New Release Round-up,
Jazz New Release Round-Up - 13th November 2020
For this week’s new release round-up, we’ve got a surprise release from the late Dave Brubeck of lullabies, children’s songs and favourite standards in delicate versions for solo piano. We’ve also got the latest adventurous album from Grammy-nominated saxophonist Ben Wendel, as well as something from UK free jazzers Glasshopper, and a funky fusion of jazz and Brazilian music from pianist Ivan Timbó. To top it off, there’s a new Whirlwind release from saxophonist Patrick Cornelius, and a tribute to the collaborations of Joe Pass and Ella Fitzgerald by vocalist Cleo and guitarist David Grabowski.
Hearing a new recording from the late Dave Brubeck in 2020 is quite the surprise. Recorded in 2010, two years prior to his passing, Lullabies is a take on well-known children’s songs, some standards, and originals written for his grandchildren. As a gift to his family and wider audience, Brubeck’s final recording was intended as a family-friendly recording with the ability to be enjoyed by even his more serious jazz fans. Recorded entirely for solo piano, Lullabies is a gentle farewell from one of jazz’s most famous names.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
High Heart is the fifth full-length by US-based, Grammy-nominated sax player Ben Wendel, riding his rise in popular interest. A more personal record, Wendel explores the effects of digital culture on artistry, particularly the age of oversaturation and his perceived imbalances of modern society. Taking both tenor sax and bassoon duties, Wendel shares lead duties with vocalist Michael Mayo, providing lyricless vocals from the very beginning of the album with the titular track. Piano and Rhodes players Shai Maestro and Gerald Clayton accompany Wendel and flesh out his compositions, with a tight rhythm section. Wendel’s music is undoubtedly modern, with irregular rhythms varying the tunes and snappy compositions giving way to some frenetic soloing from the players.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Glasshopper are a UK-based jazz-rock/free improvisation trio of drums, tenor sax and electric guitar. Playing a style of atmospheric music that occasionally straddles into post-rock, Fortune Rules opens with ‘Letters’, with James Kitchman’s reverberated electric guitar and Corrie Dick’s chattering percussion filling in the textural bedrock while saxophonist Jonathan Chung leads the melody. As well as some guest spots for vocals and trumpet, Glasshopper play both airy ambient ‘free’ music and the more erratic and discordant sounds the genre tag is more known for.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Though Escolhas puts its first musical foot forward with a warbling synthesiser intro, pianist Ivan Timbó’s music sits in an intersection between Brazilian music, funky jazz and instrumental hip-hop. Tracks like ‘O Motivo’ feature a sharp synthesiser lead under a shuffling beat, while the title track sees Timbó delving further into the sounds of funk-jazz with some wah-wah guitars added over the top. Timbó primarily makes use of synthesisers and Fender Rhodes sounds on Escolhas, with subdued chords accompanying the more bold synth and sax melodies over the top. It’s a little 70s funk, a little fusion, if that’s your bag.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC
For Way of the Cairns saxophonist, composer and educator Patrick Cornelius re-united his ‘TransAtlantic Collective’, with whom Cornelius played on a European tour-turned-recording session, a time which Cornelius still remembers fondly. Joining him is the very same lineup of Whirlwind label boss Michael Janisch on bass, Luxembourg drummer Paul Wiltgen and Estonian pianist Kristjan Randalu. This Brooklyn resident’s latest album derives its inspiration from hiking in Maine’s Acadia National Park, combining this vivid image of the landscape with the great rapport the group has, the result being some highly realised music.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC
As the title suggests, this record by vocalist Cleo and guitarist David Grabowski is a set of tunes celebrating the collaboration between the legendary vocalist Ella Fitzgerald and guitarist Joe Pass, originally assembled for a concert program. In a strict duo format, the minimal arrangements make for some intimate interpretations of the originals, spanning tunes by Benny Goodman, Cole Porter and Billy Strayhorn, among others. Some of the new arrangements are more faithful than others, but the duo themselves always do them justice.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC
Joshua Lee - Jazz Content
