Amoeba Music

Long time fan of Hiatus Kaiyote. Their exquisite funk-soul sound blew me away from first listen a few years ago. Nai Palm's vocals are heavily influenced by Stevie Wonder and her deliverance in live performances always brings me to tears.

His Royal Badness, the beloved Purple One and only....this year marks the 40th anniversary of Purple Rain and I am grateful everyday of my life to have been raised with this album in my household not knowing how truly impactful it would be to my life in later years...Prince will forever be the most controversial, groundbreaking untouchable master of cultivating a world entirely of his own where he broke all rules proving evidence of his brilliance in the sounds and energy of all that is purple... "When Doves Cry", "I Would Die 4 U" and "Let's Go Crazy" continue to be the most indelible songs to this day.

"Wherever two or three are gathered..." Kudos to Red Hook Records and producer Sun Chung for this release as well as the Qasim Naqvi "Two Centuries" trio album featuring Wadada Leo Smith and drummer Andrew Cyrille from 2022. This is prayer to Smith's love of nature, of communal space, a patient, soft-spoken dialogue between two masters. Both 82, just a few months apart in age, Smith and Myers, are longtime contributors to Chicago's AACM as well as the evolution of African-American improvisation. Myers' piano drops its notes like slowly turned meditation beads as Smith illuminates them with sparks that never jar, fireworks seen from a distance sufficient to mute the shock. I hear a slowly incanted Blues throughout, the mantra of wisdom collected over long years and shared, concurred between two spirits of import. Wish the album was twice as long, but, yet again, it is as beautiful as anything I've heard.

Pakistani vocalist takes on a wide range of international standards with an aching certainty and sumptuous tone. Really unlike any other vocals album I've heard over the last decade. Aftab is in a field of her own.

Vibraphonist's 4th release on the Blue Note imprint. Bringing in saxophonist and label-mate Immanuel Wilkins and a top-notch section to flow through a decidedly mellow round of excellent originals, a couple Coltranes and a Monk. The dialogue with Wilkins often made me reflect on the classic interplay between Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond; easy and instinctual and pleasing.

Continuing in the direction of 2022's Amaryllis, with the Amaryllis Sextet (trumpet, trombone, guitar, vibes, bass, drums), Halvorson has cast off much concern with Jazz tradition and veers freely and frequently into Rock vernacular and chamber Classical modes. Electronic voicings pop up here and there, creating a general atmosphere of exciting, loosely composed chaos. Laurie Anderson lends her violin to Incarnadine, which further indicates the territory that Halvorson is trying to describe. Exhilarating!