes a new single, which is a sort of remake of two of his earlier compositions, “I Recall” (from “Où Es-Tu Maintenant?”, 2012) and “Teasing You” (from “Le Polaroid”, 2014), with a housey version, the Charles Maurice Dub Version. Complete with some catchy and effective brass, courtesy of Mikko Pettinen, Jukka Uljas, and Hannu Lamminmaki, all from Finland, the song glides along over a funky beat with some great electric keys from Antti Utriainen and the sexy vocals of Charlotta Kerbs. Andre himself can be heard on sax. It’s this sort of fusion mix, combining jazz and the dancefloor in an unagitated manner that is really missing these days.

The songs were recorded live and analog, and it’s the Extended Disco Mix which clearly wins the game here. Starting off with a warm keys intro, before the funky disco beat and the brass set in, the vocal arrangement actually reminds me of some of the best 80s soul/funk classics. And those handclaps only add to the wonderful retro feel to it. The 8-minutes plus have a lot of turns, composition-wise, and never really feel like an exerted, hastily prolonged extended mix. This is the perfect disco meets jazz meets funk track, with some Incognito-like brass thrown in.