Reviews Archives - Jazz Journal

2025 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival

Jazz Journal — Sun, 25 May 2025 20:07:15 +0000

The 2025 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, now in its 55th year, has evolved over the last 20 years from its original format of celebrating the music culture of New Orleans and Louisiana to what now feels more like a major rock festival, with a number of specialist genres –jazz, blues, cajun, zydeco and […]

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Reviewed: Gato Barbieri | Fred Frith, Shelley Burgon | Jacqueline Kerrod, Joe Morris

Nic Jones — Sun, 25 May 2025 17:20:45 +0000

Gato Barbieri: Standards 2 (Red Records RRCD 1233482) By the time this album was recorded in Rome in the spring of 1968 the Argentinian Barbieri had already made something of a case for the idea of jazz as an international language, not least through his contributions to Don Cherry’s Blue Note album Complete Communion. At that […]

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Reviewed: Kjetil Husebø | Kali Trio | Egil Kalman & Hans Hulbækmo | Adam O’Farrill | Alex Zethson & Johan Jutterström

Fred Grand — Sat, 24 May 2025 08:12:12 +0000

Kjetil Husebø: Piano Transformed – Interspace (Optical Substance Productions OSP010) My reviews of Kjetil Husebø’s recent ambient jazz projects have spoken of the Norwegian pianist-composer’s solid grounding in classical techniques, something which his Piano Transformed project brings into even sharper focus. This double-album is the third volume in the series, following Piano Transformed (2017) and […]

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Reviewed: Jenna Cave | Ron Ledoux | Gregory Privat

Nigel Jarrett — Fri, 23 May 2025 18:44:52 +0000

Jenna Cave Sextet: Grief, Hope, Love (ABC Jazz ABC J0033D) Australian jazz composer Jenna Cave identifies the concept of “grief literacy”, which might be defined as the means of giving voice to heartbreak and distress resulting from the death of someone close. In 2022, aged 38, she became a single parent to her three-year-old daughter […]

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Reviewed: Paul van Kessel | Oscar Moore | Jim Snidero

François van de Linde — Fri, 23 May 2025 09:44:46 +0000

Paul van Kessel: The Lonesome Road (self-released) Paul van Kessel’s voice is like a roasted chestnut on an open fire, laced with a trace of smooth soul. He works its fragility to its advantage in the intimate setting of The Lonesome Road, a duet with pianist Sebastiaan van Bavel that’s spruced up with sparse guitar […]

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Reviewed: Sharel Cassity | Nicole Johänntgen | Rachel Therrien

Matty Bannond — Thu, 22 May 2025 10:30:21 +0000

Sharel Cassity: Gratitude (Sunnyside Records) As a youngster in Oklahoma, Sharel Cassity’s heart and soul got captured by bassist Christian McBride’s debut studio album Gettin’ To It (Verve Records, 1995). She later earned the chance to play with each of the three musicians from the rhythm section on that record. Now, the alto saxophonist reunites […]

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Reviewed: Ben Webster | Gerry Mulligan

Gordon Jack — Tue, 20 May 2025 10:03:16 +0000

Ben Webster: Soulville (WaxTime 772350-LP) The swing-era trinity of Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young and Ben Webster really wrote the book on the tenor saxophone until John Coltrane and others came along. During the 30s Webster had worked with Andy Kirk, Fletcher Henderson and Benny Carter but it was probably his stay with Duke Ellington (1939-1943) […]

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Reviewed: Jeb Patton Quartet | The Hemphill Stringtet | Play Misty For Me – Music From The Films Of Clint Eastwood

Matthew Wright — Mon, 19 May 2025 10:44:22 +0000

Jeb Patton Quartet: Whisper Not (Fresh Sound Records FSRCD 5134) It’s absolutely clear where this quartet’s heart lies from one look at the material and its composers. As well as Golson’s title track, we have Dexter Gordon’s Cheesecake, Miles’ Solar, Duke’s Take The Coltrane and two classic standards – Jimmy Van Heusen’s Darn That Dream […]

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Reviewed: Jeremy Pelt | David Preston

John Adcock — Fri, 16 May 2025 13:40:53 +0000

Jeremy Pelt: Woven (HighNote Records HCD 7363) “I’m not interested in the new for the sake of newness” writes Jeremy Pelt in the liner notes for Woven. It is an interesting observation to make, because although Pelt puts his own stamp on his music and sounds very contemporary, there are throwbacks to be heard to […]

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Review: Cheltenham Jazz Festival 2025

Brian Payne — Thu, 15 May 2025 11:14:53 +0000

This year's festival, blessed with sunshine, included Katia Melua, Lulu, Kokoroko, Lisa Stansfield, Billy Cobham, Daniel Casimir, Claire Martin, the Buena Vista All Stars, Neil Cowley, Macy Gray and Roger Daltrey

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