Howard McGhee: Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out/House Warmin'

McGhee in 1962 blowing with assurance and taking the spotlight on a quartet album as well as co-fronting an energetic...

Reviewed by Alyn Shipton in issue: May/2014

Devin Gray/Ellery Eskelin/Dave Ballou/Michael Formanek: Dirgo Rataplan

Dave Ballou | Devin Gray | Ellery Eskelin | Michael Formanek

Although just 28-yearsold, Gray is mature enough to see himself as a “musician-drummer rather than a drummer-drummer”, and in this...

Reviewed by Kevin Le Gendre in issue: June/2012

Red Alert

Jack Pollitt | Janette Mason | Tom Mason

Janette Mason is the MD at London's Hideaway jazz club and worked for a while as a session musician, touring...

Reviewed by Thomas Rees in issue: May/2018

Iiro Rantala: Mozart, Bernstein, Lennon

Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen | Iiro Rantala

Recorded at the Gala Concert of last year's Jazzahead! summit, this genre-crossing concert is a somewhat unconventional showcase for Rantala's...

Reviewed by Stuart Nicholson in issue: July/2018

Bryan Corbett Quartet: Message of Iridescence

Al Gurr | Ben Markland | Bryan Corbett | Neil Bullock

Since the start of the millennium, the Birmingham-based trumpeter/flugelhornist Bryan Corbett has been marking his territory somewhere between the soundworlds...

Reviewed by Selwyn Harris in issue: Dec/Jan/2015/2016

Elis Regina: Original Album Series

Bill Evans | Eddie Gomez | Elliott Zigmund | Joe LaBarbera | Larry Schneider | Marc Johnson | Toots Thielemans

The best of the great Brazilian singer from four albums (one a double) reissued by her original label as a...

Reviewed by Alyn Shipton in issue: April/2016

Various artists: The Jubilee Years: 20 Magic Years

Bugge Wesseltoft | Christof Lauer | EST | Gerardo Nunez-Michael Brecker | Ida Sand | Joachim Kühn | Joel Harrison-Norah Jones | Lars Danielsson-Leszek Mozdzer | Michael Wollny's | Nguyên Lê

Some choice cuts here from the ACT vaults, and a reminder of the wide range of jazz produced by this...

Reviewed by Stuart Nicholson in issue: May/2012

Johnny Hammond: Wild Horses Rock Steady

Airto Moreira | Bernard Purdie | Billy Cobham | Bob Mann | Eric Gale | George Benson | Grover Washington Jr | Harold Vick | Johnny Hammond | Melvin Sparks

There's a killer line-up involved here, yet this glossy album contains little to detain serious students of jazz. It's hard...

Reviewed by Jack Massarik in issue: April/2012

Fabled: Short Stories

Alison Rayner | Buster Birch | Deirdre Cartwright | Diane McLoughlin | Steve Lodder

Imprinting instrumental music with meaning is a constant jazz conundrum. Whether solved by knowledge of players' characters or their songs'...

Reviewed by Nick Hasted in issue: Dec/Jan/2019/2020

Alexey Kruglov: Identification

Alexey Kruglov | Dmitry Denisov | Vladimir Borisov

Alexey Kruglov is a multi-talented, multi-instrumentalist with a penchant for drama, who seems able to express himself afresh with each...

Reviewed by Duncan Heining in issue: November/2011