Jazz Recommends Jazz February 2021

Review: Donald Byrd was joined by tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley, alto sax wizard Jackie McLean, Duke Pearson on piano, bassists Doug Watkins and Reggie Workman and drummer Lex Humphries on this stunning session from 1960. It's a record packed with highlights, not least a powerful ballad on 'Little Girl Blue', or the hard bop swing of 'My Girl Shirl' and 'Lex', the last of those two in particular features a soulful solo from Mobley that really stays with you. This is part fo the Tone Poet series which places particular focusses on exceptional audiophile Blue Note LP reissues presented by Music Matters.

Review: Menagerie are an Australian 9-piece band who here unveil their third full-length album, once again lead by producer, songwriter, guitarist, DJ and recording artist Lance Ferguson. This record features a number of high profile guests and is said to have been inspired by the classics sounds of John Coltrane as well as the expansive new jazz era ushered in by the likes of Kamasi Washington, Shabaka Hutchings and Nubya Garcia. It sure is an expressive record with leanings towards spiritual sounds and hypnotic leads. Uplifting harmonies and dramatic drums all make it a thrilling ride, once again from this fine Melbourne crew.

Review:  While previous instalments of Jazzman's essential Spiritual Jazz series have focused on killer cuts and rare gems from the past (specifically material recorded between the 1950s and '80s), the thirteenth volume shines a light on what's happening right now. It's stretched across two double-albums, with this first part hitting spot from the word go. The collection's greatest strength is how it manages to represent the many different directions that spiritual jazz has gone in the 21st century. For proof, compare and contrast the drowsy, bluesy and smoky 'Lizard Waltz' by Benjamin Herman, the jazz psychedelia of Idris Ackmoor and the Pyramids' 'An Angel Fell', the Latin lounge-jazz flex of Jimi Tenor and Kabukabu's 'Suite Meets' and the low-down, bass-driven brilliance of Gnawa' by drummer-turned-beatmaker Maya McCracken.

Review: One of the endless jazz classics in the Blue Note catalogue, this Tender Moments reissue - Tyner's second for the label - was first put out in 1968. Featuring tracks dedicated to John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk, it's part of the Tone Poet series some comes with super high end mastering and audiophile values. Lee Morgan is on trumpet, Julian Priester on trombone and Bennie Maupin on tenor saxophone, James Spaulding on alto saxophone/flute, Bob Northern on French horn, Howard Johnson on tuba, Herbie Lewis on bass, and Joe Chambers on drums.It is another essential addition to the shelves of any real jazz connoisseur.

Review: On this 1954 eponymous album it is often said that Sarah Vaughan put in her best vocal turns. She offers up nine intake standards with trumpet playing from the legendary Clifford Brown. He brings some slick bop styles while Herbie Mann's flute and Paul Quinichette's tenor often shine through in some of the many magic solo passages. The reissue has been mastered from original tapes and pressed on nice loud, clear, heavyweight vinyl for a truly high end jazz experience.

Review: If you're looking for some exotic, spiritually minded jazz to kick-start 2021, look no further than this inspired collection as "direct-to-disc" improvisation from drummer Sarathy Korwar and his regular studio partners, the UPAJ Collective. In keeping with the feel of their previous work, the five showcased improvised recordings brilliant fuse familiar spiritual jazz tropes (snaking saxophone solos, loose-limbed drums and quality keys-work) with the traditions and sounds of Indian classical music (think tablas, violins, Hindi musical motifs played on acoustic guitar etc). Throw in some real-time recording trickery, and you've got an unusual but extremely entertaining set that we firmly believe is the first great jazz album of 2021.

Review: While previous instalments of Jazzman's essential Spiritual Jazz series have focused on killer cuts and rare gems from the past (specifically material recorded between the 1950s and '80s), the thirteenth volume shines a light on what's happening right now. This second part (of two) successfully showcases the best of the contemporary scene, showcasing cuts from around the world that neatly encapsulate the breadth and diversity of 21st century spiritual jazz. The plentiful highlights include the exotic, Eastern-tinged spiritualism of Wildflower's 'Flute Song', the futurist jazz-funk deepness of Steve Reid's 'For Coltrane', the layered vocals and acoustic instrumentation of Angel Bat Dawid's 'What Should I Tell My Children Who Are Black' and the sparkling, sun-soaked positivity of 'Nova' by Menagerie.

