QuoteReplyTopic: Release Round-Up - 3rd May 2024(presto) Posted: 06 May 2024 at 10:29pm
new release round-up,Jazz New Release Round-Up - 3rd May 2024
by Barney Whittaker
Over hill, over dale, we have some very exciting folk-jazz selections this week for you! Awen Ensemble present their debut Cadair Idris, which tells the fabled story of a woman who spends a night alone on the titular Welsh mountain. Rising star Fergus McCreadie's new album Stream spins a similar yarn, this time celebrating the watery aspects of his Scottish homeland. In other news, we hear from the Petter Bergander Trio, whose latest release Watershed marks the second outing of their solid new lineup. Jasper Somsen, Enrico Pieranunzi and Gabriele Mirabassi pare back on Traveller's Ways, and Sarah Jane Morris re-emerges triumphantly with The Sisterhood.
The new album from this soulful English diva is an authentic blend of tenderly crafted tales, an eclectic mishmash of sorts. With her own life story worth its weight in gold, here Morris turns her attention to the stories of her musical heroines and crafts a musical narrative that befits each and every one: from Bessie Smith to Janis Joplin, Miriam Makeba to Kate Bush. Tony Rémy’s arrangements are thoughtful, funky and fresh, and perfectly underscore his songstress – whose captivating knack for storytelling grabs you from the offset and refuses to let go.
A refreshing spell from this European trio of piano, bass and drums. Crystallising the ensemble’s new lineup on 2019’s Kierkegaard’s Waltz, the Swedish pair of Bergander and Robert Ikiz, both of whom have routinely appeared with the Nils Landgren Funk Unit, join forces once again with German bassist Eva Kruse – herself a former collaborator of Arne Jensen and Michael Wollny’s . It’s evidently a simpatico relationship, as expressed through the group’s touchingly benign and frequently dynamic interplay that manages to speak across borders.
We last featured the Italian jazz pianist Pieranunzi off the back of last year’s Chet Remembered, where he led the Frankfurt Radio Big Band in a valiant tribute to the beloved trumpeter. He returns for a much more intimate affair, this time under the direction of bassist Jasper Somsen – not to mention the quirky addition of Gabriele Mirabassi on clarinet. The precisely understated compositions are (for the most part) the leader’s own and, despite the desolate tundra its arctic-inspired artwork suggests, what lies beneath is a warm and invigorating experience.
Have we covered a Welsh-language release before? Whatever the case, that wrong is about to be righted with the debut release from this new folklore-inspired ensemble. Named after a popular hiking destination for visitors to the country’s largest national park, this album’s backdrop is steeped in pagan mythology. Drawing their key influences from the mountainous Celtic landscape, the Leeds-based septet jot down their latest entry in the unfolding diary of this alternative musical tradition, traversing Eyri’s fog-capped peaks with their gentle sonic haze of songs and instrumentals.
A hotly anticipated gem from this lauded youngster. With his most recent album, Forest Floor, having claimed the title of Scottish Album of the Year in 2022 (the same week he was snubbed of a Mercury Prize), the 26 year-old returns with a joyful trio recording that sings praises of his native Scotland's natural wonders. His star already on the ascent, McCreadie’s compelling mixture of vamps and balladry à la Jarrett represents an aqueous paean to the natural world whilst coming to terms with his place within it.
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