And just like that, spring is upon us: daffodils sprout, forget-me-nots remember, festivals beckon, would-be songs of the summer shake their fledgling tail-feathers, and the distant hum of a Rihanna album mingles with the birdsong. As marquee acts line up for their first major tours since before the pandemic, the release schedule has filled apace, with overdue comebacks (Everything But the Girl, Feist), long-teased debuts (Boygenius, Overmono), and crowdpleasers galore from the likes of Lana Del Rey and the National. As of March 21, all release dates have been confirmed. But, as usual, everything is subject to change.
Angel Bat Dawid: Requiem for Jazz
The Cry of Jazz, a 1959 film that links jazz history with documentary footage of Chicago’s Black neighborhoods, inspired the latest LP from the city’s eminent avant-garde jazz composer, Angel Bat Dawid. Following the film’s lead, the clarinetist and singer weaves a critique of racial politics—as well as samples from the movie—into a bracing jazz opus. Marshall Allen and Knoel Scott, whose late bandleader Sun Ra appeared in the original documentary, close the conceptual loop, contributing parts to the album’s final movement. –Jazz Monroe