2023 Jazz Releases, Vol. 5

Small but charming, this collection ranges from this year’s Grammy nominations to rare discoveries. It is all about how many times the tracks taking part in our unified music program can be listened to with interest, while also creating a joyful and energetic mood. We move forward with quality as our ally. Enjoy!

Mingus Big Band – The Charles Mingus Centennial Sessions (2022)
Genre: Big band jazz
Label: Jazz Workshop, Inc. / Many Hats Distribution
Place: New York
Reviews: CharlesMingus, NoTremble
Listen: Bandcamp, Deezer, Spotify, Youtube

These Mingus Big Band recordings, honouring Charles Mingus’ 100th anniversary, are back in the spotlight, as they’ve earned a nomination for this year’s Grammy Awards

Sullivan Fortner – Solo Game
Genre: Piano jazz
Label: Artwork Records
Place: USA
Reviews: MakingAScene, AllAboutJazz, JazzDesk
Listen: Deezer, Spotify, Youtube

Mentored by Fred Hersh and Jason Moran, having also featured in Roy Hargrove’s and Cecile McLorin Salvant’s lineups, Sullivan Fortner, at  37, is already considered a great pianist who stands out for his clear, dexterous playing and his distinctive, polyphonic style. This 4th, solo album of him, is among the best of 2023

Sandunes – The Ground Beneath Her Feet
Genre: Vocal, electronic
Label: Tru Thoughts
Place: Los Angeles
Reviews: RollingStoneIndia, MintLounge
Listen: Bandcamp, Deezer, Spotify, Youtube

On her third “transcendental” album, Indian producer, composer and performer Sanaya Ardeshir (aka Sandunes) exposes her social sensibilities

Ron Horton – A Prayer for Andrew
Genre: Modern jazz
Label: Newvelle Records
Place: Paris
Reviews: NewvelleRecords, LondonJazzNews, BroadwayWorld
Listen: Bandcamp, Deezer, Spotify, Youtube

Pianist Andrew Hill’s (1931-2007) compositions, reworked by his admirer and collaborator, trumpeter Ron Horton, featuring competent masters of the style, Marty Ehrlich (as), John O’Gallagher (as), Marc Mommaas (ts), Frank Kimbrough (p), Dean Johnson (b) and Tim Horner (dr)

SAI – YELLOW
Genre: Contemporary jazz, fusion, jazz-hop
Label: SAIKORO Records
Place: Japan (?)
Reviews: Ototoy
Listen: Deezer, Spotify, Youtube

Contemporary jazz grooves by TAIHEI (keys), Yusuke Sase (tp), Keigo Iwami (b), and Chino Matsuura (dr)

Orbiting Human Circus – Quartet Plus Two
Genre: Mainstream jazz, chill
Label: Merge Records
Place: Athens, Georgia
Reviews: MergeRecords, StereoGum
Listen: Bandcamp, Deezer, Spotify, Youtube

Classic jazz takes on another dimension, with the addition of the “angelic” sound of musical saws by the duo North and Romika, and the lo-fi voice of the group’s originator, Julian Koster

Cécile McLorin Salvant – Mélusine
Genre: Vocal jazz
Label: Nonesuch
Place: New York
Reviews: AllMusic, AllAboutJazz, JazzWise
Listen: Bandcamp, Deezer, Spotify, Youtube

The top voice of jazz today is again nominated for a fourth Grammy Award, singing to us in French the folkloric legend of Mélusine. Featuring Sullivan Fortner, or Aaron Diehl (p), Paul Sikivie, or Luques Curtis (b), Kyle Pool, or Obed Calvaire (dr), Godwin Louis (as)

Adam Blackstone – Legacy: The Instrumental Jawn
Genre: Contemporary jazz, fusion, r&b
Label: Bassic Black Ent.
Place: New York
Reviews: TheBassMagazine
Listen: Deezer, Spotify, Youtube

The 41 y.o. bassist Adam Blackstone is one of the most successful musical directors for the music industry’s star concerts, as well as for major television shows. Here, along with a series of famous collaborators and guests (Terrace Martin, John Scofield, Cory Henry, Dontae Winslow, Robert Glasper and others) he sets up a tasteful program and earns a Grammy Award nomination.

