New album: A third jazz-funk tour de force LP of outstanding musicianship, infinite energy, humour and invention by the LA duo of singer Genevieve Artadi and genius drummer and multi-instrumentalist Louis Cole joined by a host of brilliant players
Read moreMeshell Ndegeocello: The Omnichord Real Book
New album: Classy, supercool and stylish, the revered German-born American bassist and vocalist returns with an album of distinctive and varied fusion of funk, jazz, Afrobeat, electronica and hip hop with a variety of distinctive guests
Read moreMcKinley Dixon: Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!?
New album: A short but poetically vivid and emotionally stirring fourth album by the articulate, flowing Richmond, Virginia rapper and musician, a title inspired by Toni Morrison’s book trilogy, and filled with city-inspired jazz soundscapes and great guest vocalists
Read moreRahill: Flowers At Your Feet
New album: Cool, stylishly original trip-hop, jazz, alt-rock and pop by the New York Iranian-American singer-songwriter Rahill Jamalifard on a deeply personal release which also includes guests Beck and Jasper Marsalis
Read moreFatoumata Diawara: London Ko
New album: The Mali star returns with an third LP, mixing Afro-futurism and feminism wassoulou traditions and western, but also celebrating her links the UK and and collaborations, notably with co-producer Damon Albarn, and other guest including Angie Stone and Roberto Fonseco
Read moreDurand Jones: Wait Til I Get Over
New album: After three acclaimed albums with band The Indications, the Louisiana singer returns with a fantastic solo LP, themed around his hometown of Hillaryville, and packed with beautiful, powerful soul numbers of grit, melancholy, joy and defiance
Read moreGoGo Penguin: Everything Is Going To Be OK
New album: An evocative, imaginative, cinematic ninth LP by the inventive Manchester experimental jazz trio this time with track ideas first utilising electronica turned into their vibrant acoustic playing of interweaving piano, drums and bass
Read moreAlfa Mist: Variables
New album: A brilliantly inventive mix of dynamic, textured, vibrant jazz, funk, prog, African, and hip hop, from big band swing, boom-bap rhythms smooth, soulful vocals, all in a fifth LP the London keyboardist and producer
Read moreFire-Toolz: I am upset because I see something that is not there
New album: Like a bizarre recipe filled with flavours that should not mix, but by some strange alchemy really work, an extraordinary fusion of electronica, ambient, drum’n’bass, jazz, prog, pop, and blasts of dark metal by the Chicago producer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Angel Marcloid, a heady fusion that must been heard to be believed
Read moreSpencer Cullum: Spencer Cullum's Coin Collection 2
New album: Following 2021’s beautiful first coin collection, another delicious release of gentle 70s-style folk with light touches of country, jazz and pop by the Romford artist who has made his home in Nashville, Tennessee
Read moreDave Okumu & The 7 Generations: I Came From Love
New album: A rich, complex and brilliant release about black history, identity, and channelling the idea of ancestry by British singer, songwriter, producer and guitarist joined by a stellar cast of fellow artists, including Wesley Joseph, Tom Skinner, ESKA and Grace Jones
Read moreHMLTD: The Worm
New album: Apocalypse: The Musical? This highly entertaining second LP by the British art-rockers could be thus described, but the concept is “an anachronistic version of medieval England” and features a 16-piece string orchestra and gospel choir
Read moreLondon Brew: London Brew
New album: A wonderfully rich, collaborative release of new music by a 12-piece group of leading UK jazz musicians including Shabaka Hutchings, recorded in 2020 in Paul Epworth’s Church Studios, inspired by and celebrate the 50th anniversary of Miles Davis’s landmark LP Bitches Brew
Read moreDesire Marea: On The Romance of Being
New album: An extraordinary, beautiful, passionate, spiritual and erotic new solo LP by the South African multidisciplinary artist, sangoma (Nguni spiritual healer), and previously part of queer gqom group FAKA, now with a 13-piece orchestral ensemble mixing soul, jazz, rock and Zulu chants
Read moreSissoko - Segal - Parisien - Peirani: Les Égarés
New album: A gorgeous genre-spanning jazz-folk-Anatolian LP featuring Malian kora maestro Ballaké Sissoko, specialist improv cellist Vincent Segal, accordion virtuoso Vincent Peirani and French soprano saxophonist Émile Parisien
Read moreA Certain Ratio: 1982
New album: The Manchester post-punk veterans Jez Kerr, Martin Moscrop and Donald Johnson, return with a sparklingly eclectic record of electronica, dance, jazz, funk, Afrobeat and more with a retrospective feel on their history
Read moreYazmin Lacey: Voice Notes
Debut album: A magically smooth, beautiful fusion of jazz, soul, funk and reggae in this debut by the superb London-born, Nottingham-based singer, whose fluid, dreamy voice captures the emotions in the intonations and nuances in her eloquent delivery
Read moreDavid Brewis: The Soft Struggles
New album: A beautifully arranged release by one brother half of Field Music, with his falsetto voice, gentle piano, woodwind, acoustic guitar and some brass decorating a folk-pop-jazz fusion that also has the magic of early 70s Van Morrison and Nick Drake
Read moreLiv.e: Girl In The Half Pearl
New album: A dizzyingly indefinable and innovative debut by the Dallas-born singer-songwriter Olivia Williams, mixing experimental R&B, gospel, neo-soul, spoken word, electronica, cosmic jazz, and pop
Read moreMakaya McCraven: In These Times
New album: An intricately beautiful and mesmeric fusion of polyrhythm and melody by the Paris-born, Chicago-based percussionist and composer, bringing together cosmic jazz, hip-hop breakbeats, funk, classical and African influences on this sublime fourth album, released back in September
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