PRESTON’S BEST OF 2015 HONORABLE MENTIONS

JOSHUA REDMAN + THE BAD PLUS – THE BAD PLUS JOSHUA REDMAN: What do you get when you do a Vulcan mind meld between tenor sax legend Redman and jazz innovators the Bad Plus? Seven new originals by four out-of-the-box musicians, and a few reworks of their classics. The quartet occasionally flirts with disaster, but always deliver. Pianist Ethan Iverson, bassist Reid Anderson and drummer David King push Redman to stretch even more than his lofty norm. “As This Moment Slips Away” and “Lack of Faith But Not In Mine” will amaze. 

LINDER BROS. – LINDER BROS.: Eight original jazz fusion tracks by the duo which features the bassist for the pop-rock group Dirty Loops (Henrek Linder) and his guitar playing brother Erik. The playing is, of course, stellar but the arrangements are equally high quality and energetic. Check out “Pi” and “When I was 18.”

FATOUMATA DIAWARA AND ROBERTO FONSECA – AT HOME: LIVE IN MARCIAC: Cuban-based pianist Roberto Fonseca teams up with Ivory Coast-born singer and actress Fatoumata Diawara for a infectious groove filled collaboration. Songs like “Sowa” and “Real Family” push the duo and their band to the limits, and are a great fusions of Afro-Cuban jazz and international rhythms.