Jazz Recommends Jazz November 2023

Review: Jazzman continues to dig further and further into the many-limbed history of jazz to bring you the finest, lesser-heard sounds. Their continued Spiritual Jazz series has become an invaluable resource for anyone looking to up their knowledge of this meandering sub-genre, but things are a little different on volume 14. This time the experts at the label have gone hunting around the clandestine world of private press records, recorded and released in true DIY fashion and extremely rare as a result. Unless you're avidly pursuing such hard to find records across the world, this is a gateway into dedicated groups, singers, players and hobbyists whose gifts deserve to be heard as much as the major players.

Review: 'The Creator Has a Masterplan (Peace)' might have been performed beautifully by Louis Armstrong but it was written by Pharoah Sanders and Leon Thomas. Sanders was the first to record and release it on February 14, 1969 and it has since been covered by the likes of Don Cherry, Krokodil, The Dynamics, Lord Echo and many more artists right up to the present day. Here we get the Leon Thomas versions from 1969 as well as the one he recorded alongside Louis a year later. Two sublime sounds that make the whole world feel at peace.

Review: Dynamite Cuts has done it again here. Celebrated American bassist Curtis Lundy called upon his sister Carmen for her vocal talents for this wondrous vocal jazz cut. 'Never Gonna Let You Go' is powered by a superb double bass groove, with lush xylophones and plenty of lively drums al backing the acrobatic vocal performance. It has never before been pressed up to 7" is a serious must have for collectors, especially as it is backed with the wonderful walking basslines and feathery light snares, meandering keys and seductive jazz melodies of 'Jabbos Revenage'.

Review: Hank Mobley might not be so well known among the greats of saxophonic jazz, but that probably boils down to him making No Room For Squares. Indeed, only the coolest of the menthol-cool were permitted access to this album and Mobley's performances at the time of its release; this was undoubtedly a self-selecting process ensured by the garnering of some of the hottest talents of the day on band duties, including Herbie Hancock on piano, Donald Byrd on trumpet, and Butch Warren on bass. Moving like an effortless meandering current slinking downstream, the six tracks on this vinyl reissue put on effortless instrumental airs.

Review: This one is such an evergreen classic that it is never long between reissues. The Take Vibe EP is musician Laurence Mason and he here mashes together the sounds of Dave Brubeck and Dave Greenfield of The Stranglers - it started on YouTube and got over one million hits, so then made it to vinyl and keeps selling out. On the flip is a romantic, late night jazz version of The Police classic 'Walking On The Moon', making this a real collector's item.

Review: Continually travelling jazz explorer Greg Foat heads to Finland in search of more kindred spirits to jam with, again hosted by the excellent Scandi jazz label Jazzaggression. Having recently collaborated with Aleksi Heinola and Teemu Akerblom for Gone To The Cats, Foat now teams up with Eero Koivistoinen on tenor sax for a decidedly smooth ride which brings out the best in both players. Captured over a stormy weekend at Jazzaggression's in-house studio, there are considered compositions and improvised moments alike on this infinitely listenable album, which neatly rounds off his trio of albums for the label.

Review: Blue Note reissue the drummer Art Blakey and his Jazz Messengers' time-honoured hard bop album Mosaic, often cited as among his best. From the titular opener to the seguing montage-worthy sequences of 'Arabia', 'Crisis' or 'Down Under', we're met with huge, extruding saxes and trombones, backed by Blakey's un-pin-downable drumming, evocative of huge towering New York skylines and crowd bustle; apparently, the album was so tightly performed it needed no alternate takes.

Review: Marcus Belgrave's Gemini II album has never been reissued before with the original artwork, but here it comes with a Japanese Obi-strip and featuring prominent musicians and legends like Wendell Harrison, Phil Ranelin, Roy Brooks and Harold McKinney. This is a diverse record with plenty of spirituality and a loud and proud sense of blackness. The standout tune 'Space Odyssey' is the best known, not least because it was later covered by pioneering Detroit techno talent Carl Craig. Next to that tense cosmic workout are two parts of 'Gun Finger' which are both horn led and upbeat grooves, the seductive sounds of the title tune and free-bop jam 'Marcia's Opal'. 'Odoms Cave' is a tender and introverted closer.

Review: Jazz heads might well be familiar with the name of Herbie Nichols Trio these days but during his playing career, he was far less celebrated outside hardcore circles. The American pianist sure had a unique style and deserves to now have more recognition for his work, which he will get as Tone Poet - Blue Note's reissue arm - serves up a repress of his innovative self-titled mid-1950s release on the label. Max Roach is on drums for this one with bassists Al McKibbon and Teddy Kotick and the whole thing has been remastered from the original analog tapes so it has never sounded better.

Review: Curtis Counce's 1957 album You Get More Bounce With Curtis Counce is not only something of a tongue twister but is also classic jazz record that now gets reissued by Acoustic Sounds who continue to celebrate Contemporary Records. It is a fine showcase of Counces's bass playing skills while his sidemen here Jack Shelton on trumpet, Harold Land on tenor sax, Carl Perkins on piano and Frank Butler on drums do not disappoint either. This newly reissued album has been cut from the original tapes and comes on nice heavyweight vinyl with a tip-on jacket making it a real collectors piece.

