Editor's Choice: April 2024 | The best new jazz albums

Thursday, March 14, 2024

This month we welcome new releases from Melissa Aldana, James Brandon Lewis Quartet, Trio HLK, Chris Potter and more

melissa aldana

Melissa Aldana

Echoes of the Inner Prophet

Blue Note

Melissa Aldana (ts), Lage Lund (g, effects), Fabian Almazan (p, effects), Pablo Menares (b) and Kush Abadey (d). Rec. date not stated

The enigmatic ‘Unconscious Whispers’ offers a new angle on what’s termed as ‘spiritual’ jazz and is a refreshing antidote to the current penchant for stylised regurgitations of the mid-1960’s ‘cosmic’ period. Echoes of the Inner Prophet is an album that succeeds in reinvigorating the jazz genre. Selwyn Harris

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Doncaster Jazz Alumni 50 Years

Doncaster Jazz Alumni

50 Years

Ubuntu

Tom Ashe, Damian Bell, Martin Bradley, Reuben Fowler, James Hamilton, Mike King, Gareth Smith, Tom Tait, Mark White, Stuart Wilson (t), Pete Beachill, Jacob Cooper, Chris Groves, Lee Hallam, Rory Ingham, Dan Jones, Harry Maund, Richard Potts, Jonathan Reed, Winston Rollins, Ellie Smith, Richard Wigley (tb), Colin Latimer, Karen Latimer, Robin Tait (fr h), Kate Ashwood (f), Mark Ellis, Rob McGrath, Cat Miles, Dean Nixon, Sarah Potts, Mark Sabin, Myvanwy Smith, Nadim Teimoori (reeds), Martin Longhawn, Andy Vintner (p), Manolo Polidario (g), Paul Baxter, Sean Hodgson (b), Jonathan ‘Stan’ White (el b), Steve Hanley, Joe Sykes (d), Rob Clark (perc), John Ellis MBE, Reuben Fowler and Al Wood (MD). Rec. 1-2 October 2022

Twelve performances, a dozen charts, some by noted US writers, multiple lineups, varied soloists, but above all a zest in execution and a sense that whatever the challenges offered by these often-complex pieces, these players, old and new, have them sorted. Peter Vacher

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Flo and The Murmurs The Waves

Flo and The Murmurs

The Waves

La Buissonne 

Marie-Florence Burki (v), Sofia de Falco (vn), Paula Hsu (vla), Bernardette Köbele, Elodie Théry (clo) and Snejana Prodanova (b). Rec. 1-3 June 2023

Virginia Woolf was an impressionist, with a stream-of-consciousness style that is part poetry, part prose - particularly striking in the novel that has inspired this work. As such, it lends itself well to musical interpretation. The compositions feel pastoral and sensual, dramatic and interior, and both voice and quartet are beautifully recorded. Peter Jones

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Ruth Goller Skyllumina

Ruth Goller

Skyllumina

International Anthem

Ruth Goller (b, el b, v), Jim Hart (vb, d), Tom Skinner (d, elec), Max Andrzejewski, Frank Rosaly, Emanuele Maniscalco, Sebastian Rochford, Mark Sanders (d), Bex Burch (sanza, ilimba) and Will Glaser (gongs). Rec. 2023

Goller's penchant for experimentation and collaboration might have its roots in the DIY punk scene she inhabited as a teenager but it is also unmistakably, liberatingly, jazz; this marvellously sucker-punching recording, just 44 minutes long, finds the London-based Goller - formerly a mainstay of outfits from Acoustic Ladyland and Melt Yourself Down to Bex Burch's glorious Vula Viel - augmenting every piece with a different, similarly inventive drummer. Jane Cornwell

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James Brandon Lewis Quartet Transfiguration

James Brandon Lewis Quartet

Transfiguration

Intakt

James Brandon Lewis (ts), Aruan Ortiz (p), Brad Jones (b) and Chad Taylor (d). Rec. 2022

The ensemble sound can be tough, grainy and heavy, but also lyrical and plaintive, as exemplified by the beautiful gospel-tinged closer, ‘Elan Vital’, which betrays the known interest Lewis has for the music of Mahalia Jackson among others. This latest release further strengthens the argument that Lewis really is a modern-day tenor titan. Kevin Le Gendre

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Kjetil Mulelid

Kjetil Mulelid

Agoja

Odin

Kjetil Mulelid (p, ky), Bárður Reinert Poulsen (b), Andreas Winther (d), Lars Horntveth (pedal steel), plus Arve Henriksen, Mathias Eick, Lyder Røed (t), Selma French (vn), Martin Myhre Olsen (ts, ss), Trygve Seim (ts), Sasha Berliner (vib) and Signe Emmeluth (as). Rec. 6-8 December 2022

Norway’s jazz scene often sits happily out on its own limb – the native sound palette swirling with folkloric flourishes and breathy lyricism. Thus, it’s to burgeoning piano talent Kjetil Mulelid’s credit that he’s forged an intuitive link to more conventional sounds, making space for solos and collective improvisation on this wonderfully open-hearted set. Mike Flynn

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Rufus Reid & Sullivan Fortner It’s the Nights I Like

Rufus Reid & Sullivan Fortner

It’s the Nights I Like

Sunnyside Communications

Rufus Reid (b) and Sullivan Fortner (p). Rec. 5 July 2021

Heard live, Rufus is a mesmerising player, and this album comes close to communicating that. Despite the 40-something year age gap between them, Sullivan is completely on the same wavelength, and their mutual exploration of everything from the old standard ‘Sweet Lorraine’ to a version of Jimmy Rowles’s ‘The Peacocks’ (that has Reid soloing over a subtle piano background), shares their joyful investigations with us. Alyn Shipton

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Chris Potter Eagle's Point

Chris Potter

Eagle's Point

Edition

Chris Potter (ts, b-cl, ss), Brad Mehldau (p), John Patitucci (db), Brian Blade (d). Rec. 2022

Potter injects a mix of both tough and tender aspects of his primary influences Rollins and Trane, and Patitucci and Mehldau are at the height of their storytelling powers soloing on ‘Cloud Message’, a sensuous swinger that fizzes with Patitucci and Blade’s driving yet feathery swing. Selwyn Harris

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Trio HLK Anthropometricks

Trio HLK

Anthropometricks

Ubuntu

Rich Harrold (p, syn), Ant Law (8 -string g), Rich Kass (d, perc) with Evelyn Glennie (vb, mba, perc), Natalie Clein (clo) and Varijashree Venugopal (v). Rec. 4-9 January 2023

Anthropometricks applies the same process that Trio HLK employed on their debut Standard Time. Shards of standards are slivered from the original then patterned and played around with (in every sense) to create a fresh newness. So ‘Concertinas (for Bill)’ may have bubbled free from ‘All Blues’ and be a backhanded compliment to Bill Evans, while ‘Flanagan’s Lament’ may allude to Tommy Flanagan chasing the ‘Trane across ‘Giant Steps’. Andy Robson

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All of these albums, and dozens more, are reviewed in the April 2024 issue of Jazzwise magazine. Never miss an issue – subscribe today

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