Ray Charles: Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music

Driving the big bands of Gerald Wilson or Gil Fuller, Charles is in his element, and transforms country fare into...

Reviewed by Alyn Shipton in issue: September/2017

Frode Kjekstad: A Piece of the Apple

Frode Kjekstad | Joe Farnsworth | Eric Alexander | Mike LeDonne

Frode Kjekstad first recorded with the American saxophonist Eric Alexander in 2004. That album was called New York Time and...

Reviewed by Mike Hobart in issue: September/2017

Myra Melford Trio: Alive In The House of Saints – Part 1

Lindsey Horner | Reggie Nicolson | Myra Melford

I remember being mightily impressed when I heard the second-generation reissue of this album – back in 2001, when it...

Reviewed by Philip Clark in issue: September/2017

Mike Caratti/Rachel Musson/Steve Beresford: Hesitantly Pleasant

Rachel Musson | Steve Beresford | Mike Caratti

Hesitantly Pleasant is a dry, deadpan title for some dry, deadpan music. That's not ‘dry’ emotionally you understand. No music...

Reviewed by Philip Clark in issue: September/2017

David S Ware Trio: Live In New York, 2010

David S Ware | William Parker | Warren Smith

As far as openings to a concert go, the five-minute solo by Ware is a statement of the grandest intent....

Reviewed by Kevin Le Gendre in issue: September/2017

Ran Blake: Something To Live For

Guillermo Gregorio | Sonny Clark | Ran Blake

Bob Blumenthal's sleeve notes make the point that this 50-minute sequence of vignettes and miniatures from Ran Blake exudes the...

Reviewed by Philip Clark in issue: September/2017

Atom String Quartet: Seifert

As with another better known Polish legend, Komeda, the innovative Polish violinist Zbigniew Seifert's had a short life, and here...

Reviewed by Selwyn Harris in issue: September/2017

Henry Mancini: Breakfast at Tiffany's

Twelve bonus versions of ‘Moon River’ make this a decidedly unbalanced album and the 11 other tracks from the score...

Reviewed by Alyn Shipton in issue: September/2017

Al Hirt: Trumpet and Strings

‘Jumbo’ Hirt was a byword for high-note trumpet technique and Bourbon Street grandstanding, and while this set of romantic standards,...

Reviewed by Alyn Shipton in issue: August/2017

Colin Steele Quartet: Diving For Pearls – Jazz Interpretations Of The Pearlfishers Songbook

Colin Steele | Dave Milligan | Calum Gourlay | Alyn Cosker

You wait years for one Colin Steele record and then two come along at the same time. With his second...

Reviewed by Selwyn Harris in issue: August/2017