Jazzwise -julkaisun March 2026 -irtonumeron sisällysluettelo

Makaya McCraven, Courtney Pine and China Moses for Cheltenham’s 30th Anniversary Jazz Festival Line-Up Cheltenham Jazz Festival has announced a wide-ranging line-up for what will be its 30th anniversary, running from 29 April to 4 May 2026, presenting an expansive programme that reflects the festival’s long-standing commitment to stylistic breadth, international names and contemporary UK jazz. As part of its 30th anniversary celebrations, the Festival has appointed double-Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Corinne Bailey Rae as Guest Curator from 2026 to 2028. Succeeding Gregory Porter, she will curate special performances and help shape the Festival’s artistic direction. The newly named Deya Arena (formerlyJazz Arena), returns for a second year as a standing venue, and kicks the festival off with an opening party hosted by DJ Yoda, setting the tone for its programme of…

The February issue’s Rahsaan Roland Kirk feature included an evocative photo byJohn ‘Hoppy’ Hopkins kindly shared from National Jazz Archive’s Photographic Collection. Mike Flynn caught up with the NJA’s Executive Chair and CEO Mark Kass, to discover more about its historic photo archive… The NJA is keen to encourage more users of the UK’s specialist jazz photo library, Kass explains: “Our unique jazz photo collection offers a rich visual history from such illustrious jazz photographers as sixties anti-hero John ‘Hoppy’ Hopkins, Brian Foskett and Brian O’Connor, and Denis Williams. Alongside the likes of George Webb, Monika S Jakubowska and Tatiana Gorilovsky, these incredible images capture the spirit, diversity, and evolution of jazz in the UK and beyond.” Kass reminisces about his own early fixation with jazz photography: “Back when getting…

Online images of Ni Maxine show her looking directly at the camera, pensive, a little challenging. It was therefore a great pleasure to find her lively, talkative, and eager to expand on her rise in the world of neo-jazz, occupied also by such notables as Ezra Collective and Jalen Ngonda. Based in Liverpool, Maxine connected with Tomorrow’s Warriors at a gig during which they asked if anyone would like to play ‘Rhythm Changes’. Her musical education had not included jazz theory or terminology; she didn’t really know what ‘Rhythm Changes’ were, but sang them anyway. She remembers Shabaka Hutchings saying: “You’re a back door Warrior!” and after having met with Warriors co-founder Janine Irons, and performed with David Kayode and Maddy Coombs, Maxine turns now to that group both when…

Filin Blue Note 8822822 (CD, LP, DL) EDITOR’S CHOICE Melissa Aldana (ts), Cécile McLorin Salvant (v), Gonzalo Rubalcaba (p), Peter Washington (b) and Kush Abadey (d). Rec. date not stated The inspiration for Melissa Aldana’s latest Blue Note release, an immaculate ballad album, is the lovelorn balladry of the Cuban filin music tradition that was popular between the late 1940s and early 1960s. The original style combined steamy Cuban rhythms with emotive vocals and added hints of modern jazz (‘Filin music’ broadly translates as ‘Feeling music; Nat King Cole was an inspirational force). Saxophonist Aldana, in contrast, pares down her trademark complexities and captures the music’s core with clarity, warmth and an unerring narrative drive. Kush Abadey’s supple brushstrokes deliver a firm but unobtrusive pulse, bass notes hover in acres…

Julian Lage Scenes from Above Blue Note 7893202 (CD, LP, DL) Julian Lage (el g), John Medeski (org, p, (ky), Jorge Roeder (b), Kenny Wolleson (d, perc) with Patrick Warren (p, chamberlin, dulcitone, strings, perc). Rec. 21-22 May 2025 So diverse are his musical associates, Zorn, Charles Lloyd, Frisell; so rich the influences from 1950s rock’n’roll to Ornette Coleman, one is tempted to ask ‘Would the real Julian Lage please stand up!’. And perhaps, in this gently sad yet searching 42 minutes, something of Lage’s soul is now laid bare. There’s no epic theme, no yoking different musics together, no array of stellar guests, just a quartet of guys who’ve known each other decades listening and learning and playing together. It’s an old school ‘band’ album, basically recorded in a…

