The best new jazz albums - Jazzwise Editor’s Choice: June 2022
Thursday, May 26, 2022
Featuring new albums from Trish Clowes, Espen Eriksen Trio, Mary Halvorson, Alexander Hawkins Mirror Canon and more
Trish Clowes
A View With A Room
Greenleaf Music
Trish Clowes (ts), (ss), Ross Stanley (p, ky, Hammond org), Chris Montague (g) and James Maddren (d)
Hopefully, one of the last releases – although certainly one of the best – born from the disaster that was the pandemic lockdown. Clowes, without sentimentality, but with much craft and no little passion, has found some sweetness amid the pain and loss. This is music of communication and community forged from a time when both were, and still remain, under threat... Andy Robson
Espen Eriksen Trio ft Andy Sheppard
In the Mountains
Rune Grammofon
Espen Eriksen (p), Lars Tormod (b), Andreas Bye (d), plus Andy Sheppard (ts)
An album of classy, inventive jazz improvisation that’s pretty near perfect... Stuart Nicholson
Mary Halvorson
Amaryllis/Belladonna
Nonesuch Records
Mary Halvorson (g), Adam O’Farrill (t), Jacob Garchik (tb), Patricia Brennan (vib), Tomas Fujiwara (d) and the Mivos String Quartet
A new label and a flowering of new material from the ever-fecund Halvorson. There are actually two different albums which can be bought together or separately. Each stands alone but it’s impossible not to compare and contrast how they complement yet challenge each other... Andy Robson
Alexander Hawkins Mirror Canon
Break A Vase
Intakt
Alexander Hawkins (p, sampler), Shabaka Hutchings (ts, ss, f), Otto Fischer (el g), Neil Charles (b, el b), Stephen Davis (d) and Richard Olátundé Baker (adamo, perc)
Two enormously productive UK musicians, Hawkins and Hutchings, join together (alongside bass hotshot Neil Charles, aka Ben Marc) for this intriguing album which takes its inspiration from West Indian poet Derek Walcott's famous Nobel Prize acceptance speech: "Break a vase, and the love that reassembles the fragments is stronger than that love which took its symmetry for granted when it was whole."... Kevin Whitlock
Brian Jackson
This Is Brian Jackson
BBE
Brian Jackson (f, el p, v), Domenica Fossati (af), Binky Brice (g, el b), Moussa Fadera, Carlos Sanchez, TONTO, Harvey Mason (d) Daniel Collas, Lucio De Coldest, Barnett Williams (perc), Nair BT Rebor (ky), Aurelio Valle (g), Juliet Swango, Monika Heidemann (v), Ben Romans-Hopcraft (b), Camelia Hartman, Claire Solomon and Sampaguita Strings (strings)
From the first tune of a set of very consistent material, Jackson proves to be the man with an ability to create groove and melody that compares favourably to the Stevie Wonders and Donny Hathaways of the world... Kevin Le Gendre
Roberto Occhipinti
The Next Step
Modica Music
Roberto Occhipinti (b), Adrean Farrugia (p), Larnell Lewis (d) and Ilaria Crociante (v)
Pianist Farrugia and drummer Lewis are repeatedly allowed their moments to shine; closer ‘A Tynerish Swing’ is remarkable for its interplay and shifts in focus, for a vibe as airy and cerebral as its swinging and visceral. Highly recommended... Jane Cornwell
Jeremy Pelt
Soundtrack
HighNote
Jeremy Pelt (t), Anne Drummond (f), Chien Chien Lu (vib), Victor Gould (p), Brittany Anjou (mellotron, Moog), Vincente Archer (b) and Allan Mednard (d)
Jeremy Pelt’s first post-lockdown recording finds the trumpeter back on track with his regular working band. The opener, 'Picking Up the Pieces' establishes the American’s core aesthetic by fading in with modal walking bass swing and fading out over edgy modern-day funk. The rest of the album unfolds like a well-programmed classy club date... Mike Hobart
Ches Smith
Interpret It Well
Pyroclastic Records
Ches Smith (d, vib), Bill Frisell (g), Mat Maneri (vla) and Craig Taborn (ky)
The busy separate schedules of these four players makes regular get-togethers on Ches Smith's ventures inevitably rare, so Interpret It Well is a particularly precious document... John Fordham
Julie Tippetts and Martin Archer
Illusion
Discus Music
Julie Tippetts (v, perc), Martin Archer (ky, elec, woodwind), Laura Cole (p), Anton Hunter (el g, elec), Peter Fairclough (d, perc), Seth Bennett (b), Corey Mwamba (vib, f), Nick Robinson (g, elec), BJ Cole (slide g), Charlotte Keeffe (t, flhn), George Murray (tb), Steve Dinsdale (d), Paul Schatzberger (vn), Aby Vulliamy (vla), Angela Rosenfeld, Liz Hanks (clo), Simmy Singh (vn, vla), James Archer, Mark Hadman , Michael Harding, Hervé Perez and Chris Trent (elec)
The pair have managed to create a typically ambitious double album maintaining the high-resolution sonic quality that distinguished their previous work... Tony Benjamin
Read the reviews of all of these albums, and many more, in the June issue of Jazzwise. Never miss an issue – subscribe today
