Art Ensemble Of Chicago: A Jackson In Your House/A Message To Our Folks/Reese And The Smooth Ones

Lester Bowie | Roscoe Mitchell | Malachi Favors | Joseph Jarman

Generally speaking, humour is not a word associated with the avant-garde. And yet that quality is conspicuous by its presence...

Reviewed by Kevin Le Gendre in issue: June/2013

Julia Hülsmann: In Full View

Marc Muellbauer | Heinrich Köbberling | Julia Hülsmann | Tom Arthurs

For her third release on the ECM label, the Berlin-based pianist Julia Hülsmann shifts format from trio to quartet. The...

Reviewed by Selwyn Harris in issue: June/2013

Maurizio Minandi: The Cook the Clown the Monk and the Accordionist

The Italian London-based accordionist's ransacking of the Peter Greenaway film title here will have something to do with his quartet...

Reviewed by Selwyn Harris in issue: June/2013

Leon Thomas: The Creator 1969-73 The Best Of The Flying Dutchman Masters

Pharoah Sanders | Bernard Purdie | Neal Creque | Richard Davis | Cecil McBee | Joe Beck | Grady Tate | Billy Cobham | David Spinozza | Roy Haynes

Following the excellent anthologies of Gil Scott-Heron and Lonnie Liston Smith, Ace/BGP continues its celebration of the seminal Flying Dutchman...

Reviewed by Kevin Le Gendre in issue: June/2013

Kairos 4tet: Everything We Hold

Jasper Høiby | Omar Lye-Fook | Kate Robinson | Tom Mason | Adam Waldmann | John Turville | Tori Handsley | Emilia Mårtensson | Ben Davis | Jules Buckley

The third release from Adam Waldmann's Kairos 4tet group alternates between airily song-like jazz instrumentals and acoustic songs, one rolling...

Reviewed by Selwyn Harris in issue: June/2013

Dexter Gordon: The Complete Columbia Albums

Gordon | Curtis Fuller | Eddie Gladden | Rufus Reid | Eddie Jefferson | David Eubanks | Ronnie Mathews | Woody Shaw | Kirk Lightsey | Victor Lewis

This seven-CD set has to be top value for Dexter Gordon fans, especially those who particularly value the mellow autumn...

Reviewed by Jack Massarik in issue: June/2013

McCoy Tyner: Inception + Reaching Fourth

Steve Davis | Roy Haynes | Henry Grimes | Art Davis | McCoy Tyner | Elvin Jones

Although Inception and Reaching Fourth – both from 1962 – are usually cited as the first and second albums Tyner...

Reviewed by Stuart Nicholson in issue: June/2013

Christian McBride and Inside Straight: People Music

Christian McBride | Carl Allen | Ulysses Owens Jr | Warren Wolf | Steve Wilson | Peter Martin | Christian Sands

Christian McBride's straight-ahead project might not break any boundaries but, like the leader's propulsive bass playing, it certainly packs a...

Reviewed by Mike Hobart in issue: June/2013

Marbin: Last Chapter of Dreaming

A balls-to-the-wall, heavy touring American ‘classic’ rock band with some east European and jazz-fusion influences thrown into the mix....

Reviewed by Selwyn Harris in issue: June/2013

Bessie Smith: The Complete Columbia Recordings

Fletcher Henderson | Clarence Williams | Don Redman | Louis Armstrong | James P. Johnson | Charlie Green | Bessie Smith

The Empress of the Blues in all her decade-long majesty: her full Columbia output plus a series of interviews with...

Reviewed by Peter Vacher in issue: June/2013