Django Bates & Norrbotten Big Band

Tenacity

Lost Marble

Django Bates (p, v) Petter Eldh (b, v) Peter Bruun (d, v) plus Norbotten Big Band (reeds, brass, guitar). Rec. 2013–2020

Charlie Parker’s music is given a thoughtfully adventurous new lease of orchestral life that amounts to something other than orchestral bebop, particularly on ‘Donna Lee’ where the theme is skillfully spread over a tempo that is more relaxed than Bird’s high-flying moments. The trio’s chemistry remains well intact while the rich dynamics of the big band, particularly the deployment of piccolos and bass clarinets, sometimes on sparky Latin grooves, bring substantial new layers to the table... Kevin Le Gendre

Subscribe to read the full review 

Fini Bearman

La Loba

Bad Mother Records 

Fini Bearman (v, ts, g, p, el b, perc) and Zosia Jagodzinska (clo). Rec. August 2019 – January 2020

Captivating a cappella intros, soaring choruses, tintinnabulating codas. Singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Fini Bearman’s fourth album La Loba limns an intriguing picture of her development as both songwriter and storyteller. The album’s incredibly distinctive soundworld is created almost entirely by Bearman alone, from the dramatic, stacked up vocal harmonies and rippling layers of stringed instruments (including not only guitar but also charango, mandolin and uke), to an array of percussion... Peter Quinn

Subscribe to read the full review 

James Beckwith

Long Distance

Self-release (DL)

James Beckwith (p, Fender Rhodes, org, perc, syn, syn b, vocoder), Chelsea Carmichael (ts, one track), Alex Hitchcock (ts, two tracks), Joe Downard (b, syn b), AJ Brinkman (syn b, one track) Harry Pope (d), Zoe Kypri (v), Will Harvey, Olivia Holland, Dan Oates (vn, one track), Lizzie Boyce, Pippa Bint (vla, one track) and Greg Duggan (clo, one track). Rec. date not stated

Keyboardist Beckwith’s debut is a disarmingly dreamy suite, breaking down barriers between past and present over similarly borderless fusion sounds. The titular distance is between his London home and girlfriend in Canada, inspiring wider thoughts on division and its collapse. Integration of the often-divisive vocoder is helped by Zoe Kyrpi’s sweeter voice, interlaced too with soul-jazz Hammond on the likes of ‘Topimpa’... Nick Hasted

Subscribe to read the full review 

RYMDEN

Space Sailors

Jazzland

Bugge Westeltoff (p), Dan Berglund (b) and Magnus Öström (d). Rec. 2019

You can only make a first impression once, and RYMDEN’s debut album, Reflections and Odysseys, was always going to be a hard act to follow. Space Sailors doesn’t make the mistake of coming up with more of the same, so avoiding invidious comparison with their impressive debut, instead it offers something different. Switching between an acoustic piano trio and an electronic band, they draw on a wide range of electronic sounds and textures but what remains fixed is the exploratory zeal and musical inventiveness of the band... Stuart Nicholson

Subscribe to read the full review 

Harold López-Nussa

Te Lo Dije

Mack Avenue Records 

Harold López-Nussa (p, ky, background v), Mayquel González (t, background v), Julio César González (b, background v), Ruy Adrián López-Nussa (d, perc, background v). Plus: Vincent Peirani (acc), Cimafunk, Kelvis Ochoa (v), Randy Malcom (v, timbales), Heikel Fabián Trimiño (t), José Julián Morejón (perc) and Jorge Aragon (add. ky). Rec. date not stated

The latest release from Havana-based pianist and composer Harold López-Nussa possesses irrepressible party DNA. From the opener, ‘Habana Sin Sabanas’ (meaning roughly ‘Havana exposed’), through to the disc’s closer, ‘Van Van Meets New Orleans’, the band – consisting of the pianist’s core quartet of drummer Ruy Adrián LópezNussa, bassist Julio César González and trumpeter Mayquel González, supplemented with a variety of guest performers – rarely pauses for breath as it fearlessly melds jazz with a range of popular styles, not least Songo on that last track and reggaetón on ‘JazzTón’... Robert Shore

Subscribe to read the full review 

The Christian McBride Big Band

For Jimmy, Wes and Oliver

Mack Avenue

Christian McBride (b), Joey DeFrancesco (org), Mark Whitfield (g), Frank Greene, Freddie Hendrix, Brandon Lee, Nabate Isles, Anthony Hervey (t), Steve Wilson, Todd Bashore, Ron Blake, Dan Pratt, Carl Maraghi (reeds), Michael Dease, Steve Davis, James Burton, Douglas Purviance (tbn) and Quincy Phillips (d). Rec. 2019

For almost a decade, Christian McBride’s big band has been admired for its power, exuberance and swing – pretty much exactly the qualities McBride himself exhibits as a double bassist. This mix of big-band and quartet tracks celebrates the legendary 1966 guitar and Hammond organ partnership of Wes Montgomery and Jimmy Smith which produced the albums The Dynamic Duo, and Further Adventures of Jimmy and Wes with an Oliver Nelson-arranged ensemble behind them – classics that McBride and organist Joey DeFrancesco wore out the vinyl of in their Philly high school days. DeFrancesco takes the Smith role here alongside guitarist Mark Whitfield, and the 10 tracks join covers from the 1966 sessions to originals and standards in the same exhilarating vein... John Fordham

Subscribe to read the full review 

Ulf Wakenius

Taste of Honey

ACT

Ulf Wakenius (g), Lars Danielsson (vc, b) and Magnus Öström (d). Rec. 12-13 Sept 2019

Anyone who knows Ulf Wakenius’s work from his playing in Oscar Peterson’s latterday quartet will recall his combative jousting with OP, NHØP and Martin Drew. This beautifully measured homage to Paul McCartney could not be more different. It is reflective and brilliantly interactive chamber jazz. Even an up-tempo ‘Eleanor Rigby’ somehow maintains a degree of introspection despite some dazzlingly nimble playing from Wakenius... Alyn Shipton

Subscribe to read the full review