Count Basie: One O'Clock Jump

The 1956 “New Testament” Basie band with Ella and (mainly) Joe Williams guesting on vocals, culled from two Verve albums....

Reviewed by Alyn Shipton in issue: May/2012

Oliver Nelson: The Blues And The Abstract Truth

Eric Dolphy | Freddie Hubbard | Jerome Richardson | George Barrow | Bill Evans | Wendell Marshall | George Duvivier | Roy Haynes | Paul Chambers | Melba Liston

Perhaps, only with the passing of time is it possible to evaluate the true value of great works of art...

Reviewed by Roy Carr in issue: May/2012

Alfredo Rodríguez: Sounds of Space

Ernesto Vega | Francisco Mela | Michael Olivera | Alfredo Rodriguez | Peter Slavov | Gaston Joya | Santa Cecila Quartet

“He is very special,” Quincy Jones has said of the 26-year-old Cuban pianist-composer Alfredo Rodríguez. It's pretty good to be...

Reviewed by Robert Shore in issue: May/2012

Claire Martin: Too Much in Love to Care (Claire Martin Sings with Kenny Barron)

Kenny Washington | Claire Martin | Peter Washington | Steve Wilson | Kenny Barron

Claire Martin's fifteenth album for Linn, her first US studio recording since Make This City Ours (1997), marks the first...

Reviewed by Peter Quinn in issue: May/2012

Led: The Ocean

Inspired by rediscovering the improv on his old Zep LPs, Swedish drummer Peter Danemo convincingly adapts the songs in an...

Reviewed by Selwyn Harris in issue: May/2012

Oscar Peterson Trio With Milt Jackson: Very Tall

Frank Foster | Percy Heath | Joe Newman | Oscar Peterson | Milt Jackson | Cannonball Adderley | Sahib Shihab | Ray Brown | Horace Silver | Quincy Jones

At one time or another Oscar Peterson threw his considerable (musical) might behind almost every jazz giant of note. Here...

Reviewed by Roy Carr in issue: May/2012

The Michael Treni Big Band: Boy's Night Out

Starring heralded Boston saxophonist Jerry Bergonzi, this veteran trombonist's arrangements are in the mainstream post-Thad Jones tradition....

Reviewed by Selwyn Harris in issue: May/2012

Emma Smith: The Huntress

Stan Sulzmann | Andy Ball | Matt Robinson | Tim Thornton | Emma Smith

There's so much to recommend in this debut album from vocalist Emma Smith, it's difficult to know where to start....

Reviewed by Peter Quinn in issue: May/2012

Tytingvåg Ensemble: Let Go Instrumentals

Norwegian vocalist's original songs from the new album (see above) reintroduced here as instrumentals, with inevitably more improvising opportunities....

Reviewed by Selwyn Harris in issue: May/2012

Duke Ellington: Such Sweet Thunder

Jimmy Woode | Cat Anderson | Sam Woodyard | Harry Carney | Billy Strayhorn | Fats Ford | Marshall | Clark Terry | Jimmy Hamilton | Mercer Ellington

Both of these compilations of a famous album with bonus material have previously been on the Essential Jazz Classics label,...

Reviewed by Brian Priestley in issue: May/2012