Jazz Journal - Jazz Journal

Latest articles

Dexter Gordon: Go! + A Swingin’ Affair

Matthew Wright -

The saxophonist's deceptively languorous style is well evinced in a pairing of two of his Blue Note albums from 1962

Olli Ahvenlahti: Mirror Mirror

Fred Grand -

The one-time Eurovision conductor in fact produced high-quality fusion in the 1970s and has recently returned to the style in good form

Horace Parlan: Four Classic Albums

Simon Adams -

Double CD collection shows that although classified as a hard-bop pianist, Parlan typically played with economy and subtlety

Bill Laurance & The Untold Orchestra: Bloom

Roger Farbey -

The leader's extempore piano and some bluesy solo violin work bring a touch of jazz to a set of pieces for string orchestra

Federico Chiarofonte: Underbrush

Michael Tucker -

Sensitive and swinging Roman date dispels any lingering suspicion that drummers can't lead and write effectively for piano trio

Ella Fitzgerald: Sings The Cole Porter Songbook

Leon Nock -

Double-CD reissue of the first of the singer's celebrated song-book albums adds a bonus track, rare photos and updated liner notes

Audio reviews

Dexter Gordon: Go! + A Swingin’ Affair

The saxophonist's deceptively languorous style is well evinced in a pairing of two of his Blue Note albums from 1962

Olli Ahvenlahti: Mirror Mirror

Horace Parlan: Four Classic Albums

Bill Laurance & The Untold Orchestra: Bloom

Federico Chiarofonte: Underbrush

Ella Fitzgerald: Sings The Cole Porter Songbook

Harry Edison and His Orchestra: Sweets

Sol Sol: Almost All Things Considered

Brad Mehldau: Après Fauré

Django Reinhardt: The Best Of – 24 Classic Jazz Performances

Stan Getz Quintet: Interpretations #2

Humair, Blaser, Känzig: Our Way

Louise Van Den Heuvel: Sonic Hug

Rhodri Davies: Telyn Wrachïod & Creiriau Y Delyn Rawn / Relics Of The Horsehair Harp

Judith Owen: Comes Alive

Gianmarco Ferri: On The Scene

Hill Collective: Tonal Prophecy

The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis

Phil Bancroft: Birth And Death

Nils Økland: Gjenskinn

Book reviews

Talking The Groove – Jazz Words From The Morning Star

The Morning Star’s jazz scribe finds the positive in the music, noting that Marx would have passed the Pizza Express as he hatched Das Kapital

A Trumpet Around The Corner – The Story of New Orleans Jazz

The Jazzmen

At The Vanguard Of Vinyl

The Blues Brothers

Knowing Jazz / Learning Jazz

Chasing The Masters – First Takes Of A Modern Drumming Artist

Jelly Roll Blues: Censored Songs & Hidden Histories

The Many Worlds Of David Amram

Cedar – The Life And Music Of Cedar Walton

Bitter Crop: The Heartache And Triumph Of Billie Holiday’s Last Year

Free Play: Improvisation In Life & Art

3 Shades Of Blue: Miles, Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans And The Lost Empire Of Cool

Early Jazz – A Concise Introduction, From Its Beginnings Through 1929

Omar Sosa’s 88 Well-Tuned Drums

Jazz With A Beat – Small Group Swing, 1940–1960

Dreams In Double Time

Magic City: How The Birmingham Jazz Tradition Shaped The Sound Of America

Jennie Cashman Wilson: Becoming Brave

Gerry Mulligan: Writings On A Jazz Original

Film reviews

The Humbler – Danny Gatton

Comprehensive chronicle adds new footage of 'the greatest guitarist you never heard', one perhaps isolated by his eclecticism and virtuosity

