Kevin Figes Quartet: Changing Times

Emily Wright | Kevin Figes | Thad Kelly | Jim Blomfield | Mark Whitlam

Not many people namecheck Henry Cow these days. Not enough people, IMHO. But Bristol-based saxophonist Kevin Figes does in talking...

Reviewed by Robert Shore in issue: July/2020

Ego Ella May: Honey For Wounds

Sam Michnik | Wu-Lu | Eun | Tom Excell | Melo Zed | Andrew Ashong | Sam Posener | Theo Croker | Wulu | Wonky Logic

Ego Ella May's sophomore album, Honey for Wounds, finds her smooth, sage voice chronicling societal ills and personal heartache in...

Reviewed by Christine Hannigan in issue: July/2020

Hedvig Mollestad: Ekidna

Susana Santos Silva | Erlend Slettevoll | Hedvig Mollestad | Marte Eberson | Torstein Lofhus | Ole Mofiell

Mollestad loves a legend, and Ekidna conjures the spirit not of the cute spiny anteater, but of the mythic mater,...

Reviewed by Andy Robson in issue: July/2020

Snarky Puppy: Live At The Royal Albert Hall

Chris Bullock | Bobby Sparks | Mason Davis | Michael League | Keita Ogawa | Bill Laurance | Mark Lettieri | Mike ‘Maz’ Maher | Justin Stanton | Shaun Martin

The roar of over 5,000 people has an eerie quality in our self-isolated times, and having witnessed the sheer magnitude...

Reviewed by Mike Flynn in issue: July/2020

HankJones: Live at Jazzhus Slukefter Vol. 2

Hank Jones | Shelly Manne | Mads Vinding

Taking a standard like ‘All The Things You Are’ and finding fresh things to say on the head, and then...

Reviewed by Alyn Shipton in issue: July/2020

Dave Douglas: Dizzy Atmosphere: Dizzy Gillespie at Zero Gravity

Joey Baron | Dave Adewumi | Carmen Rothwell | Fabian Almazan | Dave Douglas | Mathew Stevens

Perhaps it's easier to put aside the Dizzy Gillespie associations.Douglas only addresses a couple of Dizzy tunes, although echoes and...

Reviewed by Andy Robson in issue: July/2020

World Sanguine Report: Skeleton Blush

A top large ensemble led by jazz-wayward singer-songwriter/guitarist/arranger Andrew Plummer is the missing link between Zorn, Turnage, Satchmo, The Birthday...

Reviewed by Selwyn Harris in issue: July/2020

George Semper: Inner City Review

George Walker | George Semper | Gary Cardle | Jack of Native Sun | Troy Raglin | James of Native Sun | Tony ‘Touchdown’ Drake | Orlando ‘Bad News’ White | Virgil Johnson | David II Majall

Dug from the vaults and exposed, blinking, to 21st century sunshine, comes the first full re-issue of this compilation by...

Reviewed by Jane Cornwell in issue: July/2020

Niels Lan Doky Trio: River of Time

Niels Lan Doky | Tobias Dall | Niclas Bardeleben

Niels Lan Doky was a much-feted rising star of European jazz in the 1980s and early 90s – the fluency...

Reviewed by John Fordham in issue: July/2020

Joe Downard: Seven Japanese Tales

Rupert Cox | Alex Hitchcock | James Copus | Will Barry | Joe Downard | Felix Ambach

This impressive debut from UK bassist -producer Joe Downard offers musical counterparts to seven short stories by Japanese author Jun'ichir...

Reviewed by Thomas Rees in issue: July/2020