REVIEWS
- Review: Bill Ware and the Club Bird All Stars’ ‘Martian Sunset’
The vibraphonist Bill Ware is perhaps best known for his work with The Jazz Passengers and Groove Collective. He has a cross-genre bent that includes work with Steely Dan and Elvis Costello. He is also incredibly prolific. Since 2016, he has composed over two hundred and fifty pieces, including sixty during the pandemic. These pieces… Read more: Review: Bill Ware and the Club Bird All Stars’ ‘Martian Sunset’ - Review: John O’Gallagher’s ‘Ancestral’
With Ancestral (Whirlwind, 2025), alto saxophonist and composer John O’Gallagher explores the late-period work of John Coltrane, specifically Interstellar Space (Impulse!, 1974) and Stellar Regions (Impulse!, 1995). These examinations build upon O’Gallagher’s doctoral work, which argues that so-called “free” music is not actually free as the term is commonly used. Or, in O’Gallagher’s words, researching… Read more: Review: John O’Gallagher’s ‘Ancestral’ - Review: Simón Willson’s ‘Feel Love’
In many ways, the burgeoning improvised music community in Brooklyn resembles downtown New York’s loft movement of the ‘70s. But it differs in one important way: Brooklyn seems to have an even stronger sense of community, with musicians often collaborating on each other’s albums. Such is the case for Chilean-born, Brooklyn-based bassist and composer Simón… Read more: Review: Simón Willson’s ‘Feel Love’ - Review: John Scofield and Dave Holland’s ‘Memories of Home’
Guitarist John Scofield and NEA Jazz Master bassist Dave Holland are not only both masters of their respective instruments but incredibly prolific. Versatile too, especially Holland. Since both artists’ rise – a decade apart – through their times with Miles Davis, they have respectively explored a wide area of music. That includes intimate duo settings.… Read more: Review: John Scofield and Dave Holland’s ‘Memories of Home’ - Review: Billy Hart’s ‘Multidirectional’
Over the past six months, several NEA Jazz Masters – all of them octogenarian, or close to – have released records that defy convention and obliterate preconceptions many may have about their work. The combination of age and the prestige of the prestigious NEA title is an enabler. Kenny Barron issued his first vocal album,… Read more: Review: Billy Hart’s ‘Multidirectional’ - Review: Lina Allemano Four’s ‘The Diptychs’
Give the devil of algorithmic media its due for knowing things about you that you never suspected. Who knew, for instance, that Japanese woodworking videos were an obsession lying dormant in my mind, waiting to be activated? Even though I am hopeless with a tool in my hand—or perhaps because of it—I found these little… Read more: Review: Lina Allemano Four’s ‘The Diptychs’ - Review: Mark Turner’s ‘Reflections on: The Auto-Biography of an Ex-Colored Man’
A more cerebral artist, saxophonist and composer Mark Turner, never makes it too easy for the listener. However, he may have reached his zenith with Reflections on: The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (Giant Step Arts, 2025), a work that combines verbal narrative and music. As its title suggests, the album reflects upon the named… Read more: Review: Mark Turner’s ‘Reflections on: The Auto-Biography of an Ex-Colored Man’ - Review: Thomas Morgan’s ‘Around You is a Forest’
As evidenced by two recent collaborations with Wadada Leo Smith, Jakob Bro’s Loveland Music, is releasing some of the most interesting improvised music recently. Yet, also on the label comes Thomas Morgan’s Around You is a Forest (Loveland, 2025), which may well be the most unique album made in a long time. Morgan long ago… Read more: Review: Thomas Morgan’s ‘Around You is a Forest’ - Review: Chad Taylor’s ‘Smoke Shifter’
Drummer Chad Taylor is perhaps best known for his work as a sideman for the likes of James Brandon Lewis, Marc Ribot, Luke Stewart, jaimie branch, and many others, but his latest, Smoke Shifter (Otherly Love), is his sixth album as a leader. Those aforementioned names suggest an edgy, ’out’ approach. Instead, with Smoke Shifter, Taylor looks more to the inside,… Read more: Review: Chad Taylor’s ‘Smoke Shifter’ - Review: Pat Thomas’ ‘Hikmah’
Hikmah (TAO Forms) is the solo album from [Ahmed]’s virtuoso pianist Pat Thomas, whom Matthew Shipp has identified in his recent book as among the Black Mystery School Pianists. While Thomas may be in that school, his playing bears only a few similarities to his contemporary, Shipp. Thomas’s music is seemingly more spiritually focused. As… Read more: Review: Pat Thomas’ ‘Hikmah’ - Review: For Living Lovers’ ‘Natural Name’
Natural Name (Sunnyside, 2025) is the second album by For Living Lovers, the acoustic duo of guitarist Brandon Ross and bass guitarist Stomu Takeishi. Ross has appeared in so many contexts – electric, free, and as a leader and sideman – that sometimes his versatility on acoustic instruments becomes lost in the conversation. That is,… Read more: Review: For Living Lovers’ ‘Natural Name’ - Review: Domo Branch’s ‘Hands of Gifts’
The gratitude of drummer-composer Domo Branch, an in-demand rising star of contemporary jazz, is evident in many ways as on Hand of Gifts (Albina Music Trust, 2025). Artists often honor tradition, as Branch does here, while going beyond simply honoring his mentors. Albina Music Trust, a new label to most, is a non-profit organization and… Read more: Review: Domo Branch’s ‘Hands of Gifts’ - Review: Bob Schlesinger’s ‘Falling From Earth’
