Blues & Jazz
Cloudward is the new release by Brooklyn-based guitarist, composer, and MacArthur fellow Mary Halvorson. The album features eight new compositions by Halvorson, performed with her sextet Amaryllis; the improvisatory band that performed on her critically praised 2022 albums Amaryllis and Belladonna comprises Halvorson, Patricia Brennan (vibraphone), Nick Dunston (bass), Tomas Fujiwara (drums), Jacob Garchik (trombone), and Adam O’Farrill (trumpet). Labelmate Laurie Anderson also is featured on the album track “Incarnadine.” The dual 2022 releases’ acclaim included being named Jazz Album of the Year in DownBeat’s annual Critics Poll. Halvorson and the ensemble will tour internationally following the Cloudward release, including February and March dates in Maryland and New York, as well as at the Big Ears Festival as part of Nonesuch’s 60th anniversary celebration.
“All the music on Cloudward was written in 2022, mostly in the fall and winter, when things started moving forward. Life felt like a creaky machine starting up again,” Halvorson says. “Air travel, however chaotic, had resumed, and we were once again cloudward. Performances and tours and recordings were happening after a long hiatus and with a renewed sense of gratitude. This band, for me, was quite simply working, both musically and personally, and the main thing I felt while writing the music was optimism.”
Composer and trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire makes his Nonesuch Records debut with Owl Song on December 15, 2023. The album features a trio with two musicians Akinmusire has long admired, guitarist Bill Frisell and drummer Herlin Riley.
“This is my reaction to being assaulted by information,” Akinmusire says of Owl Song. “This record is me wanting to create a safe space. Part of the challenge was: Can I create something that’s oriented around open space, the way some of the records I love the most do?”
He says of his collaborators, “I had a feeling of wanting to record with Bill from the first time we played—it was a duo performance, very little rehearsal. We just played through some of my songs, and it worked. One of Bill’s special gifts is the ability to shape a piece he’s just heard for the first time. He seems to know what the music wants before the first note.
“With Herlin, his commitment to beauty you can find in the groove. I never like to tell musicians too much about what I’m going for, because it should be about what these particular people bring … I said, ‘I know you’re the right person for this because of the way you approach the groove.’ And, of course, what he did is just beautiful.” He continues, “Also, I wanted to put people together who didn’t seem like they would go together ... and it turns out they haven’t played a lot. So, it was cross generational, cross subgenre, cross whatever.”
Quickly rising jazz pianist Isaiah J. Thompson is back with his tribute to Vince Guaraldi and his music. He comments "Although many claim to not like jazz, I’ve never heard anyone say they dislike holiday music. In my experience, the popular holiday music is jazz. I think Vince Guaraldi in his time deeply influenced how people experienced the music because by being connected to “Peanuts”, it became a part of the popular culture."
Trumpeter Paul Dietrich’s 5+4 arose from the composer’s desire to explore the possibilities of the string quartet within the context of modern jazz. With this group, Dietrich, who also leads both a jazz quintet and a big band, found a solid middle ground between large ensemble compositional approach and small group sensibilities. The result is a record that feels large in scale yet intimate in its improvisational landscape.
After making her professional debut as the cool, breathy voice behind the historic 1964 crossover smash “The Girl from Ipanema,” Brazilian singer Astrud Gilberto became a major force in popularizing the bossa nova sound. Her understated yet magnetic delivery is spotlighted on this collection, showcasing her instantly recognizable approach to songs.
As Duke Ellington would have said, Dinah Washington was “beyond category.” Subtle and inventive enough to hold an honored place in the jazz pantheon yet tough and forceful enough to command the attention of blues, R&B and rock n’ roll audiences.
Grammy Award-winning trumpeter Chris Botti gets back to the jazz essence of his artistry on his upcoming album, Vol. 1. The album features beautiful new ballad renditions of standards including “My Funny Valentine,” and “Someday My Prince Will Come,” as well as a cover of Coldplay’s “Fix You” and the vocal feature “Paris” with John Splithoff. Produced by David Foster, Vol. 1 features performances by violinist Joshua Bell, pianist Taylor Eigsti, guitarist Gilad Hekselman and others.
John Coltrane, Tommy Flanagan, Idrees Sulieman, Kenny Burrell
The Cats [Original Jazz Classics Series LP]
Vinyl: $38.98 Buy
Acclaimed saxophonist Joshua Redman’s stunning Blue Note debut where are we is one of his most compelling albums to date. It’s a musical journey across the United States of America that also marks Redman’s first-ever vocal album with the dynamic young singer Gabrielle Cavassa featured throughout along with a brilliant band comprised of pianist Aaron Parks, bassist Joe Sanders, and drummer Brian Blade.
On Cautious Clay’s deeply personal Blue Note debut KARPEH, the singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer takes an artistic leap forward with an ambitious yet introspective album about growth, conceptions of intimacy and lineage that reveals a new side of his artistry by delving deeper than ever into his jazz influences. Across the album’s 15 tracks, Cautious is heard on vocals, flute, tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, bass clarinet, guitar, synthesizer and bass.
The fourth and final album by one of the most influential groups in jazz history, the Bill Evans Trio album “Waltz For Debby” was originally released in 1962 as a companion to “Sunday At The Village Vanguard”. This new edition of the album is released as part of the Original Jazz Classics Series and is pressed on 180-gram vinyl at RTI with all-analog mastering from the original tapes by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio and presented in a Tip-On Jacket.
ARTEMIS returns with their 2nd Blue Note album In Real Time, a marvelous follow-up that highlights the improvisational strength of its members as well as their respective gifts as composers. A dynamic new line-up of the collective features founding members Renee Rosnes (piano), Ingrid Jensen (trumpet), Noriko Ueda (bass), and Allison Miller (drums) joined by newcomers Nicole Glover (tenor saxophone) and Alexa Tarantino (soprano saxophone, alto saxophone and flute). 180-gram LP.