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The Village People play Sicilia Jazz Festival - Jazz Journal
Now in its fifth edition, the 2025 Sicilia Jazz Festival (22 June – 6 July) offers 85 concerts and involves 385 musicians, among them the Village People, Nina Zilli, Piero Pelù, Jazzmeia Horn, Victor Wooten, John Pizzarelli, Cécile McLorin Salvant and Eliane Elias. Curious as it may seem for a jazz festival, Village People open […]
Reviewed: Lance Ferguson | Alessandro Sgobbio | The Action 4s - Jazz Journal
Lance Ferguson: L’Océan De Toi (Pacific Theatre PT016) Musical inspiration can strike from the most unexpected sources. For Lance Ferguson, the spark behind L’Océan De Toi came from the rediscovery and restoration of a long-lost 1981 film of the same name. Tasked with composing its new soundtrack, Ferguson infused the project with laidback, jazz-tinged elements, […]
Reviewed: Jonah David | Adrian Galante | Mingus - Jazz Journal
Jonah David: Waltz For Eli (Swish Tap Records STR-4001) Born in South Orange, New Jersey in 1977, drummer Jonah David was initially drawn to jazz after listening to a Preservation Hall Jazz Band recording of his father’s. He later recalled “There was a drum solo on one of those tracks I couldn’t stop playing. I […]
The Life And Writings Of Ralph J. Gleason - Jazz Journal
Ralph J. Gleason (1917-1975) was a jazz journalist, prolific writer, critic, entrepreneur, political commentator and pundit from the 1930s until his death. His notable books were Celebrating The Duke & Louis, Bessie, Billie, Bird, Carmen, Miles, Dizzy, & Others (1975), and Conversations In Jazz (edited by his son Toby Gleason) taped at his home with […]
Reviewed: The Steve Holt Jazz Impact Quintet | Anne Burnell & Mark Burnell | Pete McGuinness Jazz Orchestra - Jazz Journal
The Steve Holt Jazz Impact Quintet: Impact (Inner Music IMD108) This is Canadian jazz at its finest, featuring Steve Holt’s regular working group – Kevin Turcotte (trumpet and flugelhorn), Perry White (tenor), Duncan Hopkins (bass) and Terry Clarke (drums). Turcotte is a prolific recording artist who has worked with Rob McConnell’s Boss Brass where he […]
Reviewed: Steve Gregory | Joe Lovano | Matteo Paggi | Simon Paterson’s Electric Gumbo - Jazz Journal
Steve Gregory: Frolic (JRL-SGS Records) On his website, Los Angeles session musician Steve Gregory lists a huge number of projects he has been involved in over the years. These range from live performances with big name artists including Ray Charles and Leonard Cohen through to work on television shows, commercials and backing work on albums […]
Geoff Hearn, Olie Brice and Spike Wells in Brighton - Jazz Journal
I’d long known about Brighton’s safehouse project, an enduring and admirable enterprise dedicated to improvised music, initially founded in Poole by the late ZAUM drummer Steve Harris. Over the years safehouse has used several venues in Brighton and played host to players like Evan Parker, John Tchicai and Eddie Prevost. But until now I had […]
Reviewed: Noah Preminger | Ingrid Laubrock | Eric Scott Reed - Jazz Journal
Noah Preminger: Ballads (Chill Tone CT0003CD) New York based tenor saxophonist Noah Preminger has made over 20 albums. Often known for his fiery delivery, here he adds a different perspective to his diverse discography. It echoes the example set by Coltrane when he unveiled a gear-change to a more lyrical, gentler side in his similarly […]
Reviewed: Anders Filipsen Trio | Ronny Graupe's Szelest | Phil Haynes | Phil Haynes & Ben Monder - Jazz Journal
Anders Filipsen Trio (AFT): Aldebar Nights Of Mangos (ILK368CD) All four of the albums in this month’s round-up speak of the way in which the powerful forces of personality, intellect and innovation are constantly broadening and renewing the tradition. Like many of his fellow travellers at Copenhagen’s artist-led ILK Music, pianist Anders Filpsen’s interests span […]
Shai Maestro drummer Ofri Nehemya makes leader debut - Jazz Journal
Ofri Nehemya might be a name familiar to those who’ve followed the work of such luminaries as Avishai Cohen (bass), Omer Avital, Shai Maestro, Ben Wendel, Eli Degibri, Aaron Goldberg, Gilad Hekselman, Yotam Silberstein and Avishai Cohen (trumpet). Israeli drummer and composer Nehemya played with them all. Born in 1994 to a musical family, Nehemya […]
