New Release Round-up,
Jazz New Release Round-up - 23rd October 2020
This week I've been enjoying yet more varied delights from the release schedules. First off is a welcome vinyl reissue of pianist Jim McNeely's Winds of Change, recorded in 1980, then there is the excellent Gunn-Truscinski Duo's Soundkeeper, a record that had me returning to it throughout the week, and from Glasgow, we have the jazz funk powerhouse that is the Nimbus Sextet. For something completely different try Leyla McCalla's beautiful setting of the poetry of Langston Hughes, Vari-Colored Songs, a low key, folk-influenced gem that I highly recommend spending some time with. And finally, there's Marius Neset's Tributes, an enjoyably sunny set of tunes backed by the Danish Radio Big Band, and John Helliwell's Ever Open Door, a lush set of pieces that exist in the nexus point between classical, jazz and Celtic atmospherics.
A classic 1980s SteepleChase recording from Grammy award-winning pianist/composer/arranger Jim McNeely. Featuring Mike Richmond (bass), Kenny Washington (drums), repressed on vinyl, this limited pressing is from the original matrices. Recorded in the sweltering heat of summer 1980 in New York, at the age of 40 McNeely already had an impressive track record, performing with prominent players such as Stan Getz, Bob Brookmeyer, Dave Liebman, the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, among others.
Available Format: Vinyl Record
A collaboration between Steve Gunn (guitar) and John Truscinski (drums), a collision of experimental instrumental rock and cosmic jazz, this is their fourth album overall and first in three years. I especially enjoyed some of the more ambient tracks such as ‘Distance’ which comes across like Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Albatross’ on Mogadons, and the gleaming neon-lit night-drive of ‘Ocean City’.
Available Format: CD
Leyla McCalla is an American cellist whose Vari-Colored Songs is a celebration of the complexity of Black culture and identity, and a tribute to the legacy of poet and thinker Langston Hughes. A songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, McCalla sets Hughes' poems to her own spare yet profound compositions. She juxtaposes these with arrangements of folk songs from Haiti, the first independent Black nation and the homeland of her parents, tapping into the nuances of Black experience. McCalla's music elegantly weaves Haitian influences together with American folk music, just as Hughes incorporated Black vernacular into his remarkable poetry, and explores the way the Haitian Kreyol is a beacon for the survival of African identity through the brutal legacy of colonialism.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC
Led by pianist/keyboardist Joe Nichols, the Glaswegian contemporary jazz outfit play bubbly contemporary jazz funk, so they are well suited to the Acid Jazz UK label. On Dreams Fulfilled their take on jazz blends instantly relatable melodic hooks with driving grooves, sophisticated musicianship and episodic compositions. The core of the Nimbus Sextet sound comes courtesy of Joe with long-time collaborators Alex Palmer and Mischa Stevens. The trio met while studying at Edinburgh University and have continued to perform together ever since.
Available Format: CD
Marius Neset has been working hard over the past 20 years to become one of the most respected young(ish) saxophonists in jazz. Although he can sometimes come across as a tad over-earnest, I’ve enjoyed previous albums like Birds on Edition. There seems to be a newfound playfulness at work on Tributes, recorded shortly before Neset left Copenhagen, the city that had been his home for seventeen years, and returned to his native Norway.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC
John Helliwell, best known as the saxophonist in the multi-million selling rock band Supertramp, releases his solo album, Ever Open Door, on Challenge Records. Impeccably unchallenging, Helliwell’s music sits somewhere in that nebulous ‘crossover’ category, with elements of classical, orchestrated pop, celtic folkiness and even a vague hint of jazz somewhere in there. The arrangements are pretty enough though, with the Singh String Quartet providing plush backings, and Helliwell’s sax sometimes approaching the moments of transcendence he’s clearly gunning for.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Matt Groom - Head of Jazz
