By day, it is just another cafe. However, at night Cafe Oto is a very different place.

Growing up in Bonny Doon, California, a picturesque hamlet near Santa Cruz where the land quickly transforms from open coastal terraces to thick, mountainside redwood forests, one can easily acquire a childlike wonderment of natural beauty. You May Also Like: Ben Goldberg School – Vol 1: The Humanities (2017) SteveRead More

Akuma is the first album by rising saxophone star Sly 5th Ave, wrung from the sweat of him waiting tables in this self-financed album that’s been two years in the making. You May Also Like: New York United – ‘New York United’ (2019) Maciek Pysz and Gianluca Corona – LondonRead More

Jeff Ballard is best known as Brad Mehldau’s longtime drummer and also one third of the critically acclaimed FLY trio with Mark Turner and Larry Grenadier. You May Also Like: Jeff Ballard – ‘Fairgrounds’ (2019) Dave Holland, Chris Potter, Lionel Loueke, Eric Harland – Aziza (2016) John Scofield – ‘SwallowRead More

A lot of jazz saxophonists strive to sound spiritual but for James Brandon Lewis, that’s part of who he’s always been. You May Also Like: James Brandon Lewis Trio – No Filter (2016) James Brandon Lewis Quartet – ‘Code of Being’ (2021) James Brandon Lewis + The Red Lily QuintetRead More

Jon Lundbom’s Big Five Chord shares a lot of members with Bryan & the Haggards and Mostly Other People Do the Killing, and thus, that wild and wooly DNA is built into the band. You May Also Like: Jon Lundbom and Big Five Chord – ‘Harder On the Outside’ (2019)Read More

As a bandleader and award-winning composer, saxophonist Pete Robbins never stands still, crafting each album using some different dimension. You May Also Like: Vijay Iyer Sextet – Far From Over (2017) Tyshawn Sorey Trio – ‘Continuing’ (2023)

For non-musicians, the creative process can be something of a mystery. The composer has all of that training about melody, harmony, scales, time signatures, and chord progressions — and out of that the musical ideas are born…somehow. The truth is that while the process can indeed be opaque (sometimes evenRead More

Making the labored sound simple must be one of the tallest orders for any jazz musician, but that seems to come naturally to Philadelphia-based saxophonist Ian O’Beirne. You May Also Like: Ian East – Inner Paths (2016) Kneebody – Anti-Hero (2017) Allman Betts Band, Randy Goodrum, Ian Dury + Others:Read More