Reviewed: Cecil McBee | Craig Taborn | Julia Hülsmann Octet | Pasquale Mega PollCroma Ensemble

Cecil McBee: Mutima Bassist Cecil McBee racked up numerous dates as an in-demand sideman to everyone from Chico Freeman and Andrew Hill to Pharoah Sanders and Elvin Jones, but only recorded eight albums as leader, of which Mutima – “heart” in Swahili, or possibly “unseen forces” – was his debut, initially released in 1974. As a bassist, he had a wonderful technique, a great sense of swing, and rich harmonic ideas, but this set makes a good case that he...

Reviewed: Ingrid Jensen | Mateusz Smoczynski | Håkan Broström

Ingrid Jensen: Landings Ingrid Jensen is a Canadian trumpet player much admired in North America as a prime mover of the all-female jazz supergroup, Artemis,...

Reviewed: Bill Nelson’s Orchestra Futura | Julian Lage | Dave Stryker

Bill Nelson’s Orchestra Futura: Live At Nelsonica & Clothworkers Hall Guitarist, singer and composer Bill Nelson’s career began with Be Bop Deluxe, the rock group...

Reviewed: Joel Ross | Gary Peacock & Ralph Towner | Aneta George

Joel Ross: Gospel Music The latest album from vibraharpist Joel Ross is described in the publicity as a “sonic interpretation of the biblical story and...

Reviewed: Woody Shaw | The Descendants Of Mike And Phoebe | QOW Trio

Woody Shaw: Love Dance For me Woody Shaw will always embody the culmination of a trumpet lineage that starts with Dizzy Gillespie and Fats Navarro...

News in brief...

Christie’s Rare Watches auction in Geneva 11 May includes some Quincy Jones items: a Patek Philippe Nautilus (estimate US$130,000-250,000), a 22 karat gold and diamond-set pendant and chain necklace ($13,000-19,000) and a Girard-Perregaux World Time Control Shadow Model ($6,400-13,000).

Attila Kleb of JazzFest Budapest says he’s been fighting for a real jazz festival, undiluted with “performances by pop and rock stars”. This year, 27 June – 2 July, the city invites such as Pat Metheny, Marcus Miller, Charles Lloyd, Mike Stern and Ravi Coltrane.

Among the soul and pop that dominates the 2026 Love Supreme Jazz Festival in Sussex, 3-5 July (e.g., Temptations, Four Tops and Sister Sledge) is some jazz-related music from such as Bill Frisell, Joe Lovano, Joe Webb and Emma Rawicz.

The fourth MoonJune festival, devised by the indefatigable Leonardo Pavkovic and describing itself as a festival of “eclectic music”, takes place in Teramo, Italy, 22-25 July 2026 and includes Soft Machine w. Gary Husband, Gong w. Steve Hillage and Diego Amador’s Flamenco Free Jazz.

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.

JJ 03/96: Wayne Shorter, interviewed by Mark Gilbert

Thirty years ago, Mark Gilbert plumbed the familial and musical origins of one of the leading individualists of the modern period

JJ 03/96: Paula Gardiner – Tales Of Inclination

Thirty years ago, Mark Gilbert welcomed a debut that wrought familiar material - including reminders of ECM, Metheny, Debussy and Grieg - into something fresh and individual

JJ 03/96: Jack Bruce – Monkjack

Thirty years ago, Simon Adams listened to a 'a set of atmospheric, occasionally portentous songs that promise much and sometimes deliver it'

Sam Braysher with Annie Majin at Crazy Coqs

Biologically a child of the 1980s, Sam Braysher was short-changed in the cradle by a Fairy Godmother who bestowed some fine chops on him,...

