Cortex - Troupeau Bleu 1975

For this edition we return to France, in the 1970s that is. Friends Alain Mion and Alain Gandolfi teamed up as Cortex to make a record inspired by the early 70s records of Chick Corea, Joe Zawinul and Herbie Hancock, to name a few. But, as true Frenchmen, with a particularly different flavour.

Alain Mion, who already played with Philly Joe Jones and Hank Mobley, teamed up with a group of fellow musicians, namely Jean Grevet on bass and Mireille Dalbray on vocals/scat. The record prooved to be a true rare groove classic, mixing Headhunter-style funk with Brazilian flavoured jazz and heavy bass.

Sadly, they never topped the first release and the band broke in the early 80s, with only a handful of records in their discography. But luckily the rare groove and acid jazz scene, and later the hip hop scene, rediscovered the Troupeau Bleu record: while the first edition sold 7.000 copies, the reprint now has sold over 10.000 copies.

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