London based Jazz ensemble The Lydian Collective share their favourite albums of 2017

1. Becca Stevens - Regina

Becca is such an incredibly talented musician and songwriter. Love her blend of folk/jazz and pop writing. This album features collaborations with other awesome musicians and writers such as Laura Mvula and Jacob Collier too.

The title track Regina is such a satisfying emotional experience with a super beautiful ukulele riff which develops into a hooky folk/pop song. Also loving the haunting vocals mixed with fat beats on ‘Queen Mab’.

2. Chon - Homey

Love the creative balance of lush, intricate guitar harmonies and big funky grooves on this album. They have captured a really beautiful original sound. One of the most interesting and colourful instrumental albums in a while.

3. Everything Everything - A Fever Dream

We love Everything Everything! They’re one of those bands that tend to always come up with something fun, new and original. It’s very rare that you ever hear a duff track from them. Favourite tracks from this album are ‘Night of the Long Knives’ and ‘Good Shot, Good Soldier’.

They blend indie/dance/electronica in a really interesting way - it's an incredibly forward thinking and creative approach to songwriting, harmony and production.

4. Kamasi Washington - A Harmony of Difference

Kamasi's previous record, 'The Epic', was a hard act to follow - but this latest album didn’t disappoint. Another masterpiece.

This album captures a big, vintage orchestral sound. Love the stunning cinematic choirs on ‘Truth’ and the classy chilled vibes of ‘Desire’.

5. Todd Baker - Monument Valley 2 Soundtrack

Technically this is cheating, as Todd is in the band...! But the rest of us really do think that it’s one of our favourite albums of the year and many music commentators agree, including Jessica Curry from Classic FM.

Outside of the band, Todd is a sound designer and composer for games and his career has reached new heights with this album. We’ve been so inspired by the beauty of this soundtrack that we now perform some of the pieces live as part of our set.

6. Hiromi & Edmar Castaneda

We LOVE Hiromi. One of the most amazing, elegantly beautiful and emotional pianists of our time!

She's created a rhythmical, quirky compositional style with harpist Edmar Casteneda. Such a unique blend of instruments playing beautiful intricately-arranged pieces live. They have such impeccable groove without any drums or extra percussion.

There’s a lovely balance of latin/world/jazz vibes along with Hiromi’s unique style.

7. Bonobo - Migration

Always been impressed with Bonobo’s ability to seamlessly blend jazz elements with beats and electronics. He has a very original production style - silky keys mixed with quirky processed percussion and warped vocal melodies.

Highlights of the album are the beautifully dreamy ‘Migration’ and the brooding emotional epic ’Second Sun’.

8. Big Bad Wolf - Pond Life

We saw these guys at the 606 Club a couple of years ago and have kept a close eye on them ever since. They’re all students from the Royal Academy/Leeds College of Music - and it shows! Very accomplished musicianship and unique compositional/arrangement ideas.

Favourite tracks from this album are ‘Canary’ and ‘Frog’.

9. Avishai Cohen - 1970

Avishai has been a massive influence on the band ever since we heard his first album ‘Colours’ in 2001.

Normally Avishai makes instrumental albums and plays the double bass infused with Middle Eastern/Jewish sounds, but in this album he takes things down a different avenue and explores his songwriting with a more soulful/funky pop album.

Avishai has such a great talent for beautiful harmony and groove, and it’s nice to hear this come out in a new way on this album.

10. Josienne Clarke & Ben Walker - The Birds

Todd went to the same school as Ben Walker and studied guitar with him back in Evesham, Worcestershire. They recently won the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards and we love his guitar playing and Joseinne’s lovely pure haunting voice.

Particularly like the concept of doing an album where each track relates to a different birds... Enjoying the simple and beautiful ‘The Birds’ and the old English folk-tinged 'Cuckoo.'

Have a listen to Lydian Collective’s latest track ‘Legend Of Lumbar

{https://soundcloud.com/lydiancollective/lydian-collective-legend-of}