By now you’ll be aware that jazz is back. In the UK, a brace of acts that came through youth group Tomorrow’s Warriors are transforming the sound through the influence of contemporary music like grime, rap and sound system culture. A thriving west coast scene formed around pioneering musicians like Kamasi Washington and Thundercat continues to bear fruit. And further afield, there were new groups like Tokyo’s Rōnin Arkestra or the US-born, India-raised Sarathy Korwar taking up familiar traditions like spiritual and free jazz and nudging them into new territories.
In no particular order, here are 10 stand-out records from a year to remember.
Nerija – Blume
Nerija feature a star player in the shape of saxophonist Nubya Garcia, but the joy of the all-female London septet’s debut album – released in August on Domino Records – is in its feel of collective endeavour. Producer Kwes says that one of the aims of the record was to capture the stripped back but elegant feel of Teo Macero’s records with Miles Davis during his Columbia years – a particularly fruitful period that spawned such fusion classics like Davis’ In A Silent Way. But this doesn’t feel like a backwards-looking venture. Evident here is the influence of highlife, Afrobeat and ‘70s funk, all wrapped up in a raw soulfulness that’ll gently pull you under its spell.
Ezra Collective – You Can’t Steal My Joy
This was the year that Ezra Collective truly blew up on the live stage, playing rapturously received festival shows at Glastonbury and Green Man and selling out shows across the US. Of course Ezra work live – their blend of virtuoso jazz and pumping rhythmic Afrobeat is the essence of feelgood – but You Can’t Steal My Joy proved they were versatile at working in slower tempos, too: see live R&B turn Reason In Disguise featuring Jorja Smith, or the blunted hip-hop groove What Am I To Do? featuring Loyle Carner.
Jamael Dean – Black Space Tapes
The grandson of soul jazz drummer Donald Dean, Los Angeles’ Jamael Dean started playing keyboards aged eight and by his late teens he was playing live with Kamasai Washington and Thundercat. His debut solo album Black Space Tapes, which was recorded with help from west coast producer/impresario Carlos Niño and released in November on Stones Throw, is a gorgeous listen – defiantly avant-garde, fired by the bold ambitions of spiritual jazz, but with a warmth and swing that brings to mind two of his major influences, Alice Coltrane and Sun Ra.
Sarathy Korwar – More Arriving
Born in the US and raised in India where he studied classical Indian percussion, today you’ll find Sarathy Korwar based in London, where he’s become a distinctive voice in underground jazz circles, his music blending contemporary jazz instrumentation with the influence of his Hindustani heritage. Following on the heels of his My East Is Your West – a sprawling 2018 collection that celebrated/critiqued spiritual jazz’s fascination with the music of India – came July’s More Arriving, a raucous and sometimes confrontational celebration of migration and miscegenation featuring rappers and spoken word artists from across the South Asian diaspora. Check out the rowdy Mumbay, which foregrounds the rhymes of MC Mawali.
Rōnin Arkestra – Sonkei
In feudal Japan, the Rōnin were wandering samurai who pledged loyalty to no lord or master. A similar sense of wanderlust has powered the career of producer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Mark de Clive Lowe, a veteran of London’s broken beat scene who travelled out to Tokyo to form a supergroup, enlisting his favourite musicians from Japan’s jazz underground. Recorded in Red Bull Music Studios Tokyo, Sonkei – it translates as “honour” – is a gorgeous blend of ‘70s spiritual jazz and the sort of in-the-pocket grooves beloved of crate diggers looking for the perfect funky drum sample.
The Comet Is Coming – Trust In The Lifeforce Of The Deep Mystery
Legendary London saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings blessed us with not one, but two The Comet Is Coming releases this year – Trust in The Lifeforce… was followed by sister EP The Afterlife in September. Both are essential in their wild, psychedelic abandon and forward-thinking aesthetic, balancing Hutchings’ powerful and moving horn work with pulsating electronics and charging drums courtesy of his mysterious bandmates, Danalogue and Betamax. As Danalogue puts it: “The two records can be seen as companions, that cannot exist without each other, like day and night, light and dark, creation and destruction. They were made together, at the same time, and have always been intended to be experienced together.”
Junius Paul – Ism
To date, Chicago bassist Junius Paul has distinguished himself as a sideman, playing alongside new-school US drummer Makaya McCraven and joining living legends the Art Ensemble Of Chicago for their 50th anniversary album We Are On The Edge. On sprawling double album Ism, he steps into the spotlight, showing off a remarkable artistic breadth that reaches from broiling improvisational opener You Are Free To Choose to funked-up beat experiments like Baker’s Dozen and Georgia – and reaches some kind of summit on the sprawling, 19-minute Spocky Chainsey Has Re-Emerged. Its more experimental moments might baffle the casual listener, but Ism is a serious and weighty piece of work.
Swindle – No More Normal
Is No More Normal a jazz album? You could probably argue the case around that one all day, but let’s just agree that No More Normal is a very special 2019 album, no matter what genre it slots in – and that it certainly deserves a place in this list. Swindle cut his teeth as a grime producer, building beats for Roll Deep and Ghetts before returning to the lessons taught to him by his guitarist father and embracing live instrumentation. So, No More Normal mixes up horns, strings, jazzy fills and ‘70s funk licks with a panoply of guests including D Double E, P Money, Kojey Radical and Eve Lazarus. If you were looking for a UK analogue to the vibrant fusions of Thundercat or Kendrick Lamar, well, look no further.
Theon Cross – Fyah
Shabaka Hutchings’ other band, Sons Of Kemet, may have appeared to have taken the year off – but there was no stopping its engine, Theon Cross. The south London tuba player’s debut album Fyah placed his instrument right at the centre of a small ensemble, its punchy drums and low-end rumbles carving out a gutsy sound inspired by New Orleans brass and the thundering bass of UK soundsystem culture. In particular, check out the tracks Activate and Panda Village that find Cross backed by saxophonist Nubya Garcia and drummer Moses Boyd.
Joe Armon-Jones – Turn To Clear View
It’s been said many times, but the secret of the current London jazz explosion is the way it takes inspiration from all corners. Take the second LP from Ezra Collective’s keys whirlwind Joe Armon-Jones. Across Turn To Clear View’s nine tracks, we find psychedelic neo-soul (Yellow Dandelion, featuring Georgia Anne Muldrow), Latin-influenced acid jazz (Try Walk With Me, featuring west London soul man Asheber), and even live hip-hop (The Leo & Aquarius, starring veteran mic man Jehst). The one constant is Armon-Jones’ immaculate playing, his nimble fingers picking out cascades of notes that fall like blossom in Spring.