New Releases From Sam Blakeslee And More

Music has always been a reflection of the moment—an ever evolving landscape shaped by innovation, tradition, and reinvention. This selection of new releases brings together a fascinating cross-section of contemporary sounds, moving from expansive large-ensemble arrangements and intricate modern jazz compositions to free improvisation and avant-garde exploration. Whether driven by deep grooves, striking dynamic contrasts, or quiet moments of acoustic intimacy, each piece offers a distinct listening experience.

AUDIO

PLAYLIST

1. Sam Blakeslee Large Group “Slow Growth/New Growth (Feat. Matt Pavolka and Martha Kato)” from New Blood (Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records) 00:00

2. Russ Spiegel “Lydian Dream” from Timepieces (Ruzztone Music) 10:47

3. Charles Tolliver All Stars “Peace With Myself” from Right Now And Then (Strata-East) 21:37

4. Eduardo Elia “La Templanza” from Las Nubes (Club Del Disco) 31:02

5. Kevin Sun “Hold Music” from Kevin Sun 1 (Endectomorph Music) 39:09

6. Raymond Roussel “Black Is The Colour” from No One Asked Us Yet (Halocline Trance) 44:58

7. Tres Hongos “Skipped Rocks Don’t Not Dance” from More Chips (Relative Pitch Records) 55:20

8. Mick Goodrick “In The Tavern Of Ruin” from In Pas(s)ing (ECM Records) 1:07:07

9. Florian Stoffner “bijou f” from bijou (Relative Pitch Records) 1:18:28

10. Chad Taylor Trio featuring Brian Settles and Neil Podgurski “Between Sound And Silence” from The Daily Biological (Cuneiform Records) 1:27:38

11. Finola Merivale Catherine Sikora “Des Os” from Abhaile (Relative Pitch Records) 1:39:40

12. Joanna Mattrey, Camila Nebbia, Camilo Ángeles & Violeta García “1” from Heavy Handed (Relative Pitch Records) 1:58:13

NOTES

1. Award-winning Trombonist/composer Sam Blakeslee, originally from Columbus, Ohio, and now persistently raising the bar for all trombonists and composers on the NYC scene, presents an exhilarating and rewarding new album from his Sam Blakeslee Large Group, New Blood, to be released on Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records on September 25, 2026. Blakeslee’s compositions exude quality and depth. The writing is sublime and expertly crafted. There is an abundance of substance and experience in every phrase, and the music is brought to life with ebullience by an ensemble of first-call, high level NYC artists, including Charles Pillow, David Smith, Alex Norris, Pete McCann, Matt Pavolka, and many others. The quality of musicianship is nearly peerless, and the band sounds like they’ve been on the road together playing this music for quite some time. The Large Group sounds joyously engaged with the compositions.

2. This new release is built around a set of original compositions spanning his career. Recorded in Miami in November 2025, it features his core quartet of Tal Cohen, Vince Dupont and Brandon Lee Lewis, with guests including Hendrik Meurkens, Jean Caze, Tim Armacost and Javier Nero. Most of the material consists of previously unrecorded compositions from across decades, unified here under the album’s time‑based motif. The ensemble moves between relaxed lyricism and more rhythmically intricate writing, with the guests adding colour on selected tracks. The production, mixing and design are handled by Spiegel himself, reinforcing the album’s personal, crafted character. Overall, Timepieces presents a reflective, career‑spanning set shaped by precision, pacing and a clear conceptual through‑line.

3. A re-release of Charles Tolliver’s debut as a leader, recorded in 1965 and issued on Strata‑East, presenting him in both quartet and quintet settings. The album features a heavyweight lineup: Tolliver on trumpet, Gary Bartz on alto saxophone, Herbie Hancock on piano, Ron Carter on bass and Joe Chambers on drums. Across the session Tolliver’s early voice is fully formed — bright tone, poised phrasing and a compositional sense that pushes beyond hard‑bop conventions. The quartet pieces give him open harmonic space, while the quintet tracks add Bartz’s incisive lines for a sharper, more angular front‑line blend. Hancock and Carter provide the elastic rhythmic foundation typical of their mid‑60s work, and Chambers’ drumming brings a crisp, modern edge. Newly remixed and remastered under Tolliver’s supervision, the reissue aims to present the music with the clarity and balance he originally intended.

4. This release is built around a suite inspired by Juan José Saer’s novel of the same name. The album features Elia on piano, Cristian Andrada on bass, and Luis Barzola on drums, forming a tight trio that balances composed structure with open improvisation. The music traces the novel’s journey of a young psychiatrist escorting five patients from Santa Fe to Buenos Aires in the early 19th century, with each movement reflecting a stage of that trip — preparation, travel, storm, and arrival. The suite is complemented by additional pieces that extend the album’s reflective, lyrical atmosphere. Elia’s writing leans toward melodic clarity and atmospheric abstraction, creating landscapes that shift between narrative suggestion and free exploration. Released May 31, 2026, it runs just over forty minutes and marks a return to the compositional–improvisational balance characteristic of Elia’s earlier work.

