Mr Circle - Thi Nam

Originally released in 1981, Mr. Circle’s Thi Nam should really have been recognised decades ago as a jazz dance classic. A beautiful example of European jazz fusion at its most sophisticated and optimistic, the album is immersed in the sonics and rhythms of pan-Latin fusion and Brazilian samba, but with one foot in the upful jazz fusion exemplified by Roy Ayers or the Mighty Ryeders. Remastered from the original tapes at Abbey Road, Outernational Sounds is proud to present a true lost gem of European dancefloor jazz.

With cuts like the percussion rich ‘Juntos’ or the funky title track ‘Thi Nam’, Mr. Circle’s sparkling Thi Nam ought to be an established dancefloor jazz classic, and yet it has remained obstinately under the radar. Perhaps it fell between the cracks – released on the audiophile Stockfisch label in 1981, the album was an outlier in the label’s catalogue, which was otherwise dedicated to solo guitar music and singer-songwriters. A Latin-Brazilian jazz fusion unit did not fit the profile: in some ways it is no wonder that Thi Nam has been overlooked by all but the most diligent diggers and Latin jazz afficionados.