Here is the list of releases that grabbed our attention in January. Qwest TV's favourites in the loop.
Allison Miller’s Boom Tic Boom, Glitter Wolf
The longtime rising star of the drums in critics’ polls has become a bona fide, go-to drum maestro who’s in the midst of a creative bonanza of music. The leader of her adventurous ten-year-old ensemble, Boom Tic Boom, Allison Miller doesn’t flinch at the assessment. “We’re jazz people,” she says. “We’re in the moment.”
Leyla McCalla, The Capitalist Blues
The singer and cellist has released The Capitalist Blues, a rougher third album which draws on the same reasons for revolt: the past and the present, in the United States and Haiti.
Aesop Rock & TOBACCO Are Malibu Ken
Rapper Aesop Rock and producer TOBACCO (a.k.a. Black Moth Super Rainbow) met on the tour circuit over a decade ago, and their long-coming full length album collaboration showcases the duo’s tight chemistry to convincing effect.
Ustad Saami, God is not a Terrorist
In Pakistan, a whole civilization is singing the songs of Ustad Saami, celebrating peace and diversity through God Is Not A Terrorist. Recorded at night on a rooftop in Karachi, this album, the first of its kind, is the product of a collaboration between Saami and the American producer Ian Brennan.
Joe Lovano, Trio Tapestry (ECM)
There’s no keeping Joe Lovano idle on the recording front. After nearly three decades as the preeminent star on Blue Note Records, the tenor saxophonist has found a new home at ECM Records as a leader with Trio Tapestry, a sensitively lyrical interplay with pianist Marilyn Crispell and his longtime colleague drummer Carmen Castaldi.
