Editor's Choice: February 2025 | The best new jazz albums
Thursday, January 23, 2025
Featuring outstanding new releases from Xhosa Cole, Norma Winstone, John Donegan and more
Xhosa Cole
On A Modern Genius (Vol.1)
Stoney Lane
Xhosa Cole (ts), Steve Saunders (g), Josh Vadiveloo (b), Nathan England Jones (d), Liberty Styles (tap dance) and Heidi Vogel (v). Rec. March 2023
Cole takes us on a wild ride: One minute his playing is abstract and anarchic; then we hear fragments of Monk’s melodies framed by guttural bellows, head-spinning patterns and whorls of sound; the next it’s tender, soulful and drenched in the blues. Track four is a highlight. It opens with a burst of ‘Criss Cross’, then a hurried conversation between Cole and Styles, before the saxophonist is left alone, pouring everything he has into the haunting ‘Round Midnight’. Thomas Rees
John Donegan/The Irish Sextet
We Will Meet Again, Sometime
Jayde Records
John Donegan (p, comp), Linley Hamilton (t, flhn), Michael Buckley (as, ss, fl), Richie Buckley (ts), Hugh Buckley (g), Dan Bodwell (b) and John Daly (d). Rec. 12-14 March 2024
All 12 compositions are by Donegan, the opener ‘Blues For A Few Bucks’, a declamatory piece with a jubilant, inclusive sound, each man soloing with style and real energy. Donegan says his line-up ‘represents the cream of Irish jazz’ and who would doubt it on this evidence. He’s impressive himself on a pair of solo piano performances, these included at album producer Bernard O’Neill’s behest and elegantly done, ‘The Waters of Glencar’ evoking the serenity of the location in question, while ‘La Vita e Bella’ is pure improvisation. Peter Vacher
Dave Holland & Lionel Loueke
United Vol 1
Edition
Dave Holland (b) and Lionel Loueke (g, v). Rec. date not stated
The Afro-funk and Latin/contemporary jazz cool of ‘Tranxit’ is a highlight for its fast-weaving bass improv and breathlessly choppy strummed rhythm, ‘Celebration’ pits Scofield-like fragments of jazzy guitar figures against Holland’s deep sonorities, ‘Life Goes On’ is has Frisellian country echoes - and ‘Humanism’ (sung by Loueke in French) is a mix of edgy guitar figures, exultant vocals and gracefully flowing basslines that forms a vivid sketch of the intentions of a set entitled United. John Fordham
Benjamin Lackner
Spindrift
ECM
Benjamin Lackner (p), Mathias Eick (t), Mark Turner (ts), Linda May Han Oh (b), Matthieu Chazarenc (d). Rec. March 2024
Even though Turner is American, he long ago broke ranks with post Coltrane/Brecker school characterised by Chris Potter, with a left of field approach originally characterised by Warne Marsh. From this foundation he has built a more personal approach which Lackner allows to shine. Although Eick has had his more rowdy moments with Jaga Jazzist and Motorpsycho, he is an admirer of Kenny Wheeler’s highly original and occasionally oblique lyricism that colours a reflective and expressively deep style. Linda May Han Oh is an exceptional bassist whose vibrancy is a key component of this band. All in all Lackner, on the evidence of Spindrift, has created an ensemble of great potential. Stuart Nicholson
The North with Norma Winstone
Wheeler with Words
amm
Norma Winstone (v), Mike Murley (s), Percy Pursglove (t, flhn), Nikki Isles (p), Johnny Åman (b) and Anders Mogensen (d). Rec. date not stated
The lives and music of Kenny Wheeler, Norma Winstone (and of course John Taylor) remain so entwined that where the music begins, and the relationships evolve is barely distinguishable. Each contributed so seamlessly to the others’ art that at times they seem to sing with one voice, most notably with Azimuth. So, this project, with the lone surviving Winstone providing lyrics (along with Jane White) to Wheeler’s music, is as poignant as it is vivacious. Andy Robson
Jason Palmer
The Cross Over: Live in Brooklyn
Giant Step Arts
Jason Palmer (t), Mark Turner (ts), Larry Grenadier, (b) and Marcus Gilmore (d). Rec. 5-6 August 2023
Palmer’s spiky lines and melodic gift impress, his sense of purpose carries all before and saxophonist Turner dovetailing neatly, is a singular and experienced foil. Bassist Larry Grenadier and Marcus Gilmore on drums are equally potent as they move freely from counterpoint complexity to walking bass swing. Mike Hobart
Daniel Sommer / Arve Henriksen / Johannes Lundberg
Sounds & Sequences
April Records
Daniel Sommer (d), Arve Henriksen (t, v, elec) and Johannes Lundberg (b, elec).
Rec. 24 March, 19 December 2022 and 17-28 December 2023
Here Sommer’s in the rarefied company of impish Norwegian sonic genius/trumpeter Arve Henriksen (who’s given to outbursts of Tuvan throat singing or an angelic falsetto) and the deeply sonorous Swedish bassist Johannes Lundberg, who also produced this painterly, widescreen music. Improvised over the course of three separate sessions, these pieces feel simultaneously weighty and weightless. Mike Flynn
Peter Somuah
Highlife
ACT Music
Peter Somuah (t, v, cowbell), Jesse Schilderink (ts), Anton de Bruin (ky), Jens Meijer (d), Danny Rombout, Thomas Botchway (perc), Marijn van de Ven (bass), Lamisi Akuka (v) plus Koo Nimo, Pat Thomas, Gyedu-Blay Ambolley (v) and Bright Osei Baffour (g). Rec. 4-6 March 2024
Peter Somuah is a Ghanaian trumpeter and bandleader based in the Netherlands, who grew up in Accra playing in highlife bands and listening to (1960s) golden-era highlife legends. A suitably vintage analogue aesthetic informs this attention-grabbing sophomore album, the follow-up to his fine ACT debut Letter to the Universe. Jane Cornwell
Alexi Tuomarila
Departing the Wasteland
Edition
Alexi Tuomarila (p, syn), André Fernandes (g), Mats Eilertsen (b), Olavi Louhivuori (d) plus Joao Guimaraes (as, fl), Jose Pedro Coelho (ts) and Gil Silva (tb). Rec. date not stated
Finnish pianist/composer Alexi Tuomarila’s European reputation has been growing steadily for 20 years, for a scalding improv virtuosity hitched to memorable Scandinavian folk-rooted originals, and catchy groovers often possessed of an e.s.t.-like drive - virtues enhanced by his long trio rapport with Norwegian virtuoso bassist Mats Eilertsen and unique Finnish percussionist/composer Olavi Louhivuori, sometimes assisted by a frequent collaborator, Portuguese guitarist André Fernandes.
On this exciting departure from his familiar paths, Tuomarila plays both piano and synths, and adds a horn section on three tracks of Departing the Wasteland. John Fordham
