STANDING AT THE JAZZ JUNCTION

NORMAN WARWICK EDITORIAL DECISION

Norman Warwick hears Editors who know where Jazziz

The editors of JAZZIZ have the good fortune of being able to listen to new music before it’s officially released in stores and streaming platforms. And because they’re listening to new tunes all the time, they know just what to recommend. That’s why, each week they deliver to their readers a roundup of ten songs, featuring music from their favourite new albums, singles and other tunes that may have flown under your radar. In a crowded arena of so many excellent jazz media publications maybe even the title of Jazziz itself may have escaped your notice, We have rounded up some recommendations from a couple of their latest listings  that will ensure  that at least sidetracks and detours readers can take the option of joining Jazziz as regular readers.

JAZZIZ is the award-winning, authoritative voice of jazz culture. Read about, listen and watch the music and artists featured in the magazine’s colourful pages.

This week’s playlist opens with “Departure Guide of the 7 Sisters,” a track from Red Hot and Ra: The Magic City (left) , a new Sun Ra-influenced album produced and arranged by Meshell Ndegeocello. “Say Wow” is a single from Blue Lab Beats’ new album, Blue Eclipse, and the song features Jay Prince and IDK. Trombonist Nick Finzer celebrates J.J. Johnson’s centennial with Legacy, his new album, including a take on Johnson’s beloved piece, “Lament.” “Zapateado Niño Ricardo” is a track from a forthcoming collection of AI-restored earliest recordings of flamenco masters Paco de Lucía and his older brother Pepe de Lucía, Pepito y Paquito, which will be released on May 31 via BMG.

On “38th & Chicago” from his latest album, 1978, José James (right) expresses his outrage and heartbreak surrounding the murder of George Floyd. Trumpeter and composer Jun Iida pays tribute to his Japanese heritage with a unique version of “Akatombo,” a popular song that Iida’s mother taught him, from his latest album, Evergreen. Jazziz readers can listen to our recent JAZZIZ Podcast conversation with the artist. Renowned trumpeter Sefi Zisling returns with a new jazz-funk single, “Brothers,” which announces the June 14 release of his new album, The Librarian.

Nancy Erickson Lamont‘s new album, (see cover) Through the Passages, opens with “Tick Tock,” a song she wrote about the anxiety caused by the COVID lockdown. Alan Braufman‘s forthcoming album, Infinite Love Infinite Tears, includes “Brooklyn,” composed on a walk from Bed-Stuy to Clinton Hill after attending a concert at Sistas’ Place, and awash with textures of West African highlife and Afro-Caribbean music. Closing our playlist is “We Are All from the Same Stream,” the first single from Jihye Lee‘s forthcoming large ensemble album, Infinite Connections, which finds her fusing traditional Korean rhythms with contemporary orchestral jazz to create a profound cross-cultural meditation on life, womanhood and the ties that bind humanity.

Jazziz not only points you to an audio file on which you can listen to the tracks they have selected but also identifies particular discovery tracks that will introduce you to a new artist or genre and encourage you to make further discoveries of your own.

This edition´s featured JAZZIZ Discovery which was showcasing Nefeli Fasouli’s (left) extraordinary talent, on the self-released Phases and offers a glimpse into the future of a jazz musician ordained to be a star inside and outside the world of jazz. With each track on the album, Fasouli naturally navigates various terrain, showcasing her versatility as both a vocalist and songwriter. Our selection, “The Worst Is Yet To Come,” is a hauntingly beautiful ballad that embodies her ability to tell a story through the structure of song, with a hook, seductive vocals and a band that cooks and simmers and keeps the listener wanting more

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