The Best Jazz Albums of 2021 (So Far) jazzwise.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from jazzwise.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
2 of 5 Tomoko Omura 3 of 5 Abe Lagrimas 4 of 5 Min Xiao-Fen 5 of 5 Taylor Ho Bynum
Tomoko Omura, Tomie s Blues
Born in Shizuoka, Japan and based in Brooklyn, NY, violinist Tomoko Omura has earned just acclaim for her command of the jazz tradition on her instrument, going back to Joe Venuti, Stéphane Grappelli and Stuff Smith. But she has also made a conscious and inspiring study of folkloric music from her homeland, notably on her albums
Roots, in 2015, and
Branches Vol. 1, in 2020. A follow-up,
Branches Vol. 2, is coming soon, featuring Omura with an ensemble that includes pianist Glenn Zaleski, guitarist Jeff Miles, bassist Pablo Menares and drummer Jay Sawyer. Its most touching piece is Tomie s Blues, an original dedicated to the memory of Omura s grandmother.
Andra Day –
United States vs Billie Holiday (Warner Bros): “Cassandra Monique Batie (born December 30, 1984), known professionally as Andra Day, is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. In 2015, she released her debut album, Cheers to the Fall. At the 2016 Grammy Awards, the album was nominated for Best R&B Album and the single, “Rise Up”, was nominated for Best R&B Performance. To promote “Rise Up”, she performed the song on The View, the performance earned her a Daytime Emmy Award nomination. Day also appeared alongside Stevie Wonder, who is partially credited for her discovery, in an ad for Apple TV in late 2015. In 2021, she portrayed Billie Holiday in the biopic The United States vs. Billie Holiday, for which she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress. Her stage name was inspired by Holiday, whose nickname was “Lady Day”. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andra Day) Her
New Music Monday Vincent Herring, Rodney Whitaker, Jihye Lee Orchestra
Vincent Herring – “Preaching to the Choir”
Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Vincent has been living in The Bronx since the late 1980s, he’s considered one the most gifted saxophonists on the current scene. For his latest he reunites with pianist Cyrus Chestnut who contributes while Herring wrote 2 tunes for this excellent album. Yasushi Nakamura is on bass and Jonathan Blake is at drums. There are nice renditions of 5 jazz chestnuts and 2 brilliant adaptations of soul music songs. All in all, a most pleasurable listening experience recorded live at Smoke Jazz Club of Manhattan.