The Listening Guide
🎶 The listening guide: five albums, released during the past twelve months, chosen around a weekly theme 🎶
This week’s theme is sounds from around the globe. Athens-based oud virtuoso Thomas Meleteas realises ‘a contemporary vision for the music of Greece and the broader eastern Mediterranean region’ on his new album, Shapeshifting Wizards. With a jazz rhythm section, Christos Sigelos playing the nay (sometimes spelled ney, a Middle Eastern end-blown flute) and Artemis Vavatsika on the accordion, Meleteas creates a fascinating, modal sound with expansive rhythms and dynamics. Flautist and composer Naïssam Jalal combines studio recordings with a small ensemble and live recordings with the National Orchestra of Bretagne conducted by Zahia Ziaouni on her album Un Autre Monde. She also plays the nay and uses her voice, bringing beautiful melodies and textures to both the studio and symphonic recordings. The Lahore-based quartet Jaubi are joined by Tenderlonious and EABS’ Marek “Latarnik” Pędziwiatr on the album Nafs at Peace, which was recorded between Lahore and Oslo and features original compositions that were recorded without sheet music or other such safety nets. A range of instruments feed into the meditative yet heavy sound, from Zohaib Hassan Khan’s sarangi and Kashif Ali Dhani’s tabla, to Latarnik’s various keyboards, plus an appearance from the Vox Humana chamber choir. Balimaya Project comprises seventeen of London’s premier musicians under the leadership of percussionist Yahael Camara Onono. On their debut album Wolo So, which is described by Jazz re:freshed as a ‘dynamic meeting of traditional Mandé music/culture and contemporary jazz,’ the group layer pitched and non-pitched percussion instruments, horns, kora, and voices to create tunes with depth, groove, and traditional resonance. On An Elegant Ritual, Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol complements his piano-based compositions with vocals, ney, bendir (an Arabic frame drum) and even Javanese Gamalan gongs, creating a truly multicultural album with a strong spiritual jazz feel. You can support all of these projects on Bandcamp!
Thomas Meleteas – Shapeshifting Wizards
Album of the Week
Our NQ Jazz album of the week is Illusions & Realities, the second album from London-based large ensemble Levitation Orchestra. The line-up expands to fourteen members for this LP, with violin player Beatriz Rola joining the group, which is led by trumpeter Axel Kaner-Lidstrom. Compositions for the album were formed out of group discussions on various topics, and whilst the group have always had a strong collective ethos, pianist Roella Oloro is singled out for her influential contributions to the creative process. You can support the album via Gearbox Records on Bandcamp!
Classic Album
Our NQ Jazz classic album this week is an outstanding, spiritual recording by alto saxophonist and flautist Dadisi Komolafe. Like pianist Linda Hill, Komolafe was an associate of Horace Tapscott and his Pan-Afrikan People’s Arkestra. Released in 1983, the album features pianist Eric Tillman, vibes player Rickey Kelly, bassist Roberto Miranda, and drummer Sunship Theus. You can find the record on Bandcamp or a vinyl reissue from the Pure Pleasure audiophile label.