Best Albums of September 2024
clicking cover art opens Spotify
Endlessness
NALA SINEPHRO
Released 6 September 2024
Warp Records
*****
‘Endlessness’ is a remarkable record, a project that borrows from dozens of voices while communicating in only one. Somehow eclipsing the magic inherent in her debut, ‘Endlessness’ finds Nala Sinephro operating in a creative universe of her own.
For those who embraced it, Nala Sinephro’s 2021 debut album ‘Space 1.8’ offers a glimpse of the divine. Unshackled from expectations, it founds the composer – and her trusty harp – moving into the unknown, easing the listener into unfathomable spaces.
As a follow-up, ‘Endlessness’ comes with no small degree of pressure. Remarkably, it ups the ante still further, an ode to life, beauty, and the joy found in the mundane, an audio diary that could only come from one voice, at one time.
The format is remarkably simple, allowing vast swathes of sound to be tethered to a definitive framework. Clocking in at 45 minutes, it features 10 tracks, with one continuous arpeggio running through the record, shape-shifting along the way. The cast is utterly glowing, containing a literal who’s who of British freedom music – (now ex) black midi drummer Morgan Simpson for example; Mercury nominated saxophonist Nubya Garcia; the wonderful Sheila Maurice-Grey, and many more.
Read more ... Clash
Indsigt/Udsigt
(Insight/Outlook)
UDSYN
Released 6 September 2024
*****
Udsyn navigates smoothly within the jazz genre, avidly borrowing elements from classical, electronic, and alternative styles, which together constitute a cinematic soundscape inspired by minimalism and Nordic tonality.
Udsyn, the 5-piece Copenhagen ensemble features upright bass, drums/percussion, piano, electric guitar, synthesizer and draws upon a wide range of influences on this debut release.
Surprisingly (and disappointingly, we imagine, for the band) the album seems to have attracted almost no critical attention from the usual on-line suspects, the sole exception being a review by UK publication Marlbank.
This is a pity, because Udsyn has produced a sophisticated and engaging set of nine original compositions that are brimming full of musical ideas that flow from their clearly wide-ranging interests - neatly encapsulated by their brief Bandcamp bio (copied in italics above).
The track titles cover a correspondingly wide range of subjects: "Råbjerg Mile" (a migrating coastal dune in Denmark), "Calypso", "The best car ever", "Weight of today", "Kinoautomat" (a 1967 Czech black comedy), "Interlude", "It doesn't last", "Next departure" and title track "Insight/Outlook".
Although all five members of the band share Production, Composition and Songwriting credits and each has his own featured moments throughout the album, Ole Røndal Kjeldsen's piano and Marco Ceglarek's drumming provide the lead voices on most tracks and its defining character.
Read more ... Bandcamp
Rituals
ISHMAEL ENSEMBLE
Released 6 September 2024
Severn Songs
*****
Whereas ‘Visions of Light’ was born of the lockdown era; intimate, patient and brooding, ‘Rituals’ is the antithesis – celebrating the rush and energy of life back in the real world. The record sees Cunningham and his bandmates at their most free and adventurous.
Ishmael Ensemble’s third longplayer ‘Rituals’, marks a significant leap for the Bristolian musicians. With their live-instrumentation-meets-electronic merging of styles, the group were always broader than the ‘new UK jazz’ tag which they were often given, but here their scope and boundary-pushing ambition is more evident than ever before.
Still maintaining a blend of spiritual jazz, dub, experimental and electronic soundscapes, here those elements are vigorously whipped-up into huge cyclones of sound, more song-based and accessible
than before, but also almost psychedelic in its euphonic blend of colours, textures, facets and moods.
Formed in 2017 by producer and saxophonist Pete Cunningham, their debut LP ‘A State Of Flow’ was Contemporary Album Of The Month in The Guardian and gained radio plays from UK tastemakers Gilles Peterson, Tom Ravenscroft and Mary Anne Hobbs. However it was their 2021 album ‘Visions of Light’ hat saw the group reach wider acclaim – receiving glowing reviews in The Observer and Mojo, and the
accolade of Huey Morgan’s Album Of The Year on BBC 6 Music. This was followed by a solid 3 year run of international touring including shows in Mexico and the US, as well as multiple sold-out tours in the UK and EU.
Read more ... This Is Gorilla
A Sound Heart
JAUBI
Released 6 September 2024
Jaubi Music - Riaz Records
*****
Sometimes, when you want to take a step forward, you have to look back and reckon with and learn from the past. That’s what Jaubi has done and the effects are enchanting.
Three years after recording their breakthrough debut, 2021’s Nafs at Peace, Pakistani jazz trio Jaubi flew to London (with a short stopover in Poland resulting in In Search of a Better Tomorrow, a collaborative record with Polish jazz band EABS) to record its follow-up.
Accompanied by producer and multi-instrumentalist Tenderlonious, Polish keyboard and synth player Latarnik, and a slew of London jazz scene members - most notably bass guitarist Horatio Luna, drummer Tim Carnegie, and trumpeter Nick Walters - Jaubi (led by guitarist Ali Riaz Baqar) turned to modal and spiritual jazz and blended it with South Asian classical music.
A Sound Heart continues the story Jaubi began on Nafs at Peace.
Jaubi divided the record into two distinct sides: Dynamic, fast “Desire” and mellower “Devotion,” evoking late night jam sessions in New York clubs. On the latter, Latarnik turns into a piano crooner, leaving his signature synths aside. The title track, dedicated both to Bill Evans and Riaz Baqar’s father, offers a near-perfect blend of classic jazz and classic South Asian music. Sarangi mingles with piano; Tenderlonious’s flute sounds more like bansuri. Some tracks lean more into the South Asian elements - “Raga Bhairavi Todi” or “Forgive Me (Raga Parameshwari)” - and in those moments Jaubi feel at their strongest, most focused, and reflective.
Read more ... Bandcamp
The Making of Silk
ALLYSHA JOY
Released 13 September 2024
First World Records
*****
Riding on the waves of rich string arrangements, layers of vocal harmony and the raw poeticism she is known for, Allysha Joy's next album is embodying love.
Known for her solo work and as the frontwoman of 30/70, Allysha Joy's husky, soulful voice and exceptional Fender Rhodes skills make her a standout in the jazz-soul scene. She hails from Melbourne and is a singer, songwriter, producer, and keys player who has had big props from key figures.
Entirely self-produced and affectionately poured over, 'The Making of Silk' out on First Word Records, is about a new understanding of the meaning of love.
Joy says, "it's the kind of love that bell hooks writes about, that lives in the poetry of Mary Oliver, Hafiz and the passionate dreaming of a Koryusai painting. It's about a love that is compassionate, that lives in open conversation, deep listening, the front lines of social movement and would never seek to stifle the light in you. It's about accepting our aloneness, the impermanence of all things and still forever wanting to prove it wrong, to say that I understand that all things change, all things end, hurt exists, but I will love regardless."
Read more ... WorldwideFM
Odyssey
NUBYA GARCIA
Released 20 September 2024
Concord Jazz
*****
The orchestra is a big, powerful force; only the most thoughtful and mature musicians in any genre can use it so judiciously. That’s the true ambition of Odyssey, and Garcia nails it.
“With strings” albums are all but a rite of passage for jazz artists. Every player with any degree of ambition eventually gets the jones to hear their own sound buttressed by orchestral arrangements; that sonic sweep is just too much to resist. Most, though, haven’t gotten that audacious by their third full-length. But then, the notion of audacity doesn’t even seem to occur to Nubya Garcia. Once the saxophonist and composer gets an idea (or many ideas at once, in her case), she does what she has to in order to execute it, scope or practicality notwithstanding. The mix of youth -Garcia is 33 years old - and ambition often leads to clutter, to overload; not here.
