CDs + Vinyl:
Joey Alexander – Eclipse CD (Motema Music)
Fourteen-year-old pianist Joey Alexander has already recorded two Grammy-nominated studio albums – 2015’s My Favorite Things and 2016’s Countdown. Recorded over a three-day period, his third album, Eclipse, features the pianist with a stellar rhythm section of bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Eric Harland, and guest appearances by saxophonist Joshua Redman on three tracks.
Bad Stream – Bad Stream CD (Antime)
Having grown up with and on the internet, Martin Steer (1986) has transformed its pull into a concept album that is just as immediate and intangible as the digital world. Bad Stream is guitars and machines vanishing in the spaces between Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails only to reemerge amidst ambient, noise, and drone.
Matthew Barber – Phase Of The Moon CD/LP (Outside Music)
New stirring and soulful offering from the Toronto singer-songwriter.
Gary Barlow – Open Road [Reissue/1997] CD/LP (Sony)
Had Gary Barlow’s run of hits dried up when Take That originally split he would still be regarded now as one of the U.K.’s most successful songwriters of all time. But instead he went on to hit a series of new highs with the launch of his own solo/songwriting career, the magnificent rebirth of his ’90s boy band and a successful musical on Broadway. After Take That split in 1996 the inevitable solo career beckoned and this started with a pair of U.K. No. 1 singles (“Forever Love” and “Love Won’t Wait”) and U.K. No. 1 album (1997’s Open Road).
Kenny Barron Quintet – Concentric Circles CD (Blue Note)
Blue Note debut from the esteemed pianist, composer, bandleader and educator. The sublime set features new originals plus interpretations of songs by Caetano Veloso, Thelonious Monk, and Lenny White, and finds the 11-time Grammy nominee introducing a new edition of the Kenny Barron Quintet with saxophonist Dayna Stephens, trumpeter Mike Rodriguez, bassist Kiyoshi Kitagawa, and drummer Johnathan Blake.
Nik Bärtsch’s Ronin – Awase CD/2xLP (ECM)
Awase, a term from martial arts, means “moving together” in the sense of matching energies, a fitting metaphor for the dynamic precision, tessellated grooves and balletic minimalism of Nik Bärtsch’s Ronin. Six years have passed since the last release from the Swiss group. In the interim, trimmed from quintet to quartet size and with new bassist Thomy Jordi fully integrated, Ronin has become a subtly different band. Bärtsch speaks of a new-found freedom and flexibility in the approach to the material, with “greater transparency, more interaction, more joy in every performance.”
