Elsewhere, to hear Martin’s fine re-workings of 1970s and 1980s UK/US pop rock, head straight for ‘I’m Not In Love’ and ‘Broken Wings’, the latter lit up by a coruscating solo from Sjöstedt. With the untimely passing of Esbjörn Svensson in 2008, Öström and Berglund have buried their head in their own solo projects. Amazon | iTunes, Artist: Sarah Vaughan | Release Year: 1954 Personnel: Sarah Vaughan (vocals), Clifford Brown (trumpet), Paul Quinichette (tenor saxophone), Herbie Mann (flute), Jimmy Jones (piano), Joe Benjamin (bass), Roy Haynes (drums)
As always, there were deaths: the Art Ensemble Of Chicago’s Joseph Jarman, keyboardist/singer Dr. John, drummer Ginger Baker, pianists Michel Legrand, Harold Mabern, and Larry Willis, guitarist and longtime ECM Records engineer Jan Erik Kongshaug, Criss Cross label head Gerry Teekens, poet Steve Dalachinsky, and others. Bugge Wesseltoft, for his jazztronica innovations with his New Conception of Jazz and Berglund and Öström for their contribution to the highly influential EST, the piano trio that gave birth to a million other contemporary Euro-jazz piano trios. Considine, Morgan Enos, Steve Greenlee, Geoffrey Himes, Matthew Kassel, Ken Micallef, Mac Randall, Britt Robson, Jeff Tamarkin, and Chris J. Walker, 1. Calling Rymden a Scandi-jazz ‘supergroup’ might not be very useful, but neither is it overstating the pivotal role these three musicians had in reshaping Nordic jazz from the mid-1990s. Amazon | iTunes, Artist: Hank Mobley | Release Date: 1965
A highlight is ‘Make It All Go Away’, an evocative nod to rock psychedelia and dominated by two exceptional guest vocalists: Kurt Elling improvises gliding horn-like lines and in-demand singer-songwriter Becca Stevens’ soaring vocal is not unlike Cocteau Twins’ Liz Frazer. A lot of London jazz draws from a dance-club atmosphere; the bass lines groove hard, the drummers clatter and thump. Keep an ear open for the lush, vocal qualities of Johnny Hodges’ alto saxophone as well as the majestic sound of Harry Carney’s baritone saxophone solo. Check out our list of 10 albums to get you started on your jazz journey and introduce yourself to some of jazz's great artists. Branford Marsalis Quartet The Secret Between the Shadow and the Soul (OKeh) That some will talk … Amazon | iTunes, Artist: Duke Ellington | Release Year: 1958 Personnel: Duke Ellington (piano), Jimmy Woode (bass), Sam Woodyard (drums), Paul Gonsalves (tenor saxophone), Jimmy Hamilton, Russell Procope (clarinet, alto saxophone), Harry Carney (baritone saxophone), Johnny Hodges, Rick Henderson (alto saxophone), John Sanders (bass trombone), Quentin Jackson, Britt Woodman (trombone), Cat Anderson, Shorty Baker, Willie Cook, Clark Terry (trumpet), Ray Nance (trumpet, violin), Ozzie Bailey (vocal)
Take a peek inside the latest issue of Songlines magazine. Avishai Cohen’s ballad ‘The Opening’ has a Bill-Evans-meets-Abdullah-Ibrahim piano intro and a wistful, tone-shifting melody, and Coltrane’s ‘Crescent’ is a trumpet soliloquy of soft ascents, octave-hopping strides and airy top notes. Nobody in the history of jazz expressed himself more freely; or with more variety, swing, and sophistication than Duke Ellington. It’s grounded, harks back to the tradition, looks forward to new ideas, yet has a confident perfection that is extremely rare. Rec. As the subtitle makes clear this is a celebration of a grand milestone for the Art Ensemble of Chicago. It’s quite scary at times, and that’s what Worlds Collide is about”, Alice Zawadzki: “This pain of Spring often comes from the way we lay ourselves on the line again and again, especially in love”, Yazz Ahmed interview: “Music has helped me identify who I am”, Abdullah Ibrahim interview: "In our music there’s no such thing as a mistake and, actually, maybe in life itself there’s no such thing as a mistake either ", Double-bassist Thomas Morgan: “For me music has always been the most natural and the deepest way to share something with people”, Gwilym Simcock: “I want to have an emotional experience when I listen to music. Theon Cross – Fyah (Gearbox) It may seem like a small thing, but the London jazz scene deserves a … As with those projects, Rymden also takes its cue more from rock than jazz, even though it retains a jazz sensibility. Our education programs have gone online! Now comes the much-requested second, a double-album which discreetly sidesteps mentioning recording dates but which appears to have been drawn from various performances with the same partners in the US and Europe since late 2010. And her own flugelhorn playing is lush and beautiful. Albums and box sets released between Nov. 10, 2018 and Nov. 9, 2019 were eligible. The music they make is complex, the kind of thing you can really only do if you’re a steadily working band (which this group is) where each member knows the others well enough to challenge them productively. Now this is an album worthy of recognition. Relaxed, effortless, beautiful, swinging, and fun, this album will charm even the most resistant of listeners. Dedicated to Billy Childs, the three-movement album opener ‘Beautiful Is Our Moment’ features some of Simcock’s most exuberant, joyous writing, with its elegiac coda providing the final surprise. The music has a lushness not unlike the 1970s work of trumpeter Woody Shaw, on albums like Rosewood and Love Dance. Herne Hill,
If you liked smooth modern jazz with one foot in R&B, then trumpeter Marquis Hill’s Love Tape was for you; if you wanted intricately composed chamber music, saxophonist Anna Webber’s Clockwise was a must-hear; if you wanted to throw your arms in the air and dance like a maniac, sax/synth/drums trio the Comet Is Coming had two records, Trust In The Lifeforce Of The Deep Mystery and The Aftermath, to play as loudly as your lease would allow. November 2018. (Theo Croker, Keyon Harrold, and Marquis Hill are the other members of this group — there are certainly more, but these guys are the Big Four.) And the high point is a return to another piece from the earlier days of Ekaya, ‘Song for Sathima’. As well as singularly beautiful versions of the Ivan Lins classic, ‘Love Dance’, vibist Joe Locke’s Bobby Hutcherson tribute ‘A Little More Each Day’ and the Gordon Jenkins/Johnny Mercer standard, ‘P.S I Love You’, there are deeply swinging takes on Curtis Lewis’s ‘The Great City’ and Roc Hillman’s ‘Come Runnin’ (Martin’s own homages to Shirley Horn and Lena Horne respectively), there are stellar re-imaginings of Joni Mitchell’s ‘You Dream Flat Tires’, Michael Franks’ ‘Rainy Night in Tokyo’, plus John Surman and Karin Krog’s enchantingly folk-like ‘Cherry Tree Song’. Trumpeter Jaimie Branch’s second album as a leader is exactly the sequel its title suggests, but it’s much more than that. At its softer moments, it has a kind of chamber music feel, but there aren’t that many soft moments. Personnel: Gregory Porter (vocals), Chip Crawford (piano), Emanuel Harrold (drums), Keyon Harrold (trumpet), Aaron James (bass), Kamau Kenyatta (horns), Tivon Pennicott (saxophone), Yosuke Sato (saxophone)