Jazz Album Reviews

‘It’s just really good fun, you know? Everything on it feels great and the tunes are fantastic.’ – Julien Wilson, speaking about his experience playing on Jamie Pregnell’s record ‘Sleepy Town’. This album, made up of cozy, sophistically arranged and executed originals, comes from the country’s southernmost state – Tasmania. Jamie [Guitar] has created a … Read more

Fresh Sound Records FSR 5123 The first time I saw Linus Eppinger on YouTube I thought “Chet Atkins, Jim Hall.” Linus doesn’t play like Chet but Linus’s guitar, a hollow body archtop, looked like something Chet played and there’s nothing “country” about Linus’s playing but he’s got this relaxed laidback feel that both Chet and … Read more

For six years we have been waiting for new recordings from Elma. After two well-received and widely acclaimed albums – “Hic et nunc” and “Ad rem” – the singer returns with a new project and a few unforeseen surprises. ELMA is this time the “trademark” of the entire quartet, formally linking the release with the … Read more

This article was originally published in Japanese in Jazz Japan vol.141 Michael Weiss, a pianist who has been active in New York since the 1980s, released a solo album for the first time in 19 years. Although this was proposed to him multiple times, Michael, who has a high reputation as a supporting player for … Read more

This article was originally published in Japanese in Jazz Japan vol.141 “Jazz Meets Classic” by a new generation of Danish guitarists focusing on music familiar that inspired them throughout their childhood…  Jacob Artved initially demonstrated his admiration for modern jazz in his quartet’s live album featuring American drummer Louis Hayes at Copenhagen Jazz Festival 2019. … Read more

It’s a crux with jazz – as a rule, old acquaintances play and everyone applauds, whereas nobody sees those who are not yet introduced: nevertheless, they appear every now and then – and then some do what Gunter Hampel succeeded in doing: they burn into your memory. Although ambitious for the time – by German … Read more

Wolf Kampmann: “Silke Eberhard’s strength and uniqueness is not that she conveys, but that she confronts, that she does not draw soft tones but leaves sharp contours on the auditory membrane with a sure hand.” Born 1972 in Heidenheim – studied at the  Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin, played with Aki Takase (also featuring … Read more

This article was originally published in Japanese in Jazz Japan vol.141 “Live From The Room At The Top” is Pepper Adams’ live album filling the blank period in 1972, an album that has remained unpublished and archived at the University of Alberta, Canada. Adams, who was a founding member of the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra … Read more

Bram de Looze’s Vice Versa, with New York masterful drummer Eric McPherson (Jackie Mclean, Andrew Hill, Pharaoh Sanders, Fred Hersch) and Berlin bassist Felix Henkelhausen (Jim Black, Nate Wooley, Lotte Anker). “Both (McPherson and Henkelhausen) are compositional masterminds with unlimited rhythmic inventiveness.” – from the announcement of the broadcasting hall in Bremen.  Top class jazz … Read more

Jacopo Ferrazza was born in Frascati, a city near Rome. He is an acoustic and electric pianist and bassist. He graduated in classical bass and classical piano at the Conservatorio di Musica Licinio Refice, Frosinone (Licinio Refice Conservatory of Music). He studied bass with John Patitucci, Ares Tavolazzi, Marco Panascia, Aldo Perris, Luca Cola and … Read more