The Listening Guide
🎶 The listening guide: five albums, released during the past twelve months, chosen around a weekly theme 🎶
Given what an unusual time it must be to be releasing a debut full length album or EP, we pick five debut records from five excellent young artists. Check out each one on Bandcamp, and show the artists as much love as if they were handing you a copy over the merch table after a burning gig.
Mirna Bogdanović – Confrontation
Selénè Saint-Aimé – Mare Undarum
Nicole McCabe – Introducing Nicole McCabe
Album of the Week
Our NQ Jazz album of the week is the debut album from London-based group Caravela. With its gorgeous blend of Afro-Brazilian, contemporary jazz, and rock styles, plus Portuguese language vocals from the fantastic Inês Loubet Franco, it provides both a feel-good and deep listening experience. Alongside Loubet, the group feature Telmo Sousa (electric and nylon string guitar), Joseph Costi (piano, Rhodes, Wurlitzer, synths), Greg Gottlieb (electric and double bass), Ben Brown (drums), and Jansen Santana (percussion, backing vocals). Support the project on Bandcamp!
Classic Album
On her 1991 album Elmo’s Fire, the accomplished jazz pianist and educator Bertha Hope pays tribute to her late partner Elmo Hope, recording four of his compositions alongside two of her own, and Sonny Fortune’s charming ‘For Duke and Cannon’. Bertha’s playing is prominent throughout, from the inquisitive chords of Fortune’s aforementioned number, to her fine soloing on her own ‘Luna Negra’, which also prominently features the great Eddie Henderson on trumpet. Joining those two are sax player Junior Cook (deputised by David Riekenberg on track 5), Walter Booker on bass, and Leroy Williams on drums. Find the album on streaming services and a comprehensive interview with Bertha Hope on YouTube for Peter Urpeth’s ‘The Different Beat’ series.