Neff Irizarry: 'Cambio'

To quote Aristotle: "Change in all things is sweet", and the latest album from composer and guitarist Neff Irizarry provides the sweetest jazz. 'Cambio' (‘Change’) brings Latin Jazz without the piano in a highly intuitive and innovative manner. Released on Blue Canoe Records back in September, this is one of my favourite albums of 2024.

Composer, guitarist, author and educator specialising in Latin and contemporary jazz, Neff Irizarry brings a delightful and energetic use of the guitar in a blend of influences from Puerto Rican Sabor and a Nordic cool known as Sisu. This latest album - Cambio - combines innovative jazz guitar in combination with the vibraphone.

The Cambio ensemble features three-time Grammy-winning Jimmy Haslip (bass), Martin Fabricius (vibraphone), and Ricardo Padilla (percussion) in a fusion of Latin rhythms and soulful melodies. The overall sound is uplifting and a reflection of Latin American heat combined with Scandinavian cool. Start with my favourite track - The Rain Song - and enjoy the rest of this sweet album as we head towards 2025.

Check out more of Neff’s music here.

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Big Wade - 'Piano Man' out now

Big Wade and Black Swan Theory collectively blends funk, soul, jazz and everything that fills the cracks between those genres: his new album - Piano Man - on all major streaming platforms ahead of the Piano Man Tour 2024 , which has dates across the US. Piano Man brings a selection of original and covers, including a stunning version of Autumn Leaves , which reinvents the song as the funky, electronic Autumn . Big Wade's voice takes the song's melody and improvises around and around, with backing vocals and a deliberately sparse arrangement underpinning the song. Similarly, on Children of the Ghetto , the lead and backing vocals blend in with the soulful musicians of Black Swan Theory. Electronics are used with dexterity, often expanding the vocal lines, as in the ethereal and ghostly opening of Don't Let Me Go . However, the tools never dominate - simply adding depth and layers to the funk. Never more than when Big Wade enters a new world in Interludes , including vocals...

Playtime: 'Morse Code Through The Lights'

Every once in a while, an album drops into your inbox and isn't going anywhere. Morse Code Through The Lights is just such an album. Incontrovertibly controversial, this won't be everyone's cup of tea, but this one has absolutely, instantly, made it onto my list of top albums of 2024. Drummer Tom Bancroft and his band Playtime, which began in Edinburgh as Adventures in New Music ten years ago as a weekly session, have produced something delightfully experimental and brilliantly creative. Four of Scotland's most-established jazz musicians - Martin Kershaw (sax), Graeme Stephen (guitar), Mario Caribe (bass) and Tom Bancroft (drums) - tried out new music and new ideas together. Once lockdown struck in 2020, they decided to explore the possibilities of improvising music together online, partly for something to do, and partly because it was something they could do for their audience. Most of us discovered - or thought we had - that improvising online was difficult or impossi...

36 years ago today, my alto sax was stolen

Actually, it wasn't so much stolen as taken in error. But at the time, we thought it had been removed from backstage at Amsterdam's De Meervaart venue, where I was on stage with The Style Council. Luckily, the gig was being broadcast on radio and the support act were listening as they drove away. They soon realised the mistake and returned my sax and all was well. It was the last gig of a great tour - Paul Weller's first European shows since breaking up The Jam. Another benefit of the radio broadcast is the recording that exists of that show. A good friend of mine - Iain Munn, author of the definitive history of The Style Council, Mr Cool's Dream - gave me a copy several years ago. Still a good story, after all these years.

Hilary Seabrook - writer, podcaster, musician

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