Spike Lee’s dad Bill leading three other family members and percussionists Sonny Brown and Billy Higgins, in 1973. Stone classic spiritual jazz, majestic but intimate, with touches of gospel, soul and classical music. Invoking ancestors in slavery; protesting Attica; celebrating Weldon Irvine. An unmissable version of Bill Lee’s composition Coltrane (the jewel in the crown of Clifford Jordan’s mighty Glass Bead Games, the same year).

Pressed on 180-gram vinyl at RTI, mastered by Kevin Gray (Cohearant Audio), with audio cut directly from the original analogue tapes; featuring previously unpublished photos with new liner notes in a glossy tip-on gatefold.

Nine tunes copped from the archives of the legendary 78s collector Harry Smith — ‘pointedly taken from regions shaped by major US conflicts since Anderson’s birth in 1970. While her fascinating liner notes track what is lost and found when trying to translate these compositions, their universal musicality still cuts through. Opener Quodlibet is beautiful: an intricate, minor-key medley of Uzbek tunes originally performed on the dambura (a fretless lute), on which Anderson adds bluegrass techniques to counter her inability to play quarter-tones on her guitar. Her take on a qawwali vocal tune, Hamd, is also a highlight, her stacked guitar layers ringing with warmth and emotion. Gisela Rodríguez Fernández adds violin to Sarvi Simin, a shimmering tune from Soviet-era Afghanistan, while a Yemeni tune, Zar, intended to exorcise evil spirits from the sick, sees Anderson and Fernández constantly rearranging five notes without repetition. Dark ambient moods are also conjured in Pair of Duduk, on which Anderson shifts the drones of Armenian woodwinds on to reverb-heavy guitar and bassy synths, while in Vietnamese tune Whistle Song, transferred from bamboo flutes to electric piano, the composition’s closeness to minimalism sings out.’

Wonderful. Here’s to volume two.

Twin detournements of Lieber & Stoller.
Hugh Godfrey coolly channels Love Potion No. 9 into a rude boy anthem, with tasty riding-east piano and full-steam-ahead saxophone.
On the flip, Norma Fraser switches the roles of the Big Mama Thornton classic. An erstwhile dawg is played by the singer. The raucous, sexually dismissive wordplay of the original — ‘You can wag your tail / But I ain’t gonna feed you no more’ — is replaced by dignified verses about female independence and resilience.
Killer 45.

Soulful, lo-fi, Casiotone renditions of Amharic folk songs and lullabies, Tigrinya love songs, Gurage and Oromifa popular songs, and hits like Tilahun Gessesse’s Tiz Alegne Yetintu.
A landmark recording from Ethiopia’s vibrant 1980s cassette culture.

”Instrumental music, for me, is a space of reflection. Without words, the listener is invited to remember, imagine, and feel freely. In Resonance of Time, I hear my own musical philosophy: respect for Ethiopian kignit, careful dialogue with Western harmony, and a deep trust in melody as a storyteller.”

‘Among the most influential European ensembles of the 21st century, this chamber group’s work on ECM and Hubro has redefined the boundaries between jazz, contemporary composition and folk music, developing a highly distinctive language built on restraint, timbral nuance and collective interplay…
‘Over time, the Ensemble has developed a language that is immediately recognizable — marked by reduction, clarity and a deep attention to sonic detail. While each release has its own character, the underlying aesthetic remains consistent: a focus on the inner life of sound itself. Rather than foregrounding gesture or virtuosity, the music draws the listener toward the smallest elements, where meaning emerges gradually through texture, spacing and timbre. The listening experience becomes one of concentration and proximity, where each sound carries weight, and the accumulation of detail forms a larger whole. References may be sensed — to early polyphonic music, Norwegian folk traditions, or more recent experimental practices — but these are absorbed into a singular musical language that resists categorization.
‘Non Sonett advances the group’s integration of electronics as a fundamental part of the sound world. Each musician engages with electronic elements alongside their acoustic instruments, creating a layered and dynamic sonic environment. At times, this leads into extended, exploratory passages reminiscent of analogue musique concrète; at others, electronics operate almost imperceptibly, subtly altering and extending the acoustic textures in real time.’

‘Luminous meshes of colours and textures, vaulting between free jazz, dub, raga, ambient, and ritual music. Riveting polyrhythms underpin towering arrangements for flutes, synths, and processed acoustic instruments. The drumming and psychoactive, ceremonial melodies evoke the fourth world of Don Cherry, Jon Hassell, Popol Vuh et al. An alchemical, Buddhist/Taoist/Hindu slant guides the narrative.’

The son of the world-renowned tar and setar virtuoso Hossein Alizadeh; a true master of the Iranian spike fiddle, or kamancheh; and a key voice in contemporary Iranian music, blending classical Persian traditions with avantgarde experimentation.
The two Rituals presented here are deeply immersive, epic, meditative soundscapes, charged with memory, emotion, and the spirit of resistance.

‘At the heart of the album lies the resonance, focus and slightly surreal shapes conjured by guitarist Bill Frisell. These gain extra substance by Potter’s arrangements for trombone, clarinet and violin which, added to Potter’s own strident tones, add extra layers of tension and sonic possibility. Bags of detail, soloists in elegant form and the narrative drive of the excellent Nate Smith and Burniss Travis on drums and bass, complete an album that engages and grips.
‘The set, bookended by the stirring fanfares and collective improv of the title track, unfolds thrillingly through layered melodies and blues-rooted solos, hints of Americana and seriously funky grooves… Two bonus tracks are covers featuring the core quartet and are worth the price of the deluxe release’ (Mike Hobart, Financial Times).

A meditation on the white abolitionist John Brown’s 1859 raid on Harpers Ferry, which aimed to ignite a massive armed slave revolt across the American South.
“Looked at from one angle, John Brown was a religious zealot who used violence to try and achieve his aims. From a different angle, he was on the right side of justice, and gave his life hoping others would be free.”

‘What might appear to be a heart-wrenching ballad — tapping 1960s or ‘70s radio-friendly Italian pop — is likely to transform into a state of pure sonic abstraction and tense tonal and timbral relationships, before travelling any number of places next (or not). What remains ever-present, as the album traverses its many territories, is the remarkable sense of compositional rigour, while also managing to feel perfectly balanced and unlaboured. Tarozzi elegantly intertwines voices, personal narrative and memories. From the album’s opening blasts of a radiant brass ensemble, reaching startling heights with her own Lucciole and a live-in-studio cover of Milton Nascimento’s River Phoenix, to its conclusion, which enlists the Piccolo Coro Angelico children’s choir, with whom she has worked for over fifteen years, the album is a profound journey into the potential of music on numerous levels, further establishing Tarozzi as one of the most important and distinct artists working today.
‘A truly astounding accomplishment, it’s hard to imagine an album imbued with a greater sense of wonder, joy, and creative accomplishment. It’s a truly stunning thing to behold, revealing new depths and dimensions with every return…
‘Well beyond ten out of ten and will unquestionably prove to be among 2026’s absolute best’ (Soundohm, Milan).