Amoeba Music

"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.

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.

Vibraphonist's 4th release on the Blue Note imprint. Bringing in saxophonist and label-mate Immanuel Wilkins and a top-notch section to flow through a decidedly mellow round of excellent originals, a couple Coltranes and a Monk. The dialogue with Wilkins often made me reflect on the classic interplay between Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond; easy and instinctual and pleasing.

Continuing in the direction of 2022's Amaryllis, with the Amaryllis Sextet (trumpet, trombone, guitar, vibes, bass, drums), Halvorson has cast off much concern with Jazz tradition and veers freely and frequently into Rock vernacular and chamber Classical modes. Electronic voicings pop up here and there, creating a general atmosphere of exciting, loosely composed chaos. Laurie Anderson lends her violin to Incarnadine, which further indicates the territory that Halvorson is trying to describe. Exhilarating!

The saxophonist/composer's resume is impressive: Makaya McCraven, Marquis Hill, MeShell Ndegeocello, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Harry Styles and regular member of guitarist Jeff Parker's most celebrated quartet. Here, he's handling everything by himself with the exception of some Aaron Steele drum samples. Unusual Object is just that; comprised of what could be called experiments or exercises in sax possibilities. Multi-tracking, treated tones and sound-gates, reverb and delays all add up to a surprisingly engaging and very listenable album. Rarely jarring, Johnson's playing has a confidence within its context that sets the listener at ease, trusting the driver to navigate this foreign terrain.

Rediscovered 1972 performance with Kenny Barron, Bob Cunningham and Tootie Heath. Lateef is a player whose influence on the trajectory of Jazz can't be overstated. Often seamlessly integrating Asian scales and modes into his playing and always seeking deeper, more expressive ways to restate what is expected. There's nothing by him that's not worth hearing, and we're lucky that this gem has been unearthed.

Part of Jazz Dispensary's excellent "Top Shelf" series, this 1972 session veers deeply into intrumental R&B territory, but once the heads are stated, the extrapolation of the themes become something quite other. His version of People Make The World Go Round gets a deep exploration on par with Milt Jackson's version on Sunflower, though a bit more spritely and funky. Libra gets dubby and trippy at the mid-point and Tawhid is a funk-jazz slice of life. Highly recommmended.

Long-awaited re-issue of this excellent 1971 session with Gary Bartz, Bennie Maupin, George Cable, Ron Carter, Clint Houston and Lenny White. Landing somewhere between CTI-era post-Bop and Bitches Brew Miles Davis, this is one of Woody Shaw's masterpieces, skirting the balance of hard Bop and avant-garde. Shaw's trumpet tone is superb throughout this muscular, lyrical, singular session.

Finally issued in a complete edition, this concert with Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shepp, double bassists, double drummers, tamboura and harmonium is one of the tradition's most profound documents. Alice had found her sound, her cohorts, her place in the world, and she presents it in two facets: 2 Indian-inspired Jazz ragas and two fiery, ecstatic John Coltrane-penned workouts.

Choice Track: Matrix

Robert Glasper delivers another career-high album with Black Radio III. The talented pianist conjures up multi-faceted moods, with a sense of yearning and hope emerging from his assured, elegant keys. Glasper's brought some heavy hitters to the proceedings, too, with Killer Mike, Big K.R.I.T., and BJ the Chicago Kid appearing on the brilliant "Black Superhero." H.E.R. and Meshell Ndegeocello appear on the addictive, achingly beautiful "Better Than I Imagined." Elsewhere on the album, Q-Tip, Common, Ty Dolla Sign, Esperanza Spalding, Jennifer Hudson, Yebba, and Ant Clemons make excellent contributions. Black Radio III is straight up fantastic and will probably land on many year end "best of" lists.

Live a Little is the haunting, ethereal, accidental new LP from Sam Gendel & Antonia Cytrynowicz. Why accidental? The recording sessions started out as a lark, with multi-instrumentalist Sam Gendel jamming out with his creative and life partner Marcella’s then-eleven-year-old sister, Antonia Cytrynowicz. Fully improvised and recorded in one session, the songs feature Antonia’s fairy-like, youthful vocals and Gendel’s experimental jazz. The collaboration brings to mind the work of Dean Blunt and Inga Copeland in its folkloric strangeness, gentleness, and ephemeral beauty. Dreamy and lovely, Live a Little feels like the court music of another, enchanted realm.

Could We Be More forecasts big things for London’s Kokoroko. Out via Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood Recordings, the band’s debut album delivers joyful, substantive tracks created from Afrobeat, soul, funk, jazz, and highlife influences. The eight-piece grew up in the British West African and Caribbean communities and there’s an intense joie de vivre, a celebration of the highs and lows of life, powering each of these fifteen top-notch tracks. Could We Be More feels like the best summer day of your life, no matter what season you’re listening to it. Discover why Kokoroko is heating up the UK music press—this is a band that deserves a massive global audience.