Så er vi endelig over i sommeren 2021, og snart er første halvdelen av dette merkelige året unnagjort. De forskjellige landene begynner så smått å åpne opp, både for konserter, restauranter og, ikke minst, grensene, slik at vi igjen kan begynne å leve normale liv igjen, og ikke kun sitte ved conputeren og ved platespilleren. Og de europeiske jazzredaktørene fortsetter sin utrettelig kamp for å å få massene til må lytte til kvalitetsjazz. Og her er hva som surrer og går mest på spillerne rundt om:

Anna Filipieva, Jazz.Ru:
ILUGDIN TRIO «My Story» (Jazzist

Jan Granlie, salt-peanuts.eu:
WILLIAM PARKER «Mayan Space Station» (Aum Fidelity)

Christine Stephan, Jazzthetik:
IRÈNE SCHWEIZER / HAMID DRAKE «Celebration» (Intakt Records)

Viktor Bensusan, jazzdergisi.com:
CHRISTIAN MCBRIDE BIG BAND «For Jimmy, Wes and Oliver» (Mack Avenue Records)

Dick Hovenga, Written in Music:
DANIEL HERSKEDAL «Harbour» (Edition Records)

Tony Dudley-Evans, LondonJazz News (UK):
YOUNG PILGRIMS «We’re Young Pilgrims»  (Stoney Lane Records)

Cim Meyer, Jazz Special:
DANIEL HERSOG JAZZ ORCHESTRA «Night Devoid Of Stars» (Cellar Music)

Lars Mossefinn, Dag og tid:
MARTHE LEA BAND «Asura» (Motvind Records)

Matthieu Jouan, citizenjazz.com:
PAUL LAY «Full solo» (Gazebo)

Axel Stinshoff, Jazz thing:
ACK VAN ROOYEN «90» (Jazzline)

Luca Vitali, Giornale della Musica:
DANILO GALLO DARK DRY TEARS «A view through a slot» (Clean Feed)

Madli-Liis Parts, Muusika:
SONS OF KEMET «Black To The Future» (Impulse!)

Paweł Brodowski, Jazz Forum:
JOAQUÍN SOSA QUARTET «Live At Radio Katowice» (Polskie Radio Katowice)

Mike Flynn, Jazzwise:
RUTH GOLLER «Skylla» (Vula Viel Records)

Why did I choose –

Anna Filipieva:
The third album in the discography of the Moscow-based trio led by pianist Dmitry Ilugdin. Their previous work, Reflection, was published in Russia on ArtBeat Music in 2017, and then re-released for worldwide distribution by Norwegian label, Losen Records. The sound engineer who recorded and mixed Reflection on MosFilm Studios, Andrey Levin, was so impressed by Ilugdin’s original music that the new label he co-founded with Araik Hakobyan, Moscow’s famed Kozlov Club artistic director, offered the pianist to make his next studio work their new label’s inaugural release: an ideal case of modern Russian jazz, deeply immersed in both modern jazz piano trio canon and Russian composers’ immense heritage, so that Dmitry Ilugdin the composer and Dmitry Ilugdin the jazz pianist complement and expand each other – supported by the creative rhythm section that consists of bassist Victor Shestak and drummer Peter Ivshin

