Obituary: Ralph Towner

With the death of Ralph Towner (1940 - 2026) contemporary jazz lost one of its most prolific and distinctive voices. How many musicians can you think of whose work covers the range that Towner explored in the now rippling, now rapt and poised New Moon and Beneath An Evening Sky (from the 1979 Old Friends, New Friends) and the diversely swinging and bubbling Flutter Step and Burly Hello, Gary Peacock pieces which Towner helped bring to joyous life on...

Reviewed: Bob Crosby | Tord Gustavsen

Bob Crosby: Classic Decca Recordings Of Bob Crosby And His Orchestra & The Bob Cats (1936-42) I've reviewed some superb Mosaic sets – and that...

Reviewed: Baby Vortex | Joshua Rager | Gene Shelby

Baby Vortex: Not What You Think Baby Vortex is a Bordeaux-based keyboard, guitar and drum trio led by pianist and composer Clément Simon that’s turned...

Elijah Jeffery and Eddie Gripper at Black Mountain Jazz, Abergavenny

Some might feel a musical duo offers a third of the entertainment provided by a sextet or an eighth of that available in a...

Reviewed: Brandon Sanders | Nigel Price Organ Trio | Yusef Lateef

Brandon Sanders: Lasting Impression Brandon Sanders spent many hours as a child visiting his grandmother’s jazz club in Kansas City where she hosted the likes...

News in brief...

The fourth MoonJune festival, devised by the indefatigable Leonardo Pavkovic and describing itself as a festival of “eclectic music”, takes place in Teramo, Italy, 22-25 July 2026 and includes Soft Machine w. Gary Husband, Gong w. Steve Hillage and Diego Amador’s Flamenco Free Jazz.

Couleurs Jazz, an ad-free radio service based in Paris that in contrast to notable UK providers plays jazz all the time, is asking for donations. It’s an appeal that will likely to resonate with jazz fans who tune in. All contributions are welcome, but 50€ gets your name on the contributors’ wall.

The Swanage Jazz Festival, the oldest (1991) and largest “pure jazz” festival on the south coast of England, has reached its £25k appeal target and thus will go ahead 10-12 July 2026. Director Paul Kelly said “We have been amazed and uplifted by the generosity of our supporters.”

Whole lotta reshaping going on at London’s Southbank Centre 13-15 March 2026, when the Montreux Jazz Festival Residency returns, asking ‘What is Jazz Today?’, drawing  inspiration from Miles Davies [sic] and entailing performances from such as Theo Croker, Children of Zeus and corto.alto.

‘The creative chaos’ behind Kind Of Blue is the preoccupation of Miles, ‘a fusion of live jazz and theatre’ featuring Jay Phelps and Benjamin Akintuyos that transfers to Southwark Playhouse in London from 4 February – 7 March 2026 after a run at the 2025 Edinburgh Fringe.

Benched

Imagine, if you will, or can, a cutting contest between Oscar Levant and Humphrey Lyttelton, duking it out for the chance to star in...

Sam Braysher Quartet with Sara Dowling at Ronnie Scott’s

It’s now several moons since I’ve been able to beguile a Sunday lunchtime basking in the sounds of jazz at its best. This of...

Reviewed: Yakir Arbib & Conti Bilong | ‍Sangoma

Yakir Arbib & Conti Bilong: Afro Baroque As in my last batch of selections, eclecticism is a keyword with these albums. Afro Baroque is one...

Reviewed: Julius Gawlik | Rasmus Oppenhagen Krogh | Joachim Kühn with Daniel Humair & Jean-François Jenny-Clark

Julius Gawlik: It’s All In Your Head One of the unintended consequences of the rise of jazz education is that as technical proficiency has generally...

Reviewed: Armen Donelian | My best of 2025

Armen Donelian: Stargazer Japanese labels have produced countless records that have reached only the most fanatical jazz fans in the rest of the world. Sunnyside...
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

JJ 01/96: Jazz – The Rough Guide

Thirty years ago Alun Morgan was very pleased with the revised edition of Carr, Fairweather and Priestley's not-so-rough guide to jazz
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

JJ 01/86: Man Jumping – Jumpcut

Forty years ago Simon Adams wanted to hear more of Man Jumping's danceable, always swinging mix of systems music, funk, electro pop and jazz

JJ 01/66: Dudley Moore – The Other Side Of Dudley Moore

Sixty years ago Gerald Lascelles was pleased to see Dudley Moore take time off from TV 'frivolity' to make his record debut as 'a gifted jazzman'

JJ 01/66: Owning Up

Sixty years ago Steve Voce thought Owning Up was very funny but also a book that described a life of pointlessness and bleak horror

JJ 01/86: Back Door at Newcastle Upon Tyne Corner House

Forty years ago Chris Yates saw the Yorkshire trio's organic mix of Mississippi blues, prog-rock and jazz reconvened in Newcastle as part of a Jazz Services tour

Reviewed: Bob Crosby | Tord Gustavsen

Bob Crosby: Classic Decca Recordings Of Bob Crosby And His Orchestra & The Bob Cats (1936-42) I've reviewed some superb Mosaic sets – and that includes most of them. But their latest archival release is pure joy, and reminds us of the high quality of the Bob Crosby Orchestra, and its small-group spin-off The Bob Cats. The band originated when Ben Pollack's musicians quit en...

