Some of you might recently have heard mysterious new Souljazz tracks on UK DJ Gilles Peterson's BBC show, so we'll tell you a little more about that...

The Souljazz Orchestra will be releasing its first all-acoustic afrojazz album, entitled Rising Sun, on Strut Records, a label experiencing a good amount of buzz with recent releases from Mulatu Astatke & The Heliocentrics, Grandmaster Flash, Horace Andy & Ashley Beedle, as well as with a slew of top-notch reissues of historical dance music from around the globe (Nigeria 70, Black Rio, Calypsoul 70, Disco Italia, Funky Nassau...)

On this new release, Souljazz stays true to its roots in soul and afro rhythms, but takes a much jazzier approach overall, creating deep, improvisational big-band music, with a heavy-driving, dancefloor-conscious edge. (For what it's worth, Gilles Peterson has already called Rising Sun the group's best yet, as well as one of the year’s top albums.)

A first single is scheduled to be released in January 2010, followed by the full-album LP release in February 2010.

Oh, and speaking of upcoming concerts, Souljazz will be playing the first annual Jazz Sudbury Festival on September 12th, as well as a monster show at Babylon in Ottawa on September 19th. The band is then heading back to Europe in October, playing two shows in Paris with the Afrorockers and Fanga, as well as shows in Nice, Marseille, Strasbourg and Nancy. Souljazz then leaves France for Eastern Europe, where the group is playing the Agharta Jazz Festival in Prague, as well as Slovakian jazz festivals in Komárno, Bratislava and Žilina. You can check out the schedule for details.