Reviewed: Ronan Guilfoyle’s Bemusement Arcade | Yonglee & The Doltang | Yotam Ben-Or - Jazz Journal
Ronan Guilfoyle’s Bemusement Arcade: At Swing, Two Birds (Livia 2505) There’s a shortage of supply of Guinness in Amsterdam. The famous stout is currently a TikTok hype in hip local bars, leaving the legion of hardcore Irish pub goers at a loss. But at least jazz imports from Ireland don’t lag behind. The latest CD […]
Stomp Off, Let's Go – The Early Years Of Louis Armstrong - Jazz Journal
Ricky Riccardi, Director of Research Collections for the Louis Armstrong House Museum in New York, began his trilogy of biographies with the intention of reappraising Armstrong’s later work. Hence his first volume was What A Wonderful World: The Magic Of Louis Armstrong’s Later Years. The second volume, Heart Full Of Rhythm: The Big Band Years Of Louis […]
Joan Fort Trio featuring Vincent Herring in Dorking - Jazz Journal
The group started with a swinging minor-key tune, Big Bertha by Duke Pearson. Vincent Herring took the first solo, employing a powerful attack and hard-driving lines. Catalan guitarist Joan Fort followed with flowing bebop phrases integrated with chordal textures, reminding me a little of Barney Kessel’s approach to the guitar-trio format. This was followed by […]
Reviewed: Oliver Lutz | Seungmin Jung | Rita Hargrave and Wayne Wallace - Jazz Journal
Oliver Lutz: Calamari Fantasy (self-release) Aside from having possibly the best album title so far this year, Oliver Lutz seems to mix 70s euro-synth with dreamy horns and the result is laid-back jazz that could accompany any holiday playlist over the summer. Immediately enjoyable, the title track will lower your blood pressure, settle your BPM […]
Joan Fort Trio featuring Vincent Herring at Dorking - Jazz Journal
The group started with a swinging minor-key tune, Big Bertha by Duke Pearson. Vincent Herring took the first solo, employing a powerful attack and hard-driving lines. Catalan guitarist Joan Fort followed with flowing bebop phrases integrated with chordal textures, reminding me a little of Barney Kessel’s approach to the guitar-trio format. This was followed by […]
A Tone Parallel To Duke Ellington: The Man In The Music - Jazz Journal
Jack Chambers is a professor of music and language at the University of Toronto, and author of the biography Milestones: The Music And Times Of Miles Davis (1998). He has now produced an original, detailed and forensic examination of Ellington’s influences and achievements from the 1930s until his death in 1974. Meticulously annotated with playlist […]
Reviewed: Enji - Sonor | Jobim & Bonfá - Black Orpheus - Jazz Journal
Enji: Sonor (Squama SQM033) On her fourth album, Mongolian-born, German-based vocalist Enkhjargal “Enji” Erkhembayar plays it safer compared to her more experimental earlier albums and a live show I caught last summer when she stretched her warm voice toward soaring vocalise, drawing on the Mongolian long-song tradition. Here, the sound is pleasant but more conventional […]
Reviewed: Russ Lossing | Miles Davis Quintet | Duke Ellington | Chris Cody - Jazz Journal
Russ Lossing: Inventions – A Suite of Improvisations (Blaser Music SONGS 002CD) American pianist-composer Russ Lossing has led his own bands in New York since 1986, and worked with such masters as Paul Motian and Tim Berne. In 2023 his band King Vulture released Alternate Side Parking Music, featuring frenetic rhythms and acidulous Wurlitzer and Rhodes […]
Tracking the mystery woman of jazz: Mama X Plus / 2 - Jazz Journal
Above all else, music and musicians remained constant anchors throughout Gale Madden’s life. She had no end to the stories of musicians with whom she had been associated. Like the one where Bird came by her pad in the Village, and finding her away, left a note in her typewriter that read: “‘Was here. You […]
Reviewed: The Empress | Kevin Fort | The Furgos | A New Awakening - Adventures In British Jazz 1966-1971 - Jazz Journal
