J.M. RECOMMENDS
MOSAIC Box-Sets
BLUE NOTE AUDIOPHILE TONE POET SERIES
ECM TOUCHSTONES
Artist of the Month
Fred Hersch
An acclaimed jazz pianist, composer, and educator, Fred Hersch is a supremely gifted soloist with a sophisticated, yet unself-conscious approach to playing standards and his own original compositions. As a teacher, he counts both Brad Mehldau and the Bad Plus' Ethan Iverson as former students. As a player, his nuanced style, influenced by such giants as Ahmad Jamal, Bill Evans, and Oscar Peterson, has garnered him multiple Grammy nominations, and made him a benchmark for modern jazz. Openly gay and diagnosed HIV-positive at age 30, Hersch is a vocal proponent for gay rights and AIDS research and education.
Label of the Month
American Jazz Classics
American Jazz Classics is a collector's label specialized in reissuing rare as well as highly celebrated jazz albums by the greatest masters. CDs usually present two LPs on 1CD or are presented with plenty of bonus tracks, and are accompanied with a fully illustrated booklet including both new research and the original liner notes and artwork.
CD of the Month
Sons of Kemet - Your Queen is a Reptile
This is Sons of Kemet’s first release on Impulse!, the label that was home to Charles Mingus, John Coltrane, and Pharoah Sanders at their peaks. Your Queen Is A Reptile has Shabaka Hutchings and company using sax, tuba and dual-drums to conjure music that sees traditional jazz modes cusping on several sounds of the Caribbean diaspora. Soca, calypso, merengue and more all rumble in the lines of the drum work here, and Hutchings masterfully uses his horn to conduct the proceedings.