But sometimes, even in Garcia’s idiosyncratic world, the medium is still the message. If the strings don’t needlessly interfere with the rest of her palette, the opposite is also true. Hence there’s no sax or rhythm section on “Water’s Path.” The strings carry their own weight, from the stirring drama of the cello-viola melody down to the pizzicato violins and contrabass that give the piece its percussive thrust.
Read more ... Bandcamp
Dance, No One's Watching
EZRA COLLECTIVE
Released 27 September 2024
Partisan Records
*****
Written during a blistering 2023 which saw Ezra Collective tour the world, and become the first jazz act to win the Mercury Prize, Dance, No One's Watching is a documentation of the many dance floors they encountered.
From London to Chicago, Lagos to Sydney, dance and rhythm connect us. These songs are a testament to that spirit.
'Dance, No One's Watching' is an ode to the sacred, yet joyous act of dancing, an album that musically guides you through a night out in the city, from the opening of possibilities as a new evening spans out ahead, to dawn’s final hours as the night comes to a close.
The album was recorded at Abbey Road studios, where the band was surprised by a group of close friends and family, turning the sessions into a live communal celebration of love, music, and dancing.
'Dance, No One's Watching' is a record that speaks to the unifying power of dance. It is a powerful and distinctive addition to a catalogue that continues to blaze a bold new trail in contemporary British music.
Read more ... Bandcamp
Cascade
FLOATING POINTS
Released 13 September 2024
Ninja Tune
****-
It's an album of unapologetic bangers, boasting some of the most enjoyable music Shepherd's ever released. But it also sacrifices some of what makes his best work so singular.
The dance floor's unbridled joy is the essence of Cascade, Sam Shepherd's latest LP as Floating Points. Since he released his early boogie-house singles in 2009, which were made firmly with DJs in mind, Shepherd has drifted into increasingly ambient territory across his career. First, with the jazzy, expansive soundscapes of his 2015 debut album Elaenia, and later with his collaboration with Pharaoh Sanders, 2021's Promises. At times, it seemed he might leave the club behind altogether.
But he never quite made the jump. In between those LPs there was 2019's Crush, which contained some of Shepherd's meanest club productions to date. He'd been planning to road test them across the world's dance floors but the pandemic had other ideas. Cascade seeks to remedy this by placing Shepherd in the rave once more.
Cascade's tracks were composed while Shepherd was scoring a ballet in California, meaning he had to forsake his studio full of arcane analogue gear for a simple laptop and headphones. These limitations result in some of the most straightforward club tracks he's ever made. Their DJ-friendly runtimes regularly top seven minutes, allowing Shepherd to settle deep into his grooves and pace the elements out gradually.
Read more ... Resident Adviser
symbiont
JAKE BLOUNT, MALI OBOMSAWIN
Released 27 September 2024
Smithsonian Folkways Records
*****
Amid rumbling synthesizer drones, the thrum of banjo, and the thwack of drum machines, a whisper of truth can be heard: this crisis has been unfolding for centuries.
Jake Blount is an award-winning interpreter of Black folk music who has charted an unprecedented course through sound archives. In defiance of genre categories, revisionist histories, & linear time, Blount uses the banjo, fiddle, electric guitar & synthesizer to fashion an “Afrofuturist folklore” that disintegrates the boundaries between acoustic & electric, artist & medium, & ancestor & progeny.
From the first notes of symbiont, the radical new collaborative album and document of Black and Indigenous futurism from Jake Blount and Mali Obomsawin, the listener is met with rising tidewaters, massive droughts, and the appearance of an iconoclastic uprising amidst the world’s indifference. Questions of future or present tense swirl around the music as the duo unspools the intertwined threads of racial and climate justice.
Read more ... Bandcamp
Slang Spirituals
Lady Blackbird
Released 13 September 2024
Foundation Music / BMG
*****
Collaborating once again with her 2021 breakout album Black Acid Soul producer Chris Seefried, the pair produce a second album that not only embodies the freewheeling, emotive Lady Blackbird sound, but that also taps into deeply vulnerable lyrics that recount the singer’s challenging ascent to musical stardom.
Growing up in the small town of Farmington, New Mexico, Lady Blackbird was raised in a religious Christian household and began singing as soon as she could walk. “Once I entered my teenage years, I started to realise that religion was something that was put on me and it never felt right,” she says. “As I also began to develop my own identity as a queer woman, I felt judged as an outcast and labelled as a sinner. It was burying who I really was and I needed to find a way out.”
In taking charge of her own life and her own sound, Lady Blackbird walks a new path, making each note on Slang Spirituals a step in a radically different direction. Across 11 tracks Lady Blackbird puts her sweeping, cinematic vocal power to use on everything from the soulful orchestral fanfares of ‘Let Not (Your Heart Be Troubled)’ to the finger-picking folk storytelling of ‘Man On A Boat’, euphoric gospel empowerment of ‘Like A Woman’ and the seven-minute psychedelic soul instrumental of ‘When The Game Is Played On You’.
“This is my journey of becoming,” she concludes. “It’s me rewriting the book to show the world who I truly am. From being labelled a sinner to finding my acceptance.”
Read more ... MBC
My Ideal
CATHERINE RUSSELL
Released 23 August 2024
Dot Time Records
****-
This collaboration represents a unique convergence of experience and youthful virtuosity, offering a fresh yet timeless sound.
“Singing with the great pianist Sean Mason allows for the freedom to have fun and be in the moment. We understand each other”
This modern classic marks a significant milestone in both artists’ careers, capturing a powerful and intimate musical dialogue. My Ideal is a very special project even in the very rarified strata where Catherine works; this is not only her first complete set of voice-and-piano duets, but her partner on this project is a remarkable piano prodigy whose technical skill is only rivaled by his soulfulness.Since her debut solo album in 2006, Catherine Russell has captivated audiences with her rich, soulful voice and exceptional interpretative skills. Her eight previous solo albums have garnered critical acclaim, with Send For Me (2022) marking her first collaboration with Sean Mason. My Ideal elevates their partnership to new heights, featuring a complete set of voice-and-piano duets that hark back to classic jazz traditions. Sean Mason, a remarkable talent, 25 years old at the time of this recording, complements Russell’s vocal artistry with his sophisticated and nuanced piano playing. Despite his youth, Mason’s deep understanding of jazz’s history and techniques allows him to support and enhance Russell’s performances brilliantly.
Read more ... Dot Time Records
Live In Stockholm and Tallinn
MISHA PANFILOV
Released 6 September 2024
Funk Night Records
****-
There's no processing, no studio effects – just open, honest expression by the group – led by Panfilov, a musician who just seems to mature more and more with the passing of each year.
A prolific multi-instrumentalist based in Estonia, Panfilov has been attracting increasing attention in various nooks and crannies of the indie world. For the past few years, he has been recording and releasing groove-laden titles under his own name and with outfits such as Penza Penza, Centre El Muusa, and more, mostly via Detroit’s Funk Night Records.
Panfilov is best known from a flurry of funky 45s and full length albums but sounds maybe even more amazing here in a concert performance with his combo!
"Live in Stockholm and Tallinn" is soulful and often has more of a jazz current than some of Misha's other work – a really beautiful sense of timing and flow, served up with a group that features tenor, trumpet, flute, and piano – next to Misha's guitar, alongside drums and bass, plus percussion from a number of different members of the group!
Read more ... Indie Rock Cafe, Dusty Groove
In A Landscape
MAX RICHTER
Released 6 September 2024
Decca Records
****-
Max Richter’s ninth studio album ‘In a landscape’ marks a significant evolution in Richter’s musical journey, as he delves deeper into the themes of optimism and human emotion accompanied by an innovative exploration of electronic sounds and field recordings.
It is a record about reconciling polarities, bringing together the electronic and the acoustic, the human and the natural world, the big questions of life and the quiet pleasures of living – a fleeting self-portrait of a musician in constant motion.
