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A Thread for New Jazz

Though not Jazz, but rather some sort of fusion with middle eastern and world music, Dhaffer Youssef is nothing short of amazing. His last album is beatiful and all his musicians are incredible jazz players. I can't recommend it enough.
 
Excellent thread.

I'd add Portico Quartet to the list. Albums - Isla and also Knee Deep in the North Sea - well worth a listen, especially if you like gogo penguin

Among contemporary pianists, Vijay Iyer remains my favourite. Very complex but beautiful music - check out any Vijay Iyer Trio albums - especially Accelerando and Historicity.
His Indo-Jazz fusion album with Indian classical guitarist Prasanna is also very interesting

On a slightly heavier fusion side, Acoustic Ladyland has an interesting sound..
 
Listening to Hadouk Trio - Utopies right now on headphones at work. Very nice - have to give it a proper listen at home
 
Though not Jazz, but rather some sort of fusion with middle eastern and world music, Dhaffer Youssef is nothing short of amazing. His last album is beatiful and all his musicians are incredible jazz players. I can't recommend it enough.

Great albums
 
A few more ECM artists that may appeal to some

Bono Stenson
Louis Sclavis
Eberhard Weber
Ralph Towner
Arild Anderson
Terje Rypdal
 
I love Sclavis. He's probably the first jazz player i saw perform live, about 30 years ago, and his sound made a deep impression.
 
I love Sclavis. He's probably the first jazz player i saw perform live, about 30 years ago, and his sound made a deep impression.
I saw him in Cologne a few years ago - pure luck, as I didn't know he was playing when I booked my trip. He was in a trio with drums and electric bass, and the venue was a small room in some academic institution (The Institute for French Studies?). Anyway, it was an awesome concert - literally jaw-dropping at times - full of the wild energy and fierce intelligence of jazz at its very finest. Not bad for 10 euros.
 
If he ever comes to the Midlands I'm on my way

For those that like the Go Go Penguins they are on tour in Feb, check out their web site for any dates near to you
 
This thread has caused me to dust off the few Sclavis CDs I have (none of which, I have to say, quite take me back to the magic experience of that evening in a small club in Paris). Next to Sclavis on the shelf is this CD
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Deep-Song-Kurt-Rosenwinkel/dp/B00KY9W1IQ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1454968458&sr=8-2&keywords=Rosenwinkel+deep+song

by another musician I discovered completely by chance 10 years ago (April 2005 according to the autograph he kindly signed) by just walking into a club, and the CD bought that day is the only one I have - I just haven't seen his stuff in shops. Rosenwinkel is a cool, polished and somewhat cerebral player. This one is with Brad Mehldau and Joshua Redman, among others.
 
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Interesting thread. I've come to jazz quite late and I've been exploring the great albums of 50s, 60s and 70s. I'm curious now to explore some newer jazz as I've only a few contemporary albums - enjoyed Portico Quartet.

I'd recommend Marcin Wasilewski - Spark of Life.

I came across this list, I don't know any of the albums but recognised that The Bad Plus seems to be favoured by some.
http://blog.oup.com/2014/04/25-jazz-albums-ted-gioia-recommends/
 
Interesting thread. I've come to jazz quite late and I've been exploring the great albums of 50s, 60s and 70s. I'm curious now to explore some newer jazz as I've only a few contemporary albums - enjoyed Portico Quartet.

I'd recommend Marcin Wasilewski - Spark of Life.

I came across this list, I don't know any of the albums but recognised that The Bad Plus seems to be favoured by some.
http://blog.oup.com/2014/04/25-jazz-albums-ted-gioia-recommends/

One of the great things about lists of current jazz is that there's hardly any consensus - many lists are almost completely mutually exclusive. I've only heard a couple of these but have heard quite a few different records by some of the artists mentioned. I do have his top choice Ambrose Akinmusire "The Imagined Savior Is Far Easier To Paint" which is worth a listen and quite a few records by Matthew Shipp, but not the one he mentions ... it's now on my list.

For fans of lists, this is a fun, and , if you search, a good archive - an annual "list of lists" that NPR pull together. For the last few years I've used it to explore new stuff with quite a high success rate.

http://www.npr.org/sections/ablogsupreme/2015/12/21/460527087/the-2015-npr-music-jazz-critics-poll

Kevin
 
Interesting thread. I've come to jazz quite late and I've been exploring the great albums of 50s, 60s and 70s. I'm curious now to explore some newer jazz as I've only a few contemporary albums - enjoyed Portico Quartet.

I'd recommend Marcin Wasilewski - Spark of Life.

I came across this list, I don't know any of the albums but recognised that The Bad Plus seems to be favoured by some.
http://blog.oup.com/2014/04/25-jazz-albums-ted-gioia-recommends/

Interesting list and plenty on there for me to check out, nice one!

The Marcin album is a beauty, Id forgot about that one
 
Interesting thread. I've come to jazz quite late and I've been exploring the great albums of 50s, 60s and 70s. I'm curious now to explore some newer jazz as I've only a few contemporary albums - enjoyed Portico Quartet.

I'd recommend Marcin Wasilewski - Spark of Life.

I came across this list, I don't know any of the albums but recognised that The Bad Plus seems to be favoured by some.
http://blog.oup.com/2014/04/25-jazz-albums-ted-gioia-recommends/

I find the NPR ballot results to be more interesting than the Ted Gioia selection. A no. of those Gioia choices are not strictly jazz and certainly the musicians themselves would not consider what they play to be 'jazz'. The Bad Plus album for instance is more an interpretation of the Rite of Spring by a piano trio.

I am not sure about the fuss about The Bad Plus. I have great respect for the musicians but their music normally feels 'cold' and simply too arranged to me. Vijay Iyer on the other hand is fantastic.
 
I'm also not "getting" the Bad Plus as much as their contemporaries, though I have "These Are the Vistas" and "Give" . I suspect covering, for example ,Nirvana and Black Sabbath songs as a jazz piano trio attracts more attention that they might otherwise deserve. That said, I did also buy their last CD with Joshua Redman which is a bit more out of the ordinary and catches my ear better.
 
I suspect covering, for example ,Nirvana and Black Sabbath songs as a jazz piano trio attracts more attention that they might otherwise deserve.

I don't really get what that's about - it feels one step away from cheesy jazz versions of Beatles tunes or Nouvelle Vague doing cocktail jazz versions of Joy Division. The novelty wears thin pretty quickly.

That said the DJ Lebowitz version of Holiday In Cambodia is a stone cold classic!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qx6RX7ek70
 
Glad to know I am not alone about the BP. I have some of their albums and I've seen them live. They are more engaging live, yes, but their albums don't do much for me.

If you want to listen to more creative use of rock/pop tunes, you can do much worse than Brad Mehldau. He has some interesting interpretations of Radiohead and Nick Drake tunes.

Ethan Iverson, the pianist of the BP, writes very well about jazz and other stuff on his blog, Do the Math. I enjoy his writing and he certainly knows his history of jazz and has listened to a lot but sorry the BP doesn't do it for me.
 
Nice thread, I do have loads of jazz, jazz fusion, jazz funk, latin, whatever it gets called, reckon I have equal amounts on vinyl and cd...... one label I do watch out for is called, . Schema.... from italy..
well worth checking out if you like the nu-jazz as its known......nicola conte, mario biondi, . Etc..
 


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