Nat Birchall: Invocations

Adam Fairhall | Christian Weaver | John Ellis | Johnny Hunter | Nat Birchall | Tim Fairhall

A tweak of the personnel in Nat Birchall's latest ensemble brings a subtle but resonant shift in his fertile seam...

Reviewed by Daniel Spicer in issue: Dec/Jan/2015/2016

John Mayall's Bluesbreakers: Live in 1967

Sublime stinging guitar from Peter Green on these unreleased live dates from spring 1967, unofficially recorded by a fan and...

Reviewed by Alyn Shipton in issue: June/2015

Barbara Thompson: Live at the BBC

Anthony Aldridge | Art Themen | Barbara Thompson | Bill Le Sage | Chris Laurence | Chris Pyne | Chris Spedding | Colin Dudman | Dave Ball | Dave Gelly

How do you do box sets? Binge, dabble, coasters? Well, there's only one way to enjoy these 14 CDs. Over...

Reviewed by Andy Robson in issue: March/2021

Dexter Gordon: The Squirrel: Live at the Montmartre Copenhagen ‘67

Art Taylor | Bo Stief | Dexter Gordon | Kenny Drew

This numbered, two-LP set packaged in an attractive gatefold was a release for Record Store Day. It's an inspired choice....

Reviewed by Stuart Nicholson in issue: December/2020

Kristjan Randalu: Absence

Ben Monder | Kristjan Randalu | Markku Ounaskari

There's a meteorological moodiness about this disc from Kristjan Randalu that's at once passionate and studied. The trio – comprising...

Reviewed by Robert Robert in issue: July/2018

Geoffrey Oryema: Exile

Brian Eno | David Bottrill | David Rhodes | Geoffrey Oryema | Michelle Newbury | Peter Gabriel | Richard Blair | Richard Evans

With African music so much a part of the mainstream it's easy to forget how pivotal the Real World label...

Reviewed by Jane Cornwell in issue: August/2012

Billy Valentine & The Universal Truth

Abe Rounds | Alex Acuna | Billy Valentine | Bob Thiele Jr | Bridgette Bryant | Claire Daley | David Piltch | Immanuel Wilkins | James Gadson | Jane Miley

One half of the Valentine Brothers, the duo behind the seminal 1980s anti-Reagan funk anthem ‘Money's Too Tight To Mention’,...

Reviewed by Kevin Le Gendre in issue: May/2023

Muthspiel Grenadier Blade: Driftwood

Brian Blade | Larry Grenadier | Wolfgang Muthspiel

While he's far less known in the UK, the 49-year-old guitarist and composer Wolfgang Muthspiel is one of the most...

Reviewed by Selwyn Harris in issue: July/2014

Meredith d'Ambrosio: Sometime Ago

Daryl Johns | Don Sickler | Meredith d'Ambrosio | Randy Halberstadt | Steve Johns

Recorded at the historic Van Gelder Recording Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, Sometime Ago finds vocalist Meredith d'Ambrosio in...

Reviewed by Peter Quinn in issue: May/2021

Lou Donaldson: Midnight Sun/Blues Walk

Al Harewood | Ben Tucker | Dave Bailey | Herman Foster | Horace Parlan | Lou Donaldson | Peck Morrison | Ray Barretto

Blue Note wasn't any different than most labels in that it wanted breadand-butter artists on their wish list – those...

Reviewed by Roy Carr in issue: October/2015