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Love Heart Cheat Code (LP)
Hiatus Kaiyote
Long time fan of Hiatus Kaiyote. Their exquisite funk-soul sound blew me away from first listen a few years ago. Nai Palm's vocals are heavily influenced by Stevie Wonder and her deliverance in live performances always brings me to tears.
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Purple Rain (LP)
Prince
His Royal Badness, the beloved Purple One and only....this year marks the 40th anniversary of Purple Rain and I am grateful everyday of my life to have been raised with this album in my household not knowing how truly impactful it would be to my life in later years...Prince will forever be the most controversial, groundbreaking untouchable master of cultivating a world entirely of his own where he broke all rules proving evidence of his brilliance in the sounds and energy of all that is purple... "When Doves Cry", "I Would Die 4 U" and "Let's Go Crazy" continue to be the most indelible songs to this day.
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Heaven (LP)
Cleo Sol
Cleo Sol brings me back to myself on days when I need it the most. Her poetic softness and gorgeous vocals orchestrate a healing in her soulful sound. This album is a deep revival from start to finish.
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Central Park's Mosaic of Reservoirs, Lakes, Pathways and Gardens (LP)
Amina Claudine Meyers / Wadada
"Wherever two or three are gathered..."
Kudos to Red Hook Records and producer Sun Chung for this release as well as the Qasim Naqvi "Two Centuries" trio album featuring Wadada Leo Smith and drummer Andrew Cyrille from 2022. This is prayer to Smith's love of nature, of communal space, a patient, soft-spoken dialogue between two masters. Both 82, just a few months apart in age, Smith and Myers, are longtime contributors to Chicago's AACM as well as the evolution of African-American improvisation. Myers' piano drops its notes like slowly turned meditation beads as Smith illuminates them with sparks that never jar, fireworks seen from a distance sufficient to mute the shock. I hear a slowly incanted Blues throughout, the mantra of wisdom collected over long years and shared, concurred between two spirits of import. Wish the album was twice as long, but, yet again, it is as beautiful as anything I've heard.
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Night Reign (LP)
Arooj Aftab
Pakistani vocalist takes on a wide range of international standards with an aching certainty and sumptuous tone. Really unlike any other vocals album I've heard over the last decade. Aftab is in a field of her own.
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