You see Miles Davis’ age, you sense it, in his fingers. Otherwise remarkably well preserved on this date, just months before his death, the legendary trumpeter certainly looks the part — from the technicolor jacket to the red horn You May Also Like: When Miles Davis Finally Looked Back onRead More

An emerging talent who has starred in Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society and a 2009 winner of ASCAP Young Jazz Composer’s Competition, trumpet player Matt Holman has put it all together for his maiden record as a leader, When Flooded. You May Also Like: Matt Mayhall – ‘Fanatics’ (2020) JaimieRead More

Soft Machine will never exist again, but one of the best of the Canterbury bands still lives on via an alumni band.

Perhaps the best birthday present a woman named Svetlana has ever received, Jazz for Svetlana is what happens when two musicians gather to lay something down without expectations. You May Also Like: Bob Mintzer, Snarky Puppy, Grace Fox + Others: Big Bands, Big Sounds and Big Results

There’s a reason these guys have fronted countless recordings, even while appearing as first-call sidemen with everyone from Miles Davis to Steely Dan to Joni Mitchell. Every time one of them picks up the guitar, it’s an encyclopedic wonder. You May Also Like: Robben Ford’s Tasty, Energetic ‘Soul on Ten’Read More

After reveling in pre-Benny Goodman big band jazz with a cheery avant twist and unlikely pop references leading the Millennial Territory Orchestra, slide trumpet extraordinaire Steven Bernstein returns to his first major project after a seven year studio layoff. You May Also Like: Sexmob – Cultural Capital (2017) Steven Bernstein’sRead More

The Penguin Guide to Jazz On CD (Fourth Ed., Cook and Morton) opined back in the 90s that the Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stanko is an artist first and foremost and a musician second, asserting that “he is a man whose imagination is fired as much by words…as by music.” YouRead More

To commence Nou La, Vo-Duo sends blessings to the sacred heart of the Asoto drum, to the spirits and finally to the listeners. This modest, exquisite acapella piece, called “Bonjou,” foretells the loveliness and sanctity to come. You May Also Like: David Philips + Abel Boquera – ‘The Duo Sessions’Read More

When Stan Killian came out with Unified a couple of years back, it didn’t knock me back in one certain way, it knocked me back in many ways. Killian brought a stout but sensitive tenor saxophone to compositions he crafted with canny detail, but also pleasing to the ear. YouRead More

A longtime member of both the Mingus Big Band and the Roy Haynes Quartet, saxophonist Jaleel Shaw had first gotten my attention as a leader with 2008’s Optimism and his ASCAP award winning song “Flipside.” You May Also Like: Woody Shaw – ‘Love Dance’ (1976, 2026 reissue) Ernesto Cervini’s TurbopropRead More