To say that Colorado-based pianist/composer Bob Schlesinger’s Falling from Earth (Digmatic, 2025) was a long time coming is a vast understatement. The project – the sixty-eight year old keyboardist’s leader debut – had been simmering for half a decade. Tracks were recorded in two separate sessions, Sear Sound in New York City and Coupe Studios… Read more: Review: Bob Schlesinger’s ‘Falling From Earth’ - Review: Jakob Bro’s ‘Murasaki’ and ‘The Montclair Sessions’
Danish guitarist Jakob Bro is the owner of the Copenhagen-based Loveland Records,, a label issuing two albums within a month of each other: the more recently recorded trio of Bro, trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, and drummer Marcus Gilmore for Murasaki (Loveland, 2025), and The Montclair Sessions (Loveland, 2025), from a 2022 recording session that paired… Read more: Review: Jakob Bro’s ‘Murasaki’ and ‘The Montclair Sessions’ - Review: Armen Donelian’s ‘Stargazer’
Stargazer (Sunnyside, 2025) is a reissue of an album by a trio of pianist Armen Donelian with bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Billy Hart that first appeared forty-five years ago, in 1980. Originally released and distributed on Atlas Records in Japan, it was available only as an import elsewhere. Soon thereafter, Atlas went out of… Read more: Review: Armen Donelian’s ‘Stargazer’ - Jazz Detective Zev Feldman Begins Yet Another Journey with New Imprint, Time Traveler Recordings, and Resurrecting Three Largely Forgotten Gems from the Muse Records Catalog
By now, most readers know that the Jazz Detective, Zev Feldman, does not limit his archival work to Black Friday and Record Store Day. Recently, he unveiled the terrific Charlie Rouse Brazilian recording, Cinnamon Flower (Resonance, 2025). As the archival consultant for Blue Note Records, he has another great one – Horace Silver’s Silver in… Read more: Jazz Detective Zev Feldman Begins Yet Another Journey with New Imprint, Time Traveler Recordings, and Resurrecting Three Largely Forgotten Gems from the Muse Records Catalog - Review: Phil Haynes & Free Country’s ‘Liberty Now!’
Drummer/composer Phil Haynes constantly leaves listeners anticipating what he will do next. In the past three years alone, he has presented No Fast Food – his trio with Dave Leibman and Drew Gress, Transitions – a duet album with Ben Monder, the romantic piano trio called Daydream, the complete American recordings of Four Horns &… Read more: Review: Phil Haynes & Free Country’s ‘Liberty Now!’ - Review: Sarah Elizabeth Charles’s ‘Dawn’
While it’s been done in pop, appearing noticeably pregnant on an album cover is a rarity for improvisation-based music. Indeed, vocalist and composer Sarah Elizabeth Charles’ Dawn (Ropeadope, 2025) may be one of the first. The album’s cover is striking – the artist in a stunning silhouette, leaving no doubt that she is indeed with… Read more: Review: Sarah Elizabeth Charles’s ‘Dawn’ - Review: Donny McCaslin’s ‘Lullaby for the Lost’
Saxophonist-composer Donny McCaslin is determined to move way beyond conventional concepts of jazz, jazz-rock fusion, or any label you want to ascribe to his music. Just when we didn’t think his music could be louder and more rock-influenced than I Want More (Edition, 2023), he kicks it up a couple of notches with Lullaby for… Read more: Review: Donny McCaslin’s ‘Lullaby for the Lost’ - Review: Mike Clark’s ‘Itai Doshin’
The title of Mike Clark’s latest record, Itai Doshin (Wide Hive, 2025) comes from the drummer’s Buddhist beliefs, a worldview shared with his onetime bandleader, Herbie Hancock. The title translates into the saying of “many in body, one in mind.” That’s the equivalent in musical speak of ‘in the pocket.” Or, in plainer language, a… Read more: Review: Mike Clark’s ‘Itai Doshin’ - Review: Noah Garabedian’s ‘Quartets and Solos’
With Quartets and Solos (Contagious, 2025), bassist and composer Noah Garabedian appears for the first time on saxophonist Dayna Stephens’ label. As one might expect, Stephens is a vital member of the quartet, wielding his tenor saxophone and EWI. Rounding out the ensemble are pianist Carmen Staaf, drummer Jimmy MacBride, and Samuel Adams on synths,… Read more: Review: Noah Garabedian’s ‘Quartets and Solos’ - Review: ‘Trio of Bloom’ with Nels Cline, Craig Taborn, and Marcus Gilmore
Trio of Bloom (Pyroclastic, 2025) is the first meeting of three titans of creative music, artists to whom genres and boundaries hold little meaning. You can regularly find each of them in conventional or edgy sessions, or within the turf that lies between. The term in the promotional notes is a better one – genre… Read more: Review: ‘Trio of Bloom’ with Nels Cline, Craig Taborn, and Marcus Gilmore - Review: Henry Threadgill’s ‘Listen Ship’
Audiences who saw artist-in-residence Henry Threadgill at Big Ears in 2024 were enthralled with five performances, each featuring a different configuration, and left eagerly anticipating the artist’s next move. Listen Ship (Pi, 2025), like many of Threadgill’s recent works, finds the eighty-one-year-old NEA Jazz Master conducting rather than participating instrumentally. The ensemble under his direction… Read more: Review: Henry Threadgill’s ‘Listen Ship’ - Review: Carmen Staaf’s ‘Sounding Line’
