Beverley Beirne joins Sammy Stein to discuss her entertaining new album ‘JJWTHF: Jazz Just Wants To Have Fun,’ and the role of coincidence in her art.

Terence Blanchard says ‘Live’ is an album “for these troubled times – yet it’s also an album filled with hope.” He’s right.

This is more than solo recording; it’s a collection of musical narratives, told by Bill Frisell as he creates these amazing aural landscapes.

If Jasen Weaver’s ‘The Voscoville’ is any indication, we are definitely going to be hearing more from this exceptional developing jazz talent.

‘Spitting Feathers’ feels like part of a journey for Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke, but not one which is complete.

A melding of klezmer, jazz and not a little bit of funk, Big Brooklyn’s ‘Purpose’ is a hugely engaging debut – and the first, hopefully, of many more to come.

Uri Gurvich’s ‘Kinship’ is a celebration of differences, both cultural and musical, and yet it retains a sense of the great warmth of harmony.

‘Invisible Threads’ offered me the first chance to listen to saxophonist and clarinet player John Surman in a long time – and all I can say is, “wow.”

Like Wild Card itself, Clement Regert’s ‘Life Stories’ encompasses an exciting range of styles – from hard-bop and Afro-Latin, to New Orleans and raw funk grooves.

Having long offered informed jazz content for a variety of publications, including this one, a book on the subject seems all too logical for Sammy Stein.