Denmark’s SteepleChase Records has a brilliant catalog worth exploring, featuring not only homegrown talent like Niels-Henning Ørsten Pedersen and Pierre Dørge but also internationally known stars like Lee Konitz, Cedar Walton, Sun Ra and the inimitable Chet Baker among others. This particular album is led by pianist Duke Jordan, and Continue Reading
Jazz
Amir ElSaffar – Inana
Inana is the fourth album by Iraqi-American trumpeter Amir ElSaffar which came out in 2011. The trumpeter starts the album with eight tracks dedicated to Inanna, the Mesopotamian goddess of sex, beauty, war and political power. ElSaffar mixes microtonal jazz with Arabic scales such as maqam, which seems to be Continue Reading
Arthur Lyman – Island Vibes
The ever-brilliant Aloha Got Soul Records is about to release a lost masterpiece of exotica. Arthur Lyman played vibraphone and marimba, and with these tools, nature sounds and some fine musicians backing him up, he managed to conjure up images of life in the South Pacific and Hawaii, which had Continue Reading
Anna Michaels & Yordan Kostov Quintet – Abstract Attitude
Anna Michaels is not the Toni Morrison-kind of poet I can’t get into. Rather, she has the power of a street storyteller, the sort of person who you can engage at a New York or Los Angeles coffee shop talking about her experiences across the world, her observations of American Continue Reading
Various Artists – Brazil USA 70: Brazilian Music In The USA In The 1970s
We’ll have to rely on a different way of hearing the tracks on this phenomenal comp released by Soul Jazz Records and Mr. Bongo. Consider heading over to Sounds of the Universe’s page to sample tunes from one of the best and widest-ranging comps I’ve had the pleasure of hearing Continue Reading
Salah Ragab and The Cairo Jazz Band – Egyptian Jazz
How do such wonderful musicians get lost in the mists of time? It boggles the mind, though I must say I’m happy to be living in an age of crate-divers and those who have the same passion of discovering music as I do. This particular artist, Salah Ragab, a military Continue Reading
Leon Thomas – Song For My Father
May you, the reader, have a wonderful Fathers Day. We’ll be reviewing again tomorrow. For now, enjoy Leon Thomas grooving.
Tofa Jaxx – A Guy Like Me EP
In normally more partial to listening to old, stripped down 60s soul than I am to hearing modern R&B, but this gem out of Tanzania, by way of the U.K., caught my ear in a most pleasant way. Our friends at Delicious Tunes do yeoman’s work spending time all over Continue Reading
Samo Salamon & Hasse Poulsen – String Dancers
Musicians never cease to amaze me. Despite the horrible conditions which have led to worldwide lockdown, artists like Samo Salamon, a guitarist out of Slovenia, and Hasse Poulsen, originally from Denmark, manage to weave together an acoustic guitar-only album of improvisations that don’t sound like what you normally associate with Continue Reading
Various Artists – Haute Culture: A Rough Guide To Russian Contemporary Jazz Music
Dave Summer penned an article on the state of Russian jazz today, and one of the featured releases was a compilation of artists featured on the Rainy Days record label. This is a great way to explore these innovators, including saxophonists Azat Bayazitov and Andrew Krasilnikov, bassist Makar Novikov, drummer Continue Reading