Oscar Pettiford: Modern Quintet

Miserly playing time makes this oddball session from OP, playing cello and bass, with Julius Watkins on French horn, more...

Reviewed by Alyn Shipton in issue: March/2014

Stan Getz: At Large – Complete Sessions

A famous Verve album, plus some good bonus material featuring more of Getz with the talented but short-lived Jan Johansson...

Reviewed by Alyn Shipton in issue: March/2015

Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra: Schweben

Inspired by Kandinsky and Mayakovsky's poem ‘Could You’, Barry Guy directs this new music ensemble, his compositional devices driving the...

Reviewed by Selwyn Harris in issue: March/2013

Album Interview: Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba: Jama Ko

Amy Sacko | Bassekou Kouyate | Béla Fleck | Kasse Mady Diabaté | Khaira Arby | Lassana Diabaté | Mamadou Kouyate | Moctar Kouyate | Moustafa Kouyate | Taj Mahal

The Malian virtuoso Bassekou Kouyate is probably the world's most celebrated player of the ngoni, a traditional West African instrument...

Reviewed by Jane Cornwell in issue: March/2013

Ray Barretto: Charanga Moderna/La Moderna de Siempre

1960s New York Latin jazz was hugely popular at the time, but this has dated somewhat and is for enthusiasts...

Reviewed by Alyn Shipton in issue: November/2013

Miles Davis Quintet with John Coltrane: Classic 1956 Sessions

John Coltrane | Miles Davis | Paul Chambers | Philly Joe Jones | Red Garland

We've reached a period where seemingly more attention is being paid to the works of Coltrane than to the great...

Reviewed by Brian Priestley in issue: July/2019

Martin Sanders: Jazz in The City

Not enough gloss here to be classed as smooth jazz, this over stylised, urban groove-jazz sextet is inspired by ‘the...

Reviewed by Selwyn Harris in issue: April/2013

Billy Jenkins: Death, Ritual and Resonation

Billy Jenkins

Like Leadbelly's 12-string or Blind Willie Johnson's knifed slide, Jenkins has found his voice in the low strung guitar. Not...

Reviewed by Andy Robson in issue: July/2015

Jennifer Hartswick: Something in the Water

Christian McBride | Conor Elmes | Jennifer Hartswick | Nicholas Cassarino | Rob Marscher

Released via Christian McBride's Mack Avenue Music Group imprint, Brother Mister Productions, and recorded at the legendary Sound Emporium Studios...

Reviewed by Peter Quinn in issue: October/2022

Clifford Jordan: These Are My Roots: Clifford Jordan Plays Leadbelly

Clifford Jordan

First released on Atlantic Records in 1965, in some senses this is an album decades ahead of its time. Indeed,...

Reviewed by Simon Spillett in issue: September/2020