Jazz

Kavuma & The Banger Factory
Arashi No Ato
Banger Factory Records BF001 (CD and LP)

Evolved through their residency at the Prince of Wales in Brixton, The Banger Factory collective was first heard on disc in 2019. This second album is the first release on the new label that trumpeter Mark Kavuma has formed and named after the band, recorded virtually live in the studio before the pandemic and now released, as that Japanese title says, 'after the storm'. The music is warm and heartfelt and unusual guest spots include 'Love Will Find A Way', the 1921 Eubie Blake song, a feature for Sons Of Kemet tuba player Theon Cross. To close, Kavuma brought in a gospel choir with Richie Seivwright (trombonist/vocalist with Nubya Garcia) ably singing the lead on the Soul Stirrers' 'One More River'. Inspiring. SH

Marcin Wasilewski
En Attendant
ECM 6024 3810005 7 (CD and LP)

Together for more than 25 years, pianist Wasilewski, bassist Slawomir Kurkiewicz and drummer Michal Miskiewicz began as the Simple Acoustic Trio. Their debut Komeda paid tribute to jazz pianist and Polanski film score composer Krzysztof Komeda, and in the 2000s they made up trumpeter Tomasz Stanko's quartet. This beautifully recorded album, completed just before the trio's 2020 Joe Lovano collaboration Arctic Riff, is built around the three parts of the contemplative yet dynamic 'In Motion'. And from the trio's take on one of Bach's Goldberg Variations to Carla Bley's 'Vashtar' to The Doors' 'Riders On The Storm', the pieces in between range far and wide. SH

Erroll Garner
Symphony Hall Concert
Octave Music/Mack Avenue MAC1189; LP: MAC1189LP

Garner's centenary year brings the culmination of the Octave Project, a remastering of the 12 albums recorded for the pianist's own label between 1959-75. Now added is this previously-unissued live recording, made at Boston's Symphony Hall 11 months before the first Octave studio album, Dreamstreet. Here you get nine tracks, naturally including 'Misty', but the 27-song concert comes complete in the Liberation In Swing 4LP box and in the lavish limited-edition Liberation In Swing: Centennial Collection. It must have been an epochal evening, Garner's joyful, spectacular and swinging performance surely topping all expectations. SH

Stan Getz Quartet/Astrud Gilberto
Live At The Berlin Jazz Festival 1966
The Lost Recordings TLR-2104038 (two discs; mono)

Astrud Gilberto's vocals were the final magic ingredient of Getz/Gilberto in 1964, and she soon joined the saxophonist again on tour and for Getz Au Go Go. By that time he'd discovered the young Gary Burton, also heard here with bassist Chuck Israels and drummer Roy Haynes. The quartet can sound great, Getz steaming at fast tempos and matchlessly lyrical on slow ones, yet despite Burton's brilliant use of the vibes for chordal support as well as single lines, you sometimes wish he was a pianist. But then comes their set with Astrud, perhaps at the peak of her powers, which will make this unmissable for many. SH