Philipp Schiepek & Walter Lang: Cathedral

Philipp Schiepek

Here's an unusual jazz pairing: nylon string guitar and grand piano, the former played by comparative newcomer Schiepek, the latter...

Reviewed in issue June/2021

Larry Coryell & Philip Catherine + Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic XI: The Last Call

Larry Coryell

The easy headline with The Last Call is that this is Coryell's last concert recording; within weeks he was dead....

Reviewed in issue June/2021

Ida Sand: Do You Hear Me?

The Swedish singer-songwriter, who's collaborated with stellar ACT artists, is more MOR R&B and acoustic pop than jazz in a...

Reviewed in issue June/2021

Wollny/Parisien/Lefebvre/Lillinger: XXXX

Tim Lefebvre | Emile Parisien | Christian Lillinger | Michael Wollny

At the end or 2019, German virtuoso pianist/composer Michael Wollny invited three former playing partners – American bass guitar star...

Reviewed in issue May/2021

David Helbock, Sebastian Studnitzky, Arne Jansen: The New Cool

David Helbock

The Austrian-born pianist David Helbock's albums on ACT have not quite flattered to deceive – showing promise but failing to...

Reviewed in issue April/2021

Jazzrausch Bigband: téchne

Moritz Stahl | Jelena Kuljic | Thorben Schütt | Frederik Mademann | Thomas Kölbl | Viktoria Tolstoy | Marco Dufner | Nils Landgren | Julian Hesse | Nesrine

After tackling Ludwig Van on 2020's Beethoven's Breakdown, Munich's ever-enterprising Jazzrausch Bigband now have a go at inventing a completely...

Reviewed in issue April/2021

Diego Pinera: Odd Wisdom

Diego Pinera | Scott Colley | Donny McCaslin | Ben Monder

Berlin-based drummer Diego Pinera, who hails from Montevideo, Uruguay, says he studied music in places where it came from –...

Reviewed in issue March/2021

Janne Mark: Kontinent

Bjørn Heebøll | Nils Økland | Eaben Eyermann | Janne Mark | Henrik Gunde | Arve Henriksen

Impressive in conception, deft in execution, this is highly creative Nordic contemporary music. Diverse conceptually yet thematically strong in construction,...

Reviewed in issue February/2021

Shalosh: Broken Balance

Gadi Stern | David Michaeli | Mattan Assayag

This Tel Aviv piano trio have found their natural home on EST's label, ACT, as they regularly power up rock...

Reviewed in issue December/2020

Frank Woeste: Pocket Rhapsody II

Julien Herné | Stéphane Galland | Gaël Darchen | Clotilde Sébert | Robinson Khoury | Frank Woeste | Eric Vloeimans | Oscar Woeste

Pianist Frank Woeste won praise for his first Pocket Rhapsody album in 2016. Now he's back with Pocket Rhapsody II,...

Reviewed in issue December/2020