So here it is – our Cosmic Jazz roundup of some of our favourite new jazz records of 2024 (along with one re-release). It’s twelve tunes for twelve months and, although there’s no live show with this post, you’ll find Youtube links for each of the tunes we’ve featured. No numbers; no order – these were just a few of the great records we featured in 2024.
We’re starting off with Charles Lloyd and Defiant, Tender Warrior from The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow. Saxophonist Charles Lloyd’s album featured on many round ups of the best jazz of 2024. Released by Blue Note on 15 March 2024 – Lloyd’s 86th birthday – this was his first new studio recording since 2017. Jason Moran’s imaginative, intense and sensitive playing is a true joy and along with Larry Grenadier on double bass and the in-demand Brian Blade on drums – they make an inspirational quartet – defiant, tender warriors all (to quote the title of the opening tune on the album). Throughout this wonderful new record is the clarity of sound, the beautiful, soulful and inspirational playing of Charles Lloyd himself – a genius, a master musician, and an essential jazz artist.
Up next is a new album from Edition Records – one of many from this UK label that we featured over the year. Finnish pianist Alex Tuomarila released the ambitious Departing the Wasteland from which we chose Towards Dark Light. This time, Tuomarila’s trio is augmented by guitarist André Fernandes, trombonist Gil Silva, tenor player José Pedro Coelho and altoist/flautist João Guimarães with Tuomarila adding extra electronics. The album was recorded in Porto – a suggestion from guitarist Fernandes – but the music hasn’t lost its Finnish character: the washes of synth and post-production work make the whole feel more composed than the earlier piano trio records.
Brazilian guitarist Fabiano do Nascimento and L.A. soprano saxophonist Sam Gendel collaborated on a genuinely charming duo album just called The Room, where they seem to just coil themselves around seeming to just coil themselves beautiful melodies. There’s no effects, no percussion and no grandstanding – just two musicians weaving magic in a way that recalls the work of Brazilian guitarist Baden Powell and – to a lesser extent – the deftness of Stan Getz. Gendel is on the soprano horn throughout and so the music has a lightness of touch that perfectly complements Nascimento’s seven string guitar. Try Foi Boto for starters.
Cloudward is the latest release from from guitarist Mary Halvorson and her Amaryllis Sextet. Derek saw the group live in Amsterdam where they performed music from this great new record. On the tune Ultramarine the reverberating bass of Nick Dunston opens things up, strokes from Mary Halvorson’s guitar join in, then comes the vibraphone of Patricia Brennan gaining in pace and complexity as it goes along followed by a strident, lengthy lead on the trumpet by Adam O’Farrill (from the famous Cuban/Nuyorican musical family). From there, the interweaving of trumpet, vibraphone and guitar takes us through to the end. Another record whcih featured on many end of year jazz lists.
We loved Still Blunted, the new album from Hungary’s Jazzbois – just check out Caspar for an example of their sound. This fourth LP is a further distillation of the hiphop fusion beats that drive their music. Bencze Molnár on Rhodes and synth, Viktor Sági on bass and Tamás Czirják on drums return, but this time with trusted fourth ‘live’ member DomBeats who joins them on singles Shangri La and Chrome, adding sax to the mix. We liked their previous album Higher Dimension Waiting Room and this new one is even better. To Joss Yerbury at Ballantyne Communications – köszönöm!
Their last album Where I’m Meant To Be really delivered – and then Ezra Collective went on to be the first (and perhaps only) jazz act to win the 2023 Mercury Music Prize. Right from the beginning, we’ve promoted them as fine examples of the new wave of British jazz, with its all-inclusive approach to influences from hip hop, drum and bass, broken beat, afrobeat and grime and the resulting album was by far the best thing they’d done – until now. In addition to Yazmin Lacey, the new LP titled Dance, No One is Watching also features collaborations with Olivia Dean, M.anifest, and Moonchild Sanelly. God Gave Me Feet for Dancing has a great video too!
