Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli: Complete String Quintet

Allan Hodgkiss | Alphonse Cox | André Cornille | Arthur Briggs | Bert Marshall | Challain Ferré | Coleridge Goode | Django Reinhardt | Emmanuel Soudieux | Eugene D’Hellemes

There have been many reissues of the Quintet of the Hot Club of France material over the years but this...

Reviewed by Alyn Shipton in issue: July/2016

Acoustic Alchemy: Roseland

Is it the theme music to a Reality TV travel programme? No it’s smooth jazz poster boys Acoustic Alchemy, with...

Reviewed by Selwyn Harris in issue: Dec/Jan/2011/2012

Brass Mask: Spy Boy

Alex Bonney | Dan Nicholls | George Crowley | John Blease | Nathaniel Cross | Rory Simmons | Theon Cross | Tom Challenger

Brass is obviously the – or at least an – ‘in’ thing at the moment; certainly groups with the word...

Reviewed by Robert Shore in issue: Dec/Jan/2013/2014

Colosseum: Transmissions: Live at the BBC

Barbara Thompson | Chris Farlowe | Dave ‘Clem’ Clempson | Dave Greenslade | Dick Heckstall-Smith | James Litherland | Jon Hiseman | Louis Cennamo | Mark Clarke | Neil Ardley

Just when you thought there couldn't be more Colosseum cuts to be excavated, behold, you doubters, six more CDs from...

Reviewed by Andy Robson in issue: March/2021

Håkon Kornstad: Tenor Battle

Håkon Kornstad | Lars Henrik Johansen | Per Zanussi | Sigbjørn Apeland

There’s a sense of irony about the title to the new CD by Håkon Kornstad, the Norwegian saxophonist formerly of...

Reviewed by Selwyn Harris in issue: February/2016

Renegade Creation: Bullet

The kind of formulaic mainstream blues rock you thought was extinct played by a muso supergoup led by Michael Landau...

Reviewed by Selwyn Harris in issue: November/2012

Monty Alexander: Uplift2

Frits Landesbergen | Hassan Shakur | Jeff Hamilton | John Clayton | Monty Alexander

Producer John Lee creates an unnecessary element of mystery by airily describing these tracks as “recorded at various concert...

Reviewed by Jack Massarik in issue: June/2013

Miles Davis: The Unissued 1956/7 Paris Broadcasts

Art Taylor | Barney Wilen | Christian Garros | Kenny Clarke | Lester Young | Miles Davis | Paul Chambers | Pierre Michelot | Red Garland | Rene Urtreger

This album divides itself into two parts comprising ten tracks with the French musicians noted above, albeit with Lester Young...

Reviewed by Stuart Nicholson in issue: November/2011

Jihye Lee Orchestra: April

Alan Chase | Greg Hopkins | Jihye Lee | Mark Walker | Rick Stepton

With April and The Manhattan EP we have snapshot of the current Boston/New York contemporary big band scene. April, funded...

Reviewed by Stuart Nicholson in issue: June/2017

Dayna Stephens: Right Now! The Dayna Stephens Quartet Live At The Village Vanguard

Aaron Parks | Ben Street | Dayna Stephens | Gregory Hutchinson

DownBeat magazine's critics voted Dayna Stephens Rising Star Tenor Saxophonist in 2019, and since the elegantly powerful, Wayne Shorter-inspired American...

Reviewed by John Fordham in issue: December/2020