New Release Round-up,
Jazz New Release Round-Up - 4th October 2024
This week's highlights include Michael Mayo's Fly, a showcase for his versatility with a mix of jazz classics and bold originals, featuring an all-star band, whilst Dario Miranda's La Dormiente explores chamber jazz with an unusual line-up inspired by the French highlands. Ben Wendel's Understory: Live at the Village Vanguard is an energetic live recording capturing the vitality of his band. Other notable releases include David Preston's genre-blending Purple/Black Volume 2, Nora Benamara's debut album Amnesia, and our Recording of the Week, Tord Gustavsen's introspective Seeing.
Fly, Michael Mayo's highly anticipated follow-up to his critically-acclaimed debut album, delves deeply into the genre of jazz, allowing his prior collaborations with mentor Herbie Hancock, producer Eli Wolf and Scary Pockets (among others) to flourish on a mix of familiar takes of jazz classics and bold, adventurous originals. Showcasing his remarkable versatility and exceptional talent while backed by an all-star band including pianist Shai Maestro, bassist Linda May Han Oh and drummer Nate Smith, Fly solidifies Mayo's prowess within the jazz realm, allowing his unique artistry to truly shine.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
This latest album by renowned Italian bassist and composer Dario Miranda features original compositions inspired by the majestic highland region of south-central France. Best described as chamber jazz, La Dormiente features an unusual and intriguing line-up of instrumentation - trumpet, Flugelhorn, guitar, double bass, electronics, and dulcitone keyboard.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Understory: Live at the Village Vanguard is the new album from master saxophonist Ben Wendel, featuring the superstar team of Gerald Clayton (piano), Linda May Han Oh (bass/vocals) and Obed Calvaire (drums). Recorded at possibly the most storied of all jazz venues, this is a vibrant, effervescent album bursting with vitality and energy, scintillating with musicianship and virtuosity.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Available Format: Vinyl Record
A companion to David Preston's 2023 debut under his own name, like its predecessor, Purple/Black Volume 2 combines the unique talents of Kit Downes, Kevin Glasgow and Seb Rochford into an intuitively coherent unit that explores the carefully crafted material in a way that impresses with its focus and control as much as with its spontaneity. The result is an album that combines the directness and accessibility of mainstream popular music forms with the depth and subtlety of jazz.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
The Tord Gustavsen Trio's previous album Opening was our best-selling jazz album of 2022, and a Recording of the Year. With Seeing, Tord Gustavsen begins an intricate new chapter in his series of acclaimed trio recordings, initiated in 2002 with Changing Places – an album that is today considered a classic. The new recording with its compact, concentrated song-forms “reflects my personal development as I get older, going for the essentials in life and music", says the Norwegian pianist.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Music as a possibility to process things; this has become a matter of course for Nora Benamara. Anyone who delves into the pieces of her group's extraordinary album debut can discover a variety of facets, both lyrically and musically. The fact that she chose "Amnesia" as the title for the quartet's first album is due to the power of the song of the same name: "It represents the album." Nora Benamara speaks in this context of different energy waves that flow through her.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Matt Groom - Head of Jazz
