Jazz Recommends Jazz Best of 2020

Review: NuNorthern Soul take a brief respite from their BJ Smith series so boss man 'Phat' Phil Cooper can indulge his love for Ryo Kawasaki. Focusing on the period that the '70s met the '80s, Selected Works pulls together five delicious slices of Kawasaki bliss from a boundary pushing discography that spans writing, arranging, producing and playing. For an introduction to Kawasaki, this release is near perfect, taking in sublime jazz through heaving slabs of funk to out-there electronic vibes. Extra context is provided in the extensive sleeve notes from Marc Rowlands that pull from his 2015 interview with Kawasaki. Despite being five tracks long, this still feels like a generous rifle through the Ryo archives.

Review: With no less than nine releases on the label to their name already, Black Cash & Theo AKA Thelonious Beats are Galaxy Sound Co's most experienced editors. Here they deliver another fantastic "45" packed with righteous grooves and life-affirming jazz moves. It's the latter that comes to the fore on side A's "Flute Thing", a sweet and seductive drift through picturesque jazz territory with some additional loose-limbed drum solos edited in halfway through. "Do What You Gotta Do" on the other hand is a simmering, string-laden soul treat rich in killer instrumentation, sumptuous orchestration, chunky grooves and hazy vocals. It's a fine edit of a superb cut and easily the record's standout cut.

Review: Blue Note Re:imagined is a carefully curated collection of brand-new covers of classic material from the legendary label as served up by a selection of the UK scene's most exciting young talents including Ezra Collective, Nubya Garcia and Brit Award-winning Jorja Smith. For this latest 7" it's Jordan Rakei, who actually hails from Aus, but let's not get mad about that because the super smooth soul singer reaches new heights on the free flowing, heart opening 'Wind Parade'. Jazz pianist Alfa Mist takes care of the flip with a suitably cosmic exploration on 'Galaxy' that pairs live, busy drums and soaring synths with rich chords.

Review: Thanks to a plethora of pleasing releases from the likes of Nat Birchall and Michael Grossman, 2019 has been a vintage year for Jazzman's "Jazz 45" series. The last volume of the year comes courtesy of Jai Ho, an occasional studio "supergroup" who initially met by accident in the late 1990s. In fact, A-side "Short Story From Tabla, Drums & Trumpet" was recorded in a single day in 1996. The descriptive title is accurate, with squally, effects-laden trumpet solos riding a killer backing track of military style drum breaks, exotic tabla motifs and toasty double bass. The group met again for another studio day in 2003 and recorded B-side "Oye Maia", a wonderfully lucid and languid mixture of attractive Kalimba melodies, drifting trumpet and shuffling Indian instrumentation.

Review: Hands up all of those who thought Basement Jaxx's Simon Ratcliffe would end up making slowly unfurling spiritual jazz with famed London improvisers Binker Golding (saxophone) and Moses Boyd (drums)? Us neither. To give Ratcliffe credit, this debut single from his new jazz-wise project is simply stunning. Golding's wild sax solos and Boyd's brilliant drumming catch the ear and provide an air of authenticity, but it's Ratcliffe's contributions - drowsy sunrise electronics and meditative synthesizer motifs on A-side "Village Of The Sun", sparkling piano motifs on "Ted" and warm bass on both - that tie everything together and ensure that both tracks are worth far more than the sum of their parts. A surprise, yes, but the results are both thrilling and spellbinding.

Review: Tastemaking US jazz label International Anthem serves up this special 7" from Angel Bat Dawid in response to Emma Warren's 2019 book "Make Some Space", which told the story of London DIY music space Total Refreshment Centre. Featuring clarinets, keys and drum machines, both tracks are hugely conversational, with emotional pain and power ebbing and flowing through both originals pieces. A-side "Transition East" overflows with ideas and narrative while "No Space For Us" is more cautious and subdued, but both leave a lasting impact. The track features Angel with Ben LaMar Gay and Brazilian talents Edbrass Brasil, Romulo Alexis, Tadeu Mascarenhas, Nancy Viegas and Germano Estacio.

Review: Earlier this year, Moses Boyd finally fulfilled on his immense promise with Dark Matter, a sophomore set that cemented his position as one of UK jazz's top talents. On the back of that success, his 2018 debut, Displaced Diaspora, has been given a fresh vinyl pressing. For those who missed out first time round, the album is a collaborative affair, with numerous guests joining in with Boyd's distinctively eclectic fusion fun. Afro-brass outfit Kevin Haynes Grupo Eleggua make a huge impression on a number of tracks, Zara McFarlane provides a sensual, sumptuous vocal on the classic late night jazz smokiness of 'City Nocturne' and Terri Walker and Louis V rise above the organic, jazz-fuelled hip-hop soul brilliance of 'Waiting On The Night Bus'.

