Dinamilri Jazz Folklore & Ambi Baraka: Live in Sanf Anna Arresi 2013

The legendary author/spoken word artist's absorbing ‘live’ beat poetry from a festival in Sardinia with his Afro-American jazz philosophy including...

Reviewed by Selwyn Harris in issue: June/2016

Michael Gregory Jackson/Kikanju Baku/Joseph Daley: Endogeny & Exogamy

Kikanju Baku | Joseph Daley | Michael Gregory Jackson

These three astral emissaries engender a distinctive chapter in jazz’s ongoing extra-terrestrial outreach programme, pushing against the whole corporate phooey...

Reviewed by Spencer Grady in issue: June/2016

Albert Vila: The Unquiet Sky

Albert Vila | Aaron Parks | Jeff Ballard | Doug Weiss

Barcelona is his hometown, and Brussels is now his base, but for his fourth album Vila recorded in Brooklyn. The...

Reviewed by Peter Bacon in issue: June/2016

Ken Peplowski: Enrapture

Ehud Asherie | Ken Peplowski | Martin Wind | Matt Wilson

Peplowski is the premier mainstream/modern clarinetist de nos jours, a peerless improviser and technician, good at fronting a big band...

Reviewed by Peter Vacher in issue: June/2016

Snarky Puppy: Culcha Vulcha

Bobby Sparks | Michael League | Keita Ogawa | Larnell Lewis | Cory Henry | Bill Laurance | Robert ‘Sput’ Searight | Bob Mike Maher | Mark Lettieri | Justin Stanton

Snarky Puppy have been searching for a purpose for their albums. Despite their most recent LPs, Family Dinner Volume Two...

Reviewed by Nick Hasted in issue: June/2016

Ray Bryant: Plays

Ray's early album for Signature (coupled here with his hit single of ‘Little Susie’) makes this a good introduction to...

Reviewed by Ayn Shipton in issue: June/2016

Cream: Classic Album Selection

Arguably the greatest improvising blues-rock band ever, one listen to the fire-breathing 17-minute ‘Spoonful’ on Wheels of Fire and Jack...

Reviewed by Ayn Shipton in issue: June/2016

Lafayette Harris Jr: Hangin’ With The Big Boys

Houston Person | Antoine Drye | Jazzmeia Horn | Noël Simoné Wippler | Lafayette Harris Jr | George DeLancey | Caleb Curtis | Will Terrell

Harris is the Brooklyn-based pianist who came here with Max Roach nearly two decades ago, and is known for work...

Reviewed by Brian Priestley in issue: June/2016

Misha Tsiganov: Spring Feelings

Alex Sipiagin | Misha Tsiganov | Donald Edwards | Hans Glawschnig | Seamus Blake

Crisp cymbals, creamy mid-tempos and tight and tricky arrangements make this CD several cuts above the average post-Messengers modern jazz...

Reviewed by Mike Hobart in issue: June/2016

Gustavo Ovalles/Omar Sosa/Joo Kraus: JOG

Joo Kraus | Omar Sosa | Gustavo Ovalles

Prolific Cuban pianist and all-round creative firebrand Sosa recently worked in a trio with similar instrumentation but different players –...

Reviewed by Kevin Le Gendre in issue: June/2016