Ever since AB celebrated the 100th anniversary of the very first jazz album with a tsunami of successful jazz concerts (under the banner JAZZ 100) in 2017, our love of the genre has only increased. We have already presented a number of unique jazz scene reports with the focus on London (from Shabaka Hutchings via Kamaal Williams to Nubya Garcia), Manchester (from GoGo Penguin to Matthew Halsall), Chicago (from Makaya McCraven to Ben LaMar Gay) and, of course, Belgium (from BeraadGeslagen via Steiger to Glass Museum).

‘The Rebirth of Jazz’ is a fact. Jazz continues to reinvent itself, the stream of interesting releases is now unstoppable, and the genre attracts a notably young audience. All good reasons to commit to jazz this fall, with concerts by Theon Cross, Angel Bat Dawid, Oscar Jerome, Ezra Collective, TaxiWars, Joe-Armon Jones, Ill Considered, Sarathy Korwar and Nérija (with members of KOKOROKO, SEED Ensemble, …).

Brand new label International Anthem Recording Co. is steadily build up steam from out of their homebase Chicago. So AB was happy to throw its doors wide open for first-class acts like Irreversible Entanglements (feat. Moor Mother), Ben LaMar Gay, and Makaya McCraven last year. Chicago Reader summed up the spirit of the label perfectly: 'International Anthem is one of the most innovative, aesthetically savvy, and open-minded record labels in Chicago that brings punk idealism to progressive jazz.' The latest gain is classically schooled piano/clarinet player Angel Bat Dawid, who has released one of the most remarkable albums of 2019: ‘The Oracle’.