The current diversity, scope, and quality of jazz are incredible. Just listen to the following selection of records that will be released in May 2023! With only these 10 albums, it feels like we have enough material to enjoy endless jazz for a full year!

However, if you think we forgot a must-listen release, then please add it to the comments below. Thank you!

The albums are ordered by their release date.

Best Jazz Releases May 2023

In this breathtaking solo recording by bassist Mark Dresser, he once again uses his innovative approach, distinctive voice, extensive techniques, and unconventional sound production to explore the instrument’s sonic possibilities.

In its own way, Tines of Change is certainly as exceptional as Joëlle Léandre’s Zurich Concert, and we would expect nothing less!

Mark Dresser: bass
Release date May 5, 2023

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ICI is another unexpected positive outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The acclaimed French jazz and experimental guitarist, composer, and bandleader Marc Ducret was stuck in Brittany during confinement, and he just went full mindfulness with the situation. In this words, “Since it is currently impossible to play ‘there,’ let’s make some music ‘here!’”

The outcome is a surprising album that invokes all four seasons. Yet, the contemplation is filled with tension and stress more than alleluias, and life and nature are scrutinized in detail, rather than celebrated. We’re not sure the COVID-19 pandemic was enjoyable for Ducret, but at least it gave rise to a great album!

Marc Ducret: electric guitars; Fabrice Martinez: trumpet, flugelhorn, tuba; Christophe Monniot: sopranino, baritone & alto saxophones; Samuel Blaser: trombone
Release date May 7, 2023

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The Swedish scene is doing well. After the extraordinary Echoes by the Fire! Orchestra, here comes an amazing new release by Johan Lindström and the Norrbotten Big Band.

The music is an unexpected combination of grandiose and intimate, old-fashioned and modern, and jazz and not jazz, patiently culminating into a satisfyingly singular listening experience.

“Like a kaleidoscope where the pattern takes shape to the tune of zombie-cha-cha, big band folk, instrumental hip-hop and then some Kurt Weill, Stravinsky and Peres Perado on top of that.”
–Johan Lindström

Johan Lindström: guitar, percussion; Joakim Milder: conductor; Sebastian Ågren: drums; Petter Olofsson: bass; Britta Virves: keyboard, piano; Mattias Ståhl: marimba, vibraphone; Janne Thelin: alto sax, clarinets; Hakan Broström: alto & soprano sax, flute; Mats Garberg: tenor sax, flute; Robert Nordmark: tenor sax, clarinets; Per Moberg: baritone sax, flute; Bo Strandberg, Magnus Ekholm, Jacek Onuszkiewics: trumpet, flugelhorn; Dan Johansson: trumpet, flugelhorn, synth trumpet; Michal Tomaszczyk, Peter Dahlgren, Mats Äleklint: trombone; Magnus Rydell: bass trombone
Release date May 12, 2023

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A Sublime Madness sounds like spiritual jazz mixed with krautrock. In a unique way, the duet of keyboardist Brent Cordero and bassist Peter Kerlin manage to become one with drummer Ryan Sawyer and all the guest artists (e.g., Daniel Carter, James Brandon Lewis, Jessica Pavone, etc.), thus contributing to this experience with their own musical voice.

Brent Cordero: combo organ, piano, synths; Peter Kerlin: electric bass, upright bass, 8 string bass; Ryan Sawyer: drums | Featuring: Daniel Carter, James Brandon Lewis, Jessica Pavone, Aaron Siegel, Ryan Jewell, Jesse DeRosa, Charles Burst, Adam Amram
Release date May 12, 2023

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Harald Walkate is a Dutch pianist, who has been running the Netherlands-based musical ensemble The New York Second since 2015.

After the Hours, the Minutes is their latest release. It is a 12-track album, whose ambition is to explore how we experience the passage of time. However, by delivering music that is so simply open, contemplative, and perfectly jazz, it makes us completely forget that time has passed at all.

Harald Walkate: piano; Max Sergeant: drums; Lorenzo Buffa; double bass
Release date May 15, 2023

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The genre-bending, UK-based ensemble the Heliocentrics toured as the backing band for the GLK Experience, which is fronted by Los Angeles-based DJ Gaslamp Killer. This is what “laid the groundwork for a monumental collaboration that was recorded at Quartermass Sound Lab [several years ago] and would take many years to complete.”

Review coming soon

Adrian Owusu, Amir Yaghmai: electric guitar; Barbora Patkova: vocals; Jack Yglesias: percussion; Jake Ferguson: bass, guitars, synth, effects; Malcolm Catto: drums, guitars; Ollie Parfitt: clavinet, Moog; Raven Bush: strings, Moog, effects; William Bensussen (GLK): additional writing, arranging, editing
Release date May 19, 2023

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In addition to A Sublime Madness listed above, Umbra is based on a duet comprised of electronic musician Elias Stemeseder and drummer Christian Lillinger, which extends itself with specific guests to build its desired universe.

