Christian McBride & Inside Straight: Live at the Village Vanguard

Peter Martin | Christian McBride | Carl Allen | Warren Wolf | Steve Wilson

McBride sets a good example for contemporary definitions of ‘inside playing’ and ‘straight-ahead feel’. His quintet also contains a cross-section...

Reviewed in issue December/January/2021/2022

Joey DeFrancesco: More Music

Lucas Brown | Joey DeFrancesco | Michael Ode

Joey DeFrancesco first emerged on to the scene as a ‘Hammond organ prodigy’ – he was invited to join Miles...

Reviewed in issue December/January/2021/2022

Erroll Garner: Symphony Hall Concert

Erroll Garner | Kelly Martin | Eddie Calhoun

As well as the comprehensive reissue programme of Garner’s albums for his dedicated imprint Octave Records (see Jazzwise 247, 252...

Reviewed in issue November/2021

Kenny Garrett: Sounds from Ancestors

Ronald Bruner | Vernell Brown, Jr. | Lenny White | Johnny Mercier | Maurice Brown | Corcoran Holt | Kenny Garrett | Dwight Trible | Rudy Bird

This is the fifth album by Garrett on Mack Avenue and it's impressive in its lines of input, ranging from...

Reviewed in issue September/2021

Steve Cole: Smoke And Mirrors

Smooth Jazz, although now confined to the niche, is painfully, yet somehow reassuringly, still with us; one of those still...

Reviewed in issue July/2021

Veronica Swift: This Bitter Earth

Bryan Carter | Veronica Swift | Emmet Cohen | Yasushi Nakamura | Armand Hirsch | Aaron Johnson

Veronica Swift's second album for Mack Avenue is an eclectic, unforgettable delight, with the singer's out-and-out virtuosity perfectly matched by...

Reviewed in issue March/2021

Emmet Cohen: Future Stride

Emmet Cohen | Melissa Aldana | Kyle Poole | Marquis Hill | Russell Hall

An unexpected surprise from pianist Cohen, now in his very early 30s but clearly aware of all of jazz history....

Reviewed in issue February/2021

Yellowjackets with the WDR Big Band: Jackets XL

Bob Mintzer | Russell Ferrante | William Kennedy | Dane Alderson

Mintzer is a long-time associate of the WDR band. However, the Mack Avenue releases have emphasised the Jackets' small group...

Reviewed in issue December/2020

Billy Childs: Acceptance

Billy Childs

Childs' last new release, 2017's Rebirth, was greeted with considerable pleasure in Jazzwise 218 and with nothing less than a...

Reviewed in issue October/2020

Christian Sands: Be Water

Christian Sands

Marcus Miller has an eponymously titled track dedicated to him; and Lalo Schifrin wrote a memorable soundtrack in the 1970s...

Reviewed in issue September/2020