Carmen Staaf’s Sounding Line (Sunnyside, 2025) is the second album recently covered on this site that envisions a conversation between Thelonious Monk and another pianist-composer. Just a few weeks ago, trumpeter Josh Lawrence positioned Chopin with Monk. Here, Staff has Monk conversing with a contemporary, Mary Lou Williams. Just about every jazz pianist and many… Read more: Review: Carmen Staaf’s ‘Sounding Line’ - Review: Gary Bartz’s ‘The Eternal Tenure of Sound: Damage Control’
One of our few links to bands of Miles, McCoy Tyner, Pharaoh Sanders, Lee Morgan, and Roy Hargrove, NEA Jazz Master and soon-to-be-eighty-five-year-old Gary Bartz has earned the right to do whatever he pleases. Damage Control (OYO, 2025) is the first installment in The Eternal Tenure of Sound trilogy, self-funded by Bartz and produced by… Read more: Review: Gary Bartz’s ‘The Eternal Tenure of Sound: Damage Control’ - Review: Charlie Rouse’s ‘Cinnamon Flower: The Expanded Edition’
This is the year that some of us learned that tenor saxophonist Charlie Rouse was a leader of other bands rather than simply a member of Thelonious Monk’s quartet. Earlier this year, Strata-East reissued 1974’s guitar-driven, funky Two Is One (Mack Avenue, 2025). Now comes Cinnamon Flower: The Expanded Edition (Resonance, 2025), a double LP… Read more: Review: Charlie Rouse’s ‘Cinnamon Flower: The Expanded Edition’ - Review: Patricia Brennan’s ‘Of the Near and Far’
A fierce expansion on the percussive focus of More Touch (Pyroclastic Records, 2022) and the addition of intricate saxophone parts made Breaking Stretch (Pyroclastic Records, 2024) a bold step forward for vibraphonist Patricia Brennan. The progression from More Touch to Breaking Stretch sounded natural, but the difference between those albums and Of The Near And… Read more: Review: Patricia Brennan’s ‘Of the Near and Far’ - Review: Shuteen Erdenebaatar and Nils Kugelmann’s ‘Under the Same Stars’
Under the Same Stars (Motéma, 2025) is the second installment of Mongolian-born and Germany-based pianist-composer Shuteen Erdenebaatar’s planned trilogy drawing inspiration from the mythology of her Mongolian homeland surrounding the sun, moon, and stars. The first, Rising Sun (Motema, 2023), was an acclaimed quartet recording that evoked vitality, positivity, and optimism – a fitting choice… Read more: Review: Shuteen Erdenebaatar and Nils Kugelmann’s ‘Under the Same Stars’ - Review: Nicole Zuraitis’ ‘Live at Vic’s Las Vegas’
Go ahead and try this – Ask your friends who the most prominent female jazz vocalists have been in the past five years. Or, do a Google search with the question. More often than not, you won’t find Nicole Zuraitis’s name on the list. That’s criminal. Consider the Grammy Awards. Samara Joy has won five… Read more: Review: Nicole Zuraitis’ ‘Live at Vic’s Las Vegas’ - Review: Dave Douglas’ ‘Alloy’
With Alloy (Greenleaf, 2025), trumpeter, composer, and forward thinker Dave Douglas unveils his latest unique ensemble. Joined by two young trumpeters – UK native Alexandra Ridout and New Hampshire native Dave Adewumi, both of whom now live in New York – he creates, for lack of a better term, a trumpet choir. The group’s rhythm… Read more: Review: Dave Douglas’ ‘Alloy’ - Review: ‘George Coleman with Strings’
There are no written rules for NEA Jazz Masters. Clearly, they have earned the right to undertake their long-dreamed-of projects. Or to buck the music establishment with something unexpected. Or to fulfill a “bucket list” item. George Coleman with Strings (High Note, 2025), unequivocally the most gorgeous album of the tenor saxophonist’s storied career, meets… Read more: Review: ‘George Coleman with Strings’ - Review: Lucian Ban, Mat Maneri, and John Surman’s ‘Cantica Profana – The Béla Bartók Field Recordings’
Despite its jagged start, listen to Cantica Profana – The Béla Bartók Field Recordings (Sunnyside, 2025) its whole way through as it evolves into gorgeously flowing music. On the album- those who purchase the two LP set will also receive The Athenaeum Concert (Sunnyside, 2025) by the same artists – pianist Lucian Ban, violist Mat… Read more: Review: Lucian Ban, Mat Maneri, and John Surman’s ‘Cantica Profana – The Béla Bartók Field Recordings’ - Review: Fieldwork’s ‘Thereupon’
Fresh off their appearance at the Big Ears Festival, which this author unfortunately missed, the trio Fieldwork return with their first album in almost two decades, Thereupon (Pi, 2025). You will likely not find three more decorated individuals in any trio than those in this band: Vijay Iyer, Steve Lehman, and Tyshawn Sorey. Pianist Iyer… Read more: Review: Fieldwork’s ‘Thereupon’ - Review: Caelan Cardello’s ‘Chapter One’
Caelan Cardello is breaking out. As part of vocalist Tyreek McDole’s backing quartet at this summer’s Newport Jazz Festival, the pianist-composer impressed the audience with his comfort with hard swinging numbers and his duetting with McDole on the standard “Lush Life.” Few in attendance knew Cardello’s forthcoming debut, Chapter One (Jazz Bird, 2025), would arrive… Read more: Review: Caelan Cardello’s ‘Chapter One’ - Review: Miguel Zenon Quartet’s ‘Vanguardia Subterránea: Live at the Village Vanguard’
Vanguardia Subterránea: Live at the Village Vanguard (Miel Music, 2025) is alto saxophonist-composer Miguel Zenón’s first live album with his quartet and eighteenth overall. Its eight tracks were recorded over two nights in September 2024 at the hallowed jazz shrine in Greenwich Village. Zenon employs his longstanding quartet of pianist Luis Perdomo, bassist Hans Glawischnig,… Read more: Review: Miguel Zenon Quartet’s ‘Vanguardia Subterránea: Live at the Village Vanguard’ - Review: Jacob Garchik’s ‘Ye Olde 2: At The End of Time’
