The Listening Guide
🎶 The listening guide: five albums, released during the past twelve months, chosen around a weekly theme 🎶
This week, we have another instalment of our tributes and continuations theme, with five records that pay homage to, or continue the ethos of, a notable artist. London-based multi-instrumentalist Sean Khan pays tribute to John Coltrane on his album, Supreme Love, assembling an all-star group including Kaidi Tatham and Heidi Vogel to help realise his three-part exploration of what Coltrane’s music means to him. With Ink On A Pin, singer-songwriter Sara Colman celebrates the work of Joni Mitchell. Her arrangements of classics like Chelsea Morning and Woodstock deploy jazz language to stretch the original melodies and phrasings, showing the strength and versatility of Joni’s writing. Rebecca Nash and Percy Pursglove are amongst the album’s contributors. Boston-based saxophonist Mark Zaleski pays tribute to late pianist Dave Brubeck on his album Our Time. Working with his sextet, the Dave Brubeck Institute graduate strives to implement Brubeck’s advice and find his own voice when playing Dave’s pieces. Polish guitarist and composer Maciej Grzywacz performs the music of one of jazz’s most celebrated guitar players, Wes Montgomery, on the album Movin’ Along. Leading a quintet, he performs classics including Full House and the album’s title track. Ordinarily a scholar of the great jazz bassists, Gui Duvignau turns his attention to the great guitarist Baden Powell on his album, Baden. The French-Brazilian musician learned of Powell’s acclaim through his guitarist friends, and has approached his music with a sense of openness, inviting his mentor Ron Carter and guitarist Bill Frisell to make guest appearances on the album. You can support Mark Zaleski’s album via Origin Records’ site, and find the other four albums on Bandcamp!
Sean Khan – Supreme Love: A Journey Through Coltrane
Mark Zaleski: Our Time: Reimagining Dave Brubeck
Album of the Week
Our NQ Jazz album of the week is Malcolm Jiyane Tree-O’s fantastic new record, UMDALI. Recorded at Johannesburg’s Sumo Sound, the trombonist, pianist, and composer’s debut album as a leader is a truly South African affair, with music inspired by Soweto’s jamming scene, the passing of mentors and fellow musicians, and featuring some of Johannesburg’s finest players. You can support the album on Bandcamp!
Classic Album
Our NQ Jazz classic album this week documents a meeting between two greats in the Théâtre du Chêne Noir in Avignon, France, in 1989. With Tapscott on piano and Session on saxophone, this stark recording features astonishing melodies and touching interplay between the two musicians. You can find the album on Bandcamp!