Jazzwise Choices,
Jazzwise Editor's Choices - October 2021
Jazzwise Editor's Choices for October include Terence Blanchard's latest album on Blue Note with the E-Collective and Turtle Island Quartet, as well as Gery Gibbs' Songs From My Father featuring some of the last recordings of Chick Corea, as well as Pat Metheny's Side-Eye NYC live album. Recommended reissues include an audiophile quality re-release of Oliver Nelson's The Blues and the Abstract Truth, as well as a complete set of Mose Allison's recordings on Atlantic/Elektra.
Editor's Choices
"...a dazzling homage to saxophonist Wayne Shorter that combines the interactive flow of the E Collective band he formed in 2016 with the finesse of the Turtle Island String Quartet. Merging his grasp of composition with the small-group skills he honed with Art Blakey, the album captures Shorter’s freewheeling spirit, dramatic narratives and oblique harmonies in full."
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
"Cyrille’s often painterly textural invention has always been outstanding, and here he shows a consummate command of low tempo on daringly spacious, sparse material where he chooses every strike of snare or crash of ride cymbal with the utmost care, as if the notes were punctuation in a letter or exclamation marks in an intimate conversation."
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
"A spectacular standout is Gerry Gibbs' 'Hey Chick', an ingenious Corea-homage adaptation of his father's 'Hey Jim' splicing not only solos from the members of all four trios but a nimble, gleaming and seamlessly embedded Terry Gibbs vibes break from the maestro's 1961 recording of the original. Songs From My Father is not only an awesome 97th birthday present, but an astonishing technical and musical feat likely to win some deserved prizes at the year's end."
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC
"Our received notions of Pat Metheny is that there is not one, but two Pat Methenys. There’s the Pat Metheny that loves jamming, be it on his memorable 80/81, or with his trio on albums such as Trio 99 > 00, Trio > Live and Pat Metheny Dave Holland Roy Haynes, and there’s the Pat Metheny formerly of the Pat Metheny Group and now custodian of its sound, as on 2020’s From This Place. Having set the bar incredibly high with the latter album (and more recently with Road to the Sun), an album of acclaimed classical compositions and arrangements, his current project/band Side Eye features young musicians making waves on the current NYC jazz scene."
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
"This eponymous debut by Adam Fairhall, Mark Hanslip and Johnny Hunter bristles with ideas, delivered with a sly wit and unruffled confidence. Save for a mellow reading of Carla Bley’s ‘Ida Lupino,’ every track here is an original, ranging from Hanslip’s gospel-tinged ballad ‘Day of Rest’ to the fractured boogaloo of Hunter’s ‘April.’ But it’s on pieces like Fairhall’s ‘Pines’ that the trio most fully reveals its subversive intent as organ and sax slip free of harmonic constraints and improvise freely."
Available Format: CD
"From the inventive comping in the striking album opener ‘Reclamation’ to the heavy ostinato of the final track, ‘Tickled Pink’, which irrevocably calls to mind ‘The Creator Has A Master Plan’ from Pharoah's iconic Karma, Brandee Younger’s major label debut on Impulse! Records is a work of enormous imagination and mesmerising artistry."
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Recommended Reissues
"Superbly compiled, annotated and produced for reissue by Bob Fisher, this good-value box set is entirely self-recommending."
Available Format: 6 CDs
"Of necessity, the six pieces from September 1956 have a more knockabout feel, the sound a tad muffled, as if we’re eavesdropping on a members-only party, the personnel flexing number after number, Humph in trenchant form, others less so, Simpson’s grating baritone sounding more like bass-saxophone on ‘Ain’t Misbevin’ but overtaken by Turner’s soaring alto and Christie’s ripe trombone, Nicholas scarcely holding back. What with detailed notes, good sound and distinctive graphics, this has to be one of the reissues of the year."
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
"It’s easy to understand Snow’s appeal even at this distance, her presence on these 26 tracks always vibrant, the trumpet solos considered and yes, dynamic, her vocals, good looks and stage experience doubtless enabling her to front shows right to the end."
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC
Audiophile Reissue of the Month
Joshua Lee - Jazz Content
