Lorraine Baker: Eden review – irresistible rhythms from a creative drummer

A band led by a drummer, with none of the usual cliches, no show-off drum solos or tricky stuff with time-signatures, but plenty of irresistible rhythm. Lorraine Baker doesn’t even employ the conventional kit; she keeps her quartet’s music airborne … Continue reading →

Sarathy Korwar & Upaj Collective: My East Is Your West review – seamless genre fusion

Mixing a jazz quintet with five Indian musicians may not be a new idea, but Korwar finds gorgeously smooth connections

Keith Jarrett: La Fenice review – dazzling spontaneity from 2006

Improvisation seems an inadequate word to describe what Keith Jarrett does, alone at a piano for an hour and a half. He begins by sitting motionless for a few moments, apparently to empty his mind of stray thoughts, and then … Continue reading →

Jason Moran: The Harlem Hellfighters review – the soldiers who brought jazz to Europe

Moran’s musical homage to bandleader Jim Europe and his wartime ragtime band keeps the spirit of the music alive without casting it in aspic

Sons of Kemet review – blown away by a fiery black history lesson

The Mercury prize-shortlisted London jazz quartet salute women of colour and attack the monarchy on the dazzling first date of their UK tour

Maisha: There Is a Place review – a blazing celebration

Britain’s burgeoning young jazz scene has so far been about community rather than albums, about discovery, jam sessions and live shows, many players being graduates of Gary Crosby’s Tomorrow’s Warriors project. Only now is this crowd – slightly younger than … Continue reading →

Myra Melford’s Snowy Egret: The Other Side of Air review – kaleidoscopic improv workout

The American avant-garde pianist gathers an impressive group of partners for this crisp, complex album

Danielsson – Fresu: Summerwind review – gently seductive duets

Calm, contemplative, a little severe perhaps, but beautifully conceived and executed – you couldn’t mistake this for anything other than contemporary European jazz. The prospect of 15 duets for double bass (Lars Danielsson) and trumpet (Paolo Fresu) may not immediately … Continue reading →

Julian Joseph Trio’s Tristan and Isolde review – updated, leaden and lifeless

Julian Joseph removed Wagner from his reimagining of the Celtic romance. The result was laborious and over-complicated

Mark Turner and Ethan Iverson: Temporary Kings review – ethereal delights

The friendly relations between contemporary forms of jazz and classical music are taken for granted these days, and this is a particularly fine example, a kind of jazz-inflected chamber music. It is a set of duets for tenor saxophone (Turner) … Continue reading →

Bokanté & Metropole Orkest: What Heat review – righteous and clever

(Real World)

Liran Donin’s 1000 Boats: 8 Songs review – seductive melodies and Led Bib thrash

Bassist Donin’s debut solo album is a welcome combination of lyricism and rhythmic expressiveness

Lonnie Holley: MITH review – full of violence and beauty

A lifelong outsider artist, Alabama-born Lonnie Holley came to renown for his visual art, and in 2012 for his first foray into music. MITH is the self-taught piano man’s third outing, and although neophytes might struggle with Holley’s shruggy attitude … Continue reading →

Arianna Neikrug: Changes review – a hugely impressive debut

This is 25-year-old Arianna Neikrug’s debut album, and a startling experience it can be, if you’re unprepared for it. Instead of the customary glossy full orchestra there is a piano trio, and the pianist (also arranger and producer) is Laurence … Continue reading →

Prince: Piano & a Microphone 1983 review – revelatory listen from a colossal talent

Prince’s amazing abilities as a pianist, on embryonic hits or cover versions, are all over this posthumous album – he’s on fire here