The Empress: Square One (Cellar Music Group) The Empress is a female saxophone quartet based in New York supported by the solid rhythm section of Steve Ash on piano, Joey Ranieri bass and Pete Van Nostrand drums. The band leader, South Korean Pureum Jin, plays soprano and alto sax, Japanese Erena Terakubo is on alto, […]
Reviewed: John Surman | Emma Rawicz & Gwilym Simcock | Gabriel Latchin | Fred Hersch & Rondi Charleston | Fabienne Ambuehl - Jazz Journal
John Surman: Flashpoints And Undercurrents (Cuneiform Rune 515/516) 1969 was a busy year for John Surman, a year in which he appeared on 11 recordings, released his eponymous debut solo album on Deram, recorded his second album How Many Clouds Can You See? with an all-star band, and later in the year Way Back When […]
Reviewed: Oscar Peterson Trio | Charlie Mingus - Jazz Journal
Oscar Peterson Trio: At The Stratford Shakespearean Festival (Valentine Records 896705) That’s Ontario, not On Avon of course. In a previous column I mentioned that the first gig I ever went to was by Peterson and I was knocked out, as we said in those days, and have been a fan ever since. In fact, […]
Reviewed: Dmitry Baevsky | Jackson Potter | Samuel Blaser, Marc Ducret, Peter Bruun | Grant Green - Jazz Journal
Dmitry Baevsky: Roller Coaster (Fresh Sound New Talent FSNT 688) Hailing from St Petersburg, Russia, altoist Dmitry Baevsky started playing the saxophone as a teenager. Following four years at Mussorgsky College Of Music he moved to the USA and enrolled at New York’s New School University on a full scholarship. Nearly 20 years on he’s […]
Le Destin Inattendu De La Tapette À Mouches - Jazz Journal
The title of this rather extraordinary book translates as “The Unexpected Destiny Of The Fly Swatter” and the photo on the cover immediately reveals that it’s about the usage of drummers’ brushes. Readers may know the author, Alain Gerber, as an acclaimed writer of fiction as well as a prolific writer on jazz, but an […]
JJ 05/75: Derek Bailey - Lot 74 - Solo Improvisations - Jazz Journal
Fifty years ago Barry McRae argued that where such as George Chisholm, Victor Feldman, Joe Harriott and John Surman would sound outstanding in any company, guitarist Derek Bailey was something else - a totally original British jazzman
Reviewed: Branford Marsalis | Jon Balke | Sonny Boy Williamson | Curtis Stigers - Jazz Journal
Branford Marsalis: Belonging (Blue Note 7548659) Given his credentials, it is difficult to believe that it has taken this long for Branford Marsalis to be given a chance to record for Blue Note, added to the fact that this is his first new album for six years. He undoubtedly took a chance in replicating Keith […]
Reviewed: Rose Room | Kaisa’s Machine | Takuya Kuroda | Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra | Vince Guaraldi - Jazz Journal
Rose Room: It’s Been A Long, Long Time (self-release) Do you know that feeling where you pick up an album and immediately know that you’re going to like it? Well, that is the feeling I got here. Glasgow gypsy-jazzers Rose Room are well established and the chances are that if you like this brand of […]
2025 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival - Jazz Journal
The 2025 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, now in its 55th year, has evolved over the last 20 years from its original format of celebrating the music culture of New Orleans and Louisiana to what now feels more like a major rock festival, with a number of specialist genres –jazz, blues, cajun, zydeco and […]
Reviewed: Gato Barbieri | Fred Frith, Shelley Burgon | Jacqueline Kerrod, Joe Morris - Jazz Journal
Gato Barbieri: Standards 2 (Red Records RRCD 1233482) By the time this album was recorded in Rome in the spring of 1968 the Argentinian Barbieri had already made something of a case for the idea of jazz as an international language, not least through his contributions to Don Cherry’s Blue Note album Complete Communion. At that […]
Reviewed: Jenna Cave | Ron Ledoux | Gregory Privat - Jazz Journal
Jenna Cave Sextet: Grief, Hope, Love (ABC Jazz ABC J0033D) Australian jazz composer Jenna Cave identifies the concept of “grief literacy”, which might be defined as the means of giving voice to heartbreak and distress resulting from the death of someone close. In 2022, aged 38, she became a single parent to her three-year-old daughter […]