Music Monday: New Music and a Bonus Track

There’s been some great new music out this year and while I tend not to feature it here on the ole blog (who has time for the new when there’s so much old music to enjoy), it seems silly not to mention some new albums that are destined for my 2024 rotation.

What’s more shocking to anyone who knows my tastes is that two of the albums are out from Blue Note which is a label that has released some of the most tepid (and frankly overhyped) albums of the last decade (in my humble opinion as the kids say). 

First, there’s the new Charles Lloyd album, The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow, and on first listen I was a bit disappointed, but since I like Charles Lloyd and there was a good bit of positive buzz around the album in the popular media, I gave it a few more spins.

It’s good and it’s more than just solid. Like most recent Lloyd releases is less about the totality of the album and more about providing a canvass for Lloyd’s moments throughout. It is worth waiting for these moments and savoring the album.

Blue Note appears to be on a roll this spring with the release of Mellisa Aldana’s new album Echoes of the Inner Prophet. Upon first listen, I had to immediately check whether this was really a Blue Note album. The opening tracks are incisive, and the overall sound of the album is probing and the edge of experimental. There isn’t any pabulum or banality to endure. It just goes. Check it out wherever Blue Note albums are streamed or sold!

Here’s Aldana performing live from the album:

Finally, I’m a big fan of Matthew Shipp for both Wilmington, Delaware related reasons and his continued commitment to the “Black mystery school” of jazz and improvised piano players (although at times, I think he invokes the tradition of Cecil Taylor). Shipp’s newest trio release is his usually vibrant and dynamic stuff with perhaps a hint of his growing interest in lyricism. 

You should be able to listen to select tracks on the album’s Bandcamp page here. 

Bonus Album

Last week would have been Charlie Rouse’s 100th birthday. He was best known as Thelonious Monk’s saxophone player, but he also released a number of well regarded albums in his own name. With springtime finally coming to the Northern Plains, I put on Rouse’s Bossa Nova Bacchanal from 1963. It’s fun and lively and features Rouse in good form playing tunes imbued with the bossa nova crazy of the early 1960s. 

Is this vital listening? No. Is it fun and good? Also yes!