Mid-Year Review: Revive’s Favorite Jazz Albums of 2018 So Far

July marks the halfway point of 2018. To celebrate, the Revive Music editorial team put together nine of our favorite jazz releases of the year thus far. If the last six months are any indicator of what to expect of the rest of 2018, we can’t wait. This is our Mid-Year Review, featuring the latest and greatest in jazz / soul / hip-hop, and everything in between.

DanMichael’s picks:
R+R=Now Collagically Speaking

On paper a supergroup consisting of Robert Glasper, Terrace Martin, Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, Derrick Hodge, Taylor McFerrin, and Justin Tyson seems to adhere to the adage “too many cooks in the kitchen.” But that idiom is inaccurate for two reasons. First and foremost, the six men listed above aren’t mere cooks, they are the musical equivalent of Michelin-rated chefs. In other words, these men have reached the highest pinnacle of their respected position. More importantly, their 11-track debut album does more than enough to suggest that this supergroup is founded on togetherness and the celebration of each individual’s artistic abilities.

“Everyone in this band is a six-foot-tall black guy who didn’t come from an affluent background,” Scott noted in a press release. “In order for us all to make it into that room together, we’ve had to go through some hell, fight for some things, build up a lot of armor, and do a lot ourselves to forge our realities, to become who we are. We’re all very aware of that, so anytime we get together, it’s a celebration.”

Standout tracks: “Awake To You” “Colors In The Dark” “Her=Now”

John Coltrane – Both Directions At Once

Beethoven wrote nine symphonies in his lifetime (ten, if you count the hypothetical score compiled by English musicologist Barry Cooper). But if we found an actual new Beethoven symphony written completely by him, the world would flip on its axis. That’s exactly what we have have in our hands with John Coltrane and Both Directions At Once. With two previously unheard Coltrane compositions aptly titled “Untitled Original 11383” and “Untitled Original 11386,” we are all able to enjoy and celebrate the unearthing of new John Coltrane tunes in 2018. Let that sink in.

Featuring his classic quartet, Both Directions At Once postures McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones, Jimmy Garrison, and their leader at the height of their collective and individual powers. Available as the 14-track Deluxe Version double LP and the 7-track single LP, Both Directions At Once is a monumental event that we will all remember.

Standout tracks: “Untitled Original 11383,” “Untitled Original 11386,” “Nature Boy”

Kamasi Washington – Heaven and Earth

How do you follow up something called The Epic? For Kamasi Washington, the answer is simply to continue being epic. While his sophomore effort Heaven and Earth clocks in at 2hrs 24mins (29 minutes shorter than his debut album’s staggering 2hrs 53mins playtime), it still contains all the grandeur and immensity that we’ve come to expect from LA’s native son.

But this isn’t quite just another repeat for Washington. The Epic relied heavily on the narration of a hero’s journey (think any blockbuster movie where the protagonist goes on a large-scale adventure to save the universe) whereas Heaven and Earth plays on ideas of the nature of absolute reality versus idealized versions of that reality.

Standout tracks: “Street Fighter Mas,” “Fists Of Fury,” “Hub Tones,” “Tiffakonkae”

Karas’ picks:
Dana Murray – Negro Manifesto

Omaha-bred drummer, producer and educator, Dana Murray, fuses jazz, hip-hop and rock into an evocative rhythmic implement constructed to encourage empathy, challenge inequity and summon the ghosts of black firebrands on The Negro Manifesto. Best described as performance art, the album is a living testament to the savage inequalities, sustained chaos and nuanced beauty endemic to the Black American experience. Murray is joined on the project by a laundry list of collaborators including Marc Cary, Orrin Evans, Oliver Lake, JD Allen, Caron Wheeler and Nasheet Waits. Propelled by a primal energy, The Negro Manifesto is a nod to modern social justice movements that also stands as an indictment of the capitalist system driving disparity. Even more, however, it looks toward the horizon just beyond atonement at the healing, transcendence and peace available to mankind in a truly equitable and honest society.

Standout tracks: “The System,””Comfortable Discomfort,” “Comfort”

Nubya Garcia – When We Are

 

Saxophonist Nubya Garcia steps into her own as an independent artist as of the March 2018 release of the four-track When We Are EP, which arrived on her newly minted Nyasha imprint. The project driven by a pair of new compositions follows the Brownswood alum’s critically-acclaimed 2017 jazz:refreshed release 5ive. Reunited with frequent collaborators Joe Armon-Jones (keys), Daniel Casimir (bass) and Femi Koleso (drums), Garcia leaps headfirst into new territory with the addition of electronic elements that elevate the dulcet tone of her tenor and expand upon the broken beat and Afro-Caribbean influences that inform her signature sound. B-Side remixes from K15 and Maxwell Owin are cosmic interpolations of Garcia’s work that play with fierce allegiance to the dancefloor. Spacious and exhilarating, the extended play explores jazz composition through the vibrant lens of club culture and revives the big band tradition of getting people out of their seats.