While I Was Away ECM 2869 (CD, LP, DL) EDITOR’S CHOICE Julia Hülsmann (p), Aline Frazão, Live Maria Roggen, Michael Schiefel (v), Héloïse Lefebvre (vln), Susanne Paul (clo), Eva Kruse (b) and Eva Klesse (d). Rec. September 2023 It has taken almost three years for this little gem to surface, coming after the Hülsmann Quartet recording The Next Door from 2022 and before the Quartet’s Under the Surface from last year. Today the term composer can mean anything from coming up with a lead line for a 12 bar blues, to a couple of ideas strung together on a Focusrite Scarlett Solo Studio in a box and then there’s Julia Hülsmann. As a composer she’s the real deal. While I Was Away has its roots in Hülsmann’s successful collaboration with…

dance! skip! hop! Out Of Your Head Records OOYH 041 (CD, LP) EDITOR’S CHOICE Tomeka Reid (clo), Mary Halvorson (el g), Jason Roebke (b, cassette) and Thomas Fujiwara (d). Rec. 2025 We’re only a few weeks into the new year, but already here’s a candidate for your (or at least my) end-of-year album lists. Reid, Halvorson, Fujiwara and Roebke are all big names within the avant-jazz community but what’s surprising – and refreshing – about dance! skip! hop! (an apt title if ever there were one) is its accessibility. Key to this approachability is the emphasis on rhythm: Reid says that on completing these compositions last summer, she realised that they made her want to dance (and indeed, skip, something she apparently loves to do). And whether you do want…

Tony Coe’s Axel What Say We Play Today? Jazz In Britain JIB-68-S-CD 9 (CD, DL) Tony Coe (cl, sax), Gordon Beck (p), Phil Lee (el g), Chris Laurence (b) and Bryan Spring (d). Rec. March 1977 What say we play today this rare recording of a band assembled under the auspices of a rare talent, Anthony George ‘Tony’ Coe? Hailed as one of the finest and most adaptable British jazz musicians of his generation, the critic and saxophonist, Dave Gelly once observed of Coe: “Tony could play anything… if he liked it, then he could play it”. Tony Coe’s Axel was a co-operative outfit formed in 1975 and although Axel never released an album, they were captured for posterity performing live at the Camden Festival, London in March 1977. From…

Polish Radio Sessions 1970-1991 Polskiego Radia/Bandcamp PR2504-09 (6 CD, 6 LP, DL) Tomasz Stańko (t), with (i) Piece For Diana & Other Ballads 1970-71: Zbigniew Seifert (as), Janusz Muniak (ts), Bronisław Suchanek (b), Janusz Stefański (d); (ii) Unit 1974-75: Adam Makowicz (ky), Csesław Bartowski (perc); (iii) Zamek MgieŁ 1975: Tomasz Zukalski (ss, ts, bcl), Csesław Bartowski (perc); iv) Freelectronic – Almost Gamma 1985-86: Janusz Skowron (ky), Tadeusz Sudnik (syn), Witold Szczurek (b); (v) Rue De La Tour 1991: Witold Szczurek (b). (vi) Jazz Rock Company Live At Akwarium 1983: Apostolis Anthimos (g); Jerzy Kawalek (el b), Witold Szczurek (b). Andrzej Ryszka and José Torres (perc). Rec. 1970-91 Having compiled the 11-page discography for Stańko that appears in the English translation of his autobiography Desperado, I was confident I was across…

British multi-reedist Shabaka Hutchings has announced details of his new solo studio album, Of The Earth, which is set for release on 6 March via his own newly-established imprint, Shabaka Records. The new lbum follows 2024’s Perceive Its Beauty Acknowledge Its Grace and will be launched live with an East London show at Village Underground on 7 April. Written, performed, produced and mixed entirely by Shabaka, Of The Earth centres on the alto flute, while also marking his return to the saxophone. The album also features Shabaka’s first recorded use of spoken word/rap, expanding a sonic palette that connects the rhythmic intensity of his previous high-impact bands Sons of Kemet and The Comet Is Coming with his more contemplative solo releases. Much of the record was created while travelling, using…

Sometimes it’s worth returning to the beginning. In this issue, we do just that by revisiting the immense impact of a trumpeter named Louis Armstrong on the evolution of jazz. Listening today to the Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings feels like hearing the raw, authentic roots of the music – bursting with skill, passion, and a wicked sense of humour that still resonates a century on – and perhaps feels more necessary than ever. We’ve taken the opportunity to expand our in-depth exploration of jazz 100 years ago with a wonderful piece by Val Wilmer on Louis’ interactions with audiences across Britain in the 1930s, alongside a fascinating deep dive into the extraordinary influence jazz had on society at large during the cultural shifts of the 1920s – the…

