These are videos that I like: Best of Bandcamp Jazz 2017 (Part One)

 

Today’s videos feature ensembles that were among my monthly selections for Best of Bandcamp Jazz.  2017 saw a minimum of 120 recommendations, so it’s understandable that some might have fallen off the radar over the course of the year.  Here’s a chance to reverse that trend and remind everyone how much great music came out this year.

Let’s begin with a performance from Brooklyn Raga Massive and their rendition of John Coltrane’s “Alabama.”  This 2015 show happened at Pioneer Works Center for Art and Innovation in Red Hook.  It’s also a work featured on their outstanding 2017 release Coltrane Raga Tribute (read about it at The Bandcamp Daily), which explores the connections between Indian music and the works of John and Alice Coltrane.

If you want to skip the write-up, you can go listen to the album (and purchase it) at the artist’s Bandcamp page.  It’s also available at Amazon.

Next up is a live performance video from Kati Briens Dream Band.  It’s an older video from a 2012 show at Weinstadt, Germany’s Jazzclub Armer Konrad.  But it features the song “Beam,” which is the opening track on Brien’s excellent 2017 release Happy Music (read about it at The Bandcamp Daily). 

If you want to skip the write-up, you can go listen to the album (and purchase it) at the artist’s Bandcamp page.  It’s also available at Amazon.

Next up is a video of Amir ElSaffar performing at Manhattan’s Steve Maxwell drum store, as part of the NPR Field Recordings series.  This is an older video and a different ensemble than what appears on his excellent 2017 release Not Two, (read about it at The Bandcamp Daily), but it definitely provides a sense of how ElSaffar brings about a convergence of NYC Jazz and Middle-Eastern musics.

If you want to skip the write-up, you can go listen to the album (and purchase it) at the artist’s Bandcamp page.  It’s also available at Amazon.

And let’s end today’s column with a live performance from the ensemble Web Web.  This August 2017 show went down at Munich’s Jazzclub Unterfahrt. and features music from their excellent 2017 release Oracle (read about it at The Bandcamp Daily).

If you want to skip the write-up, you can go listen to the album (and purchase it) at the artist’s Bandcamp page.  It’s also available at Amazon.