The Listening Guide
🎶 The listening guide: five albums, released during the past twelve months, chosen around a weekly theme 🎶
This week, we look at five fantastic trio records. The eponymous debut from Leeds’ Shapeshifters is a beautiful example of Anna Chandler’s lyrical alto playing, complemented by the fantastic Sam Quintana and Steve Hanley on bass and drums respectively. Master drummer Tani Tabbal leads another alto, bass and drums combo on his inspired LP Now Then, released last year with TAO Forms. Ombak Trio’s Look For The Difference has a different tone, with Giovanni Maier’s cello taking the spot usually reserved for upright bass, Cene Resnik playing both soprano and tenor sax, with the recording taking place at the 25th Jazz Cerkno festival in Slovenia. Pianist Mara Rosenbloom plays with real warmth and emotion on Respiration, not to mention putting a brilliant spin on Caravan with the aid of bassist Sean Conly and drummer Chad Taylor. The astonishing new album on ECM from drummer Thomas Strønen, pianist Ayumi Tanaka, and clarinetist/vocalist Marthe Lea rounds off the list. Support the first four projects on Bandcamp, and the fifth via the ECM web shop.
Shapeshifters – Shapeshifters
Ombak Trio – Look For The Difference
Album of the Week
Our NQ Jazz album of the week is is Jesup Wagon, a new project from tenor saxophonist, composer, and leader James Brandon Lewis’ Red Lily Quintet. The group features renowned bassist William Parker on the upright as well as the gimbri—a stringed instrument commonly associated with the music of the Gnawa people—alongside Kirk Knuffke (cornet), Chris Hoffman (cello), and Chad Taylor (drums/mbira). The album comes out via Tao Forms, who describe it as ‘a brilliant and evocative appreciation of the life and legacy of turn-of-the-19th century African-American musician-painter-writer-scientist George Washington Carver.’ Support this excellent project on Bandcamp!
Classic Album
Our classic album this week is saxophonist and bandleader Sonny Rollins’ 1961 LP The Bridge. Having made the decision to retreat from the jazz scene between 1959 and 1961, Rollins took to perfecting his craft with practice sessions up on the nearby Williamsburg Bridge. Away from the pressures of fame and the complaints of disgruntled neighbours, he would play for hours on end. The album made upon his return reflects Rollins’ dedication and knowhow. You can stream the album on several services, find LP copies from Music on Vinyl amongst other labels, and find out about the campaign to name the Williamsburg Bridge after Sonny Rollins via the Sonny Rollins Bridge Project.