Maciej Obara Quartet: Unloved

Ole Morten Vågan | Maciej Obara | Gard Nilssen | Dominik Wania

This is Polish saxophonist and composer Maciej Obara’s ECM debut – though his ninth album as leader in total –...

Reviewed in issue February/2018

Anouar Brahem: Blue Maqams

Django Bates | Dave Holland | Anouar Brahem | Jack DeJohnette

Those who took Tunisian oudist Brahem's beautiful 1998 album Thimar to their hearts might show some love for this release...

Reviewed in issue November/2017

Gary Peacock: Tangents

Joey Baron | Gary Peacock | Marc Copland

Beyond his legend-making free jazz work with Albert Ayler, the double-bassist Gary Peacock has had one of the most extraordinary...

Reviewed in issue October/2017

Tim Berne's Snakeoil: Incidentals

Tim Berne | Ches Smith | David Torn | Matt Mitchell | Oscar Noriega | Ryan Ferreira

The 62-year-old progressive alto saxophonist-composer Tim Berne's Snakeoil's fourth CD for the ECM label is the follow-up to 2015's You've...

Reviewed in issue October/2017

David Virelles: Gnosis

Melvis Santa | Rane Moore | David Virelles | Matthew Gould | Christine Chen | Alex Lipowski | Adam Cruz | Allison Loggins-Hill | Samuel DiCaprio | Yunior Lopez

This is David Virelles second CD for ECM in a recording career that dates back to 2008's Motion (Justin Time)....

Reviewed in issue October/2017

Björn Meyer: Provenance

The Swiss-based Björn Meyer, ex of Nik Bärtsch's Ronin, thinks outside the box on a recording devoted to solo electric...

Reviewed in issue October/2017

Roscoe Mitchell Trios: Bells For The South Side

Roscoe Mitchell | Tyshawn Sorey | Jaribu Shahid | Hugh Ragin | Kikanju Baku | Tani Tabbal | William Winant | Craig Taborn | James Fei

This latest Mitchell music was presented at the 50th anniversary celebrations of the AACM at the Museum Of Contemporary Art...

Reviewed in issue September/2017

Aaron Parks: Find the Way

Billy Hart | Aaron Parks | Ben Street

The 33-year-old pianist Aaron Parks first attracted the attention of the jazz cognoscenti playing in one of trumpeter Terence Blanchard's...

Reviewed in issue September/2017

Stephan Micus: Inland Sea

Stephan Micus

This album announced itself as immediately remarkable to me for featuring one of the largest number of instruments (calculated as...

Reviewed in issue September/2017

Vijay Iyer Sextet: Far From Over

Tyshawn Sorey | Graham Haynes | Steve Lehman | Vijay Iyer | Stephan Crump | Mark Shim

Far From Over arrests on so many levels that at times the energy and varying emotional pulses seem nearly uncontainable....

Reviewed in issue September/2017