The dynamic top-tier pairing of Brad Mehldau and Joshua Redman are seeking to elevate the status of the piano and sax formation with their forthcoming collaboration on Nonesuch, Nearness.
Pianist Neil Cowley and his trio of bassist Rex Horan and drummer Evan Jenkins go intergalactic with his new multi-media monolith Spacebond Apes.
Under the stewardship of ECM head honcho Manfred Eicher the starry quartet of Eivind Aarset, Jan Bang, Arve Henriksen and Tigran Hamasyan assembled to create the dazzling new double-album Atmosphères.
In a career spanning over three decades – from his days as an 18-year-old protégé of Chick Corea and Gary Burton, to his latter day omnivorous musical explorations of jazz-rock with Karma, Nordic post-bop with Arild Andersen and his directorship of exceptional large works with the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra – Tommy Smith has always taken the musical high road.
Following his key contributions to David Bowie’s epochal Blackstar, New York saxophonist Donny McCaslin launches his own long-player next month, Beyond Now, a barnstorming tribute to the musical and cultural icon and one cast in his influence.
Trumpeter Yazz Ahmed’s work live and on record with progressive-minded post-rockers Radiohead and arty envelope-pushers These New Puritans have made a seismic impact on her current approach to making music, with its emphasis on organic loops, soundscaping and electronics.
Tunisian Dhafer Youssef’s cultural cross-pollinating music and career rise up like models for harmonious living in an increasingly fraught and fractured world.
Saxophonist Branford Marsalis’ Quartet has an illustrious 20-year history spanning a series of 15 powerful albums that have tackled everything from John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme in its entirety, to 2012’s scorching Four MFs Playin’ Tunes – always giving acoustic modern jazz a hefty kick up the behind.
Multi-award winning pianist and composer Zoe Rahman has taken the solo route on her latest album, Dreamland, a personal journey of covers and rhythmically-charged originals.
One of the exciting new generation of jazz musicians to emerge from Trinity Laban musical conservatory, Londoner Elliot Galvin has delivered a right-hook to the guts of jazz purists with his latest macabre offering, Punch.
