The Year on Record

This page is also available in / Cette page est également disponible en: Français (French)

Our picks for some of 2025’s best releases.

The Birdsong Project Presents: Birdly Serenade
David Murray Quartet: David Murray (tenor sax, bass clarinet), Marta Sanchez (piano), Luke Stewart (bass), Russell Carter (drums); Ekep Nkwelle (guest vocalist); Francesca Cinelli (spoken word).
Impulse! 7591592 (LP); 00602475915911 (CD), April 25, 2025

At 70 years old, David Murray has slowed down his recording activities somewhat, but he remains true to his virile style, evoking swing-era tenors as well as some freer stylists of the “fire music” period. Following in the footsteps of Messiaen and Dolphy, Murray (with the help of his partner/manager Francesca Cinelli) worked with bird songs for Birdly Serenade. With his regular band (three excellent players—that seem only a bit over half his age!), Murray digs into Bald Ego (a good old blowing blues), Bird’s the Word (a boppish theme), and lets loose on Black Bird’s Gonna Lite Up the Night and Capistrano Swallow; but he also proves what a lyrical player he can be on the beautiful Song of the World (played on bass clarinet). Young singer Ekep Nkwelle lends her expressive voice to that last song, as well as to the title track. Murray is back on bass clarinet again for the funky Nonna’s Last Flight, in a more aggressive vein this time. For the closer, the 10-minute Oiseau de paradis, Cinelli reads her own words—in French, s’il vous plait!

Find the album on the Impulse! website.

Dialectics
Eyevin Nonet: Ivan Bamford (drums, composition), Bertrand Margelidon (trumpet), Etienne Lebel (trombone, gaida), Julie Houle (tuba), Marilène Provencher-Leduc (flute), Aurélien Tomasi (alto sax, clarinet), Jean René (viola), Yannick Anctil (piano), Stéphane Diamantakiou (bass)
Self-released, Aug. 28, 2025

Over three previous albums with his Eyevin band, Montreal drummer Ivan Bamford has explored the music of the late Thomas Chapin (1957–1998). For this new opus, the drummer calls upon the resources of an exceptional band to deliver a continuous, 39-minute suite of 13 original compositions (or rather seven pieces with six “transitions” between them) that remain in the spirit of his former, Chapin-esque excursions, while at the same time affirming himself as a talented composer. This is very much ensemble music, but there are also strong solo spots, notably from longtime partners Tomasi and Diamantakiou, the latter certainly one of our best bass players.

Find the album (as well as two previous releases), on Bamford’s Bandcamp page.

Particules sonores
Alain Bédard Auguste Quartet: Alain Bédard (bass), Mario Allard (sax), Marie-Fatima Rudolf (piano), Michel Lambert (drums)
Effendi Records FND174, Nov. 29, 2024

For close to 30 years now, bassist and Effendi label founder Alain Bédard has led different incarnations of his Auguste band (first a quintet, then a quartet, sometimes a trio). His sixth album with this group, Particules sonores (released at the end of last year) was also to be a celebration of Effendi’s 25th anniversary. Sadly, it was also to be saxophonist Mario Allard’s last recording. As it stands, the album is a tribute to Allard’s musicianship, shifting between mischievous soprano lines on Il Capello di mia Sorella; expressive, passionate alto on A Goose Story; agile, muscular tenor on the short Bamboozled; and sonorous baritone on Le Rescapé des Temps.

Find Particules sonores on the Effendi Records website.

Archive of the Month

The Complete Blue Note 45 Sessions
Ike Quebec (tenor sax), Edwin Swanston, Sir Charles Thompson, Earl Van Dyke (organ), Skeeter Best, Willie Jones (guitar), Sonny Wellesley, Milt Hinton, Sam Jones (bass), Les Jenkins, J.C. Heard, Wilbert Hogan (drums)
Recorded 1959—1962
Blue Note BST 11441/602475180418 (3-LP); 00602478449512 (CD), Oct. 10, 2025

One tends to forget today that the legendary Blue Note label, in addition to its famous series of albums, also largely depended on a steady stream of single releases on seven-inch, 45-rpm records destined for the jukebox market. While most singles were excerpted from albums, some were released directly in this format. This collection of 26 tracks from tenorist Ike Quebec was a kind of comeback for this saxophonist, whose career had suffered from heroin-related prison stints in the 1950s. While his fat,
old-fashioned tenor sound had given Blue Note a few hits in the mid 1940s, label bosses Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff were unsure Quebec was still marketable. These organ-combo singles apparently did well enough for him to be allowed to record a few full albums before his untimely death early in 1963. Most tracks here are cruder than the average Blue Note session, but Quebec’s tenor sound is front-and-centre and given how little material he has under his name, this a welcome reissue for a collection that had only been released as a limited edition before.

Find the CD and LP versions on Blue Note’s Tone Poet series page.

In brief, coming soon:

Now Jazz Now: 100 Essential Free Jazz & Improvisation Recordings 1960-80
Byron Coley, Mats Gustafsson & Thurston Moore (authors); preface by Neneh Cherry; afterword by Joe McPhee.
Ecstatic Peace Library, ISBN 979-8-9934040-0-4, Dec. 5, 2025

Musicians Mats Gustafsson and Thurston Moore are such record collectors that they once had a band (together with Jim O’Rourke) called Diskaholics Anonymous Trio! Together with veteran music writer Byron Coley (who now writes for The Wire, among other publications), they now propose a guide to classic free jazz and improvised music recordings released during the music’s two most creative decades. While one expects such unavoidable names as Sun Ra or Albert Ayler, we can also count on these passionate collectors to slip a few surprising selections among their 100 essentials. The book is profusely illustrated, with pictures from the authors’ own collections, as well as photos of musicians by photographer Philippe Gras.