1 / Cécile McLorin Salvant For One To Love (Mack Avenue) 4 September
At Ronnie Scott’s earlier this summer the singer unveiled some of what to expect from her new album arriving two years on from WomanChild. A winningly mischievous take on ‘Stepsisters’ Lament’ from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella; Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s ‘Wives And Lovers’, a song the singer told us she found ‘funny’ when she heard it first (the song’s lyrics remaining quite controversial); ‘The Trolley Song’ where drummer Lawrence Leathers came into his own with his ding-ding-dings and multiple percussive effects; and ‘Something’s Coming’ from Westside Story an interpretation that had a number of tempo changes and became a huge vehicle for improvisation near the end were among the highlights. All of these songs are on the new album as well as ‘Look at Me’, above.
2 / John McLaughlin Black Light (Abstract Logix) 4 September
Includes a tribute, ‘El Hombre Que Sabía,’ to Paco De Lucía who died in 2014 among the eight original compositions written by jazz-rock fusion legend McLaughlin once again featuring the guitar icon leading the 4th Dimension that has Gary Husband alternating keyboards and drums, Etienne Mbappe on electric bass and Ranjit Barot, drums. The new album arrives just over a year and a half after the release of live album The Boston Record.
3 / Get the Blessing Astronautilus (Naim) 11 September
Bristol band Get The Blessing’s fifth album accompanies much touring in the autumn that includes a headlining slot at east London festival Match & Fuse in October. Astronautilus is dedicated to the memory of Ornette Coleman, a huge inspiration for the band.
4 / Danilo Pérez/John Patitucci/Brian Blade Children of the Light (Mack Avenue) 18 September
Much anticipated debut from the long time Wayne Shorter players. The album includes new music and a version of Wayne Shorter’s ‘Dolores’ a composition that appeared on Miles Davis quintet album Miles Smiles released in 1967.
5 / Liane Carroll Seaside (Linn) 18 September
The title track was written by singer-pianist Joe Stilgoe the album produced, like Ballads and the singer’s 2011 Parliamentary Award-winning predecessor Up and Down, by trumpeter James McMillan. While Ballads was full of torch songs Seaside takes a different approach, its nautical theme including songs that match the concept in different ways with, as well as the title track, the Kurt Weill/Ira Gershwin classic ‘My Ship’, standard ‘I Cover The Waterfront’ and the hymn ‘For Those in Peril of the Sea.’ The big track, a new career peak, is Carroll’s powerful and moving gospelly version of the Mary Gauthier song ‘Mercy Now.’
6 / Sons of Kemet Lest We Forget What We Came Here To Do (Naim) 25 September
Just over four years since forming and quickly winning a MOBO for best jazz act for their fine debut Burn released in 2013 after picking up strong word of mouth reaction from their live club shows, leader reedist Shabaka Hutchings, who earlier this summer picked up a further Jazz FM Award for instrumentalist of the year, has described the new album as “a meditation on the Caribbean diaspora in Britain.” Title track-less, quite a few of the tunes begin with the drum attack of Skinner and Rochford while new tuba player Theon Cross often sets the shape of the tune for Hutchings to elaborate engagingly upon.
7 / Kendrick Scott Oracle We Are The Drum (Blue Note) 25 September
Blue Note label debut for the ex-Terence Blanchard and Kurt Elling drummer with his own group two years on from the release of Conviction.
8 / Mask Orchestra Drama (Provocateur) 2 October
Energised by pulsing cinematic jazz-rock at its core Colin Towns (above, front right), a distinguished film and TV composer who in recent years has been devoting his energies to his small group Blue Touch Paper, here with release number seven for the Orchestra inspired this time around by theatre and drama including music for One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Equus and Macbeth as well as contemporary works such as Terry Johnson’s Hysteria.
9 / Julian Argüelles Tetra (Whirlwind) 16 October
Loose Tubes saxophonist Julian Argüelles joined by pianist Kit Downes, drummer James Maddren and double bassist Sam Lasserson on a maiden voyage. Tetra follows swiftly on from the South African-themed big band album Let It Be Told released back in the spring.
10 / Steve Davis/Kris Davis/Ralph Alessi Sugar Blade (Babel) 6 November
New release date now confirmed by the label for drummer-composer Steve Davis’ exciting new studio project, an absorbing New York-recorded set on which the free-jazz pioneer from Northern Ireland is joined by Canadian avant piano star Kris Davis and by Baida trumpeter Ralph Alessi.