New Release Round-up,
Jazz New Release Round-Up - 19th April 2024
This week features new music from Amaro Freitas on his latest record Y'y. Next up, we have a pair of contemporary torchbearers of the Blue Note Records flame, Julian Lage and Melissa Aldana, whose albums Speak to Me and Echoes of the Inner Prophet offer contrasting ruminations on where the current jazz stream is headed. Swedish drummer Cornelia Nilsson sparkles on her debut Where Do You Go? and The Kraken Consort close things with O'er the Moor: Songs and Dances from Scotland and Ireland.
A cultural testament to his Afro-Brazilian background, this zany artist delivers the goods with a touching album that fully represents his homeland. Ecological as it is anthropological, the general feeling of urgency this recording possesses is tastefully offset by the outlandish and zany characteristics it reveals the further you go on. For fans of Hermeto, Frederic Rzewski and all things to do with general madcap inventiveness.
Available Format: CD
The View With a Room guitarist concocts a sonic universe of dazzling proportions, blending Americana at times with soulful blues and R&B. Each time Lage swaps from acoustic to electric, he not so much switches up the vibe as much as he delineates it, portraying his expansive vision with macroscopic precision. The emotional crux is the deeply passionate romanticism threaded through every track that culminates in a rewarding listen, executed with terrific jolts of warm excitement along the way.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC
On her second album for Blue Note, the Chilean saxophonist relates impressions of her own introspection, reflecting on the latest chapter of her creative evolution and a period of personal growth. By recording with her regular touring partners, the album carries a palpable sense of trust felt between the band – most notably with guitarist and co-writer Lage Lund. The title track is dedicated to maestro Wayne Shorter, a deep influence on Aldana in recent years as she commits her own painterly strokes. Una exquisita colección de música, indeed.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Born in Sweden but based in Denmark, this sensational young drummer bursts onto the scene with her debut album as leader. Having worked with both Kenny Barron and Ron Carter in the past few years, Nilsson can count herself as a player of a certain pedigree many years her senior. Here, she presents two distinctive sounding trios, fronted in each case by pianist Aaron Parks and tenorist Gábor Bolla (while bassist Daniel Franck resolvedly holds the fort). Her brushwork is energetic, engaging and full of interesting ideas, and she still leaves plenty of room to breathe having moved on to the stronger stuff. Either group’s unbeatable synergy proves this recording to be the real deal.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
You wouldn’t think that a convincing album of Scottish and Irish airs, reels and jigs would be born of the imagination of a French-based baroque ensemble now, would you? This is the Kraken Consort, a troupe of talented artists, like-minded in their taste for oral and improvised music with deep experience in traditional Celtic musics. Open to numerous repertoires, these curious and polymorphous musicians compare their respective visions, experiences and technicalities before assembling their own interpretative palette.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Barney Whittaker
