Where is some contemporary Jazz & Classical music?

October 5, 2019 11:20 AM

Looking for Jazz and Classical music late 20th and 21st century works (e.g. Reich, Glass, Riley) What has been done? Movements? Trends (e.g. Minimalism) Who?
posted by ebesan to Media & Arts (8 answers total)

It's a really interesting and exciting time for jazz right now; it's influencing a whole load of mainstream stuff and also breaking through on its own terms.

There's a big LA Jazz scene centred around people like Flying Lotus (whose great-aunt was Alice Coltrane), Thundercat, Kamasi Washington et al - Brainfeeder records is the nexus for this sort of sound. It's heavily influenced by neo-soul, psychedelic soul and hip-hop (and is also a massive influence on hip-hop acts like Kendrick Lamar)

Also, South London has a big modern jazz scene - Shabaka Hutchings is probably the major player here (he's in several bands, but Sons of Kemet and The Comet is Coming are probably best known). Again, it's a real melting pot of sounds - a lot of afro/caribbean influence alongside things like Sun Ra and Miles Davis. See also bands like Ezra Collective, Seed Ensemble, Kokoroko.

The Guardian did a good piece on new British jazz last year.
posted by parm at 1:04 PM on October 5, 2019 [1 favorite]

Mason Bates - Mothership

https://youtu.be/N0K1kJOins4
posted by Juniper Toast at 2:50 PM on October 5, 2019

Going on now
posted by hortense at 11:56 PM on October 5, 2019

I've been enjoying listening to people's Spotify playlists to listen to genres I don't know that much about. Echoing parm's mention of South London jazz, I've enjoyed González Abel's UK Jazz, Josh Cooper's New London Jazz, benharper1314's London Jazz, and Sachin Tankaria's London + UK Jazz, all updated recently.
posted by fabius at 5:43 AM on October 6, 2019

The podcast Meet the Composer Is an excellent intro to many new classical music works. The podcast stream often has separate episodes that are uninterrupted recordings.

WNYC public radio station WQXR NY has an all classical station with a second stream of new music called Q2.
posted by sol at 8:20 AM on October 6, 2019

To follow up - Brownswood Recordings is Gilles Peterson's record label, and is full of interesting, adventurous modern jazz.

They put out the excellent We Out Here compilation a couple of years ago, which is a sort of statement piece by a bunch of super-hot London jazz artists (including the ones I mentioned in my first comment).
posted by parm at 9:39 AM on October 6, 2019

For classical and contemporary music, check out Alex Ross' blog here. Also read his book "The Rest Is Noise". If you can access the Los Angeles Times, their critic Mark Swed is very good on that city's rich classical music scene. For contemporary jazz, I recommend the blog "Between Sound and Space" here. It covers latest releases from the ECM record label. John Schaeffer's NewSounds radio show/podcast here is an important source of new music of all types. Resonance.fm out of London here is another very eclectic source of new music.
posted by conrad53 at 12:36 PM on October 6, 2019

I just keep coming back to Myra Melford. She's a pianist who blurs the boundaries between the kinds of music you mention in your post. My favorite record of hers is Life Carries Me This Way. Start with the tune Attic.

Adam Benjamin and his band Kneebody are pretty great too. I love his ramshackle but precise version of Monk's Dream.

And seconding Sons of Kemet--they're what happens when the instrumentation of a New Orleans brass band, tuba and all, is used to play music inspired by Fela Kuti and grooves from the Caribbean.
posted by umbú at 7:35 PM on October 6, 2019 [1 favorite]