Jazz Recommendations Best Of 2012

Review: Wow. Fortuna have really thrown a curve ball. There is very little out other on Arbanel Tsvia but the music speaks for itself. Both cuts are furtive fusions of East meets West as we shake away to dramatic Salim-Sulaiman style cascading melodies before being thrown in Charlie Parkier style jazz madness and big swing band action the size of 10 Glen Millers. A unique listen, there's not one dull moment throughout.

Review: On its original release in the 1980s, Azanyah's The One was only ever issued as a private press - meaning copies now change hands for upwards of $1000. Listening back to this remastered reissue, it's easy to see why it's held in such high regard. Offering a decidedly spiritual take on jazz infused with elements of folk and African music, The One offers a British take on the work of John Coltrane and Pharaoh Sanders with an uplifting twist. There's plenty to make you smile, from the anthemic uplift of "Guiding Light" and snaking clarinet of "Praise", to the freestyle space-jazz of "I Will Surely Come Again".

Review: This latest volume in Jazzman's occasional Spiritual Jazz series is, predictably, a fascinating beast, offering an unlikely glimpse into the sound of underground European jazz throughout the 1960s and early '70s. It's a refreshingly eclectic beast, moving from choir-laden German modal (see Herman Gehlen's bonkers "Kyrie") and folksy oddities (Jeff Gilson's excellent "Untitled"), to formidable Scandinavian deepness (the Binder Quintet), Eastern European classics (Crescendo Quintet) and typically wild Balkan freestyle (Dusko Goykovic's brilliant rendition of the "Macedonian Fertility Dance"). With detailed sleeve notes joining the dots and filling in the gaps, Spiritual Jazz 3 is a real eye-opener for those schooled on American jazz classics.

Review: New York-based jazz combo The Rongetz Foundation have previously impressed with their warm, soft-focus take on nu-jazz. This third album for Heavenly Sweetness continues the trend, expanding their repertoire to take in hip-hop soul (see the Jazzamatazz-goes-live John Robinson hook-up "A Compose of Modern Day"), soul-jazz fusion (an excellent cut with Gregory Porter, "GoGo Soul") and sumptuous modern soul ("Eunice K"). Although it's these new sounds the catch the ear, they remain an excellent jazz combo, as the evocative, expansive "The Bolshoi Drunk Ghost" adeptly proves. Possibly their best album to date, and a definite step forward.

Review: Even without the vintage hardback book, bonus tracks and booklet, this is a great addition to any collection... Exploring a relatively recent but hugely rich period in American music history, Jukebox Mambo is an extensive window into the fusion of Cuban and Latin music and R&B and jazz during the 50s. Some of it barely gives a nod to R&B at all (Dave Bartholomew's "Shrimp & Gumbo" and Fay Simmons' "Big Joe Mambo") while others deftly combine the jazz swing and energetic arrangement of R&B with mambo rhythms perfectly. Highly collectable whichever way you look at it.