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Wall2Wall festival 2025, Wales - Jazz Journal
An American couple in the audience at this year’s Wall2Wall festival at Black Mountain Jazz reminded me of the famous Miles Kington quip about leaving South Wales to seek jazz in London only for him to discover that a lot of it had decamped to South Wales, albeit temporarily. He was talking in the days […]
Reviewed: Tom Lyne | Ali Boulo Santo Cissoko & Volker Goetze | Adrian Cox Trio - Jazz Journal
Tom Lyne: Well Mixed Blue (LisaLeo Records 001) Canadian double bassist Tom Lyne has lived in Scotland for the last 27 years. He’s been the bassist for much of this time in pianist Dave Milligan’s trio. He’s played with the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra, with pianist Brian Kellock and for several years has performed as […]
European Jazz Conference, Bari, Italy - Jazz Journal
On the Adriatic coast, facing the not-too-distant shores of Montenegro, the city of Bari in Apulia has long been a meeting point of cultures. So it was obviously a perfect spot for this year’s European Jazz Conference (EJC). It was hosted in various historical venues around the city and its debates and meetings were articulated […]
Reviewed: Danny Widdicombe & Trichotomy | Song Yi Jeon Nonet - Jazz Journal
Danny Widdicombe & Trichotomy: Iridescence (Earshift Music) Over the years the Australian piano trio Trichotomy has collaborated with a number of other acts, and these partnerships have produced consistently interesting and enjoyable results. This time they have teamed up with singer, guitarist and synth-player Danny Widdicombe, who previously recorded with them on the award-winning 2019 […]
UK Sinatra society closes with a flourish - Jazz Journal
In a little over a decade of writing for JJ, I’ve never have I done something like this, which is perhaps best described as review-cum-reportage. If I get the reportage out of the way I can spill some ink – more than well deserved – on the excellent entertainment that Tony Jacobs plus five highly […]
The Easy Rollers at PizzaExpress Live, Holborn - Jazz Journal
When I stepped from High Holborn into the Pizza Express, I was only slightly bemused to be confronted by a life-size replica of the Tardis. I figured they were shooting an episode of Dr. Who on location. Out of curiosity I walked inside, and stone me if I didn’t find myself in the heart of […]
Down For The Count at Cadogan Hall, London - Jazz Journal
Cognisant that I was about to attend yet another gig by Down For The Count, just about the best big band currently working, I invested in a Ouija board and sent an urgent SOS to Dr Peter Mark Roget begging for a set of fresh superlatives. With a deadline staring me in the face and […]
Reviewed: Morten Haxholm | Benedicte Maurseth | Gard Nilssen Acoustic Unity - Jazz Journal
If you were to listen to these three contrasting albums back-to-back you’d soon realise that the commonly voiced stereotypes about Scandinavian jazz are deeply flawed. Illustrating the great breadth of the sub-region’s many diverse music scenes, they barely scratch the surface of what’s currently on offer. Morten Haxholm: Aether II (Zack’s Music MHA2501) We begin […]
Julia Yagunova: from Shanghai’s JZ Club to London - Jazz Journal
Russian-born pianist Julia Yagunova has built an international career that reflects the global spirit of today’s jazz. From her studies in the United States to her years as a resident performer in China, and later her teaching in New Zealand, Yagunova’s path shows how music connects cultures across continents. After completing her master of music […]
Reviewed: Chrome Hill | Kasper Rietkerk | Wake up, Mal! - Jazz Journal
Chrome Hill: En Route (Clean Feed 683) Not all Belgians drink beer at breakfast, not all Scandinavians play ethereal and introverted “Scandinavian” jazz. The seventh album of the Norwegian Chrome Hill, for instance, invites comparison with icons of Americana. This is to say that, while En Route is not without ambient and minimalist tinges, emotions […]
