The Listening Guide
🎶 The listening guide: five albums, released during the past twelve months, chosen around a weekly theme 🎶
This week, it’s in with the nu: five projects blending danceable rhythms with ideas rooted in the jazz idiom, cutting edge sound manipulation, and aesthetics informed by the energy and atmosphere of contemporary cities, accompanied by fresh graphic design.
Paradise Cinema – Paradise Cinema
Album of the Week
Our NQ Jazz Album of the Week is guitarist and composer Lionel Loueke’s new LP for Edition Records. Entitled HH, it finds the in-demand sideman stepping into the spotlight as a leader, while simultaneously acknowledging the influence fo his ‘long-term mentor’, the legendary Herbie Hancock. Featuring two original compositions and twelve of Herbie’s, the project hears Lionel expertly reworking pieces such as Cantaloupe Island, Watermelon Man, and Speak Like a Child. Check out the record on Bandcamp!
Classic Album
A living legend of American music – the trumpeter, composer, educator, and bandleader Wynton Marsalis turns 59 today. Recorded during the Christmas of 1986 at Washington, D.C.’s Blues Alley, his quartet double album features a terrific programme of standards and originals from he and his bandmates: bassist Robert Hurst, pianist Marcus Roberts, and drummer Jeff “Tain” Watts. The record serves to remind us of the value of jazz music in the live setting, and the brilliance that ensues when talented players take the bandstand together.