Jazz

Fred Hersch
Silent, Listening
Ecm Records 5890962; Lp: 5890964

A year and a half after The Song Is You, his duo album with trumpeter Enrico Rava, Hersch returned to Lugano's Auditorio Stelio Molo hall to record again. He's made many solo albums in a long career, but describes this one as a collaboration with ECM's Manfred Eicher - and the piano sound here from this favourite venue is gorgeous. Hersch starts with the Strayhorn/Ellington theme 'Star Crossed Lovers', creating a miracle of tenderness and harmonic subtlety. Then, after a nicely-paced programme of more or less spontaneous pieces (no Monk tunes this time) and a jaunty 'Softly As In A Morning Sunrise', he wraps up poignantly on Alec Wilder's 'Winter Of My Discontent'. Musically enticing, sonically a treasure. SH

Sound Quality: 90%

Shabaka
Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace
Impulse! 6505035; Lp: 6516811

At the start of 2023, after much intense touring with Sons of Kemet, The Comet Is Coming and The Ancestors, Shabaka announced that he would be giving up the saxophone at least for the foreseeable future, and he is now to be heard on flute. So, although presaged by the 2022 digital and Record Store Day vinyl mini-album Afrikan Culture, this latest release marks a new beginning, with notable collaborators including vocalist Moses Sumney, harpist Brandee Younger, and bassist and vocalist Esperanza Spalding. It's music of reflection, very different from what's gone before, but as always Shabaka tells us truths of the past and looks passionately to the future. SH

Sound Quality: 85%

The Jazz Defenders
Memory In Motion
Haggis Records Hrcd008; Lp: Hrlp008

Though rooted in the hard-bop era, The Jazz Defenders' music is skilfully updated with elements of modern R&B and even hip-hop. Led by versatile and in-demand pianist George Cooper, the classic quintet lineup is fronted by saxophonist Jake McMurchie (Get The Blessing) and trumpeter Nick Malcolm (Jade Quartet, Rebecca Nash) with bassist Will Harris and drummer Ian Matthews (Kasabian). 'Rolling On A High', chosen as the single release, features UK rapper Doc Brown and typifies their 'good time' sound. Most of the band's originals are closer in style to the old Blue Note masters, bursting with snap and swing. As they claim, this is danceable as well as listenable. SH

Sound Quality: 85%

Julius Rodriguez
Evergreen
Verve 6537675; Lp: 6537676

Continuing the quest of his 2022 debut Let Sound Tell All, the multi-talented Rodriguez is determined not to be labelled but to be his own genre. He's a masterful pianist and a keyboard wizard who weaves jazz influences into a heavily-produced tapestry of modern styles. In 'Round The World', a lush travelogue gives way to a rapping 'Road Rage', while 'Rise And Shine' opens with folky acoustic guitar but morphs into a full-blown synth orchestration. Later tracks feature the trumpet of Keyon Harrold, the spacey electric guitar of Nate Mercereau and, lastly, vocalist/pianist Georgia Anne Muldrow in 'Champion's Call', a finale that's almost apocalyptic. SH

Sound Quality: 80%