On Umbra, the universe is comprised of forms and structures that are condensed and organized in such a way that you can feel yourself entering an extraordinary world, definitely tense, but with what seems to be an absence of gravity, thus making it quite suitable to let your mind wander.

Elias Stemeseder: Lautenwerk, synthesizer, electronics, Una Corda; Christian Lillinger: drums, sampler, synthesizer; Peter Evans: piccolo trumpet; Russell Hall: bass; DoYeon Kim: gayageum; Brandon Seabrook: Banjo, Guitar
Release date May 19, 2023

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The 13-movement piece recorded here was commissioned by the International Contemporary Ensemble, composed by drummer Kate Gentile, and premiered on May 26, 2022, at Roulette Intermedium, in Brooklyn, NY.

This album is mesmerizing because it is an open window into Gentile’s brain that lets us perceive, experience, and apprehend a world in which the expression of musicality and textures can take shape without having to pass through the filter of the world as we know it: in this world, relationships are different, logic is a vibration, and creativity is tangible.

“I was imagining the music to feel very ‘other’; very alien and abstract, while having its own internal logic. I have the type of synesthesia where letters and words are colors. I wanted the titles to go together and have interesting connections between them, have ‘almost-patterns’, have anomalies- lots of the things I also wanted in the music. It resulted in the music containing all kinds of weird relationships between the movements – they abstractly mirror the concepts of the letter content in the titles.”
–Kate Gentile

Kate Gentile: drums, percussion; Isabel Lepanto Gleicher: flute, piccolo; Jennifer Curtis: violin; Joshua Rubin: clarinet, bass clarinet; Rebekah Heller: bassoon; Ross Karre: vibraphone, percussion; Cory Smythe: piano
Release date May 19, 2023

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The Other One is an album by Pulitzer Prize winner Henry Threadgill. It was a multimedia piece involving film, paintings, photographs, electronics, voice loops, and both noted and improvised orchestral music, performed and recorded live at Roulette Intermedium in Brooklyn, New York, in May 2022. Two performances were held on two different evenings: “The One,” and “The Other One.” This album is the recording of the second evening, hence its name. It was released on May 26, 2023, by Pi Recordings.

Read the full review of The Other One.

Henry Threadgill: conductor; Alfredo Colón: alto saxophone; Noah Becker: alto saxophone, clarinet; Peyton Pleninger: tenor saxophone; Craig Weinrib: percussion, electronics; Sara Caswell: violin; Stephanie Griffin: viola; Mariel Roberts, Christopher Hoffman: cello; Jose Davila: tuba; David Virelles: piano; Sara Schoenbeck, Adam Cordero: bassoon
Release date May 26, 2023

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Edward Simon is a renowned Venezuelan jazz pianist and composer. While he began his musical journey at a young age by studying classical piano, he later transitioned to jazz.

His new release, Femeninas: Songs of Latin American Women, follows a project started back in 2016:

“The idea behind that album [Latin American Songbook, 2016] was to take songs from various parts of Latin America, arrange them for piano trio, and give them a jazz treatment. The concept here is similar, and my goals are the same: bring this music into a new light, a new perspective, to an American audience, and when I say American, I mean all the Americas. But here, the idea is that these are all compositions written by women.”
–Edward Simon

The result is an impressive Latin jazz album; it is rich, accessible, and simply perfect. The listening experience is a pure moment of pleasure, making Spring even more enjoyable, thanks to Herrera’s incredible voice, Simon’s arrangement, the band’s performance—and last but not least, the songwriters’ talent.

Edward Simon: piano; Reuben Rogers: bass; Adam Cruz: drums; Magos Herrera: vocals; Luis Quintero: percussions
Release date May 31, 2023

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May 2023 – New Albums Selection

• Mark Dresser – Tines of Change (Pyroclastic Records)
• Marc Ducret – ICI (Ayler Records)
• Johan Lindstr​ö​m & Norrbotten Big Band – Johan Lindström & Norrbotten Big Band (Moserobie Records)
• Brent Cordero & Peter Kerlin – A Sublime Madness (Astral Spirits)
• The New York Second Trio – After The Hours, The Minutes (NY2 Records)
• The Gaslamp Killer meets The Heliocentrics – LEGNA (Cuss Records)
• Elias Stemeseder, Christian Lillinger, Peter Evans, Russell Hall, DoYeon Kim, Brandon Seabrook – Umbra (Intakt Records)
• Kate Gentile, International Contemporary Ensemble – b i o m e i​.​i (Obliquity Records)
• Henry Threadgill – The Other One (Pi Recordings)
• Edward Simon – Femeninas: Songs of Latin American Women (ArtistShare)

Playlist

Listen to these tracks on our Spotify playlist ↗.

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