Jazzwise Choices,
Jazzwise Editor's Choices - October 2022
Jazzwise Editor's Choices from the October 2022 issue include Alina Bzhezhinska and her HipHarp Collective, Samara Joy's sophomore album Linger Awhile, and LongGone by the Joshua Redman Quartet.
Editor's Choices
"New Yorker Byars says this isn’t old style R&B that he is offering here, rather it’s a series of his distinctive originals which happen to use ‘Rhythm’ changes or which echo the blues. And by ‘the 20s’, he means the 2020s. Consider the frontline formation too: alto, tenor, bass clarinet and trombone, Byars’ clever writing sometimes suggesting a big band sax section, at others a light-touch Birth of the Cool feeling, albeit without a trumpet in sight."
Available Format: CD
"On this, her muchanticipated sophomore album, Ukrainian born, London-based harp player and composer Alina Bzhezhinska forges ahead with a mission to re-imagine the harp in a jazz context and develop her own language in the process."
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Available Formats: 2 Vinyl Records, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
"Escreet has a strikingly unique approach to jazz that’s largely both highly percussive, dense harmonically and full of tension, and Seismic Shift is no exception; yet there’s an eerie quality in his ambiguously-voiced spread chords compared to his more aggressively accented, sonic splashes and dense, spiky phrasing."
Available Format: CD
"With outstanding support from guitarist Pasquale Grasso, pianist Ben Paterson, bassist David Wong and drummer Kenny Washington, the title track – first recorded almost 100 years ago in 1923 by Bailey's Lucky Seven – blazes like an exploding star. Augmented by horns (trumpeter Terell Stafford, trombonist Donavan Austin, tenorist Kendrick McCallister), there’s a wondrous take on Monk’s ‘Round Midnight’ (in the version with lyrics by Hendricks) while, accompanied solely by Grasso, the singer’s incredibly beautiful timbre is heard to best effect in the Gershwins’ ‘Someone To Watch Over Me’, which brings this staggeringly fine album to a close."
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Available Formats: Vinyl Record, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
"In 2021 [Enrico Rava] played some concerts with Fred Hersch and the result is another fine partnership which led to more concerts earlier this year, with a further crop due in Europe during the late autumn. However, their 2021 collaboration was captured for posterity by ECM, and the album they have created plays brilliantly to the strengths of both musicians."
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Available Formats: Vinyl Record, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
"Long Gone is the latest chapter in their very occasional story, this time with all six tracks being composed by Redman himself. The tunes present an intriguing (even perplexing) contrast - being a selection of five elegant pieces mostly sprung off classic standard-song designs, plus one closing, hookily cryptic 12-minute take from a live show that reveals the power they unleash when the tunes barely matter and the gloves are off."
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Available Format: Vinyl Record
"A very confident and assured showing by Michael Wollny’s Trio who present a concept album linked to the theme of 'ghosts'."
Available Format: CD
Joshua Lee - Jazz Content
