Marc Ribot is mostly restrained (even when he shreds he does so mindfully), reinforcing Fefer’s compositions and flights of alto and tenor fancy, while the dream Revis-Taylor rhythm section funks and frees and progs things up on demand (“Bedouin Dream”, “Sky Lake”, “Sweet Fifteen (for G.T.)”)
The Spy from Cairo: Animamundi
The guy sometimes called Zeb folds a few more continents into his Arabadub, with cumbia two-stepping and Spanish, Mexican, and Hungarian singers, but remains strongest pitching variations on his core fusion, playing some kind of zither called a qanun and shaping dabke into his template (“Qanun in Dub”, “Black Sea”, “Beautiful Baraka”)
Johnny Ray Daniels: Whatever You Need
With a strong backing band and various descendants to do call-and-response with, septuagenarian Daniels is uniformly celebratory, basking in God’s omnipotence and asserting He’ll be on your side in times of hardship or kidney disease; some listeners might wish for more variety, but they’re probably polytheists or something (“Whatever You Need”, “Something Within Me”, “God Is Able”)
Erlend Viken/Jo Berger Myhre/Thomas Politz Strønen: Djupet
Distinguishing features of this iteration of the Norwegian jazz-collective generation process are incisive fiddle from Viken and wide-ranging percussion from Strønen; the result is heavy on atmosphere, appropriately chilly and sometimes thrilly (“Driva”, “Gråura”, “Forgreininger II”)
Ria Boss: Remember
Live-recorded debut from a Ghanaian-Burkinabe neo-soul singer a/k/a Cat Mama whose voice maintains its shape and consonants in both high and low registers, letting her process loss, do some sexy stuff, and work around rappers of varying propriety (“Remember”, “Here”, “Equal Refix”)
David Murray Brave New World Trio: Seriana Promethea
A minor Murray album but a decently major Brad Jones album: he makes use of the full range of his bass, whether creaking out arco overtones or slinkily funking/funkily slinking his way through Sly Stone (“Metouka Sheli (Ballade for Adrienne)”, “If You Want Me to Stay”)
Small-voiced singer makes minor retro-R&B album—this doesn’t mean her desires aren’t real or strong, just that when we get to the obligatory breakup-and-aftermath arc, it only feels momentarily consequential (“Cybah”, “Missing Out”)
Trevor Dunn’s Trio-Convulsant avec Folie à Quatre: Séances
On Mr. Bungle’s bassist’s jazz/classical palette mix, the rhythm players usually prevent things from drifting off into 13/4 castles in the sky, especially when Mary Halvorson plays like she wants to meet Mike Patton (“1733”, “Restore All Things”)
Sampa the Great: As Above, So Below
“I can be soft/I can be hard/I can be everything under the stars” claims this Zambian-Australian singer-rapper who toys with styles from trap to Zamrock, and if she doesn’t demonstrate indisputable mastery of any of them, that hasn’t stopped guest Angélique Kidjo from achieving Sampa’s epithet (“Tilibobo”, “Bona”)
JID: The Forever Story
Arguably the most accomplished Kendrick album of 2022 and definitely the most likable one, which is an achievement even if I wish it were more of one (“Surround Sound”, “Raydar”)
Gard Nilssen Acoustic Unity: Elastic Wave
Nilssen’s first date as a leader on ECM is a little Gard-ed—there’s a song about Paul Motian muffling his bass drum with a scarf (music to Manfred’s sensitive ears)—but André Roligheten finds ways to get around the memo, like playing simultaneous tenor and soprano (“The Other Village”, “The Room Next to Her”)