Jazz Journal - Jazz Journal

Latest articles

Ray Charles: The Best Of

Derek Ansell -

Long-playing vinyl collection covers late the 50s and early 60s and illustrates Charles's range, from pop to blues, jazz, R&B and gospel

Matthew Bourne: Harpsichords

Barry Witherden -

Yorkshire experimentalist Bourne and colleagues improvise on distressed harpsichords, both unadorned and with electronic processing

Bria Skonberg: What It Means

Brian Payne -

Canadian trumpeter Skonberg plays standards and pops in New Orleans style with Herlin Riley, Don Vappie, Ben Jaffe and others

Tony Oxley Quintet: Angular Apron

Nic Jones -

Dexter Gordon: Blows Hot And Cool

Matthew Wright -

Benny Golson: Golden Standards Volume II

Nigel Jarrett -

Columbia ‘bootlegs’ early 60s Miles

Mark Gilbert -

Phil Merriman Trio: The Roots Beneath

Fred Grand -

Tomeka Reid Quartet: 3 + 3

Simon Adams -

Gianfranco Menzella: Dedicated To Bob Berg

Derek Ansell -

Kurt Rosenwinkel: The Next Step Band Live At Smalls 1996

Roger Farbey -

Pat Metheny – Stories Beyond Words

Nigel Jarrett -

Audio reviews

Ray Charles: The Best Of

Long-playing vinyl collection covers late the 50s and early 60s and illustrates Charles's range, from pop to blues, jazz, R&B and gospel

Matthew Bourne: Harpsichords

Bria Skonberg: What It Means

Tony Oxley Quintet: Angular Apron

Dexter Gordon: Blows Hot And Cool

Benny Golson: Golden Standards Volume II

Phil Merriman Trio: The Roots Beneath

Tomeka Reid Quartet: 3 + 3

Gianfranco Menzella: Dedicated To Bob Berg

Kurt Rosenwinkel: The Next Step Band Live At Smalls 1996

Paul Kendall: My Shining Hour

Giovanni Guidi: A New Day

Duke Ellington: Copenhagen 1958 / Bonus After Hours 1950

Natasha Blackwood: Love Songs For Good Machines

Adrian Rollini: His 26 Finest 1927-1938

Anita O’Day & Cal Tjader: Time For 2

Sam Newbould: Homing

El Comite: Carrousel

Duke Ellington & John Coltrane

Espial: The Act Of Noticing

Book reviews

Pat Metheny – Stories Beyond Words

Bob Gluck is an academic but also a musician whose performance of Metheny charts helped inform this survey of the guitarist's work

The Notebooks Of Sonny Rollins

“God Is In The House”- Art Tatum

In With The In Crowd: Popular Jazz In 1960s Black America

Spirit Of The Century

Talking The Groove – Jazz Words From The Morning Star

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

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

Ambrose Akinmusire Quartet at Cologne Jazz Week

The American trumpeter cooled down a hot Cologne, following the less is more principle, while his drummer rattled the hardware energetically

Barnes, Spillett, Brown and Tracey at the Garibaldi in Northampton

Amersfoort World Jazz Festival

Flow Festival 2024, Helsinki

Ystad Sweden Jazz Festival, 2024

Jazz in De-Lovely Dorking

The Headhunters at Ronnie Scott’s

Inntöne Jazz Festival 2024

Jon Lloyd European Quartet in Wales

Lee Ritenour and Dave Grusin at Ronnie Scott’s

Jazz in the Park competition, Romania

North Sea Round Town

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

News in brief

Columbia ‘bootlegs’ early 60s Miles

Mark Gilbert -

Recordings from Antibes (1963) and Paris (1964) feature George Coleman, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams

Ronnie Scott’s JO to swing bank-holiday Battersea

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

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

Olli Ahvenlahti: Euro Visions

The holy trinity of melody, harmony and rhythm has underpinned the Finnish veteran's work, whether in jazz or a certain song contest

Frank Griffith writes of swing

John Mayall and the Wimpy Bar Blues

Ricardo Pinheiro: making jazz happen

Blossom Dearie: slight of sound, full of expression

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

From the JJ archive

JJ 08/94: Bob Mintzer – Departure

Thirty years ago Steve Voce was pleased to find further confirmation that Bob Mintzer was the least tiresome of the Coltrane-derived players

JJ 08/94: Improvisation – Its Nature And Practice In Music

JJ 08/94: Ronnie Cuber, interviewed

JJ 08/84: The Victor Feldman Trio – To Chopin With Love

JJ 08/84: Benny Golson Quintet – One More Mem’ry

JJ 08/74: Dollar Brand – African Sketchbook

JJ 08/74: Rahsaan Roland Kirk – Bright Moments

JJ 08/74: Jan Garbarek – Witchi-Tai-To & Red Lanta

JJ 08/64: Cleo Laine – Shakespeare And All That Jazz

JJ 08/64: Various – Jazz Britannia Vol. 2

JJ 08/64: Cyril Davies And His Rhythm And Blues All Stars – The Sound Of Cyril Davies

JJ 08/64: In My Opinion – Johnny Hodges

JJ 07/94: Andy Sheppard – Rhythm Method & Delivery Suite

JJ 07/94: Jessica Williams Trio – In The Pocket

JJ 07/84: Jaco Pastorius – Invitation