Maja S.K. Ratkje: Sult

Sult is an absorbingly distinctive soundtrack, written by Ratkje for organ and vocal, for a Norwegian national ballet adaptation of...

Reviewed by Selwyn Harris in issue: June/2019

Dizzy Gillespie: The Greatest of Dizzy Gillespie

This is slightly lazy reissuing from Sony/RCA, as surely Dizzy is due the Complete RCA box that other artists have...

Reviewed by Alyn Shipton in issue: June/2017

Oscar Peterson: Soft Sands

OP was a good Nat Cole-style vocalist, shown to advantage here with Buddy Bregman’s orchestra, plus bonus trio album My...

Reviewed by Alyn Shipton in issue: July/2013

Jonah Jones: Broadway and Hollywood Hits

Put these five-and-a-half original albums together with the Blue Moon reissues of Jones reviewed here in November and December 2014,...

Reviewed by Alyn Shipton in issue: March/2017

Louis Armstrong and Dave Brubeck: The Real Ambassadors

The weakness here is the material a musical by Dave and Iola Brubeck, which had one public performance and commemorated...

Reviewed by Alyn Shipton in issue: July/2018

Various Artists: The Boston Creative Jazz Scene 1970-83

Stanton Davis Baird Hersey Phil Musra Group | Thing and Mark Harvey Group

Not so much a compilation as a fascinating slice of cultural history wrapped up in a lavish deluxe package. This...

Reviewed by Kevin Le Gendre in issue: July/2016

Matt Slocum: Black Elk's Dream

Dayna Stephens | Gerald Clayton | Massimo Biolcati | Matt Slocum | Walter Smith III

American drummer/composer Matt Slocum has a light touch, a strong melodic pulse and is steadily rising up the New York...

Reviewed by Mike Hobart in issue: May/2014

Various Artists: Complete Dial Modern Jazz Sessions

Al Casey | Al Haig | Barney Kessel | Bill Harris | Charlie Parker | Chuck Wayne | Dexter Gordon | Dizzy Gillespie | Dodo Marmarosa | Don Lamond

The short-lived Dial label is justly hallowed, above all for seven studio sessions led by Charlie Parker. Started in early...

Reviewed by Brian Priestley in issue: July/2015

Chris Thile & Brad Mehldau

Brad Mehldau | Chris Thile

The first recorded fruits of this initially unexpected and seemingly improbable but by now well-established collaboration arrive over five years...

Reviewed by Robert Shore in issue: April/2017

Charles Mingus: Mingus Ah Um

Booker Ervin | Charles Mingus | Dannie Richmond | Horace Parlan | Jimmy Knepper | John Handy | Shafi Hadi | Willie Dennis

If you’re not intimately familiar with this music, waste no time familiarising yourself and, if you think you know it...

Reviewed by Brian Priestley in issue: March/2020