A six-string icon’s meditation on loss, renewal and friendship; a new exciting collaborative project born out of a shared passion for improvised instrumental music; a visionary tribute to seminal author Kurt Vonnegut, released on the year of his 100th anniversary. All this and more are in our list of ten albums released this month (November 2022) that you need to know about.
The Headhunters, Speakers in the House (Ropeadope)
Release date: November 4
Celebrating their 50th anniversary, The Headhunters return with Speakers in the House, their new album in eleven years. Featuring the band’s current lineup with Bill Summers, Mike Clark, Donald Harrison, Stephen Gordon and Reggie Washington, plus special guests, the record finds them embracing the sounds and culture of New Orleans, where it was recorded.
Jakob Bro and Joe Lovano, Once Around the Room: A Tribute to Paul Motian (ECM)
Release date: November 4
Guitarist Jakob Bro and saxophonist Joe Lovano co-lead a deeply-felt homage to the late, great drummer/composer Paul Motian. Once Around the Room features a group of top-shelf instrumentalists performing two Motian-influenced originals each by Bro and Lovano, group improvisation and a dynamic rendition of Motian’s “Drum Music.”
Bill Frisell, Four (Blue Note)
Release date: November 11
Six-strings icon Bill Frisell offers a stunning meditation on loss, renewal and friendship on Four, his third Blue Note album. Four brings together a new lineup of musical friends and like-minded spirits, featuring pianist Gerald Clayton, drummer Jonathan Blake and longtime Frisell collaborator Greg Tardy on saxophone and clarinets.
Eri Yamamoto Trio, A Woman With a Purple Wig (Mahakala)
Release date: November 11
Pianist/composer Eri Yamamoto shares her experience of life in locked-down New York City following the onset of COVID-19 via seven new, heartfelt original compositions. A Woman With a Purple Wig is also her seventh album with her longstanding trio featuring bassist David Ambrosio and drummer Ikuo Takeuchi.
Jason Yeager Septet, Unstuck in Time: The Kurt Vonnegut Suite (Sunnyside)
Release date: November 11
Jason Yeager honors the legacy of Kurt Vonnegut with a new suite of music comprising eleven compositions capturing the author’s incisive and skewed vision. Released on Vonnegut’s 100th birthday anniversary, Unstuck in Time features the pianist/composer’s gifted septet, plus special guest soloist Miguel Zenón.
Olli Hirvonen, Kielo (Ropeadope)
Release date: November 11
Celebrated and virtuosic Finnish guitarist Olli Hirvonen offers a stimulating fusion of Americana with the folk melodies of his native country on his new album, Kielo. Released on Ropeadope, this full-length trio album also features drummer Nathan Ellman-Bell and bassist Marty Kenney.
Charles Lloyd, Trios: Sacred Thread (Blue Note)
Release date: November 18
Sacred Thread is the third and final release in Charles Lloyd’s series of albums showcasing his restless creativity in three different trio settings, Trio of Trios, following the previously-released Chapel and Ocean. The final entry in the series features the legendary saxophonist alongside guitarist Julian Lage and percussionist Zakir Hussain.
Esbjörn Svensson, HOME.S (ACT)
Release date: November 18
HOME.S is a never-before-heard Esbjörn Svensson solo piano album, showcasing his art and playing in a more intimate and focused setting for the first, and possibly, only time. Recently rediscovered, these recordings were made only a few weeks before the Nordic jazz trailblazer’s sudden passing in 2008.
Hedvig Mollestad, Maternity Beat (Rune Grammofon)
Release date: November 18
Guitarist Hedvig Mollestad further establishes her status as a vital leader on the contemporary Norwegian jazz scene with Maternity Beat. Billed as one of her most ambitious projects to date, the new work was recorded with the 12-piece Trondheim Jazz Orchestra and offers deeply personal meditations on the nature of family and pressing social issues.
Village of the Sun, First Light (Gearbox)
Release date: November 25
First Light is the debut album of a collaborative project between U.K. jazz virtuosos Binker Golding and Moses Boyd with electronic music legend Simon Ratcliffe of Basement Jaxx fame. Together, as Village of the Sun, they enter relatively new territory on this LP, born out of a shared passion for improvised instrumental music.
Featured photo by Monica Jane Frisell.