Tom Harrison: Unfolding In Tempo

London-based alto saxophonist Tom Harrison leads a tight and imaginative band on Unfolding In Tempo, a live album of "reflections on the Ellington/Strayhorn Canon." After three years intense study of Ellington and Strayhorn, Harrison has selected a mix of tunes that display the breadth of that canon... [ read more ]

Steve Lawson: Steve Lawson: A Crack Where the Light Gets In / The Way Home

British bassist m: Steve Lawson likes to tag his music as "the soundtrack to the day you wish you'd had." That's not to say that it's bright and cheerful all the time (though that's nice when it happens); rather it's colorful and evocative enough to make each respective kind of day a lit... [ read more ]

Rale Micic: Night Music

On Night Music, his fourth album as leader of his own group, m: Rale Micic (pronounced Rah-lay Mee-cheech), a Serbian-born guitarist who has lived and gigged in New York City for more than fifteen years, pays tribute to the music of the Hungarian classical composer Bela Bartok who, as it... [ read more ]

Haakon Graf/Erik Smith/ Per Mathisen: Sunrain

"Sunrain" is a common Scandinavian weather phenomenon: after weeks of rain, there are often clouds with showers pouring down as the sun peers through the other side. Keyboardist/composer m: Haakon Graf considers it "a metaphor for the fabric of life, a place between a smile and a tear, li... [ read more ]

Delfeayo Marsalis: In Jazz We Trust: On The Politically Inspired Work Of Delfeayo Marsalis and Ted Nash

The current state of American politics--a veritable cesspool that makes reality television seem sane by comparison--leaves little to feel good about. Moral compasses are skewed, elected officials bicker like fractious toddlers, and candidates ranging from the lunatic sybarite variety to the bumptiou... [ read more ]

Thollem McDonas: Meeting At The Parting Place

Coming at improvisational music from the classical realm, pianist m: Thollem McDonas remains resolutely outside of the main stream of the jazz world. Primarily inspired by, as he puts it in his liner notes to Meeting at the Parting Place, ..."European concert music from the Renaissance t... [ read more ]

Fabio Torres -- FA bio Torres: The Making of Modern Brazilian Jazz

When such a vast style as Latin Jazz is explored by musicians of various nationalities, when rhythmic elements are combined, when a portion of good taste and brilliance is added to this mixture, the result could not be different: The Making of Modern Brazilian Jazz. Fabio Torres is a great example o...