Marlbank | Album Of The Week

Steve Wilson, Enduring Sonance, Smoke Sessions **** recommended

There's a lot of spirit in the rendition here of a strong selection of tunes including material by Quincy Jones and Milton Nascimento.

18 May 2026

byStephen Graham

Tom Ollendorff, Where in the World, Fresh Sound

The melodicist's melodicist scores a winner once again.

16 December 2025

Iiro Rantala, Trinity, ACT ***

Édith Piaf and Duke Ellington classics win the day on this trip down memory lane of a piano trio outing recorded in a French chateau.

8 December 2025

Theo Croker, Sullivan Fortner, Play, ACT

Sublime melancholia from the trumpet and piano playing duo

1 December 2025

Rufus Wainwright with the Pacific Jazz Orchestra, I’m a Stranger Here Myself: Wainwright Does Weill, Pacific Jazz Orchestra / Thirty Tigers

Crackles with life enough to conjure Kurt Weill's depictions of colourful trouble and strife.

24 November 2025

Dhafer Youssef, Shiraz, ACT

The bar is set high when you come to a Youssef album. ‘Generalife Gardens’ is pretty extraordinary. If you listen to only one track, make it this.

17 November 2025

Iain Ballamy, Riversphere, Vol. 1, Babel

The Ballamy purple patch continues.

10 November 2025

Gregory Groover Jr, Old Knew, Criss Cross Jazz

Sweet dreams are made of this. Who am I to disagree?

8 November 2025

John O’Gallagher, Ancestral, Whirlwind

Outstanding, original work. Albums like Ancestral make me change the way I think about what is possible in 21st century jazz all over again..

27 October 2025

Don Was & The Pan-Detroit Ensemble, Groove In The Face Of Adversity, Mack Avenue

Introducing the new album of the week

12 October 2025

Wolfgang Muthspiel, Scott Colley, Brian Blade, Tokyo, ECM

A long established Austrian and American trio recording in Japan that continues to push forward.

30 September 2025

Jim Black and the Schrimps, Better You Don’t, Intakt

Avant sounds right up the street of anyone into punk jazz particularly if you are - like us - Led Bib fans.

12 September 2025

Tanhai Collective, Circa 2019, No Label

On an upward trajectory profile wise all the time. Mind and body grooves from Tanhai Collective hit the spot more than ever. The UK jazzers are touring Circa 2019 this autumn.

3 September 2025

Linda May Han Oh, Strange Heavens, Biophilia ****

Album of the Week

25 August 2025

Anat Fort, The Dreamworld of Paul Motian, Sunnyside

A pianist who played with Paul Motian not long before the drummer died, Anat Fort delivers a stirring pastoralism and serene transcendental flow in this terrific new Motian themed quartet record just out.

18 August 2025

Ivan Farmakovskiy, Epic Power, Steeplechase ****

A classy, broodily dramatic piano trio recording kept back for years and years featuring Keith Jarrett Standards trio drummer Jack DeJohnette and bass don Christian McBride is album of the week new from the Muscovite piano face, Ivan Farmakovskiy.

11 August 2025

Rachael and Vilray, West of Broadway, Concord Jazz ****

Best yet from the witty duo on this marvel from Manhattan.

6 August 2025

Iain Ballamy and Daniel Szabo, No Blues on the Danube, Fonó Budai Zeneház **** recommended

Waltzing into the album of the week slot, it's an Anglo-Hungarian collaboration that features the Loose Tubes tenorist Iain Ballamy, recorded live in Budapest.

30 July 2025

Dino Saluzzi, El Viejo Caminante, ECM *****

These "old wanderings" beautifully set for bandoneon and guitars take your breath away beyond genre. They are new today from the nonagenarian Argentinian lion in winter, Dino Saluzzi.

11 July 2025