Seven forthcoming Jazz releases you need to know about
New music from across the world
Usually I’m a fan of being in the present, but with the strength of these forthcoming Jazz releases, changing tact is looking pretty good. We’re looking ahead to recommended albums and EPs that you can pre-order now.
SPAZA \\ UPRIZE!
Following their 2019 self-titled debut, rotating Jazz collective SPAZA are releasing UPRIZE!. It scores a documentary of the same name, which is a voyage into the factors that lead towards the 1976 Soweto uprising. UPRIZE! achieves a delicate dance of being both strikingly mournful whilst offering a dizzying sense of hope and lightness.
Pre-order // Release date: 16 October via Mushroom Hour Half Hour
Planet Battagon \\ Trans-Neptunia
On The Corner Records claim that Planet Battagon “avoid the many pitfalls and cliches of both jazz and electronic music” - we couldn’t agree more. Trans-Neptunia is an impressive album both for its bold ideas and its execution; it was almost entirely improvised, and recorded over two days. PB couldn’t possibly be accused of cutting short even the most seasoned of DJs or dancers; tracks like Wezlee’s Disco Inferno and Escape from Sedna are gloriously unpredictable, exciting - and never miss a beat.
Pre-order \\ Release date: 23 October via On The Corner Records
Yazz Ahmed \\ Polyhymnia Remixed
The combination of the words “psychedelic” and “Arabic Jazz” can only lead to one person; Yazz Ahmed. DJ Plead and Surly are amongst the producers that reinterpret offerings on Polyhymnia, an album that pays tribute and homage to powerful and brave women. This isn’t the first time time that Ahmed has instigated remixes of her work; DJ Khalab and Hector Plimmer took on songs from La Saboteuse in 2018, turning them into underground dance floor gems, which you can also catch up with here.
Pre-order \\ Release date: 6 November
Aquiles Navarro & Tcheser Holmes \\ Heritage of the Invisible II
Two members of adrenalin charged Irreversible Entanglements step forward with their own collaborative record. Trumpet and percussion duo Aquiles Navarro and Tcheser Holmes place Latin and Afro-Carribean building blocks at ground level and build upon them with meditative and attention-grabbing phrases. This is deep thinking music.
Pre-order \\ Release date: 23 October via International Anthem
Matthew Halsall \\ Salute to the Sun
Meditative on a whole other level, Matthew Halsall is back with his first collection of new music in five years and a new band in tow, including young up and comers from Manchester such as harpist Maddie Herbert. Salute to the Sun continues Halsall’s Spiritual Jazz journey but with added influences from natural environments. “I feel Salute to the Sun is a positive earthy album”, explains Halsall. “I wanted to create something playful but also quite primitive, earthy and organic that connected to the sounds in nature”.
Pre-order \\ Release date: 20 November via Gondwana
Ben Marc \\ Glass Effect
Bassist Ben Marc has played with artists as varied as Sons of Kemet, Macy Gray and Sun Ra Arkestra. When he released his Wait EP in 2016, he was way ahead of the curve with his Jazzish-electronic sound. He’s stepping forward again into the spotlight with the release of his long-awaited solo album Glass Effect, which lands in 2021. The first single from the record, Dark Clouds ft Joshua Idehen, is socially-engaged with no BS and a continued penchant for electronic-tinged genre-fluidity. Keep an eye on future issues of EZH; we’ll have more from Ben Marc.
Pre-order not yet available \\ Release date: 2021
Surprise Chef \\ Daylight Savings
It’s not all that often that Mr Bongo bring us a contemporary release - and it’s even more infrequent for it to come from Australia’s burgeoning modern Jazz scene. Surprise Chef recorded Daylight Savings in their home studio - like many of London’s most forward-looking collaborators, the bandmates are housemates, too. College Welcomes Carl is a stand out track to listen out for, with a name that could be inspired by the fact that they nicknamed their home studio the ‘College Of Knowledge’. The album flies with its light funk, Jazz-dance leanings and unmistakeable Melbourne style. Fans of Mildlife and BADBADNOTGOOD, take note.
Record of the Week \\ Chien Chien Lu - The Path
Turning our attention to an album we can own right now, we’re putting fast-rising vibraphonist Chien Chien Lu front and centre with The Path. Lu successfully fundraised the costs of recording her album, after studying in Taiwan and relocating to New York. She arranges standards into her own distinctive and achingly cool style, especially on opening track We Live in Brooklyn Baby - a unique take on the Roy Ayers classic. An arrangement of traditional Taiwanese song Blossom also shines amongst classic Jazz standards like Miles Davis’ Blue In Green. A stylish and impressive debut.
News and notable:
The JazzFM Awards will now be live streamed on 27 October
Vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant has been named as a MacArthur fellow alongside scientists and scholars.
A vinyl subscription service, Groovolo, has launched
What I’m consuming this week:
Having moved house this week, I’m mostly consuming coffee as I rampage through a box fortress. Whilst I’m still organising my record collection, I’ve been listening to my Spotify playlist, New Jazz That We All Need, including the fantastic Deadlines by aforementioned Surprise Chef (pictured below)
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Thank you, Tina x