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Joey Waronker & Pete Min: Parrots
by Ludovico Granvassu
King King (Colorfield Records) was recorded at LA's Lucy's Meat Market studio by drummer Joey Waronker and bassist/engineer Pete Min--the creative force behind both that sonic laboratory and the Colorfield Records label. For these sessions, Waronker and Min played a multitude of instruments with a multitude of guests, including Mark Guiliana, Larry Goldings, Josh Johnson, Nicole McCabe, and Jeff Parker. Yet, some of the album's most striking moments emerge when it's just the two of them, ...
Continue ReadingThe Five Corners Quintet: Trading Eights
by Ludovico Granvassu
The Five Corners Quintet was a Finnish combo that doubled as both launchpad and meeting point--bringing together up-and-coming players and established figures alike, with veteran Eero Koivistoinen as well as younger musicians including Timo Lassy (saxophones), Jukka Eskola (trumpet and flugelhorn), Kim Rantala and Mikael Jakobsson (piano), Antti Lötjönen and Tapani Nevalainen (bass), and Teppo Mäkynen (drums and bandleading). Many of them today enrich the We Jazz Records roster. Their debut album--aptly titled Chasin' The Jazz Gone By ...
Continue ReadingFergus Quill: Up Down
by Ludovico Granvassu
A few years back, British bassist Fergus Quill discovered the music of Xero Slingsby, the larger-than-life saxophonist who passed away in 1988 at the age of 30. Though his career was short, Slingsby left an indelible mark on anyone fortunate enough to hear him and continues to enjoy cult status among a devoted few. Quill not only fell in love with the music but also felt compelled to play it--both to shine new light on Slingsby's work ...
Continue ReadingKneebody: Everywhere From There To There
by Mike Jacobs
From the group's self-titled 2005 debut, “Everywhere From There to There" is a gem that features a rare acoustic piano appearance. All of the Kneebody hallmarks--as well as a healthy dose of bodaciousness--are in force. Enjoy. ...
Continue ReadingPat Metheny & Brad Mehldau: Summer Day
by Geno Thackara
"Summer" is a frequent shorthand for “loud and bright," but the span of the day can include a whole lot of tones more subtle and colorful. This is the scene Pat Metheny and Brad Mehldau paint on this highlight of their mostly-duo debut recording (Nonesuch Records, 2006), weaving a broad palette of tones like a sky changing colors at sunset. ...
Continue ReadingJames Brandon Lewis: Ware
by Ludovico Granvassu
Here is a track from one of the year's most acclaimed musicians, James Brandon Lewis, who, as of late, doesn't just land in the best-of lists--he takes up multiple slots. From Abstraction Is Deliverance (Intakt Records) --featuring Lewis' tightly-knit quartet with Aruán Ortiz on piano, Brad Jones on bass and Chad Taylor on drums --"Ware" is a deeply felt tribute to David S. Ware--a giant saluted by a new giant of the tenor saxophone, fully aware of the ...
Continue ReadingRemembering Sheila Jordan: Sheila's Blues
by Ian Patterson
NEA Jazz Master Sheila Jordan, who passed away on August 11, 2025, at the age of 96, will be remembered as one of the great improvising jazz vocalists--imitated by many, bettered by none. Born in Detroit in 1928, Jordan's life-long love affair with jazz began in the 1940s when she heard Charlie Parker. “After the first four notes I was hooked. I got goose bumps and I instantly knew that was the music I had been waiting to ...
Continue ReadingVictor Bailey: Sweet Tooth
by Mike Jacobs
The “other Victor of bass," the late Philly-bred low-end icon and his capable cronies take flight on a signature tune from the album, Low Blow (ESC, 1999). Featuring Omar Hakim, Michael Bearden, Henry Hey, Bill Evans and Wayne Krantz. ...
Continue ReadingOlga Amelchenko: Walking Shadows
by Ludovico Granvassu
Howling Silence is Olga Amelchenko's new album, a project that explores the tension between the urge to speak out and the weight of silence... “howling silence" indeed. That may be the reason why even though her saxophone shimmers throughout the album, it a shimmering that comes with gravitas, as you can hear here in the compelling unfolding of “Walking Shadows." For this recording, the saxophonist leads her Paris-based band--Enzo Carniel on piano, Etienne Renard on bass, and Jesus ...
Continue ReadingJimmy Herring: Hope
by Mike Jacobs
Some bands' repertoire is so iconic that it rarely gets covered in any meaningful, updated way. Though it falls squarely into this category, Jimmy Herring's expanded 2013 revamp of the Mahavishnu Orchestra's stalwart piece, “Hope" was said to have moved composer John McLaughlin himself and planted the seeds for their subsequent collaborative “Meeting of the Spirits" tour in 2017. ...
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