New Releases: Jazz/Improvised Music (November 2018)

Gemma Sugrue and the Julien Colarossi Quartet

New Releases: Jazz/Improvised Music (November 2018)

A round-up of new jazz and improvised music releases

Featured below: Gemma Sugrue and the Julien Colarossi Quartet; Mansur Brown; Heartland Trio; Keith Jarrett; Maisha. 

Listen to the Journal of Music jazz/improvised playlist on Spotify: http://ow.ly/Byi230jVzm1.

Each week The Journal of Music compiles news on new and recent releases in contemporary, classical, jazz, indie, folk and traditional music. Please send details of all releases to newreleases [at] journalofmusic.com

Find out more about Album, Book and Concert Reviews on The Journal of Music: http://ow.ly/ZNcG30mIZFa.

Gemma Sugrue and the Julien Colarossi Quartet: In My Nature
Independent
October 2018

The opening riff of ‘All of Nothing at All’ encapsulates the approach of this collaboration between the Irish vocalist and quartet: there is a constant ebb and flow of tension in this album between the tight rhythmic formations of the band and their meandering melodies. The band create many instrumental colours throughout, but always towards the warm end of the spectrum, with Sugrue’s voice inviting you in. 

Click on the image to listen.

Visit www.gemmasugrueandthejuliencolarossiquartet.bandcamp.com.

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Mansur Brown: Shiroi
Black Focus Records
9 October 2018

London musician Mansur Brown’s debut solo release is filled with startlingly original sounds and ideas; it’s easy to get so lost in the electronica-like drums that you almost miss the dense patterning of his guitar work, layering heavily processed textural elements with funk riffs and distorted solos. Brown frequently drifts closer to the worlds of instrumental rock and electronica; his relationship with jazz seems complicated but integral to his music.

Heartland Trio: Year One
Independent
15 November 2018

Heartland Trio was founded by American bassist and composer Hannah Marks and describe themselves as having a ‘garage band’ mentality. There is a kind of rough vitality to the trio, demonstrated by their debut album Year One, which is filled with almost singalong sax melodies and rock drums in both Marks’ original compositions and the traditional and spiritual tunes that occasionally appear. At the heart of it all though is Marks’ understated bass playing, which gives it a constant drive and a dynamic groove as well as an implacable melodic underpinning.

Visit www.hannahmarksbass.com.

Keith Jarrett: La Fenice (Live At Teatro La Fenice)
ECM
19 October 2018

This live album, recorded in Venice in 2006, is everything you would expect of the pianist: challenging, viscerally exciting, and pounding and lyrical all at once. Eight wild live improvisations, equally channelling Ligeti, Bach and Thelonious Monk, are somewhat incongruously interspersed with gentle ballads such as ‘My Wild Irish Rose’. The album feels so intimate, it’s easy to forget it is a live recording.

Maisha: There is A Place
Brownswood Recordings
9 November 2018

There Is A Place begins with a wild outburst of joy from the huge London-based ensemble. It quickly gives way though to more reflection in tracks like ‘Azure’ and the title track. A large ensemble (13 musicians are credited on this album, including Nubya Garcia) Maisha are a ‘spritual jazz’ band, and their music is filled with both intensely personal references and a feeling of universality through its assimilation of styles and traditions.

Please send details of all new releases to newreleases [at] journalofmusic.com.

Find out more about Album, Book and Concert Reviews on The Journal of Music: http://ow.ly/ZNcG30mIZFa.

Published on 23 November 2018

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