Ep31: Classical Ghosts, classic Monk & Nicholas Payton direct from his couch!

Courtney Pine Global (CPG) is an exciting non-stop music playlist of the best new jazz releases dropping globally. From swing, nu-jazz and latin, jazz-funk fusion and global beats, Courtney picks a cool mix of new and well-known artists for you to work, rest and play to…

This episode features the following tracks:

1. JK Group - Rising Part 1 (La Sape Records) Multi-dimensional future-jazz outfit JK Group return on La Sape Records. Led by award-winning saxophonist,Joshua Kelly (30/70 collective, PBS Young Elder of Jazz 2019), the band returns to the label with a follow up EP to the mind-bending 2021 release, 'What’s Real?'
2. David Versace - Summer Party (Okra La Sape Records) Brisbane-based multi-instrumentalist David Versace shares the his much anticipated debut LP 'Okra', his first solo album for La Sape Records. Wandering effortlessly between jazz, samba, ambient and the odd dance-floor heater, 'Okra' follows 3 years of consistent releases and is his most elegant an articulated work yet.
3. Doug Wamble - Homesick (Blues in the Present Tense Halyconic Records) This is Wamble's first album since 2015's The Traveler: Live in New York City, co-produced with veteran guitarist Charlie Drayton and a musical cast of longtime associates: bassist Eric Revis, drummer Jeff "Tain" Watts, and saxophonist Prometheus Jenkins (aka Branford Marsalis). 
4. Kay Young - Feel Like Makin Love (Bluenote Re:imagined) Blue Note Re:imagined returns with a new 16-track compilation featuring fresh takes on music from the illustrious Blue Note vaults recorded by a heavyweight line-up of the UK jazz, soul and R&B scene’s most hotly-tipped rising stars.
5. Ron Carter - Receipt Please (Finding the Right Notes IN& OUT) In October 2022, PBS aired a two hour documentary on jazz legend Ron Carter. Six years in the making, Finding the Right Notes was produced and directed by the renowned producer/director Peter Schnall, a seven-time Emmy Award and Peabody Award winner. Schnall reveals poignant and joyful details of the jazz maestro’s life, from his early days as a cello student in high school through his years in the Miles Davis Quintet of the ‘60’s and into his vital solo career that continues to this day.
6. Ubunye - Ubunye (Ubunye 33 Jazz) Ubunye is a vibrant seven-piece Afro-jazz band (which can expand to a 10 piece with horns) - it is a band like no other.  Featuring three powerful vocalists from South Africa’s Kwa Zulu Natal region combined with a dynamic rhythm section from Leeds, UK  Ubunye’s music is a unique blend of contemporary jazz, Afro-pop and traditional ‘Isigqui’ Zulu music.
7. Nicholas Payton - Feed The Fire (The Couch Sessions SMOKE) Visionary Multi-instrumentalist and Composer Nicholas Payton Provides a Vital Dose of Musical Therapy on The Couch Sessions Available Now on Smoke Sessions Records, the Trio Album Features the Dream Rhythm Section of Buster Williams and Lenny White, as Well as the Compositions and Sampled Voices of Masters Like Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Keith Jarrett and Geri Allen
8. Tim Fitzgerald - Cariba (Full House CELLAR MUSIC GROUP) Chicago-based guitarist Tim Fitzgerald and his septet Full House have released their eponymous debut album. Out now via Cellar Music Group, Full House is an assemblage of Chicago's finest straight-ahead players who transform a thoughtfully curated selection from Wes Montgomery’s varied songbook.
9. Theon Cross - Epistrophy (Bluenote Re:imagined) London tuba player and Sons of Kemet member Theon Cross with a version of the Thelonious Monk/Kenny Clarke composition Epistrophy
10. Michael Wollny - Erlkonig (Ghosts ACT) On "Ghosts" pianist and composer Michael Wollny, together with bassist Tim Lefebvre and drummer Eric Schaefer, explores the ghosts that inhabit songs from jazz, classical and pop music. The musical spectrum of the album, which is influenced by the "Hauntology" movement as well as Northern and Southern Gothic, ranges from Franz Schubert's "Erlkönig" to jazz standards by George Gershwin or Duke Ellington and pop songs by Nick Cave or Timber Timbre. 
11. Brian Auger, Julie Driscoll & The Trinity - Red Beans and Rice (Far Horizons !K7)Next week on CPG: Boogaloo sax from Canada, Lauren Henderson channels betrayal + fabulous guitar jazz from NYC.  Hit subscribe (continued)