Manfredo Fest was the Brazilian-born son of a German concert pianist, and a keyboard player, composer and bandleader who trained in early and classical music, became enamoured of jazz piano – particularly that of George Shearing and his locked hands technique – and bossa nova, which he played in bars in São Paolo. In 1967 he moved to the States, working with artists including Sérgio Mendes and experimenting with diatonic scales and analogue synths. This early, originally self-released work is an anything-goes mix of rhythms from Brazil, US jazz influences (including the Western classical flourishes of Bill Evans, another hero), and driving funk. The American jazz singer Roberta Davis gifts cosmic, samba-tinged, precisely placed vocalese to tracks including funky standout ‘Jungle Cat’; bass, drums and percussion keeping a freaky pulse. All this, hooked onto Fest's progressive use of Fender Rhodes, Clavinet, Moog and Arp synthesisers – which warp and shimmer in a propulsive BPM frenzy – make for a work both visionary and breathtakingly audacious. Blind from birth, Fest died of liver failure in Florida in 1999, in the knowledge that his music never quite received the recognition it deserved. The aptly-named Far Out label has made this rediscovered, remastered gem available on vinyl, CD and digital reissue – so this time around, there are no excuses.