Parker’s rhythmic versatility was outstanding, whether responding to Max Roach and Roy Haynes or with plodding semi-pros. So his history with Afro-Latin music is hardly surprising. An undated anecdote referred to by both Roach and Dizzy Gillespie mentions the two of them and Parker jamming with a group of African drummers in New York, possibly as early as the mid-1940s. As to Bird’s recordings, there are hints in his small-group themes ‘Bongo Bop’ (1947) and ‘Barbados’ (1948) of an interest in Latin and Caribbean rhythms, while for producer Norman Granz he guested with both Neal Hefti’s ‘Repetition’ (1947) and the Machito band (1948-50). But his first relevant small-group session was not until 12 March 1951 (coincidentally, four years to the day before his untimely death). With a jazz quartet plus…

I play the baritone sax differently from a lot of other people. I guess Gerry Mulligan was really good at being pretty nimble all over it. He was a very lyrical player. But generally, it’s used for its honky bottom end. I can do that when required. But when I play, I prefer it to be a kind of lower-pitched angel.” Hannah Horton is a UK-based tenor and baritone saxophonist, bandleader, and award-winning music educator. On her previous two albums, Inside Out (2021) and Live in Soho (2024), she impressed listeners with her sharp melodic intuition and ability to leave space in her solos. Horton’s upcoming release, Stories on the Wind, will be released this spring and features a stellar lineup of Sam Leak on piano, Rob Statham on electric…

“The music has a sensation of being at risk, of playing like kids play; and when you play, you discover. That’s what I feel in this music, and it’s this side of his work that appeals to me” “It’s very difficult because I listen to so many different kinds of music, and each one has an influence. So it was interesting to have the process of choosing, actually - it made me think about why I listen to this or that person or album. But if I have to choose one, I will go for Keith Jarrett, Changeless. It’s not the Keith Jarrett that is the most known, his Standards Trio. Instead, it is his work on ‘research’ and improvisation that is most important to me - like this album,…

Play ACT Music ACT8020CD/LP (CD, LP, DL) EDITOR’S CHOICE Theo Croker (t) and Sullivan Fortner (p). Rec. 2025 There’s a baseline, a benchmark, that all improvisers leap from. In the case of trumpeter Theo Croker and pianist Sullivan Fortner, chops-laden visionaries both, it’s a bar so vertiginous that free jazz excellence is almost a given. There was no guarantee, of course, that these two stylistically very different players would magic brilliance from the ether. Reacquainted with each other’s strengths after recording a covers album that was subsequently jettisoned ("It felt stale," Croker said), they threw down a gauntlet. They'd try again - and this time, they'd "just play". With tempos agreed, and melodies and/or feel outlined, the two longtime friends - Fortner played on Croker’s 2006 debut The Fundamentals -…

Vital Spark – Music of Kenny Wheeler Edition Records EDN1288 (CD, LP, DL) EDITOR’S CHOICE Dave Holland (b), Norma Winstone (v), Mark Lockheart (ts, ss), John Parricelli (g), Nikki Iles (p), James Maddren (d), Pete Churchill (a, cond) plus the London Vocal Project. Rec. January–June 2022 Vital Spark is a profoundly moving tribute to one of the most singular voices in jazz. A direct continuation of Kenny Wheeler’s superb 2013 album, Mirrors, it might just as easily have been called Mirrors II or Mirrors Revisited. The maestro himself is absent, of course, but what a delight it is to step back into the entrancing sound-world of the earlier album: the long, circuitous melodies, the breath-taking harmonic shifts, the fascinating textural ebb and flow. The album features nine of Wheeler’s final…

Kenny Reichert Live in Chicago Shifting Paradigm Records Electric guitarist and composer Reichart, plus his alto sax-double bass-drums band, are caught live in front of an a not-terribly-loud audience in October 2024. Stripped of studio polish, Reichert presents a rougher, freer side to his playing, as exemplified by the opening (and best) track, 'Poppy Seed', an angular, Monkish workout. (KW) Michael Sarian Live at Cliff Bell’s Vol II Shifting Paradigm Records Led by Sarian’s poised trumpet work, Live at Cliff Bell’s explodes out of the gate with a suitably incendiary reading of Tomasz Stańko’s ‘First Song’. It’s typical of this unplanned live recording, the band playing in a relaxed, unrestrained fashion on new material or reworking pieces by Monk and the composer-musicologist Komitas. Pianist Santiago Leibson, bassist Marty Kenney and…

