Jazz On The Beach 145
Jazz On The Beach 145
Rising stars, new releases, Charles Davis, Steps and Sultan Stevenson by the sea
I was delighted that so many of the younger artists we’ve been playing on Jazz On The Beach such as Lakecia Benjamin, Isaiah Collier, Makaya McCraven, Nduduzo Makhathini and Brandee Younger are riding high in the Rising Stars category of the latest Downbeat Magazine Annual Critics Poll.
On this week’s show there’s music by another four of them, starting with trumpeter Etienne Charles and the wonderful Old School from Creole Orchestra (Culture Shock, June 14th) featuring Charles’ mighty big band with his group Creole Soul at its core. The amazing playing and smart arrangement will knock you out.
Representing London there’s tenor saxophonist Nubya Garcia’s gorgeous second single Clarity from her upcoming Odyssey (Concord Jazz, September) co produced with Kwes and featuring her fellow Tomorrow’s Warriors alumni trumpeter Sheila Maurice-Grey, trombonist Rosie Turton, pianist Joe Armon-Jones, double bassist Daniel Casimir and drummer Sam Jones with strings by Chineke! Orchestra.
There’s the excellent title track from pianist and YouTube star Emmet Cohen’s new album Emmet’s Blues (Mack Ave, August 23rd), with trumpeter Bruce Harris, tenor saxophonist Tivon Pennicott, trombonist Frank Lacey, double bassist Phillip Norris and the great Joe Farnsworth on drums.
Coming top of the poll is the brilliant and prolific saxophonist James Brandon Lewis who seems to have been playing everywhere recently and recording with the Messthetics (Impulse!, 2024), with Giovani Guidi, Thomas Morgan and João Lobo on A New Day (ECM, 2024) as well as the Red Lily Quartet on For Mahalia, With Love (Tao Forms, 2023). I’ve gone back to when I first became aware of him to play Divine, my favourite track from his second album Divine Travels (Okeh, 2014) with double bassist William Parker and drummer Gerald Cleaver.
There are more new releases this week, singer Lucy Yeghiazaryan duets with guitarist Peter Bernstein on Arthur Schwartz’s The Simple Life from Behind The Golden Door (La Reserve, July 12th), a rather wonderful album of Armenian and American music. Also, there’s the sensational alto saxophonist Markus Howell’s The Path from The Chosen Path (Posi-Tone, June 14th) with the usual Posi-Tone suspects pianist Art Hirahara, double bassist Boris Kozlov and drummer Rudy Royston.
I couldn’t resist playing The Gems Of Mims by the great baritone saxophonist Charles Davis from his largely overlooked gem Ingia! (Strata East, 1974) which was the first of his eight albums as a leader. The other musicians are his son Louis Davis on guitar, drummer Louis Hayes, his brother Gerald Hayes on alto saxophone, double bassist David Williams, pianist Ronnie Mathews and trumpeter Andrew ‘Tex’ Allen. the record is a little scratchy but the playing and the feeling is terrific (maybe the guitar not so much…)
Before they became Steps Ahead, Steps made one of the great jazz albums of the day with their debut Smokin’ In The Pit (Nippon Columbia/Better Days, 1981) recorded live at the Pitt Inn, Tokyo in December 1980. Formed by vibraphonist Mike Manieri the stellar lineup was tenor saxophonist Michael Brecker, pianist Don Grolnick, double bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Steve Gadd. On this week’s show there’s the sensational album opener Tee Bag with Brecker on fire.
And finally, anyone lucky enough to be at the Lighthouse in Deal last Thursday saw a wonderful performance from pianist Sultan Stevenson with double bassist Ygor Azevedo and drummer Sacha Harlan. It was a rare jazz gig in the classically dominated annual Deal Music and Arts Festival, there’s hope that things will change now the new artistic director Luke Styles is more established. If you missed it, listen to To Be Seen from Sultan’s Faithful One (Whirlwind, 2023), one of J.O.T.B.’s album of the year with double bassist Jacob Gryn and drummer Joel Waters.
Just click the link below to listen to this week’s J.O.T.B…
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