If you’re looking for some great new music to discover this weekend, look no further than our weekly New Release Cheat Sheet.
New Songs and Videos
Sweet Megg, “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm” [Song Premiere]
Meaghan Farrell, a.k.a. Sweet Megg, adds to the holiday tapestry with her cover of Irving Berlin’s classic composition, “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm,” premiering below. The song, originally written in 1934, was popularized by the likes of Frank Sinatra and Billie Holiday and has been a long-time winter favorite. Here, Sweet Megg interprets it with a group of jazz musicians on the Turtle Bay Records label. The track was produced by John Atkinson from BigTone, who specializes in antique recording equipment.
Imarhan, “Tamiditin” feat. Japonais
Tuareg desert blues quintet Imarhan has shared a new single, “Tamiditin.” The track features the late poet Mohamed Ag Itlale, a.k.a. Japonais, who was a pillar of the Tuareg community and passed away shortly after these recordings. The song is included on Imarhan’s third studio album, Aboogi, their first to have been recorded on their native soil in a studio they built in Tamanrasset, Algeria. The LP will be released on January 28, 2022, and you can pre-order it HERE.
Immanuel Wilkins, “Emanation”
“Emanation” is the lead track from saxophonist/composer Immanuel Wilkins’ forthcoming album, The 7th Hand, the follow-up to his acclaimed 2020 debut full-length Omega. The new record is a seven-movement suite of new original compositions inspired by Biblical symbolism and performed with his quartet with Micah Thomas, Daryl Johns and Kewku Sumbry, plus special guests. The 7th hand will be released on Blue Note and you can pre-order it HERE.
New Albums
Kenny G, New Standards (Concord)
Saxophonist Kenny G, one of the best-selling instrumentalists of all time, has released a new album titled New Standards today via Concord. This is an 11-song collection of original Kenny G compositions inspired by the ballads of the ’50s and ’60s. “I set out to compose and perform songs that capture the ‘heart and soul’ of those beloved jazz standards and to record them ‘my way,'” explains Kenny G via a press release. Order New Standards here.
Adam Rudolph’s Go: Organic Guitar Orchestra, Resonant Bodies (Meta)
Resonant Bodies is a new forward-looking album by world music pioneer Adam Rudolph that aims to highlight 21st-century innovation and hybrid voices. This is a new full-length with his groundbreaking Go: Organic Guitar Orchestra with nine dynamic guitarists, including Nels Cline, Liberty Ellman, Joel Harrison, Jerome Harris, Miles Okazaki, Damon Banks, Marco Cappelli, David Gilmore, Kenny Wessel. Order Resonant Bodies here.
Harold Mabern, Mabern Plays Coltrane (Smoke Sessions)
Mabern Plays Coltrane presents a set of previously unheard recordings of the late great pianist Harold Mabern performing the music of John Coltrane. The record features an all-star quintet and is culled from the final three nights of a three-week residency from 2017-2018 at New York’s Smoke Jazz & Supper Club’s annual year-ending John Coltrane Festival. Order Mabern Plays Coltrane here.
Featured photo: Art Streiber.
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