The Listening Guide
🎶 The listening guide: five albums, released during the past twelve months, chosen around a weekly theme 🎶
This week, we look once again at the energy and atmosphere of the live album. JZ Replacement’s Live At The Vortex was captured at the London club in March, 2019, with the duo of saxophonist Zhenya Strigalev and drummer Jamie Murray being joined by Tim Lefebvre on bass and electronics. Jaimie Branch’s FLY or DIE LIVE hears parts 1 and 2 of the trumpeter, composer and vocalist’s Fly or Die suite being performed before an audience in Zurich, Switzerland, just before the pandemic began. Trumpeter Pascal Klewer performed compositions by Thelonious Monk with a quintet featuring Rudi Mahall on bass clarinet, Johanna Summer on piano, Reza Askari on double bass, and Leif Berger on drums for the ‘222 Festival’ at LOFT, in Köln, Germany. Drummer Jonathan Barber’s Live at Jazz Standard hears the New York-based leader of Vision Ahead preparing for the studio recording of their LP Legacy Holder with a live show at the popular venue. His group features Taber Gable on piano, Andrew Renfroe on guitar, Godwin Louis on alto saxo, and Matt Dwonszyk on bass. WAKO’s Live in Oslo captures the Norwegian quartet’s beautiful sound with an assortment of guests, including Lars Horntveth of Jaga Jazzist on bass clarinet and steel guitar, and Kyrre Laastad on percussion. You can support each and every one of these projects on Bandcamp!
JZ Replacement – Live at the Vortex
Jaimie Branch – FLY or DIE LIVE
Kon Mo Nko – Live at 222 Festival
Album of the Week
Our NQ Jazz album of the week is vocalist and songwriter Somi’s incredible tribute to a late giant of South African music, Miriam Makeba. Featuring contributions from Seun Kuti, Thandiswa Mazwai, Gregory Porter, Angelique Kidjo, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and Nduduzo Makhathini amongst others, it is a star-studded project which focuses on many of Makeba’s popular songs, as well as her message of social justice. You can support the project on various platforms via the listen button below.
Classic Album
This week’s NQ Jazz classic album is the sole recording from the Paul Van Gysegem Sextet. Recorded in Ghent and released in 1971 on the Futura label, Aorta is a free improvisation project which features Van Gysegem on upright bass, Pierre Courbois on drums, Jasper Van'T Hof on piano, Nolle Neels on tenor sax, Patrick De Groote on trumpet and flugelhorn, and Ronald Lecourt on the vibraphone. Ghent’s own el NEGOCITO Records, who recently put out Paul Van Gysegem Quartet’s Square Talks—his first album as a leader in almost half a century—described the LP as ‘one of the key documents of that turbulent era’. They explain: ‘don't judge a man by the size of his discography. Paul Van Gysegem can only be heard on a handful of releases, but he played a crucial role in the development and visibility of improvised music in Belgium.’ Check out Aorta on streaming services and via Discogs, and find Van Gysegem’s latest release, Square Talks, via el NEGOCITO on Bandcamp!