Grace Maffucci – Grace Maffucci’s Senior Jazz Recital
Genre: Vocal jazz
Label: Mermaid Milk
Place: New York
Reviews:
Listen: Deezer, Spotify, Youtube

Searching for information about the talented Grace Maffucci who excels in her graduation jazz concert, we discover that she is also a skilled classical singer, and perhaps that explains everything

Yazmin Lacey – Voice Notes
Genre: r&b/soul, beats
Label: Own Your Own Records/Believe
Place: Nottingham, UK
Reviews: TheGuardian, ClashMusic
Listen: Bandcamp, Deezer, Spotify, Youtube

Yazmin Lacey’s pleasant songs rely on relaxing beats and seem to resonate with a primarily youthful audience

Tin Men and the Telephone – Greatest
Genre: Modern jazz
Label: RoeM Records
Place: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Reviews: 
Listen: Bandcamp, Deezer, Spotify, Youtube

Modern jazz that carries messages, from Tin Men and the Telephone, an innovating trio by Tony Roe (p, synths), Pat Cleaver (b), Jamie Peet (dr), and their guests

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M O R E   N E W   R E L E A S E S
(that you may be interested in)

VOCALISTS

• Sarah McKenzie – Without You
• Will Downing – Soul Rising
• Mila Svarovskaya Jazz Vocal School – Jazz from Kids

TRUMPETERS

• Palle Mikkelborg, Jakob Bro, Marilyn Mazur – Strands (Live at the Danish Radio Concert Hall) (ECM)

SAXOPHONISTS, CLARINETISTS, FLUTISTS

• Will Vinson, Gilad Hekselman, Nate Wood – Trio Grande: Urban Myth (Whirlwind)
• Miguel Zenón, Dan Tepfer – Internal Melodies
• Cory Weeds – Home Cookin’ (Cellar Live)
• Alex Hitchcock – Dream Band: Live in London (Whirlwind)
• Elijah Shiffer – City Of Birds, Volume I
• Julien Lourau – Crianças (The Music of Wayne Shorter)
  (ft. Magic Malik, ..)
• Evan Parker, Barry Guy – So it Goes…
• Gregory Tardy – In His Timing
• Kenny G – Innocence (Concord)
• Mike DiRubbo – Inner Light
• Saori Yano – The Golden Dawn
• Nicole Mitchell – Sesc Jazz: Nicole Mitchell’s Black Earth Sway
• John Ellis Quartet – Bizet: Carmen in Jazz
  (Gary Versace, Reuben Rogers, Jason Marsalis)
• Brötzmann, Bekkas, Drake – Catching Ghosts, Live at Jazzfest Berlin (ACT)
• Andrew Pereira – Lost In Plain Sight (Fresh Sound New Talent)
  
• Allison Au, The Migrations Ensemble – Migrations
• Straight Horns – Fragments
• Loren Stillman – Time and Again (Sunnyside)
  (Drew Gress, Mark Ferber)
• Rich Halley – Fire Within
  (Matthew Shipp, Michael Bisio, Newman Taylor Baker)

TROMBONISTS, TUBISTS

• Ray Anderson, Bobby Previte – Double Trouble (Double Moon)
• Trombone Ensemble Nabou Claerhout – Trombone Ensemble Nabou Claerhout (W.E.R.F.)

