There’s a visual element to the music of Gerald Cannon, he likes to see time move, the bassist, composer, and educator recommends to his students that they use a mechanical metronome to visualise time as they feel it. He describes the metronome moving air as it counts, and he considers the physical act of moving air out of his bass as he plays. As an abstract painter he’s fond of visual terms to describe the work of his musical forebears, ‘art, colour and tone’. Two of those particular forebears are Elvin Jones and McCoy Tyner; Cannon is privileged enough to have worked with both, Tyner for fo ..read more

Legendary vocalist and lyricist Norma Winstone, now 82 years of age, continues her long-standing association with the ECM label with her latest release “Outpost of Dreams”, presenting ten wonderful songs, performed with the prolific pianist Kit Downes. It’s incredible to think that forty-plus years separate these two musicians, with the formidable and sophisticated voice of Winstone working perfectly alongside Downes’ sensitive and intuitive playing. One of the most versatile and accomplished pianists of the modern era, Kit Downes isn’t just providing a platform for Winstone’s vocals here, he ..read more

Presented in a new tip-on gatefold sleeve, Pat Metheny’s debut album “Bright Size Life” featuring Jaco Pastorius and Bob Moses, is the latest audiophile reissue in ECM’s Luminessence series. Now considered by many, myself included, a classic in any era of contemporary jazz guitar recordings, the original album was recorded in December 1975 and released in March 1976, receiving a reasonable yet luke-warm reception at the time, selling around 900 copies. As time has moved on it has of course received much wider recognition, becoming something of a standard-bearer for guitar-led trios in its own ..read more

‘Don’t Forget To Have Fun’ strikes a certain tone for a compelling album title. While countless ensembles, groups and artists will often recount studio and performance time as “fun” with the players freely interacting with each other through their shared passion, at the same time, creating art at this level can naturally be quite a painstaking and intricate process. It was once reported that revered songwriter Rod Temperton believed that the song was in the air around you and if you couldn’t find it within a relatively short time then it was time to move on; conversely, the stories of Leonard ..read more

Since 2010 “The Rhythm Tank of Pori” has been bewitching listeners with their own brand of rhythm music. Fusing together everything from afrobeat to funk with psychedelic improvisation Mama Longhorn has easily become one of the most imaginative bands in the rhythm music universe. Mama Longhorn’s fourth studio album, Extinct But Still Alive, takes the band even deeper into the uncharted depths. Just when you think you can pinpoint their sound, you can’t. Extinct But Still Alive is as playful as it is melancholy. It pushes the boundaries of the band and the genre but still plays to the strengths ..read more

A key figure in the Spanish jazz scene, pianist Daniel García was born in Salamanca in 1983. With his trio, featuring bassist Reiner “El Negrón” and drummer Michael Olivera, he has made a name for himself as one of the most important representatives of jazz in his home country – playing over 300 concerts throughout Europe. The trio form a tightly-knit unit, their intuitive performances honed together over seven years, creating an organic and instinctive feel to the music they collectively make. “Wonderland” is the trio’s third album, following their previous releases “Travesuras” (2019) and “V ..read more

Pianist, vocalist, composer and arranger Katarina Kochetova is rapidly becoming revered as a new and exciting light on the European jazz scene. Listening to her latest release “Beyond Motion” helps me understand why. A splendid album featuring ten original compositions, her stylish writing and eloquent playing leaves the listener with a sense of wonder. Beautifully lyrical and highly engaging, “Beyond Motion” lays down a marker, a line in the sand one might say, from her journey so far, to this important moment in time, and beyond. Born in Ukraine’s capital – Kyiv, Kochetova grew up in Belgrad ..read more

If I had to sum it up in one word, I’d simply say it was superb. Antonio Faraò’s latest album, Tributes, released on the Dutch label Criss Cross Jazz Records, is the kind of album you can listen to on a loop and you would still not get bored. It is simply loaded with compositions each one more beautiful than the other. Hailed as one of the best jazz pianists of the last decades, Faraò has earned his fair share of praise over the years. And there’s reason why. The Italian pianist exudes a spectacular energy and vibrancy. Faraò has a presence, whether on stage or recording, and he leaves his lis ..read more

New music from K15 is always a wonderful thing but new music from Culross Close may perhaps be the treat that is just that bit sweeter. The tirelessly prolific DJ, producer and musician Kieron Ifill continues to amass an auspicious catalogue of music at his typically breakneck speed. In the last year alone, Ifill can lay claim to having secured productions and remix duties for New Digital Fidelity, Cratere Centrale and Ash Walker as well as a series of standalone single releases and EPs available on the K15 Bandcamp page. And if we take the time to travel that little bit further back, it seems ..read more

New York based Chilean tenor player Melissa Aldana’s second outing for Blue Note, Echoes of the Inner Prophet, follows her 2022 release 12 Stars. It’s 14 years since her debut, Freefall, released on Greg Osby’s imprint, Inner Circle Music; the intervening years have been marked by a substantial change in her sound and approach to music. She speaks of her ego attempting to dictate ‘what you need to be like and what you have to sound like’. How she overcomes this to ‘be in the moment’, and in a state of ‘non ego that wants to play fewer notes’, is by staying on the ‘edge of being uncomfortable ..read more