På denne tide nav året skjer det mye på festivalfronten. Umeå Jazzfestival, Osafestivalen, Tampere Jazz Happening, Berlin-festivalen, Sarajevo, og helt sikkert mange flere som vi i salt peanuts* ikke er invitert til. I stedet kan vi sitte hjemme og grave i en rekke nye, spennende utgivelser som er blitt anbefalt av de beste jazzmagasinene ii Europa. Og her følger tipsene for november måned:

Matthieu Jouan, citizenjazz.com:
BENTO BOX TRIO Somehow How I Lost My Way (Fjordgata Records)

Axel Stinshoff, Jazz thing:
SUN RA ARKESTRA / DIR. MARSHALL ALLEN Lights on a Satellite (In&Out Records)

Luca Vitali, Giornale della Musica:
ANDREA GIORDANO Àlea (Sofa Music)

Yves Tassin, JazzMania:
NICO CHKIFI Motian Love Dance (Ramble Records)

Jos Demol, jazzhalo.be:
GEBHARD ULLMANN & VITALII KYIANYTSIA Impromptus und Interationen (Kairos)

Kaspars Zavileiskis, jazzin.lv:
THE NECKS Bleed (Northern Spy Records)

Christof Thurnherr, Jazz’n’More:
MAXIME DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULT Automates Ki (Self released)

Jacek Brun, www.jazz-fun.de:
THOMAS STIEGER Choices (Leopard)

Bega Villalobos, In&OutJazz:
BALDO MARTINEZ SEXTET Música Imaginaria (Karonte)

Mike Flynn, Jazzwise:
BILL LAURANCE & MICHAEL LEAGUE Keeping Company (ACT)

Kateryna Ziabliuk, Meloport:
MARYAN KARPINSKYI EXPERIENCE Zolotyi Karp (Self-released)

Krzysztof Komorek, Donos kulturalny:
UNLEASHED COOPORATION Trust (Multikulti Project)

Jan Granlie, salt-peanuts.eu:
CALEB WHEELER CURTIS The True Story of Bears and the Invention of the Battery (Imani Records)

Christine Stephan, Jazzthetik:
JOHANNES ENDERS The Creator Has a Master Plan B (Enja Records)

Dick Hovenga, Written in Music:
SURYA BOTOFASINA Ashram Sun (Spiritmuse Records)

Viktor Bensusan, jazzdergisi.com:
JOE WEBB Hamstrings & Hurricanes (Edition Records)

Nuno Catarino, jazz.pt:
PEDRO MELO ALVES Conundrum Vol.1 – Itself Through Disappearance (Clean Feed)

Henning Bolte, freelance:
SUN-MI HONG’S BIDA ORCHESTRA Invisible Ropes (Bimhuis Records)

Sebastian Scotney, UK Jazz News:
JO HARROP The Path Of A Tear (Lateralize Records)

Lars Mossefinn, Dag og tid:
THE RED BARN The Red Barn (Musicwelike Records)

Patrik Sandberg, Orkesterjournalen:
MILES DAVIS Miles in France 1963 & 1964 Bootleg Series Vol. 8 (Columbia)

Cim Meyer, All That …:
PHILIP GROPPER’S PHILM Live at Bimhuis (WhyPlayJazz)

Why did I choose –

Kateryna Ziabliuk:
Zolotyi Karp is an album by young Ukrainian guitarist Maryan Karpinskyi, comprised of songs he composed during the years of Russian invasion. Through these pieces, he channels reflections on authenticity, purpose, friendship, and sincerity. Accompanying him are some of the most active voices on the modern Ukrainian scene: Dmytro Kryshtal on trumpet, Denys Arkharov on piano, Stanislav Diachenko on bass, and Mykhailo Halaktionov on drums.
Karpinskyi offered insights into the themes of each composition on social media: «Borodьba» reminds us that struggle is an integral part of life. «Vona» speaks to a state of inspiration and motivation. «Ne Trymai» warns against wishful thinking. «Kyshenya» reflects the influence of culture, upbringing, education, and experience in shaping one’s personality. «Vechir» accepts things as they are. «Sered Zirok» invites us to be traveler-dreamers.
Together, these pieces capture a personal and collective journey, resonating with Karpinskyi’s inner world and the realities faced by his place of living.

Viktor Bensusan:
Joe Webb thinks forward and goes back to jazz with his immaculate trio…

Nuno Catarino:
In 2019, the drummer Pedro Melo Alves launched the Conundrum concert series, featuring duos with various musicians he had not previously collaborated with, focusing on musical improvisation. This album, released by Clean Feed, compiles live recordings from thirteen concerts with artists such as Marta Warelis, Ignaz Schick, Sara Serpa, Rafael Toral, Jacqueline Kerrod, João Barradas and Audrey Chen. The album highlights a wide range of sounds and instruments, showcasing distinct musical approaches and communication styles. Each short excerpt captures unique moments, reflecting both harmony and challenges in the collaborative process. At the heart of the project is Alves’s improvisational skill and adaptability, making this album a remarkable collection of diverse musical encounters.

Dick Hovenga:
Ashram Sun by keyboardist/vocalist Surya Botofasina is a very special musical experience. The musician has already been featured this year on groundbreaking new albums by Shabaka, Andre 300 (she is part of his live band) and Carlos Niño. Her second album for Spiritmuse Records is a deeply spiritual ode/love letter to the time Alice Coltrane spent at her ashram in Los Angeles. Botafasina’s Ashram Sun draws richly from those Coltrane years and draws those musical spiritual lines into the present. As a result, Ashram Sun is an album as free and adventurous as you very rarely hear. Floating on the atmosphere of atmospheric synthesizers, in the spirit of her teacher Swamini Turiyasangitananda (Coltrane’s ashram name), Botofasina develops a fascinating world.  Ashram Sun is a bulky piece of work that impresses and intrigues. Precisely because the atmosphere is so meditative, the music, however experimental at times, feels like a heartwarming and mind-expanding experience. Nothing in this world is currently more needed than albums like this wonderful Ashram Sun.

