Eddie Higgins: Great Trio Sessions

A not-very-well known Chicagoan pianist, Higgins has been compared to Bill Evans, but this set reveals a pretty straightahead, but...

Reviewed by Alyn Shipton in issue: April/2017

Colin Vallon Trio: Danse

Julian Sartorius | Patrice Moret | Colin Vallon

It may be called Danse, but this is not dance music. Intimate, atmospheric, modestly demanding, it's quintessential ECM music –...

Reviewed by Robert Shore in issue: April/2017

The V.I.P. Trio: Standards

Billy Higgins | Cedar Walton | Pat Senatore

Naturally the focus here – and on a Volume Two from the same sessions, which I've yet to see –...

Reviewed by Brian Priestley in issue: April/2017

Chris Rogers: Voyage Home

Steve Johns | Chris Rogers | Jay Anderson | Mark Falchook | Steve Khan | Michael Brecker | Ted Nash | Roger Rosenberg | Art Baron | Xavier Davis

The tricky post-bop melodies, haunting modal ballads and funky slow burns on this excellent nine track set, were recorded in...

Reviewed by Mike Hobart in issue: April/2017

Ralph Towner: My Foolish Heart

Ralph Towner

Few guitarists remain as instantly recognisable as Towner, especially on his signature 12-string. A little annoyingly that much underrated instrument...

Reviewed by Andy Robson in issue: April/2017

Tommy Smith Youth Jazz Orchestra: Effervescence

Helena Kay | David Bowden | Christos Stylianides | Liam Shortall | Richard Foote | Sean Gibbs | Pete Johnstone | Cameron T Duncan | Fergus McCreadie | Samuel Tessier

Smith's heroics with the TSYJO or the SNJO hardly need further lauding in this modest corner of Jazzwise, but Effervescence...

Reviewed by Andy Robson in issue: April/2017

Josh Lawrence: Color Theory

Anwar Marshall | Orrin Evans | Brent White | Josh Lawrence | Madison Rast | Adam Faulk | Caleb Curtis

Lawrence is an extremely able trumpeter and composer/arranger. He is an important sideman in Orrin Evans' Captain Black Big Band,...

Reviewed by Tony Hall in issue: April/2017

Theo Bleckmann: Elegy

John Hollenbeck | Shai Maestro | Chris Tordini | Ben Monder | Theo Bleckmann

Although the German singer may be largely defined by his interesting renditions of the music of anybody from Charles Ives...

Reviewed by Kevin Le Gendre in issue: April/2017

Didier Lockwood: New World

Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen | Didier Lockwood | John Etheridge | Tony Williams | Jean-Michel Kajdan | Francis Lockwood | Gordon Beck

France has produced so many top-flight jazz violinists that it even developed its own symbolic ritual of succession. In 1937,...

Reviewed by Daniel Spicer in issue: April/2017

Mal Waldron: Complete Remastered Recordings on Black Saint & Soul Note Vol.2

Mal Waldron | Chico Freeman | Leonard Jones | Kim Parker | Judi Silvano | Anthony Braxton | Rocky Knauer | Sangoma Everett | David Friesen | Enrico Rava

The distinctive, even oppressive, tone of Waldron's playing might seem burdensome when stretched over a box of 11 albums. (And...

Reviewed by Brian Priestley in issue: April/2017