The editors of JAZZIZ have the good fortune of being able to listen to new music before it’s officially released in stores and streaming platforms. And because we’re always listening to new tunes, we always know just what to recommend. That’s why we’ll bring you a roundup of ten songs each Monday, featuring music from our favorite new albums, singles and other tunes that may have flown under your radar. And, for good measure, we’ll be throwing in some “golden oldies” as well…
New soul singer/songwriter Rebecca Jade shows a total goddess vibe on “Show Me” from her new album, A Shade of Jade, and opens this week’s carefully curated playlist. Longstanding collaborators pianist Alex Sjobeck and bassist David Baker recently released their debut duo album, featuring nine original compositions, each of which is likened to an entry in a musical diary. Among them is “Answer Song.” Charu Suri introduces a waltz element to expand her self-defined, idiosyncratic music genre, which she defines as Raga Jazz, on her latest album, Ragas & Waltzes. This fusion is particularly prominent on the album track, “Verona Waltz.”
Ben LaMar Gay has shared “Água Futurism,” the lead single from his new, raw and immersive new album, Certain Reveries, due out on November 11. The dreamlike drum and synth-imbued track “Starmaker” is one of the tracks featured on the recently-released Deluxe Edition of Let Sound Tell All, the major label debut album by Julius Rodriguez, released earlier this year on Verve Records. Soul-jazz saxophonist Merlon Devine stirs things up on the lead single from his new album, aptly titled Soul Jazz. Marcus Strickland’s “Dust Ball Fantasy” is a preview of his upcoming, ambitious new Afrofuturistic album, The Universe’s Wildest Dreams due out on January 2023.
Cuatro virtuoso Jorge Glem and American accordionist/pianist/composer Sam Reider intertwine folk music traditions of their respective countries on their debut duo studio album, Brooklyn-Cumaná. The album includes Reider’s heartfelt lullaby for his dog, “Huckleberry’s Dream,” written with the complex rhythmic techniques employed in traditional Venezuelan folk music. Cult funk ensemble Brooklyn Funk Essentials recently shared an infectious new jazz-funk jam, “AA Side Single.” The closing track of this week’s playlist is vocalist Diana Panton’s fresh take on the wistful 1972 song by Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman and Dave Grusin, “The Trouble With Hello Is Goodbye.”
Listen to this week’s JAZZIZ Editors’ Choice Playlist via the player below.
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