5. A single from visionary saxophonist/composer Kevin Sun’s upcoming album, Kevin Sun. Inspired by Sun’s own experience of a real-life ninety-minute ordeal on hold with the IRS, the track loops a spiky, seven-bar figure, building in textural density and playing with dynamics before dissolving into a single sustained tone as if the phone line itself has given up. A self-portrait in two parallel but distinctively bold new albums, Kevin Sun, I and Kevin Sun, II are out September 25, 2026 via Sun’s own Endectomorph Music imprint. As the saxophonist explains, these two albums are designed to be listened to in any sequence, each complete on its own terms but also illuminating the other. “This isn’t really a conventional double album,” says Sun. “It’s more like a pair of video games set in the same universe, each with its own style and cast of characters.”

6. With the debut of his trio Raymond Roussel Eldritch Priest moves away from the peculiar chamber music which is famed for and toward his roots in jazz guitar (and thus his 2024 solo guitar album Dormitive Virtue). Yet, as the band’s name suggests, their take on jazz is not quite straightforward either. Each player in the group employs processing quite dramatically, offering ample scope for abstraction, a decision which is mirrored by their interweaving of improvisation with Priest-penned originals and odd renditions of covers (”standards” may not be quite apt here.) Priest is joined by bassist James Meger and drummer/ electronics wielder Brady Cranfield—two prominent members of Vancouver’s music and art scene—and their work together gestures toward everything from Warp-label electronica to the fabled ECM sound, and from gnarly free jazz to, on occasion, shoegaze-ish atmospherics.

7. Tres Hongos convene for a striking trio recording that thrives on sharp turns, intricate interplay, and restless momentum. Wick’s searching trumpet lines weave through Riordan’s fractured piano gestures while Rosaly shapes the music with nimble, unpredictable rhythmic motion. Together they construct music of quick contrasts and vivid textures, where ideas splinter, collide, and reform in real time. The result is a vivid document of three improvisers navigating the edge of structure and spontaneity with daring precision. Jacob Wick - trumpet; Marc Riordan - piano; Frank Rosaly - drums

8. His first album as a leader, a quietly radical guitar record built around an unusually empathetic quartet: Goodrick on guitar, John Surman on baritone and soprano saxophones, Eddie Gómez on bass and Jack DeJohnette on drums. The music sits in that late‑70s ECM space where lyricism, abstraction and rhythmic looseness coexist, with Goodrick favouring clean lines, subtle harmonic shifts and an almost conversational touch. Surman’s reeds add a contrasting, sometimes rugged edge, while Gómez and DeJohnette give the session its fluid, elastic pulse. Across the album the interplay is understated but intricate, with Goodrick’s writing acting more as a framework for colour, texture and collective movement than for conventional solo showcases. It remains one of his most distinctive statements — spacious, thoughtful and quietly adventurous. Re-issued as part of ECM’s Luminessence Series

9. Swiss guitarist Florian Stoffner brings a deeply personal approach to free improvisation. This solo release expands on the exploratory drive that has shaped his work as both a bandleader and collaborator. Drawing on the subtle command of texture and space heard in trio recordings such as Braids and The Glass Changes Shape, on bijou he stretches the guitar’s vocabulary through inventive spontaneity, crafting a focused and intimate musical statement.

10. A sharply focused trio statement built around the interplay of Taylor on drums, Brian Settles on tenor saxophone and Neil Podgurski on piano. The music folds together Taylor’s rhythmic architecture, Settles’ warm, searching tone and Podgurski’s angular, harmonically curious lines, creating a sound that’s both grounded and exploratory. Pieces move between tightly shaped motifs and open, conversational improvisation, with Taylor’s drumming acting as both propulsion and commentary. Settles brings a reflective, slightly grainy lyricism, while Podgurski’s phrasing adds a modernist edge without crowding the space. The album feels like a study in balance — density and air, pulse and drift — and stands as one of Taylor’s most cohesive small‑group projects.

11. The collaboration of Catherine Sikora and Finola Merivale brings together saxophone with field recordings and electronics in a fluid, exploratory dialogue. Sikora’s incisive, texturally rich playing unfolds against Merivale’s carefully shaped sonic environments, where found sounds and subtle processing create shifting atmospheres. Their collaboration emphasizes deep listening and spontaneous interaction, blurring the line between instrumental gesture and environmental sound. The result is an intimate, immersive music that moves between stark minimalism and dense, evocative layers.

12. This quartet brings together four distinct voices from the international improvised music community. Heavy Handed unfolds as a vivid dialogue of strings, winds, and breath, where extended techniques and close listening shape a constantly shifting collective language. Moving between fragile textures and sudden eruptions the quartet crafts music that feels both exploratory and deeply connected. The result is a striking document of four improvisers meeting at the edge of form, creating raw and intricate music. Joanna Mattrey - Viola; Camila Nebbia - Tenor saxophone; Camilo Ángeles - Flute, electronics; Violeta García - Cello, electronics.