Tag Archives: Jazz music

Triple Blind’s Cold Walk

After recording their first album from within the claustrophic confines of pandemic enforced digital collaboration, the American jazz quarter Triple Blind’s second effort is all about reconnecting. They recorded together live in the well known Dreamland Recording Studios in an … Continue reading

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Mark Turner’s Patternmaster

A tight yet flexible boundary between improvisation and control is one of the central features of this amazing, sophisticated, and engaging album from Mark Turner’s quartet. Every one of Turner’s six compositions on Patternmaster walks that line between tightly composed chamber … Continue reading

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Henriette Eilertsen Trio’s Moder

Some of my favorite jazz music is made by jazz flutists. Or flautists. I’m pretty sure the first jazz record I bought with my own money was Hubert Laws’s In The Beginning, and pretty soon after that I procured Milt … Continue reading

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Jon Irabagon’s Focus Out, and Jon Irabagon and Dan Oestreicher’s Saturday’s Child

American saxophonist, composer and band leader Jon Irabagon (a Down Beat certified rising star) gathered members of his quartet to lay down a wide ranging set of modern jazz that reflects his current reality as a working musician and parent … Continue reading

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Nicole McCabe’s Color Theory

I know it’s early in the year but I’m going to name Nicole McCabe’s Color Theory as one of the sleepers of the year. This album by a rising player in the Los Angeles jazz scene slipped in under my … Continue reading

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Ingrid Jensen’s Landings

I have no idea where or when I have previously heard Carla Bley’s lovely tune “Ida Lupino,” but this homage to the British American movie actor, director and producer was immediately familiar to me as soon as I heard Ingrid … Continue reading

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Woody Shaw’s Love Dance

The second run of releases in the Muse Master Edition Series includes Love Dance, the 1976 masterpiece by legendary trumpeter Woody Shaw. It’s part of the second batch of releases from Time Traveler Recordings, the new archival label founded by … Continue reading

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Martin Wind’s Stars, Dave Pietro’s The Butterfly Effect, and John McNeil & Tom Harrell’s Look To The Sky

What an absolute treasure this album is! If Martin Wind’s Stars is not on my jazz top 10 for 2026 I’ll eat my hat. With my favorite clarinetist Anat Cohen on the front line and the legendary pianist Kenny Barron … Continue reading

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Ovella Negra’s Va de Mescles!, and Rosàlia De Souza Quarteto 55˚’s Rosàlia De Souza Quarteto 55˚

Ovella Negra is at root a piano trio, but one with a difference. Pianist Joan Frontera Luna’s vision was to create a vibrant jazz program from the popular folk music of his native Balearic Islands (off Spain’s southern Mediterranean coast, … Continue reading

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Julian Shore Trio’s Sub Rosa, GinmanBlachmanDahl’s Play Ballads, Convergence’s Reckless Meter, and Kalia Vandever’s Another View

For me, 2025 was the year of the piano trio. I spent countless hours chilling my soul to the likes of Bill Evans in particular, but kept my eye and ear out for contemporary examples of the form, too. My … Continue reading

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