Aretha Franklin: Aretha with the Ray Bryant Combo

Ray Bryant | Belton ‘Sticks’ Evans | Bill Lee | Aretha Franklin

Before she achieved huge commercial success after signing to Atlantic Records in 1967, the ‘Queen of Soul’ had a six-year...

Reviewed by Peter Quinn in issue: November/2018

Sasha Mashin: Outsidethebox

Alexey Bekker | Daria Chernakova | Sasha Mashin | Anoton Davidyants | Alex Sipiagin | Zhenya Strigalev | Rosario Giuliani | Evgeny Pobozhiy | Makir Novikov | Josh Evans

The ripped-paper press roll and whiz round the kit that opens this album is the only clue that a drummer...

Reviewed by Mike Hobart in issue: November/2018

José James: Lean On Me

Pino Palladino | José James | Takuya Kuroda | Brad Allen Williams | Nate Smith | Lalah Hathawy | Marcus Strickland | Kris Bowers

James's recent foray into FM-friendly contemporary R&B has yielded mixed results and at times the more explicitly commercial slant of...

Reviewed by Kevin Le Gendre in issue: November/2018

Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool

An identical album to the Dream Covers issue reviewed here a couple of years ago, this not only has all...

Reviewed by Alyn Shipton in issue: November/2018

Ben Marston & Hugh Barrett: Unfound Places

The duo of Jan Bang-mentored trumpeter/electronics wiz Ben Martston and pianist Hugh Barrett offer a warm, minimalist, and down-to-earth Aussie...

Reviewed by Selwyn Harris in issue: November/2018

Aapo Heinonen Quintet: Tara

Tomi Saikkonen | Aapo Heinonen | Teemu Takanen | Vesa Ojaniemi | Héctor Lepe

The current Finnish jazz scene is one of the better kept secrets in European jazz. This third album by pianist...

Reviewed by Stuart Nicholson in issue: November/2018

Bobby Naughton/Leo Smith/Perry Robinson: The Haunt

Wadada Leo Smith | Perry Robinson | Bobby Naughton

Naughton may not be a household name in jazz, but he is a highly respected figure in avant-garde circles and...

Reviewed by Kevin Le Gendre in issue: November/2018

Bill Thompson: Mouthful Of Silence

Bill Thompson

Spread across two discs, these studio interpretations of a live performance from 2017 deftly distil Bill Thompson's artful approach to...

Reviewed by Spencer Grady in issue: November/2018

Count Basie: Basie on the Beatles

The original LP being quite short in duration, it has had several incarnations on CD, matched-up with another album, such...

Reviewed by Alyn Shipton in issue: November/2018

Fabled: Short Stories

Buster Birch | Deirdre Cartwright | Diane McLoughlin | Alison Rayner | Steve Lodder

Imprinting instrumental music with meaning is a constant jazz conundrum. Whether solved by knowledge of players' characters or their songs'...

Reviewed by Nick Hasted in issue: Dec/Jan/2019/2020