Ambrose Akinmusire

On The Tender Spot Of Every Calloused Moment

(Blue Note)

Ambrose Akinmusire (t), Sam Harris (p), Harish Raghavan (b) and Justin Brown (d)

Ambrose Akinmusire’s fifth studio album finds the 38 year-old trumpeter in as reflective a mode as ever, asking questions about black identity and avoiding clichéd pathways just as he opts for musical roads less travelled. Without the illuminating vocal contributions of 2018’s excellent Origami Harvest, the spotlight falls on a quartet whose cohesion reflects a decade-long history, and, anchored by the outstanding drummer Justin Brown, it shines emphatically. Kevin Le Gendre

Read the full review in the July issue of Jazzwise

Michael Olatuja

Lagos Pepper Soup

(Whirlwind)

Michael Olatuja (b, el b, perc, producer) Lionel Loueke, Hervé Samb, Femi Temowo (g) Aaron Parks, Robert Mitchell (p) Dianne Reeves, Becca Stevens, Angelique Kidjo, Laura Mvula, Onaje Jefferson, Thana Alexa, Camille Thurman (v) Joe Lovano (ts) Regina Carter (violin) Grégoire Maret (harmonica) Brandee Younger (harp) Terreon Gully, Troy Miller (d) and Joseph Joubert, David Metzger, Jason Michael Webb, John Cowherd (string orchestrations)

A thorough command of hard-hitting afrobeat, jazz and funk enables Olatuja to make appealing music that draws a coherent line from the rhythmically and metrically complex to ballads with a soulful or folkish beauty. Kevin Le Gendre

Read the full review in the July issue of Jazzwise

Jaga Jazzist

Pyramid

(Brainfeeder/Ninja Tune)

Lars Horntveth (s, cl, g, ky, syn, bib, p, elec), Marcus Forsgren (g, v), Even Ormestad (b), Line Horntveth (tu, alt horn, euph, fl, v), Erik Johannessen (tb, v), Martin Horntveth (d, perc, prog), Øystein Moen (syn, clay, Hammond org), Andreas Mjøs (vb) and David Wallumrød (p)

There may be just four tracks on the album, but they are well-conceived and constructed, with well-arranged ensemble textures that balance acoustic and electronic sounds in varying densities that can sometimes make the ensemble sound four times its size. Stuart Nicholson

Read the full review in the July issue of Jazzwise

Andrew McCormack

Solo

(Ubuntu Music)

Andrew McCormack (p)

McCormack’s resourcefulness embraces a McCoy Tyner-like percussive power, a knack for giving familiar materials contemporary spins, and an inclination to fastmoving idiomatic scene-shifts within pieces – jazz-improv to baroque counterpoint, for instance. John Fordham

Read the full review in the July issue of Jazzwise

Snarky Puppy

Live At The Royal Albert Hall

(GroundUp)

Michael League (el b, Karkabas, syn), Mark Lettieri (g), Mason Davis (Karkabas), Bill Laurance, Bobby Sparks (ky), Shaun Martin (ky, Talkbox), Justin Stanton (ky, t), Zach Brock (vln), Bob Reynolds (ts), Chris Bullock (ts, f, bf), Mike ‘Maz’ Maher (t, flan), Keita Ogawa, Marcelo Woloski (perc) and Jason Thomas (d)

The roar of over 5,000 people has an eerie quality in our self-isolated times, and having witnessed the sheer magnitude and impact of this gig first hand, for me this night now feels like its from a another dimension. There are other resonances too with the UK, and London in particular, being the vital stepping stone on which Snarky Puppy catapulted themselves into a globetrotting live juggernaut. Mike Flynn

Read the full review in the July issue of Jazzwise

Luciana Souza

Storytellers

(Sunnyside)

Luciana Souza (v), Vince Mendoza (producer/ arranger/conductor) WDR Big Band Köln: Johan Hörlen, Karolina Strassmayer, Olivier Peters, Paul Heller, Jens Neufang, Stefan Karl Schmid (s), Wim Both, Rob Bruynen, Andy Haderer, Ruud Breuls, John Marshall, Bastian Stein (tp) Ludwig Nuss (tb), Shannon Barnett, Andy Hunter (tb), Mattis Cederberg (tuba), Paul Shigihara (g), John Goldsby (b), Rainer Böhm (p), Hans Dekker (d) and Marcio Doctor (perc)

The São Paulo-born, LA-based, vocalist Luciana Souza’s new collaboration with esteemed Grammy-winning arranger Vince Mendoza and the WDR big band is a return to her native roots following 2018’s poetry-led The Book of Longing, dedicated to Leonard Cohen. But the value of song text is by no means abandoned on Storytellers, her 10th album for Sunnyside, even though she sings a selection of Brazilian classics in her Portuguese mother tongue. Mendoza’s exquisite large ensemble arrangements are discerningly aligned with Souza’s previous penchant for intimate, sparsely-textured settings. Selwyn Harris

Read the full review in the July issue of Jazzwise

Trevor Watts

The Lockdown Solos

(Hi 4 Head Records)

Trevor Watts (as, ss)

Trevor Watts shows his jazz roots are still a major part of his playing as he storms through this powerful set of solo pieces that were recorded during his period of lockdown. As the Covid-19 virus raged outside, Watts’ response was to return to the music that originally prompted him to pick up his saxophone – and just blow his isolation blues away. Edwin Pouncey

Read the full review in the July issue of Jazzwise