New Release Round-up,
Jazz New Release Round-Up - 18th September 2020
For this week’s new release round-up I’ve been picking up on a couple of releases we missed from the summer, and a handful from the start of this month, kicking off with pianist Christian Sands’ latest recording with Mack Avenue. There’s a short collection of guitar and drum duets from guitarist Craig Green, as well as the latest from Norwegian electric player Terje Rypdal on ECM. Carolina Cavache’s sophomore album Vida Profunda sees the composer and pianist stirring up a selection of lush pieces paired with some of her favourite poetry, while London avant-garde ensemble Krononaut let loose their unsettling debut recording. Finally, pianist Brad Mehldau releases his suite April 2020, chronicling the year’s tumultuous early lockdown period.
On Be Water, pianist Christian Sands proves himself as fluid as the liquid itself; with the album taking its name from the famous quote by Bruce Lee - “Become like water, my friend” - Sands sets down a number of varied pieces, melding into each accordingly. Sometimes taking the form of the cup, encompassing the tune itself, and sometimes splashing around the periphery of his band, providing a subtle accompaniment or extra flourishes. Sands reunites with bassist Yasushi Nakamura and saxophonist Markus Strickland from his 2018 record Facing Dragons, while his ensemble is completed by the new additions of Sean Jones on trumpet, trombonist Steve Davis, guitarist Marvin Sewell, and Clarence Penn supplying the drums.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Described as "The son of Bill Frisell, and the grandson of Derek Bailey", guitarist Craig Green’s career has spanned jazz guitar, to electronic experimental music and avant-garde. On Love Notes in Binary Code Green sits down with his classical guitar for a set of four duets with drummer and Radiohead collaborator Clive Dreamer, conceived around musings on the information age. Recorded in just one session with many of the pieces improvised - and even the composed pieces written only a day beforehand - there’s an openness to th e recordings, as if the ideas are still crystallising as the two are recording them.
Available Format: CD
Norwegian jazz veteran Terje Rypdal’s latest record is his first as a bandleader since 2013’s Melodic Warrior with the Hilliard Ensemble. Utilising the electric guitar as both an instrument of texture and atmosphere, as well as a vessel for melodic rock soloing, Conspiracy is quintessential Rypdal. Collaborating with him this time around is Ståle Storløkken, the Supersilent keyboardist who previously contributed to Rypdal’s Vossabrygg and Crime Scene sessions, along with fellow ECM old guard drummer Pål Thowsen and comparatively young electric bassist Endre Hareide Hallre.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Krononaut hail from London’s dense experimental jazz scene, the project itself spearheaded by guitarist and producer Leo Abrahams - known for his work with Brian Eno, singer-songwriter Imogen Heap and electronic musician Jon Hopkins - and Martin France, a drummer with his feet more firmly in the jazz world with collaborations with the likes of Norwegian trumpeter Nils Petter Molvær and British saxophonist Evan Parker, but also Elvis Costello. Alongside the pair are bassists Tim Harries and Shahzad Ismaily who alternate duties between the tracks, trumpeter Arve Henriksen and saxophonist Matana Roberts. Krononaut offers several tense, slow-burning pieces that unfurl with a surprising deliberateness given their experimental tone.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
American jazz pianist Brad Mehldau’s Suite: April 2020 is, as you can imagine from the date, a snapshot of the early lockdown period. Suite parts I - XII comprise the majority of the album, Mehldau’s own solo piano pieces encompassing both the uncertainty and togetherness of that early lockdown period, while the last three tracks cover different artists with a very deliberate theme of positivity; Neil Young’s ‘Don’t Let It Bring You Down’, Billy Joel’s ‘New York State of Mind’ and Jerome Kern’s ‘Look for the Silver Lining’.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Joshua Lee - Jazz Content