Strap yourself in for an exhilarating ride. Trombonist and composer Jacob Carchik’s Ye Olde 2: At the End of Time (Yestereve, 2025) is the follow-up to the first Ye Olde (Yestereve, 2015) from a decade earlier. The older album imagined a band of heroes journeying through an imaginary medieval Brooklyn. For the second voyage, many… Read more: Review: Jacob Garchik’s ‘Ye Olde 2: At The End of Time’ - Review: Linda May Han Oh’s ‘Strange Heavens’
The comparison of a familiar hell to a strange heaven drives Australian-born bassist and composer Linda May Han Oh’s thinking for her trio album Strange Heavens (Biophilia, 2025). It is far too easy to be lulled by society into complacency and benign acceptance of social and political conditions. Strange Heavens stands opposed to this status… Read more: Review: Linda May Han Oh’s ‘Strange Heavens’ - Review: Aruán Ortiz’s ‘Créole Renaissance’
The well-decorated Cuban-born, Brooklyn-based pianist Aruán Ortiz has developed his reputation in the avant-garde or free jazz world. Typically, when thinking of a free jazz pianist, Cecil Taylor, or more recently, Matthew Shipp, comes to most people’s minds. Ortiz only barely resembles either, rarely taking free-form rollicking excursions on this album. He is far more… Read more: Review: Aruán Ortiz’s ‘Créole Renaissance’ - Review: Eric Alexander and Vincent Herring’s ‘Split Decision’
Tenorist Eric Alexander and altoist Vincent Herring celebrate the twentieth anniversary of their first saxophone ‘battle’ on Split Decision (SMOKE Sessions, 2025), recorded live at NYC’s SMOKE Jazz Club. This is the third time on record that the two giants have sparred, with each session growing a little friendlier since 2005’s The Battle (Highnote, 2005).… Read more: Review: Eric Alexander and Vincent Herring’s ‘Split Decision’ - Review: Adegoke Steve Colson and Iqua Colson’s ‘GLOW: Music for Trio …. Add Voice’
It has been quite some time since we heard from second generation AACM members Adegoke “Ade” Steve Colson and Iqua Colson, but GLOW: Music for Trio … Add Voice (Silver Sphinx, 2025) sums up their artistry well: protest pieces, spirituality, and pure jazz that is more accessible than you might think. The couple has been… Read more: Review: Adegoke Steve Colson and Iqua Colson’s ‘GLOW: Music for Trio …. Add Voice’ - Review: Josh Lawrence’s ‘Still We Dream’
Still We Dream (Posi-Tone, 2025) is trumpeter and composer Josh Lawrence’s seventh release for the label that prides itself on revealing the “New Frontier of Jazz.” With it, the four-time Grammy nominee and regular member of Orrin Evans’ Captain Black Big Band delivers a rather unusual album for a trumpeter. The music mostly consists of… Read more: Review: Josh Lawrence’s ‘Still We Dream’ - Review: Nicole Glover’s ‘Memories, Dreams, Reflections’
Portland, Oregon native and current NYC resident, tenor saxophonist Nicole Glover may be best known as a member of the all-female jazz supergroup Artemis. Or possibly as a member of Christian McBride’s Ursa Major. But she is also a bandleader, having recently released her third album as a leader – Memories, Dreams, Reflections (Savant, 2025).… Read more: Review: Nicole Glover’s ‘Memories, Dreams, Reflections’ - Review: Jon Irabagon PlainsPeek’s ‘Someone to Someone’
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… Read more: Review: Jon Irabagon PlainsPeek’s ‘Someone to Someone’ - Review: Ron Blake’s ‘SCRATCH Band’
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… Read more: Review: Ron Blake’s ‘SCRATCH Band’ - Review: Rachael & Vilray‘s ‘West of Broadway’
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… Read more: Review: Rachael & Vilray‘s ‘West of Broadway’ - Review: Jimmy Greene’s ‘As We Are Now’
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… Read more: Review: Jimmy Greene’s ‘As We Are Now’ - Review: Etienne Charles’ ‘Gullah Roots’
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… Read more: Review: Etienne Charles’ ‘Gullah Roots’ - Review: Itai Kriss’ ‘Daybreak’
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… Read more: Review: Itai Kriss’ ‘Daybreak’ - Review: James Brandon Lewis Quartet’s ‘Abstraction Is Deliverance’
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… Read more: Review: James Brandon Lewis Quartet’s ‘Abstraction Is Deliverance’ - Review: Julian “J3PO” Pollack’s ‘Soul & Circuitry’
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… Read more: Review: Julian “J3PO” Pollack’s ‘Soul & Circuitry’ - Review: Amina Claudine Myers’ ‘Solace of the Mind’
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… Read more: Review: Amina Claudine Myers’ ‘Solace of the Mind’ - Review: Joshua Redman’s ‘Words Fall Short’
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… Read more: Review: Joshua Redman’s ‘Words Fall Short’ - Review: Matthew Shipp’s ‘The Cosmic Piano’
Pianist and composer Matthew Shipp seems to be garnering as much publicity for his criticisms of André 3000’s piano album as his own music lately. As is often said, even negative publicity may be good in the long run. This site has certainly given Shipp his fair due, of the positive kind, with the two-part… Read more: Review: Matthew Shipp’s ‘The Cosmic Piano’ - Review: Ivo Perelman and the Matthew Shipp String Trio’s ‘Armageddon Flower’