Reviewed: Baby Vortex | Joshua Rager | Gene Shelby

Baby Vortex: Not What You Think Baby Vortex is a Bordeaux-based keyboard, guitar and drum trio led by pianist and composer Clément Simon that’s turned in a very effective set of electric fusion echoing and updating the sounds of Weather Report and Chick Corea. This is their debut digital album, released 17 October 2025. It opens with some rather empty chord noodling (or mood-building?) on...
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

New releases December 2025 – January 2026, T-Y

Records offered for review to Jazz Journal in November-December 2025, including Clark Terry, Cal Tjader, Charles Tolliver, V-Disc Big Band Jazz Sessions and Miroslav Vitous // Editor's pick: V-Disc Big Band Jazz Sessions

New releases December 2025 – January 2026, S

Records offered for review to Jazz Journal in November-December 2025, including Brandon Sanders, Woody Shaw, Gene Shelby, Wes Smith and Dave Stryker // Editor's pick: Dave Stryker

New releases December 2025 – January 2026, O-R

Records offered for review to Jazz Journal in November-December 2025, including Gary Peacock, Noah Peterson, Roy Powell, QOW Trio and Joel Ross // Editor's pick: Joel Ross

Liverpool jazz festival begins 26 February

Liverpool International Jazz Festival, founded in 2013 by Liverpool Hope University, and run by the university's Creative Campus, returns 26 February - 1 March with a programme mixing straightahead jazz, intense jazz fusion and world-flavoured variations. The headliners include...

Guy Barker swings the RAH

Trumpeter Guy Barker, well-known as in the vanguard of the first so-called British jazz revival of the 1980s, when he played bebop and cutting-edge jazz-funk with Chris Hunter and others, has for some years now embraced the mainstream of...
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

Unapologetic Expression: The Inside Story Of The UK Jazz Explosion

For a geezer of my vintage the great and most fruitful UK jazz explosion occurred in the late 60s-early 70s, fuelled by South African expats and musicians from the West Country and then, somewhat in contrast, there was the...

German Jazz Prize performances reflect the fraught political scene

Musicians from across Germany and around the globe flocked to Cologne for the German Jazz Prize on 13 June - and that’s no surprise. All 76 nominees got €4,000, while winners in 22 categories departed E-Werk’s brick-and-steel interior with...

Satoko Fujii and Natsuki Tamura: making music never heard before

Stan Getz, Miles Davis, Red Rodney, Corky Corcoran, to pick a few names at random, all began playing professionally in their teens. I remember seeing Betty Carter live back...

Gianluca Pellerito, drum wunderkind

I first encountered drummer Gianluca Pellerito through social media and quickly became one of his 330k followers on Instagram, but it was seeing this...

The dance is ended (but the memory lingers on)

Seeing the Count Basie Orchestra live was one of the great thrills early in my lifelong obsession with jazz. I did not realise it...

Obituary: Ralph Towner

With the death of Ralph Towner (1940 - 2026) contemporary jazz lost one of its most prolific and distinctive voices. How many musicians can you think of whose work covers the range that Towner explored in the now rippling,...

Obituary: Marilyn Mazur

For over five decades the Danish drummer and percussionist, composer, sound-poet, painter and bandleader Marilyn Mazur – who died on 12 December 2025 after a period of illness – was one of the strongest creative spirits in jazz and...
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

JJ 01/96: Jazz – The Rough Guide

Thirty years ago Alun Morgan was very pleased with the revised edition of Carr, Fairweather and Priestley's not-so-rough guide to jazz

JJ 01/96: Wayne Shorter – High Life

Thirty years ago Mark Gilbert found Shorter's post Weather Report fusion one-dimensional in comparison with the musical mastery of his early 60s Blue Notes

JJ 01/96: Steve Grossman, interviewed by Mark Gilbert

Thirty years ago the NY tenor man, peer to Berg, Brecker, Mintzer et al, talked about his journey through Miles Davis, Elvin Jones and Stone Alliance and back to bebop