The Listening Guide
🎶 The listening guide: five albums, released during the past twelve months, chosen around a weekly theme 🎶
This week, we have five records from duos. Reeds player Roscoe Mitchell can be heard with drummer Mike Reed on The Ritual and the Dance, an album captured live at the Oorstof concert series in Zuiderpershuis, Antwerp, in October, 2015. Saxophonist Patrick Shiroishi and drummer Dylan Fujioka collaborate on a project benefitting the Asian Americans Advancing Justice charity, reflecting upon the treatment of Asian Americans during the Second World War and COVID-19 pandemic. Vocalist Amirtha Kidambi and guitarist Matteo Liberatore join forces on Neutral Love, an album which hears the pair refrain from using audio processing as they apply ‘the compositional aesthetics of Feldman or Oliveros to a free environment.’ Saxophonist Abraham Burton and pianist Lucian Ban’s album Blacksalt was recorded live on tour in Ban’s native Transylvania, in 2018. Pianist Irène Schweizer and drummer Hamid Drake’s Celebration was recorded at the 40th Festival for Free and Improvised Music, held at Jazzgallery Nickelsdorf in Austria. It was released in April 2021 to coincide with the pianists 80th birthday, and builds upon her many collaborations with notable drummers, including Pierre Favre and Louis Moholo. You can support each project on Bandcamp!
Roscoe Mitchell & Mike Reed – The Ritual and the Dance
Patrick Shiroishi & Dylan Fujioka - No-No / のの
Amirtha Kidambi & Matteo Liberatore – Neutral Love
Album of the Week
Our NQ Jazz album of the week is bassist and bandleader Joshua Cavanagh-Brierley’s first for Ubuntu Music. Entitled Joy in Bewilderment, it ‘stretches from solo piano and string quartet to 13-piece, three drummer ensembles’, featuring guests such as Chris Potter and Amika Quartet. Reflecting on the album, Cavanagh-Brierley suggests that the album “encapsulates optimism for the future and gratitude for the now. I’m writing for myself with this album. This is the music that I hear, and it feels like the most honest expression I’ve created to date.” Support the album via the Ubuntu Music site or on Bandcamp!
Classic Album
As its title would suggest, this week’s NQ Jazz classic album is a soothing listen, with some beautifully played piano pieces from the legendary pianist, vocalist, and civil rights activist Hazel Scott. There are also one or two uptempo numbers too, where the contributions of Charles Mingus on bass Max Roach on drums shine through. Scott’s classical abilities shine through on Peace of Mind and her playing is exquisite throughout. You can find the record on streaming services and physical copies via several platforms.