Ilessi: Dama de Espadas (2020)
Complex, vital, emotional, and very not-weak-sauce: Dama de Espadas is a bold, rough and sassy blues in Portuguese; Oração pro Gil has onomatopoeic cantations over an African groove; the sort of hard rock vibe in Vivo ou Morto took me by surprise.
Imagine walking into a park and seeing a professional Brazilian guitarist sitting alone in a gazebo practicing his own complex jazz and classical compositions, in a pandemic, in a city where people don’t normally sit alone in parks and practice guitar. I'm grateful this musician shared his music (and let me listen with social distancing).
Jacob Collier: Moon River (a cappella, 2019)
Sublime celestial splendor sung by the chorus of a thousand stars. Not sure how I missed it but I think one cannot die before hearing this. I am still working my way through his in-depth hour-and-a-half music nerdery around the creation of this masterpiece.
Mashes up three different songs with electronic grooves and well-placed cowbell.
Outside my milieu, genre-wise, but it’s a bodyshaker that deserves to be blasted on good speakers. The artist explores their sexuality with visual metaphors and vibrant colours.
From The Ska EP (2008) might be the song that gets me into ska—I would describe it as ‘uplifting’.
From Live At The Bracknell Jazz Festival (1986). Featuring flinging tongues, African grooves, and drummer Ed Blackwell.
Ron Everett: Glitter of the City (1977)
Traditional jazz and swing sounds with weird stuff, and I dug several tracks: Royal Walk_ with warbly instrumentals, loops, screeching, spoken word; Tipsy Lady’s blues/hip-hop and old school drums; Pretty Little Girl’s singing off-key Latin vibe; the 8-bit bossa nova of Untitled No. 4.
Joana Queiroz: Memórias (2019)
Live performance where she builds sound structures with loop pedals and various clarinets, accompanied at times by graceful dancing. Sublime colouring in the photography and clothing.
Joana Queiroz: Performance sonora
Live improvised “sound performance” from 2021. There’s something pure and unfiltered about a human being making music with an acoustic instrument while walking through nature. Accompanying is the sound of birds, dogs, air, footsteps, singing, a self-playing accordion, a fireplace, frogs…
Joana Querioz: Diários de Vento (2016)
Seamlessly integrates nature and song and humanity: it’s the sound of someone enjoying instrument timbres and ambience. Around clarinet melodies there’s a duet with a fly, a child warbling their tongue, clanging pots and pans, squeaking of a rocking chair, lots of tasty sounds. Ai qué delicia!
Joyce: Astronauta (Canções de Elis))
Jazz tributes to Brazilian singer Elis Regina. Solos by Joe Lovano, Mulgrew Miller, and Renne Rosnes.
From Right On (1970). Gospel vibes. Makes you snap your fingers, with both hands, on two and four.
From raiz (2020). Documents the artist’s search for his ancestry in Angola, featuring some indigenous music and percussion.
From Exuma, The Obeah Man (1970). Wild stompin’ folk groove with whistles, frogs, yelping.
From I’m Pissed (2021). Dramatic rock dance production, complete with timestamps for each section (of a four-minute video), and a… sort of website.
From Nassau’s Discos (1979). Fast and funky with cowbells and other African percussion.
Tolgahan Çoğulu: Microtonal Guitar
A modified classical guitar to play microtones; demonstrates with an excerpt of a Turkish melody.
Jacob Collier delves into music nerdery, showing how it’s possible to harmonize any note with every chord or how a diminished chord lets you modulate to anywhere.
Self-described ‘drama rock’ in Portuguese. Feels inspired by Frank Zappa sometimes. I like the diversity of complex textures on this album. There’s also birds!
