Jazz
Mike Stern/Bill Evans Band, Ronnie Scott's - music review
There are several reasons to admire Mike Stern, not least for still being alive after a punishing booze and substance-filled youth which the floppy-haired US guitar star can only dimly remember.
Jamie Cullum interview for new album, Momentum: 'I'm living the middle-class dream'
When putting together his new album, Momentum, Jamie Cullum was faced with a dilemma.
New Gary Burton Quartet: Guided Tour - review
It's one thing to be a virtuoso player, which he is, but quite another to create a whole sonic world with just four musicians.
Liane Carroll: Ballads - review
(Quiet Money) Whether singing, playing the piano or doing both at once, Liane Carroll is famous for coming up with spontaneous perfection. Maybe that's why most of her previous albums have been simple, straightforward affairs, often recorded live....
Ray Russell: Now, More Than Ever - review
(Abstract Logix) UK guitarist Ray Russell, a composer and studio specialist for much of the past three decades, broke cover for some dynamic live shows last autumn. He's aided on a jazz-rock fusion programme here by gifted guests including Gary...
Charles Lloyd: Quartets - review
(ECM) This five-disc set collects recordings by Charles Lloyd for ECM between his comeback in 1989 (after what had seemed like a terminal layoff) and the late 1990s, released to coincide with the saxophonist's 75th birthday. Though his post-1999 work...
Christian Muthspiel 4: Seaven Teares - review
(ACT) It was released last month, but I'd hate this charming and surprising album to escape your notice. It consists of four cosmopolitan jazz musicians playing 21st-century variations on a work by the English composer John Dowland , a contemporary...
Review: What Do You See When You Close Your Eyes?, By Moss Project
When the composer and performer Moss Freed finished recording his new jazz album What Do You See When You Close Your Eyes? , he wondered what kind of response it might elicit from the listener, and approached some writers to see if they might put it...
Sam Crowe Group: Towards the Centre of Everything - review
(Whirlwind) On this successor to his 2010 album, Synaesthesia , pianist Sam Crowe has added some New York muscle to his lineup - with Kairos 4tet 's Adam Waldmann and Oxford guitarist Will Davies joined on sax by US-resident Brit Will Vinson, genre-...
Lucian Ban/Mat Maneri: Transylvanian Concert - review
The New York-resident Romanian pianist Lucian Ban and American violinist and viola-player Mat Maneri are touring (with three UK dates from 21 May) to launch this live duo set.