Linda May Han Oh tracks seize the day

We spent part of yesterday listening to a lot of pre-release lead-off tracks among the output of dozens of labels and it was patently obvious which album coming up kidnapped our ears most reading the runes because from The Glass Hours 'Circles' …

Published: 10 May 2023. Updated: 25 days.

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We spent part of yesterday listening to a lot of pre-release lead-off tracks among the output of dozens of labels and it was patently obvious which album coming up kidnapped our ears most reading the runes because from The Glass Hours 'Circles' and 'Antiquity' are so fresh and interesting. You can certainly make an educated guess that this album from this vantage point of ''singles knowledge'' is the hottest one for June in prospect. Both these tracks have a whole lot going for them in terms of originality and sheer visceral as well as intellectual appeal. And we look forward to hearing the rest of the record and will make full comments on release. Suffice to say for now this is beyond the nevertheless important thrill of thriving on a riff and finds a place where flow is all in the harnessing of beat, groove and melodic resource in a highly instinctive yet cerebral manner within the crucible of fast unfolding group play. Crucially these tracks also seem relevant experiencing them in 2023 without the need nostalgically to dance to the music of a lost time.

Linda May Han Oh is one of the very best bassists of her generation. In the same superlative bracket as Esperanza Spalding although a completely different player we say that on the Australian-Malaysian who lives in the States because of the bassist-vocalist's work on Uneasy with Vijay Iyer, Pat Metheny (From This Place) and above all on her own Walk Against Wind, a classic of the 2010s. On The Glass Hours a 6 June release to be released on her husband the Cuban pianist Fabian Almazan's Biophilia label (on which Almazan also figures strongly) the Warne Marsh influenced tenor icon Mark Turner experimental singer Sara Serpa and Dave Holland drummer Obed Calvaire also appear. The tracks streaming so far are above. Linda May Han Oh, photo: press

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Magnus Öström Group, A Room For Travellers, Jazzland ****

Magnum opus 'Oceans' is when you really know but you kind of already have an inkling before getting to it that A Room For Travellers works. As zen and poised as ever, Magnus along with guitarist Andreas Hourdakis, pianist Daniel Karlsson and …

Published: 9 May 2023. Updated: 26 days.

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Magnum opus

'Oceans' is when you really know but you kind of already have an inkling before getting to it that A Room For Travellers works. As zen and poised as ever, Magnus along with guitarist Andreas Hourdakis, pianist Daniel Karlsson and bassist Thobias Gabrielson simply gel. So deeply satisfying. I could listen to Karlsson all day and all night and occasionally do and hope his own trio comes back to play again to the UK soon as a gig 5 years ago they did at Soho spot the Spice of Life was one of the best piano trio gigs that I have witnessed in many's a moon.

I bumped into the Swede while loitering with intent to speak to him by the Sweden stand at Jazzahead. Once free to be buttonholed he said that he books his UK tours himself as he hasn't an agent for the country and kindly slipped me a copy of Climbing the Ladder which I confess I missed last year. Listen above it's pretty good - and very different to A Room For Travellers but you can hear why he is so perfect as the significant sound of the lilting jazz Romantic within Magnus' band. He checked his phone to confirm the upcoming Öström Group dates for Manchester and London (details below) as I wasn't sure if there were even more that I didn't know about. He told me his big hero is Bobo Stenson - read about Bobo's new record Sphere - and said he was one of the first to purchase it on release a few months back.

Back to A Room For Travellers the ballad 'All Those Years' later is overall highlight of this eco conscious ocean-appreciating themed magnum opus. Öström is so melodic as a drummer it's unreal even when the beat is being subdivided into convoluted knots you are always sure that he always knows best. And he doesn't even have to play groove to make what he does work so well. But when he does - on 'Safe and Sound' - the offbeats ricochet and flick on not just any electric light inside but the brightest bulb imaginable. SG.

Just released. The Magnus Öström Group (photo: press) play Band on the Wall in Manchester on 16 May - click for tix; followed by Ronnie Scott's, London next night - ditto, click