TOP NEWS JAZZ

(Roomspin)Nine touching songs, two performers and one intense meeting of minds It’s almost exactly four years since their debut album, Songbook, was glowingly received. If this, their second, had turned out to be more of the same, no one would have complained. But one small difference brings a subtle ... read more

In a new Taschen book Jazz Covers, a range of striking and colourful album artworks showcase a long-running relationship between the worlds of design and jazz music, from Archie Shepp to Duke Ellington Continue reading... ... read more

Composer inspired by images and poetry to produce assured music of hard-edged originalityThe composer Simon Bainbridge, who has died aged 68 after a long period of ill health, responded deeply to the visual arts and poetry in a way that informed a musical style of impressive technical assurance and originality. ... read more

Discover all our four- and five-star album reviews from the last month, from pop to folk and classical Continue reading... ... read more

Chris Barber showed great skill not only with his band, but also in backing an incredible range of other singers and instrumentalists, often with minimal prior acquaintance. I saw him with the blues singer Sonny Boy Williamson at the Marquee in London. The Mississippi Delta harmonica player fooled around ... read more

(Jazz in Britain)Two previously unreleased sessions by Henry Lowther’s mid-60s group represent a missing link in British free-form jazz There’s nothing like a bit of chaos to get things going, and the creative convulsions that overtook British jazz in the mid-1960s produced some great bands. You may not have ... read more

As a devotee of the music of Chris Barber, I arranged with his wife, Kate, to visit him 18 months ago. She encouraged me to talk about motor racing rather than jazz. This was easy, as I had spent many years filming Grand Prix races. Chris was thrilled to ... read more

This tender, absorbing portrait of new lovers tested by events on a romantic trip is a remarkable student-led production Here’s an interesting project from the film school at Falmouth University: a low-budget drama put together by four film-makers – including director Justin John Doherty and screenwriter Neil Fox, a ... read more

It’s hosted opera greats, suffragette rallies, Hitchcock films, sports events, sci-fi conventions – and, of course, the Proms and countless rock gigs. Artists from Led Zeppelin to Abba recall their moments on the hallowed stage The Royal Albert Hall is 150 years old today (and the Guardian was there ... read more

Director whose films ranged across genres from period drama to science fiction, and included the acclaimed evocation of the jazz world Round MidnightThe film-maker Bertrand Tavernier, who has died aged 79, invested his movies with a scrupulous and humane curiosity, no matter what the theme, genre or setting. He was ... read more

(Luaka Bop) Five years in the making, this breathtaking album transcends the genres each of its three collaborators bring to the table Not strictly classical, jazz or ambient electronica, this one-track, nine-movement album embodies the highest, most etiolated aspects of all three disciplines. British artist Sam “Floating Points” Shepherd ... read more

(33 Jazz)Moule captures every nuance of the late great lyricist’s words, beautifully set by Simon Wallace The lyrics here are by Fran Landesman. If you’ve encountered any of hers before, you’ll know that although they’re entirely at home in jazz, and mainly concern love, they can’t be tossed about ... read more

(Blue Note)The third album in this partnership sees the tenor saxophonist deftly occupied in takes on Ornette Coleman, Leonard Cohen and the Beach Boys In the 1960s, Charles Lloyd was a reeds-playing jazz-fusion star with a 21-year-old Keith Jarrett for a sideman and a young audience with psychedelic leanings. ... read more

The writer’s journeys, including a slow drive across the US, were accompanied by a selection of jazz, rock and folk greats This slow, romantic ballad was recorded during a famous live concert at the Village Vanguard in New York’s Greenwich Village in June 1961. Hearing it reminds me of ... read more

(Jazz Is Dead)This impassioned dissection of modern America is a challenging work well worth every second The American Negro is a mammoth project from producer and multi-instrumentalist Adrian Younge: a 26-track part-spoken word, part-orchestral examination of the structural racism underpinning the identity of modern America. It forms just one ... read more