He says: “the music on the record is about connecting or reconciling polarities. The electronics with the acoustic instruments, the natural world with the human world, and the big ideas of life with the personal and intimate”.
Read more ... Decca Records
Cellophane Memories
CHRYSTABELL, DAVID LYNCH
Released 2 August 2024
Sacred Bones Records / David Lynch Music
****-
As with much of Chrystabell and David’s work from the past, Cellophane Memories returns us to a central question: what is a mystery? Alas, the riddle remains unanswered. But all mystery contains slivers of those conceits and feelings described above: the departing and the coming-back, the landscape, atmosphere and breath, the topsy turvy mechanisms of time, memories of the bygone, a distant light radiating from darkness, music within silence, love.
The origin of Chrystabell and David Lynch’s album Cellophane Memories comes from a vision that David experienced during a nighttime walk through a forest of tall trees, over the tops of which he saw a bright light. As he recalls it, the light became the lilt of Chrystabell’s voice and revealed a secret to him. It is from these mysterious convergences of light and sound, day and night, starry sky and black forest that Chrystabell and David’s collaboration has continued to blossom.For Cellophane Memories, the two have traveled through different portals. Fittingly, many of the songs are set in fairytale forests, mountain peaks, swimming holes, crepus-cular highways and darkened bedrooms. These are the abodes of both loneliness and romance, the sorts of sublime landscapes where people often travel alone in search of a wayward lover. But they are also shapeless atmospheres—of color, weather and breath: blue and white skies, red roses, darkening thunderheads, swirling winds and summer perfumes, which quickly immerse the traveler in the supernatural sensations of other worlds.
Read more ... Sacred Bones Music
the skies: rarities.jpg
ROGER ENO
Released 27 September 2024
Deutsche Grammophon
****-
“When I come to record what will become an album I usually have an excess of ideas,” says Roger Eno. “This allows me, at the end of the process, to make a definitive ‘collection’ with a deeply considered running order. The latter is of great importance to me. Thus I often find myself in the luxurious position of having not one but two albums’ worth of material I’m happy with – rarities is that second album.”
Composer and pianist Roger Eno's new 8-track mini-album features unreleased material from the recording sessions for his second DG solo album the skies, they shift like chords. That album traced an evocative and thought-provoking path through sound and silence. Its melancholy tone, echoes of which can be heard on rarities, had much to do with the threat posed to the environment by intensive farming and climate change.
As well as solo piano pieces, rarities includes one track for choir and electronics (Patterned Ground), and one for string orchestra (Breaking The Surface), for which the instrumentalists of Scoring Berlin were asked to both play from the score and improvise. Guitarist Jon Goddard, meanwhile, appears on Into Silence, giving the track what Eno calls “a particular flavour it would otherwise have lacked”. In addition, the album features the 2023 World Piano Day track Through the Blue (Piano Version) and the Amazon Original track Above and Below.
Read more ... Deutsche Grammophon
Nostalgia - Live
HANIA RANI
Released 27 September 2024
Gondwana Records
****-
Through Nostalgia, Hania presents the studios in her own perspective, as somewhere unique and unknown. A place of work, but something more. A place of ghosts and hidden meanings, of inspiration and mystery
Hania Rani is an award-winning pianist, composer and singer. “I think I am the same as an artist and as a person. Music is my way of communication and I see the art, the music as a whole thing, with no borders, divisions, or even genres.”
“Over the years, the spaces of Polish Radio became an important part of my life - both privately and professionally. I visited it for the first time as a student of Chopin University of Music and came back to make my first recordings in late 2018, just before the release of the debut album ‘Esja’. Since then I have been a regular guest.”
The building is located in the Mokotów district in Warsaw and has served generations of musicians and sound engineers for decades. For Hania it is a home from home; a beloved recording studio but something more important and resonant too. Nostalgia does more than just present a memorable concert; it celebrates a space and an idea as through the mediums of photography and recorded sound. Hania creates something profound and enlightening.“Some months af
The deluxe LP comes with a 16-page booklet featuring Hania’s unique analogue photos, along with her thoughts on the recording process, studios, and the compositions themselves. The CD includes these photos in a beautifully glued-in 12-page booklet.
Read more ... All About Jazz
Infrared
ILL CONSIDERED
Released 6 September 2024
New Soil
****-
As ever, the band continue to push genre boundaries while staying true to their improvisational roots - locked in a telepathic groove.
London based Ill Considered formed in 2017, after Emre Ramazanoglu (programmer, drummer, producer, writer and mixing engineer) and Idris Rahman (clarinettist, saxophonist and record producer) played together on some sessions and were motivated to try a new, fully improvised project with drums, bass, sax (and occasionally) percussion. The first jam they recorded was then mixed and mastered in the same 24 hours by Emre and became the band’s first album.
The band continued recording everything, pressing vinyl, and distributed this via their own label. This DIY approach led to nine albums, recorded both live and in the studio over three years. They built a strong following, as well as the respect and admiration of many of the leading lights in the UK jazz scene, and beyond.
In 2020 they entered into a partnership with the New Soil to release their full catalogue onto streaming platforms. In 2021 they released 'Liminal Space', which added Liran Donin on bass and expanded their improvised approach to include multiple guests, while maintaining their inimitable style. 2024 sees the release of their follow-up album 'Precipice'; a return to a stripped down trio setup, with everything recorded live in single takes.
Read more ... Spotify
Blåregn
ANNA ROEMER
Released 28 July 2024
Tim Rollinson
****-
Roemer's greatest achievement is in reality that she has managed to maintain a high level throughout the album; that at no point is there a dip in the quality of her music; that there is not - despite the fact that she is alone in playing the unnecessary repetition or hesitation
Copenhagen, Denmark's Anna Roemer is known for her unique approach to the guitar - based on a belief and insistence that the instrument is capable of much more than most listeners think possible, opening ears and minds as she creates sonic images using only the guitar and pedalboard as tools.
Since her solo debut in 2021, she has released a number of remarkably good solo singles and an absolutely solid solo album. But now she's releasing another album, and it's to put it bluntly - a masterpiece!
The music on Blåregn is - well, I shouldn't be able to say how much of it is composed and how much is improvised (Roemer is a musician who primarily improvises), but it is new, original and alluringly beautiful, on in many ways quite simple (Roemer just plays electric guitar and uses pedals), it is spherical, foggy and at the same time refreshingly sharp and angular. The album is rigorous, thought and executed as a coherent whole, a work.
In my joy during listening, I am struck by an immediate urge to highlight certain pieces of music or passages ... she manages to balance are moments of between the very melancholy and the contrast - the bright - that give me a boost.
It is a state of something close to happiness that Anna Roemer puts me in with her music, which is probably sad, but also uplifting. I become so happy that I spontaneously feel the urge to tell others about her the rich details and fine instrument
Read more ... Ivan Rod
Kosmos
BREMER/MCCOY
Released 6 September 2024
Bremer/McCoy Music
****-
“We decided to call it Kosmos because for us, it's this feeling of being able to transcend time and space and just be, which is a very important thing for humans. Even though it's quiet music, it's music that you're able to just dream: have your own dreams, your own inner images.”
Bremer/McCoy is a Danish duo of Jonathan Bremer on acoustic bass and Morten McCoy on the keys and tape delay. While the two started as a reggae group (believe it or not), their sound has transformed into an amorphous mix of jazz, dub, and neo-classical.
If you’re not familiar with Denmark and its customs then the most important thing to know is that if you’re trying to reach a Dane in the summertime, it's going to be tough going. As Morten told us recently, when the sun is out in Denmark and the weather is sweet, “everybody goes crazy.”
But Morten took a break from enjoying the incredible but fleeting weather of his Nordic climes to tell us about Kosmos, and its unique conceptual architecture.
