Mid-Year Round-Up: Jazz Up Your Summer with Dave Koz & Cory Wong and Garage A Trois

2021 has been a great year for jazz, don't miss out on these smoking' hot new releases.

With June winding down, Check This Out! is heading into our final week of giving you some of the best releases that may have flown under your radar during the first six months of the year.

The feedback on the alternative hip hop stylings of Genesis Owusu and last week’s synthwave double feature on Hotel Pools and SelloRekt/LA Dreams has been tremendous and greatly appreciated. So, let’s dig into another genre with some of the best jazz releases of the year.

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I’m not the only one who found the collaboration between jazz legend Pharoah Sanders and Floating Points, a boundary pusher in the current electronic scene, to be one of the year’s best. Backed by the London Symphony Orchestra, Promises demands your full attention and will blow your mind once you give it the space it deserves.

The Awakening by Cologne-based musician Gianni Brezzo will end up as one of my favorite EPs for the year. Pulling from multiple genres, The Awakening features guest vocals on a few tracks, but it’s closer “Home Run” that I still have in heavy rotation. As noted in my earlier review, this song will make you feel like your floating along the ocean floor, with the track only missing narration by Jacque Cousteau.

Finally, Black to the Future by Sons of Kemet was one of my most anticipated releases of the year, and it doesn’t disappoint. After his work elsewhere with The Comet is Coming and Shabaka and the Ancestors, Shabaka Hutchings has become one of the most vital saxophonists in the game today. Exploring racial inequality and injustice while shuffling through hip hop, reggae, calypso, and dub, Black to the Future pushes the boundaries of the genre.

Jazz in 2021 refuses to bow to expectations, so here are two of the best records from the scene that presents in a wide range of forms.

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Dave Koz & Corey Wong - The Golden Hour

My first time giving The Golden Hour a spin happened during one of those dreadful early mornings post-pandemic errand runs. After being so used to hanging around the house, being around a ton of people is the hot torture many of us are still working through.

Heading to the strip malls of Glendale with a heavy frown, the opening saxophone notes of “Today” had me immediately rolling down the windows with a breezy smile.

It was kismet, as Dave Koz and Corey Wong self describe The Golden Hour, the duo’s first collaboration as:

“their spirited attempt to capture in words the high octane spontaneous combustion and wind-in-your-hair carefree coolness that’s possible when musical masters of two different generations venture fearlessly off their regular career paths.”

If you’ve not heard of Corey Wong in the last few years, then you’re missing on a high-flying guitar ace who always brings the good vibes. Known for his solo work and collaborating with Vulfpeck and the related Fearless Flyers, two of the funkiest bands in the land, Wong has become one of the most vital ensemble guitarists out there today. Add in longtime renowned saxophonist Dave Koz, and you’ve got one of the freest and easy releases of the year.

Koz and Wong bring the best out in each other as they seamlessly work together on cuts like “Getaway Car,” a song that marching bands should be playing at every college football halftime show for the rest of time. On the title track, Koz shows why he’s been one of the premier smooth jazz for thirty years now, while Wong comfortably hangs in the pocket but still demanding your attention.

Keeping with the car theme, “Junkyard Dunebuggy” is another standout, this time allowing Wong to show off his chops over retro-soul funkiness. If Tower of Power is more your thing, don’t miss out on “Engine 71,” a great call and response exercise that allows everyone on the project to show off.

Dave Koz and Corey Wong are backed by an incredible band on The Golden Hour, so crack a cold one and let the horn section take you away.

The Golden Hour is available now on Just Koz.

Garage A Trois - Calm Down Cologne

Although they’ve been around since the late 90s, Calm Down Cologne is my first Garage A Trois experience, and a record so bodacious, it has me working through their back catalog.

After some line-up changes, Garage A Trois is back to the original trio of 7-string hybrid guitarist Charlie Hunter, drummer Stanton Moore (more known from his work as a founding member of Galactic), and Skerik on keyboards and saxophone.

Recorded at Stone Gossard’s (Pearl Jam) studio in one day way back in 2019, Calm Down Cologne is a diverse set of crunchy acid jazz. Flowing from one song to the next, Garage A Trois mostly skips traditional solos, instead electing for the grooves, man. While working cohesively as a trio, it’s Stanton Moore’s gargantuan beats that drew me in.

“No Zone” starts with saxophone filtered through a wah pedal before the drums come thundering in as Hunter textures in all kinds of guitar sounds. Pulling from their New Orleans origins, Skerik’s analog keys throughout the album make the band sound like they're playing a live set in the marshiest swamp.

Kicking it up a notch, “The Epic” revolves around a paranoid sci-fi riff before simmering down for the title track, led by classic sax with some cowbell peppered in for good measure. “In-A-Pro-Pro” is another standout track as the keyboards and guitar run float off into space. Closer “Numinous” shuffles along at a dazed thump and is a showcase for Hunter’s unique 7-string sounds.

Released on Royal Potato Family Records, home of Circles Around the Sun (my 2020 AOTY), this reunited version of Garage A Trois fits in perfectly on the label with their loose, improvisational jams. If that’s you’re kinda thing, don’t miss out on this heater.

Calm Down Cologne is available now on Royal Potato Family.

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