Jazz Album Reviews – 2022 – Discover all the reviews of the latest jazz albums released – Contemporary, avant-garde, free, bop, experimental…
Thisness is an album by composer, producer, and guitarist Miles Okazaki. The musician gathered for this album is the usual Trickster band with pianist Matt Mitchell, bassist Anthony Tidd, and drummer Sean Rickman. Thisness was recorded on March 19 and 20, 2021, at Oktaven Studios, Mount Vernon, NY, and was released on April 25, 2022, by Pi Recordings.
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Hafla is the third album by Jon Balke’s Siwan, “the transcultural, trans-idiomatic musical collective.” Hafla was recorded in May and June 2021 at Village Recording Studios, in Copenhagen, Denmark, and it was released on April 22, 2022, on ECM Records.
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Zurich Concert is the third album by Punkt.Vrt.Plastik as a trio, with Kaja Draksler on the piano, Petter Eldh on the bass, and Christian Lillinger on the drums. Zurich Concert was recorded live on May 14, 2021, at unerhört!-Festival in Zurich, Switzerland, by Michael Brändli, and it was released on March 11 and 18, 2022 on digital and physical release, respectively, by Intakt Records.
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(D)IVO is an album by the (D)IVO Saxophone Quartet, comprised of saxophonists Ivo Perelman, Tony Malaby, Tim Berne, and James Carter on tenor, soprano, alto, and baritone, respectively. (D)IVO was recorded, mixed, and mastered by Jim Clouse at Park West Studios, in Brooklyn, New York, in January 2022, and it was released on February 18, 2022, by Mahakala Music.
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The Seed is guitarist Thomas Mitrousis’ debut album, featuring Kostas Yaxoglou on the piano, Paraskevas Kitsos on the double bass, and Dimitris Klonis on the drums. The Seed was recorded in May 2021 at Antart Studios, in Greece, by Nikos Kollias and Yannis Damianos, and it was self-released on March 21, 2022.
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Secular Psalms is an album by trumpeter Dave Douglas, featuring Tomeka Reid, Berlinde Deman, Marta Warelis, Frederik Leroux, and Lander Gyselinck. The compositions are inspired by Jan van Eyck’s “Ghent Altarpiece,” as well as music by 15th-century Flemish composer Guillaume Dufay. Secular Psalms was recorded separately by each musician between May 2020—August 2021, and it was released on April 1, 2022, by Greenleaf Music.
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Hemligheter på vägen is the first release by ORD, a jazz quintet formed a few years ago and led by pianist Karin Johansson–who also acts here as composer and arranger. The album was recorded in 2019 by Oskar Johnsen Rydh in Sweden and released by Havtorn Records on March 21, 2022, which was World Poetry Day.
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Two Duos is an album by cellist Okkyung Lee, in duet with Jérôme Noetinger on Revox B77 for the first track, and with Nadia Ratsimandresy on Ondes Martenot for the second. It was recorded live at Cafe OTO, one of the best jazz clubs in London, England, on March 28 and 29, 2019, by Paul Skinner and Shaun Crook, and it was released on February 25, 2022, by Otoroku.
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Space is the first release by the trio of Lisa Ullén, Elsa Bergman, and Anna Lund, after they met as part of the Anna Högberg Attack’s sextet and released the excellent Anna Högberg Attack (2016), followed by the fabulous Lena (2020), which was indisputably a must-have album of 2020. It was recorded by Mats Äleklint on January 13, 2021, at Fylkingen, in Stockholm, Sweden, and was released by Relative Pitch Records.
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Father’s Wing is an album by the Rob Mazurek Quartet, with Rob Mazurek on the piccolo trumpet, electronics, and bells, Kris Davis on the piano, Ingebrigt Håker Flaten on the double-bass, and Chad Taylor on the drums. The album was recorded on August 4, 2019, by Ken Christianson, at Pro Musica, in Chicago, Illinois, in the United States, and it was released on February 4, 2022, by Rogue Art.
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