2020 Jazz Releases, Vol. IIΙ

Playlist    7938

Digging deep in the recent jazz discography brings to light today’s sounds, where smart themes, modern harmonies and elaborate arrangements are woven together with inventive polyrhythms from the pantheon of modern beats, offering fertile ground for the development of the art of jazz soloing, in a pandemonium of acoustic and electronic sound colors.
This aesthetic pleasure is intended for the initiates, but it also has the appropriate elements to attract an uneasy young audience, that nowadays has enough relevant acoustic experiences to be able to assess where music quality resides.
The groundlessness of a mass public promotion is being counterbalanced, to some extent, by free access, so modernjazz.gr, once more, groups together some of the best and hard to find stimuli

Enjoy our 20-piece playlist, on any of the following four streaming services

Music speaks itself, but a bit of information about the albums of the playlist might be interesting

Yaatri – Reach
Genre: Fusion, world, vocal
Label: Yaatri
Country:  Leeds, UK
Reviews: TwistedSoulMusic
Listen: Bandcamp, Deezer, Spotify, Tidal

Yaatri is a youthful 5-piece fusion band with vocals, playing guitarist Liam Narain DeTar’s original, smart compositions, inspired from Indian classical music (ft. Zuheb Ahmed Khan on tabla)

Pedja Milutinovic Drumbooty – Veritas Vincit
Genre: Fusion
Label: Orenda Records
Country: Los Angeles, California
Reviews: OrendaRecords
Listen: Bandcamp, Deezer, Spotify, Tidal

Veritas Vincit (Truth Wins) is a melodic, neat fusion album, by drummer, composer, vocalist and producer Pedja Milutinovic and his group Drumbooty, featuring David Binney (as)

Meredith Monk – Memory Game
Genre: Vocal jazz, classical, experimental
Label: Cantaloupe Music
Country: New York, USA
Reviews: TheGuardian, ClassicalModernMusicBlog
Listen: Bandcamp, Deezer, Spotify, Tidal

Famous vocalist and composer Meredith Monk trusts Vocal Ensemble and the chamber ensemble Bang on a Can All-Stars to provide a fresh look for her works, since the early 1980s

Manoushka – Nine Reflections on Love
Genre: Vocal jazz
Label: Megabitez
Country: Netherlands
Reviews: WaterKant
Listen: Deezer, Spotify, Tidal

“In nine songs, created together with bassist Eric Calmes and pianist Robin van Geerke, singer Manoushka Zeegelaar Breeveld mixes Caribbean jazz with pop, kaseko and funky grooves”

Giuseppe Emmanuele – The Arranger and the Composer
Genre: Big band, symphonic jazz, vocal jazz
Label: Splasc(h) Records
Country: Italy
Reviews: IRD
Listen: Deezer, Spotify, Tidal

A classic, big band/orchestral jazz set, by pianist, arranger and composer Giuseppe Emmanuele, that has a reason to be here

Amina Figarova – Persistence
Genre: Modern jazz, fusion
Label: AMFI RECORDS
Country: N.Y., USA
Reviews: JazzTimes, AllAboutJazz, Downbeat
Listen: Deezer, Spotify, Tidal

Veteran pianist Amina Figarova’s latest, eclectic fusion work, together with Bart Platteau (fl), Rez Abbasi (g), Yasushi Nakamura (b) and Rudy Royston (dr). Featuring also rapper JSWISS, singer Paul Jost and poet/singer Skye’s World

Hendrika Entzian – Marble
Genre: Contemporary big band
Label: Traumton
Country: New York, USA
Reviews: Traumton, HighResMac
Listen: Deezer, Spotify, Tidal

Debut album as a bandleader, by bassist, composer/arranger Hendrika Entzian, winner of the “WDR Jazz Prize for Composition”

Troy Roberts – Stuff I Heard
Genre: Modern jazz, post-bop
Label: Toy Robot Music
Country: Australia
Reviews: GlideMagazine, JazzWeekly
Listen: Deezer, Spotify, Tidal

 

Cassowary – Cassowary
Genre: New jazz, jazz-hop, contemporary R&B/soul
Label: Fat Possum
Country: Los Angeles, California
Reviews: LoudAndQuiet, BackSeatMafia, PopMatters
Listen: Bandcamp, Deezer, Spotify, Tidal

Talented saxophonist Miles Shannon (aka Cassowary) makes a worthy example of how naturally the new jazz generation blends with today’s grooves and beats

