J.M. RECOMMENDS
SCHEMA & REARWARD RECORDS
VINYL NEW ARRIVALS
![Asha Puthli (Debut LP) [Limited Colored RSD 2020]](https://www.jazzmessengers.com/47253-small_default/asha-puthli-debut-lp-limited-colored-rsd-2020-.jpg)
![Kshatrya (The Eye Of The Bird) [Limited Edition]](https://www.jazzmessengers.com/50125-small_default/kshatrya-the-eye-of-the-bird-limited-edition-.jpg)
![Rufaro (Happiness) [Limited Edition]](https://www.jazzmessengers.com/51701-small_default/rufaro-happiness-limited-edition-.jpg)
J.M. STAFF PICS
Artist of the Month
Evan Parker
The British jazz saxophone revolutionary transformed the language and techniques of the instrument in the late 1960s, and since then became one of the most admired and influential saxophone improvisers on the planet. Parker has been rewriting the book on the sounds that can be made with a saxophone for almost half a century, developing a remarkable post-Coltrane technique that has allowed him to play counterpoint on what was designed as a single-line instrument, generate electronics-like textures acoustically, and build a personal soundscape that avoids conventional tunes but has its own arresting lyricism.
Label of the Month
Tzadik
Started by American composer-saxophonist John Zorn in 1995 and based in New York City, Tzadik—from the Hebrew for ‘righteous one’ (צדיק—) has developed a specific aesthetic vision and mandate, which contains at its base an alternative concept of community: “Tzadik is dedicated to releasing the best in avant-garde and experimental music, presenting a worldwide community of contemporary musician-composers who find it difficult or impossible to release their music through more conventional channels. Tzadik believes most of all in the integrity of artists. What you hear on Tzadik is the artists’ vision undiluted” (John Zorn).
Record of the Month
Archie Shepp & Jason Moran
Let My People Go
Let My People Go collects seven tracks that Shepp, the iconic saxophonist, activist and artistic polymath, and Moran, arguably the most imaginative pianist of his generation, recorded together in a series of live concerts between 2017 and 2018. You wouldn’t know that from first listen. The pain and fury they evoke in the two spirituals (“Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child” and “Go Down, Moses”) that make up the center of the record resound with the cries of justice heard over this past summer in the wake of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd. As Moran lays down a harmonic bed streaked with Alice Coltrane-esque divine flame, Shepp blows and sings in a voice that cracks constantly; whether from age or heartbreak, it’s devastating either way.