Our favorite avant gardist from Japan Satoko Fujii is at it again, releasing at once a new batch of records of distinct character. You May Also Like: Satoko Fujii Orchestra Toyko – Peace (2017) Kaze + Ikue Mori – ‘Crustal Movement’ (2023) Kaze – ‘Unwritten’ (2024)

It’s something we’ve visited before, but many Steely Dan songs touch on topics from Becker and Fagen’s youth in the 1960s (see “Boston Rag”, “My Old School”). Donald Fagen would later explicitly make an entire album recounting his aspirations and hopes from the late 1950s and early ’60s; I thinkRead More

It’s got a cool looking cover, the names on that cover are all giants in the improvised music field, and the rapport is what you’d expect from free jazz pros like these. Those attributes in itself will probably get Planetary Unknown on some year-end lists and it’s already one atRead More

Everybody digs Nicole Mitchell. They love her in sweet hometown Chicago and all the critics in New York love her, too. Heck, even we discerning types at SER have taken a shining to her. She’s the consensus top flautist in the jazz world, she’s got a new record out, Awakening,Read More

With nearly 1,800 posts under our belt, we at SER have covered a whole lot of different styles, players and instruments, but based on a cursory search, I haven’t found a single piece where a harpist is the featured musician. We now have that covered: meet Iro Haarla. You MayRead More

Mathias Eick’s warm, pure trumpet tone sounding almost like a brassier counterpart to fellow Norwegian Jan Garbarek makes Eick a perfect addition to the Scandinavian squadron of the ECM army. You May Also Like: Jakob Bro, with Arve Henriksen + Jorge Rossy – ‘Uma Elmo’ (2021) Jan Garbarek Surged OutRead More

Tim Kuhl’s website greets visitors with a set of simple sentences describing who he is: “Drummer+Composer,” followed by “Bandleader, Sideman, Collaborator, Noise Maker, Rocker.” Tim is succinct and up-front about describing himself, but the term that’s most telling — aside from the obvious “drummer+composer” part — is “Noise Maker YouRead More

A country love song delivered almost without any detectable irony is what follows “My Old School” on Countdown To Ecstasy. The charm of Countdown is it being full of styles and devices Becker and Fagen never visited again You May Also Like: Steely Dan, “Bodhisattva” from ‘Northeast Corridor’ (2021): SteelyRead More

Like the most artistically successful avanteers such as Mingus, Kirk and Braxton, the German composer, arranger and pianist Heiner Stadler fully understands, appreciates and loves the more traditional forms of jazz You May Also Like: Gregory Lewis, with Marc Ribot – Organ Monk Blue (2018)

Since his 1992 debut Nice And Warm, you always know exactly what you’ll get from a Tab Benoit record: honest, rough-and-ready electric blues with a dash of Cajun seasoning, soulful bayou ballads and a two-step or two thrown in for good measure. You May Also Like: How Anders Osborne CameRead More