Michael Olatuja – ‘Lagos Pepper Soup’ (2020)
After a long layover from a lead role, the superb bassist and composer Michael Olatuja makes ‘Lagos Pepper Soup’ well worth the wait.
After a long layover from a lead role, the superb bassist and composer Michael Olatuja makes ‘Lagos Pepper Soup’ well worth the wait.
Aaron Parks has the songwriting and playing chops to make a solid jazz record whenever he wants to. This time, he went beyond that realm.
There’s a record for every corner of fusion, from minimalism to funk-jazz to jam band, on S. Victor Aaron’s final Best of 2018 list.

Aaron Parks’ progressively minded ‘Little Big’ might not be the direction jazz is currently headed, but it should be.

Watch out for Bjørn Solli’s ‘Aglow: The Lyngør Project Volume 1’ (out May 4, 2015), conceived on a small island in South Norway and birthed with a crackerjack band in NYC.

At times, jazz vocalist Maria Neckam’s music sounds like Joni Mitchell during her mid-70s jazz excursion but with a Annette Peacock stream-of-conscienceness flow and Bjork-like modern sensibility, delivered with pipes as pure as Suzanne Vega. You May Also Like: Jacob Garchik – ‘Assembly’ (2022) Roberto Maria Zorzi, Michael Manring, ScottRead More
The sky’s the limit for Aaron Parks and he’s already several miles off the ground.