I never got the chance to include my jazz favorites for 2024 on this blog earlier. My selections appears below in no particular order. With the exception of the Jakob Bro, these albums can be found on Bandcamp.
Jasmine Myra's places much more attention on her saxophone in Rising, her second release. My students, most of whom are in their teens or early twenties, have responded positively to Jasmine Myra's music when I shared one of the cuts from this album.
Matthew Halsall's Bright Sparkling Light, recorded during the An Ever Changing View sessions, features three more compositions, approximately twenty-four minutes of music.
Jakob Bro's Taking Turns, a kind of sequel to December Song and Time, features another opportunity to hear Lee Konitz and some of the other musicians from those sessions.
Sunna Gunnlaugs'
Ástin, bjartsýnin og andskotans blaðrið í fólkin (roughly translated as "Love, Optimism, and Damn Babbling in People") features seven poems written by Jón úr Vör, the Icelandic poet, which Sunna Gunnlaugs has set to music. Although I don't know Icelandic, the music appeals to me and makes me wonder what the poems say if they were translated into English. It is hard to find many translations of Jón úr Vör, I've discovered. I don't know of many poets writing in English whose poems could be set to jazz.
