John Patitucci, one of the world’s great bassists, was an irreplaceable pillar of the unsurpassable Wayne Shorter Quartet for two decades. On one level, his new, Grammy-nominated disc ‘Spirit Fall’ (Edition), a trio album with saxophonist Chris Potter and drum magician and fellow Shorter alumnus Brian Blade, is merely a snapshot: the album was recorded with ideal and close colleagues in the course of a single day. But after repeated listens, it feels like a much stronger statement than that, maybe even an "apologia pro vita sua", the first-hand, updated story of what makes Patitucci so Read more ...

For a beautiful treatment of Matsuo Bashō's celebrated haiku “A frog jumps in”, the dreamlike stream-of-consciousness of “I am a volcano”, the delightful, multilayered vocal harmonies in “Take this stone” and more, Cécile McLorin Salvant’s Oh Snap is my Album of the Year. A remarkable collection even by Salvant’s exalted standards, the sudden textural dropout and devastating climax of “What does blue mean to you?”, inspired by Toni Morrison’s Beloved, was a coup de théâtre.Christian McBride and his Grammy-winning big band’s powerhouse collection, Without Further Ado, Vol 1, offered Read more ...

Alabaster DePlume, aka Mancunian Gus Fairbairn, has been an antically charming performer, confounding unsuspecting crowds with tenderly comic philosophy, voice Tiny Tim-eccentric yet alive to mental fragility, and attuning listeners to the brave possibilities in their every breath. Operating at a quizzical angle to London’s jazz scene, he surfs his own, sui generis wavelength.Working with West Bank Palestinian musicians during the Gaza War had clearly changed DePlume in gigs in Brighton and Norway’s Moldejazz festival, and A Blade Because A Blade Is Whole. He sometimes found elevated Read more ...

Detroit musician, Blue Note artist and expressive saxophonist Dave McMurray’s fourth album for the label, I Love Life Even When I’m Hurting, sets out to celebrate his home town, and his own life, and life in general. Warren Zevon once said wisely: “Enjoy every sandwich.” McMurray would likely enjoy the whole loaf. The phrase “I love Life Even When I’m Hurting” was seeded and conceived in the wake of a lonely death of a friend who had succumbed in body and spirit to a long, isolating illness. Out of that pain comes the fuel of resilience – a fuel that ignites his music and sax-playing too.“Man Read more ...

Out of the hundreds of gigs, surprises and collaborations that make up the EFG London Jazz Festival (LJF), this review focuses on four concerts fusing jazz with world music. They are the Korean extravaganza of Dionysus Robot (pictured) at the Queen Elizabeth Hall; British-Bahraini trumpeter Yazz Ahmed’s melding of jazz, Middle Eastern elements and Bahraini history at Ronnie Scott’s; a late-career turn from Ethio-jazz giant Mulatu Astatke at the subterranean Here at Outernet; and the festival’s closing weekend ‘takeover’ by the Aga Khan Master Musicians at the Royal Festival Hall.Won Il, Read more ...