Jazz

There was The Beatles by The Beatles, The Stooges by The Stooges, Cypress Hill by Cypress Hill, Metallica by Metallica – the list goes on. Naming an album after yourself tends to signal either the first chapter of your music, or the final one. For GoGo Penguin, GoGo Penguin represents the latter as a brief decade of enchanting musical exploration draws to a close for pianist Chris Illingworth, drummer Rob Turner and bassist Nick Blacka. The Manchester trio had established their own unique style and their well-balanced blend of contemporary jazz, electronic music and minimalism is captured perfectly in this 2020 vintage. With an album like this, GoGo Penguin increasingly move away from the legacy left behind by EST (the defunct Esbjörn Svensson Trio), the masters of minimalism (Steve Reich, Philip Glass) and of electronic music (Aphex Twin, Roni Size) who were their main influences in their early days. Illingworth explains, “What I’ve been able to do on the piano – it’s the sort of thing I’ve been trying to get towards, in what I can physically play and what I can do to express who I am. And I know that the other guys take the same pride themselves in what they’ve contributed. We’ve all found our place, we’ve all got that confidence of being able to say, ‘This is how I want to play my instrument, and this is how we want to play as a band – that thing we’ve always been aiming for”. For the first time, GoGo Penguin took their time to make this album and spent six months writing and two weeks recording and experimenting. It was a relatively calm experience but also emotional, as Turner explains, “This time, there's a lot more facing the realities of becoming older, facing mortality, and watching people that you care about being very close to death. At the same time, Chris (Illingworth) became a dad. The longer you live, the more complicated your reality becomes, so we felt our music had to reflect that”. And this is reflected in the improvisations as well as the ambient lyrical flights in GoGo Penguin, inflected with deep emotional resonance. In F Maj Pixie, the power behind Nick Blacka’s bassline acts like the beating heart of the track. Overall, this fifth studio album is all about emotion and delicate melodies. The clean production is free of unnecessary flourishes and GoGo Penguin get straight to the point in GoGo Penguin. © Marc Zisman/Qobuz

Be it through soul, rap or electronic music, artists are always revisiting Blue Note’s repertoire, and Madlib’s brilliant Shades of Blue (2003) is but one example. It’s now the new British jazz scene’s turn to revisit the musical gems – famous or obscure – from this legendary label launched in 1939 by Francis Wolff and Alfred Lion. The aim of this project named Blue Note Re:imagined is to focus primarily on the label’s high-quality music and key musicians. Some of the most revisited artists are therefore Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Joe Henderson and Bobby Hutcherson, and often their work is covered in a rather daring style. For example, Alfa Mist manages to imbue Eddie Henderson’s Galaxy with a rather sensual groove whilst preserving the avant-garde flair of the original version from 1975. The same goes for the Bristolian Ishmael, whose take on McCoy Tyner’s Search for Peace is truly captivating. As for the two sax stars of the moment, Shabaka Hutchings (Bobby Hutcherson's Prints Tie) and Nubya Garcia (Joe Henderson's A Shade of Jade), they both live up to their reputation for shaking things up.Of course, Blue Note Re:imagined doesn’t forget about the vocals. Poppy Ajudha (Watermelon Man by Hancock), Yazmin Lacey (I'll Never Stop Loving You by Dodo Greene), the Norwegian collective Fieh (Armageddon by Wayne Shorter), trumpet player and singer Emma-Jean Thackray (Speak No Evil / Night Dreamer, also by Shorter) and Jordan Rakei (Wind Parade by Donald Byrd), bring a lightness to the album and showcase real talent. But it’s Jorja Smith who takes first prize by covering the most unusual track on the album, Rose Rouge, the leading single from Frenchman St Germain’s album Tourist (2001), taking lyrics from I want you to get together by Marlena Shaw. All in all, it’s funny that what seems to have influenced these exciting young musicians most on Blue Note Re:imagined is still Herbie Hancock from his Headhunters era, an album that was released by Columbia records, not Blue Note… © Marc Zisman/Qobuz

Sometimes it's easier to live a life of solitude when you're... alone? That’s what Michael Wollny is on Mondenkind. Actually, he’s not completely alone. He’s surrounded by names such as Alban Berg, Rudolf Hindemith, Sufjan Stevens, Tori Amos and the Canadian group Timber Timbre. Through revisiting pieces from this eclectic decade-crossing list, the German pianist reflects on loneliness with his usual open-minded attitude. Two thirds of the compositions on this solo album are his own. Recorded in Berlin’s Teldex studio in in April 2020, it feels like he’s searching for a sound on this record. The sound of his instrument perhaps. He also explores his relationship with classical music, which is at the heart of this beautiful record. A brilliant journey inwards. © Max Dembo/Qobuz

