Album: Sainkho Namtchylak, Terra (Leo)

Throat-singing jazz from the celebrated Tuvan diva Namtchylak, with Wolfgang Puschnig on flute and sax and Paul Urbanek on piano, recorded live at the Vilnius Jazz Festival.

Namtchylak's admiration for Ella, Billie and Sarah combined with the empathetic interplay of the swinging duo make this one of the most genuinely enjoyable and energising things I've heard all year. As Wolfie plays a funky lick and Sainkho growls like a bear before ascending into the stratosphere, one feels real amazement and joy, yet almost no avant-garde "difficulty" at all.