Punchy horns and vocal lines

I first saw drummer Kassa Overall a decade ago when he appeared in London with trumpeter Theo Croker. He was impressive then, but even more so when he brought his own band to the Love Supreme Festival in July 2025. Now he brings us CREAM , his fourth solo studio album and it’s a brilliant piece of modern jazz that fuses hip-hop and ‘proper’ jazz drums in arrangements of tunes that really shouldn’t work in a jazz setting. But they do. There’s nothing new in jazz musicians arr

“A generous musical powerhouse”

Effortlessly brilliant jazz standards and originals

Tenor sax player Mark Turner has released Reflections on: The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man - a powerful commentary on important social issues for our time. Inspired by the James Weldon Johnson book The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man , Turner has composed a suite that juxtaposes spoken extracts from the book alongside fine, complex and intricate modern jazz. The book is a semi-fictional account, set in post-Reconstruction America, of a biracial man able to ‘pass’ as

Just when you think you’ve heard all an artist has to offer, they produce something as entrancing as Jacob Collier ’s ‘The Light for Days’. With seven GRAMMY® wins and performances to crowds around the world, Collier was on top form at this summer’s Love Supreme Festival, but this new collection of originals and covers seems to herald a new direction after the intense productions of the Djesse project. With just a couple of guitars over four days, The Light for Days  comprise

Innovation and tradition crossing borders

Big thanks for Federation of the Disco Pimp for bringing funky sounds

Whatever ‘it’ is, they’ve got it

Music of the 1920s and 30s brought to life in 2025

Australian jazz is really finding its feet

Dave Bristow’s ‘Sides’ contains gems from legendary guitarist Mike Stern

Australian genre-bending music

The power of remembering: ‘Ibuka’ album launch

The Easy Rollers combine 1920s, 202s, UK and US influences on '... And Another Thing'

Modern jazz featuring sax, drums, bass and electronics

A joyous piano trio album that leads through life

Emma Smith wows the audience at London's Ronnie Scott's jazz club

This year's nominees and winners in the Downbeat Magazine Critics' Poll are among my guests

Find out some of my favourite places to listen to jazz in the UK and around the world (more to come!)