Strata, Act (Joy Contemporary)* We Jazz Records (2 CD, DL) EDITOR’S CHOICE Pat Thomas (p, elec), Seymour Wright (as) and Paul Abbott (d). Rec 10-11, 22 June 2022 Pat Thomas takes a leaf out of the Darius Jones titling book, with his puzzling selections. XT is Paul Abbott and Seymour Wright, the latter a regular with the pianist’s [ahmed] combo. The vinyl and CD alternatives feature different versions of the chosen piece, but the digital makes all five available, three manifestations in Zürich and two sets from Cafe OTO in London. The opening first set (taped at OTO) is 43 minutes, and the closing first set from Zürich is almost 17. This latter is the most acoustic showing of what we know as free jazz, jabbing piano galore. Phew! Two…

A Tribute to The Big Bands: Duke Ellington & Count Basie Fresh Sound FSR-CD 1051 A Tribute to The Big Bands: Lionel Hampton & Woody Herman Fresh Sound FSR-CD 1052 Maxwell Davis (MD, arr) plus personnel as follows… Ellington Tribute: Conte Candoli, Ray Linn, Al Porcino (t), Jake Porter (cnt), Juan Tizol (v-tb), Dick Noel, Jimmy Henderson, Lloyd Ulyate, Tommy Pederson (tb), Jewel Grant (as), Mahlon Clark (as, cl), Ben Webster, Bumps Myers (ts), Bill Hood (bar s), Jimmy Rowles (p), Al Hendrickson (g), Red Callender, Curtis Counce (b), Mel Lewis, Jackie Mills (d), B.B. King (v). Rec. 12 and 14 Jan 1960. Basie Tribute: Joe Newman, Snooky Young, Pete Candoli, John Anderson (t), Henry Coker, Tommy Pederson, Dick Nash (tb), Marshal Royal, Jewel Grant (as), Frank Wess, Frank Foster…

Concerto For Cootie: The Life and Times of Cootie Williams Steven C Bowie University of Mississippi Press $35 PB Cootie Williams is not exactly a household name, even among jazz aficionados. Yet like many musicians of his generation (he was born in 1911 – probably!) he achieved a remarkably individual sound. Inspired initially by Louis Armstrong, on joining the Ellington band in 1929 he was allowed to find his own approach to the growl trumpet role of his predecessor Bubber Miley. As such, he became sufficiently important to be hired away in 1940 by white bandleader Benny Goodman and, then going on to lead his own bands for 20 years, he also became the first person to record Monk’s ‘‘Round Midnight’ and ‘Epistrophy’. These achievements were well illustrated by Acrobat’s…

Stadtgarten Cologne, Germany The Winterjazz weekender in Cologne just celebrated its fifteenth edition, revolving around the four-decades-strong Stadtgarten venue. Winterjazz is also twinned with the NICA artist development initiative, which involves younger artists from Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia region, supporting their emergent and ongoing activities. NICA nods to Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter, an influential patron of jazz in the 1950s and 60s, not least in her support of Thelonious Monk. Winterjazz boasted a hefty NICA presence, for the fourth year, with its musicians presenting new works, and bands with which to deliver these debuting experiments. The festival is a free admission event, so frozen calamari-queues curled out into the snow-ground outside this slushed park-perimeter venue. Stadtgarten’s core concert-room and makeshift restaurant stage were roadblocked all night, with Club Zimmermanns across the…

