Boldly venturing into the harsh terrains of unconstrained sonic discharge, WDR Jazz Prize-winner Angelika Niescier heads a fearsome trio of alto sax, cello and drums. A wildly intense ride, the group approaches the vast avant-garde landscapes they inhabit with a powerful combination of individual drive and collective ambition. Each performer never fails to provoke their bandmates into reaching their goals of emancipated improvisatory assuagement.

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Back for their second album on the vital Smoke Sessions label following their acclaimed mid-pandemic debut All Things Are (2021), this crafty intergenerational supergroup possesses all the right attitudes when it comes to fashioning a record of such graceful candour. Highly welcoming in its down-to-earth vibe, you get a sense that these players not only care for one another but are full of admiration for their colleagues, too. Having opened the door to exploration, this trio remains completely open to whatever it may find on the horizon.

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One of our favourite home musicians, Rob’s guitar skills have already featured on three corkers this year in the shape of Ten Past Never from Enzo Zirilli's Zirobop, Elina Duni’s A Time to Remember and Alex Hitchcock’s recently-featured Dream Band: Live in London. Now, it’s the guitarist’s turn to take the reins (which he does so resplendently). Largely composed while holidaying in the Sinai Peninsula of southern Egypt, this beachbound bonanza allows Rob to comfortably wear his influences with joyful pride, from Abercrombie-ish prog rock to his dreamy take on Aphex Twin’s ‘Flim’.

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Over the past year, this Norwegian pianist has been releasing a series of live albums recorded throughout his homeland, tying together through solo performances the locations that resonate with him most. A concerted effort, this latest instalment returns the Steinway Artist to his hometown of Hamar, some 100km north of Oslo, for an enthralling hour-long pianistic monologue. Striking in the dance-like approach he employs as the textured strands of his compositional ideas begin to unfurl, the supple nature of Berg’s command and attack reveals an immaculate storyteller at heart.

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In an act of revived musical exchange, these musicians have brought to light forms of Armenian culture that were previously hidden from view. Assembling their third recording on ECM out of such heralded traditions as Armenian troubadours and the esotericism of G.I. Gurdjieff’s spiritual teachings, Eskenian and his ensemble have created a transformative work of art that penetrates the core of what music-making is about, as they blend together elements of the sacred and profane.

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