Jan Granlie:
It was not long after William Parker’s masterpiece “Migration of Silence Into and Out of The Tone World: Volumes 1-10” (Centering Records), and his first biography, written by Cisco Bradley: «Universal Tonality: The Life and Music of William Parker » (Duke University Press), that the composer, multi-instrumentalist, poet, griote and conceptualist William Parker was out with a couple of new trio albums that further explain his musical vision.
William Parker is one of the most iconic and creative jazz musicians to have emerged over the past half century. And these two new records continue to expand the seemingly unlimited spectrum of his artistic expression. The first, «Painters Winter» (AUM FIDELITY) is a great record with his old friends, multi-instrumentalist Daniel Carter and drummer and percussionist Hamid Drake.
At «Mayan Space Station» we get a set of electric guitar, bass and drums, which can easily be seen as a hefty dose of «psychedelic rock» with clear references to jazz guitar heroes, such as the Norwegian Terje Rypdal. Here we meet Parker together with guitarist Ava Mendoza and drummer Gerald Cleaver, in six compositions by Parker, and the recordings were made at Park West Studios in Brooklyn in February 2020. Ava Mendoza has collaborated earlier with Parker in the project «Thunder and Flowers» for his residency project on the Stone in New York in July 2019. She has previously made a strong mark on the American jazz scene, including cooperations with Matana Roberts, Nels Cline, Jon Irabagon, William Hooker, Fred Frith, The Violent Femmes, Jamaladeen Tacuma, Rova Saxophone Quartet, Moppa Elliot and more. And she has made several albums in her own name since her debut «Shodow Stories» on Resipiscent in 2010. Drummer Gerald Cleaver is a chameleon in the jazz world. He is one of the most used drummers in qualitative American jazz in the recent years, and he has been heard with, among others, Joe Morris, Mat Maneri, Roscoe Mitchell, Miroslav Vitous, Michael Formanek, Tomasz Stanko and many, many more.
The record company calls the music «cosmic multicolored blues», and all the way through, Mendoza, almost in the Rypal landscape, can soar over a fantastic bass and drum accompaniment, where it must be almost impossible to «step wrong» for the guitarist . For Parker and Cleaver’s playing, Mendoza lifts off the ground and lets her soar somewhere up there, delivering brilliant guitar music, not very far from Rypdal’s recording «Chaser», with bassist Bjørn Kjellemyr and drummer Audun Kleive from 1985. We get six compositions, where I really only recognize the title track from before, from the recording «Sunrise In The Tone World» with Parkers The Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra. And even this song is done in a very special way on this recording. And all the way, Parker’s bass playing is brilliant and a bit «related» to Charles Mingus, that is, rhythmically perfect, heavy and delicious. And in this context, Cleaver is the perfect drummer. I do not know how it would have worked with Parker’s old friend, Hamid Drake, but there will be a slightly different «touch» in the plot with Cleaver, who is a more «active» and ongoing drummer than the extremely friendly Drake.
A brilliant album!

Dick Hovenga:
Putting the adventurous compositions by Herskedal in the hands of Norbakken and Dale defintely means a tripling of the intensity. Hearing these three men at work together has always been a great pleasure. With Harbour they exceed expectations.

Tony Dudley-Evans:
Young Pilgrims are an  exhilarating 9-piece band based in Birmingham led by trombonist Richard Foote. With its line up of three trumpets, two trombones, sousaphone, baritone sax and two drums  the group creates a wonderfully lively mix of brass-focussed jazz and other styles.  They are exciting in live performance, and this second album captures that excitement well. Check out «Canal Tripping» on video, a raucous homage to Birmingham’s 56km of canals (more than Venice or Amsterdam!).

Viktor Bensusan:
A big band tribute album for Jimmy Smith, Wes Montgomery and Oliver Nelson featuring Christian McBride, Joey DeFrancesco, Marc Whitfield and many more…

Paweł Brodowski:
Joaquín Sosa, 31, is a clarinet and tenor saxophone virtuoso. He was born and raised in Cuba and has already performed in Barbados, Canada, Spain, and United Arab Emirates. This year he moved to Poland, where he just won the jazz competiton organized by the Lotos Jazz Festival – Bielska Zadymka Jazzowa. This album, recorded live in the studio of Radio Katowice, is part of the award. His international quartet includes the Polish pianist Mateusz Kaszuba, Cuban bassist Aniel Someillan and Hungarian drummer  Peter Somos.
Five of the six recorded tunes are Sosa’s original compositions, the one exception is “I Remember Diz”, written by the legendary Cuban jazz giant Paquito D’Rivera. It is Sosa’s nod to his idol, mentor and friend. Upon hearing of Joaquín’s success, Paquito commented on his Facebook profile: “Ya tu ves porqué dicen que la Sal de Cuba es la mejor del mundo. Sal de allí y ya empiezan a pasar cosas buenas” (“You see why they say that Cuban Salt is the best in the world. Get out of there and good things start to happen”).
Sosa, the classically trained virtuoso, is a new jazz talent to be watched. He has a beautiful, polished tone, sure, fluid phrasing, and improvises with imagination, joy and zest. His ensemble is a tight, intergrated unit.
“Live At Radio Katowice” is only his second album as a leader. Two years ago he recorded his debiut CD “Caminando” with Cuban musicians (a septet), when still in Cuba. Both records have been sent out to the subscribers of Jazz Forum magazine.

Matthieu Jouan:
The music inspired by Ludwig Van Beethoven’s under the fingers of one of the richest and open-minded French pianist. Not the latest «Swing your classics» session but a real thought on what a standard could be if composed by the great composer.