BBC RADIO 2 88-91 FM and DAB Jamie Cullum show (Tues, 9pm) BBC RADIO 3 90-93 FM and DAB 'Round Midnight (Mon-Fri 11.30pm) Jazz Record Requests (Sun, 4pm) BBC RADIO 6 MUSIC DAB Gilles Peterson, Sat 3pm JAZZ FM DAB, Sky, Alexa, smartphone, tablet and online at jazzfm.com (Mon – Fri) 6.30am-10am Jazz FM Breakfast with Nigel Williams, 10am-2pm Danielle Perry, 2pm-6pm Afternoon drive with Simon Phillips, 6pm-7pm Jazz FM’s Greatest, 7pm-9pm Jazz FM’s Dinner Jazz with Mark Walker. (Mon) 9pm-10pm Future Jazz with Ruth Fisher; 10pm-midnight Late Night with China Moses. (Tues) 9pm-10pm The Jon Cleary Show; 10pm-midnight Late Night with China Moses. (Wed) 9pm-10pm The Ronnie Scott’s Radio Show with Ian Shaw; 10pm-midnight Late Night with China Moses. (Thur) 9pm-10pm Mica Millar’s Jazz Voices; 10pm-midnight Late Night with…

Guitar legend Pat Metheny has launched a new record label, Uniquity Music, alongside details of his latest studio album, Side-Eye III+. Released on 27 February, the album is the first title to appear on the imprint, which has been established in partnership with Primary Wave, parent company of Green Hill Music under the Sun Label Group. Read our review of Side-Eye III+ on page 44 this issue. Uniquity Music will become the long-term home for Metheny’s catalogue from 1984 onwards, beginning with reissues of all albums released since Song X, as well as all future recordings. The move brings together more than 40 years of work under a single label for the first time in the guitarist and composer’s career. Side-Eye III+ is the latest release in Metheny’s Side-Eye series,…

With January already a hazy memory we’re sprinting towards the Spring with more notable new releases on the horizon. Among the most intriguing is Honora, the debut solo album from [rock band] Red Hot Chili Peppers’ bassist Flea, which is set for release on 27 March via Nonesuch Records. Best known for his ‘funk-punk’ slap bass style, Flea returns here to his first love, the trumpet, as well as electric bass. He’s linked up with a coterie LA-based players including saxophonist/album producer Josh Johnson, guitarist Jeff Parker, bassist Anna Butterss, and drummer Deantoni Parks with guest vocals from Thom Yorke, and Nick Cave (on a cover of ‘Wichita Lineman’). Flea is an assured, lyrical trumpeter and the music is heavily jazz informed. Catch him when he plays music from the…

Being a multi-instrumentalist is one thing, but being a world-class player on guitar, piano and keyboards, as well as a far from indifferent brass player, is something else, and Ralph Towner’s legacy includes many recordings that show his genius on guitar and piano in particular. Born in Washington State, he attended the University of Oregon from 1958-1963, where he studied classical piano. But for two spells in the mid-to-late 1960s he also attended the Vienna Academy of Music to study classical guitar. Living in New York in the late 1960s, he started playing jazz piano, but also became a member of the pioneering world music consort led by saxophonist Paul Winter. But it was the formation of Oregon in 1970, with the similarlyversatile reed-player Paul McCandless, bassist Glenn Moore and…

On 12 November 1925, Louis Armstrong went into the OKeh studio in Chicago with his newly-formed ensemble the Hot Five, and recorded three sides. Back then, based on the average delay between recording and releasing the results, it took OKeh Records just over 10 weeks to issue a new single, so in early February 1926, ‘Gut Bucket Blues’, backed with ‘Yes, I’m in the Barrel’, also from that session, brought the sounds of Louis’ new band to the world for the first time. And to make the point that he was with his own pick of musicians – all but his wife linked to his home city – he introduces them by name on the ‘Gut Bucket’ track. Johnny St. Cyr starts by playing a complex accompaniment to his own…

In 1927, the academic WS Mendl wrote in The Appeal of Jazz, “Jazz is the product of a restless age; an age in which the fever of war is now only beginning to abate its fury; when men and women, after their efforts in the great struggle, are still too much disturbed to be content with tranquil existence.” For those with money in their pockets wanting to shake up stifling convention, the intersection of alcohol, jazz and dance had a liberating and dizzyingly dangerous aura. This was seized upon by the do-gooders grappling with the moral implications of jazz; complained the Catholic Telegraph: “The music is sensuous, the female is only half-dressed and the motion may not be described in a family newspaper”. A relatively small, but nevertheless influential, group…