If you have not yet read the two-part interview with saxophonist Ivo Perelman and pianist Matthew Shipp regarding Armageddon Flower (TAO Forms, 2025), it provides important context to the recording. The album features a quartet with those two joined by bassist William Parker and violist Mat Maneri, in a chamber-like, drummer-less session to which these… Read more: Review: Ivo Perelman and the Matthew Shipp String Trio’s ‘Armageddon Flower’ - Review: Isaiah J. Thompson’s ‘The Book of Isaiah: Modern Jazz Ministry’
My review of emerging piano great Isaiah J. Thompson’s Power of the Spirit (Blue Engine, 2023) ended thusly: “a must-have for enthusiasts of straight-ahead, blood-pumping soul-jazz, 21st-century style. Thompson will be a force to be reckoned with well into the foreseeable future.” While there is still plenty of soul-jazz present in The Book of Isaiah:… Read more: Review: Isaiah J. Thompson’s ‘The Book of Isaiah: Modern Jazz Ministry’ - Review: Ches Smith’s ‘Clone Row’
One never knows where drummer-composer Ches Smith’s muse will take him next. From the Haitian voudou of We All Break: Path of Seven Colors (Pyroclastic, 2021) to the uncategorizable mash-ups of Laugh Ash (Pyroclastic, 2024) to inventive trio albums with violist Mat Maneri and Craig Taborn to whatever else strikes his fancy, Smith is there.… Read more: Review: Ches Smith’s ‘Clone Row’ - Review: ‘Quantum Blues’
There are widely publicized and wildly anticipated supergroups, and then there are those – at least a few – that sprout suddenly without heralding fanfare. The Quantum Blues Quartet is the epitome of the latter, joining four iconic players who came together in New York in 2024 for a day-long session. They are avant-garde jazz… Read more: Review: ‘Quantum Blues’ - Review: Nels Cline’s ‘Consentrik Quartet’
Considering guitarist Nels Cline’s history, it’s no surprise that the music of the Consentrik Quartet occasionally has shades of rock. “Slipping Into Something” starts subtly before bursting into a drum-driven groove fit for a rock song. Tom Rainey (drums) and Chris Lightcap (bass) keep heads nodding as Ingrid Laubrock (tenor saxophone) and Cline impressively trade… Read more: Review: Nels Cline’s ‘Consentrik Quartet’ - Review: Michel Petrucciani’s ‘Jazz Club Montmartre – CPH 1988’
Michel Petrucciani exploded onto the North American consciousness in 1982 when he persuaded Charles Lloyd to come out of a self-imposed retirement. The French pianist was a sensation and quickly found himself on a New York-bound Concorde to become the first European artist signed by Bruce Lundvall to a Blue Note Records contract. The label… Read more: Review: Michel Petrucciani’s ‘Jazz Club Montmartre – CPH 1988’ - Review: Milton Nascimento and esperanza spalding’s ‘Milton + esperanza’
esperanza spalding has made no secret of her love for Milton Nascimento’s music. Her sophomore album features a spirited rendition of Nascimento’s “Ponta de Areia” – early evidence of her strong affinity with the Brazilian legend’s compositions. After having heard Nascimento and spalding on Milton + esperanza (Concord, 2024), listening to spalding’s “Ponta de Areia”… Read more: Review: Milton Nascimento and esperanza spalding’s ‘Milton + esperanza’ - Review: ‘Triple Fever’
Just when you think we’ve reached peak piano trio, a new recording arrives to demonstrate the infinite elasticity of the venerable formation. It happens so often as to become routine. Yet surprises still abound, and this is one, a digital-only EP from a hitherto unknown label – to me, at least – that is one… Read more: Review: ‘Triple Fever’ - Review: Mary Halvorson’s ‘Cloudward’
Mary Halvorson gives a wide range of effects and musical roles to her guitar, and the result is always idiosyncratic. The guitarist’s compositions have a complex, innovative edge, and Cloudward (Nonesuch, 2024) is more evidence as to why she deserves all the acclaim that comes her way. The intensity and progression of “Desiderata” is a fantastic display… Read more: Review: Mary Halvorson’s ‘Cloudward’ - Review: Lucas Pino’s ‘Covers’
There are recordings that dazzle you from the first few bars—or conversely, put you off—with their audacity. Then there are the agreeably conventional releases that, over time, yield their secrets by degree. Put Lucas Pino’s Covers (Outside In Music, 2023) in the latter category. Notwithstanding some evident drollery, the title proudly advertises Pino’s rejection of conceptual ambition.… Read more: Review: Lucas Pino’s ‘Covers’ - Review: Kris Davis”Diatom Ribbons Live at the Village Vanguard’
On February 17, 2018, pianist Kris Davis played in the second of two concerts at Harvard University to honor the late jazz pianist Geri Allen. It was a fantastic night of music worthy of Allen’s tremendous talent. Davis took the stage in various ensembles, with some featuring drummer Terri Lyne Carrington, who had also curated… Read more: Review: Kris Davis”Diatom Ribbons Live at the Village Vanguard’ - Review: David Ake’s ‘Green Thumb’
It takes daring for a producer to lead off a recording with a ballad. When that producer is Marc Free of Posi-Tone Records, a label known for scorching hard bop, the album particularly demands attention. With Green Thumb (Posi-Tone Records, 2023), pianist David Ake generously provides a varied program of surprising, even eccentric, choices that resolve with… Read more: Review: David Ake’s ‘Green Thumb’ - Review: Avram Fefer’s ‘Juba Lee’
