QuoteReplyTopic: New Release Round-up - 8th September 2023 Posted: 20 Sep 2023 at 10:09pm
new release round-up,Jazz New Release Round-up - 8th September 2023
by Barney Whittaker
Well, it's certainly been scorcher this week! And what better way to match this heatwave than with some exciting new releases - all of which are packing definite heat. Kicking things off is Rhiannon Giddens, America's best-kept secret and now, thanks to her latest album, You're The One, her homeland's most-valued cultural export. Second in command is Jon Batiste, another accoladed US superstar who recently took home more Grammys than he could carry. His World MusicRadio is a decadent jamboree scoping many genres. For our next instalment, the late piano-great Mulgrew Miller is on top for a live recording, Solo in Barcelona. Frenchman Baptiste Trotignon pays an Outremer homage to his favourite British artists on Brexit Music. And finally, Harold López-Nussa sets out in an exciting new chapter of his career with Timba a la Americana.
This is the first complete album of originals from the singer-songwriter and Pulitzer Prize recipient who has made a name for herself as one of the great reinventors of traditional American music. A record consisting of heartbreaking ballads and soulful ‘countrified’ blues, it is a pleasure spending forty minutes in the company of this gifted performer and to be touched by her spellbinding connection with her own cultural heritage.
The unstoppable personality of the wickedly talented Jon Batiste takes you on a sonic trip around the world, touching base at several distinguished global checkpoints of popular music in the process. With its message encouraging listeners to be who they are (since everyone else is taken), the new record from the present holder of the Grammy Award for Album of the Year is deeply current and impressively unique.
Now something for the more conventional among us. This live recording from 2004 finds the late pianist in fine form for an absorbing solo performance steeped in rich jazz history. Miller dances whilst sitting still, at times coming across as a two-handed orchestra. His playing throughout the set is rhythmic and compelling and reminds us why this underappreciated giant is sorely missed.
From across the channel comes a rollicking series of British rock classics downsized into an impressionable trio format, from The Beatles to Bowie, Pink Floyd to The Police. The Frenchman’s beguiling handling of these classic tunes runs high with good-spirited vibrancy and flair, whilst the ensemble does a cracking job of translating each playful track into a welcoming jazz idiom for a kid-glove fit.
In addition to last week’s recording of the week from Alfredo Rodríguez, the other big release of the summer as far as Latin jazz is concerned comes from another Cuban musician, this time from a fellow Havanese pianist who has recently signed to Blue Note. An irresistible slice of fun Latin music, López-Nussa’s first riveting foray on the prestigious label features a tight-knit band containing harmonica virtuoso Grégoire Maret and is produced by Snarky Puppy’s Michael League.
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