The mezzo saxophone is a new member of the saxophone family,” says Tim Garland. “It’s quite big news, and I think they may well be going into production, but there will only ever be 20 hand-made ones, and I have number 19 and Joe Lovano has number two.” Garland is talking about the custom-built mezzo-soprano saxophones made by the Danish woodwind technician Peter Jessen, who calls his run of 20 mezzo soprano saxophones “the rarest saxophones on earth.” It took Jessen a year to make each instrument. Benjamin Koppel took delivery of the first, and Lovano the second in 2010, at the time of the Copenhagen Jazz Festival, where he [Lovano] performed on it 24 hours later. Mezzo soprano saxophones have always been a rarity. Originally produced by the Conn…

Airelle Besson & Lionel Suarez Blossom Alys Studio BP 06190105 (CD, DL) Airelle Besson (t) and Lionel Suarez (acc). Rec. date not stated The addition of an accordion to the output of this most versatile of French trumpeters gives this album just a hint of the sound of Parisian street music. Along with this, inevitably, come a host of subconscious associations: wartime romances, wistful appeals, cynical nostalgia. All of this is present, though Besson’s latest album is far from sentimental or mundane. Included among compositions written by Besson, or jointly with Suarez, are such diverse numbers as ‘Answer Me’, played straight, with just the right amount of searing wistfulness that acknowledges the lyrics; ‘Ida Lupino’ (from Carla Bley’s nod to easy listening, ‘Dinner Music’) treated with a restrained drama that…

Mezzo Tim Garland Music TGM 1111CD (CD, DL) EDITOR’S CHOICE Tim Garland (mezzo soprano sax) and Geoff Keezer (p). Rec. 2025 An album primarily designed to showcase the custom built mezzo soprano saxophone in G (as opposed to the Conn mezzo sopranos from the 1920s in F played by the likes of Anthony Braxton, James Carter and Jon Irabagon), Mezzo makes an interesting contrast to the more laid back and intimate exchanges of Garland’s 2022 collaboration with Jason Rebello with the more forthright and rhythmically propulsive Geoff Keezer. It hardly does justice to the mezzo soprano to say it is the link between the sound of a soprano sax and an alto sax, as its sound is at its most distinctive in the lower register. Garland covers the whole range…

Eddie Allen’s Push Rhythm People Origin Records With his soulful, powerful tone, New York trumpeterAllen has something of the Lee Morgans about him. Aided by Push (saxophonist Jonathan Beshay, keyboardist Misha Tsiganov, pianist Tyler Bullock II, bassist Kenny Davis and drummer EJ Strickland, with trombone legend Steve Turre as guest), he swings hard, borrowing from Latin grooves, reggae pulses, and urban textures. A rhythm king in the making? (KW) Lena Bloch Marina Fresh Sound Records Interesting one this. Composer and saxophonist Bloch pays tribute to her countrywoman, the great – and tragic – Russian poet Marina Ivanovna Tsvetaeva (1892-1941). Ken Filiano’s bowed bass (especially on ‘I Refuse’) adds doomy menace and Kyoko Kitamura’s extraordinary Björk-meets-Yoko vocals (which are often wordless) grab the attention: Tsvetaeva’s indomitable spirit is evoked more often…

Side-Eye III+ Uniquity Music GHD6626/8 (CD, 2 LP, DL) Pat Metheny (g), Chris Fishman (p, ky), Jermaine Paul (b) and Joe Dyson (d), plus Mark Kibble and choir. Rec. date not stated Age sure ain’t withering him, as Side-Eye III+ finds Metheny as pertly punchy as ever, those clean-limbed lines and epic washes remain for all to enjoy. It helps, though, that he’s recruited a rotating gang of youth to accompany him on this release and the forthcoming world tour. Dyson is a particularly fresh talent, flinging himself fabulously into ‘In On It’. His gusto is matched on the melodic swinger ‘Don’t Look Down’. The latter has, like many Metheny mood pieces, a symphonic quality, moving from an almost easy listening stance to spectacular synthed voices and keys creating a…

Dance at Zero Resonant Postcards RP004 (LP, DL) EDITOR’S CHOICE Noah Stoneman (p), Freddie Jensen (b) and James Maddren (d). Rec. 2024 From his student days at the Royal Academy of Music, Noah Stoneman was a musician who made a mark on the London scene, working with a wide variety of older musicians who appreciated his knowledge, sensitivity and originality. This took him to New York, where he is now based after a master’s degree at City College. But Noah is not some kind of elite academician, he’s a working musician with immense creativity and sensitivity, and this album was made during an early return to the UK from New York. The second number here, ‘On The Edge’ is a fine example of his approach, a composed framework, but a…