Cecilie Strange Quartet in Southampton - Jazz Journal
During my undergraduate years at Southampton in the late 1960s, the university’s Student Union Hall acquired quite a reputation for its regular music concerts. While the programme focused on exploratory rock groups such as, e.g., Pink Floyd, Cream, the Jeff Beck Group and Traffic, it also featured blues and the occasional avant-garde jazz gig: I […]
Reviewed: TC.Kylie x The Hourglass | Freedom Art Quartet | Patsiotis Kostas | Tommy Guerrero - Jazz Journal
TC.Kylie x The Hourglass: Re:birth (Légère Recordings LEGO370) The label on the box says “dynamic jazz fusion” and I’m pleased to say that the description does not lie. This is contemporary jazz that has a lovely mix of European and Asian influences (there are moments on Merry-Go-Round of Life that are reminiscent of a Studio […]
Reviewed: Anita O’Day | Miles Davis | Colorado Jazz Repertory Orchestra - Jazz Journal
Anita O’Day: Sings For Oscar (WaxTime 771664) The ultra-hip, husky-voiced Anita O’Day was one of our music’s most original song-stylists. Her rich timbre (totally free of vibrato) had the harmonic and rhythmic freedom of a superior jazz instrumentalist. The 11 titles here have been frequently recorded over the years but she makes this familiar material […]
Lauren Bush at The Elephant, London - Jazz Journal
Founded in 2010, the group Just East Of Jazz established a permanent home at The Elephant Inn, East Finchley, the following year. Since then they’ve built up a solid fan base by virtue of offering an eclectic blend of jazz old and new on the first and third Sunday of every month. Long on their […]
Reviewed: Pharoah Sanders | Tim Boniface | Joe Farnsworth - Jazz Journal
Pharoah Sanders: The Complete Pharoah Sanders Theresa Recordings (Mosaic Records MD7 – 282) As his 11 ecstatic, tumultuous outings with Impulse! Records recorded between 1966 and 1973 ran their course, saxophonist Pharoah Sanders stood back a bit in the late 1960s to take stock of his career, recording single albums for Strata-East and India Navigation […]
New releases August-September 2025, S-Z - Jazz Journal
Saihs: Distopìa They say : Saihs is a sextet born in Florence in 2023. They’ve won top jazz prizes at Bettinardi, Eddie Lang, and Perugia Competitions. Distopìa moves along a stylistic edge, where tension and contrast generate a complex and unconventional sonic weave. The album blends the distinctive tones of contemporary NY Jazz with the sound of […]
Sax Expat: Don Byas - Jazz Journal
As many readers will know, Don Byas was something of an enigmatic and elusive figure in jazz. As one of the leading and most respected tenor saxophonists of the swing era, along with Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young and Ben Webster, he was seen as a bridge between swing and bebop. Although generally accepted in the […]
Reviewed: Lorenzo Bellini | Joshua Redman | Jeffrey Schanzer - Jazz Journal
Lorenzo Bellini: Source (Gleam Records AM7036) Vienna-based pianist, composer, arranger and bandleader Lorenzo Bellini is a young man with many talents. Graduating from Boston’s Berklee College of Music in 2021, he was awarded a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music in London the following year. As well as being bandleader for two groups, he […]
Song For Someone: The Musical Life Of Kenny Wheeler - Jazz Journal
I first heard Wheeler on recordings with the John Dankworth band, then live and on record with the Mike Westbrook Concert Band where, in each context, he made valuable contributions to the proceedings. I didn’t see him in person in a small-group context until some while later when he was added to the outstanding Mike […]
Reviewed: Michika Fukumori | Tobin Mueller | Hanna Paulsberg - Jazz Journal
Michika Fukumori: Eternity And A Day (Summit Records DCD 838) One of those piano prodigies who started at three, Japanese-born Michika Fukumori has had music in her life from the start. Since moving to New York in 2000, she has honed her artistic skills and passion for jazz. Her fourth release is a piano trio […]