Concerto For Cootie – The Life And Times Of Cootie Williams

The genesis of this book provides a striking beginning to author Steven Bowie’s introduction. Way back in 2010 he dreamed he was standing by a bookstand and beside him was Cootie Williams, leafing through a book. Bowie asked him what he was reading and Cootie said "It’s a biography of me." Then Bowie asked who had written it and Cootie replied "You did!" Fifteen years later the book in the dream has become reality and that time period gives...

JJ 02/96: Tribal Tech – Reality Check

Thirty years ago Mark Gilbert welcomed TT's latest, not least for its reminders of the melodic clarity of the mid-80s Spears and for the incendiary roadhouse R&B of Nite Club

JJ 02/96: Jaco – The Extraordinary And Tragic Life Of Jaco Pastorius

Thirty years ago Mark Gilbert read a book that was a corrective to the sage view of the 80s and 90s that jazz had lost its characters long ago

JJ 02/96: Charlie Hunter Trio – Bing, Bing, Bing!

Thirty years ago Mark Gilbert heard John Scofield in Hunter's Blue Note debut but also individuality in his orchestral eight-string technique and his jazzing of Nirvana

JJ 02/96: Esbjorn Svensson Trio – Mr & Mrs Handkerchief

Thirty years ago Derek Ansell welcomed a good straightahead piano trio but wondered why they used an old fag-stained pub joanna to record their new album

News in brief...

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.

The Swanage Jazz Festival, the oldest (1990) 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.

Reviewed: Dave Adewumi | Kris Davis & The Lutoslawski Quartet | Bjorn Meyer

Dave Adewumi: The Flame Beneath The Silence Trumpeter Adewumi comes with endorsements from the likes of pianist Jason Moran, a musician whose first album had...

JJ 02/96: For Jazz: 21 Sonnets

Thirty years ago Floyd Levin enjoyed the Who guitarist's tributes to a music and musicians some million miles from Marshall stacks and smashed Strats

Reviewed: Stefano Boggiani | Carolyn Trowbridge | Johan Tobias Bergstrøm

Stefano Boggiani: Andvake The chart timings on this bustling album by the quintet of Oslo-based Italian guitarist Stefano Boggiani, with its two longest at the...

Reviewed: Steve Lodder | Sara Colman & Rebecca Nash | Tim Richards Trio

Steve Lodder: 2 Sorts Of 3 Pianist Steve Lodder has been a respected figure in jazz for some time, closely linked to Andy Sheppard in...

Reviewed: Human Being Human & Chris Cheek | Trøen-Arnesen Quartet | Pippo Lionni, Sergio Corbini & Stefano Franceschini

Human Being Human & Chris Cheek: Being I've enjoyed previous music from this accomplished post-Evans Danish trio, where an overall quality of mellow yet questing...
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JJ 02/86: Terje Rypdal – Chaser

Forty years ago Mark Gilbert observed that while the Norwegian guitarist's enjoyable rock-outs were novel for ECM, they were commonplace in a broader context
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JJ 02/86: Lennie Tristano – Continuity

Forty years ago Mark Gilbert found more of Tristano's bop alternativism in sidemen Warne Marsh and Lee Konitz than in the leader's playing

JJ 02/66: Bobby Wellins – The New Departures Quartet

Sixty years ago Mark Gardner was pleased to find somebody else - Bobby Wellins of the 'stove-pipe' sound - who sounded like they had been listening to Warne Marsh

JJ 02/96: Charlie Hunter Trio – Bing, Bing, Bing!

Thirty years ago Mark Gilbert heard John Scofield in Hunter's Blue Note debut but also individuality in his orchestral eight-string technique and his jazzing of Nirvana

JJ 02/96: Tribal Tech – Reality Check

Thirty years ago Mark Gilbert welcomed TT's latest, not least for its reminders of the melodic clarity of the mid-80s Spears and for the incendiary roadhouse R&B of Nite Club

Concerto For Cootie – The Life And Times Of Cootie Williams

The genesis of this book provides a striking beginning to author Steven Bowie’s introduction. Way back in 2010 he dreamed he was standing by a bookstand and beside him was Cootie Williams, leafing through a book. Bowie asked him what he was reading and Cootie said "It’s a biography of me." Then Bowie asked who had written it and Cootie replied "You did!" Fifteen...

Reviewed: Dave Adewumi | Kris Davis & The Lutoslawski Quartet | Bjorn Meyer

Dave Adewumi: The Flame Beneath The Silence Trumpeter Adewumi comes with endorsements from the likes of pianist Jason Moran, a musician whose first album had the late Sam Rivers in the line-up. This Adewumi album is reflective of the post-bop/free-bop milieu that those names will suggest to readers in the know, and also indicative of a strong musical future for the leader, whose work throughout...
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New releases December 2025 – January 2026, T-Y

Records offered for review to Jazz Journal in November-December 2025, including Clark Terry, Cal Tjader, Charles Tolliver, V-Disc Big Band Jazz Sessions and Miroslav Vitous // Editor's pick: V-Disc Big Band Jazz Sessions

New releases December 2025 – January 2026, S

Records offered for review to Jazz Journal in November-December 2025, including Brandon Sanders, Woody Shaw, Gene Shelby, Wes Smith and Dave Stryker // Editor's pick: Dave Stryker

New releases December 2025 – January 2026, O-R

Records offered for review to Jazz Journal in November-December 2025, including Gary Peacock, Noah Peterson, Roy Powell, QOW Trio and Joel Ross // Editor's pick: Joel Ross

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...

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...
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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...

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 02/96: Tribal Tech – Reality Check

Thirty years ago Mark Gilbert welcomed TT's latest, not least for its reminders of the melodic clarity of the mid-80s Spears and for the incendiary roadhouse R&B of Nite Club

JJ 02/96: Jaco – The Extraordinary And Tragic Life Of Jaco Pastorius

Thirty years ago Mark Gilbert read a book that was a corrective to the sage view of the 80s and 90s that jazz had lost its characters long ago

JJ 02/96: Charlie Hunter Trio – Bing, Bing, Bing!

Thirty years ago Mark Gilbert heard John Scofield in Hunter's Blue Note debut but also individuality in his orchestral eight-string technique and his jazzing of Nirvana