Review: Ella Fitzgerald remains one of the most prominent voices in jazz and her album Let No Man Write My Epitaph, released by Acoustic Sounds in the early 60s, showcases the timeless brilliance of the legendary star. This new reissue on nice heavyweight wax from Verve brings forth the magic of Fitzgerald's voice in its purest form and allows you to revel in the emotional depth and vocal mastery that marked her career. With exquisite arrangements, poignant lyricism, and Fitzgerald's unparalleled delivery, the album captures the essence of jazz as a living, breathing art form. What's more, Acoustic Sounds ensures a high-fidelity experience making this an even more essential trip into the enchanting world of Ella Fitzgerald.

Review: Joao Donato is one of the most well known and prolific stars of Brasil's MPB (which is short for "musica populera brasileira") scene. He has toped several highly sought of albums and is still turning them out today despite already having assured his legacy. A Bad Donato is something of a move away from his Brazilian bossa nova roots - instead the album, which was recorded in LA, is electric and eclectic with funk, psychedelic pop and groovy Fender Rhodes driven sounds. This reissue on Verve By Request comes on nice heavyweight 180g vinyl with classics like 'The Frog' and 'Lunar Tune' still sounding fresh.

Review: Ed Motta is a legend of Brazil's contemporary musical landscape. The vocalist and multi-instrumentalist makes a welcome truth now after five years away with a new album that is his 14th overall. 'Behind the Tea Chronicles' is a widescreen and adventurous work that traverses a broad mix of genres from soul, funk, folk, jazz, pop as well as theatre show songs, TV and film music. The record brims with his trademark musicality and has plenty in common with one of his idols, Steely Dan, as well as wearing all its many other infleunces proudly on its sleeve. A bold project and a rewarding listen.

Review: Don Cherry Trio's The ORTF Recordings Paris 1971 captures the legendary jazz musician Don Cherry in a sublime performance with his long-time Trio members: Turkish drummer Okay Temiz and South African bassist Johnny Dyani. The album recalls the time in 1971 when the three master musicians joined forces at the ORTF (Office de Radiodiffusion Television Francaise) studio in France, with the express purpose of hearing Cherry reinterpret, and lend his own flair to, the various traditional rhythms of the Turkish diaspora. Finding particular synergy, then, with Temiz, who is of Turkish descent, this album is the whipped cream of Cherry's performances over the years, and is not one to be missed for those seeking out his talents outside of the usual contexts.

Review: The legendary DJ Muro is behind this superb new P-Vine compilation, Diggin Groove Diggers: Best Of Tribe. Muro is a truly a-grade digger and one of his homeland of Japan's most famous. Here he collates together some of his favourite songs from Tribe, a rather legendary spiritual jazz collective from the Motor City. This music has been revered for more than 50 years and now for the first time gets put together on one album that is both a perfect primer for newbies and a great collection for those long-time fans.

Review: BBE's on going love for Japanese jazz has spawned several superb compilations of late. This is the fourth such volume of their J Jazz: Deep Modern Jazz From Japan series and it is sub-titled The Nippon Columbia label 1968 - 1981. It's a tasteful collection that arrives here on double CD and is again packed with classy sounds from a range of key players. Takashi Mizuhashi joins forces with seminal American talent Herbie Hancock on 'Samba De Negrito' and Hiromasa Suzuki, Jiro Inagaki & His Big Soul Media make a lasting impression with the hard bop of 'By The Red Stream' and the likes of Nobuo Hara & His Sharps & Flats, Hozan Yamamoto go wild on 'Chakkiri-Bushi.' Essential.

Review: Trumpeter, composer and bandleader Nick Walters is back on his own DOT Records with a new record that comes from this newly revived sextet. The group hasn't played together since 2019's LP Active Imagination but hasn't lost any of its magical touch. This new album Marine Moods is inspired by the sea and takes the form of a fantastic contemporary jazz-fusion sound that draws on Afro, modal and spiritual jazz tropes. There are moments of energy such as on 'Gulf Stream' and more dark and hypnotic moments like 'Hydrothermal' as well as raga-curveballs like 'Journey for Joan'. A fine and fresh record indeed.

Review: After making some low-key waves with his Panama 77 LP, Daniel Villarreal is back with a unique document which pulls from the same era and mindset, but offers something very different. When in October 2020 he invited Jeff Parker and Anna Butterss to record in the backyard of Chicly Outpost in LA, it was the first jam the three had experienced post-lockdown. Some results from the session made it onto the last record, but now Villarreal has decided to focus squarely on these poignant sessions and pull out some of the finest material for our listening pleasure, and what a pleasure it surely is. Dusky, scratchy and honest, this is stripped down jamming jazz at its best.

Review: Many of the magnificent albums released by Chicago label International Anthem are by menders of the local Windy City jazz scene. Daniel Villarreal is another one to follow in this trend and is a beloved name on the scene who can be heard DJing on almost any night of the week in the city - when he's not playing drums with Dos Santos, Valebol, The Los Sundowns or Ida y Vuelta, that is. Lados B is his new album and a set of improvised tracks played alongside guitarist Jeff Parker and bassist Anna Butterss and recorded back in 2022.