“Most of our songs have lyrics even though they are instrumental. Although some of our tunes are more conceptual and dub-like, most of our tunes are songs with clear melodies.”
Read more ... Lukabop
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Glorious Game (Instrumentals)
EL MICHELS AFFAIR, BLACK THOUGHT
Released 6 September 2024
Big Crown Records
****-
The instrumental - only edition of the pair's outstanding 2023 album allows El Michel's beats, instrumentation and effects to shine - perhaps setting a precedent for deeper appreciation of the musicianship of other hip-hop releases.
Released on Big Crown Records in April 2023, "Glorious Game" was a remarkable debut partnership in more ways than one. Michels provides his bottom-heavy, soul-tinged production for Black Thought who gives us some of the more personal and transparent verses we've ever heard from him. Michels and Black Thought had been in each other's orbit for a while. The two first met in the 2000s when Thought was first getting familiar with the contemporary soul scene. "Out of that whole world, Menahan Street Band was probably my favorite," recalling the funk and soul group Michels was a founding member of back in 2007.
Fast forward a few years and musicians from that collective—Dave Guy on trumpet and Ian Hendrickson-Smith on sax —are now full time players with The Roots.
This connection eventually led Leon and Thought to doing a few fundraising events around NYC and Philly together. "Before long, Black Thought was coming around the studio and would jam with us from time to time," Michels explains. "Then, fast forward to 2020 and COVID lockdowns, he just hit me up out of the blue, wanting me to send him stuff to write to. We both were looking to stay busy."
Read more ... Bandcamp
Nintindo Soul
TERRACE MARTIN
Released 13 September 2024
Lowly / O'Connor
****-
If the title "Nintindo Soul" suggests that this music is built on samples from the ubiquitous gaming platform, it's hardly evident, as the characteristic shrill has been carefully surrounded by Martin's lush, low-riding production. This music is as laid back as a week in Santorini - made for lounging about in, along a ridge between hip-hop and smooth jazz and never losing it's way .
Terrace Martin is a notable musician, rapper and producer from the city of Los Angeles and from the beginning of his career he has lent his skills to artists such as Quincy Jones, Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg, the Game, Busta Rhymes, Stevie Wonder, Charlie Wilson, Raphael Saadiq and YG, among others.
Shattering the acknowledged rules of hip-hop production, he samples everything from funk to jazz to classical to create fresh and original tracks. His productions have made him one of the most sought after up and coming producers on the streets of Los Angeles. His father was a jazz musician, while his mother, was a gospel singer, destining him for a life in music.
“I never cared about being the best rapper/sax player I just wanted to tell my story and help folks that are going thru things.” says Martin.
Martin's new release finds him in fresh collaboration with an array of emerging and established talent - Arin Ray, Elena Pinderhughes, 808viv, Malaya, Preston Harris and 24kGolden and Cautious Clay, 9th Wonder, Buddy, JasonMartin.
Read more ... All About Jazz
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Amen Waters (EP)
THEO CROKER
Released 13 September 2024
SPN Records
****-
Theo Croker writes: "This song is a meditative offering to the human spirit in its journey to be at peace. Vibrational therapy.
“Amen” (meaning “concealed imperceptible”) to denote the imperceptibility of the self our consciousness - due to its immateriality.
“Water”flows effortlessly, with grace, and brings renewal of life, cleansing the mind and soul and bringing a unification of the body and spirit.
Recorded following a busy period touring in support of his acclaimed recent albums 2022's LOVE QUANTUM and 2021's BLK2LIFE || A FUTURE PAST, Croker is releasing two versions of Amen Waters - one in STUDIO and a LIVE bootleg.
“Amen Waters” Studio credits:
@theocroker Trumpet & EFX
@mikekingkeyz piano, Rhodes, and pro 2 🎹
@dubonbass Acoustic Bass
@kassaoverall Drums, samples and Vox
@5hekwoaga Drums
“Amen Waters Live Bootleg” credits:
@theocroker Trumpet, Samples, & EF’s
@idrismusiq Piano, Rhodes, Nord Electro
@dubonbass Acoustic Bass
@jeanmarcelbasquiat Drums
mixed @todd_carder at @bunkerstudio
Mastered @leosargon
Artwork Claudia Daher
Read more ... Facebook
Live O Rec
CERO
Released 11 September 2024
KAKUBARHYTHM
****-
A total of 13 songs that can be said to be a "best of" album in a sense, but mainly songs from the latest work 2023's "eo", plus standard songs from live performances.
cero (sé-ró) is a four-piece Japanese band based in Tokyo, formed in 2004 consisting of Shohei Takagi (vocals, flute, guitar), Yu Arauchi, (keyboards, samplers, cho) Tsubasa Hashimoto (guitar, cho).
This work is a reconstructed live work that is different from live recordings, which are full of the members' imaginative mixing and ideas. While based on the live recording at Ebisu LIQUIDROOM held last December 2023, it is a work unique to cero, mixed and reconstructed with recording materials in other spaces and newly recorded materials.
Read more ... cero
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Blickwinkel
(curated by Zappi Diermaier)
FAUST
Released 13 September 2024
Bureau B
****-
Following a series of essential reissues, Bureau B's latest release delves into the classic chaos of Faust with Blickwinkel, a new CD curated by Zappi Diermaier and featuring contributions from fellow founder Gunther Wusthoff.
Faust, the Hamburg band known for their groundbreaking Krautrock from 1971 to 1974, continues to embody a spirit of relentless innovation and experimentation. Blickwinkel captures a moment of raw, communal creativity with six new tracks that explore industrial clamor, disconcerting ambience, and psychedelic motorik.
This latest incarnation of Faust, guided by Diermaier, revels in spontaneity and chance, embracing a democratic, unadulterated approach to music-making. The album's genesis involved Zappi Diermaier drumming at the studio of Dirk Dresselhaus (aka Schneider TM), accompanied by electronics specialist Elke Drapatz.
Read more ... Juno Records
Etran de L'Aïr
100% Sahara Guitar
ETRAN DE L'AIR
Released 213 September 2024
Sahei Sounds
****-
And while the fundamentals have remained in place, the dynamics have improved noticeably, with the bass sounding far more pronounced, showing the harmonic complexities that lie beneath the band’s hard-charging, feel-good roof-raisers.
Etran de L’Aïr may now play bigger venues in front of different crowds, but they haven’t forgotten where they came from
In their native city of Agadez, a trading hub of the nomadic Tuareg tribe in the high Sahara Desert, Etran de L’Aïr have been playing since the mid-1990s. But 100% Sahara Guitar marks the first time the quartet—three brothers on guitar and bass, a close family friend on drums—have entered a proper studio.
That’s not as surprising as it sounds—100% Sahara Guitar is only their third record, and when the group began, they didn’t have access to electricity. After building a reputation as a rollicking wedding band (and eventually acquiring electric guitars and a real, non-gourd-based drum kit) in their native country, they broke out internationally with 2018’s No. 1 and toured widely behind 2022’s Agadez. Both albums were recorded in their homeland: the first live, the second using a portable studio.
For 100% Sahara Guitar, they not only entered a professional recording facility, but they also flew to the U.S. to do it, laying down tracks in Portland and L.A.—a long way from Saharan village weddings.
Despite the major upgrade, Etran don’t really screw with the formula—they got this far by giving the people what they want, after all.
Read more ... Spin
Alma
SAMI YUSUF
Released 2 September 2024
Andante Records
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"ALMA", Yusuf's most recent release documents his masterful live performance at the historic Bab Al Makina in Fez (Morocco) at the Fez Festival of World Sacred Music, in 2024
Sami Yusuf (born 21 July 1980) is an Azerbaijani-British singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and composer. He gained international attention with the release of his debut album, Al-Muʽallim, in 2003 and has gone on to be arguably the best known and top selling Muslim musician in the world.
