Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify.
“Speaking in Tongues” is Brazilian vocalist and composer Luciana Souza’s stunning new disc, one she describes as “a musical inquiry into language and conversation.” She draws on the talents of four of the most creative musicians working in jazz today with whom Luciana had never previously worked. Hailing from Benin, West Africa, guitar master Lionel Loueke has a remarkable voice, combining jazz and African music, along with a childlike openness to experimentation. Swiss-born harmonica virtuoso Gregoire Maret serves as an exceptional vocal foil because of his extraordinary talent and singularity of his instrument’s sound, one that for Souza is a metaphor for the recurring presence of the accordion in Brazilian music. Massimo Biolcati brings his incredibly empathetic sensibility and cosmopolitan taste and experience to the bass, as well as a bridge that emanates from his many years as a member of Loueke’s trio. And Drummer Kendrick Scott embodies the voice and attitude of a generation who grew up listening to everything, with no boundaries around the music we call jazz.
As on all past Jeff Lorber Fusion releases, dating back to its 1977 self-titled debut, the new disc, “Step It Up,” effortlessly mines and merges elements from multiple genres, including jazz, funk, rock and rhythm and blues. The original band took an extended hiatus in the early ‘80s, reemerging and recharging in 2010 with an updated approach that incorporates contemporary rhythms, technology and instrumentation. It’s the fourth consecutive collaboration between the Grammy-nominated keyboardist and composer Jeff Lorber and Grammy-winning bassist and composer Jimmy Haslip since the two virtuosos reactivated the Jeff Lorber Fusion five years ago.
Also this week, Tony Bennett and pianist Bill Charlap unite for an intimate songbook collaboration, “The Silver Lining: the Songs of Jerome Kern”; saxophonist Don Braden and his Organix Quart
et are joined by guests Claudio Roditi and Sherman Irby on “Luminosity”; and drummer Rayford Griffin’s salute to his uncle, Clifford Brown, “Reflections of Brownie,” features an all-star ensemble including Roy Hargrove, Nicholas Payton, Brian Bromberg and George Duke.