Standout tracks: “When We Are,” “Source – Maxwell Owin Remix”

Andie’s picks:
Ben LaMar Gay – Downtown Castles Can Never Block the Sun

There are really no words to describe Ben LaMar Gay’s Downtown Castles Can Never Block the Sun. Then again, perhaps there are not enough words to describe Ben LaMar Gay’s Downtown Castles Can Never Block the Sun. Equally a debut album as it is a compilation of bits and bolts recorded over the course of seven earlier albums, this work presents listeners with a wild array of the Chicago-artist’s brilliance. It is a 15-part collision of sounds, voices, and music that coexist in ways none but Ben LaMar Gay could orchestrate. He plays on coronet, flute, synth, and covers vocals and narration, while a team of musicians lend their parts on guitar, banjo, ngoni, synths, flutes, tuba, drums, bass clarinet, viola, violin, spoken word, and more. Together, they pull us into other-worlds with a sonic explosion that is somehow both intimately human and wholly cosmic all at once.

Standout tracks: “Music for 18 Hairdressers: Braids & Fractals,” “A Seasoning Called Primavera,” “Uvas,” “Swim Swim”

Yazmin Lacey – 90 Degrees From the Sun

Nottingham-based singer and songwriter Yazmin Lacey has brought us 90 Degrees From the Sun, a 40-minute snapshot of laidback groove and the effortless cool of Lacey’s vocals. A cast of cascading textures in vibes, harp, guitar, synths, flutes, and floating background vocals support the easy flow of Lacey’s lyricism across its five tracks.

Yazmin Lacey came up through Gilles Peterson’s Future Bubblers program, and 90 Degrees From the Sun shows off her growth as a creator and songwriter since then. It demands nothing of its listeners; instead, it invites them to take a breath and step away for just a moment into the world Lacey has so artfully crafted. “’90 Degrees’ is about that time of the day / night when there’s a shift in pace and energy,” explains Lacey. “When you decide to lock off from the ‘outside’ world and create your own atmosphere, take some time to give thanks for what’s breathing love into your life and smoke off the f**keries. Everyone needs a little routine for self preservation.”

Standout tracks: “90 Degrees,” “Something My Heart Trusts,” “Heaven”

Onyx Collective – Lower East Suite Part Three

Welcome to the finale of Onyx Collective‘s Lower East Suites, and the first through-composed release we’ve heard from the group. Known for their constantly shifting group make-up, the Collective on this album consists of de-facto band leader Isaiah Barr (alto & tenor saxophone), Austin Williamson (drums), Walter Stinson (upright bass), Spencer Murphy (electric bass), and guest saxophonist Roy Nathanson on a few tracks. While the group is more accustomed to more atypical forms of performance/recording (they released a two-EP set recorded entirely on iPhones last year, and are known to play in all the spaces you don’t expect jazz), Lower East Suite Part Three presents an array of songs that were artfully coordinated to paint a picture of the Lower East Side in all its grit and glory.

Dark, playful, and ripe with a sonic sense of street and building, this album gives listeners a take on the realities of the Lower East Side only the Onyx Collective could convey.

Standout tracks: “FDR Drive,” “There Goes the Neighborhood,” “Delancey Dilemma,” “Rumble in Chatham Square”

Justin Brown – NYEUSI

Justin Brown is no doubt a drum wizard. He is one of the most in-demand drummers of his time – he is a regular collaborator of Thundercat and Flying Lotus, and a core member of the critically acclaimed Ambrose Akinmusire Quartet. With the release of NYEUSI, listeners have been given the chance to hear him as a bandleader as well. NYEUSI, which means “black” in Swahili, is the first album we’re hearing from him leading the charge, and he pulled it off with the same virtuosity we’re used to hearing from him behind the kit.The album is a wild train of tempos and textures that blends the sounds of jazz, hiphop, and electronic music, and compliments all the musicians Brown tapped for talent: Mark Shim, Jason Lindner, Fabian Alazan, and Burniss Travis. Justin Brown’s debut NYEUSI is well worth a listen, or two…or three.

Standout tracks: “Circa 45,” “Jupiter’s Giant Red Spot,” “Lesson 1: Dance”