On Instagram, Yusuf writes: "I’m extremely delighted to announce my new release, ‘ALMA’. This album is dear to my heart, and it’s been a true honor to work with all the brilliant musicians who have poured their hearts into these compositions.
Performed live ‘ALMA’ is a celebration of the rich and diverse cultures of World Music Traditions, the soulful rhythms of Flamenco, and the timeless beauty of Western and Eastern Classical Music. It honors the legacy of the great poets and sages of history, bringing their profound wisdom into the very essence of the music.
I’m deeply grateful to the exceptional musicians and soloists who have joined me on this journey:
@nabylamaan from the historic city of Fez, whose connection to the music adds a special resonance to this album; @smailboujia from Morocco, whose evocative voice brings depth to every note; @israelmoro from Andalusia, Spain, embodying the heart of Flamenco; @josemanuelleonguitarrista on flamenco guitar from Andalusia, Spain; @antoinemoriniereguitar on classical guitar from Paris, France;
@magsadazizov on balaban from Baku, Azerbaijan; and
@jaberi1 on daf, joining us from London, UK.
A heartfelt thank you to all the other wonderful musicians joining us from Turkey, Germany, Iran and from Morocco itself.
As with any composition, the music is only as good as the team performing it, and I’m deeply grateful for the countless hours of rehearsals and dedication they have put into bringing this album to life. Performing live is always a challenge, and every musician listening will know just how difficult it is to perform well. I’m delighted with the final outcome of ‘ALMA’.
Read more ... Wikipedia, Instagram
Dream World
CHRIS BANGS
Released 20 September 2024
Acid Jazz Acquisitions
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Though his name’s up there on the cover, ‘Dream World’ is an ensemble piece. Chris plays bass, drums and other percussion but he’s supported by a stellar team – including Argentine keyboardist Luciano De La Rosa, Italian Massimo Morganti on trombone, Chile’s Juan Pi Salvo on trumpet, and Fabio Tiralongo on sax.
UK soul/jazz/dance multi-tasker Chris Bangs has had a busy few years. In 2022 he collaborated with Mick Talbot on the ‘Back To Business’ album; the following year there was his own ‘Firebird’ set; earlier this year he launched his acclaimed Nova Vida project. Now, Chris continues his ongoing dalliance (lifetime really) with Latin jazz with this new 9 tracker.
The album, though, is, of course, Mr B’s vision; if you would, “his own ever-expanding dream world of (acid) jazz that moves far beyond genre-casting.”. Thus because it’s his project, little wonder that the set features two tunes from artists dear to his heart – George Duke and Norman Connors. The Duke cover is a version of ‘My Love’ – a showcase for the shimmering piano skills of De La Rosa.
The Connors’ homage is a version of one of his signature songs – the Michael Henderson-penned ‘You re My Starship’, here shortened to just ‘Starship’. It’s what a proper cover should be – respecting the original but sufficiently different to make all the effort worthwhile. Here the sweet, soulful vocal’s down to South African TV reality star (honest!) Lee-Soulae. Chris explains the genesis of the track: “I couldn’t just do a straightforward cover version of this song and had to do something different. I had decided to increase the BPM by almost 50% and I was working on the track and Starship seemed destined to be a moody but beautiful piano, Fender Rhodes and vibraphone instrumental. However, I just couldn’t help singing along to the instrumental track, which was already sounding pretty great, especially once Italy’s Donata Greco had played her wicked flute parts on the track. Then, I ran across South African TV reality star Lee-Soulae on Youtube and managed to track her down and thought Starship would be a perfect” . The combination is pretty perfect! It’s the album highlight!
‘Dream World’ delivers plenty more interest though. ‘Better Days’ is a total romp – a wonderful showcase for Massimo Morganti’s trombone; ‘Sugar Slam’ is the most energized track – percussion à go-go; while, as the title implies, ‘Dream World’ is a little more ethereal.
Throughout this album hear influences of those that CB holds dear – the Mizell Brothers, Wayne Henderson, Latin jazz masters and, of course, Connors and Duke. They’re in the mix, yes, but essentially this one’s Chris’ own ‘Dream World’.
Read more ... Soul&Jazz&Funk
Behind The Voice
CLARENCE PENN
Released 21 June 2024
Origin Records
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...gesture and space surging from a place of heart-felt and fluid integrity...Penn exudes such enthusiasm and love for the music—it is simply impossible not to feel uplifted
JAZZTIMES
Clarence Penn has been one of the most dynamic drummers in jazz since his New York City arrival 33 years ago. His work with Wynton Marsalis, Betty Carter, Diane Reeves and Michael Brecker has been extensively documented, as have his own musical explorations, including 2014's Monk: The Lost Files. Behind the Voice goes a whole new direction as Penn unfurls inventive reimaginings of the works of influential drummers behind some of the greatest pop music created. Songs by Phil Collins, Levon Helm, Stevie Wonder, Peter Gabriel and Dave Grohl receive expansive modern treatments through Penn's production along with a bevy of collaborators, including vocalists Kurt Elling, Aaron Marcellus and Toku, guitarists Adam Rogers and Gilad Hekselman, and many more. "...a celebration of their artistry, their passion, and their indelible mark on the music we cherish."
Read more ... Origin Records
confidences
LAURENT COQ
Released 6 September 2024
Jazz and People
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“Confidences” marks the return to recording, after a long gap, of one of the most respected pianists in France for his artistic vision, the courage of his—sometimes polemical—positions and the fertility of his musical conceptions: Laurent Coq.
For his third opus in the demanding format of the piano-double bass-drums trio, rich in his collaborations with leading musicians on both sides of the Atlantic, from Miguel Zenon to Walter Smith III, from Sophie Alour to Julien Lourau, the pianist presents a series of eight compositions which are all moments of musical truth. Beliving in the the stimulating virtues of form, knowing how to combine rigor and delicacy, accuracy and tenderness, Laurent Coq has woven a set of tunes that are developed and improvised in close collaboration with his playing partners, double bassist Yoni Zelnik and drummer Fred Pasqua, in the moment. Behind each of the “Confidences” that they delivers to their listeners, in the form of a whisper as well as a tormented speech, stories and moments of life can be guessed, which there is no need to explain so much, as the music summons its own characters and transforms into a story. A record with deep feelings, matured over a long period of time, with liner notes by drummer Guilhem Flouzat, which ranks among the great successes of the trio format.
Personnel:
Laurent Coq, piano
Yoni Zelnik, double
Fred Pasqua, drums
Read more ... RAbox
Daniel Santiago Plays... Clapton
DANIEL SANTIAGO
Released 13 September 2024
Songevity / Surfdog Records
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Clapton and Santiago have collaborated closely and toured together over recent times, each embellishing the other's albums.
Here, Santiago offers a complete album of distinctively Brazilian interpretations of some of "Slowhand's" compositions
Daniel Santiago is a composer, guitarist and music producer who for the past 20 years has been an active and key contributor to the Brazilian and world music scenes. Originally from Brazil, Santiago is deeply rooted in the traditional sounds of his homeland, and also cites English rock of the 1970’s and 80’s and the contemporary aesthetic and complexities of modern jazz as major influences upon his unique and diverse musical world. His work is characterized by the development and search for an original sonic language, and a remarkable ability to translate deep, resonant emotion through whichever musical medium he chooses. As the acclaimed composer Guinga said of Daniel’s music “Nostalgic and futuristic, this is the way to Santiago.”
Read more ... All About Jazz
The Second Act
MISSY HIGGINS
Released 6 September 2024
EMI Australia
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The Second Act isn't some roaring 'I Will Survive' feminist rally cry, nor is it spitting venom at an ex, a la Jagged Little Pill.
Instead, Missy Higgins has accomplished something far more rare: One of the most quietly profound, nuanced break-up albums you'll ever hear.
