“Silent, Listening” is a solo session from US pianist Fred Hersch. Adding to a long line of ECM solo recordings, the pianist puts a thoughtful and minimal poetic emphasis on open improvisation, embracing original compositions and a scattering of standard tunes in his album’s graceful creative arc. With its interspersed songs and spontaneously composed pieces, Hersch shapes and sustains a tone and character that he describes as “nocturnal”, an atmosphere of heightened sensitivity to sound. “I still believe in the idea of an album as a complete musical statement from beginning to end,” he says ..read more

Led by saxophonist and composer Pete Piskov, Hill Collective is a jazz ensemble based in Brighton, UK. The spiritual jazz they perform is ambitious and expressive, summoning the traditions of large ensemble British jazz from the 60’s and 70’s, whilst bringing a new and fresh musical attitude to proceedings. Employing modern improvisation techniques and nuanced compositions, “Tonal Prophecy” is a soulful, avant-garde addition to the bustling UK jazz landscape. Holistic in its ethos, this album explores the warmest depths of the mind, body and spirit while keeping things light and honest- a musi ..read more

Boasting an impressive array of releases across a comparatively short period of time, Norwegian pianist Kjetil Mulelid continues his run of rapturously received projects with the release of ‘Agoja’. Recorded in December 2022 across a three-day session in Oslo, despite Mulelid’s numerous albums as a bandleader and contributor amongst various ensembles, ‘Agoja’ surprisingly ranks as his second centre-stage outing. Following his graduation in 2014 from Jazzlinja in Trondheim, Mulelid’s commitment to his music brought him to stages across the world including Europe and Japan, and quite soon after ..read more

“Emerson Enigma”, the new album from French pianist Thierry Eliez, is a reimagining of the works of Keith Emerson, one of the most celebrated prog-rockers from the 1970s. Emerson, Lake & Palmer achieved worldwide success throughout that particular decade, selling over 49 million albums, with Keith Emerson at the forefront of shattering musical boundaries by combining original compositions with classical and traditional pieces of music, often turning the music on its head with his fantastical rock epics. On this album, Thierry Eliez attempts to capture the essence of Emerson’s original work ..read more

Released on Record Store Day via the Jazz Detective label, Sun Ra and The Arkestra ‘Live At The Showcase’ is a collection of tracks from performances at the legendary Chicago venue between 1976 and 1977. The double album package is constructed from previously unreleased material, carefully chosen by Jazz Detective’s Zev Feldman and Michael D. Anderson of the Sun Ra Music Archive, ranging from the swinging traditional side of Sun Ra’s idiosyncratic style to his more outer-leaning experimental side which is less prominent on this collection. Accompanying the album is a booklet with some excellen ..read more

It feels as if Swedish guitarist and composer Lage Nordling has been working towards this album for some time, searching perhaps for the right balance between composition, improvisation, and performance. He has found it. Within the music on LNEE lives a breathing, expanding musical universe all of his own making. Having delivered a couple of noteworthy albums in the last few years – with his band Kosmo Kid, a quartet that included some of Sweden’s most promising musicians, and Our Haunted Garden, a duo project with Swedish singer Alexandra Shabo, this latest release from Nordling finds the gui ..read more

Record Store Day (Spring 2024) brings us a couple of wonderful Cannonball Adderley releases from Elemental Music. “Poppin’ in Paris” – recorded live in 1972, is released at the same time as the 1969 recording “Burnin’ in Bordeaux”. Both sets are previously unreleased and are issued exclusively for RSD, as special edition, deluxe albums on 180-gram double vinyl and double CD, with digital files also available. “Poppin’ in Paris: Live at L’Olympia 1972” was recorded at the world-famous Olympia Theatre in Paris, France on October 25th, 1972 as part of the Paris Jazz Festival. This formidable set ..read more

At a time when we are bombarded from all directions by the possibilities and pitfalls of AI, Kenny Garrett and Svoy’s new release asks the question: Who Killed AI? It’s Garrett’s first excursion into electronic music, he’s chosen to work with his friend and long time collaborator Mikhail Tarasov, AKA Svoy, composer, programmer, vocalist and pianist. In a series of informal sessions at Garrett’s home the pair have created a digital and acoustic soundscape which merges the post bop soprano and alto sax melodies of Garrett with the sound of Svoy’s trance-like electronica. Garrett learnt his art a ..read more

Although predominantly working as an exponent of the hard bop style of jazz of the 1950s and 1960s, the American alto saxophonist Julian ‘Cannonball’ Adderley may best be remembered for his excursions into soul jazz, notably with “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy”, a theme written for him by keyboard player Joe Zawinul and which became a crossover hit on the pop and R&B charts. Adderley and his cornet-playing brother Nat worked with Ray Charles in the early 1940s and sometime later, whilst working on the New York jazz scene, was tipped to be heir to the mantle of fellow saxophonist Charlie Parker. Foll ..read more

“Atlantis Lullaby” is a Record Store Day special release that captures the performance of Yusef Lateef’s quartet on July 19th 1972 at Cloître des Célestins in Avignon. Alongside Yusef Lateef’s saxes and flute, there’s Kenny Barron on piano, Bob Cunningham on bass and the late Albert “Tootie” Heath on drums (mostly). It’s a double album with a smart booklet that features exclusive tributes from luminaries such as, amongst others, Sonny Rollins and Reggie Workman but also Barron, Heath and Ayesha Lateef, confirming the claims of ‘full collaboration of the Yusef Lateef Estate, as well as those of ..read more