A continuation of my recent fixation on African music from other threads, here is a stunner I found yesterday.
The Greg Foat & Gigi Masin collab is dope, but I’m not sure if you can strictly classify it as “jazz.” Certainly jazzy enough for me, at least. I also really enjoyed Fuubutsushi, Nonkeen, and Ezra Feinberg. All very chill/ambient-adjacent, but all definitely worth checking out. I post a lot more of that vibe in the Ambient thread, but will try to post things here as well.
Heard it for the first time last week but this years Black Arts Jazz Collective release is a nice little straight-ahead thing. You should definitely prioritize Birth of the Cool as you go through the canon, but as for this year... I liked Melissa Aldana's album, and her one before that was one of my favs of 2022. "WAW!" by Winther, Andersson & Watts (get it) is another cool straight-aheadish one from this year. "e.s.t. 30" is an album from this year celebrating 30 years of the Esbjörn Svensson (RIP) trio, a hallmark group in "ambient" jazz - but much more "quiet, contemplative jazz" ambient vibes than "traditional ambient music with jazz elements" vibes. Andrew Bird's record from this year is beautiful straight-ahead vocal jazz. I've always found all of Joel Ross's records calming, including the one from this year which is pointedly more straight-ahead than his previous. Almost anything from Vijay Iyer will be some kind of calming, including "Compassion" from this year. Arooj Aftab's record from this year goes very far from straight-ahead and gets very intense in moments but ultimately I find it very calming. Definitely one of my favorites of the year of any style. Bill Frisell is the ultimate calming jazz guitar player to me and he is on a live record from this year led by a drummer named Ron Miles called "Old Man Chapel (live)." Also, I feel like Greg Foat's live records from this year might be more up your alley than the ambient collab. Some might say this stuff of his pushes into smooth jazz - Aquarium Drunkard includes some of this on a list of records that draw "on long-traduced, sometimes crassly commercial, musical forms—jazz-funk, exotica, new age, sci-fi schlock, lounge music and library—and channels it all into deeply funky, low-key psychedelic groove music." But it's good shit. Not this year but LongGone with McBride, Blade, Redman, and Mehldau is one of my favorite straight-ahead records of the 2020s. Not always calm but definitely straight-ahead. thats what i got i think
Seriously, can’t get it out of my head. Is there anything else like this from that era? I feel like this is the Rosetta Stone for Tom Krell edit: I guess the move is to dig deeper into Bobby McFerrin beyond “Don’t Worry” haha
Ever New makes me feel like crying every time. I generally prefer his earlier albums, extraordinary psych-jazz-folk stuff.
Got Count Basie's The Complete Decca Recordings, 3 discs for $5. Record stores that are snooty about vinyl are really ripe for steals on CD.
In Line is so beautiful. Listened to that for the first time earlier this summer and I’m constantly returning to it