Laíz is a new star in the making. Born in the city of Jundiaí in Sâo Paulo state in 1999 before moving to Germany in 2019, she has became part of the Berlin jazz scene, blending Latin and jazz sounds with Afrobeat and Brazilian hiphop. The New Love Experience (NLE) is an international artistic community of musicians and producers and Ela Partiu (Portuguese for ‘she left’) is the first record to emerge from this collective approach is We really like the music on this album and recommend it for your 2025 listening. For a taste, check out Carcara… and then go on to enjoy the rest of the music – buy it via Bandcamp or order via your local record store.
Yellowtail feat. Mark Murphy and Seasons In My Mind (Emanative rework feat. Jessica Lauren) is from the EP Seasons in My Mind (Remixes) comes from Milan’s Right Tempo label and is a delight from start to finish. A version of this tune first appeared on the label’s compilation album The Congregation – Jazz Alliance International with Mark Murphy on vocals in an ‘unreleased’ Patchworks remix. Thankfully this version of the tune is also included along with six others in a limited edition 12in EP that emerged a few months ago. It’s on Bandcamp right here. Our favourite version features Jessica Lauren and emanative playing live over some brilliant beats, but (unusually) all versions here are just great. Highly recommended.
Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace was the 2024 release from Shabaka (now first name only). Shabaka Hutching has been associated with the tenor saxophone since his earliest days in jazz but a surprise announcement in 2023 revealed that he would be taking an indefinite hiatus from the tenor and focus on a range of different flutes. The reason for this volte face was explored in an excellent extended interview with Tidal in 2022 focusing on the release of his Afrikan Culture EP. During a visit to Japan in 2019, Shabaka bought a traditional shakuhachi flute and realised that the approach to playing this ancient instrument was very different to that of the saxophone. The instrument doesn’t resonate if your body’s tense, he noted. So it’s been a journey of learning how to relax and create enough energy to make that wood vibrate. This really does characterise the new album – Shabaka hasn’t just swapped one signature instrument for another but instead has remade his music from the ground up. Check out the record – but do be prepared to shed your preconceptions. We’ll start you off with As the Planets and the Stars Collapse.
We’ve always loved Vijay Iyer‘s trio records. whether on the ACT or ECM labels – and his 2024 album Compassion didn’t disappoint. He’s often chosen to tackle tunes from outside the jazz genre and this time he has a go at Stevie Wonder’s Overjoyed. The result is expectedly terrific: it just crackles with energy and includes a powerful solo from Iyer – one of many on this excellent new album. There are other full-on tracks on the record, interspersed with more reflective pieces. The covers also include Roscoe Mitchell’s Nonaah and Free Spirits/Drummer’s Song (from John Stubblefield and Geri Allen) and the album ends with Iyer’s Ghoststrumental which includes some of the most spirited playing on this excellent new release.
There’s always been great jazz music from Japan and you can find some of the best of this on the excellent J Jazz anthologies from BBE Records, which we’ve consistently promoted since the arrival of Volume 1 in 2018. These compilations are all due to the crate digging of Tony Higgins along with his vinyl companion Mike Peden. We’re now on J Jazz Volume 4, but this Aki Takase tune featured on the previous collection. This year it was time for a re-release of the complete1981 Song for Hope album from pianist Aki Takase – and we chose the superb title tune Song for Hope. This is a live trio recording with Nobuyoshi Ino on bass and the great Takeo Moriyama on drums and is now available. You can also find many of Takase’s previous releases on the Intakt label on Bandcamp too – check out some of the tribute albums already mentioned along with others. You won’t be disappointed.
French guitarist Franck Balloffet and Southern California-bred keyboardist-percussionist Phil Bunch are the fusion duo Tea. Their third release Grand Cru from 2018 had several influences including jazz and soul and featured ‘the godfather of Acid Jazz’ Brian Auger on Hammond B3. After producing Auger’s solo album Language of the Heart, Tea continued the collaboration with Grand Cru but really nothing there comes close to Ibiza Redoux – a slice of summer that ends our review show. Auger is just spectacular! Check it out here on Bandcamp – you really won’t be disappointed.
Coming soon in the new year, Cosmic Jazz will bring you more new jazz that we’re currently listening to – expect music from Muriel Grossman, Phil Bancroft, Ryan Kerberle, John Patitucci and more.