A round up of our latest album reviews from around the world of jazz.
Tracye Eileen began her professional career with the release of “Love’s Journey” (2012). She recorded the album shortly after studying at the Bloom School of Jazz in Chicago, where the school’s owner was so impressed with her talent that he briefly served as her manager, helping her hone her no-nonsense sound for her debut album. … Read more
Ben Monder (New York) has been passionate about the guitar since his childhood. It should not be left unheeded that his mother studied classical guitar while she was pregnant with Monder. Without a doubt, she transmitted those sounds and sensations to her during the pregnancy. After two years playing the violin, more out of duty … Read more
Born in Braga and with a career linked to jazz and dance, Inês Malheiro has been exploring the spatial dimension of voice and sound in the creation of composed or improvised narratives. Throughout his artistic career he has collaborated with various musicians and artists, such as Capicua or Pedro Melo Alves, as well as exploring … Read more
As fans of hit Netflix show Emily in Paris will know, jazz (or a seriously loose interpretation of it…) played a supporting role in the latest season, released late 2022. But where is Mindy (played by actress Ashley Park) actually singing and does La Trompette Bleue actually exist? In short, no… Dive into a list … Read more
In 1924 the famous bandleader Paul Whiteman commissioned George Gershwin to put together a piece for solo piano and jazz band. Gershwin almost didn’t do it because he didn’t think he was given enough time to write it. Luckily for us he did write it. Rhapsody in Blue is one of the most easily recognizable … Read more
Jamile is a Brazilian jazz singer based in New York, whose potential seems to be a time bomb, as her album “If You Could See Me Now” proves… The highlights of this album point towards a future jazz singing great. To begin with, If You Could See Me Now is cool because it includes jazz standards and … Read more
Thana Alexa takes us on a poetic journey through minimalism, soul, R&B, World Music, pop, progressive rock, and jazz. “ONA” means “she” in Croatian (actually, it also does in Czech, Japanese and possibly in other languages as well). This is a mirror of the Croatian-American origins of the composer and singer Thana Alexa, who co-produced … Read more
To begin with, I must say that I was very afraid to review an album that had the term “indie jazz” in its bio, since there is already a lot of confusion with the term ‘indie’ and it is very difficult to communicate what one could be referring to. Historically, the word indie means “independent” … Read more
Take your entrenched, long held understanding of big band music — give it a loving look — and then throw it out the window. Max Grynchuk Big Band’s ‘Plays Eraser Description Vol II’ is a forward thinking, future sounding take on brass and woodwinds over a rhythm section. Building on a legacy already well established … Read more
Connected by more than 10 years of musical history and companionship, renowned German pianist Christian Pabst and prolific Czech saxophonist Lubos Soukup finally realise their longstanding goal of exploring the intimate and challenging duo format with Levitas (Sept 2nd, Animal Music). Someone said the basic ingredients for a great jazz duo are little more than … Read more