A salute to all those UK indie label jazzheads in recordland who continue to venture down the jazz side of the road. Yes, it's our latest, greatest, least dated snapshot of top UK jazz labels. A few observations - the main heart of the UK jazz label sector isn't about major labels, the Warners, Sonys, Universals of this world who do not feed into the grassroots scene anywhere nearly as effectively as the battle weary indie labels do. UK jazz indies are small businesses and have more in common with a neighbourhood restaurant that may hopefully have a decent turnover but can just as easily have its ups and downs. Like when the chef gets overly creative with the cleaver or the sommelier has somehow lost his inner schmooze, the essential role of serving the community with music for the soul can get waylaid a bit.
More jazzers than in The Archers? Nostalgia ain't what it used to be - the curse of the 1980s strikes again, perhaps. But more than any kind of Harvey and or assorted Wallbangers for that matter - cocktail, musical troupe or corporate vehicle can entertain - the indie label jazz scene role presence in London, Birmingham, Bristol - ooh aah ooh aah wherever in the shires - Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow, Cardiff and Belfast is vital.
Indies' human size, the 2024 variety, is their superpower. Some are more professional than others. But professionalism, particularly of the overly slick variety, doesn't mean that they are necessarily (or even at all) better. Even long established labels go through spells of uninspired A&R longueur. The most switched on Dog and Duck denizen on any given drizzly Tuesday night sheltering before heading over to the spiritual home of the UK scene thriving on a riff Ron and on nearby over on Frith certainly knows that.
We have selected the 10 best at the moment from a far larger pool and big up to all 'nuff said who dally down the jazz side of the road on a daily basis - putting out jazz that feeds the soul. Check out all you children of the 80s The Sisterhood drawn Rickie Lee Jones homage of the same name, handily - click play to get you in the mood.
LABELS
- 10 New Soil
Awen Ensemble debuting with Cadair Idris blew us away this spring. Leeds based self-described as an ''alternative folk jazz collective'' the word ''Awen'' in their name means ''poetic inspiration'' in Welsh. It would, wouldn't it - ''travelling like a stranger in the night, all along the ancient highway'' in another Celtic heartbeat as the poet put it. But Amy Clark's vocals land somewhere between the sound of early period Christine Tobin particularly a song like 'Those Who Love the Lord' on Aililiu (Babel, 2001) and Lauren Kinsella in Snowpoet guise as on Thought You Knew (Edition, 2018) with Chris Hyson et al. Their album takes its name from a mythology rich peak of Snowdonia. London label New Soil has also issued new work by Jake Long of Maisha renown and the latest from the very credible Ill Considered.
- 9 Gondwana
Matt Halsall's spiritual jazz loving Manchester label goes from strength to strength with new work from saxist Jasmine Myra in the vanguard.
- 8 BBE
Kudos galore for the hardy long running BBE Music - BBE stands for ''barely breaking even'' - with the best work to date from Alina Bzhezhinska and Tony Kofi on Altera Vita and one of their best releases in years.
- 7 PX Music
Launched last year this label arm of the Pizza Express Live music chain sports strong production values and has a big release in store soon with the Billy Strayhorn Ian Shaw and Tony Kofi album, An Adventurous Dream. Recently singer Anaïs Reno's At Pizza Express Live in London picked up a good deal of interest.
A steady year so far from one of the UK's most professional jazz label entities - recent ramped up activity includes announcements of Alicia & Michael Olatuja's Olatuja, Orlando le Fleming & Romantic Funk's Wandering Talk, John O’Gallagher's Beast and Cloudmakers Trio with Leo Genovese's A Drop of Hope in the Ocean of Uncertainty. The big release of the year so far for Whirlwind has been, oh easily, Empirical's Wonder is the Beginning.
Eagle's Point proved to be the most eye and ear catching album of the year for UK jazz indiedom so far - with, for the first time, the presence of one Bradford Alexander Mehldau on this Chris Potter recording for Dave Stapleton's acclaimed Berkshire based label, Grammy winning in recent years with Secrets Are The Best Stories.
Strong releases recently continue to pour out from the west London based label and include newcomer Karim Saber's Transmission - we reckon Saber is the newcomer of the year to date full stop.
Concentrating mostly on output by north east of England singer Jo Harrop whose Larry Klein produced The Path of a Tear out later this year is London based Lateralize's most high profile release - and one of their best - lyrically and musically to date
Flautist and composer Shabaka Hutchings' London based label goes from strength to strength with the release of Ganavya's outstanding Like the Sky I've Been Too Quiet.
We continue to have a soft spot for plucky Birmingham label Stoney Lane - our favourite UK jazz indie at the moment whose output has included storming work from Paul Dunmall recently. But it is Trish Clowes and Ross Stanley Wigging out on Journey to Where that exceeded our most Pollyanna like instincts, er, bigly. The 2023 list is here
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