In 2019, singer, pianist, bandleader, presenter, producer, and educator Robin Phillips went on a road-trip on a Harley Davidson motorbike. His goal was “to retrace the path of jazz and blues in America, from Chicago to New Orleans”. It was [...]
London-born pianist of Barbadian and Vincentian descent Sultan Stevenson’s second album El Roi is styled as an artistic statement, musically conveying the estimable twenty-four-year-old’s thoughts and emotions around concepts of faith and identity. ‘El Roi’ means ‘God of Sight’, one [...]
The following is an interview between jazz journalist Morgan Enos and saxophonist Matthew Muñeses with harpist Riza Printup. Their new album, Pag-Ibig Ko Vol. 1, will be released 4 April via Irabbagast Records. Links to both artists’ websites can be [...]
Kinan Azmeh is a Syrian-born, Brooklyn-based clarinetist and composer who has gained international recognition for his distinctive voice across diverse musical genres. He brings his music to all corners of the world as a soloist and commissioned composer with leading [...]
Brunhild Ferrari, a significant – and until recently unsung – pioneer of Musique Concrète, has been gaining recognition in the past decade as a composer in her own right. Brunhild Meyer (b.1937) was drawn in to the realm of cutting [...]
Julius Hemphill, like Oliver Lake, Hamiett Bluett and many others, used to occupy that space in my head of the “lesser reported musician”. You had to dig a little into the history to find out where they were from, what [...]
My experience of Bergamo Jazz 2025 was elating and inspiring. It’s a wonderfully varied festival in great, characterful venues in a beautiful and unique city. The official stats are healthy: eleven out of twelve ticketed shows were sold out. The [...]
It was clear from the first album by Vega Trails, Tremors In The Static (Gondwana, 2022), that bassist Milo Fitzpatrick had struck gold. That album was a duo collaboration with all-rounder Jordan Smart. Now, for the second Vega Trails album [...]
The songs on Can’t Lose My (Soul) have been described as “disco soul,” but it’s so much more: gospel is at the heart of the lyrics and vocals; disco, funk and blues inspire the music; soul is at the heart [...]
Since debuting thirty years ago, the New York-based Sirius Quartet has had a few different lineups: The one constant has, of course, been German-born violinist Gregor Huebner (Hübner), who readers may know for his great recordings with Richie Beirach, George [...]
Harry Belafonte was arguably one of the most distinguished musical artists, actors and human rights campaigners of the last 70 years. Born in New York City to Jamaican parents on 1 March 1927, the singer-activist led a life full of [...]
Twenty years ago or so I recall a happy Lee Konitz introducing Gwilym Simcock at the Pizza Express in Soho as the “wunderkind” at the piano. Now here’s mid-career Gwilym as half of a duo featuring a next-generation player, Emma [...]
Following two years of solo touring, French-Israeli pianist, composer, and author Yaron Herman is set to release a new album on Naïve Records called Radio Paradise. It is a collaboration with some of Europe’s finest improvising performers: Ziv Ravitz, his [...]
It’s hard to believe that London-born saxophonist Ralph Moore has never been on tour in the UK in his own name; hats off to bassist Simon Woolf for making all of these dates happen. Moore has revisited the country of [...]
When I first listened to trumpeter/composer Wojciech Jachna‘s latest album, I was thinking: this is a brand new ‘Squad’. It is not the first album in the group’s discography, but they have undergone many significant changes since their previous releases. [...]
The All-Party Parliamentary Jazz Group (APPJG), which sponsors the Parliamentary Jazz Awards, has commissioned a report to shed light on the opportunities and challenges faced by one of the most vibrant components of the English arts scene. It has been [...]
John Patitucci is one of the leading jazz bassists in the world. His astonishing versatility across both the six-string electric bass and the upright acoustic bass is probably unmatched, to the point of almost giving him a double identity. This [...]
The following is jazz journalist Morgan Enos’s interview with pianist and composer Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol. His new album, 7 Shades of Melancholia, featuring trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, soprano saxophonist Lihi Haruvi-Means, bassist James Heazlewood-Dale, and George Lernis on drums and gong, [...]
Ernesto Cervini is a sought-after drummer, composer and bandleader and an influential presence on Canada’s modern jazz scene and beyond. He has documented his vision with the Ernesto Cervini Quartet (featuring Joel Frahm), the innovative, JUNO Award-winning sextet Turboprop, numerous [...]
Soft Machine evolved from its roots as a pioneering 1960s psychedelic progressive band into an outstanding jazz quartet underpinned by powerful rock-solid rhythms. But from the opening moments of the current group’s concert in Lichfield, the early days of the [...]
There is a serenity about the music of Gavin Bryars, thoughtful, reflective and resonant. Bryars is both master of the deep-down double bass, from radical 60s jazz and further afield, and a composer of engaging and often meticulously researched works, [...]
Fields of Color features ten new compositions from Belgian tenor saxophonist Matthias Van den Brande, all inspired by the painter Mark Rothko. Van den Brande is joined by his regular trio members Tijs Klassen (double bass) and Wouter Kühne (drums), [...]
The great Tunisian oud player Anouar Brahem explores a new sound mix in this hauntingly elegiac new release. ECM stablemates Dave Holland and Django Bates return from his last recording, the gorgeous Blue Maqams eight years ago. But the quartet [...]
Jazz professionals from across the UK are invited to join a free, interactive online session. The session is designed to help people make the most of their visit to jazzahead! 2025, the world’s premier jazz trade fair and showcase festival [...]
It might seem like a diversion, but let’s spend a moment in praise of the “mantello di ufficiale”. Yesterday was the first of the three core events of Bergamo Jazz: double bills at extremely grand Teatro Donizetti. When we, the [...]
This concert in the wonderful setting of Symphony Hall was a triumph for Xhosa Cole and his group of musicians and for the CBSO. The concert featured an opening set devoted to Monk with Xhosa leading a group with himself [...]
Olivia Murphy Jazz Orchestra (OMJO) packed out Pizza Express on Monday evening to provide a chance to hear some of the most exciting large ensemble jazz emerging from the London scene today. The program consisted entirely of Murphy’s compositions, including [...]
There can be powerful and transformational moments in live concerts. You never forget them. This was one of them. Joe Lovano is the Artistic Director of the Bergamo Jazz Festival. He has given it the strapline “Sounds of Joy”, and [...]
In recent years, Ethan Iverson has emerged as a leading jazz scholar and writer. His essays are deeply insightful, and his Substack newsletter, Transitional Technology, is a must-read for any serious jazz fan. With that in mind, it’s easy to [...]
Avishai Cohen drew a full crowd to Ronnie Scott’s on Tuesday night (18 March) for the second night of his three-night residency. Cohen couldn’t have been more warmly received at Ronnie’s, and there was a very healthy buzz as fans [...]
light.box is the duo of Alex Bonney and Pierre Alexandre Tremblay, both on electronics, but with Bonney doubling on trumpet and Tremblay doubling on bass guitar. They have made four records, the first just as a duo, the others in [...]
With her first album in over five years, Yazz Ahmed has incorporated themes and rhythms from her Bahraini heritage with a jazz sensibility and some of the best musicians on the UK jazz scene. The result is a compelling, haunting record. It [...]
