TOP NEWS JAZZ

(Palmetto)When the conversation turns to contemporary jazz pianists, the name of Fred Hersch is apt to be left out. Not because he’s unknown – far from it – but because his constant, undemonstrative presence is too often taken for granted. His best work has been as a soloist or with ... read more

Festival Fomo? Fear not. The big ones are sold out, but here’s our pick of the smaller gatherings that still have ticketsEridge Park, Kent, 21-23 June Continue reading... ... read more

The trailblazer who injected New Orleans R&B with sinister psychedelia will live on as an icon of curdled idealismFor a few years after the Summer of Love, record stores were thick with hastily knocked-together concept albums about astrology or Indian mysticism or the occult, designed to cash in on the ... read more

From Late Night to Bitter Wheat, here’s our pick of the best films, concerts, exhibitions, theatre and dance over the next seven days Continue reading... ... read more

(Whirlwind)The third album from this impressive trio shows formidable range, balancing free-jazz delicacy and biteTori Freestone is a contemporary jazz artist from the tips of her fingers to whichever toe she taps, but very personal routes have taken her there – from playing the penny whistle and the violin as ... read more

Ariana Grande delivered swaggering pop, there was state-of-the-nation rap from Slowthai, Dave and Sleaford Mods, Billie Eilish shouted out for the teens, and Angélique Kidjo blended Africa with CubaAnchored by sturdy, stunningly pretty folk-rock backings, Adrianne Lenker, her voice tremulous but tenacious, makes existential musings amid verdant nature. Continue reading... ... read more

(Savant)When listening to this, you may imagine that your ears have become just a little sharper. That’s how hearing Alan Broadbent’s piano playing often strikes me anyway. It’s because of the briskness and clarity of his technique, of course, but also the rhythmic suppleness. It’s hard to describe this without ... read more

(Warp)Steven “FlyLo” Ellison usually releases an album of his collapsed nu-jazz every other year to roaring acclaim, but has spent much of the past half-decade producing for Kendrick, mentoring Thundercat and rowing back his imbecilic defence of alleged rapist the Gaslamp Killer. This long-delayed sixth album, weakly based around the ... read more

(Warp)Always known for Technicolor hip-hop odysseys, Flying Lotus has now gone fully cinematic. Following his directorial debut with the gross-out flick Kuso, Steven Ellison’s sixth album includes a short story from David Lynch and cartoonish rap miniatures such as Yellow Belly, a collaboration with R&B innovator Tierra Whack. Even on ... read more

Our May selection features Job Sifre’s bitter electro, TSVI’s polyrhythms, and a trip down memory lane with Tama Sumo Related: 'We're not beard-strokers!' Wigflex, Nottingham's 'rudeboy techno' night Related: The month's best mixes: dancefloor stormers and experimental sidewinders Continue reading... ... read more

He’s the shamanic funk star who produced everyone from the Rolling Stones to Bob Dylan. Now, he is steering jazz’s most iconic label into the future – by embracing its ‘secret scene’‘Journeyman” is a term often used to describe Don Was. At 66, the Detroit-born bassist and producer charted in ... read more

(The Leaf Label)A solo album by an improvisational drummer would in most circumstances elicit a wary groan, but Australia’s Laurence Pike is no ordinary percussionist. He’s played with a miscellany of jazzers (notably pianist Mike Nock), and embraced genres from psych to electronica to spiritual jazz. Nonetheless, his 2018 debut, ... read more

(Greenleaf)Inspired by a cappella Sacred Harp singing, the trumpeter also pays tribute to Carla Bley and Mary Lou Williams in this intensely personal trio setTrumpeter Dave Douglas emerged in the 1980s with soul-jazz piano star Horace Silver, a glitzy but generic intro that hardly suggested the prize-strewn career he would ... read more

Various venuesLegends including Joshua Redman and Sérgio Mendes are on strong form, but the festival relaxes to allow the dynamism of London’s young jazz scene to shineFor the musicians of London’s recent jazz resurgence, the pristine Regency architecture and middle-class suburbia of Cheltenham is a long way from home. Now ... read more

US jazz saxophonist says international musicians will find UK less appealingThe United Kingdom leaving the EU could make the country less appealing to international performers, one of the world’s leading jazz musicians has said.Kamasi Washington, whose album The Epic and his work with Kendrick Lamar made him a poster boy ... read more