New Release Round-up,
Jazz New Release Round-Up - 16th February 2024
With spring just around the corner, here are some particularly revitalising listens for you to get hip to as we glide into more temperate spells. Kicking things off, there's Yakul, whose seaside charm is lovingly transported from their Brighton base to London with At PizzaExpress Live. Next, Ethan Iverson is back on the scene for a Technically Acceptable demonstration of his own charming leadership. Following that, Theo May's Odd Unit erupt with a Balkan-inspired festival, Alive in the Forest of Odd. Swedish vocalist Julia Werup's Dear Frances sees her enter experimental new territory, whilst Ulysses Owen Jr. & Generation Y deliver what they know best on A New Beat.
You may have already picked up on our recent interview with Anaïs Reno, whose latest album was recorded at Soho’s PizzaExpress Jazz Club and released via the venue’s in-house label. Following in similar fashion, another hot release you should definitely check out from PX Records is this cracking live cut from Brighton's finest, future-soul band Yakul. Experience the many ways in which their music is best enjoyed with this non-diluted presentation of their heavy and infectious live sound.
Available Format: CD
Employing the help of two different trios, the pianist and The Bad Plus-founder stomps back onto the scene with his second Blue Note release, with just as much peppy zest as you’d expect from a musician who’s been on top of his game for the past three decades. Keep a lookout for the oft surprising yet always intriguing highlights this recording has to offer – from Rob Schwimmer’s lingering theremin solo to the bandleader’s performance of his own sophisticated piano sonata that closes the album – and you’ll witness a musician and composer with plenty of taut strings still left to his bow.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Now, here’s where things get interesting! One particular aspect of the arts we’ve enjoyed in recent years is the revived interest in folk cultures, their musical customs and the myriad ways in which performers have incorporated these traditions into boldly progressive statements. This Bulgarian-influenced album arrives in stark contrast to everything it surrounds, with the Slavic bacchanale May and his merry troupe conjure up suggesting, in places, the sort of sounds you might otherwise expect from peak-era King Crimson or Mahavishnu Orchestra. In all, a wonderful fiddle-led fusion, extraneous from either time or space.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
This self-taught vocalist moves away from 2020’s The Thrill of Loving You, an impressive recording of heart-rending standards, towards a more experimental direction of original material. Her soft voice beckons wistfully as it trawls the delectable spaces this album depicts, accompanied by the same intrinsic trio who provided sumptuous backing on her previous release. With its retro-futuristic production falling somewhere between Henry Mancini and DJ Shadow, this is a must-listen for fans of Melanie de Biasio, Beth Gibbons and other trip-hop infused crooners.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Here’s an absolute stonker of a hard-bopping release from the former Christian McBride-collaborator. This hour-long set was laid down at the legendary Van Gelder Studio in New Jersey before a live audience, whose rapturous appreciation you can hear from the get-go. Undoubtedly, this must have fed back into the band’s performance judging from the energetic way in which Owens Jr.’s band clock up their mileage over the course of the recording (without any risk of running out of fuel). In equal parts soulful, crunchy and precise, here is the latest cog in the great wheel of modern jazz.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Barney Whittaker
