Articles by Artur Moral

Live Review

Arcanum at Victoria Nasjonal Jazzscene, Oslo

by Artur Moral
October 20, 2026

Arcanum Victoria Nasjonal Jazzscene Oslo, Norway October 9, 2026 Forget the hermetic allusions suggested by their name; forget the content of their first and only album, even though part of their live set is based on it; and forget, above all, preconceived notions about national characteristics and artistic approaches. An Arcanum performance shatters every stereotype and established mold we might associate with its members, its music, or the stylistic identity of the label that houses ...

Live Review

The Rite Festival 2026 — Third and Final Day

by Artur Moral
June 18, 2026

The Rite FestivalLaboratori D'Arts ContemplativesLlinars del VallèsBarcelonaMay 31, 2026 There are small miracles that happen daily and discreetly. They are of a prosaic and absolutely earthly nature, with no divine or supernatural intervention of any kind, and the vast majority of them tend to go completely unnoticed by the eyes of those who don't live those realities: from surviving a journey of thousands of miles to escape the most appalling misery toward a false ...

Live Review

Fuchsthone Orchestra featuring Evi Filippou & UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra featuring Jazzmeia Horn at Jazzfest Bonn 2026

by Artur Moral
June 1, 2026

Fuchsthone Orchestra featuring Evi FilippouUMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra featuring Jazzmeia HornTelekom Forum Bonn, GermanyMay 9, 2026 Its host city may lack the jazz pedigree of others, but the truth is that, barely fifteen years old, Jazzfest Bonn has carved out a place among its most prestigious German counterparts--those of Moers, Berlin, Leipzig, and Hamburg. In this 2026 edition, very likely the most complete and compelling in its brief history, the festival offered a stellar ...

Album Review

The Dam Jawn featuring Jeremy Pelt: Triphasic

Read "Triphasic" reviewed by Artur Moral

by Artur Moral
May 15, 2026

Philadelphians know 'jawn' well--a term embedded in their local slang that is not easily grasped by the uninitiated. So what are Joan Fort and Martin Diaz (two Catalans), Philip Lewin (a German), and Nitin Parree and Frank Groenendijk (two Dutch men) doing forming a band whose name fuses that Philly word with a wink at the Amsterdam dikes--the city where they actually live--and dedicating tracks to places like Venango, Master Street, or Fairmount Park? The answer is simple. ...

Album Review

Didier Lockwood: Storyboard (Vinyl Reissue)

Read "Storyboard (Vinyl Reissue)" reviewed by Artur Moral

by Artur Moral
April 23, 2026

You might sometimes wonder about the usefulness of reissues--and all the more so in these times when many past gems, though physically unobtainable, are just a click away on the various content platforms. Setting aside die-hard audiophiles, tactile purists and compulsive completists, the truth is that these new pressings represent a golden opportunity for those unfamiliar with the original albums to discover them in all their voluptuous vintage tangibility. And for those who have already savored them, there is that ...

Album Review

Andrés Coll: Ride to Heaven

Read "Ride to Heaven" reviewed by Artur Moral

by Artur Moral
April 17, 2026

Some instruments can come across as far removed from the jazz orbit--especially when we think of them as vehicles for a soloist's showcase. Yet a number of resolute experimenters have worked hard to prove otherwise, with commendable skill. Among others, such is the case with Dorothy Ashby on harp, Julius Watkins on French horn and Garvin Bushell on oboe. The marimba is another of those devices that at first seem foreign to the genre, more associated with Latin or radically ...

Album Review

Michael Moody: The Ecstasy of Love

Read "The Ecstasy of Love" reviewed by Artur Moral

by Artur Moral
March 21, 2026

Whether or not there is any personal affinity with their stylistic and thematic approach, it is impossible not to tip one's hat to those musicians who insist on navigating against the current mainstream--be it by brandishing the flag of a fierce vanguard or by defending the essentials of tradition, updated with a layer of necessary contemporaneity. Michael Moody belongs to these latter, and he does so by cloaking his entire output under the mantle of an uninhibited, almost provocatively explicit ...

Play This!

Laura J Marras: Isotope

by Artur Moral
February 19, 2026

Laura J Marras first drew Neil Duggan's attention in his review of Alessandro Di Liberto's Punti Di Vista (GleAm Records, 2025), where her alto saxophone is repeatedly highlighted--thanks to her fresh blend of sensitivity and energy. Other press notes on that release, quite rightly, attributed to her traces of John Coltrane and Oliver Nelson, as well as Wayne Shorter, which is hardly surprising: Marras leads a quartet called Shorter's Vision, a group with which she recreates emblematic works by the ...

Album Review

Eddie Daniels: To Milton With Love

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by Artur Moral
February 14, 2026

Even in a field as conducive to covers as jazz, it is unusual to find a complete reinterpretation of an album with all its tracks in their original order. Interestingly, 2025 has seen several releases of this type, some widely known and deservedly acclaimed, like Branford Marsalis' Belonging (Blue Note Records, 2025), which pays homage to Keith Jarrett's European Quartet. But another project with these same characteristics has gone much more unnoticed, and unjustly so. To Milton With Love is ...

Album Review

Albert Marquès / Rachel Therrien: Dialogue (Vol. I & II)

Read "Dialogue (Vol. I & II)" reviewed by Artur Moral

by Artur Moral
January 30, 2026

Except for the most radically experimental music, in a jazz context increasingly dominated by written scores that leave little room for improvisation, the appearance of a musical diptych centered on the latter is undoubtedly most welcome. This applies both to individual discourse and to creation shared simultaneously by various performers. Granted, many listeners may be absolutely indifferent to the method, with the final result being the only relevant factor in the musical equation. But... what then becomes of risk, discovery ...