Master trumpeter & composer Wynton Marsalis presents his first holiday album in 20 years. The usual suspects like Jingle Bells, Mary had a baby, Blue Christmas, Good King Wenceslas are all given the jazz touch.

Luke Dsico just emailed us about his new EP on bandcamp. He’s one of dem newbreed of producers of alt disco fused with electro, rock & vocals. It’s a ‘name your own price’ release with no minimum. So if you like what you hear you know what to do. BTW Luke has relocated to London and he’s up for gigs.

Continuing yesterday’s post : Ben Allison’s Think Free is supposedly a move away from chamber jazz, but as a first time listener it still feels like chamber jazz with a touch of the midwest:

Two albums that I’ve been procrastinating over for a few months, Vijay Iyer’s Historicity and Ben Allison’s Think Free has been topping nearly all the noteworthy jazz lists. Historicity is the effort of a piano trio with Stephan Crump on bass and Marcus Gilmore on drums, but it’s not a standard piano jazz album.

Sister labels Tirk & Nang both sent us promos last month. Tirk No. 55 is by Milano discoheads The Love Supreme. Nang 07 is a remix package to Tirk’s best download seller in 2009, by Siberian discobears Acos Coolkas.

Just received this one from Bear Funk. Soirée, labelowner Stevie Kotey’s new project with Max Essa is a real beast that fuses all the good bits from balearic house, disco, funk and anything soulful.

It’s been 10 days since we lost Jack Rose, and we’ve spent a good deal of that time listening to his music and his inspirations. First I was going to share a few songs but then the list grew and I knew I had to try to make a mix. I don’t know if I succeeded in making something coherent but I’m confident the music reflects at least a part of his passion.

One of the meatiest twitter streams I follow is that of digital composer Stephan Mathieu. His feed is always chock full of quality be it from him or otherwise. Video excerpt of his Virginals set at Steirischer Herbst is stunning, and so is his earlier Crónica selection “On the Concept of History“.