Review: Since bagging the 2014 Mercury Music Prize for sophomore set V.20, GoGo Penguin has become one of the most talked-about outfits around. The self-confessed "very modern piano trio" has succeeded largely due to their far-sighted ability to fuse more traditional jazz and classical music sounds with a surprisingly wide palette of influences, most notably dancefloor-focused 21st century electronic music. On A Humdrum Star, their fourth full length, the Manchester threesome has decided to take a "freer" and more "liberated" approach. The resultant music is every bit as exciting, entertaining and beguiling as you'd expect, with the full-throttle, high-octane dancefloor jazz of "Raven", atmospheric and undulating "Bardo" and gently jazz-funk influenced brilliance of closer "Window" amongst the highlights.
Review: Two days after he laid down his most celebrated album, "Go!", saxophonist Dexter Gordon gathered together the same line-up of musicians - Sonny Clark on piano, Butch Warren on bass and Billy Higgins on drums - and recorded a follow-up. Initially released in 1962, "A Swingin' Affair" has long been considered a hard-bop classic - hence this fresh reissue from Blue Note. It certainly contains some of Gordon's best work, not least the sparkling opener "Soy Califa", the languid and smoky niceness of "You Stepped Out Of A Dream" and the bluesy, bittersweet brilliance of slow-motion classic "Until The Real Thing Comes Along".
Storm Before The Calm (feat Kaidi Akinnibi) (3:01)
Review: As fast-rising underground stars in their own right, you'd expect any collaborative album from soul-fired South London singer/songwriter/beat-maker Tom Misch and prolific jazz drummer Yussef Dayes (best known for his now long-running collaboration with Kamaal Williams) to be rather good. "What Kinda Music" is, with the pair mixing and mangling elements of soul, jazz-funk, electronica and jazz, a set that defies easy categorisation. Both musicians exceed themselves throughout, with tipsy electronics, sweeping strings, bass, effects-laden guitars, woozy synth lines and Misch's heartfelt, soul-flecked vocals offering a perfect foil for Dayes' loose-limbed, headline-grabbing drumming.
Review: Jazz fans are in for a real treat here as Blue Note unleash a never before heard studio album by Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers. It was recorded back in 1959 at the legendary Rudy Van Gelder's Hackensack studio and has Lee Morgan, tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley, pianist Bobby Timmons, and bassist Jymie Merritt all playing as part of the recording. As the title suggests, it's a breezy, super cool record with seductive trumpets and icy drums all next to neat keys that encourage you to gently bop. After months of waiting, it proves more than worth all the anticipation.
Review: Jackie Mclean recorded the 'It's Time' long player back in one session in 1964. It finds post-bop and free jazz fused together with young trumpet sensation Charles Tolliver, pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Cecil McBee and drummer Roy Haynes, who all played original compositions by Mclean. The spirited sound was utterly new and fresh at the time and still makes a big impact all these years later, with real detail observed in the jacket graphics, printing quality and superior LP mastering quality. At times tender and reserved, at others exultant, this is a prized piece of jazz history.
Yazmin Lacey - "I’ll Never Stop Loving You" (4:51)
Fieh - "Armageddon" (3:29)
Mr Jukes - "Maiden Voyage" (4:13)
Shabaka Hutchings - "Prints Tie" (6:39)
Melt Yourself Down - "Caribbean Fire Dance" (3:13)
Emma Jean Thackray - "Speak No Evil/Night Dreamer" (4:59)
Review: Here's a great example of a simple idea, brilliantly executed. It sees artists from the UK's contemporary musical underground - most, though not all, with roots in jazz - re-make tracks from the Blue Note catalogue in their own personal style. The result is a series of sublime and sometimes surprising covers, with highlights including Jorja Smith's deliciously bluesy and soulful nu-jazz take on St Germain's 'Rose Rouge', a sumptuous interpretation of Donald Byrd's smooth jazz-funk classic 'Wind Parade' courtesy of Jordan Rakei, Skinny Pelembe's Afro-tinged cosmic jazz version of the Sam Rivers Sextet's 'Illusion', a spacey, ultra-deep re-imagining of Eddie Henderson's 'Galaxy' by Alfa Mist and an incredible, classic-sounding recording of Dinah Washington favourite 'I'll Never Stop Loving You' by Yazmin Lacey.
Review: Tina Brooks' final album was one of his most underrated. The tenor saxophonist really brought the goodness on The Waiting Game, which she record din 1961 but did not put out until 1999. The undervalued player might have played a big part in the hard bop era but only one of his Blue Note sessions ever made it out. Here he is joined by Johnny Coles on trumpet, Kenny Drew on piano, Wilbur Ware on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums, and wrote five of the six tunes himself. It's a soulful sound with highlights like modal masterpieces 'Dhyana' and 'David the King.'
Review: Blue Jazz's on going Tone Poet Series - which is about reissuing classic jazz on heavyweight, audiophile quality vinyl - throws out another gem here with the Hank Mobley classic Soul Station. Hank started out as a pianist before moving to the tenor sax aged 16. He put plenty of emotion and intensity into every note he played and during the years 1955-1970 he fronted more than 25 Blue Note albums as well as being a sideman on many others. This record captures him at the peak of his powers with a lyrical playing style and length, passionate solos.