Taking frequent trips to Henri Texier’s inspirational planet is sensible and an absolute necessity. Texier is one of France’s most respected bass players and this hot new album is here to remind us that his music is like a marketplace, full of life and people. The album features the musician’s long-term friends and collaborators (Sébastien Texier, Vincent Lê Quang, Manu Codjia, and Gautier Garrigue). It also touches on many of the themes and values that he cherishes, as shown in the songs’ symbolic titles (Cinecitta, Simone et Robert - for Simone Veil and Robert Badinter, and Pina B - for Pina Bausch). The album is entitled Chance (Luck) and for Texier it is about being lucky: “Lucky for being here today, for having played with so many marvelous musicians, for having shared so much with inspired artists who trusted me and taught me their arts. Lucky for having had enough energy to feel the freedom, excitement, weightlessness, and fullness of jazz music. Lucky for always keeping a warm and dedicated audience around me. Lucky for having been able to conduct my artistic projects freely, in particular those recorded, filmed, photographed, and illustrated by Philippe Teissier du Cros, Guy Le Querrec, and Christophe Rémy. Lucky for having been able to work with Sébastien Texier, Vincent Lê Quang, Manu Codjia (insanely good on Cinecitta!), and Gautier Garrigue. They are all brilliant and inspired musicians—thanks to whom I can still explore the new territories of this rich and emotional music. Lucky, finally, for having, after all these years, only very few regrets.” Is everything said? Not totally. The listener will also be lucky. Lucky to spend 54 minutes immersed in this plural and collective jazz trip. Henri Texier is a musician even more than a bass player and he thinks of his music as such, with a true sense of narrative. Exquisite. © Marc Zisman/Qobuz

Exploring the relationship between acoustic and electronic sounds is a path taken by many contemporary jazzmen. But with Highlines , Fœhn Trio is doing more than just adding to the ranks of ambassadors for hybrid jazz. With their second album, the Lyonnais trio of pianist Christophe Waldner, bassist Cyril Billot and drummer Kevin Borqué perfect their writing both melodically and harmonically. Obviously, the heart of this intoxicating record is above all its rhythm. This never prevents the three musicians from expressing themselves in one voice and not contenting themselves with punchy sequences. On some tracks like Danse pour Gaia, the climatic textures make the whole even more cinematic than its parts. And when electronics seem to take over, the music remains organic, never dehumanised. Finally, when Fœhn Trio climbs Satie mountain (with an amazing rereading of the Gnossienne n°1), they allows themselves some welcome liberties... Fender Rhodes, synths, drum machines and signature guests (trumpeter Erik Truffaz on Old Ocean and flautist Joce Mienniel on Free Ride) further condense Highlines and confirm that the young group probably still has a lot to say... © Marc Zisman/Qobuz

You can't stop a flood. And you certainly can't stop Guillaume Perret, an explorer and sculptor of sounds on the saxophone, whose surprising and unclassifiable universe shone brightly with his project Electric Epic and on his solo album Free. In 2018 came a soundtrack illustrating astronaut Thomas Pesquet's epic 16 Sunrises. This was not the first time that the Haut-Savoyard had worked with other artistic forms such as theatre, dance or cinema. These contexts allowed him to develop a true sense of dramaturgy and narration. A Certain Trip is yet more proof of this, an album with arias of 3D sci-fi films, delirious operas and even novels. As is often the case, Perret takes his listeners on a sensory journey into total trance. With Yessaï Karapetian on keyboards, Martin Wangermée on drums and Julien Herné on bass, the extra-terrestrial saxophonist builds new bridges between futuristic and oriental sounds, psychedelic and funky textures, jazz-rock sequences and “fake” movie soundtracks. The turbulence that always remains coherent and flawless; certainly a trip to remember. © Clotilde Maréchal/Qobuz

Ask jazz nonbelievers why they can't relate and what usually comes back is some variation of: it's too cerebral, it has no sense of humor, it doesn't make me smile. Happily, even the most fervent of the jazz fearful needn't run from Hero Trio. After 15 consistently artful and ambitious albums most often recorded with small groups (including Bird Calls, his 2015 heartfelt tribute to chief influence Charlie Parker), savvy alto sax star Rudresh Mahanthappa steps into the role of jazz superhero with a sprightly all-covers set that's a perfect panacea for these serious times. For those who can relate to jazz, one happy constant is that most players care about how their recordings sound. Engineer David Amlen captures a great balance between the instruments and mix engineer Liberty Ellman crafts a great presence in the final product. Liberated by the choice of material, the alto player and his longtime trio mates, double bassist Francois Moutin and drummer Rudy Royston, all reach for new insight and acuity. Like all truly memorable horn players, Mahanthappa has an instantly recognizable tone and here he wields it with his usual fire and invention, effortlessly gliding between sharp, tightly packed statements to more relaxed lyrical passages and bouncy, funky cuts where again, he is clearly enjoying himself. Nodding again towards Parker who remains a constant presence and infinite wellspring of inspiration in his playing, Hero Trio opens and closes with a pair of impassioned Parker covers, "Red Cross," and "Dewey Square," respectively. An original mashup of Charlie Parker's "Barbados" and John Coltrane's "26-2" (which borrows chord progressions from Parker's "Confirmation") works beautifully. A reflective if not sorrowing mood hovers over Mahanthappa's rumination on Ira Gershwin's "I Can't Get Started," the session's only downbeat note. Best of all, the trio animates the album's two curveballs, Stevie Wonder's "Overjoyed" and Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" with an audible and accessible joy. A near perfect mix of buoyancy and mastery, a welcome revelation. © Robert Baird/Qobuz