Michiyo Yagi/Lasse Marhaug/Paal Nilssen-Love: Angular Mass

Michiyo Yagi | Lasse Marhaug | Paal Nilssen-Love

In its original form, the koto is a 13-stringed zither-like instrument, associated with the delicately romantic music of traditional Japanese...

Reviewed by Daniel Spicer in issue: May/2016

Andy Fusco: Whirlwind

On his Steeplechase debut, the ex-Buddy Rich Big Band alto saxophonist teams up with a quintet of straightahead stalwarts to...

Reviewed by Selwyn Harris in issue: July/2016

Nicolas Bearde: Invitation

Nicolas Bearde

Nicholas Bearde's fifth release sees the San Francisco Bay Area vocalist present his first entirely straight-ahead set of songs. Produced...

Reviewed by Peter Quinn in issue: May/2016

Alfredo Rodriguez: Tocororo

Michel Olivera | Richard Bona | Ariel Bringuez | Ganayva Doraiswamy | Anotnio Lizana | Reinier Elizarde | Alfredo Rodriguez | Ibeyi | Ibrahim Maalouf

Lauded Cuban pianist and composer Rodriguez gives us an album named after the national bird of Cuba, a creature that...

Reviewed by Jane Cornwell in issue: May/2016

Joe Williams: That Kind of Woman

It's hard to believe the slushy, sentimental singer here is the same man who so memorably worked with Basie, but...

Reviewed by Alyn Shipton in issue: May/2016

Les McCann: Live in Hollywood, New York and San Francisco

What a driving, swinging, inventive pianist McCann was, and how he connected with an audience! It's all on show here...

Reviewed by Alyn Shipton in issue: May/2016

Aruán Ortiz: Hidden Voices

Aruán Ortiz | Eric Revis | Gerald Cleaver

Along with the likes of David Virelles, Dafnis Prieto and Edsel Gomez, Ortiz is part of an aggregation of Cuban...

Reviewed by Kevin Le Gendre in issue: May/2016

Joe Gordon: Lookin’ Gooo/Last Sessions

The trumpeter, having settled in the West, was playing exceedingly well on these dates for Contemporary before a house fire...

Reviewed by Alyn Shipton in issue: May/2016

Bernd Reiter Quintet featuring Eric Alexander: Workout At Bird's Eye

Olivier Hutman | Bernd Reiter | Helmut Kagerer | Viktor Nyberg | Eric Alexander

The Austrian drummer here leads his European band and US guest in a tribute to Hank Mobley, taking in a...

Reviewed by Peter Bacon in issue: May/2016

Geoff Eales: Transience

Brigitte Beraha | Martin France | Geoff Eales | Chris Laurence | Noel Langley

Brigitte Beraha's Babelfish project was responsible for one of my favourite releases of last year, the lovely Chasing Rainbows. So...

Reviewed by Robert Shore in issue: May/2016