With Naya Baaz’s ‘Charm,’ Rez Abbasi and Josh Feinberg channel their adventurous spirits into spiritually satisfying music.

It was easy to find jazz records that deserved a year-end salute; maybe ‘too’ easy. The heavy lifting came from figuring out which stood above the rest for this Best of 2017 list.

Rez Abbasi and his potent Invocation band have demonstrated with ‘Unfiltered Universe’ that creativity and originality is more than just ideas and knowledge, it’s about vision.

Rudresh Mahanthappa’s Indo-Pak Coalition’s the original mission of melding modern group-level stream-of-consciousness with contemporary raga remains intact, ‘Agrima’ builds on those original ideas, too.

‘Behind The Vibration’ is a typical Rez Abbasi album in the sense that when you think he’s about to run out of ideas and start repeating himself, he’ll come out with something fresh and stimulating that builds upon what he’s made before.

In the jazz world, I’ve found that the long-established artists, especially the ones who play in the well-established styles, get the bulk of the buzz.

Always talented, Pakistani-born guitarist Rez Abbasi is a skilled musician who’s really come into his own recently as not merely an instrumental whiz, but as a complete artist. You May Also Like: Rez Abbasi & Junction – Behind The Vibration (2016) Naya Baaz [Rez Abbasi + Josh Feinberg] – ‘Charm’Read More