Location: set your location

Jazz

Sorted by date / most viewed. Showing 25, 50, 100 per page.

Crate Digging: Rebecca Vasmant

Crate Digging: Rebecca Vasmant

The young Glaswegian DJ is set to play Ministry of Sound & Mixmag's Warehouse Party

22 May 2012

I love jazz music, and as much as I love house music too, I don’t think it has the same timelessness. My first choice is one I got about a year ago, it’s PE Hewitt Winter Winds (Now-Again), a three-LP box set of material self-recorded by a 16-year-old…

Neneh Cherry & The Thing - Cherry Thing

Neneh Cherry & The Thing - Cherry Thing

Inventive and charismatic return from Cherry in this free jazz/post-punk collaboration

(4 stars)22 May 2012

Neneh Cherry’s first album in 16 years is perhaps closer in spirit to the jazzoid post-punk of Rip Rig & Panic than the glorious hip-pop of Raw Like Sushi, but hot damn, it’s good. The Thing are renowned for their wild takes on cult rock and free-jazz…

Steve Kuhn Trio - Wisteria

Steve Kuhn Trio - Wisteria

Accomplished, crisp and cool recordings by Kuhn, Steve Swallow and Joey Baron

(3 stars)22 May 2012

Pianist Steve Kuhn has worked with both bassist Steve Swallow and drummer Joey Baron in many contexts over several decades, but they had never played together in a trio setting prior to recording this last year. You would never guess that, though – they…

Oriole - Every New Day

Oriole - Every New Day

Distinctly Latin-influenced sounds from the F-IRE collective

(3 stars)22 May 2012

The latest offering from the ranks of the London-based F-IRE collective features music written by Oriole’s founder, guitarist Johnny Phillips, during a six-year stay in Cadiz. The distinctly Spanish/Latin melodic and rhythmic feel has an appealing…

Martin Speake & Colin Oxley - Two Not One

Martin Speake & Colin Oxley - Two Not One

An album of light, buoyant jazz ballads, ideal in small servings

(3 stars)23 Apr 2012

(Pumpkin Records) The airy combination of alto saxophone and guitar and a leaning toward ballad tempos gives the music on this duo outing a light, buoyant feel which does pale a little over the whole album, but works beautifully on any individual…

Kuljit Bhamra, Jacqueline Shave, John Parricelli - Postcards From Home

Kuljit Bhamra, Jacqueline Shave, John Parricelli - Postcards From Home

Cross-cultural fusion partly inspired by the Hebrides

(3 stars)18 Apr 2012

(Keda Records) A fresh and deftly executed cross-cultural fusion featuring a tabla player with strong jazz connections, a classical violinist and a jazz guitarist, playing music inspired in part by the Hebrides. Violinist Jacqueline Shave’s ‘Machair to…

Quantic & Alice Russell with Combo Barbado - Look around the Corner

Quantic & Alice Russell with Combo Barbado - Look around the Corner

Latin-infused soul-jazz collaboration

(4 stars)11 Apr 2012

(Tru Thoughts) They've collaborated in the past, and belong to the same soul-jazzy label (Brighton's Tru Thoughts), so it wasn't such a giant leap of imagination for a full-length Latin/blues/folk collaboration between soul songstress Alice Russell…

Gary Husband - Dirty & Beautiful, Volume 2

Gary Husband - Dirty & Beautiful, Volume 2

Features collaborations with range of the jazz-rock luminaries

(3 stars)26 Mar 2012

(Abstract Logix) Jazz-rock isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, and tends to be sniffed at in critical circles, but when it’s done well, it remains an exciting facet of the contemporary jazz spectrum. Like its predecessor, this album features keyboard player…

Kenny Garrett - Seeds From The Underground

Kenny Garrett - Seeds From The Underground

Alto saxophonist gives vibrant treatment to new compositions

(3 stars)23 Mar 2012

(Mack Avenue Records) Here we find Kenny Garrett – a Detroit-born alto saxophonist who began his career performing with the Duke Ellington Orchestra before pursuing a solo career — in his most melodic vein, accompanied by a fine pianist, Benito…

Tommy Smith Youth Jazz Orchestra - Emergence

Tommy Smith Youth Jazz Orchestra - Emergence

Ensemble playing and the soloing achieves a very high standard

(3 stars)28 Feb 2012

(Spartacus Records) Tommy Smith set up (and funded) this orchestra to encourage the cream of Scotland’s emerging jazz talent to flourish, and it is clearly working. There are only occasional passages on this fine recording where you might guess that you…

Andy Sheppard, Michel Benita, Sebastian Rochford - Trio Libero

Andy Sheppard, Michel Benita, Sebastian Rochford - Trio Libero

Highly compatible trio make album of lyrical material

(4 stars)22 Feb 2012

(ECM Records) Saxophonist Andy Sheppard seemed a good match-up with ECM long before he actually made his debut with the label a couple of years ago. He now follows that release with this excellent trio project featuring Algerian bassist Michel Benita…

Paul McCartney - Kisses on the Bottom

Paul McCartney - Kisses on the Bottom

Macca covers 1920s and 1930s standards, with vanilla results

(3 stars)3 Feb 2012

Paul McCartney has the weirdest back catalogue of any Beatle. This is an album of the 20s and 30s standards his dad used to play and it's less weird than perplexing, thanks to the unfortunate choice of Tommy 'Mainstream' LiPuma as producer. After his…

