New releases December 2025 – January 2026, E-H

Records offered for review to Jazz Journal in November-December 2025, including Ellas Kapell, Art Farmer, Jim Hall, Herbie Hancock and Fred Hersch // Editor's pick: Herbie Hancock

Gilad Atzmon’s Organology at Teignmouth

Teignmouth Jazz and Blues Club usually presents gigs at a modest sized venue, the bar at the local yacht club, but for the visit...

Reviewed: Ian Shaw | Lena Bloch | Charles Mingus

Ian Shaw: Stephensong Vocalist Ian Shaw has been regarded as one of the foremost jazz singers in this country for some time but this perhaps...

Liverpool jazz festival begins 26 February

Liverpool International Jazz Festival, founded in 2013 by Liverpool Hope University, and run by the university's Creative Campus, returns 26 February - 1 March...

New releases December 2025 – January 2026, C-D

Records offered for review to Jazz Journal in November-December 2025, including Luc Casares, Alexis Cole, Paul Colombo, Gabriele Comeglio and Mitch Dalton // Editor's pick: Massimiliano Cignitti

News in brief...

Couleurs Jazz, an ad-free radio service based in Paris that in contrast to notable UK providers plays jazz all the time, is asking for donations. It’s an appeal that will likely to resonate with jazz fans who tune in. All contributions are welcome, but 50€ gets your name on the contributors’ wall.

The Swanage Jazz Festival, the oldest (1991) and largest “pure jazz” festival on the south coast of England, has reached its £25k appeal target and thus will go ahead 10-12 July 2026. Director Paul Kelly said “We have been amazed and uplifted by the generosity of our supporters.”

Whole lotta reshaping going on at London’s Southbank Centre 13-15 March 2026, when the Montreux Jazz Festival Residency returns, asking ‘What is Jazz Today?’, drawing  inspiration from Miles Davies [sic] and entailing performances from such as Theo Croker, Children of Zeus and corto.alto.

‘The creative chaos’ behind Kind Of Blue is the preoccupation of Miles, ‘a fusion of live jazz and theatre’ featuring Jay Phelps and Benjamin Akintuyos that transfers to Southwark Playhouse in London from 4 February – 7 March 2026 after a run at the 2025 Edinburgh Fringe.

ACE-supported Latin music festival La Linea returns to London 20 April – 6 May 2026, with a massive bias towards women performers. Among the 90% female lineup will be Eliane Correa presenting Las Salseras – A Tribute to Celia Cruz.

New releases December 2025 – January 2026, A-B

Records offered for review to Jazz Journal in November-December 2025, including Aleph Aguiar, Susanne Alt, Judith Berkson, Steve Berndt and Pat Bianchi // Editor's pick: Aleph Aguiar

Reviewed: John Scofield and Dave Holland | Wink Winkelmann | Bobby Watson | George Robert Jazz Orchestra/Ivan Lins

John Scofield and Dave Holland: Memories Of Home Dave Holland's composition Mr. B, dedicated to Ray Brown, is a salute from one kind of jazz...

Reviewed: Rich Brown | Vincent Courtois | Rahsaan Roland Kirk

Rich Brown: Nyaeba Gone surely are the days when the "success" of a solo instrumental album was measured by how the musician managed to cover...

Reviewed: Nugara | Yosef Gutman

Nugara: The Last Question This is the second album from the Italian piano trio Nugara, intended to be a concept project covering all aspects of...

Obituary: Marilyn Mazur

For over five decades the Danish drummer and percussionist, composer, sound-poet, painter and bandleader Marilyn Mazur – who died on 12 December 2025 after...
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

Reviewed: Ophelia Gordon | Sara Serpa and Matt Mitchell | Kate Wyatt

Ophelia Gordon: Kapustin, Between The Lines This debut from British pianist Ophelia Gordon is a solo...
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

JJ 12/65: In My Opinion – Wild Bill Davison

Sixty years ago the famed cornet player struggled to appreciate Tony Williams and remembered when Bix Beiderbecke's pivot tooth fell out and obliged him to switch to piano

JJ 12/85: Wayne Shorter at Logan Hall, London

Forty years ago Mark Gilbert saw, in a band playing fusion and a hipster audience expecting bebop, the tension between modernism and the dawn of London jazz retro

12/75: John Abercrombie – Gateway

Fifty years ago Roger Dean liked the rhythmic drive of Gateway but wasn't impressed by Abercombie's arbitrary climaxes and the stolid downbeats on irregular time sigs

JJ 12/85: Stanley Jordan at Shaw Theatre, London

Forty years ago Mark Gilbert saw the two-handed guitar-tapping phenomenon threaten to put rhythm sections out of work

Gilad Atzmon’s Organology at Teignmouth

Teignmouth Jazz and Blues Club usually presents gigs at a modest sized venue, the bar at the local yacht club, but for the visit by Gilad Ozman’s Organology they upsized in a collaboration with the Pavilions Art Centre. It was a bit of a gamble, and ticket sales were very slow to begin with, but by the time of the concert there was a...

