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Ben Boddie On Jazz 2025
by Benjamin Boddie
Every year, jazz reminds us of its vastness, and 2025 was no different. These recordings consistently graced Ben Boddie on Jazz, showcasing a blend of deep tradition and bold exploration. From grand ensemble pieces to intimate, personal recordings, the albums on this list capture the creativity, curiosity, and emotional depth that keep jazz moving. These are the jazz releases that defined 2025 for me--records that keep surprising me with each listen. Unleashed Altin Sencalar Posi-Tone ...
Continue ReadingJoe Farnsworth: The Big Room
by Karan Khosla
The Big Room is about holding the fort and also about opening doors. Joe Farnsworth has logged time with Pharoah Sanders, McCoy Tyner, and Cedar Walton, but here he calls on the rising generation: alto saxophonist Sarah Hanahan, vibraphonist Joel Ross, pianist Emmet Cohen, trumpeter Jeremy Pelt, and bassist Yasushi Nakamura. Recorded live at Smoke Jazz & Supper Club in January 2025, Farnsworth invites his fellow bandmates to contribute compositions; the album captures an intergenerational sextet that knows how to ...
Continue ReadingMike LeDonne's Groover Quartet: Turn It Up!: Live at the Sidedoor
by Pierre Giroux
For over twenty-five years, Mike LeDonne's Groover Quartet has been a shining example of consistency and authenticity in the organ-jazz scene. The latest double-disc release, Turn It Up!: Live at the Sidedoor, captures the group at two different moments in time: 2024 at the Sidedoor Jazz Club in Old Lyme, Connecticut, and 2004 at Vancouver's Cellar Jazz Club. These two recordings offer an intriguing glimpse into a band that has never aimed to reinvent itself, only to refine its sound, ...
Continue ReadingMike LeDonne's Groover Quartet: Turn It Up!
by Jack Bowers
Turn It Up!, the latest recording by organist Mike LeDonne's superb and long-lived Groover Quartet, is actually a two- CD set that reprises concert sessions recorded twenty years apart--the first, You'll See! (Cellar Records, 2004) in Vancouver's now- defunct Cellar Jazz Club, the second,Turn It Up!, in 2024 at Ken Kitchings' The Side Door in Old Lyme, Connecticut. It is hard to say what is most remarkable about the concerts: that the group has preserved its uncommon mastery and rapport ...
Continue ReadingGeorge Coleman: With Strings
by Jack Bowers
Sooner or later (usually later), a jazz saxophonist (or other instrumentalist) will entertain a desire to leave his or her normal comfort zone and record an album with “class." In other words, cue the string section and get ready to score some ballads. Tenor virtuoso George Coleman, who likely needs no introduction to even the more casual jazz fan, is the latest to take the With Strings plunge, diving headlong into a number of sumptuous, string-laden arrangements by Bill Dobbins. ...
Continue ReadingJoe Farnsworth, Sam Dillon, Etienne Charles, Cory Weeds and more
by Benjamin Boddie
Today's Music--Right Now! Fantastic music by Joe Farnsworth, Sam Dillon, Etienne Charles, Tyreek McDole, Cory Weeds, Sarah Wilson, Peter Lin & AAPI Jazz Collective, Ola Annabel/Nicolas Meier, NYO Jazz, Jimme Greene, Jordan VanHemert, Alan Broadbent, Antonio Adolfo, Anaïs Reno, Dave Anderson, Gabriel Latchin, Danny Grissett, Atlantic Jazz Collective, Gregory Tady, Greg Murphy, John Clayton, Nicole Glover, Art Hirahara, and more. Playlist Joe Farnsworth “Continuance" from The Big Room (Smoke Sessions) 00:00 Sam Dillon “No Promises" from My Ideal ...
Continue ReadingEric Scott Reed: Out Late
by Neil Duggan
Prioritizing energy and passion over musical precision, pianist Eric Scott Reed recorded every track on his album Out Late as a first take, with all musicians performing together in one room. Nothing was added later--this old-style approach gives the recording its vintage feel. As Reed explains, “We rehearsed a song for a few minutes, and once everybody got the melody under their fingers, we went ahead and made a track while it was fresh. The energy is there; the rawness ...
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