Various Artists: Spiritual Jazz 13: NOW! Modern Sounds for the 21st Century

Idris Ackamoor | David Boykin | Vibration Black Finger | Makaya McKraven | Steve Reid | Angela Bat Dawid | Cat Toren | Nat Birchall | Chip Wickham | Shabaka & the Ancestors

Jazzman's excellent Spiritual Jazz series continues its roll, shimmering into 2021 with 24 tracks that respect the past and embrace...

Reviewed by Jane Cornwell in issue: April/2021

Richard Andrew Schwartz: Song For My Mother

Bill Grimes | Troy Davis | Richard Andrew Schwartz | Mike Esneault | Ellis Marsalis | Iuliia Akers

This album features a collection of musicians who work in and around New Orleans. Indeed, it includes two pieces, ‘Alpha...

Reviewed by Alyn Shipton in issue: April/2021

Tani Tabbal Trio: Now Then

Tani Tabbal | Michael Bisio | Adam Siegel

Tani Tabbal hails from a long line of Chicagoan drummers – Gene Krupa, Jo Jones, Tony Williams – who have...

Reviewed by Philip Clark in issue: April/2021

Vinnie Riccitelli Octet: For The Record

Lou Stelluti | Joe Stelluti | Bruce Bonvissuto | Vinnie Riccitelli | Leo Ursini | Eddie Monteiro | Glenn Drewes | Nathan Childers | Chris Riccitelli | Tony Tedesco

Here's a surprise. Having last recorded a jazz album under his own name back in 1956, 94-year old New York...

Reviewed by Peter Vacher in issue: April/2021

Evan Parker Quartet: All Knavery and Collusion

Evan Parker | John Edwards | Alexander Hawkins | Paul Lytton

This particular quartet was convened by Parker for just a couple of live gigs prior to recording, and there's an...

Reviewed by Daniel Spicer in issue: April/2021

Warped Dreamer: Live at the Bimhuis

Arve Henriksen

This group, comprising Henriksen and Westerhus from Norway, and Dumoulin and Verbruggen from Belgium, are captured live on Amsterdam's famed...

Reviewed by Stuart Nicholson in issue: April/2021

Nortonk

A twenty-something chordless quartet is characterised by its angular, pungent harmonic unison of trumpet (Thomas Killackey) and alto sax (Gideon...

Reviewed by Selwyn Harris in issue: April/2021

Hafez Modizardeh: Facets

Tyshawn Sorey | Craig Taborn | Hafez Modizardeh | Kris Davis

Tenor saxophonist Hafez Modirzadeh's previous releases such as 2012's Post-Chromodal Out! established him as an artist who was able to...

Reviewed by Kevin Le Gendre in issue: April/2021

Nick Walters & The Paradox Ensemble: Implicate Order

Jim Molyneux | Paul Michael | Nick Walters | Rebecca Nash | Kodjovi Kush | Anton Hunter | Aidan Shepherd | Ben Kelly | Ed Cawthorne | Richard Foote

Nick Walters has been busy. Implicate Order is the first offering from Walters' new label D.O.T, and the third from...

Reviewed by Hugh Morris in issue: April/2021

Brandon Seabrook & Simon Nabatov: Voluptuaries

An uncompromising heavyweight left-field piano (Nabatov) and guitar (Seabrook) duo that switch effortlessly from frenzied anarchy to ghostly ambience, the...

Reviewed by Selwyn Harris in issue: April/2021