For the last quarter of the 20th century, Italian labels Black Saint and Soul Note issued an influential series of recordings by Black American artists, including the World Saxophone Quartet and its members Hamiet Bluiett, Julius Hemphill, Oliver Lake, and David Murray. These records were hardly blowing sessions, but their loose-limbed vibe brought the expressive… Read more: Review: Avram Fefer’s ‘Juba Lee’ - Review: Thumbscrew’s ‘Multicolored Midnight’
The fourth cut on Thumbscrew’s Multicolored Midnight (Cuneiform, 2022) is entitled “Shit Changes.” You don’t have to be a climate scientist or Sam Bankman-Fried to appreciate the truth of that phrase, and it could just be another of bassist Michael Formanek’s cheekily subversive titles. Yet despite ten years of consistently provocative and satisfying music making, the cooperative… Read more: Review: Thumbscrew’s ‘Multicolored Midnight’ - Review: Jussi Reijonen’s ‘Three Seconds | Kolme Toista’
“From the snowy, windswept peaks of Lapland to the desert of the Empty Quarter, Three Seconds | Kolme Toista is an adventure unlike any other!” Okay, that’s not Jussi Reijonen’s stated program behind Three Seconds | Kolme Toista (Challenge Records, 2022), which is at once more ambitious and more personal. Yet the music conceived by the Boston-based… Read more: Review: Jussi Reijonen’s ‘Three Seconds | Kolme Toista’ - Review: Jakob Bro and Joe Lovano’s ‘Once Around the Room: A Tribute to Paul Motian’
In an interview with Ethan Iverson on his Do the M@th blog, writer Ben Ratliff related an anecdote that Paul Motian once told him. “Hank Jones said to [Motian] one day, after they’d been playing, ‘I know your secret.’ [Ratliff] said, ‘Oh yeah? And what do you think he meant?’ And [Motian] said, ‘I don’t… Read more: Review: Jakob Bro and Joe Lovano’s ‘Once Around the Room: A Tribute to Paul Motian’ - Review: Tyshawn Sorey Trio’s ‘Mesmerism’
Did any artist have a better 2021 than Tyshawn Sorey? The 2017 MacArthur Fellow was the subject of a New York Times Magazine profile, premiered recordings of two large ensemble compositions, and received acclaim for albums with saxophonist Hafez Modirzadeh, DJ/producer King Britt. Not to mention his role in the powerful trio with pianist Vijay… Read more: Review: Tyshawn Sorey Trio’s ‘Mesmerism’ - Review: Steve Cardenas, Ben Allison, and Ted Nash’s ‘Healing Power – The Music of Carla Bley’
If Wayne Shorter is widely acknowledged as the most important living composer in jazz, who is the runner-up? Guitarist Steve Cardenas, bassist Ben Allison, and reedist Ted Nash on Healing Power – The Music of Carla Bley (Sunnyside Records, 2022) present a strong case for their album’s namesake. That Bley’s work should need any advocacy proceeds from… Read more: Review: Steve Cardenas, Ben Allison, and Ted Nash’s ‘Healing Power – The Music of Carla Bley’ - Review: Tomas Fujiwara’s Triple Double’s ‘March’
The debut recording of Tomas Fujiwara’s Triple Double was extraordinary. The two-drum (Fujiwara and Gerald Cleaver), two-guitar (Mary Halvorson and Brandon Seabrook), and two-horn (Taylor Ho Bynum on cornet and Ralph Alessi on trumpet) structure of the band is something rarely seen. Even in the bold avant-garde scene that Fujiwara frequents. After the release of… Read more: Review: Tomas Fujiwara’s Triple Double’s ‘March’ - Review: Irreversible Entanglements’ ‘Open the Gates’
“I’m so close,” poet Camae Ayewa, a/k/a Moor Mother, intones on “Lágrimas del Mar” off of Irreversible Entanglements’ Open the Gates (International Anthem/Don Giovanni, 2021). The hope in her voice is so palpable you can almost see her eyes widen with expectation. “I’m so close to the good news, the silver and gold, the daily bread.” A… Read more: Review: Irreversible Entanglements’ ‘Open the Gates’ - Review: William Parker’s ‘Migration of Silence into and Out of the Tone World [Volumes 1-10]’
Has there ever been a musician whose musical imagination is as universal and as omnivorous as William Parker’s? Perhaps Alexander Scriabin, a composer and virtuoso instrumentalist whose unfinished “Mysterium” was conceived to be performed over a week’s time by an orchestra, choir, dancers, visuals, and incense in the foothills of the Himalaya. Or possibly Don… Read more: Review: William Parker’s ‘Migration of Silence into and Out of the Tone World [Volumes 1-10]’ - Review: Jonny Greenwood’s Soundtrack to ‘Spencer’
Jonny Greenwood is primarily known as the guitarist of Radiohead, but he also has a superb discography of film scores. Based on the sublime Phantom Thread (Nonesuch, 2018), and the alluring anxiety of The Master (Nonesuch, 2012), in many ways Greenwood was the perfect composer for Spencer (Mercury KX, 2021). These brilliant compositions do a… Read more: Review: Jonny Greenwood’s Soundtrack to ‘Spencer’ - Review: Henry Threadgill Zooid’s ‘Poof’
As some artists approach their late careers they become ruthless self-editors, paring down their style to remove everything that is unnecessary or extraneous. Because the unnecessary is seldom granted admission to Henry Threadgill’s compositional world, Poof (Pi Recordings, 2021), the sixth recording from his Zooid band, and the first since 2015, is about something different. … Read more: Review: Henry Threadgill Zooid’s ‘Poof’ - Review: Terence Blanchard’s ‘Absence’ featuring the E-Collective and Turtle Island Quartet
