Since his appearance on the French jazz scene in the early 2000s, Baptiste Trotignon has imposed himself as one of the most brilliant pianists of his generation. He has multiplied the prestigious collaborations (Aldo Romano, Stefano Di Battista, Brad Mehldau…) and personal projects of various formats and registers, from pure solo work (Solo, Body And Soul) to quintets (Share). Alongside this, is the neo-classical piano concerto Different Spaces with Nicholas Angelich as a soloist, as well as an album of “songs” (Song, Song, Song). However, it is without a doubt in the intimate and egalitarian setting of a trio, which he revisits regularly as if to recharge his batteries, that he displays the most spontaneous part of his talent. His inaugural album Fluide, recorded in 2000 with Clovis Nicolas on bass and Tony Rabeson on drums, was followed by Hit in 2014 with Thomas Bramerie and Jeff Ballard. This time it’s accompanied by Matt Penman and Greg Hutchinson that he creates this particularly joyous new album, made up entirely of covers of great English pop classics. Merrily going from The Beatles to Radiohead, from Pink Floyd to The Rolling Stones, from The Police and Led Zeppelin to Elvis Costello and even Robert Wyatt, Baptiste Trotignon highlights his dazzling style that mixes velocity with rigour. He fully plays the lyricism and virtuosity card in intense, energetic sequences, full of fluttering arabesques, always articulated with great legibility and constant attention to the melody. Far from a slightly haughty exercise in style that would overcomplicate simplistic thematic material with clever reharmonizations, the trio pays complete homage to the melodic energy and sumptuousness of these songs that already belong to our collective imaginary, in doing so creating a record that is as lovingly audacious as it is perpetually inventive. © Stéphane Ollivier/Qobuz

The 16-year stint between Since I Left You, the Avalanches' masterful and mind-blowing debut album, and their sophomore release Wildflower is likely to always be something of an inescapable plotline in the Australian group's career story. However, it should be noted that the mere four years that have elapsed between Wildlflower and We Will Always Love You, the group's third album, are both eminently reasonable by 21st century release standards and completely remarkable given the conceptual richness and production complexity at play here. (And that's leaving out the fact that principal member Robbie Chater had a stint in rehab during that time.) We Will Always Love You is an album that is absolutely full to bursting—with 25 tracks (a handful are sub-30-second interludes), more than 20 guest vocalists, and, yes, scores of richly layered samples, the sheer act of composing, recording, and compiling it could forgivably have taken much longer. However, in the case of WWALY, the group benefited from a clear-eyed concept inspired by Ann Druyan (whose face is on the cover). Druyan’s scientific and creative endeavors, her relationship with Carl Sagan, and how those things intersected most notably with her work on NASA's Golden Record project, actual gold-plated LPs sent into space aboard the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecrafts. The Avalanches have put together their own sort of cosmic mixtape, touching on a wide variety of styles and sounds. Guests range from Johnny Marr, Neneh Cherry, and Vashti Bunyan to Leon Bridges and Denzel Curry; sample sources include Steve Reich, Pat Metheny, Carlinhos Brown and Druyan herself. In keeping with its celestial theme, this is a remarkably adventurous and slightly diaphanous-sounding album, with cuts like the wispy and slightly psychedelic "Gold Sky" (featuring Kurt Vile and Wayne Coyne), the spooky and transcendent "Music is the Light" (with Cornelius and Kelly Moran) and the somewhat on-the-nose "Interstellar Love" (with Leon Bridges) standing as thematic tentpoles. Meanwhile, the more straightforward (and accessible) cuts like the disco groovy "Music Makes Me High," the bouncy and retro "We Go On," and pop/rock treading "Running Red Lights" (which manages to feature a Rivers Cuomo vocal and a David Berman lyric) provide plenty of reminders of terrestrial joy. © Jason Ferguson/Qobuz

