• Music

    Cathrine Legardh, Sigurdur Flosason – Stilhed & Storm

    July 6, 2023 - By 

    Nordic jazz tends to be very warm in my experience.  This collection of original tunes by Danish singer Cathrine Legardh and her sparring partner on this album, alto saxophonist Sigurður Flosason, make an album with songs of love, live and even dogs.  It’s a mellow listen, something hotter than cool jazz, but measured in its playing.  A gorgeously relaxing disc. One additional note: I’ve picked up a few titles from the label that released this disc, Storyville Records.  They handle new music and reissues with great care and are a label absolutely worth supporting.

  • Music

    Leisure Time 閒暇 – Normal Music

    July 5, 2023 - By 

    Taiwanese band Leisure Time 閒暇 produce a music that sits in that hazy area between real and fake jazz.  I think the quote the band used by the legendary Donald Fagen of Steely Dan sums up their sound best: “There was sort of cheap music, tv music, movie music. By cheap I mean, not really in a disparaging way but it’s written to support something else. […] And so, I both like real jazz and fake jazz, and also, fake fake jazz.” Real of fake, it’s pleasant listening.

  • Music

    Pray For Your Prey – Pray For Your Prey

    July 2, 2023 - By 

    At least as I understand it, there is a magnificent label out of Greece, Defkaz,  releasing some really fine free jazz and world music.  This particular album features one name whose work I’m very familiar with – the Hungarian drummer Balázs Pándi, who is magnificent.  After hearing him work with the trio of Giovanni di Domenico (fender rhodes), Gonçalo Almeida (bass) and Giotis Damianidis (guitar), you have the makings of a young European supergroup.  Free, cinematic, and a joy to hear. Check out their website, and if you’re interested in hearing these gems, contact koufaelas [at] defkaz.com.  He’ll get those…

  • Music

    Joe Williams – Can’t Resist You – My Summer Love

    June 25, 2023 - By 

    This is simply a masterpiece.  Joe Williams was one of the most lauded voice in the big band era, and worked with legends like Lionel Hampton and Count Basie.  From Nagel Hayer’s Bandcamp site: “Simply one of the greatest Jazz or even Blues vocal albums of all time. Joe Williams is smooth and yet authentic. The recording quality is sublime. Play it at the beach, the pool, the bar, for a barbecue, a romantic dinner or with a sundowner in your hands viewing the setting sun over the dune sea in the west. Among the highlights are “I Don’t Know…

  • Music

    Ayako Shinozaki – Music Now For Harp

    June 13, 2023 - By 

    Great news, yet again, has been provided to us by our dear friends at Wewantsounds!  From their Bandcamp site: “Wewantsounds is delighted to announce the first international reissue of Ayako Shinozaki’s hard to find LP “Music Now For Harp” released in 1974 by Nippon Columbia. The LP was released on the label’s cult “Master Sonic” series and features Shinozaki’s harp soundscape on works by renowned composer Toru Takemitsu and Katsuhiro Tsubono. The highlight of the album is the spaced-out, ethereal 25-min ambient epic ‘Heterodyne’ featuring cult musician Takehisa Kosugi (Taj Mahal Travellers, Group Ongaku) on electric violin and sound waves.…

  • Music

    Yuri Vikharev / Juris Āķis / Einārs Raibais – The Lost Latvian TV Studio Sessions 1967

    June 12, 2023 - By 

    This archival recording is a swinger released from Latvian specialty label Jersika Records.  It consists of pianist, jazz journalist and and record collector Yuri Viharev, paired with bassist Juris Āķis and drummer Einārs Raibais.  This was the cream of Latvian jazz, and it’s a massive event to see this label reissue such a vital recording.  They have quite a few more in store, so we wait with baited breath to hear these.

  • Music

    Kuba Płużek Quartet – Froots

    May 17, 2023 - By 

    My first morning in Beijing gets its soundtrack thank to my friend Slava in Kazakhstan, who shared this slightly haunting bit of jazz fusion by polish bandleader Kuba Plużek. The swing on this album is dark but hip, and reminds me of the bands of his countryman, the long-departed Krzysztof Komeda.

  • Music

    Ivan Grebenschikov – The Endless Winter

    May 16, 2023 - By 

    I’ll be in-flight over South Korea by the time you’re reading this post, and I thought I’d leave you with an incredibly rich and diverse album by Russian pianist Ivan Grebenschikov and his group.  The Endless Winter is his latest work, and it is a seamless combination of art-rock, contemporary classical music and prog, though more discerning ears might even find correlations to artists on the ECM and Enja Records stable.  Stunningly good.