Independent 28 July 2024

UK jazz ensemble The Jazz Defenders release their third album "Memory In Motion" in April on Haggis Records (home of The Haggis Horns and Malcolm Strachan). The Bristol jazz boppers deliver another quality release of original material that takes in their usual diverse mix of influences and genres, from timeless acoustic jazz referencing the classic sounds of Blue Note Records, to a more contemporary fusion where jazz meets soul, funk and hip-hop.

Sturgill Simpson makes his long-awaited return to music this year with a new album under a new name, Johnny Blue Skies. After promising to release only five studio albums under his own name, Sturgill Simpson marks the beginning of a new era with Johnny Blue Skies and the release of Passage Du Desir. Released on his own independent label, High Top Mountain Records, the album includes eight songs produced by Johnny Blue Skies and David Ferguson and recorded at Clement House Recording Studio in Nashville, TN and Abbey Road Studios in London, England.

Once considered a remote backwater, Seattle, Washington, and its underground music scene, existed in a state of seclusion. It was a city isolated both geographically from the rest of the country and commercially from the entertainment industry machinations of the major cultural hubs. With technological advancements making the world a smaller place, a huge influx of corporate money changing the demographics of the city itself, and staggering population growth – not to mention the sudden explosion of worldwide interest in Seattle’s musical exports in the early 1990s – the place is not quite the distant territory it once was. Yet, the Emerald City’s subterranean musical petri dish has remained largely a scene unto itself, comprised of devoted DIY practitioners building their community and creating their noise in obscurity.

The Real Thing: Symphonic Concert is a live album by Australian singer-songwriter Russell Morris, released on 2×CD on 6 October, on 2×LP on 3 November 2023 and on DVD on 5 July 2024. It was recorded on 4 July 2023 at Hamer Hall, Melbourne, and announced on 10 July. Upon announcement, Morris said "Performing my songs in front of 65 musicians in July was a career highlight that I could never have imagined. David Hirschfelder has done a spectacular job turning my songs into orchestral arrangements, they sound truly amazing." At the AIR Awards of 2024, the album was nominated for Best Independent Classical Album or EP.