Hoping for the reformation of Pink Floyd, the band’s drummer Nick Mason grew tired of awaiting a call from bandmates David Gilmour or Roger Waters. Mason, the only member to have played on all the albums by the group, launched his project Saucerful Of Secrets in 2018, also the name of the Englishmen’s second album which saw singer Syd Barrett’s dismissal during the recording. The idea being to have some fun playing tunes from Pink Floyd’s early days in a sort of five star “tribute band”. Accompanied by guitarist Gary Kemp from British group Spandau Ballet and Guy Pratt (who has taken Roger Walter’s place) on the bass and microphone, Mason set off on a large international tour with the aim of “capturing the spirit” of Pink Floyd before the album The Dark Side of the Moon. An essential step in the tour was at London’s famed venue, The Roundhouse. Here, the English group performed their legendary concerts in 1967 and 1971. And this double album is just as grandiose. Nick Mason and his lackeys are liberal with their long, ultra-psychedelic passages from the incipit Interstellar Overdrive, followed by a nod towards Astronomy Domine, another track written by Barrett, whose ghost haunts a record which will delight all Floyd fans and impress passers by. © Smaël Bouaici/Qobuz

Blufunk Is a Fact! might qualify as a best of genre purely because Keziah Jones is pretty much a one-person genre who demolishes any preconceptions of what kind of music he might play. Jones is originally from Nigeria, but he's a young singer/songwriter who plays guitar and there are no obvious traces of African music in the material. The lineup of guitar, bass, and drums hints at a power trio with solos, but he plays rhythm almost exclusively and the extremely tight, kinetic rhythm section makes the music sound a bit like Tower of Power without horns. But the songs are way too idiosyncratic to fit any modern R&B/funk formulas -- so are song titles like "Frinigro Interstellar," "A Curious Kinda Subconscious," and "Walkin' Naked Thru' a Bluebell Field." His melodies obey their own rules, taking off from the rhythm of his spiky guitar licks like a bluesman, but it sure ain't blues. Even the songs that follow more straightforward models sound unorthodox -- "Runaway" lets the rhythm section power things over very spare guitar, and it's Soul's prominent bass, played high so it serves as second melodic instrument (thumb-popped or not), that carries the melodic and solo load on "Where's Life." "Bluebell Field" is James Brown funky with horn section interjections and the spare, choppy funk of "Rhythm Is Love" sets up a great chorus -- "I'd like to put you in such a romance/Take you down to Paris, France/Leave the cafes and the bars/Walk the wintry boulevards." When he's not being overtly sexual à la Prince or PJ Harvey, Jones riffs on lyrics in almost a private language: "The funderlying undermentals of blufunk/Hang your ass out on the bassline/To get the funderlying undermentals of punk funk/You gotta kiss your reasons, man, you're doing fine." OK, dude, if you say so. Although only "Bluebell Field" and "Rhythm of Love" have the kind of chorus hooks that stick in your singalong mind, the intriguing power and uniqueness of Keziah Jones' music on Blufunk Is a Fact! is undeniable.© Don Snowden /TiVo

Not released for the first time until 1974 but now available in expanded form as a CD, this set of duets by tenor saxophonist John Coltrane and drummer Rashied Ali are full of fire, emotion and constant abstract invention. The original four pieces ("Mars," "Venus," "Jupiter" and "Saturn") are joined by "Leo" and "Jupiter Variation." Coltrane alternates quiet moments with sections of great intensity, showing off his phenominal technique and ability to improvise without the need for chordal instruments. Rousing if somewhat inaccessible music. © Scott Yanow /TiVo

Inspired by the operatic rock of Muse and Queen, Mirror Mirror is the highly ambitious third studio album from Belgian quintet Ghinzu. Produced by Christine Verschorren and Dimitri Tikovoi, the cinematic, electronic-based 2009 follow-up to Blow includes the singles "Cold Love" "This War Is Silent," and "Take It Easy." © Jon O'Brien /TiVo