62 articles
Wif Stenger
Wif Stenger started out in university radio, then writing a weekly column for New York Press focusing on the downtown improvised music scene. Later he contributed to Rolling Stone, Spin, Billboard, Baltimore City Paper and Miami New Times as well as various music and travel books. After studying music history at the New School and journalism at Harvard, he moved to Helsinki. He works for the Finnish Broadcasting Company alongside freelance gigs for Songlines, Monocle, The Guardian, Deutsche Welle and Finnish Music Quarterly. He has been contributing to JJ since 2013, including profiles of Kamasi Washington, Vijay Iyer and Peter Erskine.
Somi: Zenzile – The Reimagination Of Miriam Makeba
Tribute album convincingly makes the case that Miriam Makeba deserves a place in the jazz canon – and that Somi may too, one day
Str4Ta: Str4tasfear
Funk-pop album harks back to 90s acid-jazzers such as Incognito and the Brand New Heavies, the jazz mostly in scant trumpet features
Dhafer Youssef: Street Of Minarets
Tunisian oud virtuoso’s tenth album, mostly recorded before his last two, includes Marcus Miller, Herbie Hancock and Ambrose Akinmusire
João Gilberto: With Os Cariocas In Buenos Aires
Newly rediscovered set features the bossa pioneer and an agile vocal group in a cosy club setting, just before his breakthrough with Stan Getz
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Sicilia Jazz winter edition spotlights Italian jazz
Italian-Moroccan singer Malika Ayane brought the glitz as Palermo's third jazz festival focused on local artists and powerhouse big bands
We Jazz Festival, Helsinki
Electronics, world music and free improvisation were in the ascendancy at Helsinki’s main jazz festival, although David Friedman played Misty
Lucia Fodde: Traces Of You
Sardinia-born singer working in Germany brings hope and energy to putatively sorrowful standards and originals dwelling on lost love
Chet Baker: Chet Baker Sings
Yet another incarnation of the 1954 album whose drowsy, cautious vocals brought actual trumpeter Baker mainstream popularity
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Report: Flow Festival, Helsinki 2022
Brandee Younger, Alfa Mist and Orchestra Baobab delighted crowds in a 360-degree setting, alongside four distinctive Finnish saxophonists
Nicholas Payton: Smoke Sessions [Remixed]
Smoke is a friendly club on Manhattan’s upper Upper West Side, where Nicholas Payton recorded his 2019 live album. The follow-up Smoke Sessions was...
Simone Gubbiotti: #Underdogs
Deft and nimble, Simone Gubbiotti’s guitar work is as precise as needlework. On his all-original fourth album as a leader, he also shows his...
Tapani Rinne & Juha Mäki-Patola: Open
Nearly worn out your copy of Floating Points and Pharoah Sanders' Promises from last year? Hankering for more in the same vein? Here’s a...
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