O'Higgins & Luft: Pluto

Rod Youngs | Rob Luft | Misha Mullov-Abbado | Ross Stanley | Dave O'Higgins

Three years ago the O'Higgins/Luft alliance mined a rich vein covering the songs of Coltrane and Monk on the appropriately...

Reviewed in issue Dec/Jan/2022/2023

Andrew McCormack Trio: Terra Firma

Rod Youngs | Andrew McCormack | Joe Downard

Since his award-winning 2006 debut Telescope, Andrew McCormack's piano trio recordings have curiously been thin on the ground. The pianist–composer...

Reviewed in issue October/2022

Dameronia's Legacy All-Stars: Live at Audi Forum Ingolstadt

Jim Rotondi | Jon Boutellier | Johannes Herrlich | Bernd Reiter | Aldo Zunino | Dick Oatts | Andrea Pozza | Rik Van Den Bergh

Dameronia was a 1980s all-star group dedicated to the performance of music by Tadd Dameron, and led, initially, by drummer...

Reviewed in issue October/2022

Joe Webb: Summer Chill

Alex Haines | Kitty Liv Durham | Will Sach | Jas Kayser | Fraser Smith | Joe Webb | João Caetano

The title says it all. This is an album designed to conjure up a relaxed, sunny atmosphere, which pianist/leader Joe...

Reviewed in issue August/2022

James Kitchman: First Quartet

Bruno Heinen | Tom McCredie | Shaney Forbes | James Kitchman

Sometimes it pays to wait. Guitarist James Kitchman had been around the London scene for a decade before forming his...

Reviewed in issue August/2022

Tomorrow’s New Quartet: All Together Now!

Flo Moore | Helena Kaye | Rod Oughton | Deschanel Gordon

Martin Hummel and Ubuntu have been and gone and done it again. One doesn’t want to over-praise so young a...

Reviewed in issue August/2022

Paul Booth: 44

Dave Whitford | Shane Forbes | Flo Moore | Andrew Bain | Alexandra Ridout | Oliver Mason | Ross Stanley | Paul Booth

Booth is the great communicator. Whatever style he plays, and new album 44 covers everything from the rock-grooved ‘Blues in...

Reviewed in issue June/2022

Chris Maddock: The Hunt EP

Sticking to a tried-and-tested format runs the risk of sounding too derivative but Birmingham Conservatoire grad saxophonist-composer Chris Maddock’s take...

Reviewed in issue December/January/2021/2022

Secret Sessions: Hoop

Nichol Thomson | Ross Stanley | Lawrence Cottle | Steve Hamilton | Chris Allard | Miles Bould | Ian Thomas | Tom Walsh | Paul Booth

Paul Booth likes to set a challenge: the Secret Sessions are based on the precept that no-one knows who they...

Reviewed in issue December/January/2021/2022

Sean Gibbs: When Can I See You Again?

Riley Stone-Lonergan | Sean Gibbs | Rob Brockway | Jay Davis | Calum Gourlay

Although trumpeter Sean Gibbs’ debut album draws heavily on the modern mainstream, it avoids the generic. The result is a...

Reviewed in issue October/2021