Jazzing things up

I’ve listened to more jazz than ever this year, which wasn’t hard because rarely did I ever listen to jazz. Thanks to Geri’s growing interest in past masters, I’ve finally made sense of Davis, Coltrane and Evans, and enjoyed less obvious Japanese cats (couldn’t resist, sorry) like Kohsuke Mine and Ryo Fukui. Most thrilling has been all the brand new stuff I’ve discovered, some of which strays into classical, hip-hop and/or electronic territory.

Faves released this year include Sons of Kemet’s Black To The Future, Ishmael Ensemble’s Visions of Light, Alfa Mist’s Bring Backs and Portico Quartet’s Terrain. Several works will feature in my top ten of 2021: Floating Points and Pharaoh Sanders’ Promises (easily number one, written about twice previously), Nala Sinephro’s transcendent Space 1.8, and Jaubi’s Hindustani classical-inspired Nafs at Peace.

Another, BadBadNotGood’s Talk Memory, has just arrived, and it’s terrific, revealing more depth with every listen. I particularly love Unfolding (Momentum 73) with its interplay between Laraaji’s bubbling zither and Leland Whitty’s breathy sax (the latter as pleasing to my ear as Sanders’ improvised textures on Promises). The album is beautifully presented and accompanied by a set of Memory Catalogue poster zines. Plenty in which to lose myself.

• music
• floating points
• nala sinephro