2018 has been a bit of a year, and I have found myself listening to familiar music rather than plunging into new, challenging sounds. Jazz reappeared on my radar, but as the posts on Jazz were the least read I have written here you may not be bothered about that. A few of the new releases I did buy however...
Magic Dance: New Eyes The best AOR artist since Work Of Art this and his previous album Vanishings are worth a listen if you ever liked Toto or similar bands. I love it.
Manhattan Transfer: The Junction Their most contemporary album in many years, and first since leader
Tim Hauser's passing.
Kamasi Washington: Heaven & Earth Topped best of year polls all over the place, except the ones in the Jazz press oddly. Accessible, just confrontational enough to sound dangerous, but not as good as his previous disc 'The Epic'. Also rather derivative of 60's Miles Davis and John Coltrane. I doubt his formula will stretch to another album without the holes being obvious.
John Coltrane: Both Directions At Once Speaking of whom, Coltrane in 1963 taken from his work in progress tapes, at the peak of his powers. the interst of this is not the "lost" status of the session, but listening to Coltrane's ideas develop over the different takes of this release and as pointers to Crescent, and later albums. If you are new to this sort of Jazz, try Kamasi first and then move on to the real thing.
My wish list on Google Music and iTunes contains lots of music from 2018 that I will get to in time. Christine and the Queens, Nolwenn Leroy, and others. I'll get back to you about those.
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