Various Artists - Martin Freeman and Eddie Piller Present 'On The Corner'

After a five-year break, Martin Freeman and Eddie Piller return with their latest compilation: ‘On The Corner’. While previous albums have shone a spotlight quite specifically on jazz and soul, the latest iteration takes a more panoramic approach, taking in those loves, but adding in some British Mod stomp, Neo-Library music and some Ye-Ye, as Martin says in his note.

Martin is of course the multi-award-winning actor famed for ‘The Office’, ‘The Hobbit’, ‘Sherlock’ and ‘The Responder’, but also for his deep love of music, which brought him to Acid Jazz with these compilations. On this volume he has chosen well, with obscure cuts from Santana, Neo-Soul from Kadhja Bonet and Indo-Funk from Ashal Puthli. These sit alongside jazz from Gary Burton and Buddy Rich, as well as favourite Soul 45s, all topped with the wonderful stew of Traffic’s ‘Medicated Goo’.

Eddie founded Acid Jazz in 1988 and even before then was a well-known and successful DJ. His sides show the excitement that he still finds in discovering and playing music. Opening with the synth-led ‘Main Title Theme’ from UK cult film ‘The Long Good Friday’, he selects beautiful soul and jazzy disco, before entering the world of Brit-Funk with cuts by Hi- Tension and Light Of The World. He brings it home via Ace’s ‘How Long’ and some Brian Auger, which sets us up for the Ye-Ye beat of Jacquelin Taieb and Jacques Dutronc.

Showing the label’s modernist roots, the album comes sharply dressed in its Dean Chalkley-photographed Unknown Partnership sleeve with notes by both Ed and Martin. The perfect end-of-year present to yourself or the one you love.