There's a poignant symmetry between the 20-year-old Higgins - a relatable writer of catchy, proudly Aussie-accented confessionals that could sound familiar and always hit close to home (to paraphrase 'Scar') - and today's older, wiser woman braving a new chapter after major upheaval.
Caught between torturing herself, over seemingly failing to live up to the societal expectations burdening women to be perfect wives and mothers, and getting out from under that cliché, this is easily Higgins' most soul-baring music yet. Not just in subject matter, but in sound.
These topics – parenting, not-so-domestic bliss, divorce – are practically taboo in an industry that's historically sold the toxic stereotype that age and/or motherhood are the kiss of death for an artists' career. And certainly haven't been commonly sung about by generations of men.
On a deeper level, that's what makes The Second Act special.
After inspiring a whole generation of artists to find their own voice (Amy Shark, Gordi, Gretta Ray, Kate Miller-Heidke, Clare Bowditch, Alice Skye, and Odette among them), Higgins has found a whole new realm of unfiltered authenticity to which others should aspire to.
'I'm not who I used to be/Not yet who I'll become', she frets at what is – poetically – the album's midpoint.
However, one thing is for certain as Higgins figures out the transition between her old life and whatever the future holds – she's one of our nation's bravest, brightest songwriters.
Read more ... Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Mayawa
RIPPLE EFFECT BAND
Released 13 September 2024
Ripple Effect Band
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Mayawa is more than just a collection of songs, it is a celebration of Ripple Effect Band’s stories as mothers, daughters and sisters, sung in the languages of their people.
Ripple Effect Band have garnered widespread acclaim for their work forging new ground and sound.
After kick-starting their career together with tours to Arnhem Land Bak’bididi and Gattjirrk Festivals in 2017, they soon travelled to Eora/Sydney to record their debut EP, Wárrwarra. Independently released in 2018, the 4-track project included the first song to be recorded in the highly endangered Na-kara language Hunting Song, alongside the moving Diyama (Mermaid Song).
Since, the band has embarked on national tours to festivals such as Barunga, Garma, Nannup, Mona Foma, Darwin Festival, East Arnhem Live, while selling out their own headline shows in Eora/Sydney, Garamilla/Darwin and Naarm/Melbourne.
Each track of Mayawa resonates with the echoes of traditional ceremonies, capturing the raw beauty of their heritage and the dynamic pulse of their present. On this record, Ripple Effect Band invite listeners on a journey through time and space, where every note and lyric is a bridge connecting past and future generations.
Read more ... PBS FM
The Set
JERRY DOUGLAS
Released 21 June 2024
Jerry Douglas and Many Hats Endeavors
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Everything that Jerry Douglas touches turns to gold, and on The Set he has mined some truly brilliant nuggets. Let’s hope we don’t have to wait another seven years for another album as stunning as this one.
The Set, Jerry Douglas’ first album in seven years, offers a master class in tune writing and Dobro playing by a musician’s musician. Joining Douglas on the album are Daniel Kimbro on bass, Christian Sedelmyer on fiddle, and Mike Seal on guitar. Douglas and the band take us deep into each of the tracks on this setlist, exploring every nuance of each tune and song. On some tracks, the group leads us through the shadows of haunting musical landscapes, while on others the musicians glide joyfully through soothing musical settings. Douglas’ soulful vocals convey the singer’s yearning to “be home every night” on the chugging, New Orleans-meets-bluegrass cover of the old soul classic “Something You Got,” penned in 1961 by the R&B artist Chris Kenner. Sedelmyer leads off the exquisite “Deacon’s Waltz,” his own composition, capturing the pining sadness as well as the promise of hope often at the heart of waltzes. In notes that spiral ever higher, Douglas transforms George Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps, and he, Seal, Kimbro, and Sedelmyer—each artist has a chance to stretch out—open new dimensions of the song.
Read more ... Folk Alley
Estradas
Nidia & Valentina
Released 13 September 2024
Latency
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On their debut collaboration, the beatmaker and the drummer search for middle ground between their respective styles, twisting programmed grooves and loose-limbed percussion into propulsive, polyrhythmic configurations.
It’s not easy to tell who’s doing what on “Mata,” one of the highlights of Nídia and Valentina Magaletti’s debut album together. Neither artist has attempted a collaboration quite like this before, and perhaps that’s why it’s so propulsive. Beatmaker Nídia has never worked with a prominent multi-instrumentalist providing raw material on the fly; drummer Magaletti doesn’t typically work within a dance music context, especially not one like Nídia’s. In “Mata,” their scuffed congas, bongos, and synths go scrambling around the beat, alive with the anticipation of how they might interlock next. You can hear the two artists pushing each other as they meet in the middle.
Nídia and Magaletti’s collaborative debut, Estradas, gets a lot out of its setup. Each track is built out of shifting polyrhythms that they compose together: Magaletti plays various instrumental lines to make up the beats, while Nídia contributes her own programmed loops.
Read more ... Pitchfork
This Is Water
REINIER BAAS, BEN VAN GELDER
Released 13 September 2024
Reinier Baas
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Saxophonist Ben van Gelder's and guitarist Reinier Baas' third collaborative release, 'This Is Water' is a testament to their unique artistic synergy, rooted in the American jazz tradition, but with unmistakably European flair.
Drawing from a shared musical vocabulary developed during their 15-year collaboration, Baas and van Gelder effortlessly navigate a diverse range of moods and atmospheres.
Four deeply authentic musicians - each of them admired greatly by the duo - make a guest appearance on 'This Is Water'.
Baas and van Gelder wrote new music for each of them specifically. These tailor-made songs are intended as vehicles for expression that cater to the strengths of each guest, with a focus on improvisation. Pianist Cory Smythe adds singular, ethereal textures, challenging Baas and van Gelder to venture into unknown, microtonal territory. Drummer Jeff Ballard - a childhood hero to the duo - radiates a deep understanding of music and its power to connect. He is a selfless and effortless communicator. Lastly, ‘This Is Water’ features drummer Han Bennink and pianist Marta Warelis, both uncompromising and willing to sacrifice perfection for the sake of emotional resonance.
'This Is Water' is inspired by the eponymous speech by novelist David Foster Wallace, delivered at Kenyon College in 2005. In this heartfelt speech, Wallace introduces the idea that individuals should exercise conscious choice in order to interpret reality. He suggests that through "simple awareness," people possess the freedom to find significance and liberation even in the most mundane aspects of life. He reminds us that even the most tedious moments are "on fire with the same force that lit the stars".
Read more ... Tzadik
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Not Real People DLC (EP)
OREGLO
Released 13 September 2024
Brownswood Recordings
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With playful and creative interaction and exceptional chemistry, Mari Kvien Brunvoll, Stein Urheim, and Moskus take another step into uncharted musical territory.
oreglo are a four piece London based collective made up of c-sé (keys), Linus Barry (guitar), Nicco Rocco (drums) and Teigan Hastings (tuba). Formed through a shared interest in the fusion of genres such as jazz, rock and reggae, their influences are diverse and reflect the backgrounds of each member.
Across the EP, oreglo showcase their innovative take on multiple genres: freewheeling through heavy rock riffs to drill-inspired percussion and breezy reggae, the quartet have cultivated a unique sound that acts as a melting pot of all the sounds they know and love from London.
Read more... Bandcamp
Indoor Safari
NICK LOWE, LOS STRAITJACKETS
Released 13 September 2024
Yep Roc
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Nick Lowe has made his mark as a producer (Elvis Costello-Graham Parker-Pretenders-The Damned), songwriter of at least three songs you know by heart, short-lived career as a pop star (see Jesus of Cool), and a lengthy term as a musicians’ musician.
But in his current ‘second act’ as a silver-haired, tender-hearted but sharp-tongued singer-songwriter, he has no equal.
