By Rick

If you’re the layman music listener, you may think of jazz as an old art, its splang-a-langing along with the same old rhythms. In fact, nothing can be further from the truth. Jazz today is progressing as much as ever, perhaps at an even faster pace than in past generations. Below I’ll list some of the new albums that were released last year by some of the hippest jazz musicians breaking into the jazz worlds “mainstream”. 

Gretchen Parlato

Listen here (I’ve provided the Links to Lala…If you haven’t hopped on the Lala train, I would encourage it- It’s by far the best way to check out new music. With an account you can stream any song for free once, then you can pay 10 cents for a streaming copy or the standard 99 cents for an MP3.) 

This new extraordinary singer was the winner of the prestigious Thelonius Monk Jazz Vocalist competition in 2004. Since then, she’s been performing and recording with some of the greatest names in jazz, including Kenny Barron and Terence Blanchard. Last year she released the album In A Dream Featuring Lionel Loueke on voice and guitar, Aaron Parks on the Piano, Derrick Hodge on the bass, and Kendrick Scott on the drums. I urge you to give this album a listen. I instantly fell in love with her amazing voice and beautiful melodies. Aaron Parks provides a perfect compliment, filling in all the right places and keenly staying out of Gretchen’s way. One of my favorite tracks on the album is her version of the 90’s hit “Weak”, originally performed by the R+B outlet SWV (Sisters With Voices). Not only is the arrangement that Gretchen has written rhythmically and harmonically interesting, but it does justice to the original song, something very difficult to accomplish when transforming a pop tune into a jazz tune. 

Aaron Parks

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Last summer and into the fall I spent a lot of time listening to Invisible Cinema. This is Aaron’s first release on Blue Note and it features Eric Harland on the drums, Mike Moreno on the guitar, and Matt Penman on the bass. Aaron’s compositions are striking for their intricacies, yet also for the sheer catchiness. Sometimes very inspired by Bulgarian rhythm, sometimes indie rock, and sometimes folk music, this is one of the most melodic and “accessible” (I suppose) jazz albums I’ve heard in awhile. Aaron has the amazing ability to weave things that sound simple on the surface, but underneath take a wealth of knowledge to play effectively. “Karma” and “Praise” are two of my favorite tracks, the first being a quick 6/8 groove, and the second a beautiful melody in 5. Aaron’s soloing is impeccable throughout the whole album. 

Robert Glasper

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I’ve been a Glasper trio fan since around 2006 and have seen the Robert Glasper Experiment a few times. Every time I saw the Experiment side of Glasper, I wished there was an album out of their stuff. Finally, last year, Glasper released an album with the best of both worlds, an album half trio and half experiment. Glasper’s third album for Blue Note, entitled Double Booked, features Vincente Archer on the bass for the trio, Derrick Hodge on the bass for the experiment, one of my favorite drummers Chris “Daddy” Dave for both, Casey Benjamin on the sax, Mos Def MCing, and Bilal on the vocals. The album starts with a hilarious recorded message from Terrance Blanchard wondering if Glasper has double-booked himself with the trio and the experiment after hearing from ?uestlove that he may have. The trio side of this album is great, and Glasper continues to release great trio material, but the side of the album that shines is the Robert Glasper Experiment portion. Chris Dave’s drumming on this album is, to put it simply, beastly. 

Kurt Rosenwinkel

Rosenwinkel is definitely one of the most innovative composers and players since Wayne Shorter. He’s quickly become the ultimate modern jazz guitarist. His most recent album was a trio album of standards called Reflections, which I actually haven’t gotten around to listening yet. This year he also made an appearance on Q-Tip’s newest album “The Abstract”. However, the album Kurt released prior to Reflections in 2008 was called The Remedy. This album was recorded live at the legendary Village Vanguard, and since Kurt released it under artistShare, there were no record label ultimatums imposed. The album features some incredible playing and composition by Mark Turner on the sax, Aaron Goldberg on the piano, Joe Martin on the Bass, and Eric Harland on the drums. If you want to hear a song with some of the most contrasting melodic material ever, listen to “Chords”, which is also the song Kurt noted in an interview as perhaps among his best recorded solos.

If any of you in Indabaland have some hip jazz albums you’ve been listening to, please list them below along with any comments on the aforementioned artists!