Reviewed: Ian Shaw | Lena Bloch | Charles Mingus

Ian Shaw: Stephensong Vocalist Ian Shaw has been regarded as one of the foremost jazz singers in this country for some time but this perhaps overlooks his work as a fine purveyor of show tunes, his stage performances and his role as an activist, all which underlines his versatility. Here he addresses his admiration for the songs of Stephen Sondheim, from whose huge repertoire he has...
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

New releases December 2025 – January 2026, E-H

Records offered for review to Jazz Journal in November-December 2025, including Ellas Kapell, Art Farmer, Jim Hall, Herbie Hancock and Fred Hersch // Editor's pick: Herbie Hancock

New releases December 2025 – January 2026, C-D

Records offered for review to Jazz Journal in November-December 2025, including Luc Casares, Alexis Cole, Paul Colombo, Gabriele Comeglio and Mitch Dalton // Editor's pick: Massimiliano Cignitti

New releases December 2025 – January 2026, A-B

Records offered for review to Jazz Journal in November-December 2025, including Aleph Aguiar, Susanne Alt, Judith Berkson, Steve Berndt and Pat Bianchi // Editor's pick: Aleph Aguiar

Liverpool jazz festival begins 26 February

Liverpool International Jazz Festival, founded in 2013 by Liverpool Hope University, and run by the university's Creative Campus, returns 26 February - 1 March with a programme mixing straightahead jazz, intense jazz fusion and world-flavoured variations. The headliners include...

Guy Barker swings the RAH

Trumpeter Guy Barker, well-known as in the vanguard of the first so-called British jazz revival of the 1980s, when he played bebop and cutting-edge jazz-funk with Chris Hunter and others, has for some years now embraced the mainstream of...
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

Unapologetic Expression: The Inside Story Of The UK Jazz Explosion

For a geezer of my vintage the great and most fruitful UK jazz explosion occurred in the late 60s-early 70s, fuelled by South African expats and musicians from the West Country and then, somewhat in contrast, there was the...

German Jazz Prize performances reflect the fraught political scene

Musicians from across Germany and around the globe flocked to Cologne for the German Jazz Prize on 13 June - and that’s no surprise. All 76 nominees got €4,000, while winners in 22 categories departed E-Werk’s brick-and-steel interior with...

Satoko Fujii and Natsuki Tamura: making music never heard before

Stan Getz, Miles Davis, Red Rodney, Corky Corcoran, to pick a few names at random, all began playing professionally in their teens. I remember seeing Betty Carter live back...

Gianluca Pellerito, drum wunderkind

I first encountered drummer Gianluca Pellerito through social media and quickly became one of his 330k followers on Instagram, but it was seeing this...

The dance is ended (but the memory lingers on)

Seeing the Count Basie Orchestra live was one of the great thrills early in my lifelong obsession with jazz. I did not realise it...

Obituary: Marilyn Mazur

For over five decades the Danish drummer and percussionist, composer, sound-poet, painter and bandleader Marilyn Mazur – who died on 12 December 2025 after a period of illness – was one of the strongest creative spirits in jazz and...

Obituary: Glyn Callingham

It’s with great sadness that I learned of the recent death of my close friend and ex-colleague, Glyn Callingham. Glyn came to work at Ray’s Jazz Shop where I was manager and took over that role when I left....
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

JJ 12/95: McCoy Tyner Trio featuring Michael Brecker – Infinity

Thirty years ago Mark Gilbert heard Tyner and Brecker come through strongly in a session loaded with historical resonance and expectation

JJ 12/95: Steps Ahead – Vibe / Live In Tokyo 1986

Thirty years ago Mark Gilbert compared Steps Ahead stadium rockers and Steps Ahead reinvented fusioneers unplugged

JJ 12/95: Pat Metheny – We Live Here

Thirty years ago Mark Gilbert acknowledged the superficial blandness of the guitarist's hip-hop-driven set while noting some excellent solos