Review: Tramp Records' latest reissue is, somewhat unsurprisingly, of another exceedingly deep release. The two-part 'Mustang' was the sole release by jazz quartet The New Philadelphians, and originally came out on the tiny Quaker City Jazz imprint sometime around 1968. The A-side 'Part 1' version is particularly potent, seeing the band's saxophonist and organist trading solos and riffs over a bustling rhytyhm and blues-goes-jazz-rock groove. The second part is, if anything, even sweatier and more club-ready, featuring as it does the kind rising horn licks and wild organ solos that always set temperatures racing out on the dancefloor.

Review: This is a special sampler 12" taken from the Various Artists compilation Defend Your Planet that Avoidant Records put out. It features a heavyweight crew of electro mainstays, first of which are The Advent & Zein Ferreira. Their 'Defend Your Plane' is a turbo powered cosmic assault with skewed synths and high speed drums. Assembler Code's 'Line Of Sight' doesn't let up, powering on through sheet metal snares and juddering drum programming and then man like Carl Finlow layers in prickly melodies, dark sci-fi energy and booming bass. Analogue master Versalife shits things down with the shadowy 'SH09.'

Review: Cleveland Eaton's Plenty Good Eaton album was one of the many that made the Black Jazz Records label such a force back in the 70s. Now much of the previously expensive and hard o find catalogue is being reissued by a new team. Eaton's skills are many - he played piano, saxophone, trumpet, tuba, string bass, was a producer, arranger, composer, publisher and head of his own Birmingham-based record company until his death in July last year. Here on what was his second album he fused funk, disco, jazz and soul into an expressive album of timeless quality.

Review: Tina Brooks' final album was one of his most underrated. The tenor saxophonist really brought the goodness on The Waiting Game, which she record din 1961 but did not put out until 1999. The undervalued player might have played a big part in the hard bop era but only one of his Blue Note sessions ever made it out. Here he is joined by Johnny Coles on trumpet, Kenny Drew on piano, Wilbur Ware on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums, and wrote five of the six tunes himself. It's a soulful sound with highlights like modal masterpieces 'Dhyana' and 'David the King.'

Review: This is a prescient record that resonates even years after it was first recorded: it's the 1963 audio of the March on Washington featuring Martin Luther King Jr.'s iconic I Have a Dream speech. It was recorded on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC and also features powerful speeches from A. Philip Randolph, UAW president Walter Reuther, NAACP's Roy Wilkins and March organizer Whitney Young. It's a soul stirring, thought providing listen that will rouse the soul and cannot fail to inspire and educate. The whole release has the full blessing of the

Review: Godtet is back with his third LP, and one which he calls possibly the finest distillation of his sound yet. Across eight tracks he fuses sounds from around the world that show another organic evolution and draw on three years of gigging, playing and recording music. The record was made with no samples and was wholly improvised and is said to be the final part of a trilogy. The beats are dark and intense at times, but can just as easily be feather light and superbly spacious, such as on the gorgeous 'Sun.' Though these tracks are short, they really are very sweet.

Review: There are few artists quite like Camae Ayewa AKA Moor Mother, a self-titled producer of "black girl blues, project housing bop and black ghost songs" whose wildly experimental but utterly essential back catalogue sounds like nothing else around. She's in fine form on Circuit City, a four-act story in which her on-point spoken word (and occasionally sung) vocals rise above a simultaneously chaotic, otherworldly, cosmic and intense form of abstract and freestyle jazz that defies definition. It's utterly inspired all told, with Ayewa and her musical collaborators conjuring up a quartet of cuts that somehow manage to be as beautiful and poignant as they are wild and intense. Stunning.