The W, Mikrokosmos, TYZart**** recommended
Following the example of Chick Corea, Bruno Heinen's The W for Mikrokosmos zones in specifically on Book 6. What a pick-me-up.
Latest Posts
Let Spin, I Am Alien, Discus ****
I have no idea what "post jazz" means, a term sometimes trotted out to describe Let Spin. It trips off the tongue easily enough.
Talkline, Growing Pains, Milk Man EP ***1/2
Words matter. Experiencing the fuller Talkline further joins the dots between poignant 1970s-like singer-songwritery that's rooted in a liking for John Martyn and Labi Siffre and a more up to the minute jazz sensibility. Growing Pains is quite touching especially 'I Can See.'
19 April 2026
Alex Ho and Donovan Haffner, Serendipity, No label ****
A meeting of hearts and minds.
13 April 2026
Advertisement
Peter Erskine, Peregrine, Hard Wag Records **** highly recommended
A winning array of Keith Jarrett, Phoebe Snow, Alan Pasqua, Peter Erskine, Brian Wilson and Jimmy Webb material contained within what's crafted as carefully as a choice artisanal blend.
13 April 2026
People in Orbit, Viewpoint, April ***
You won't have just glimpsed the dark side of the moon unlike some other People in Orbit making all the news.
11 April 2026
Julian Joseph, Voyage of the Faithful, Rivetation Records *****
An event release. A giant of British jazz piano returns with a bangingly swinging trio exhibition, on what is blindingly obviously a milestone recording.
10 April 2026
Foy Vance, The Wake, Rounder ****
Amazing stuff, utterly magnetic especially 'Call Me Anytime.'
8 April 2026
Ego Ella May, Good Intentions, Believe UK ***
A loungey listen from much hyped singer Ego Ella May has its moments but there are no knockout songs.
8 April 2026
Ulysses Owens Jr. and Generation Y, Around The World With U, Cellar Music **** recommended
These old and not so old sweet songs in Gen Y's hands conjure so ably dear dead days beyond recall.
6 April 2026
Biréli Lagrène, Elegant People, PeeWee! ****
Swinging French guitar icon Biréli Lagrène does not disappoint with his best album in simply years. Its sentimental insouciance and savoir faire are something of a revelation that may cure any lingering feeling, dear reader, you might possess of jadedness. Listening shakes off such torpor.
6 April 2026
James Kitchman, Floating Sky, No label ***
Pristine pastoralism informs the latest quartet release by English guitarist James Kitchman.
5 April 2026
Stacey Kent, A Time For Love, Naïve Records ****
Quiet and reflective from one of the greatest classic jazz singers of our times. The Jim Tomlinson co-write with Cliff Goldmacher 'What Goodbye Is For' appeals most to me.
3 April 2026
John Beasley with the SWR Big Band, Invisible Piano, O-tone music ****
Currently performing through until Saturday - as a member of Unlimited Miles at the Birdland jazz club in New York along with Sean Jones, Marcus Strickland, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Ben Williams and Terreon Gully - John Beasley on Invisible Piano is here in a big band album incarnation to be released in May which features originals as well as James Taylor and Earth, Wind & Fire material on an album that takes its name from the visual cue of a 1920s Max Ernst proto-surrealist painting.
2 April 2026
Shalosh, What We Are Made Of, ACT ***
Covering Oasis, Muse and Aqua is not only a bit but a lot gimmicky. Otherwise beyond the purist baiting the trio continue doing what they have been accomplishing for a while. That is delivering accessible contemporary piano trio sounds as "invented" back in the late 1990s by the likes of e.s.t, The Bad Plus and Brad Mehldau.
1 April 2026
Alexander Claffy, Alive in Philadelphia, Vol. 1 (At Chris’ Jazz Cafe), Cellar Music ****
Leaps out of the speakers: what a very happening live album from a stellar US band playing a Coltrane tune you rarely hear on a record these days among other gems. Includes formidable sax playing from Seamus Blake and Jaleel Shaw.
30 March 2026
Paul Carrack, For One Night Only – Live in London, Carrack UK ***1/2
"Say it loud, say it clear: You can listen as well as you hear" - a joy as so often from Paul Carrack jazzed up with some still game Germans and a cracking choir later delivering a touching communal experience of a treatment of 'The Living Years.’
29 March 2026
Steve White trio, Soul Drums: The Jazz Sessions Vol. 1, Acid Jazz ****
One for the Modfather fan in your life, toned down welly delivered at an arm’s length hell for leather jazz distance, direct from a valuable Weller fella and estimable chums.
29 March 2026
Stefano Bollani All Stars, Tutta Vita Live, Ponderosa ***1/2
Sprawling and as so often with the ever puckish Italian pianist Stefano Bollani riotously creative. While it's not up there with his greatest work like Joy In Spite of Everything or his mighty Zappa homage Sheik Yer Zappa, nevertheless Tutta Vita Live is still worth a spin.
27 March 2026