May brings a fresh Jazzwise round-up, with the editors highlighting their essential picks for the month, including the stripped-back trio lyricism of Julian Argüelles on Echo Fields, the intimate duo magic of Elina Duni and Rob Luft on Reaching for the Moon, and the electrifying energy of Hedvig Mollestad’s Bitches Blues.
The archive spotlight shines on Courtney Pine’s celebratory anthology Out Of The Ghetto: A Modern-Day Jazz Story, alongside a compelling live broadcast snapshot from Bill Evans on Bill Evans at the BBC, and an album from the late Mike Westbrook.
New Releases
Reaching for the Moon
Elina Duni & Rob Luft
“Casting a typically wide stylistic net and focusing on just the core duo rather than the quartet setting, Elina Duni's third recording with guitarist Rob Luft elicits supremely subtle performances from the two protagonists.”
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Bitches Blues
Hedvig Mollestad Weejuns
“We pick out Mollestad but Weejuns are a threesome, an extraordinary inversion of an old school organ trio, now redefined through Storløkken's epic keys, Mofjell's rolling thunder and the chameleonvoiced guitar...There's no redemption. Miles would rasp his approval.”
Available Formats: Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Quartet: Live at the Village Vanguard Vol. 1
Immanuel Wilkins
“The music is expansive and outgoing and, as his collaborations with filmmakers and visual artists would suggest, inspires the imagination as well as soothing the soul…Volume 1 starts with the fast walking bass swing and modal pulse of 'Warriors' - bassist Ryoma Takenaga as solid as a rock.”
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Live at the Village Vanguard Vol. 1
Immanuel Wilkins Quartet
Available Format: Vinyl Record
Patternmaster
Mark Turner Quartet
“Stylistically, there is an enticing blend of bebop and avant-garde flavour in the long, winding, often contrapuntal lines that have echoes of Ornette, and Pinson's buoyant, bouncy snare commentaries are highly effective á la Ed Blackwell. The two horns have their customary phrasal eloquence and narrative drive, but this is an ensemble in the real sense of the term - all parts interlocking to create a whole that has a bracing, at times danceable, swinging energy as well as thematic finesse that bears repeat listening.”
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Archive/Reissue
Out Of The Ghetto: A Modern-Day Jazz Story
Courtney Pine
“Disc 1 opens with 'Children of the Ghetto' from his debut Journey to the Urge Within, but the other track from it here, most reminiscent of hearing the band in person, is 'Miss-Interpret'. Courtney's soprano sky-rockets into a glorious solo and then his interplay with the baritone of Ray Carless is edge-of-the-seat stuff...There's too much here to mention everything, but this is a fine collection by one of the UK's greatest jazz players, celebrating the 40th year since the first album. And it's an anthology I'll be returning to a lot.”
Available Formats: FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
The Piano In The Room And The Blues
Mike Westbrook
“This solo piano study of the blues is meditatively personal yet plugs into much of what has made Westbrook's work central to European jazz. The cadence of the title chimes with Jarrett's ‘The Melody at Night, With You’ and the vibe is similar, a stripped-down recording, not initially for public consumption, yet somehow all the more powerful as these gentle yet strong hands tell their story.”
Available Format: CD
Bill Evans At the BBC
Bill Evans
“In many ways this edition of the Bill Evans trio has been somewhat overlooked, in favour of its better-known predecessor and successors, but the complete music from two BBC Jazz 625 broadcasts adds to its body of work with a snapshot of how the group sounded, during a trip to the TV studios, in the midst of a lengthy residency at Ronnie Scott's… there's still a little distortion and crunching in the audio, which was extracted from the BBC's surviving videotapes. But overlook that and the music itself is excellent.”
Available Format: 2 CDs