Six years ago, the revered British artist and songwriter Nick Lowe had almost abandoned the idea of making another full-length album. The realities of the marketplace and the expense aside, Lowe was busy enjoying the more immediate “camaraderie and rewards” of touring with Los Straitjackets, those masked marvels who've been his fellow musical voyagers for the past decade. Together, they'd released a handful of EPs and singles between 2018-20. But Lowe saw those mostly as “souvenirs to let people know the store was still open.”
But this fall, Lowe returns with his first LP in over a decade - Indoor Safari. So what changed his mind?
“We've really got a style together now,” Lowe says. “When it started out, it was just to do shows. We had no thoughts of recording, really. But after a while, we started to attract an audience – and a much younger one. When we started noticing the younger fans, I realized my fate maybe wasn't to just keep playing the same old songs to the same old tubby ex-pub rockers (laughs). Suddenly, the whole thing started to get some bounce to it. Like, 'Wait a minute, this is really something.'”
Read more ... Bandcamp
New Arrangements and Duets
VAN MORRISON
Released 27 September 2024
Exile Productions
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‘New Arrangements And Duets’ represents a small percentage of the huge amount of unreleased material Van Morrison is hoping to roll out in the near future, rather than letting it gather dust in some archive.
The big band tracks were recorded in 2014. Paul Moran and Chris White individually picked the songs they wanted to do big band arrangements for. The duets, recorded across 2018 and 2019, highlight an array of leading vocalists in the shape of Kurt Elling, Curtis Stigers, Joss Stone and Willie Nelson. The Willie Nelson duets – ‘What’s Wrong With This Picture’ and ‘Steal My Heart Away’ – also showcase the guitar talents of Lukas Nelson of Promise Of The Real.
The First single ‘Choppin’ Wood’ provides a taste of what to expect, with Van Morrison’s inimitable vocal genius leading a rousing big band performance. It’s also a song that pays tribute to his late father, with its references to Belfast, the Harland & Wolff shipyard and his father’s admiration for jazz greats such as Sidney Bechet, Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton. The original version of the song featured on Van Morrison’s 2002 album ‘Down The Road’.
Read more ... xsnoise
nublues
JOEL ROSS
Released 9 February 2024
Blue Note
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Acclaimed vibraphonist Joel Ross returns with his remarkable fourth Blue Note release nublues, an album of blues and ballads as refracted through the prism of one of the most creative modern jazz groups of our time.
The genesis of nublues dates back to 2020 when, during the Covid pandemic as live performances were shut down, Ross went back to the New School to finish his degree. One of his classes was taught by the alto saxophonist Darius Jones, who nudged students to dig into the history of the blues. That led Ross down a rabbit hole of what the blues can be; it isn’t just a 12-bar form. He realized it was a feeling. “Sort of a spirit or an energy,” Ross says. “It’s emotion, it’s expression. But I also want to stay true to the rhythmic ideations that we’ve already been developing.”
Communication is a key element of the album; both the communication between the musicians and the listener with an emphasis on singable melodies, as well as the profound and intuitive musical conversation that occurs within this tight-knit band featuring Immanuel Wilkins on alto saxophone, Jeremy Corren on piano, Kanoa Mendenhall on bass, Jeremy Dutton on drums, and special guest Gabrielle Garo on flute. The 10 tracks here include 7 new Ross originals as well as pieces by John Coltrane (“equinox” & “central park west”) and Thelonious Monk (“evidence”) many of which are performed as spontaneous suites with the band moving seamlessly across the blues-imbued musical terrain.
Read more ... Blue Note
Our Time
TRYGVE SEIM, FRODE HALTLI
Released 13 September 2024
ECM
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And, as Downbeat magazine commented on their last joint effort, here even more “the improvisations unfold with exquisite care, in lines steeped in melancholic beauty and sometimes glimmering hope.”
On Our Time renowned Norwegian musicians - saxophonist Trygve Seim and accordionist Frode Haltli - rekindle their longstanding partnership (the duo will have played together a quarter century in 2025) in a programme of thought-provoking improvised and composed material, the Ukrainian lullaby “Oy Khodyt’ Son, Kolo Vikon” and North-Indian traditional “Shyama Sundara Madena Mohana”, following up their 2008 duo album Yeraz with a freshly invigorated sense of wonder and creativity. The Norwegians’ recorded collaboration goes back to Trygve’s The Source And Different Cikadas ensemble from 2002 and has since spawned many a fruitful venture, yet in this intimate setting, increased freedom and dynamic possibilities give rise to even more playful, inventive but also fragile playing.
Read more ... ECM
Unfolding
LOUIS SCLAVIS, BENJAMIN MOUSSAY
Released 13 September 2024
ECM
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On Unfolding the duo thoughtfully envelopes delicate themes in warm improvisations that never rush, but patiently explore the written material with rare creativity and in fluid dialogues.
Having previously joined forces on several Louis Sclavis recordings for ECM, including the clarinettist’s last acclaimed album Characters On A Wall, more recently pianist Benjamin Moussay and Sclavis have increasingly shifted their focus onto two-way communication, playing expansive and well-received duo sets throughout Europe. Deutschlandfunk reported on one of their concerts with a rave review, suggesting, “this perfectly harmonising duo focuses on strong contrasts and thrives on empathy and intense exchanges.” Now, in a programme of exclusively originals – two-thirds from the pianist’s pen, the remaining third by the clarinettist – the French duo dreams up a world of chamber conversations that juxtaposes lyrical contemplation with whimsical inventiveness in a joyous, concentrated collaboration.
Read more ... ECM
Za Górami
ALICE ZAWADZKI, FRED THOMAS,
MISHA MULLOV-ABBADO
Released 13 Sptember 2024
ECM
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Collected on our travels and taught to us by our friends, these are songs we have learnt and loved together. Gathered from Argentina, France, Venezuela, Poland and the deep well of Sephardic culture, these folk tales speak to the moon, the mountains, the rain, the madness of humans and the prophecies of birds.
Alice, Fred and Misha
Vocalist and violinist Alice Zawadzki, pianist Fred Thomas (who also plays the vielle and drums here) and bassist Misha Mullov-Abbado present a rare alchemy on their trio debut, fusing folk idioms from a multitude of sources with free flowing interplay and fluid structures. Inhabiting their own stylistic realm, the trio encompasses folk song, chamber music, improvisation and jazz, and on Za Górami they present the full span of their reach in a mesmerizing whole.
“Our trio relies on the intimacy of deep listening and a trust in our long-standing friendship” writes the trio in a short performer’s note accompanying this release. “The discovery of what each song wanted to be was a patient process of contemplation, omission and distillation of ideas, animated by the flexibility of our instrumentation: voice, piano, double bass, violin, vielle and percussion”
Read more ... ECM
Imaginary Cycle
FLORIAN WEBER
Released 13 September 2024
ECM
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Influenced as much by the Renaissance madrigal as by 20th century composers and more recent vanguards of forward-thinking music, Weber’s vision exhausts the boundaries of polyphony and steers his ensemble to something radically new and imaginary.
Idiosyncratic, large-scale and in its fundamental disposition one of a kind, Florian Weber’s Imaginary Cycle, conceived for the unique instrumentation of brass ensemble and piano, is a hybrid of multiple musical languages that seamlessly blends the harmonious with the oblique. Here Weber presents a cycle in four parts, bookended by an opening and an epilogue, in which the German pianist is accompanied by a group of four euphoniums, a trombone quartet as well as flautist Anna-Lena Schnabel and Michel Godard on the seldomely used “serpent” brass instrument, together performing a work that blurs the line where improvisation ends and composition begins. As the ensemble elegantly journeys across Florian’s multiple-idioms-spanning oeuvre, symphonic passages mingle with intricate counterpoint, pastoral notions are contrasted with textures more contemporary, as each voice in the ensemble plays an independent part, adding to a whole.
