Mark Soskin: Ballad for a Rainy Afternoon

The New York-born Soskin, a former pianist for none other than Sonny Rollins for over a decade, plays with an...

Reviewed by Selwyn Harris in issue: October/2021

Samo Salamon & Francoise Houle: Unobservable Mysteries

Recorded by guitarist Salamon in Slovenia and clarinettist Houle in Vancouver, this duet album certainly sounds coherent and contains some...

Reviewed by Kevin Whitlock in issue: October/2021

Valaida Snow: Swing is The Thing – The Dynamic Valaida Snow, Queen of the Trumpet

Jimmy Mundy’s orchestra | Billy Mason Orchestra | Winstrup Olesen’s Swingband | Valaida Snow | Earl Hines Orchestra | Ali Baba trio | Lulle Ellboj’s Orchestra | The Six Swingers

The wonderfully talented Valaida Snow [1904-1956] came from a showbusiness family and was steeped in the world of black vaudeville,...

Reviewed by Peter Vacher in issue: October/2021

Slowly Rolling Camera: Where the Streets Lead

Sachal Vasandani | Chris Potter | Lionel Handy | Jasper Høiby | Jenni Curiel | Mark Lockheart | Victoria Stapleton | Verneri Pohjola | Elliot Bennett | Jon Visanji

Eight years since their initial emergence and five releases in, Slowly Rolling Camera have been characterised at various points in...

Reviewed by Robert Shore in issue: October/2021

Miguel Muziq: An Angel’s Healing

The acoustic guitarist Miguel Muziq mixes a good time small-group latin and Afro-Cuban vibe with influences from his Mediterranean-Cypriot background...

Reviewed by Selwyn Harris in issue: October/2021

Gaetano Letiza: Chartreuse

An Ohio-based guitarist with a few George Benson licks up his sleeve and mainstream fusion-lite, latin and funky blues influences...

Reviewed by Selwyn Harris in issue: October/2021

Brandee Younger: Somewhere Different

Allan Mednard | Marcus Gilmore | Dezron Douglas | Rashaan Carter | Ron Carter | Brandee Younger | Chelsea Baratz | Maurice Brown | Anne Drummond

From the inventive comping in the striking album opener ‘Reclamation’ to the heavy ostinato of the final track, ‘Tickled Pink’,...

Reviewed by Peter Quinn in issue: October/2021

Snorre Kirk Quartet: Going Up

Snorre Kirk | Stephen Riley | Magnus Hjorth | Anders Fjeldsted | Jan Harbeck

Imagine the classic Basie rhythm section re-constituted but without guitar and that’s what you hear on the opening, riff-based ‘Right...

Reviewed by Peter Vacher in issue: October/2021

John Butcher/Barre Philips/Ståle Liavik Solberg: We Met – And Then

Barre Philips | John Butcher | Ståle Liavik Solberg

Recorded in the large assembly hall of percussionist Eddie Prévost’s old senior school in Deptford (where they were also screening...

Reviewed by Edwin Pouncey in issue: October/2021

Tony Oxley/Alan Davie: Elaboration of Particulars

Alan Davie | Tony Oxley

As his sleevenotes make clear, the late Scottish painter-musician Alan Davie was one of percussion legend Oxley’s most favoured collaborators....

Reviewed by Kevin Whitlock in issue: October/2021