Tom Schnabel's Rhythm Planet

New and Noteworthy Releases

This week Rhythm Planet showcases new music from Gregory Porter, Mark Murphy, Guilhem Flouzat, Lilla Vargen, Anouar Brahem, and others.

By Tom Schnabel • Nov 10, 2017 • 54m Listen

This week’s Rhythm Planet show features a new crop of noteworthy releases in jazz and world music. We start with Gregory Porter and his gorgeous and personal new tribute to Nat “King” Cole, followed by a reissue of Mark Murphy’s album Midnight Mood. Murphy’s voice simply stuns in this beautiful rendition of the Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin’s classic “My Ship.”

French drummer Guilhem Flouzat then plays his version of Joe Zawinul’s song “Midnight Mood” (no relation to Mark Murphy’s album by the way). Pianist Sullivan Fortner really shines on this recent Sunnyside CD called A Thing Called Joe. It’s elegant and lyrical from beginning to end.

The Concord Music Group consortium has just reissued a bunch of classic Milestone albums for the very first time on 180g audiophile vinyl. These carefully produced titles are perfect for the vinyl connoisseur. They include seminal albums like Azar Lawrence’s Bridge Into the New Age, Gary Bartz’s Harlem Bush Music, among others. We feature the title track of saxophonist Azar Lawrence’s LP, which is a must for any Kamasi Washington or John Coltrane fan. Lawrence will play a live set at Zebulon in Silverlake this Sunday, November 12. Go there if you need a heavy Coltrane fix; you won’t be disappointed.

Veteran bassist Gary Peacock was living and working in Los Angeles when Ornette Coleman played here and helped to change the face of modern jazz. Peacock’s cut “Rumblin” is a take on Ornette’s classic and fun song “Ramblin.”.

Tunisian oud master Anouar Brahem is next with a new ECM album that is more jazz-influenced than his other albums. He works with pianist Django Bates, bassist Dave Holland and drummer Jack DeJohnette on this one. It’s called Blue Maqams, where “maqams” refers to a basic song structure used in Arabic music. We then hear the Northern Irish singer Lilla Vargen with the song “Downtown,” which caught my attention when I heard it on the radio.

We wrap it up with two fine new big band albums—first from trumpeter John Vanore celebrating Oliver Nelson classics, then composer/arranger Vince Mendoza working with the fine orchestra from Germany, WDR Symphony Orchestra, Cologne.

Hope you enjoy the music!

Rhythm Planet Playlist for 11/10/17