Fresh off his complex project Server Farm (Irrabagast, 2025), where he led a nonet in blending electronics and hues of Artificial Intelligence with acoustic jazz, Jon Iragabon now moves to a more conventional chord-less quartet on Someone to Someone (Irrabagast, 2025). That statement is not to imply that Iragabon’s music has suddenly turned conventional. For […]
For a musician who excels in both big bands and combo settings, large and small, sometimes it’s refreshing to take a ‘less is more’ approach. Such is the case with Ron Blake. With SCRATCH Band (7tēn33, 2025), the veteran saxophonist, composer, and educator forms a trio with fellow Virgin Island native Reuben Rogers on bass […]
Timed nicely for their appearance at the 2025 Newport Jazz Festival, Rachael and Vilray issue their third album, West of Broadway (Concord Jazz, 2025). The vocalist Rachael Price (also of Lake Street Dive) and the guitarist/singer/songwriter Vilray exist in that rare intersection of jazz, pop, and singer-songwriter fare. Their producer is Dan Knobler, Rodney Crowell’s […]
Saxophonist and composer Jimmy Greene is recognized by many as a vital member of Ron Carter’s Foursight Quartet, which will be appearing at the 2025 Newport Jazz Festival. Greene has also established a solid career as a leader, having received a Grammy nomination and acknowledgment in the DownBeat Magazine Critics Poll. He also endured a […]
Trumpeter/percussionist/bandleader/composer/educator Etienne Charles is mostly known for his Creole Soul band and orchestrations. On Gullah Roots (Culture Shock, 2025), the Trinidadian explores another culture with a rich history in Africa and the Trans-Atlantic slave trade between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. Gullah culture – also called Gullah Geechee – resides in a narrow strip of […]
New York-based flutist Itai Kriss leads his quartet and special guests on Daybreak (JoJo, 2025), an album sequenced to follow the progression of a day. Kriss has musical roots in Israel, but those influences are subtle here. Instead, traditional jazz, gospel, Brazilian, and Afro-Cuban strains course through the music. Other than in Latin music, the […]
Tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis has established himself as the most versatile tenorist on the scene today in a relatively short time. He’s played in classical settings, gospel settings, in a punk trio, with a rock band, and as a sideman for Ches Smith and others. But his most consistent project has been his working […]
With Soul & Circuitry (Ropeadope, 2025), Los Angeles-based pianist/keyboardist/electronics wizard/producer Julian “J3PO” Pollack issues his second album on one of our most trustworthy labels. The record is his tenth overall as a leader. If you’re unfamiliar with Pollack’s other output, he’s been the keyboardist for Marcus Miller and Chris Botti and is currently a member […]
Every so often, an album moves beyond music, carrying the listener to an array of deeply reflective moods. Last year, we were gifted such an album in Central Park’s Mosaics of Reservoir, Lake, Paths and Gardens (Red Hook, 2024) by pianist Amina Claudine Myers and trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith. Now, with the latest release on […]
Joshua Redman did not follow suit after his first vocal album, where are we (Blue Note, 2024). Sure, vocalist Gabrielle Cavassa appears on a track, but gone is the supergroup rhythm section of Aaron Parks, Joe Sanders, and Brian Blade, all of whom left to honor other commitments. Yet, Redman had compositions in the tank […]