Review: Sonny Clark's Cool Struttin' album is a jazz classic. The artist himself shone bright for a brief but intense period of creativity, much like greats before him such as Charlie Parker and Fats Navarro. His intricate playing and hard swing mentality makes for music filled with nuance and detail but sadly he never got the recognition he deserved during his short life (he died aged 31). He put out seven records in all on Blue Note and played with the likes of John Coltrane and Donald Byrd. This memorable session was recorded by Rudy Van Gelder and features a quintet made up of altoist Jackie McLean, trumpeter Art Farmer, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Philly Joe Jones.
Review: Sonny Clark was a truly elegant pianist who played with his own style of soul. On his My Conception full length he really reached the peak of his powers and for that reason it is the next in the on going Tone Poet reissue series by Blue Note. A big casts of sidemen feature on the record next to Clark including Hank Mobley on tenor saxophone, Donald Byrd on trumpet, Paul Chambers on bass and Art Blakey on drums. The record is packed with highlights such as the sombre trumpet of the title track and the fiery brilliance of 'Minor Meeting.'
Review: Jazz multi-instrumentalist Eric Dolphy's Out To Lunch is the latest in the on going Blue Note Reissue series, Tone Poet. It was his only recording for the seminal label and is often said to be one of the best they ever put out, as well as one of Dolphy's own personal highlights. Certainly fans of 1960s avant-garde jazz will agree. Dolphy was joined by trumpeter Freddie Hubbard and bassist Richard Davis amongst others, and told all players that there was no leader in the recording sessions that made up the album. That makes for a dense, busy and freeform record filled with wild playing and super musical ideas.
Review: Blue Note's Classic Vinyl series is about reissuing vital jazz records on heavyweight vinyl with all new mastering by Kevin Gray of Coherant Audio. Next to get the special treatment it deserves is Herbie Hancock's 1965 classic Maiden Voyage, which is some of the most evocative jazz to have ever been recorded. Net to Hancock, the players were all either present or past members of Miles Davis' quintet, so made for a heavy line-up. Hancock's impressionistic style is here for all to hear with the sublime compositions of 'Dolphin's Dance' and 'Maiden Voyage' and more tumultuous sounds of 'The Eye Of The Hurricane' some of the highlights.
Review: Blue Note are on a reissuing roll, not shying from revisiting the work of their most treasured jazz acts this year. The latest in their Classic Editions comes by way of Donald Byrd, whose timeless 1975 album Places And Spaces documents the trumpeter's fearless jazz-funk fusion era. This being Blue Note, you can expect only the best rendition of this orchestral jazz-funk suite that a vinyl pressing has to offer. This version is an all-analog remaster, by legendary cutting engineer Kevin Gray, from the original tapes. Expect a thorough justice-doing of the hits, 'Dominoes' and 'Wind Parade', which boast production credits from the infamous Larry Mizell.
Review: American Bobbi Humphrey is one of the most well loved jazz flautists. She turned out plenty of vibrant albums, none less so than this, Fancy Dancer, which was her fifth. It came on Blue Note in 1975 and is full of all killer no filler gold. It also saw her, along with producers the Mizell Brothers aka Larry and Fonce, come up with a fresh new largely instrumental funk sound. Weaving in everything from world music to soul-jazz to club music to pop, it's a widescreen sound that is packed with uplifting flute from Humphrey and lush production that reveals something new with each listen.
Review: Legendary Hammond organ player Lonnie Liston Smith had a very special run at New York's Jazz Standard in New York in 2017 as part of a celebratory 75th birthday series. The Breathe album captures the magic of the residency with an expanded line-up of talents including Jonathan Kreisberg on guitar, drums from Johnathan Blake, Jason Marshall and John Ellis on saxophone, plus Sean Jones on trumpet and Robin Eubanks on trombone. He recorded his All In My Mind album in the same week and so was in fine form across all of these spaced out jazz sounds. The album is bookended by tracks featuring the one and only Iggy Pop as well as a cover of Donovan's 1966 hit 'Sunshine Superman'.
Review: Even though it came on the venerated Blue Note label, Sonny Red's Out of the Blue record is somehow something of an overlooked treasure. Alto sax man Sonny Red only out this one record for the label and recorded it across two separate sessions with piano from Wynton Kelly as well as Sam Jones and Paul Chambers on bass, stickmen Roy Brooks and Jimmy Cobb. This reissue is part of the Tone Poet Series which presses up records on nice heavy wax in deluxe packaging after remastering form the original analogue master tapes so you can be sure it sounds superb.
Review: American alto talent Jackie McLean released his Tippin The Scales album in 1979 on the legendary Blue Note. It was a post bob record that has rather remained under the radar in the years since, but will still cost you a pretty penny if you can find a second hand copy. The Tone Poet serve brings it back to the fore with a deluxe reissue package that allows the tunes to really shine. Jackie wrote two of them while Sonny Clark write three and one is a J. Latouche and V. Duke collaboration. The record was recorded on September 28, 1962 and is one of the more traditional records in McLean's oeuvre.
We use cookies to personalise content and ads, to provide social media features and to analyse our traffic. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners who may combine it with other information that you've provided to them or that they've collected from your use of their services.