Editor's Choice: November 2023 | The best new jazz albums
Friday, October 20, 2023
Featuring new albums from John Scofield, Joshua Redman, Tania Giannouli, Rob Luft and more
corto.alto
Bad With Names
New Soil/Bridge The Gap
Liam Shorthall (g, el b, tb, tba, perc, prod), Mateusz Sobieski (ts, fl), Harry Weir (ts), James Copus (t, flhn), James Mackay (g), Fergus McCreadie (p), Graham Costello (d), Seonaid Aitken, Katrina Lee (vn), Patsy Reid (vla) and Alice Allen (clo)
'Bad With Names is Shortall’s first full-length album and is a highly polished affair, luxuriating in sumptuous strings and warbling lo-fi synths that add shimmering layers atop the muscular virtuoso drumming of Graham Costello...' Mike Flynn
Sam Eastmond
John Zorn’s Bagatelles Vol 16
Tzadik Records
Sam Eastmond (arr, ldr, cond), Chris Williams (as), Asha Parkinson, Emma Rawicz (ts), Mick Foster (bs), Charlotte Keeffe, Noel Langley (t, flhn), Joel Knee (t), Tom Briers (tba), Moss Freed (g), Olly Chalk (p), Fergus Quill (b) and Alasdair Pennington (d)
'This album is an enormous achievement in so many ways, not least in that Sam Eastmond is the first British musician to have been entrusted with realising a selection of US maverick composer John Zorn’s 300 Bagatelles. It is also the first large ensemble interpretation of these works, the brief scoring of which is intended to permit both structure and freedom – always a challenge in bigger band arrangements...' Tony Benjamin
George Freeman
The Good Life
HighNote
George Freeman (g), Joey DeFrancesco (org), Christian McBride (b), Lewis Nash and Carl Allen (d)
'The youngest and last survivor of the famed Chicago-based Freeman brothers, guitarist George worked with the family at first and recorded, live, with Charlie Parker in the early 1950s. He has subsequently made much of his living playing in touring organ combos so the June session here catches him in a favourite setting with just organ and drums, the now-sadly-departed DeFrancesco comping and soloing with characteristic panache...' Peter Vacher
Alex Hitchcock Dream Band
Live in London
Whirlwind Recordings
Alex Hitchcock (ts) plus 1) Mark Kavuma (t), Liselotte Östblom (vcl), Rob Luft (g), Rio Kai (b), Jamie Murray (d); 2) James Copus (t), Kit Downes (p), Lewis Wright (vb), Conor Chaplin (b), Marc Michel (d); 3) Alex Ridout (t), Ant Law (g), Kit Downes (p), Orlando Le Fleming (b) and James Maddren (d)
'It’s impossible to do justice in a short review to a long album as varied and richly satisfying as this. Suffice to say that the composer is an unabashed modernist. He has developed the knack of writing tunes whose shape is hard to discern at first, but which gradually assume recognisable form as they approach the end...' Peter Jones
Tania Giannouli
Solo
Rattle Records
Tania Giannouli (p)
'Whether freely improvised or composed in ways that embrace Eastern phrasings, hints of Greek folk or European classical, Giannouli's prowess on the keys is quietly dazzling...' Jane Cornwell
James Brandon Lewis Red Lily Quintet
For Mahalia With Love
Tao Forms
James Brandon Lewis (ts), Kirk Knuffke (ct), William Parker (b), Chad Taylor (d) and Chris Hoffman (clo)
'Playing a repertoire associated with Mahalia Jackson, arguably the greatest exponent of the Negro spiritual tradition, Lewis captures the intensely emotive character of timeless standards such as ‘Let My People Go’, but most importantly, has found a personal route into this very specific vocabulary...' Kevin Le Gendre
Rob Luft
Dahab Days
Edition Records
Rob Luft (g, kalimba), Joe Wright (ts), Joe Webb (p, org), Tom McCredie (b), Corrie Dick (d); Alice Zawadzki (vn, v), Byron Wallen (t), Steve Buckley (as, penny whistle), Amika string quartet: Simmy Singh, Laura Senior (vn), Lucy Nolan (vla) and Peggy Nolan (clo)
'Luft has already reached the point where his lush, melodic music sounds like no one else’s. It’s neither cautious nor introspective. Instead, it encourages us to look outwards, freed from time and place, to be continually inspired by curiosity and optimism. The whole album is a thrilling voyage of discovery...' Peter Jones
Wolfgang Muthspiel
Dance of the Elders
ECM
Wolfgang Muthspiel (g), Scott Colley (b) and Brian Blade (d)
'A gift of an album, which words are too clumsy to describe. Just buy it...' Andy Robson
Joshua Redman
where are we
Blue Note
Joshua Redman (ts), Aaron Parks (p), Joe Sanders (b), Brian Blade (d), Gabrielle Cavassa (v), with guests Joel Ross (vb), Kurt Rosenwinkel, Peter Bernstein (g) and Nicholas Payton (t)
'What is something of a diversion for Redman turns into one of the unexpected big hits of 2023...' Selwyn Harris
John Scofield
Uncle John’s Band
ECM
John Scofield (g), Vincente Archer (b) and Bill Stewart (d)
'It’s his most absorbing and compelling album for a long while, simply because it captures the freewheeling let’s-see-where-the-music-takes-us ethos
that characterises Scofield’s playing in live performance...' Stuart Nicholson
Shake Stew
Lila
Traumton
Lukas Kranzelbinder (b, guembri), Johannes Schleiermacher (ts, f), Mario Rom (t), Astrid Wiesinger (as, kalimba), Oliver Potratz (el b), Nikolaus Dolp (d, log d), Herbert Pirker (d, perc) and Precious Nnebedum (v)
'This is an album of enormous, integral sonic detail and exploratory zeal, adding six more chambers to Shake Stew’s sultry house of music...' Nick Hasted
