JAZZIZ takes a look at 10 of the hottest – and sweetest – new jazz albums that will be released in September 2018.
Gilad Hekselman – Ask for Chaos (Hexephonic Music/Motéma Music)Release date: September 7Ask for Chaos is the new album by Isreali guitarist-composer Gilad Hekselman with two exciting formations taking turns in performing ten new and original Hekselman compositions. The first is ZuperOctave, with pianist Aaron Parks and drummer Kush Abadey – a bass-less trio exploring electronics with the goal of still keeping the music organic and flexible. The other is the gHex Trio, with bassist Rick Rosato and drummer Jonathan Pinson, continuing the classic guitar trio sound Hekselman has become known for but also bringing something fresh to the music.
The Count Basie Orchestra – All About That Basie (Concord Jazz)Release date: September 14The Count Basie Orchestra celebrates its legacy from its earliest years to its heyday with Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald, on through its current iteration as the preeminent swing band for today’s best contemporary jazz musicians with its new album, All About That Basie. In addition to the orchestra, the new album features a bevy of top guest artists, such as vocal group Take 6, vocalist Kurt Elling, organist Joey DeFrancesco, trombonist Wycliffe Gordon, trumpeter Jon Faddis and Basie band alumni Carmen Bradford, Jamie Davis and Stevie Wonder. All About That Basie introduces new songs to the Count Basie Orchestra repertoire, such as Adele’s hit “Hello,” Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” and Earth Wind & Fire’s “Can’t Hide Love.” Orchestra director Scotty Barnhart explains that when he incorporates new material into the Basie repertoire, he looks for tunes with “singable melodies and interesting harmonies. Rhythmically, the orchestra is going to take care of the rest.”
Marcin Wasilewski Trio – Live (ECM Records)Release date: September 14The Marcin Wasilewski Trio, led by pianist Wasilewski and with Slawomir Kurkiewicz on double-bass and Michal Miskiewicz on drums, have established a deep understanding over the course of a quarter of a century of shared musical endeavor. Live, released via ECM Records, finally captures their energetic and extroverted mode on stage. The album was recorded at the Jazz Middelheim Festival in Antwerp, Belgium, and features the trio fanning the flames of repertoire from their 2014 album Spark of Life. The tracks on Live are Wasilewski compositions plus original takes on The Police’s “Message in a Bottle” and Herbie Hancock’s “Actual Proof.”
Medeski Martin & Wood with Alarm Will Sound – Omnisphere (Indirecto Records)Release date: September 14Avant-funk jazz trio Medeski Martin & Wood team up with trailblazing 20-piece chamber orchestra Alarm Will Sound on a new album, Omnisphere, which was recorded live at The Newman Center in Denver, Colorado, in February 2015 and features seven tracks, striking an ideal balance with original music by members of both groups and new Alarm Will Sound arrangements of two cuts from Medeski Martin & Wood’s 2004 album End of the World Party (Just in Case). The new record also fulfills a long-held aspiration for keyboardist John Medeski, drummer-percussionist Billy Martin and bassist Chris Wood, of merging their freewheeling improvisational jazz explorations with the more composed approach of orchestral music.
Tony Bennett & Diana Krall with the Bill Charlap Trio – Love Is Here to Stay (Verve Records)Release date – September 14Multi-Grammy Award winning vocalists Tony Bennett, who celebrated his 92nd birthday on August 3, and Diana Krall celebrate their friendship and their shared love of the music of George and Ira Gershwin with their first full-length collaborative album, Love Is Here To Stay. The album, which was recorded with the Bill Charlap Trio – with Bill Charlap on piano, Peter Washington on bass and Kenny Washington on drums – will also be released just in time for the 120th anniversary of George Gershwin’s birthday, which takes place on september 26. The duet tracks on it include “Love Is Here to Stay,” “They Can’t Take That Away from Me” and “Fascinating Rhythm,” among others. Two of the duet tracks were never recorded by either artist prior in their career: “My One and Only” and “I’ve Got a Crush On You.”
Yellowjackets – Raising Our Voice (Mack Avenue Records)Release date: September 14Jazz fusion quartet Yellowjackets – with keyboardist-pianist Russell Ferrante, saxophonist Bob Mintzer, bassist Dane Alderson and drummer William Kennedy – have consistently forged ahead in their evolving artistic statements. Their fourth Mack Avenue album, Raising Our Voice, once again ups the ante with bold new strides, and finds them collaborating with vocalist Luciana Souza for seven songs. The collection features three old Yellowjackets tunes arranged for a fresh ride, two co-written by Ferrante and Souza, three new originals each for Ferrante and Mintzer, and Alderson’s first original piece for the band along with two short electronics interludes.
Cécile McLorin Salvant – The Window (Mack Avenue Records)Release date: September 28Having established her style with WomanChild (2013) and For One To Love (2015), and perfected and fearless approach to art on Dreams and Daggers (2017), singer-songwriter Cécile McLorin Salvant explores and extends the tradition of the piano-vocal duo and its expressive possibilities alongside critically acclaimed pianist Sullivan Fortner on her new album, The Window. Thematically, the album is a meditative cycle of songs about the mercurial nature of love that is also influenced by her intensive study of the history of American music and her ability to curate its treasures for the audience, understanding the special role of the musician to find and share the emotions and messages in music that speak to our past, resent and future. The track-list includes a wide repertory of gems of French cabaret, early R&B, and compositions by Stevie Wonder, Richard Rodgers and Stephen Sondheim, plus McLorin Salvant’s own original compositions.
Jon Batiste – Hollywood Africans (Verve Records)Release date: September 28Jon Batiste is an acclaimed singer, composer, multi-instrumentalist and leader of the group Stay Human that has been the house band of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert since 2015. Guided by legendary producer T Bone Burnett, he is set to his major label debut Hollywood Africans on Verve. The album was recorded in a church-turned-studio in his hometown of New Orleans and is an homage to his musical heroes – with such timeless compositions as the New Orleans standard “Saint James Infirmary” and Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World, among others – as well as an intimate portrait of the artists, with many of its tracks being just Batiste and his piano. “The idea was to strip everything down, go back to basics,” he explains in an official statement. “When you strip something down to rawest form, the essence of it shines through.”
José James – Lean On Me (Blue Note Records)Release date: September 28Singer-songwriter José James pays tribute to one of his musical heroes, the great Bill Withers, with Lean On Me. The new album features 12 of Withers’ most soulful songs performed with an all-star band: bassist Pino Palladino, keyboardist Kris Bowers, guitarist Brad Allen Williams and drummer Nate Wood, plus special guests including vocalist Lalah Hathaway, saxophonist Marcus strickland and trumpeter Takuya Kuroda. The track-list includes such beloved songs as “Ain’t No Sunshine,” “Lovely Day” and the title tracks, among others, and James explains via a press release that “I didn’t want to put hip-hop beats under his music or deconstruct it with 10-minute bebop solos. There was only one right move here: show up with a killer band, run the tape, capture the vibe. We just played the songs.”
Lars Danielsson and Paolo Fresu – Summerwind (Act Music)Release date: September 28Summerwind is the first joint studio project bringing together two master musicians renowned for the way in which they create atmosphere, color, feeling and real depth: bassist-callist Lars Danielsson and trumpeter Paolo Fresu. The duo context offers extensive space for the players to let their musical ideas develop but also sharing the common belief that fewer notes are far more effective than many, and that this is how the poetry develops as they create a mood that is almost meditative. “It’s about doing the right thing at the right time,” says Danielsson via an official press release. “That’s the challenge of playing in a duo. You can’t hide behind other instruments in this configuration.”
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