Wayne Shorter is among the best composers of the second half of the Twentieth Century. Several of his compositions including, “Footprints” and “Infant Eyes,” have become standards. But in performing these songs, many musicians often miss what makes the saxophonist’s work so extraordinary. Yes, the pieces are beautiful and well-written, but they are merely jumping… Read more: Review: Terence Blanchard’s ‘Absence’ featuring the E-Collective and Turtle Island Quartet - Review: L’Rain’s ‘Fatigue’
Multi-instrumentalist Taja Cheek, who records under the moniker L’Rain, creates a unique experience in Fatigue. The album is kaleidoscopic and unpredictable. Cheek envelopes the listener in her world with a combination of impressive musicianship, production, and field recordings. The album is full of beautiful moments, an early one being how Cheek embellishes a live gospel… Read more: Review: L’Rain’s ‘Fatigue’ - Review: Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog’s ‘Hope’
Nobel physicist Erwin Schrödinger once noted that “[i]f a man never contradicts himself, the reason must be that he virtually never says anything at all.” Perhaps no finer quote could describe Ceramic Dog’s Hope (Northern Spy, 2021), a recording full of paradoxes. Approaching the album from afar, one sees an optimistic title coupled with a… Read more: Review: Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog’s ‘Hope’ - Review: ‘Impulse! Records: Music, Message & The Moment’ and Sons of Kemet’s ‘Black to the Future’
In 1960, Creed Taylor founded Impulse! Records, which he dubbed “The New Wave in Jazz.” While over time, Impulse! established itself as one of the premier labels in the genre, it was always happiest around categorical edges. Ray Charles’ Genius + Soul = Jazz (Impulse!, 1960) blurred lines between the two styles. Later, Yusef Lateef – as… Read more: Review: ‘Impulse! Records: Music, Message & The Moment’ and Sons of Kemet’s ‘Black to the Future’ - Review: Tony Allen’s ‘There is No End’
An artist’s final recording is often an unusual gift to the world. In large part, this derives from the fact that no one truly knows when they will leave. Even so, some can sense that their time is near, and this shows in their works. For David Bowie, his parting thoughts came through on Blackstar… Read more: Review: Tony Allen’s ‘There is No End’ - Review: Logan Richardson’s ‘Afrofuturism’
Memorial day weekend 1921 started just like any other day in the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma. One of the wealthiest communities in America, this segment of the city was such an economic powerhouse it would be dubbed “Black Wall Street.” By the end of the weekend, the prosperous region would be turned to rubble.… Read more: Review: Logan Richardson’s ‘Afrofuturism’ - Review: Thumbscrew’s ‘Never is Enough’
It hasn’t even been a year since Thumbscrew released their superb record in tribute to Anthony Braxton, but the trio is already back with Never Is Enough (Cuneiform Records, 2021). Braxton’s influence is still apparent, especially in the more rigid moments, but this album is a completely different experience. For much of the runtime, the… Read more: Review: Thumbscrew’s ‘Never is Enough’ - Reflections Through Geography with Joni Mitchell and Theo Bleckmann and The Westerlies
Fifty years ago, Joni Mitchell released the most iconic album of her career, one that changed the trajectory of music forever: Blue (Reprise, 1971). Writing uniquely warm, evocative lyrics and integrating folk guitar, piano, and dulcimer with adventurous harmony, Blue was widely successful upon its release and continues to influence new works today. However, part of its excellence derives… Read more: Reflections Through Geography with Joni Mitchell and Theo Bleckmann and The Westerlies - Review: ‘R+R=Now Live’
If 2020 has shown us anything, it is how quickly circumstances can change. One day you are living your “normal” life. The next you are unexpectedly shut-in for the foreseeable future. So when R+R = Now – a band intended to reflect upon and respond to the events of the current moment, not weeks or… Read more: Review: ‘R+R=Now Live’ - Review: Archie Shepp & Jason Moran’s ‘Let My People Go’
Albert Murray once noted that “the blues is not the creation of a crushed-spirited people [but rather] the product of a forward-looking, upward-striving people.” Throughout his career, Archie Shepp has explored the connection between the blues and aspiration for a brighter future. He’s done so significantly by branching the sonic qualities of the form to… Read more: Review: Archie Shepp & Jason Moran’s ‘Let My People Go’ - Review: Dave Brubeck’s ‘Time OutTakes’ and Bill Evans ‘Live at Ronnie Scott’s’
Dave Brubeck and Bill Evans were the twin Great White Hopes of jazz piano at the apex of the Pax Americana. Born on opposite coasts at the opposite ends of the 1920s, both men achieved great popular success. Brubeck, the elder of the two, became a cult figure on college campuses during the 1950s and… Read more: Review: Dave Brubeck’s ‘Time OutTakes’ and Bill Evans ‘Live at Ronnie Scott’s’ - Review: Joe Lovano Trio Tapestry’s ‘Garden of Expression’
Neo-traditionalists like Wynton Marsalis and Stanley Crouch have long desired the classification of “jazz” as “America’s classical music.” While this idea may bring more stature to the art form in certain social circles, it also largely marginalizes significant works by artists that do not fit their set preconceptions, particularly those in the avant-garde. Ironically, since… Read more: Review: Joe Lovano Trio Tapestry’s ‘Garden of Expression’ - Moor Mother and billy woods’ ‘Brass’
