Jan 13 2019
Best of 2018 #21: Jakob Bro – “Bay of Rainbows”
Jakob Bro‘s melodic perspective is nothing less than stunning, and it’s remarkable how he keeps finding new and inspired ways of presenting it. This live trio session with drummer Joey Baron and bassist Thomas Morgan is just the latest example of Bro’s limitless ability to craft beauty of out thin air. It’s been my personal preference when the guitarist works with a quartet or larger ensemble, but I could listen to this trio session every day for the rest of my life, and the first thing out of my mouth upon arriving in heaven would be, hey, send me back down, I need to go listen to Bay of Rainbows again.
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Music from Copenhagen, Denmark.
Released on ECM Records.
Available at: Amazon
In much the same way the duo Anteloper did on the #39 album of the year, the Blast trio of keyboardist Anne Quillier, bass clarinetist Pierre Horckmans, and drummer Guillaume Bertrand go big with every expression as they find their singularly perfect ratio of the electro-acoustic equation. But where Anteloper goes heavier with the electronics, Blast leans more toward an organic form of modern jazz, where the heartbeat of the blues thumps with clarity. Quillier’s sextet made an appearance on last year’s Best Of list, 
When I included this album as part of the 
I’m still not sure where this album came from. It popped up on my radar as 2017 came to a close, and its lovely blooms of melody and harmonic colors bold and bright made me want to include it as a last minute replacement on the Best of 2017 list. I’ve learned to hold back on that compulsion. Every album deserves time to fully reveal itself. Migration Patterns certainly has done that, and it speaks to how deep the talent pool is on the modern scene that this album doesn’t sit in a higher slot on the list. I listen to this album over and over and over, and I still can’t decide which song is my favorite. I guess it’s whichever one I’m listening to at the moment. An amazing debut from Jack Radsliff, and a promising sign of things to come.
Jan 14 2019
Best of 2018 #20: Mephiti – “Mephiti”
Released on El Negocito Records.
Music from Antwerp, Belgium.
Read more on Bird is the Worm.
Available at: Bandcamp | Amazon
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By davesumner • Recap: Best of 2018 • 0 • Tags: Antwerp, El Negocito Records, Erik Bogaerts, Jazz - Best of 2018, Mephiti, Ruben Machtelinckx