Jazz April 2021: a month filled with such good releases, it feels like a year!
You will find here our selection of the 10 jazz albums released this month that got our full attention.
Listen to and follow our Spotify playlist ‘Best of Jazz – year 2021 (so far)‘ to discover all the following sounds.
Jazz April 2021 – Selection:
Myele Manzanza
Crisis & Opportunity Vol. 1 – London
(DeepMatter)
The singles were promising; the album is definitely delivering. We just need to discover how many volumes Myele Manzanza is planning on releasing. With this quality, we could just hope for one per capital!
“Weaving his unique blend of forward-thinking genre-bending jazz, broken beat, electronica, and world music, Manzanza drives Crisis & Opportunity through a set of original compositions inspired by the city of London which he now calls home.”
— Bandcamp
Myele Manzanza: drums; Ashley Henry: piano; James Copus: trumpet; George Crowley: tenor saxophone; Benjamin Muralt: bass; Mark de Clive-Lowe: Synths
Release date April 2, 2021
Jason Moran, Milford Graves
Live at Big Ears
(Yes Records)
Recorded live in 2018 a more than perfect piece of piano/drum duo, with an incredible sound, by incredible artists. Sadly, Milton Graves died last February (2021.02.12).
Milford Graves: drums & vocals; Jason Moran: piano
Release date April 2, 2021
Vijay Iyer, Linda May Han Oh, Tyshawn Sorey
Uneasy
(ECM Records)
Full album review here: Vijay Iyer – Uneasy
Vijay Iyer: piano; Linda May Han Oh: double bass; Tyshawn Sorey: drums
Release date April 9, 2021
Damon Locks, Black Monument Ensemble
NOW
(International Anthem)
“This is a document of the moment… As the old world falls, we lose a lot but we gain the opportunity to create anew… We can spark something now. The new is possible.”
— Damon Locks
Damon Locks: samples & electronics; Angel Bat Dawid: clarinet; Ben LaMar Gay: cornet & melodica; Dana Hall: drums; Arif Smith: percussion; Phillip Armstrong, Monique Golding, Tramaine Parker, Richie Parks, Erica Rene, Eric Tre’von: singers.
Release date April 9, 2021
Steven Feifke Big Band
Kinetic
(Outside in Music)
Full album review here: Steven Feifke Big Band – Kinetic
Steven Feifke: piano; Andrew Gould: saxophone; Alexa Tarantino: saxophone, alto; Lucas Pino: clarinet, bass; Sam Dillon: saxophone, tenor; Andrew Gutauskas: saxophone, baritone; Max Darché: trumpet; John Lake: trumpet; Benny Benack III: trumpet; Gabriel King Medd: trumpet; Robert Edwards: trombone; Jeffery Miller: trombone; Armando Vergara: trombone; Jennifer Wharton: trombone; Alex Wintz: guitar; Dan Chmielinski: bass; Ulysses Owens, Jr.: drums
Release date April 9, 2021
Irène Schweizer, Hamid Drake
Celebration
(Intakt Records)
Full album review here: Irène Schweizer, Hamid Drake – Celebration
Irène Schweizer: Piano; Hamid Drake: Drums
Release date April 16, 2021
Natural Information Society with Evan Parker
descension (Out of Our Constrictions)
(Eremite Records)
Full album review here: Natural Information Society with Evan Parker – descension
Joshua Abrams: guimbri; Lisa Alvarado: harmonium & effects; Mikel Patrick Avery: drums; Evan Parker: soprano saxophone; Jason Stein: bass clarinet.
Release date April 16, 2021
Wadada Leo Smith, Douglas R. Ewart, Mike Reed
Sun Beans of Shimmering Light
(Astral Spirits)
Recorded 6 years ago, wonderful improvised live music by three members of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM).
Wadada Leo Smith: trumpet; Douglas Ewart: bassoon; Mike Reed: drums.
Release date April 16, 2021
Koma Saxo
LIVE
(We Jazz Records)
“But the way his jacked-up bass lines and Lillinger’s impossibly peripatetic, stuttering rhythms buffeted the massed saxophones elevated Koma Saxo to plane all its own, and I repeatedly returned to that place—half the time trying to figure out what the hell Eldh had done, and the other half lost in giddy ecstasy.”
— Peter Margasak
Petter Eldh: bass; Otis Sandsjö: tenor sax; Jonas Kullhammar: tenor sax; Mikko Innanen: alto & baritone sax; Christian Lillinger: drums.
Release date April 30, 2021
Michael Wollny, Emile Parisien, Tim Lefebvre, Christian Lillinger
XXXX
(ACT)
XXXX for eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate – full explanations here.
“Four greats of jazz & beyond join for a week of collective, entirely free improvisation, later to be transformed into a radical, intense, exciting recording of truly new music.”
— ACT
Michael Wollny: synthesizer, rhodes & piano; Emile Parisien: soprano saxophone; Tim Lefebvre: electric bass & electronics; Christian Lillinger: drums & percussion
Release date April 30, 2021
Albums List
- Myele Manzanza – Crisis & Opportunity Vol. 1 – London (DeepMatter)
- Jason Moran, Milford Graves – Live at Big Ears (Yes Records)
- Vijay Iyer, Linda May Han Oh, Tyshawn Sorey – Uneasy (ECM Records)
- Damon Locks, Black Monument Ensemble – NOW (International Anthem)
- Steven Feifke Big Band – Kinetic (Outside in Music)
- Irène Schweizer, Hamid Drake – Celebration (Intakt Records)
- Natural Information Society with Evan Parker – descension (Out of Our Constrictions) (Eremite Records)
- Wadada Leo Smith, Douglas R. Ewart, Mike Reed – Sun Beans of Shimmering Light (Astral Spirits)
- Michael Wollny – XXXX (ACT)
- Koma Saxo – LIVE (We Jazz Records)
+ 2 reviews:
Playlist
Listen to those tracks on our Spotify playlist “2021 (so far”).
2021
Discover the Best of Jazz – Year 2021 full post.