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My previous Winter mixes were based on some kind of theme. The basis for this one is one word: cozy. Right now in my part of the Northern Hemisphere, cozy is what we need.
I have lots of small group jazz in my collection that I think earns the cozy description. I start with a track that highlights two of my favorite Generation X jazz players, Roy Hargrove (trumpet) and Antonio Hart (alto saxophone). Besides acoustic jazz, Roy also made music with soul giants Erykah Badu and D’Angelo and with his own funk-soul outfit The RH Factor. He passed away in 2018 after a long battle with kidney disease.
Because of what’s happening in Venezuela, I decided to play a track by the always uplifting Venezuelan band Los Amigos Invisibles. Following that is a 2025 selection from London band Kokoroko who also have a way with uplifting music.
Of the duo behind “Estrellita” I suspect Robin Guthrie of Cocteau Twins is better known than John Foxx. I’m a major fan of both, so for me this is a wonderful pairing. John Foxx was in the early version of Ultravox that laid the rock-synth foundation for his replacement Midge Ure and a string of hit Ultravox albums. John went in a pure electronic direction, at a time when that was very difficult to do, with his 1980 solo album Metamatic. He has many solo albums and collaborations since then, his ideas are always surprising and creative.
Track 7 by Toyohirakumin is vaporwave. If you’re familiar with the genre, maybe like me you’ve been down the deep, dark internet rabbit hole. Or maybe you find it all ridiculous! Very broadly, the idea of vaporwave is music that evokes a hazy sense of nostalgia, mostly for 1980s and 1990s pop culture, sometimes with distortion or sound effects that simulate a far away radio station or a wobbly video cassette player. I chose a track that I think captures what I find appealing about vaporwave but doesn’t stray too far into weird or dissonant sounds. If you think there’s some “borrowed” music in the haze of sounds, you’re probably right.
Vaporwave often references polished 80s pop and soul played by top studio musicians. Patrice Rushen is a good example, an accomplished musician, singer, and producer who crafted a series of successful albums in the 70s and 80s. “Where There Is Love” is from her 1982 album Straight from the Heart.
Regular listeners will know that Philadelphia soul of the 1970s appears frequently in my mixes. The Salsoul Orchestra isn’t the first group one thinks of in connection to Philly soul, but it shared many members (and a Philadelphia recording studio) with MFSB, the musicians behind the famous 70s recordings on Philadelphia International records. Carol Williams is a superb singer who got to make one album with The Salsoul Orchestra.
If you know Ride as key players in the guitar-heavy English shoegaze scene of the 90s, you might wonder what they’re doing in a cozy mix. After a long break, they started releasing new music in 2017. Their later albums and EPs have characteristics of their earlier music but plenty of innovation and variety as well. “Catch You Dreaming” is from a 2018 EP.
The Pattern Forms is an unlikely pairing of two artists I greatly admire: electronic guru Cate Brooks, who records under a few names including The Advisory Circle; and two members of Friendly Fires, an energetic dance-rock band that knows about electronics, but usually in an uptempo setting with guitars and drums. The instrumental music they make together is beautiful.
To acknowledge the half of the world that is not having Winter right now, I chose a version of the Brazilian classic “Manhã de Carnaval”, which originally appeared in the movie Black Orpheus in 1959. The movie and the song are about the annual Carnival in Rio de Janeiro which runs for 5 days and brings about 2 million people into the streets every day. This year’s Carnival begins on February 13th. This version of the song is by Ray Baretto, a powerhouse Puerto Rican-American percussionist who led many successful bands from the 1960s to the 2000s.
I end with more cozy small group jazz. Guitarist Grant Green and organist Larry Young were top players on recordings for the Blue Note label. “Stella by Starlight” is from 1966.
- Roy Hargrove – Spiritual Companion
- Los Amigos Invisibles – Si Estuvieras Aquí
- Kokoroko – Together We Are
- Suzanne Ciani – The Eighth Wave
- Patricia Barber – I Concentrate on You
- John Foxx & Robin Guthrie – Estrellita
- Toyohirakumin – Big Pen part II
- Patrice Rushen – Where There Is Love
- Gilberto Gil – Extra
- Brian Eno & Beatie Wolfe – Suddenly
- Carol Williams with The Salsoul Orchestra – You’re So Much a Part of Me
- A Forest Mighty Black – Rebirth
- Ride – Catch You Dreaming
- Al Green – Look What You Done for Me
- The Pattern Forms – Natural Focus
- Ray Barretto Orchestra – Manhã de Carnaval
- Nancy Wilson with Billy May – Like Someone in Love
- Claude Nougaro – Tu Verras
- Grant Green – Stella by Starlight
Between Two Islands 