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Henham Park, SuffolkThe first full-capacity festival since the pandemic began hosted a series of artists – Sons of Kemet and Self Esteem among them – that show how vibrant the UK’s scene still is Standing in a field, wearing glitter, watching bands, with a warm pint in blazing hot ... read more

(Decca)The burgeoning British jazz scene of the 60s and early 70s is fully captured on this fine double album featuring John Dankworth, Stan Tracey et al For some time now, original British jazz albums dating from between about 1965 and 1972 have been changing hands at eye-watering prices. This ... read more

My father, Nic Cottis, who has died aged 87, was a journalist, poet and jazz musician who lived most of his life in Devon, where he taught and played music and documented the county’s arts scene. Born in Dorchester, to Vera (nee Elliott), a dairymaid, and Arthur Cottis, who ... read more

With the 10th anniversary of her death this week, rediscover the best of Winehouse’s discography, where heartbreak and anger are mixed up with wit and joy After all its emotional strife, the Back to Black album concludes with a jokey paean to weed. You could construct an argument that ... read more

No 1 albums by Wolf Alice, Mogwai and Celeste are joined by leftfield artists such as Hannah Peel and Nubya Garcia in race for prestigious music award Chart-topping albums by Wolf Alice, Celeste and Mogwai feature in nominations for the 2021 Mercury prize, one of the most prestigious music ... read more

(Decca)A wide-ranging compilation featuring Kenny Wheeler, John Surman and Michael Garrick kicks off the celebratory British Jazz Explosion series of releases The reverberations of the youthful British jazz boom that detonated in the mid-2010s echo on, despite the hindrances of the past year – as do its inventive crossovers ... read more

As the US boiled with violence, 1969’s Harlem cultural festival nourished spirits with soul, jazz and gospel. Now, Questlove has turned lost footage of it into a brilliant, pertinent documentary It’s 29 June 1969, and at Harlem’s Mount Morris park (now Marcus Garvey park), the 5th Dimension are about ... read more

My friend and neighbour Colin Tully, who has died of cancer aged 66, was a composer and instrumentalist who wrote the music for two films, That Sinking Feeling (1979) and Gregory’s Girl (1980). In a musical career that had to share time with his parallel vocation as a teacher ... read more

A US state department initiative was the unlikely catalyst for a creative explosion of Pakistani rhythm and western improv In 1956, a new weapon was unveiled in the cold war: jazz. That year, the US introduced the Jazz Ambassadors Tour, a showcase that sent American musicians overseas to parts ... read more

Iconoclastic poet, editor and leading light of British counterculture during the 1950s and 60sThe poet and editor Michael Horovitz, who has died aged 86 after a fall, championed poetry as a vital and democratic force that needed liberating from the academic world and the printed page. His quest began in ... read more

Lafertin and co move effortlessly though a dazzling set in the tradition of Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli Comfortably familiar but always fresh: the sound of violin, two guitars and double bass is as beguiling now as it was in 1934, when the great Romany guitarist Django Reinhardt and ... read more

Union Chapel, LondonThe soul-jazz star’s sold-out performance is unabashedly mainstream, but has real emotional heft As the live music industry cautiously dusts itself off, north London’s Union Chapel is in the lucky position of being made for social distancing: its airy stalls and domed ceiling offer the closest thing ... read more

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

He’s worked with Solange, Frank Ocean, Harry Styles and more – and his own music is wondrously fun and spiritual. The LA artist explains why it sounds like butterflies and mountain lions Amid the swirling sounds and scenes intersected by Los Angeles’ sprawling freeways, John Carroll Kirby is somewhere ... read more

American trumpeter and composer best known for his Fourth World music and his celebrated collaboration with Brian EnoIn his pursuit of something he came to call Fourth World music, the trumpeter and composer Jon Hassell, who has died aged 84, exerted an influence on his contemporaries that went far beyond ... read more