Sloane: A Jazz Singer

City Of A Million Dreams

Oscar Peterson: Black + White

Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues

Dale Bruning: A Tribute To Jim Hall

In Cold Blood

A Man Called Adam

Jazz On A Summer’s Day

Buster Williams: Bass To Infinity

Billy Bang: Lucky Man

Wilderness

Up From The Streets – New Orleans: The City Of Music

Miles Davis: Birth Of The Cool – the DVD

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Small-screen swing

Ronnie’s: Ronnie Scott and His World-Famous Jazz Club

Billie

Ronnie’s – the life of Ronnie Scott and his world famous jazz club

Count Basie – Through His Own Eyes

Live Reviews

North Sea Round Town

Ahead of the mainstream of the North Sea Jazz Festival, NSRT and inJazz presented slightly more leftfield music plus some bebop

John Surman Quartet at Ronnie Scott’s

Enter Enea Festival 2024, Poland

Bill Evans and the VansBand Allstars at Ronnie Scott’s – and in Poland

NoSax NoClar, Watermill Jazz Club

Clark Tracey Quintet at Chichester Jazz Club

Boreal Sun, Ronnie Scott’s, London

The Jazz Defenders at Black Mountain Jazz, Abergavenny

Marco Marzola Trio at Spike’s Place, Beckenham

Mike Stern Band at Ronnie Scott’s, London

A Couple Of Swells: Liza Pulman & Joe Stilgoe at Cadogan Hall, London

Shirley Smart Trio at the Watermill, Dorking

Jazzkaar Festival, Tallinn

Larry Goldings, Peter Bernstein & Bill Stewart at Pizza Express, London

jazzahead! 2024

News in brief

Ronnie Scott’s JO to swing bank-holiday Battersea

Jazz Journal -

Battersea Park in Concert returns for a second year with jazz from Ronnie Scott's Jazz Orchestra, Claire Martin, Ray Gelato and more

David Sanborn dies

Michael Cuscuna dies

Keith Emerson reimagined for strings and more

Gypsy Jazz Festival of London, 6-13 May

German jazz trade-fair strikes a political note

The great wine world of Quincy Jones

Cadillac’s Joy reissue gets Presto award

Stan Sulzmann’s 75th birthday gig at Watermill Jazz

Steve Voce, 1933-2023

Val Wilmer looks back on jazz

Lottery awards £247,494 to research black music shops

The Dick Patterson Trio – a real-life jazz mystery

Columns

Obituary: Palle Danielsson

The Swedish bassist played with a host of leading local and international musicians, ranging in style from standards to ECM-type modalism

Obituary: Bill Holman

Count Me In… 05/24

Obituary: Michael Cuscuna

Obituary: Albert ‘Tootie’ Heath

Obituary: Georg Riedel

Obituary: Brian Godding

Obituary: Bruce Crowther

Count Me In… 10/23

Obituary: Julian Bahula

Obituary: John Marshall

Obituary: Tony Bennett

Count me in… 05/23

Obituary: Ahmad Jamal

Obituary: Jerry Dodgion

Obituary: Wally Fawkes

Obituary: Alan Bates

Features

Blossom Dearie: slight of sound, full of expression

She of the childlike voice, named after the pear blossoms brought to her on the day of her birth, would have been 100 years old today

Henry Mancini, a jazz pioneer in Hollywood

Zev Feldman: digging out the lost gems

Lizz Wright: looking back

Bob Florence Limited Edition: a big-band blast

100 years ago: Sarah Vaughan

Jim Beard: delight in the detail

The rapturous reed: saxophone in the cinema

My friend, Steve Voce

Terry Gibbs: bebop is my business /2

Dave Quincy, English jazz-rock pioneer

Terry Gibbs: bebop is my business /1

Emma Rawicz: in the middle of somewhere

Bill Crow: journeyman bassist and master storyteller /2

Alex Hitchcock: making connections

Bill Crow: journeyman bassist and master storyteller

Meilana Gillard – a story to tell

From the JJ archive

JJ 06/94: Hard Bop: Jazz And Black Music 1955-1965

Thirty years ago Mike Shera gave us a handy definition of hard bop as he welcomed a provocative and fairly comprehensive book on the subject