Krzysztof Komorek:
Trust is a continuation and development of the music heard on the debut of the group. The album features eight tracks – six original compositions and two improvised miniatures. Half of the material was created with the participation of the band’s special (and unique) guest, the outstanding vocalist and improviser Anna Gadt. A well-composed mix of jazz, improvisation, influences of contemporary and ethnic music, allows the band to create a unique, easily recognisable style. Individual pieces sometimes seduce with delicate melodies, at other times intrigue with unexpected solutions and openness of form. It’s an excellent album.

Jacek Brun:
An important part of this music is the mutual inspiration of all project members and the joint development of expression. Thomas Stieger, as leader, sets the direction, and each musician follows in his or her own original way. Each performer takes on the role of soloist, accompanist or colorist, depending on the composer’s intention. The individual pieces have clearly defined melodic themes that are freely improvised. A very interesting album and well worth listening to.

Bega Villalobos:
The exceptional sextet led by Baldo Martínez offers us an hour of wonderful music, full of surprising and exciting developments, in the form of compositions that fly free and unfold towards paths of captivating beauty. Everything is elegant here, everything sounds emotional and careful to the extreme, everything fits in a strange and almost magical way in an improbable collage of contemporary jazz, free improvisation and sounds indebted to folklore. Everything is organic, natural and harmonious: there is light at all times. Imaginary Music is a very complete work in which vibraphones, accordions, fluscorns, marimbas and flutes are intertwined in a festive, beautiful and imaginative way around more conventional elements of the jazz tradition such as the sax, drums, trumpet or double bass. to create a fascinating, original work, addictive from the first note and totally elusive when looking for labels to try to define it.

Henning Bolte:
Sun-Mi Hong’s Bida Orchestra is a six-piece raw energy unit unleashing exceptional dynamics that convenes ferocious attacks and wild outbursts with classy horn lines as mighty as elegant in utmost thrilling , mutually feeding dialectics.
Old contradictions are abolished, overcome and playfully transformed to a higher fully prospering level. With its deeply reaching resilient agility the group creates an increasingly strong unifying thread. It is ferocious, full of unbridled and intelligent joy of playing, reaching into realms of  touching beauty.
The music designed and lead by exceptional female drummer Sun-Mi Hong fully triggers and unfolds the potentials of her high class international line-up with Mette Rasmussen (as), Alistair Payne (tr), John Dikeman (ts, bas-sax), Jozef Dumoulin (keys) and John Edwards (b).
Sun-Mi Hong, a risen star from Amsterdam, is one of the internationally busiest and successful young musicians of the 30s generation. She can a.o. be seen with Bida Orchestra at this year’s Jazzfest Berlin on Thursday, October 31st.

Sebastian Scotney:
Jo Harrop’s music comes straight from the heart. I heard it in her voice the very first time I listened to her,” says four-time Grammy winner Larry Klein who produced «The Path Of A Tear». This new album was recorded in Village Studios in Los Angeles. I have written that Jo Harrop sings «with sincerity, warmth, joy and grace. All that and more so on this fine album. And a delightful person too.

Yves Tassin:
When a dream team pays tribute to Paul Motian.

Kaspars Zavileiskis:
A single 42-minute track album that vividly demonstrates the extraordinary creative process of Australian cult trio The Necks. The interplay of pianist Chris Abrahams, bassist Lloyd Swanton, and drummer Tony Buck mostly lives in the vast fields of minimalism with electronic and other delicate sonic textures involved and is built very attentively to end up in a joint dance. The 20th studio album Bleed is an absolute must-listen for fans of The Necks and the avant-garde jazz altogether, this time especially worth buying in the form of truly beautiful vinyl presentation. And inviting to one of the equally creative processes of this trio in the form of concerts.

Matthieu Jouan:
The Norwegian trio Bento Box is made up of promising young musicians who are already more or less established. It’s not too late to discover them, here with this new project, improvised around their own compositions and featuring the double bass of Mats Eilertsen and the voice of Sissel Vera Pettersen on some tracks. Tuva Halse’s violin has a very specific, colorful, bittersweet sound that adds a special relief to the whole. Benjamín Gísli Einarsson on piano and Øyvind Leite on drums are careful not to spoil this primary color, but to support and enhance it. Somehow How I Lost My Way is an excellent surprise and a fine hope.

Jan Granlie:
The two CDs, with his own compositions plus one by Arthur Blythe on the first, and the second with Thelonious Monk compositions, shows Wheeler Curtis in great form. He writes fine compositions, which are performed in a sort of «Loft» landscape together with bassist Sean Conly and drummer Michael Sarin. And the record of Monk compositions, with bassist Eric Revis and drummer Justin Faulkner, does Monk in an almost minimalist way, but both records have a drive and an energy that places Wheeler Curtis right at the forefront of today’s jazz. He himself is a master of stritch, sopranino saxophone, trumpet and tenor saxophone.

Patrik Sandberg:
«Miles in France» is the eight release in the acclaimed Miles Davis Bootleg Series and one that focuses on the formation of the Second Great Quintet during 1963 and 1964. The music captures both an ending and a new beginning and is spread across five performances on eight 12″s.