GUITARISTS

• Lage Lund – Most Peculiar (Criss Cross)
  (Sullivan Fortner, Matt Brewer & Tyshawn Sorey)
• Oz Noy – Triple Play (Abstract Logix)
  (Dennis Chambers, Jimmy Haslip)
• Susan Alcorn Septeto del Sur – Canto (Relative Pitch)
• Cory Wong – Live At Montreux Jazz Fest
• Ella Zirina – Unraveler (Dox)

PIANISTS, KEYBOARDISTS

• Joey Alexander – Continuance (Mack Avenue)

  (Theo Croker, Kris Funn, John Davis)
• Emmet Cohen – Masters Legacy Series, Volume 5: Houston Person (La Reserve)
• Nitai Hershkovits – Call On The Old Wise (ECM)
• Lafayette Gilchrist – Undaunted
• John Blum, David Murray, Chad Taylor – The Recursive Tree (Relative Pitch)
• Lisa Hilton – Coincidental Moment
• Bernie Senensky – Moment To Moment (Cellar Live)
  (Eric Alexander, Kieran Ovens, Joe Farnsworth)
• George Colligan, Zyanna – The Phyllis Wheatley Project
• Carsten Dahl – Prism (Storyville)
• Jean-Christophe Cholet – Large Whispers – DIAGONAL

BASSISTS

• Kenneth Jimenez – Sonnet to Silence (We Jazz)

  (Gerald Cleaver, Angelica Sanchez, Hery Paz)
• Jasper Høiby – Three Elements: Earthness (Edition)
• Kevin Romain – Salience Network

DRUMMERS, PERCUSSIONISTS

• Sean Noonan – Bartalk

  (ft. Ligeti Quartet, Alex Ward, ..)
• Nate Smith – Pocket Change 2: Mad Currency
• Jean-Pierre Jullian Quartet – Mitoa

VIBRAPHONISTS

• Jason Marsalis, Waren Wolf – Live At The 2023 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
• Yuhan Su – Liberated Gesture (Sunnyside)
  (Matt Mitchell, Caroline Davis, Marty Kenney, Dan Weiss)

VIOLINISTS, CELLISTS

• Josh Zubot – Josh Zubot Strings

BIG BANDS, ORCHESTRAS, ENSEMBLES

• Drew Zaremba – Reunion
• Nikki Iles, NDR Bigband – Face to Face (Edition)
• Ancient Infinity Orchestra – River of Light (Gondwana)
• Munich Lab Band – The Way Things Are
• Jakob Helling Concert Big Band – Nerds & Sweeties (Galileo)
  (ft. Fay Claassen)
• Doncaster Jazz Alumni – 50 Years (Ubuntu)
  (John Ellis MBE)
• One O’Clock Lab Band – Lab 2023
• Joan Chamorro – Sant Andreu Abraça Brasil (Live)
• ADDA Simfònica, Josep Vicent, Emilio Solla – The Chick Corea Symphony Tribute. Ritmo (Warner) – (ft. Paquito D’Rivera, Antonio Lizana, ..)
• The Flying Horse Big Band – A Message from the Flying Horse Big Band
• Callum Au, Louis Dowdeswell – Louis & Cal’s Ultimate Big Band Toolkit, Vol. 2
• SWR Big Band, Torsten Maass – Music Written by Real Life, Pt. 2 (Naxos)
• Raul Gutierrez and His Cuban Big Band – In a Sentimental Mood
• Sammy Miller and the Congregation – Joyful Jazz at Lincoln Center (Night 1) [Live]

GROUPS

• Chick Corea Elektric Band – The Future Is Now (Live) (Candid)
  (John Patitucci, Frank Gambale, Eric Marienthal, Dave Weckl)
• Skalpel – Big Band Live
• MoonMot – 350 Million Herring (Enja Yellowbird)
• Rashied Ali Tribute Band – Live in NYC: Vol. 3 (JazzTribes)
  (ft. Josh Evans, Eric McPherson, ..)
• Tumbando a Monk – Nadie Conoce este Misterio
• Prism Quartet, Tony Arnold, Arturo O’Farrill – Mending Wall
• Petera Sextet, Dariusz Petera, Mateusz Smoczynski,  – Władza Algorytmów
• Florian Supancic Octet – Isolation

BEATS, DJs & PRODUCERS, GROOVES & MOODS, SOUNDTRACKS ..