Robert Carter Trio: That's Just It

This Bill Evans/Michel Legrandinfluenced, Winchester-based pianist (in trio with Mark Fletcher and Tim Wells) tends to slips under the radar...

Reviewed by Selwyn Harris in issue: Dec/Jan/2013/2014

Ornette Coleman: The Art of The Improvisers

Billy Higgins | Ed Blackwell | Jimmy Garrison | Don Cherry | Charlie Haden | Ornette Coleman

Although the title is a manifesto for the soloist, and there are passages aplenty that show Ornette (and Don Cherry),...

Reviewed by Kevin Le Gendre in issue: Dec/Jan/2013/2014

Aaron Parks: Arborescence

Aaron Parks

Aaron Parks is a young pianistcomposer who has very gradually grown in stature since his teenage years in Terence Blanchard's...

Reviewed by Selwyn Harris in issue: Dec/Jan/2013/2014

Harmonie Ensemble/New York: The Nutcracker Suites

66-piece symphony orch | Lew Soloff | Bob Millikan | Stanton Davis | Curtis Fowlkes | Peter Tchaikovsky | Billy Strayhorn | Bill Easley | Lew Tabackin | Ron Jannelli

‘The Nutcracker’ is far from my favourite Ellingtonia but, then, apparently the Tchaikovsky original wasn't his own favourite either. Perhaps...

Reviewed by Brian Priestley in issue: Dec/Jan/2013/2014

Kayhan Kalhor and Erdal Erzincan: Kula Kulluk Yakisir Mi

Kayhan Kalhor | Erdal Erzincan

“How unseemly it is to follow anyone slavishly,” is ECM's press release's free (one suspects) translation for the title track....

Reviewed by Ken Hunt in issue: Dec/Jan/2013/2014

Da Lata: Fabiola

Mike Patto | Fabricio FBC | Carl Smith | Rich Medina | Mayra Andrade | Ernie McKone | Pedro Martins | Luiz Gabriel Lopes | Sacha Gabriel | Jandira Silva

The British outfit that brought a vibrant, contemporary slant to Brazilian music throughout the 1990s return with an album that...

Reviewed by Kevin Le Gendre in issue: Dec/Jan/2013/2014

Billie Holiday: Live at the Stratford Shakespearean Festival 1957

A miscellany of late live appearances by Billie, mainly with Mal Waldron, built around the celebrated Stratford concert, but also...

Reviewed by Alyn Shipton in issue: Dec/Jan/2013/2014

Brass Jaw: Minted

Michael Owers | Ryan Quigley | Konrad Wiszniewski | Allon Beauvoisin | Paul Towndrow

There's a danger of not taking Glasgow horn quartet Brass Jaw seriously enough. Perhaps that's partly because they're so good-humoured,...

Reviewed by Robert Shore in issue: Dec/Jan/2013/2014

Zoe Schwarz Blue Commotion: The Blues Don't Scare Me

Paul Robinson | Rob Koral | Pat Davey | Zoe Schwarz | Pete Whittaker | Si Genaro

Judging by this latest release from her six-piece blues band Blue Commotion, it's clear that Zoe Schwarz's voice just gets...

Reviewed by Peter Quinn in issue: Dec/Jan/2013/2014

Get The Blessing: Lope and Antilope

Pete Judge | Jim Barr | Adrian Utley | Clive Deamer | Jake McMurchie

Get The Blessing return with their fourth album, and what is their second for the Naim label following last year's...

Reviewed by Selwyn Harris in issue: Dec/Jan/2013/2014