Minua

Feb 1 2020

Best of 2019 #13: Minua – “Still Light”

 

Back in February when I originally recommended Still Light, I said it was waaaaaaay too soon to be making proclamations like This is the most beautiful thing I’ve heard all year.  Except, I was right.  It was and it is.  And now that a year has passed since I first opened my ears to this lovely recording, a year spent listening to this album over and over and over again, I’m now even more assured in my assessment that the Minua trio’s Still Light is one of the most gorgeous things I’ve heard this year, maybe the most gorgeous, and I expect my opinion will be shared by many others.  The trio of bass clarinetist Fabian Willmann and guitarists Luca Aaron and Kristinn Kristinsson treat the influences of Scandinavian folk, ambient minimalism, Nordic jazz, and a dash of post-rock melodicism as if merely fluctuations of shadows dancing between the rays of sunrise.  And this is one of the most beautiful things I’ve heard all year.

Your album personnel:  Fabian Willmann (bass clarinet), Kristinn Kristinsson (guitar) and Luca Aaron (guitar).

Released on Traumton Records.

Music from Nantes, France.

I wrote about this album for The Bandcamp Daily.

Listen | Read more | Available at:  Bandcamp – Amazon

By • Recap: Best of 2019 • 4 • Tags: , , , ,

Jan 12 2020

These are videos that I like: Minua and “Mumuration”

 

Minua‘s Still Light is one of the most beautiful things I’ve heard all year long.  I said as much when I recommended this album a year ago for Bandcamp, and I said it as much again for my 2019 Bandcamp wrap-up column.  The trio of bass clarinetist Fabian Willmann and guitarists Luca Aaron and Kristinn Kristinsson tap into a vein of tranquility, and just let it flow.

And if you want another video from this trio, then, by all means, follow this link to another track from their 2019 release.

You can give the album a listen, and purchase it, on the artist’s Bandcamp page.  It’s also available at Amazon.

By • These are videos that I like • 0 • Tags:

Dec 31 2019

Now up: Best Jazz on Bandcamp in 2019

 

And here we go.

It was pretty much an impossible task to cobble together a Best of 2019 list for Bandcamp, limited, as I was, to just 15 slots.  Too many great recordings in 2019, too few opportunities to train a spotlight on them.  Rather than do a typical ranking, I went with the approach of presenting a cohesive picture of the modern jazz landscape, a snapshot of its diversity and how that leads to new and exciting forms of expression… including many that leave the 1950’s bop sound far behind.

Some of these albums will be familiar to you from the monthly recommendations columns to already hit The Bandcamp Daily, but there are also a few that will be new to this column.  2019 was the best year ever, and this list is just a fraction of the evidence supporting that claim.

And on that note, let’s begin.

Follow this LINK to read those recommendations and listen to music from each album.

Check out past recommendations by running through my contributor archives.

Have fun going through the list!

Cheers.

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Mar 2 2019

These are videos that I like: The first Best Jazz on Bandcamp albums of 2019

 

Let’s revisit some of the albums included in my first two Best Jazz on Bandcamp columns of 2019, because, really, there’s never too much spotlight we can shine on these excellent recordings.

And let’s begin with Minua.  Oh my god, is this the most beautiful thing ever.  I can’t get enough of their new album Still Light.  It was addiction from the first notes.  Here’s the song “Lumen.”  Video by Işıl Karataş.

Here’s a link to my album write-up for The Bandcamp Daily.  And you can just go give the album a listen, and purchase it, on the artist’s Bandcamp page.  It’s also available at Amazon.

I just can’t get enough of Allison Miller‘s last two Boom Tic Boom recordings.  2016’s Otis Was a Polar Bear was one of my favorite things to come out that year, and Glitter Wolf picks right up where that left off.  This music is an example of where modern jazz can go, and I highly encourage more people to follow this path.  This video happened live in the Paste Music studios, and features the track “Congratulations and Condolences.”  Follow the Paste Music link to hear more tracks from this session.

Here’s a link to my album write-up for The Bandcamp Daily.  And you can just go give the album a listen, and purchase it, on the artist’s Bandcamp page.  It’s also available at Amazon.

And let’s wrap up with an outstanding rendition of Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme” by Kassa Overall.  This performance went down last year in the studios of KNKX Public Radio.  It doesn’t make an appearance on his new album Go Get Ice Cream and Listen to Jazz, but it certainly gives you a pretty good idea of his perspective.

Here’s a link to my album write-up for The Bandcamp Daily.  And you can just go give the album a listen, and purchase it, on the artist’s Bandcamp page.  It’s also available at Amazon.

And check out past recommendations by running through the archives.

Have fun going through the list!

Cheers.

By • Jazz Recommendations - 2019, These are videos that I like • 0 • Tags: , ,