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Play This! is a platform to share your prized musical discoveries (past or present) with your fellow readers. Recommend a favorite song, album, or performance here.

Jazzrausch Bigband: Sinfonie in Cis-Moll: III. Scherzo. Kräftig, Nicht Zu Schnell

by Geno Thackara
October 12, 2026

Gustav Mahler always lamented that nobody understood his fifth symphony, claiming it was cursed. Fair enough; even as this most epic musical form goes, it was a work arguably packed with more layers of emotion than most. Jazzrausch Bigband, however, figured out that those shades can come through just as much with a massive heap of techno beats--nowhere more so than the third movement, where “every note is charged with life" and one of the piece's recurring motifs gets cheerfully ...

Welcome The Morning With Ahmad Jamal’s The Awakening

by Keith Flint
October 6, 2026

Waking to a melody playing in one's mind is a common occurrence. Sometimes a simple line stands alone as an isolated, fleeting remnant of a previously loved song. At other times, a recurring line, verse, chorus, or entire piece lingers or revisits throughout the day. A notable personal example is the aptly titled track “The Awakening," which begins The Ahmad Jamal Trio's album of the same name. Beginning with its highly recognizable, compact, four-note melodic-cell introduction, the piece ...

Espen Berg Trio: Rue Saint-Michel

by Carl Medsker
October 4, 2026

The piano trios of Tord Gustavsen, Espen Eriksen and Espen Berg share a Norwegian terroir, but differ in expression. In a flagrant oversimplification, Gustavsen tends toward introspective rumination with classical undertones, while Eriksen revels in lyricism. Then there is Berg, who spits the difference, with added rhythmic complexity. Like three exceptional yet distinct wines from one region, each is complex and engrossing, each with its emotional pairing. Here is a taste from Entropies (Svale Records, 2026)--full-bodied, well-structured, enhanced ...

A Dave Holland Primer

by Ludovico Granvassu
October 1, 2026

Here is an audio-companion to Points of View: Celebrating Dave Holland. The playlist contains songs by, or featuring, Dave Holland, selected by those who contributed to that article. It's actually a quite interesting thing to see who selected what (click on the above link and under each individual contribution the selected song is listed). You'll find Dave Holland in every shape and form here, solo, duo, trio, quartet, quintet, sextet, Big Band... and a wide range of his ...

Espen Eriksen Trio: Winter Is Coming

by Carl Medsker
September 25, 2026

An homage to Game of Thrones? A wish for the end of another excessively hot summer? Or just impatient for better ski conditions? Whatever the intention, the Espen Eriksen trio is back for another set of melodic Nordic jazz. After a pulsing, ominous start, the performance flowers into a memorable theme. The bandmates (Espen Eriksen on piano, Lars Tormod Jenset on bass and Andreas Bye on drums) breathe as one, favoring economical, lyrical invention over hearty rhythmic or harmonic improv. ...

A Percussion Paradise Inhabited By Searing, Soaring Sensations

by Keith Flint
September 19, 2026

From its solo conga introduction to its exuberant ensemble finale, Donny McCaslin's “Soar" leads listeners along a path of tension, anticipation, and release. The pleasures of the performance are immediate, yet its full gratification is tantalizingly delayed: rhythm first, then added texture, then a gathering rush of sound as each musician finds a place in the unfolding drama. Immanuel Kant's 1764 Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime invited readers to deeply consider subjective ...

Two Views Of A Masterpiece

by John Chacona
September 15, 2026

As a jazz composer is it better to be a hedgehog or a fox, to write music that is so irreducibly singular that there is only one way to perform it or do be so embracingly universal that one's genius spreads like pollinator bees? Arguably Wayne Shorter, fairly unanimously embraced as the greatest jazz composer of the immediate past, has been seen as a hedgehog, the composer of brilliantly idiosyncratic music that has failed to escape the shadow of his ...

Joseph Quiles Takes the Scenic Route on Sunset Cruisin

by Acacia Grace
September 12, 2026

"Sunset Cruisin'" is the kind of track that settles into a smooth groove and makes you want to stay there. Joseph Quiles delivers a vibrant blend of contemporary smooth jazz, soul, and funk, built around a mid-tempo pocket that feels effortless while still carrying plenty of energy. Lush piano textures bring warmth to the arrangement, while Quiles' bass provides the track's unmistakable pulse. The production is infectious without feeling overworked, giving the performance a relaxed confidence that immediately ...

Lionel Loueke: Actual Proof

by Geno Thackara
August 28, 2026

Adapting a little Herbie Hancock material is manageable enough for anyone with solid instrumental skills. Doing it without a piano might be a bit more tricky. Adapting it for solo guitar and voice is another challenge entirely, but his longtime sideman Lionel Loueke is more than up to the challenge, not just mastering the song forms but using his innate rhythmic roots to both grasp the melody and bring the funk. ...

Brian Bromberg: Top Down

by Geno Thackara
August 28, 2026

One might not think there are many places to find a new wrinkle to instrumental guitar rock, but Brian Bromberg manages it on an interesting technicality: not using any guitars. For this 2005 highway cruise, he doubles himself on electric five-string and high-tuned piccolo bass, making a “trio" outing full of wild grooves and sweet fuzz tones that continually sound just a bit different from your usual axe-fest. ...