Read more ... ECM
Keel Road
DANISH STRING QUARTET
Released 30 August 2024
ECM
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“Folk tunes are not just a part of our repertoire, but an important element of our identity as musicians”
The Danish String Quartet
Keel Road is the latest chapter in the Danish String Quartet’s reckoning with music from – or inspired by – northern folk and traditional sources, rounding off a decade of sustained engagement with the genre. Wood Works, issued in 2014 on the Danish Dacapo label gave notice of the extent of the DSQ’s commitment to folk, explored in parallel with their classical activities, and Last Leaf, released in 2017 on ECM New Series took the story further.
A resounding success with press and public, Last Leaf ranked high amongst albums of the year at NPR, The New York Times and Gramophone, the latter magazine suggesting this might be “the best album of folk ditties from a string quartet you’ll ever hear”, an assertion now challenged by Keel Road. Once again, the group casts its associative net wide: “We set out on a musical journey that traverses the North Sea. For centuries, the main communication channel of Northern Europe, the highway and the internet of bygone eras. And even though known for its swift upsurges and strong gales, brave sailors would again and again travel the keel road, enabling a continuous exchange of goods, culture and music. The musical keel road of this album will take us from Denmark and Norway to shores far away: to the Faroe Islands, to Ireland and England.” The journey illuminates musical affinities as well as distinctions. “While folk music represents local traditions and local stories, it is also the music of everywhere and everyone. At the end of the day, our stories and our music remain closely connected. “
Read more ... ECM
Transylvanian Dance (Live)
LUCIAN BAN, MAT MANERI
Released 30 August 2024
ECM
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Recorded live in October 2022 in the context of the Retracing Bartók project in Timișoara, the album also bears testimony to the finely attuned understanding that Ban and Maneri have achieved in their long-running musical partnership.
Transylvanian Dance takes as its starting point transcriptions of folk songs and dance tunes collected by Béla Bartók a century ago. For Lucian Ban and Mat Maneri, these pieces have become “springboards and sources of melodic material” for performances “that capture the spirit of the original yet allow us to improvise and bring our own world to them…” Ban explains: “In our process we don’t have any preconceived notions of how we should arrange these songs. Some take a very improvisational approach. Some are more defined compositionally and harmonically. And others combine the folk material with original motives of ours. If you go deeper into the source material, new vistas are opening.”
Read more ... ECM
A New Day
GIOVANI GUIDI, JAMES BRANDON LEWIS, THOMAS MORGAN, JOAO LOBO
Released 12 July 2024
ECM
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Rekindling the familiarly flowing interplay with fellow travellers Thomas Morgan and João Lobo – the trio’s musical partnership goes back over a decade at this point –, on A New Day Italian pianist Giovanni Guidi moreover expands the group’s instrumental grasp with the introduction of American saxophonist James Brandon Lewis, who makes his ECM debut here.
Not only is the ensemble scope widened; with Brandon Lewis in tow, new dialects and fresh perspectives are broached, and different instrumental paths taken, inspired by an overall heightened sense of communication and Lewis’s unmistakable, confident tone.
On the opportunity to include the saxophonist in his band, Giovanni explains that his conversations with Brandon Lewis go back many years and that witnessing him live led Guidi “to believe that with James, the group dialogue could develop towards more abstract, open and improvisational approaches. In a way it was quite the gamble, as we come from very different paths, but the session for A New Day proved us right: the trio is pushed into new territories, while James – in my view – finds a very unique and interesting way to connect with us. It was a sincere journey of discovery.“
Read more ... ECM
Live In Munich
JORDINA LILLA, BARRY GUY
Released 5 July 2024
ECM
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In characterizing their swirling, undulating sound, Jordina Millà draws analogies with the movements of the sea, “so full of life and dark at the same time, a change of light making the treasures and wonders visible.”
This live recording, from Munich’s Schwere Reiter hall, documents the debut concert performance by the duo of Catalan pianist Jordina Millà and British bassist Barry Guy. Together they they shape fluid, highly detailed music, of ever changing mood, and cast fresh light on the meaning and possibilities of “extended technique” in free improvisation.
The musicians first crossed paths at Barcelona’s Mixtur Festival in 2017 where Guy was composer-in-residence, creating a piece together with a mixed festival ensemble of professionals and students. Millà, as one of the pianists in the group, immediately stood out for her “commitment, energy, virtuosity and creativity,” and a musical friendship was established.
Guy and Millà went on to record a studio album together, String Fables, for the Polish label Fundacja Słuchaj in 2021. Live In Munich represents a major advance in its depth of sound and range of expression, with remarkable clarity even at moments of most intense activity.
In the duo, “heightened listening and sensibility allowed colours and sudden changes to be perceived, expressed and established in the musical discourse.”
Read more ... ECM
Outpost of Dreams
NORMA WINSTONE, KIT DOWNS
Released 5 July 2024
ECM
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Her first ECM recording in six years finds Norma Winstone in a new duo with pianist Kit Downes. A unique artist as both jazz vocalist and lyricist, here Norma brings her poetic sensibilities to new pieces by Downes as well as compositions by Carla Bley, Ralph Towner, and John Taylor. The programme is completed with fresh perspectives on two traditional tunes, “Black Is The Colour” and “Rowing Home.”
The duo, Norma says, was “a chance thing”, a musical unit formed almost accidentally. Winstone’s regular pianist for work in Britain, Nikki Iles, was unavailable for a gig in London, “so I booked Kit. I’d never played with him before. And of course, he could play everything immediately, and amazingly. So we did a few more concerts, and I found I responded to the sense of adventure in his playing. You never know quite what is going to happen, and I love that quality.” When London Jazz News collected a round-up of greetings for Norma’s 80th birthday, she recalls, Downes wrote: “Can’t wait to jump off musical cliffs together again in the near future.” She laughs: “That’s the way we both think of it. We’ll see where the project takes us.
For Winstone, adding words to music has most often been a matter of living with a composition until it yields up its inner message. “I feel I’m looking for words that are already in the music. Always. That’s how I work. And if the words do come, it’s as if they were always there.” The same process was focused upon the newer pieces here although Norma was also open to narrative prompts, as on “Out Of The Dancing Sea”.
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Im wachen Traume
DELIAN QUARTETT
Released 21 June 2024
ECM
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Named after a lyric from the first piece in Schumann’s Frauenliebe und Leben song cycle, the Delian Quartett’s programme of Im wachen Traume combines said cycle – in a new arrangement for soprano and string quartet by the late Aribert Reimann – with music by Renaissance composer William Byrd and Baroque composer Henry Purcell. Most of the works appear in world premiere recordings here.
The earlier English repertory bookends the album, framing Frauenliebe und Leben in a thematic embrace and, as the quartet’s violinist Andreas Moscho puts it, “in dazzling harmonies, that colour the musical span from the bliss of the moment to the end of things”. The recomposition of Frauenliebe und Leben was Reimann’s last completed work before his death in 2024 and he dedicated it to soprano Claudia Barainsky and the Delian Quartett.
Since its inception in 2007 the Delian Quartett has gained widespread international attention, performing on major stages and festivals and alongside various important figures in the classical world. The German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung has praised the quartet’s “wonderful sonority and striking plasticity of structures”, their unconventional and inventive programme-creations regularly cause a stir. Previous recordings, among them performances of Shostakovich and Haydn, have been met with acclaim and garnered award nominations. One of the Delian Quartett’s main emphases is the expansion of its repertory to include the works of contemporary composers, such as Alberto Colla, Per Arne Glorvigen, Gabriel Iranyi, Christian Jost, Uljas Pulkkis and the in this album included Stefano Pierini and Aribert Reimann. Most of them have written music specifically for the ensemble.
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