Review: After spending so much of their career to date releasing on Jazzman, it's interesting to see The Greg Foat Group make their way over to Athens Of The North for this cool and deadly new record. "The Dreaming Jewels" keeps the grooves simmering low down - all the sweeter to sink into. Just lock in on "Eric's Breakdown" and ask yourself if the track needs any more than that sweet conga flex. "The Door Into Summer" is a beautifully mellow jam too, all sultry Rhodes and sax to signal the start of lazy days. There are more tender moments and some breezier affairs, but the vibe remains chilled throughout this wonderful set from an accomplished band.

Review: Is there a more on-point modern jazz label than Chicago's International Anthem? The imprint has a knack of releasing far-sighted music that goes way beyond standard jazz, offering up spiritual and experimental fusions fully in-keeping with the genre's genre-defying roots. This solo set from Tortoise guitarist Jeff Parker - his second for International Anthem following 2016's "The New Breed" - is a superb example. Breathlessly eclectic in the most inspiring of ways, it sees Parker combine virtuoso jazz guitar solos and mangled, guitar-powered aural textures with all manner of live and sampled sounds to create a dizzyingly good album that variously touches on soul-jazz, post-rock, free improvisation, Terry Riley style minimalist soundscapes, ambient, jazz-funk and much more besides. In a word: brilliant.

Review: Acclaimed pianist Greg Foat is a mainstay of the current UK jazz revival thanks to works on Jazzman and Athens of the North. He draws on soul and library music for his inspiration and serves up lush symphonies that are rich in detail, layer and emotion. This new album, which makes use of pedal steel for the first time, goes even more widescreen in its approach and includes powerfully uplifting tracks like "Anticipation" as well as more sensual and slower groovers and languid movers like "Island Life." It is the sound of an artist and composer at the very peak of his powers.

Review: There's always been a spiritual bent to some of flautist and saxophonist Chip Wickham's music, but rarely has it been so explicit as it is on "Blue To Red", his third full-length excursion. Surrounded by becalmed harps, spacey electric piano keys, languid double-bass, ear-catching cello and bustling drums, Wickham's breezy flute solos sound like a cosmic call to arms for all those who love the more spiritual side of jazz. It's a smart blueprint that Wickham and his cohorts happily apply to both up-tempo and downbeat moments, in the process delivering a set of inspired instrumentals that remain accessible entertaining and pleasingly alluring.

Review: In 2016 saxophonist and clarinetist Shabaka Hutchings established the "Ancestors" collective of South African musicians to perform live and record debut album "Wisdom Of Elders", a journey into the spiritual and avant-garde side of jazz inspired in part by the struggles of previous generations of black musicians. Four years on, the Sons Of Kemet and The Comet Is Coming member has reassembled the collective for album number two, "We Are Sent Here By History". It treads similar musical territory to its similarly essential predecessor, with Hutchings and his South African collaborators presenting tracks that, in his words, "meditate on the fact of our coming extinction as a species". While the music is nowhere near as doom-laden and miserable as that may suggest - it's very entertaining, thoughtful and spiritually involved - as albums go "We Are Sent Here By History" is certainly hard hitting.

Review: Since being touted as jazz's next big thing back in 2014, Moses Boyd has released very little music, though the few EPs he has put out have been uniformly superb. We'd expect plenty of hype around this debut album, but we can assure you it will be deserved. Boyd is a drummer by trade and it's the variety and quality of the rhythms - some framed by traditional jazz, others hip-hop, grime, dubstep, dancehall and Tony Allen style Afrobeat grooves - that really stand out, despite the presence of fuzzy, Fela Kuti style horn motifs, booming basslines, Juju guitar solos, liquid jazz-funk flourishes, dark trip-hop tropes and some suitably inspiring vocals. Boyd may have taken his time, but it was definitely worth the wait.

Review: Arc Records is Gilles Peterson's new label, and it is focussed on "curiosities and gems from the basement". Organist Shirley Scott originally recorded her deeply personal One For Me album in 1974 in New York City with the help of Billy Higgins on drums, and Harold Vick on tenor sax. It's an album of thoughtfully produced and sensitive jazz sounds that are hard to fault for the way they so smoothly sit together and sink you into a world of easy listening. Swing and bop both colour the grooves, with plenty of her own standout solos driving things along and defining various different moods and grooves.