The first song on BRASS (Backwoodz Studioz, 2020), “Furies”, was the beginning of something special. Although Moor Mother and billy woods had connected before on “Ramesses II” by Armand Hammer (woods and ELUCID), “Furies” was the first time they recorded as a duo. The track was originally released as part of the Adult Swim single… Read more: Moor Mother and billy woods’ ‘Brass’ - Review: Brandee Younger & Dezron Douglas’ ‘Force Majeure’
Black’s Law Dictionary (8th ed.) defines force majeure as “an event that can be neither anticipated nor controlled.” A party to a contract may be discharged of their duty to perform under said contract upon showing the occurrence of some unforeseeable event outside of their control which rendered their performance impossible or impractical. The concept… Read more: Review: Brandee Younger & Dezron Douglas’ ‘Force Majeure’ - Review: Susan Alcorn’s ‘Pedernal’
Geography isn’t destiny, but it might explain some things about pedal steel guitarist Susan Alcorn and her new release, Pedernal (Relative Pitch Records, 2020). Alcorn is based in Baltimore, a place where the strange, unexpected and contradictory thrive. It is the birthplace of Edgar Allan Poe, Frank Zappa and John Waters, who wrote, “You can… Read more: Review: Susan Alcorn’s ‘Pedernal’ - Review: Keith Jarrett’s ‘Budapest Concert’
On January 24, 1975, Keith Jarrett sat, in pain, at the keys of a decrepit and horribly out-of-tune piano. The instrument’s pedals did not function properly, giving both a dampened lower register and a harsh upper one. Even after several hours of adjustments, it was still defective. Anyone rationally analyzing this situation would see these… Read more: Review: Keith Jarrett’s ‘Budapest Concert’ - Review: EYOT’s ‘557799’
American musicians have been experimenting with Balkan-esque rhythms since at least 1959 when Dave Brubeck brought the 2 + 2 + 2 + 3 pulse back from a folk song he heard in Istanbul and composed Blue Rondo à La Turk. Since then, unusual note groupings have become standard fare in jazz, fusion, and art… Read more: Review: EYOT’s ‘557799’ - Review: Emi Makabe’s ‘Anniversary’
The title cut of Emi Makabe’s debut full-length release, Anniversary (Greenleaf Music, 2020), is a graceful, bittersweet waltz about the kind of partings and reunions that form the bar lines in the lives of touring musicians. It’s a spare duet for voice and bass made all the more poignant by the empathetic accompaniment of the… Read more: Review: Emi Makabe’s ‘Anniversary’ - Review: Small Bills’ ‘Don’t Play It Straight’
Ten tracks into E L U C I D’s Valley of Grace (Backwoodz Studioz, 2017), the rapper declared that “nothing’s broken, this is how it’s supposed to run” on “Talk Disruptive For Me”. At that point in the EP, if the listener did not know that he was talking about systemic racism, they had not… Read more: Review: Small Bills’ ‘Don’t Play It Straight’ - Review: ‘Luke Stewart Exposure Quintet’
Free Jazz/Avant-Garde is at its most expressive when it presents itself as a collective experience. A singular unit that exists by excavating the thoughts, experiences, emotion, and creativity of all members in equal measure. On the recording of The Luke Stewart Exposure Quintet’s self-titled album, the bassist-bandleader states: “I want to convey again the collectivity… Read more: Review: ‘Luke Stewart Exposure Quintet’ - Traveling the Spaceways: Sun Ra Arkestra’s ‘Swirling’ and M’Lumbo and Jane Ira Bloom’s ‘Celestial Mechanics’
Sun Ra was born on the planet Saturn sometime presumably in the early 20th Century. Some historians mistake him for a gifted pianist named Herman Poole “Sonny” Blount, who was born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1914. In reality, he was the first great composer born on another planet to came to earth with the mission… Read more: Traveling the Spaceways: Sun Ra Arkestra’s ‘Swirling’ and M’Lumbo and Jane Ira Bloom’s ‘Celestial Mechanics’ - Review: Bootsy Collins’ ‘The Power of the One’
Far too often when people succeed in their field, it becomes far too easy for them to cling to that which brought them acclaim. The best artists, however, are always looking for ways to better express themselves and explore new ideas. Now in the fifth decade of his professional career, bass legend Bootsy Collins has… Read more: Review: Bootsy Collins’ ‘The Power of the One’ - Review: Butcher Brown’s ‘#KingButch’
Here’s a tip for whoever is reading at the Richmond, Virginia Chamber of Commerce: when you produce your next showcase commercial, make sure that Butcher Brown does the soundtrack. Better yet, license “For the City,” the penultimate track on the band’s newly released #KingButch (Concord Jazz, 2020). The song’s hook is, “We’re known for the… Read more: Review: Butcher Brown’s ‘#KingButch’ - Review: Azymuth, Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad’s ‘Azymuth JID 004′
In the field of astrodynamics, azimuth is essentially a way of navigating based on an established location, usually true North. Even its etymology suggests use in voyaging as it was derived from the Arabic term as-sumūt, roughly translated into “the directions.” It is an excellent descriptor for a trio that has been spanning outward from… Read more: Review: Azymuth, Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad’s ‘Azymuth JID 004′