Various Artists - Mr. Moonjune Presents Vol. 1

Over the years I have met many people within the music industry who do what they do because they love music. I have to confess and say that I don’t know any multi-millionaires, but I do know plenty of musicians who given up a great deal to follow their own musical path. Many of these can only tour in their work holidays as they have to have another job to pay the bills, or just scrape through – the one reward being that their music will be appreciated by a select few. But out of all of these, it is rare indeed to come across someone who isn’t a musician who feels the same way. Step forward Leonard Pavkovic, who as well as running Moonjune has two other businesses that actually pay the bills. He loves jazz and jazz forms, and one of his regrets is that he can’t release everything that he wants to so he has come up with a novel idea. Why not put together a series of compilations of albums that he wished that he had released when he was offered them?

As he says himself, “All the featured music represents in some way the philosophy of MoonJune Records - progressive music exploring the boundaries of jazz, rock, avant, ethno, and the unknown - and anything in between. In the world we live in, with its oversaturated music market, rapidly disappearing record stores, and a record business that ignores real musicianship, and with fewer and fewer outlets where quality progressive music can be exposed, it's becoming more and more difficult for artists to be noticed unless they have a well-known legacy or they tour frequently and intensively, which many are unable to do. This compilation (the first of many) is my tribute to these musicians and contribution to their cause. I hope that all who download and listen to this remarkable music can appreciate the artistry of these musicians and their determination to keep great music alive. Note that the tunes chosen for this compilation do not necessarily represent the best tracks from the featured CDs; they're purely my personal choice".

So, if you go to Bandcamp to investigate this and click on each track in turn you will discover that each comes with complete information about the artist and the album from which the tune was selected, and a direct link to the artists' sites where those albums can be purchased. This latter is the most important. Leonardo isn’t making any money out of this at all – he has spent the time, effort and money in attempting to publicize artists that he feels deserve a reward for their efforts, with the full knowledge that someone may then purchase a CD from an artist as opposed a Moonjune release. All he is asking for is for the listener to spend time doing just that, then reading more about the artists that interest them and making an effort to buy one or two CDs to support them. Some of these names will be well-known (Jan Akkerman, Elton Dean, Allan Holdsworth, Chad Wackerman) while others are from left-field (Swedish act Nude Fox Ensemble for example). Personally I ought to mention John Sund Special Venture from Denmark where the guitar and glockenspiel is in total harmony while the bass and drums provide the perfect backing.