REVIEWS OF: Bergamo, located some 40 km (25 mi) northeast of Milan, is a beautiful city for a jazz festival. Or rather cities plural, as the medieval and fortified Città Alta (“upper city”) located on a hill is very different [...]
Willie Morris is a young tenor saxophonist originally from St Louis, and Attentive Listening is his second album as leader after Conversation Starter (2023), also on Posi-Tone. On this session he’s joined by four jazz veterans: alto saxophonist Patrick Cornelius [...]
Saxophonist and composer Trish Clowes (pronounced “clues”) is principally a jazz musician, but her music often dances in the liminal space between classical and jazz. Her debut album Tangent (2010) featured her compositions for full orchestra, sextet, and guests including [...]
Since the mid-sixties when he played baritone saxophone with the Mike Westbrook Band, John Surman has been one of the most instantly recognisable voices in jazz. In part, it’s because of his unusual choice of horns: soprano and baritone saxophones, [...]
Given the ubiquity of jazz piano trios, it must be hard to sound original. But on their second album, this trio comprising Wajdi Riahi (piano, Rhodes), Basile Rahola (double bass) and Pierre Hurty (drums) do so with hypnotic performances of [...]
If Leeds Conservatoire wanted an aural prospectus showcasing their teaching talent, they couldn’t do much better than Red Kite, an album on which all members of the quintet are not only performers of long standing but also lecturers at the [...]
For his second album on the Ubuntu Music label after Gods of Apollo (2019), Rob Cope doubles on soprano saxophone and bass clarinet and is joined by Andy Scott on tenor saxophone, Paul Clarvis on drums and Liam Noble on [...]
“Thank you also,” writes violinist Benet McLean on the CD cover of Green Park, “to Steve Coleman and Jean-Luc Ponty for your inspiring music and words of wisdom”. And indeed we get a hint of those influences the moment McLean [...]
Dance of the Elders is the third ECM trio album led by Austrian guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel. It follows on from Angular Blues (2020), which had the same line-up of Scott Colley on double bass and Brian Blade on drums; and [...]
Jazz albums featuring nothing but guitar and piano are such a rarity that until recently – excepting the two Bill Evans / Jim Hall collaborations Undercurrent (1962) and Intermodulation (1966) – I’d have struggled to name any. Even the two [...]