JK Group – The Young Ones
Genre: New jazz, fusion
Label: La Sape
Country: Melbourne, Australia
Reviews: UkVibe
Listen: Bandcamp, Deezer, Spotify, Tidal

Composite sound of many influences, on a debut album by awarded young saxophonist Josh Kelly and JK Group, featuring Lewis Moody (keys), Matt Hayes (b), Ziggy Zeitgeist (dr) and guests

Florian Ross Quartet – Reason & Temptation
Genre: Modern jazz
Label: Toy Piano Records
Country: Deutschland
Reviews: JazzLocal32, MichaelsJazzBlog
Listen: Deezer, Spotify, Tidal

Sophisticated modern jazz by renowned pianist/composer Florian Ross, and his quartet, featuring Sebastian Gille (ts), David Helm (b), Fabian Arends (dr)

Arturo O’Farrill, The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra –  Four Questions
Genre: Latin jazz, big band
Label: ZOHO
Country: USA
Reviews: TheUrbanMusicScene
Listen: Deezer, Spotify, Tidal

An adventurous project, by famous pianist/composer Arturo O’Farrill and the electrifying Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, featuring Dr. Cornel West as a guest soloist, conductor and percussionist, on the tittle track

Dave Glasser – Hypocrisy Democracy
Genre: Modern jazz, post-bop
Label: Here Tiz Music
Country: New York, USA
Reviews: AllAboutJazz
Listen: Deezer, Spotify, Tidal

Fresh ideas, obviously coming out of tradition, by saxophonist Dave Glasser and Andy Milne (p), Ben Allison (b), Matt Wilson (dr)

Frido Ter Beek – Cuentos de Lo Profundo
Genre: Modern jazz, free jazz
Label: Club del Disco
Country: Argentina
Reviews: ClubdelDisco
Listen: Deezer, Spotify, Tidal

Improvised duets, by the inventive Dutch saxophonist and composer Frido Ter Beek, each time with Sebastián de Urquiza (b), Ernesto Snajer (g), or Mariano Agustoni (p) separately

Hachoo – On a Thin Rope with a Shaky Smile
Genre: Modern jazz, fusion, vocal
Label: Hachoo
Country: Luxembourg
Reviews:
Listen: Bandcamp, Deezer, Spotify, Tidal

A large group by drummer Gilles Noesen’s initiative and Claire Parsons’s vocals, where “Modern Jazz Fusion meets Early Progressive Rock”

Key Elements – Key Elements 
Genre: Nu-jazz, beats
Label: Sonar Kollektiv
Country: Berlin, DE
Reviews: SonarKollektiv
Listen: Bandcamp, Deezer, Spotify, Tidal

Considered Berlin’s new jazz generation, Key Elements are the DJ and producer Marian Tone’s trio, together with drummer Waldi and keyboardist / bassist Jim Dunloop, on handmade beats

Heisenberg Uncertainty Players – Gradient
Genre: Contemporary big band
Label: Heisenberg Uncertainty Players
Country: Chicago, USA
Reviews: Jazzviews, ChicagoJazzMagazine
Listen: Deezer, Spotify, Tidal

“A unique blend of jazz, rock, classical, R&B, and pop music, by Heisenberg Uncertainty Players, a 17- piece big band playing original compositions and arrangements from founder and director, saxophonist John Dorhauer”

Choi Ye Geun – Even if get lost, it can flow anyway
Genre: K-Pop, alt-pop
Label: Bunker
Country: South Korea
Reviews:
Listen: Deezer, Spotify

“Well-loved for her appearance as an auditionee on the South Korean talent show ‘K-Pop Star 2,” Choi Ye Geun sings emotionally and can swing hard, but gracefully!

More new releases are listed below:

TRUMPETERS

SAXOPHONISTS

CLARINETIST

TROMBONISTS/TUBISTS

GUITARISTS

PIANISTS/KEYBOARDISTS

BASSISTS

DRUMMERS/PERCUSSIONISTS

VIBRAPHONIST

VIOLINISTS

HARMONICA PLAYER

  • Grégoire Maret – Americana
    (Romain Collin, Bill Frisell)

VOCALISTS

GROUPS/ENSEMBLES

BIG BANDS

PRODUCERS/DJs/BEATS

GREEK ARTISTS

Here you find again the links to the playlist

Imitonios