Thirty years ago Michael Tucker delighted over and again in the loping jazz-rock, brooding intensity, ghostly ambience and quintessential Nordic cry evinced by guitarist Rypdal's trio

Thirty years ago Ron Salmon had mixed feelings about Motian's electric adventure but found the good in soloing from Chrises Potter and Cheek and strong swing from Steve Swallow and the leader

Forty years ago Simon Adams applauded ECM's effective if pretentious compilation wheeze but regretted they hadn't chosen better tracks for the Towner and Gismonti sets

Forty years ago Mark Gilbert welcomed a newly invigorated approach from the vibist that derived in no small part from the presence of pianist Makoto Ozone

Fifty years ago Reg Cooper said people wondered who Benny Waters was, despite his time with big American names. Perhaps his 20 years in France had made him less visible but his talent was revealed when he came over to play Warsash in Hampshire

Fifty years ago Barry McRae argued that where such as George Chisholm, Victor Feldman, Joe Harriott and John Surman would sound outstanding in any company, guitarist Derek Bailey was something else - a totally original British jazzman

Sixty years ago, before his UK work permit expired, Mark Murphy remarked on such as Jimmy Rushing, Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Turner, on the idiocy of likening Cleo Laine to Billie Holiday and on the negativity creeping in among young jazz players

Sixty years ago David Rosenthal noted how well Bill Evans, a white musician likely familiar at first with only the crude and very simple rhythms of Western music, had assimilated the subtleties typical of African and Indian expression

Sixty years ago Graham Boatfield was unexcited by what he saw primarily as a Coltrane-primed session featuring Trane rhythm men McCoy Tyner and Elvin Jones

Sixty years ago, Sinclair Traill thought Young a tasteful organist and creative composer who, with Sam Rivers, Grant Green and Elvin Jones, had produced an album that, while it held no surprise, didn't annoy or irritate

Sixty years ago Gerald Lascelles complimented Previn's technique and performance but in jazz terms found his work shallow and predictable

The 2025 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, now in its 55th year, has evolved over the last 20 years from its original format...