Gregory Porter - Water

Finally! Another jazz singer with chops and soul to sit alongside the mighty Kurt Elling. I am so excited about this artist.  Originals, offbeat covers, a superb band and a voice both elastic and soulful.This record is effortless and bursting with class. 

Vijay Iyer - Solo

A curiously modern record despite being traditional solo jazz piano. Vijay manages to say a great deal in short spaces of time, and has appeared to develop a soloing style that seems steeped in jazz history one minute and reinventing it the next. There are rough edges too and a lack of flashiness that contributes strongly to the strong emotional heart of this deeply, deeply satisfying record.

Sara Mitra - April Song

A new jazz singer, recorded and accompanied beautifully by the UK's finest, singing mostly, esoteric originals. This eccentric record points a bold way forward for UK jazz singers.

Bad Plus - Never Stop

The Bad Plus proving that they are as catchy and compelling songwriters as the ones they have covered in the past that brought so many people into their music (like me!). This band has the power to bring people into the joys of improvised music with the ever growing body of brilliant work they are creating.

Esperanza Spalding - Chamber Music Society

Jaw droppingly clever, but don't let that put you off. This is singing, bass playing and composing of the highest order - created by a genuine star. The world is catching up with her (she's just received a grammy nod) and it is easy to see why. I listen to this and go shuffling back to the woodshed...........

Polar Bear - Peepers

Polar Bear continue to bring an aesthetic to jazz that no-one else does quite as well - and that is an atmosphere and vibe outside of the jazz club. The sound of this record reeks of a filthy rock and roll studio, it reeks of an attitude, it proudly becomes its own scene. Music can go a long way when it creates for you as a listener a sense of belonging to something, and they do that perfectly.

Jason Moran - Ten

A sturdy and superb trio record. Not reinventing the wheel by any means but I found myself coming back to this many times this year.

Charles Lloyd - Mirror

A genuine legend, still making music that is as good, if not better than he has ever made. If you're a young horn player and are consistently told about the importance of developing your own sound, beyond technique, then listen to this CD.  Uniquely spiritual jazz music.

Food - Quiet Inlet

I have to agree with Jazzwise magazine here. This is an album that points towards the future, bringing together elements of jazz, electronic, contemporary classical and outerspace, with a warmth and accessibility that is often lacking in music that contains the above headings. Adventurous, but also strangely familiar 

Other albums I loved:

Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma

Andreya Triana - Lost Where I Belong

LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening

Sufjan Stevens - Age of Adz

Janelle Monae - The Archandroid

Caribou - Swim

Kanye West - My beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Lukid - Chord

Jamie was sad to have to cut sections of the interview because we ran out of time in the show (they spoke for a long time) so asked us to post this clip of Dave Brubeck talking about his encounter with The Pope.. it really made him laugh..

Enjoy.

Jamie Cullum Blog BBC Radio 2 Jazz

We went over to his hotel one morning while we were at the Newport Jazz Festival and we sat down with him at his hotel and the whole thing felt more like a conversation. It was so interesting to hear his stories of how he got started and his time in the war. He's just an extraordinary musician and he just comes over as a phenomenal man, a family man, a great sense of who he is but also who he is in his family as well.

He's been married to his wife Iola for 67 years and what really transpired in the interview is a lot of that stuff people know him for, Take 5 and It's A Raggy Waltz and that whole Time Out album, he's been developing and creating his music for his entire career right up until the current day. He's writing ballets, he's writing entire masses for church. An incredibly interesting musician who's never stood still a day in his life.

One of the things I love about Dave Brubeck's music that I've always tried to apply to my own music is to not sacrifice certain musical complexities in the music but also make it really listen-able for people who aren't necessarily that drawn to jazz. Dave Brubeck was really the first jazz musician to have a huge hit in the charts and that was with Take 5 and indeed the whole album Time Out was a huge, huge hit with people that had probably never really listened to jazz before and I just find that amazing because this is music that is technically very difficult to play but he makes it sound easy with its playfulness and sheer listen-ability.

The two-part special we recorded with Dave Brubeck runs on the 30th November and the 7th December to coincide with his 90th birthday.

Find out more about the programme

A magazine, unlike others shone out at me, printed on gorgeous paper, the front cover proclaimed to have an article about Sun Ra inside. I picked it up and devoured the article about the outerspace jazz planeteer.

I also discovered the acid jazz of United Future Organisation and the Eastern experiments of Talvin Singh. It was a similar entry point to Jazz that both DJ Gilles Peterson and the world of Acid Jazz were. It spoke to me as a young man who liked to dance and party and have friends, but also as someone with a burgeoning interest in a somewhat niche art form - especially in Chippenham. Straight No Chaser was a magazine I could have under my arm and toss it down next to the sixth form common room's copy of the NME and Melody Maker with no fear of recrimination.

It was a beautiful magazine that has regretfully been discontinued. No other magazine ever brought together the world of jazz, dance, world and electronic music/DJ Culture like SNC did. It was also regularly beautifully graphic designed. Collectors items that I still covet to this day. How many magazines do that to you?

Pete Williams was a regular photographer at Straight No Chaser, channelling the genius of past greats like Herman Leonard, William Claxton and Francis Wolff, giving the new vibrant world of jazz a fresh image with a strong link to the past. In keeping with the magazine's philosophy of presenting jazz like the club scene it always belonged to.

There's an exhibition of Pete's work at the Maverik Showroom in London. Check it out and dig out an old copy of Straight no Chaser. It still feels like the future.

What a privilege to sit in Maida Vale studios (one of the finest recording facilities in the known universe, they have 10 hammond organs you know) and hear some of the world's greatest musicians play for an audience of 4 (myself, engineer, my producers).

We hang out in the control room, tea cups charged as musicians play and we fling out requests to the likes of Bobby McFerrin (genius, psycho-jukebox-vocalist in human form) and Martin Taylor (a genuine guitar hero - a term used too freely nowadays). It becomes a fantasy gig experience.

Normally if time is not too short I sit and chat with our guests where I aim to introduce them to our listeners and then we swiftly delve into more muso depths - how do you practice? When did you discover your own voice? What is your favourite key to sing in? We stop, not for a lack of things to say, but for the clock or an angry, waiting cabbie who should have picked up his minstrel 1hr ago.

It is a privilege to present these musicians on such a vast platform that is Radio 2. Meet Soweto Kinch Radio 2 tea-timers! Enjoy Polar Bear people in cars on the M25! There are many more to come......some you'll know, some you won't, but all will blow your mind.

Jamie Cullum Blog BBC Radio 2 Jazz

Jamie Cullum Blog BBC Radio 2 Jazz