JJ 03/86: Tito Puente And His Latin Ensemble – Mambo Diablo

Hace 40 años, Simon Adams estaba de acuerdo en que el diablo tiene todas las mejores melodías y felicitó a Puente por haber convertido Take Five en una canción agradable
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JJ 03/86: Chick Corea – Septet

Forty years ago, Richard Palmer enjoyed Corea's lyrical sub-classical writing while finding it derivative and well removed from jazz
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JJ 03/86: Herbie Hancock – Speak Like A Child

Forty years ago, Mark Gilbert thought Hancock's latest - conjuring an atmosphere of peace and liberation, if not naiveté - measured up well to its title

JJ 03/76: Amalgam – Innovation

Fifty years ago, Barry McRae enjoyed John Stevens playing around the beat and Trevor Watts ranging from blistering scalar flurries to gentle thematic variations

JJ 03/76: Dick Wellstood at the Seven Dials

Fifty years ago Miles Kington hailed a proponent of a piano style that 'probably led to the finest flowering of solo improvising since Beethoven'

JJ 03/86: Tito Puente And His Latin Ensemble – Mambo Diablo

Hace 40 años, Simon Adams estaba de acuerdo en que el diablo tiene todas las mejores melodías y felicitó a Puente por haber convertido Take Five en una canción agradable

Reviewed: Cecil McBee | Craig Taborn | Julia Hülsmann Octet | Pasquale Mega PollCroma Ensemble

Cecil McBee: Mutima Bassist Cecil McBee racked up numerous dates as an in-demand sideman to everyone from Chico Freeman and Andrew Hill to Pharoah Sanders and Elvin Jones, but only recorded eight albums as leader, of which Mutima – “heart” in Swahili, or possibly “unseen forces” – was his debut, initially released in 1974. As a bassist, he had a wonderful technique, a great sense...

Reviewed: Ingrid Jensen | Mateusz Smoczynski | Håkan Broström

Ingrid Jensen: Landings Ingrid Jensen is a Canadian trumpet player much admired in North America as a prime mover of the all-female jazz supergroup, Artemis, and for her playing with her own small groups. Sadly, only the cognoscenti are aware of her in the UK but perhaps her excellent new album, Landings, will provoke more recognition on this side of the pond. The opening number, a...
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New releases February-March 2026, W-Z

Records offered for review to Jazz Journal in January-February 2026, including Mal Waldron, Emmanuel Wilkins, Buster Williams, Steve Wilson and Alex Wintz // Editor's pick: Buster Williams

New releases February-March 2026, T-V

Records offered for review to Jazz Journal in January-February 2026, including Taupe, Henri Texier, Mark Turner, McCoy Tyner and Various: Cuba Cha Cha Chá // Editor's pick: Taupe

New releases February-March 2026, N-S

Records offered for review to Jazz Journal in January-February 2026, including NYYS Jazz, People In Orbit, Michel Petrucciani, Soft Machine and Louis Stewart // Editor's pick: People In Orbit

Jacky Terrasson accused of rape

The Franco-American pianist Jacky Terrasson, well known for his work on the Blue Note label, has been accused of raping a six-year-old girl, according to a report published 18 March by France Culture. The alleged offence is said to...

Laura Macdonald appointed head of jazz at Scottish conservatoire

The saxophonist Laura Macdonald, the former wife of saxophonist Tommy Smith, has been appointed Head of Jazz at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Smith, who established the Glasgow college's jazz course in 2009, had held the post until June...
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Trinity Laban settles with Martin Speake over his remarks on jazz and skin colour

Following a two-year dispute the Trinity Laban conservatoire in South London has reached a private settlement with Martin Speake, a former teacher of saxophone at the college who attacked critical race theory and the proposition that the UK jazz...

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...

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...

Count Me In… 02/26

Oh for a schism, an entertaining rupture in the ranks so that one can watch militants spit venom across a void. Jazz had a famous one at the turn of the 1950s – "la mère de tous les schismes",...

Obituary: Ralph Towner

With the death of Ralph Towner (1940 - 2026) contemporary jazz lost one of its most prolific and distinctive voices. How many musicians can you think of whose work covers the range that Towner explored in the now rippling,...
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JJ 03/96: Wayne Shorter, interviewed by Mark Gilbert

Thirty years ago, Mark Gilbert plumbed the familial and musical origins of one of the leading individualists of the modern period

JJ 03/96: Paula Gardiner – Tales Of Inclination

Thirty years ago, Mark Gilbert welcomed a debut that wrought familiar material - including reminders of ECM, Metheny, Debussy and Grieg - into something fresh and individual

JJ 03/96: Jack Bruce – Monkjack

Thirty years ago, Simon Adams listened to a 'a set of atmospheric, occasionally portentous songs that promise much and sometimes deliver it'