Looking for some Monday motivation? We've got you covered. From "bittersweet illusions" to "insatiable spirits," here are five new songs that you can listen to right now to start your week the right way.
Claude Fontaine, "Pretending He Was You"
"Pretending He Was You" is the hypnotic, Bossa Nova-inspired lead single from the self-titled debut album by LA-based singer-songwriter Claude Fontaine, out April 26 via Innovative Leisure - the LA-based label that has worked with such artists as BADBADNOTGOOD, Rhye and Nick Waterhouse, among others. Fontaine tells
JAZZIZ that the song is about "a bittersweet illusion": "Sometimes the illusion of a person you once loved is your greatest companion, holding the space in your heart and mind of someone who truly exists beside you, with you wherever you go."
Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, "Forevergirl"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MObfOsPra_s
Trumpeter-composer Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah's says his mission is to unify people via their musical and cultural voices by tearing down the sonic and social constructs that separate them.
Ancestral Recall, out March 22 via Ropeadope/Stretch Music, is a continuation of this mission but also a continuation of his melding of various different influences and sounds from the African Diaspora to create a trademark sound of his own. This is evident on "Forevergirl," the second single from the forthcoming album, enriched by guest rapper Mike Larry and sultry vocals by Chris Turner.
Ehud Asherie, "Wild Man Blues"
Israel-born pianist Ehud Asherie integrates the venerable New York piano tradition into his own inventive style, and
Wild Man Blues, out March 15 via Capri Records, finds him dipping into the ever-fertile fields of New Orleans Jazz, swing, bebop and the Great American Songbook and the music of Brazil - with stellar backing from bassist Peter Washington and drummer Rodney Green. The title track is a New Orleans jazz standard, sometimes attributed to Louis Armstrong and sometimes to Jelly Roll Morton, and Asherie's spirited take on it skillfully refashions it for his whip-smart piano trio.
The Allen Carman Project, "State of Mine" (feat. Nile Rodgers)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTsqqQ14vj8
Carmanology, the title of the new album by The Allen Carman Project (out April 5), refers to the name for the type of music they play and have developed by scrapbooking contemporary jazz with R&B, Latin, Afro Cuban, funk, fusion and beyond. The quartet is led by bassist Allen Carman and features percussionist Gumbi Ortiz, keyboardist Philippe Saisse and drummer Luis Alicea. Their new single, "State of Mine," has a bolt of added star power from the distinctive guitar riffing of Grammy-winning guitar legend Nile Rodgers, who co-wrote it with Saisse and originally featured it on Chic's 2018 album,
It's About Time.
Typical Sisters, "Hungry Ghosts"
The term "Hungry Ghosts" refers to the Buddhist idea of spirits that cannot be sated. This is the idea that titles the new album of guitar trio Typical Sisters, with guitarist Greg Uhlmann, drummer Matt Carroll and bassist Clark Sommers, out March 22 via Outside In Music. The title track is an energetic and stirring tune that not only represents the rich tapestry of their sound, influenced by a wide variety of moods and genres ranging from improvisational music to Americana and beyond, but is also the result of their live studio session approach embellished by a post-production work ingeniously incorporating overdubs and track manipulations.
Featured photo courtesy of B+.
Like this article? Get more when you subscribe.
