jazz2love

  New Release:  Elle a son Mot à Dire from Joane Hétu Label:  Ambiances Magnetiques Release Date:  June 27, 2025 Websites:  https://joanehetu.bandcamp.com/album/elle-a-son-mot-dire https://actuellecd.com/en/album/6703-elle-a-son-mot-dire https://ambiances-magnetiques.bandcamp.com Elle a son Mot à Dire from vocalist, saxophonist, innovator, and composer Joane Hétu presents so much more than merely a listening experience but more precisely she brings together a vast exhibition of life-size art set to sound passages.  Her theatrical performance integrates a mixed cacophony of elements including operatic vocals, eclectic effects, molten wails, fiery histrionics, free-style jazz of an otherworldly dimension, and both chamber music and extraterrestrial sounds.  Her project is reminiscent of avant garde artists, who illustrate the point where art meets music, where chaos meets melody exhibited by the likes of Laurie Anderson and David Byrne of Talking Heads....

  New Release:  Zero Point from Hadar Noiberg and Katia Toobool Release Date:  August 29, 2025 Websites:  https://hadarnoiberg.com https://www.katiatoobool.com Award-winning flutist, composer, arranger, and producer Hadar Noiberg and pianist/composer Katia Toobool announce the release of their first collaborative outing, Zero Point.   Performed live, the album showcases a mixture of intimate duo pieces, in addition to full ensemble works with the Finale String Quartet, blending original compositions by Hadar and Katia with a wide range of influences, including classical music, Brazilian rhythms, improvised excursions, and ambient jazz.  Toobool's keys emote a sense of serenity throughout the title track as sprigs of luminous tweets from Noiberg's flute dot the melody, soaring with an elegance that incites meandering reflections.  The melodic musings of the pair engage the listener, producing an inviting harmony that people welcome into their homes....

  New Release:  Cursed Month from Lingyuan Yang Label:  Chaospace Records Release Date:  August 15, 2025 Websites: https://www.lingyuanyang.com  https://lingyuanyang.bandcamp.com Dramatic, emotive, and inflamed, Cursed Month , the debut recording from guitarist-composer Lingyuan Yang, enshrouds the listener in a raging delirium.  The oblique signatures, jarring shrills and fierce dissonance produce a tension and polarization that touches the listener's psyche, vibrating at the frequency of the subconscious.  Segments of "Moondial" create an agitated spinning that mirrors feral currents and uncontrollable anxiety, while intervals of pounding and raging keys, performed by Shinya Lin across "Song of the Mist," whip up a maelstrom that sweeps over the resonating drum strikes of Asher Herzog.  Reflected in the recording's title, Cursed Month refers to Chinese astrology, according to the press release, "whereby each of the Zodiac's constituent animal si...

  New Release:  Self-Titled from Arid Landscapes Label:  Signal Chain Records Release Date:  September 19, 2025 Websites: https://www.dan-pitt.com https://www.noahfranche-nolanmusic.com https://aridlandscapes.bandcamp.com/album/arid-landscapes Toronto-based guitarist Dan Pitt and Vancouver pianist Noah Franche-Nolan come together to form Arid Landscapes.  Their self-titled CD demonstrates their commitment to curious-minded music-making, generating a body of work that probes the realm of abstract electronica.  Combining elements of sci-fi imaginings and atmospheric aesthetics, the pair delve into ghost-like textures and floating apparitions, prompting the listener to sink into the celestial soundscapes.  The charismatic gait and caressing fluidity of the sonic passages move like astral bodies, shimmering and gliding in a random schematic.  Sparse and roomy, the compositions produce an intimacy with the listener as though the music speaks to the min...

  New Release:  Stars, Engines from Harrison Argatoff's Valley Voice Label:  Elastic Recordings Release Date:  October 10, 2025 Websites:  https://harrisonargatoff.com https://harrisonargatoff.bandcamp.com/album/stars-engines Toronto-based tenor saxophonist and composer Harrison Argatoff leads jazz quartet Valley Voice into an ever-changing prism of harmonic forms and melodic trimmings in their debut CD Stars, Engines.   Comprised of vibraphonist Michael Davidson, bassist Dan Fortin, drummer Ian Wright, and Argatoff on saxophone, the quartet travels through an assortment of tropes from the soothing emanations of "Analemma" to the cryptic verses of "As Though I Knew" adorned in gyrating flares and undulating trickles, before coursing into the myriad of fluctuations across "Sun Patch," ribboned in percolating ringlets, oscillating motions and fluxing patterns.  Valley Voice experiments with enigmatic fissures and chimerical raptures, exploring abstract i...

  New Release:  Life Got in the Way from Heather McKay Label:  Self-Released Release Date:  September 26, 2025 Website:  www.heathermckaymusic.com Guitarist-composer Heather McKay's latest offering, Life Got In The Way , is a collection of Latin jazz compositions written over the past twenty years.  Each piece is inspired by a place, a person, or a moment in McKay's life that affected her profoundly.  The arrangements flow without being restrained by conventional time signatures.  The varying rhythms cause the instruments to sound disjointed like in "Boo," as the musicians move in harmony with one another, exchanging complementing remarks and lively responses at their own time signature.  The soothing atmosphere of "Narraguagus Bay" is spiked by McKay's searing guitar riffs, giving the track depth and character, and singed by Peter Fraize's churning sax as it moves through the melodic progression.  The samba groove underlining "The Playg...