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marlbank

Track of the Day: ‘Kiss and Run’: standout new release jazz vocals from Marianne Solivan

Track of the day for a second time in these pages new from Marianne Solivan - one to return to...
10 March 2026 marlbank
Talkline

Talkline, Vortex, Dalston ***

Unusually fronted by a singer who plays vibes accompanied by double bass and piano, Talkline on this performance played originals...
10 March 2026 marlbank

Shai Maestro, The Guesthouse, Naïve ***

There's plenty of spirit and a contemporary sheen to The Guesthouse. But Shai Maestro's latest doesn't quite engage as much...
9 March 2026 marlbank
Into the Storm

Carsten Dahl, Into the Storm, Storyville ****

Body and Soul, Caravan and more plus a wonderful reading of Blame It On My Youth.
9 March 2026 marlbank
Top of the tree. The full deck with Ant - Jasper Høiby, Sun-Mi Hong, Alex Hitchcock, Ant Law.

Alex Hitchcock, Ant Law, Jasper Høiby, Sun-Mi Hong, House of Light, ZenneZ **** recommended

Formidable, probing, interrogative instrumentalism from a band of leaders. Post-bopper Alex Hitchcock is the sax genius of Chris Potter calibre...
9 March 2026 marlbank
Of the Earth cover

Shabaka, Of The Earth, Shabaka Records ***

This latest sprawling solo effort from Shabaka isn't at all the most essential item in the saxist/flautist's discography.
9 March 2026 marlbank

Stephen began writing reviews for Turkish Daily News while living in Ankara in the early 1990s. Following a move to Poland, he worked as assistant editor on the English edition of Jazz Forum. In London where he lived for more than 25 years, he began a job as assistant editor at the Islington and later Mayfair based Jazz on CD, where he worked from 1993 to 1995. In Streatham, he became founder editor of Jazzwise in 1997, and worked there on staff for 15 years. His interview features have appeared in a range of publications including Jazz Express, The Wire, The Independent, Maxim and Downbeat. He has interviewed many leading figures in the jazz and broader music world including Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Pat Metheny, Carmen Lundy, Grover Washington Jr, Marc Johnson, Charlie Watts, Jools Holland, Betty Carter, Colin Towns, Tomasz Stańko, Jack DeJohnette, Phil Collins, Nigel Kennedy, John Abercrombie, Christian McBride, Branford Marsalis, Courtney Pine, Steve Williamson, Lady Blackbird, Gary Crosby, Ian Shaw, Norma Winstone, Kenny Wheeler, Wynton Marsalis, Jeff "Tain" Watts, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Monty Alexander, Kandace Springs, Somi, Lionel Loueke and new stars like James Francies and Immanuel Wilkins to name just a few. Radio work has included voiced and scripted features for BBC Radio 3. In recent years work has been hard to come by on the dark end of the street on the road to nowhere. But Marlbank always keeps the dream alive.

Roam on! The light
we sought is shining still

- Matthew Arnold, 'Thyrsis' (1866)