Ibrahím Maalouf - Diagnostic

Ibrahím Maalouf - Diagnostic

A groundbreaking album of brooding French-Arabic tones from trumpeter

(5 stars)1 Feb 2012

(Harmonia Mundi) The brooding French-Arabic quarter tones of Ibrahím Maalouf’s trumpet first seduced as guest on the late Lhasa de Sela’s desert island disc The Living Road. Bewitching then, Maalouf’s own debut with a brace of tremendous musicians…

Weather Report - Live In Cologne 1983

Weather Report - Live In Cologne 1983

Decent but inessential instalment of the legendary jazz troupe's back catalogue

(3 stars)5 Jan 2012

(Art of Groove / Birdjam) This is the third in a previously unreleased sequence of very well recorded concerts featuring the band in Germany, and arguably the least essential, if only because the later phase of the band’s history was generally less…

Enrico Rava - Tribe

Enrico Rava - Tribe

Great collaboration between Italians Rava, Gianluca Petrella, Giovanni Guidi and Giacomo Ancillotto

(4 stars)5 Jan 2012

(ECM) The great Italian trumpet master and trombonist Gianluca Petrella are a well-proven combination, and are joined here by a new rhythm section for Rava’s regular group, led by the excellent Giovanni Guidi on piano, and augmented on three tunes by…

Bill Wells' National Jazz Trio of Scotland to appear at Tracer Trails' Christmas Party

Bill Wells' National Jazz Trio of Scotland to appear at Tracer Trails' Christmas Party

Another engagement for the ubiquitous collaborator and jazzman

9 Dec 2011

The National Jazz Trio of Scotland has never really been a trio. Nor has Bill Wells’ cheekily-monickered combo ever played jazz in the conventional sense. With a first album of original material – the waggishly christened Standards Volume Two…

Time Zone - Crossing The Line

Time Zone - Crossing The Line

London-based sextet bring together contemporary jazz with music of Cuba

(3 stars)7 Dec 2011

(Spherical Records) This London-based sextet led by trumpeter Loz Speyer are on a mission to bring together restless contemporary jazz and the music of Cuba, with a touch of Eastern European rhythm thrown in. This latest outing, featuring seven of…

Bill Wells - Lemondale

Bill Wells - Lemondale

One of Wells’ most ambitious and enchanting records to date

(4 stars)15 Nov 2011

(Double Six) You wonder if Bill Wells ever sleeps. The Glasgow indie / avant-jazz catalyst has already made one of the albums of this year in Everything’s Getting Older, his exquisite union with Aidan Moffat – not to mention his forthcoming National…

Empirical - Elements of Truth

Empirical - Elements of Truth

Most diffuse and wide-ranging release to date

(3 stars)10 Nov 2011

(Naim Label) Empirical’s drift away from their early bop-oriented leanings continues on their most diffuse and wide-ranging release to date. There is a deliberately spacey, dream-like feel to much of the music, referencing Messiaen and Björk…

Breach - On The Walk

Breach - On The Walk

Edinburgh-based trio's reflective, atmospheric textures and energised workouts

(4 stars)10 Nov 2011

(Breach) This Edinburgh-based trio features three of the leading musicians on the current Scottish jazz scene, guitarist Graeme Stephen, pianist Paul Harrison focusing on organ and electronics in this setting – and drummer Chris Wallace. Each…

McCormack & Yarde Duo - Places and Other Spaces

McCormack & Yarde Duo - Places and Other Spaces

Saxophone and piano duets display impressive empathy and mutual understanding

(4 stars)28 Oct 2011

(Edition Records) Saxophone and piano duets are clearly all the rage this month. Pianist Andrew McCormack and saxophonist Jason Yarde approach the format with impressive empathy and mutual understanding on a set of original material by one or other…

Celtic Connections 2012 line-up announced

Celtic Connections 2012 line-up announced

Glasgow traditional music festival features 2100 artists and 300 events over 18 days in 20 venues

26 Oct 2011

This year's festival will include 2100 artists, 300 events, 20 venues all over 18 days. Being that winter is in the offing, you now wake up in the morning for work and its dark, you then head home from work and its dark. One thing that will surely…

Rob Hall & Chick Lyall - Blithe Spirit

Rob Hall & Chick Lyall - Blithe Spirit

Melodic compositions combine jazz, classical and folk

(3 stars)20 Oct 2011

(FMR Records) Hall and Lyall are familiar figures on the Scottish jazz scene, and their third duo recording reveals an even greater refinement in their thoughtful, inventive music. Their melodic compositions combine jazz, classical music and a touch…

Alex Garnett - Serpent

Alex Garnett - Serpent

Agile, fresh-sounding contemporary bop from English saxophonist

(3 stars)14 Sep 2011

(Whirlwind Recordings) At just over 40, English saxophonist Alex Garnett has taken his time in making his recording debut as a leader, but in the interim has built a considerable track record in a wide variety of settings. That depth of experience is…

Tony Bennett

Tony Bennett 'sobbed' over Amy's death

Music Gossip

6 Sep 2011

Tony Bennett "sobbed" when he discovered Amy Winehouse had died. The 85-year-old legendary crooner recorded the song 'Body and Soul' with the musician - who tragically died in July aged just 27 - for his 'Duets II' album and he insists the world has…

324 articles.

Sorted by date / most viewed. Showing 25, 50, 100 per page.

RSS feed