Shez Raja: Gurutopia

Shez Raja | Pascal Roggen | Vasilis Xenopoulos | Randy Brecker | Mike Stern | Alex Stanford | Chris Nickolls | Monika Lidke | Steve Pringle

The ever ebullient Raja must have grinned from ear to ear to have recorded with two of his fusion heroes,...

Reviewed by Andy Robson in issue: May/2016

Brendan Reilly: The Life of Reilly

Robin Mullarkey | Troy Miller | Al Cherry | Oli Savill | Brendan Reilly | Rob Taggart

Seamlessly traversing pop, soul, jazz and dance music, the LA-born, London-based singer-songwriter Brendan Reilly makes a return to his soul-jazz...

Reviewed by Peter Quinn in issue: May/2016

The Comet Is Coming: Channel The Spirits

Dan Leavers | Joshua Idehen | Shabaka Hutchings | Maxwell Hallett

Black American music has sought metaphors of transcendence in science-fiction ever since Sun Ra announced his arrival from Saturn, and...

Reviewed by Nick Hasted in issue: May/2016

Dave Brubeck Quartet: Birdland 1951-52 & Newport 1955

Herb Barman | Joe Morello | Paul Desmond | Chet Baker | Bob Bates | Dave Brubeck | Gerry Mulligan | Joe Dodge | Max Roach | Clifford Brown

This is rare and valuable Brubeck; the sessions from Birdland were taken off the air by Boris Rose, who recorded...

Reviewed by Stuart Nicholson in issue: May/2016

Duke Ellington: Complete Newport 1956 Concert

Paul Gonsalves | Willie Cook | Jimmy Hamilton | Russell Procope | Jimmy Grissom | Al Lucas | Sam Woodyard | Harry Carney | Jimmy Woode | Clark Terry

Newport was the famous happening, before happenings were even thought of, and certainly long before people started writing books about...

Reviewed by Brian Priestley in issue: May/2016

Lok 03 + 1: Signals

It's a family affair: Signals finds Germany's von Schlippenbach, who founded the Globe Unity Orchestra back in 1966, joined by...

Reviewed by Marcus O'Dair in issue: July/2017

Harold Danko: Lost in the Breeze

A consummate veteran pianist, who's worked with practically all of the cool west coast luminaries, is still in relaxed swingin’...

Reviewed by Selwyn Harris in issue: May/2016

Billie Holiday: The Complete Carnegie Hall Performances

Carson Smith | Carl Drinkard | Billie Holiday | Lester Young | Roy Eldridge | Oscar Peterson | Buck Clayton | Bobby Tucker | Coleman Hawkins

Given the title of this compact disc, The Complete Carnegie Hall Performances, plus a photograph of Billie Holiday at her...

Reviewed by Stuart Nicholson in issue: May/2016

Harold Corbin: Soul Brother

The talented Philadelphian pianist had a minor hit with ‘Soul Sister’ in 1961 – this is the resulting Roulette album,...

Reviewed by Alyn Shipton in issue: May/2016

Hasse Poulsen/Debbie Cameron/Luc Ex/Mark Sanders: The Langston Project

Luc Ex | Debbie Cameron | Mark Sanders | Hasse Poulsen

The general consensus is, certainly among those who made the gig, that Ron McCurdy and Ice T's Langston Hughes project...

Reviewed by Kevin Le Gendre in issue: May/2016