Kylie Minogue 2023 Tension (deluxe) (24bit 44.1khz)

As the grandson of the late trumpeter Doc Cheatham, and former student of legendary jazz trumpeter Donald Byrd, trumpeter Theo Croker is an artist steeped in jazz tradition. Well-versed in the swing, bop, and modal styles of acoustic jazz, Croker's own music reveals a love of organic funk, soul, and gooey, groove-oriented hip-hop. It's a vital amalgam that would have pleased the forward-thinking Byrd, whose own '70s funk-jazz albums are an obvious touchstone for Croker on his hypnotically enlightened 2016 effort Escape Velocity.

Beyond any doubt, french band Pj5 is influenced by English and Scandinavian rock, pop and electro bands, as well as the New York jazz scene. The band stays strongly attached to the wide jazz tradition and at the same time offers a modern sound where the melody thread is always running throughout the music. On stage, Pj5 sends out a huge sound, with an omnipresent melodic lyricism, and explosive energy. Feeling very concerned about the current ecological problems, alarming consumption trends and depletion of the planet’s resources, Paul Jarret, Pj5 leader, found a comforting source of inspiration for writing his new album : the trees. In this album simply titled «Trees», all the songs have as a common theme the Tree, symbol of patience and wisdom, incarnation of mystery, beauty and magic of Nature, source of food, material and oxygen, indispensable to the Man who too often forget it.

While David Linx's name may not be writ large here in the States, the fifty-one year-old singer, composer and multi-instrumentalist is a mega-star in his native Belgium, and in 2005 was named Best Jazz Musician in Europe, which covers a whole lot of territory. On Brel, Linx sings music composed by his Belgian forerunner, the late and legendary Jacques Brel, accompanied by the world-class Brussels Jazz Orchestra (whose personnel are not listed on the bare-bones promotional copy save for saxophonist / music director Frank Vaganee).

This album connects with me from any number of angles. There’s the project theme: Trombonist Andy Clausen put together the multi-media project Shutter as a way to present the imagery of his travels from 2012 through 2013. How he captures those images is four-fold. First, he views them personally. This is something we, as listeners, can only experience indirectly through later stages of the process. Second, he takes a photo of the scene with an old-school a 1970s Nikkormat FT 35mm camera.

The Hitmaker is back! With over 30 top ten smooth jazz radio hits to his credit, including an incredible 20 #1s, Chuck Loeb is truly an icon and pioneer of the smooth jazz genre. As lead guitarist and producer of the super-groups Fourplay and Jazz Funk Soul as well as leader of his own all-star touring ensemble, Chuck performs in front of hundreds of thousands of fans every year and his popularity continues to grow. "Unspoken" features guest appearances by smooth jazz superstars Brian Culberston, Jeff Lorber, Everette Harp and Eric Marienthal, plus the great Will Lee (of David Letterman fame). In Addition, the album features vocals by Carmen Cuesta (Mr. Loeb), whose sensuous vocals have resulted in her own growing fan base.

With Perpetuum, Dutch pianist Edwin Berg and his band mates enter an increasingly crowded field: to wit, piano trios that seem, consciously or otherwise, to worship at the shrine of Brad Mehldau. Any number of new-ish pianists on the scene have released records ranging in quality from good to excellent—Aaron Goldberg's Worlds (Sunnyside, 2006); Florian Weber's Minsarah (Justin Time, 2006); Florian Ross's Big Fish & Small Pond (Intuition, 2007); John Chin's Blackout Conception (Fresh Sound New Talent, 2008)—in this Mehldauvian vein.

The energy is rock, the feeling pop, the spirit jazz and the groove implacable – this is the magic formula of authentic soul jazz singer Sandra Nkaké. With magnificent support from a rhythm section recalling the heydays of Stax, plus two poetic reedmen, this album, with compositions and lyrics by Sandra and her close partner, flautist-producer Jî Drû, packs a powerful punch. Old instruments, appealing arrangements, a retro-futurist atmosphere studded with echoes of sixties songs and soundtracks of cult films, a spacey production – everything here conspires to make Nothing For Granted an explosive manifesto where Sandra Nkaké’s rough-hewn voice rings out like a cry of freedom. Sandra Nkaké is a singer-songwriter-composer who has grown up between Yaoundé (Cameroun) and Paris.

Over the course of the past three decades alto saxophonist and composer Jim Snidero has been constantly pushing himself to explore new territories and expand his outlook. In 1989, his extraordinary album Blue Afternoon made its way into The Penguin Jazz Guide: The History of the Music in the 1001 Best Albums. Later on he made his mark in the sax-with-strings department, not only playing at the top of his game, but also composing and arranging all of the music on the project. Most recently he’s impressed more than a few listeners with a spate of fine albums on Savant.

When four veterans like Coleman Hawkins, Buddy Tate, Eddie Davis, and Arnett Cobb get together, no longer young bucks that have to prove themselves, they still like to assert their musical masculinity. It is like four old friends in their shirtsleeves or T-shirts, having an old fashioned bull session over beer and pretzels or an equivalent. There is talk of old times, back-slapping, head-shaking, low humor and high hilarity. Troubles of the present are forgotten temporarily as old bonds are reweaved.

Grigory Sokolov: a living legend of the piano whose public performances and recordings are as rare as the man is secretive. He stepped away from the limelight years ago, refusing to be idolised by a society avid for imagery. Under the winged fingers of the giant you hear the vibrancy of an inner song, wordless but not illegible. June 7 1990: concert and recording of Chopins Preludes by Grigory Sokolov, still relatively unknown in France.