When Nigerian master drummer Ginger Johnson arrived in London in 1943 he immediately stood out from the crowd – not just because of the distinctive reddish tinge to his hair that earned him his nickname – but for his ability to create a dazzlingly polyrhythmic blend of African music and jazz.
Just months before Esbjörn Svensson died aged just 44 in 2008, EST – the groundbreaking and hugely influential piano trio that Svensson formed with Dan Berglund and Magnus Öström – recorded a great deal of material in a Sydney studio.
Every year, Jazzwise asks its writers to choose their favourite albums – the releases that most impressed and inspired them.
Due to data corruption, we have unfortunately had to suspend the survey.
Right there when bebop was freshly minted and he was running around with Miles and the fast set, through his startling early flowering with the classic Saxophone Colossus, to his London jazz club days in the 60s, and up to today when he steps up to the mark once again live and in the studio, very few come near Sonny Rollins.
Kurt Elling’s richly resonant, subtly virtuosic voice is one of the most recognisable and celebrated in jazz earning him a Grammy for his 2009 album Dedicated To You alongside 10 other Grammy nominations, and seen him top numerous critics polls.
Juliet Kelly has been writing songs and telling tales for over a decade – combining her effortless, honeyed jazz vocal style with a determination to compose and perform original material.
With parallel careers spanning the last two decades saxophonist Joshua Redman and piano trio The Bad Plus have forged equally acclaimed, but distinctly separate paths in contemporary jazz.
Saxophonist Julian Argüelles is chief among the founding members of resurgent Brit-jazz big band Loose Tubes who are hitting top form today.
Despite the fact that he died in 1979, Charles Mingus' music has an uncanny longevity and his music is more influential today than it has ever been.