Review: Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids' Shaman! is a bold and adventurous new record. It is a study in jazz that takes cues from myriad different sounds and scenes. Sub-Saharan jazz, Afrobeat, free-jazz, Afro-Cuban music, spoken word, and more all colour in the tracks which have been written by a large cast of musicians. The album was recorded din London and features Pyramids co-founder Simmons on flute, longtime band member Sandra Poindexter on violin, plus guitar from Bobby Cobb, and three new members from Europe in Jack Yglesias, Ruben Ramon Ramos, and Gioele Pagliaccia. It makes for an expressive but introspective world that draws you deep into its midst, where you will be oh so happy to get lost.

Review: The alwayshara working Soul Jazz team are back with another of their vital compilations, this time an overview of the many great contemporary jazz artists who have reinvigorated the scene in recent years. Matthew Halsall, Yazmin Lacey, Ill Considered, Tenderlonious, Theon Cross, Emma-Jean Thackray and plenty of others all feature. What they have in common is a desire to explore cross-genre styles and spiritual sounds that are all either self-published or have been put out by small indie labels. It makes for an experimental album with plenty of uplifting and soulful moments that prove just how rich the scene is right now.

Review: Picking a standout album on Blue Note would be like trying to pick a favourite grain of sand on the beach: impossible, and pointless. The jazz label stands head and shoulders above the rest with unflinchingly high quality releases carrying on throughout the decades. Even so, many people would pick this classic deepness from pianist Duke Pearson as one of its finest hours. Along side the Duke himself, Bobby Hutcherson plays the vibes, Patato Valdez is on congas, Bob Cranshaw slaps the bass, Mickey Roker is on drums and Sam Brown plays guitar to make for an absolutely killer collection of smooth grooves.

Review: Percussionist Robin Jones was one of the earliest - and eventually longest-serving - exponents of Latin jazz in the UK. While he guested on hundreds of records and was still playing a couple of years before his death at 84 last year, Jones only ever released a handful of albums under his own name. Arguably the best - and certainly most popular amongst Britain's legion of jazz-dancers - was 1972's "El Maja", credited to the Robin Jones Sextet. A scintillating fusion of Afro-Cuban and Afro-Brazillian rhythms laden with sprightly woodwind and brass sounds, jaunty piano, jazz-funk Rhodes sounds and notable nods towards rhythm and blues, the hard-to-find album has now been reissued by legendary London jazz DJ Paul Murphy's Jazz Room Records imprint. It should be an essential purchase for anyone who loves Latin jazz.

Review: Andrew Wasylyk completes a trio of beautiful albums with this latest reoccur don 'Athens of the North'. Across all of the music, he has concerned himself with unearthing, reshaping and conveying the rugged landscapes of Eastern Scotland with lush instrumental music that shimmers inventively. The influence of greats like David Axelrod, Alice Coltrane and Mark Hollis looms large, but never to the detriment of Wasylyk's own exquisite playing. Light often shines through his mellifluous piano chords and dreamy wind sounds. There are subtle spiritual elements and hints of library music also colouring this most accomplished of works.

Review: Jazz fans are in for a real treat here as Blue Note unleash a never before heard studio album by Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers. It was recorded back in 1959 at the legendary Rudy Van Gelder's Hackensack studio and has Lee Morgan, tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley, pianist Bobby Timmons, and bassist Jymie Merritt all playing as part of the recording. As the title suggests, it's a breezy, super cool record with seductive trumpets and icy drums all next to neat keys that encourage you to gently bop. After months of waiting, it proves more than worth all the anticipation.

Review: Bohren and Der Club of Gore has always been one of Germany's most intriguing and out there bands - a group rooted in grindcore and doom metal whose hard-to-pigeonhole output draws on a myriad of intriguing influences outside those intense styles. "Patchouli Blue", their tenth studio set since forming in 1992, is another moody and atmospheric gem: a challenging and experimental set that pits angst-ridden guitar textures against hallucinatory, David Lynch style cinematic sounds, hypnotic electronics and smoky, off-kilter jazz expressions. It's not a great departure from their previous albums, but when your sound is so distinctive - and inspired for that matter - why tear up the (Patchouli) blueprint?

Review: South London's Oscar Jerome is a real keystone of the capitals's ongoing jazz renaissance. His highly-anticipated debut album Breathe Deep comes on Caroline International and shows just why he has become such a revered voice in the last jazz movement having already worked with the likes of Shabaka Hutchings, Moses Boyd and Yussef Dayes. He calls on a wealth of collaborators here, too, including Joe Armon-Jones and Sons of Kemet, and they all add extra chops to a record that, says the artist, "is a pretty broad presentation of who I am musically and my journey to get to this point."