• Music

    Various Artists – Pyramid Pieces 2

    November 10, 2021 - By 

    This is a comp we won’t have to wait too terribly long for.  The Roundtable is a record label out of Melbourne, Australia which documents some phenomenal jazz from down under.  Apparently, the first installment of Pyramid Pieces was a tour-de-force of Australian spiritual jazz, and the comp sold briskly, introducing the world to Jazz Co/Op, the Brian Brown Quintet, the Alan Lee Quartet and others.  In this installment, new names such as Allan Zavod (whose track is the only one available to sample currently), The Charlie Munro, Out To Lunch and several others.  My limited exposure to Aussie jazz…

  • Music

    Niels Henning Ørsted Pedersen – The Bass in the Background

    October 28, 2021 - By 

    Niels Henning Ørsted Pedersen was a phenomenal jazz bassist originally out of Roskilde, Denmark.  He was good enough to be drafted by Count Basie’s touring band but had to reject it due to age restrictions. Imagine working with pianists like Kenny Drew, Tete Montoliu, Lee Konitz, Dexter Gordon, Palle Mikkelborg, Svend Asmussen and Stéphane Grappelli among a host of jazz luminaries.  This collection highlights his work with some of these leading lights, and he makes the bass bop madly.  A stellar collection by Storyville Records.

  • Music

    Bester Quartet – Piazzolla Angels

    October 25, 2021 - By 

    Poland’s For-Tune Records have been consistently releasing high-quality jazz and improv music for some time now, but their latest has a special place for me. This collection, with the exception of Por Una Cabeza (composed by Carlos Gardel) was composed by the inimitable Ástor Piazzólla and arranged Bester Quartet leader and accordionist Jarosław Bester.  It’s remarkable to hear how fluidly tangos by the masters can be translated so well into jazz and improvisational music.

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    Alex Malheiros – Tempos Futuros

    October 13, 2021 - By 

    The London-based record label Far Out Recordings is killing me a little these days!  I was honored to receive tracks from Alex Malheiros’ new album, and I’m pretty sure I’ll be picking it up on disc, but I loathe having to wait too long such treasures to come out.  Still, an album of this magnitude is worth the wait, trust me.  November 21st will come quickly, judging by how fast 2021 has blown by. For those of you who know something about Brazilian jazz, especially of the fusion variety, Alex Malheiros is not going to need any introduction.  For those…

  • Music

    Matthew Halsall – Salute to the Sun – Live at Hallé St. Peter’s

    October 10, 2021 - By 

    There’s not much to say about Matthew Halsall that hasn’t been thoroughly discussed over the past decade. He deserves the accolades, of course, but this live album is quite a treat. This is really going to appeal to fusion fans, especially Bitches Brew and Live-Evil-era Miles Davis, as well as the More modern works of Paul Schütze’s more free form work. Brilliant, but I expect no less from such a giant. For more info on this release, check out his Bandcamp page here.

  • Music

    Shirley Scott – One For Me

    October 7, 2021 - By 

    No matter how ardent a collector of music you are, there are going to be some brilliant artists and albums you will miss.  One could say that that’s part of the fun of discovering music.  Credit for our surprise gem of the day goes squarely to Bandcamp’s blog, where Ashawnta Jackson penned an article on soul jazz.  One of the names mentioned was a lovely lady, Shirley Jackson, whom you see depicted in the cover art and her weapon of choice, a Hammond B-3 organ. Jackson’s back story is impressive, as is how she came to focus on the organ. …

  • Music

    Gideon Nxumalo – Gideon Plays

    September 18, 2021 - By 

    Gideon Plays is apparently seen as a holy grail of South African jazz collectors.  Judging by the performance of pianist and maribist Gideon Nxumalo, this should be seen for what it is – a spiritual jazz masterpiece.  The album swings and grinds through eight tracks of bopping good music. Matsuli Music continues to reissue some astoundingly good music.

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    High Pulp – Motel Money (feat. Takuya Kuroda)

    September 15, 2021 - By 

    High Pulp hail from Seattle, Washington and are currently being published by Anti- Records, best known for releasing albums by Tom Waits, Neko Case and Antibalas.  This sounds like none of them, and it caught my attention in a most pleasant way. Motel Money is a single track, and it’s a burner.  This is an instrumental track, and it mixes in everything from avant-garde jazz to beat-driven R&B to psychedelic synthesizer-heavy electronica, as their release page indicates.  Add to this the stellar trumpet playing by Takuya Kuroda, and you have something that can equal any of the nu jazz bands…

  • Music

    Miša Blam – Sećanja

    September 12, 2021 - By 

    This is one of the coolest archival recordings I’ve come across in some time!  Serbian bassist Miša Blam (Serbian bio only) is a name known to jazz aficionados because of his work with legends like Chet Baker and Sal Nistico, but this album is a minor disco classic.  A lot of jazz-funk was popular throughout Yugoslavia (think of musicians like Igor Savin, Josipa Lisac and the legendary Janko Nilović), but this album was limited to 1,000 copies. Everland Music has preserved a classic of the genre, and are owed a debt of thanks for this re-release.

  • Music

    Enji – Ursgal

    September 3, 2021 - By 

    Enji Erkhem is a jazz singer who is originally from Mongolia, but who currently calls Munich, Germany, home.  She has quite an interesting personal story, growing up in a yurt to a working-class family, traveling to Germany to study music pedagogy, and getting utterly inspired by jazz singers like Carmen McRae, Ella Fitzgerald and Nancy Wilson, while adding folk elements into this framework. Though vocal jazz fans will find much to enjoy in this album, the track which most piqued my interest was the track Aya, which swings and sways in a way that reminded me of Björk’s jazz album,…