Phil’s Jazz Pleasures, September, 2022
All New, Recent Great Jazz
Hi everyone - I hope you have all been able to enjoy some of the fine weather we have been having lately, albeit tempered perhaps, by a gnawing realisation that the steady advance of climate change damage is not being matched by politicians’ abilities, or willingness, to deal with it!
Onto the jazz!! This month I have selected recent album releases that I admire and think you might too. I am very excited by all this music – I hope you get lots of pleasure from it too.
First up, a young 19 year old pianist from Indonesia –
Joey Alexander - inspired by his father’s classic jazz collection he taught himself jazz piano! Cannot make this sort of stuff up! This young man – who has already played with the likes of Wayne Shorter and Esperanza Spalding – is a huge talent. I predict confidently he is going to be one of our greatest future jazz stars. I have chosen Remembering from his album entitled Origin; suffice it to say, he wrote all the tracks!
Swiftly on to another huge South East Asian talent
Jihye Lee, South Korean, primarily a pianist but with the ability to play many instruments, she entered Berklee Music School ten years ago with little knowledge of jazz. Jihye now writes wonderful jazz music and leads her own superb big band. My choice from her 2021 Daring Mind album is Relentless Mind. The album title referencing Wayne Shorter’s definition of jazz - “the word jazz means to me, I dare you. Let’s jump into the unknown.”
Next I have selected
Basil Hodge a great sax player from Essex with the track Back to Where it Came From off his 2021 album Point of Reference. Love this album and we are actively trying to get Basil to come up to Clitheroe to play. My fourth Choice is a resident band in the London Jazz Club
Kansas Smitty’s – this is a great, lively band and I adore this title track Sunday Davison from their 2022 album of the same name.
Next the Nigerian born British singer
Jacob Banks from Birmingham - I am sure you will all agree after listening to The Devil I Know from his For My Friends album of last year what a terrific voice he has.
2022 sees the 100
th Anniversary of Charles Mingus’s birth – one the greatest jazz acoustic bass and piano players of all time and, arguably, one of the very best composers. Mingus took jazz in whole new directions. Many contemporary jazz artists have played due homage to Mingus and, in my opinion, the best is
Stephanie Nilles wonderful, multi awarding album I Show Allegiance to the Flag – the While Flag. Not only are these tracks a exquiste renditions of Mingus’s finest music, the album title resonates Mingus’s commitment to radical politics. I have chosen the exceptional Goodbye Pork Pie Hat track – she strips this track down to its essential basics and slows it down superbly. Appropriately too, I feel, as MIngus wrote the track in memoriam for that great Pork Pie hat wearer, Lester Young.
Sixth choice is from the amazing Austrian 7 piece band
Shake Stew - 2 basses, 2 drummers and 3 horns. Their latest album is titled Heat and my choice is I am the Bad Wolf. Seventh a Polish band who I just adore – the
Marcin Wasilewski Trio - from their 2021 album En Attendant, I have chosen their compellingly haunting version of The Door’s Riders on the Storm. Perfect jazz. Enjoy.
My ninth choice is
Somi – a US singer of African descent – who’s latest album is a celebration of that iconic South African jazz singer Miriam Makeba. Somi has a most wonderful voice and on the track I have opted for – Love Tastes Like Strawberries – she is joined by another sublime voice – that of Gregory Porter.
Finally, one of my very favourite jazz artists – the 81 year old
Pharoah Sanders – with the track Movement One from his quite exceptional 2021 Promises album recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra. This is jazz at its most relaxing, inventive and compelling.
Enjoy the music – hope to see you soon at one of RVJB’s gigs
This Month’s Playlist
- Joey Alexander - Remembering on Origin
- Jihye Lee Orchestra - Relentless Mind on Daring Mind
- Basil Hodge - Back to Where it Came From on Point of Reference
- Kansas Smitty’s - Sunday Davison on Sunday Davison
- Jacob Banks - The Devil I Know on For My Friends
- Stephanie Nilles - Good Bye Pork Pie Hat on I pledge Allegiance to the Flag
- Shake Stew - I am the Bad Wolf on Heat
- Marcin Wasilewski Trio - Riders on the Storm on En Attendant
- Somi - Love Tastes Like Strawberries on Zenzile
- Pharoah Sanders - Movement 1 on Promises
Here's the playlist..