Soul Junction Prestige/OJC/Craft Recordings CR00869 (LP, DL) Red Garland (p), Donald Byrd (t), John Coltrane (ts), George Joyner (b) and Art Taylor (d). Rec. 17 November 1957 In addition to Soul Junction, this date produced a companion album, All Mornin’ Long plus a couple of additional tracks that appeared on High Pressure. Today, the interest in these sessions lies in the fast developing talent of young John Coltrane, who had been signed to Prestige earlier in the year, producing Coltrane in May. On this session he used a sextet and quartet and for the latter he used Red Garland, marking the beginning of a series of successful recordings for Prestige with the pianist away from the Miles Davis Quintet. Traneing In, Coltrane’s second for Prestige, came in August, at the…

“I think the baritone saxophone is perfection,” says Lauren Sevian. “Even outside the written range you have at least another octave or so until it sounds like nails on the chalkboard. There is a power and a resonance that comes with playing the baritone that I never felt from any other instrument other than the piano. It just feels so good to play when you have that reed that’s poppin’, and your ideas are flowing.” Sevian grew up in a family immersed in music. “My mother plays piano, my father played violin. My older brother plays saxophone, and my sister played the clarinet. The musical gene definitely runs in our family!” Sevian started on the piano at the age of five at her mother’s instruction, "But then I quickly added…

SUNDAY 1 Pete Tanton’s Chet Set Central Bar, Half Moon Lane, Gateshead 1 Sholto The Copper Bar, 25 Swan Street, Manchester 1 Ronnie Scott’s Blues Explosion (evening), Five-Way Split (lunchtime) Ronnie Scott's, 47 Frith Street, London W1 1 Paul Higgs PizzaExpress Jazz Club, 10 Dean Street, London W1 1 Littlewood Trio Globe, Railway Street, Newcastle upon Tyne 1 Ian Bosworth Quintet Chapel, Whitehouse Street, Middlesbrough 1 Acantha Lang (evening), RCMJA Mornington Lockett (afternoon) 606 Club, 90 Lots Road, London SW10 MONDAY 2 Dino Baptiste 606 Club, 90 Lots Road, London SW10 2-3 Madeline Bell Ronnie Scott's, 47 Frith Street, London W1 2 Alex Garnett and Paul Edis The Guildford Institute, Ward Street, Guildford 2 Yttling Jazz Jazz Cafe, 5 Parkway, London NW1 2 Noah Stoneman Trio Vortex Jazz Club, 11…

Never miss an issue of the UK’s only print and digital jazz magazine Jazzwise has been at the heart of the global jazz scene since the magazine’s launch in 1997, changing the way jazz publications look and think for the last three decades, with a stunning editorial and design package that reaches out worldwide to both the new jazz audience and established fans – qualities that have led to it winning Jazz Publication of the Year at the Parliamentary Jazz Awards, the Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Awards and the Jazz FM Awards. Why should you subscribe? ▸ 11 new print and digital issues during the year ▸ Full access to every issue of Jazzwise with over 290 editions in our searchable digital archive and iOS App ▸ Access to 12,000+ expertly…

In praise of Shakti… if only I could find them! I first saw John McLaughlin play with Lifetime in Manchester back in 1970. I last saw him just under three years ago at Hammersmith Apollo with Shakti – it was one of the best concerts I have been to in more than 60 years of gig-going. So imagine my excitement when I read about the final live Shakti album, Mind Explosion, in Jazzwise issue 312. That’s the good bit. When I tried to buy the album in both Manchester and in London (while on a trip to see family and an Oumou Sangare show at the QEH in London), no luck. What use is it spending money on making an album (as well as on promoting it with ads in…

The 100 Jazz Albums That Shook The World is an exclusive 100-page definitive guide to the most important and influential jazz albums that have gone on to change and shape the course of the music from the 1920s to the present day. ■ Print-only, premium quality, publication edited and conceived by Jazzwise’s editor-in-chief Jon Newey ■ The first time a fully annotated top 100 jazz album countdown from 100 to No.1 has been published in book form ■ Includes new in-depth editorial on each album from Jazzwise’s acclaimed team of writers, plus in-depth features on the making of the top three albums, a look at the albums that almost made the cut and a guide to buying the featured titles on LP and CD “This superbly written assemblage is an engrossing…