They say nobody cares about album art, but art still sells. At least to me. It’s too small on CDs, everyone says, and when reduced down even further to iPod and iPhone size, it’s just a thumbnail. You May Also Like: Mary Halvorson Octet – Away With You (2016) RobertRead More

On April 22, Jean-Baptiste Frederic Isidor “Toots” Thielemans turns 90 years old. Four weeks before that comes a look back on one of the richest and yet disregarded career in jazz music, Yesterday & Today. You May Also Like: Eliane Elias Confidently Expanded Her Main Influences on ‘Bossa Nova Stories’

You might think that the saxophone trio lineup (sax, bass, drums) would have nothing left to say. Sure, Sonny Rollins throws a long shadow, but that doesn’t mean the entire case has been closed. So Fly comes along, bringing a sort of Ornette Coleman vibe. I say “sort of” becauseRead More

Recently, we’ve said goodbye to some jazz greats. So, how about switching gears to focus on the best beginnings?

Here’s a brand new disc by Bill Frisell’s fiddle player. The music contained within, is well within Fris’ playing field, but there’s some adventurous circuit bent noises courtesy of Nels Cline with his bag of trick effects. Jim Black and Todd Sickafoose are on board, too, so the entire backingRead More

New Standard Quintet lives up to its name, time and again, not by resurrecting age-old tracks but by trying to fashion its own rules for approaching original jazz music. You May Also Like: Laurence Juber – Standard Time (1982; 2018 reissue) Pearcy / Gratzmiller Jazz Quintet – ‘Over the Edge’Read More

Papa Grows Funk returns with its most collaborative effort yet, as Needle in the Groove boasts a whopping three producers — including Louisiana legend Allen Toussaint — and a set of songs composed together as a group. You May Also Like: No related posts.

This was a rare thing: an album of guitar music where the guitar isn’t really the point. Put a different way, it’s the ideas that are given the focus, not the chops. You May Also Like: Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog – ‘Connection’ (2023) Bill Frisell – Music IS (2018)

As one of the more talked about fusion records of last year, Naked Truth’s Shizaru put four established maestros from jazz, rock and avant garde words in the same studio, resulting in an album that pulled in creative streams from all of these music worlds into a purposeful, distinctive andRead More

The inaugural International Jazz Day on April 30, called by Herbie Hancock as his initial proposal upon being named a goodwill ambassador by UNESCO, will include concerts in New Orleans, Paris and New York. Jazz-related events are also scheduled in several dozen other countries, as well. You May Also Like:Read More