Matt Carmichael

Matt Carmichael, Eleonora Kouneni, Martin Fabricius, And More

by Colin Muirhead
November 14, 2026

Featuring new music by Matt Carmichael, the Lorne Lofsky-Nigel Price Quartet, Eleonora Kouneni, Matthias Schwengler, Christine Tobin, Martin Fabricius, and more. Playlist Matt Carmichael “wide eyes" from Held in the Dark (Self Released) 0:00 Lorne Lofsky-Nigel Price Quartet “Bittersweet" from Live at the Glob) (Self Released) 09:08 Eleonora Kouneni “Love Me or Leave Me" from Independently Blue (G2 Records) 19:16 Leo Anaga “Rain Kiss" from Freeride (Self Released) 23:02 Matthias Schwengler “Change of Scenery" from DARK (Klaeng Records) ...

Album Review

Claire Cope: Every Journey

Read "Every Journey" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
September 11, 2025

Leader di questo progetto è la pianista e compositrice britannica Claire Cope, che ha debuttato cinque anni fa con l'album Small World. Il suo organico ha acquisito un respiro orchestrale passando da sette a undici componenti (con nuovi ottoni e ance) e sostituendo alcuni membri originari. La conferma più significativa è quella della vocalist Brigitte Beraha, che contribuisce a mantenere l'identità stilistica della formazione, anche se il merito principale è ovviamente dovuto alle composizioni e agli arrangiamenti della ...

Album Review

Claire Cope: Every Journey

Read "Every Journey" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
April 28, 2025

Consider British pianist, composer/ bandleader Claire Cope. She debuted as a fully formed artist via her excellent septet set Small World (Self Produced, 2020), a deftly crafted classical/jazz hybrid. On her second recording, the album at hand, Every Journey, she employs an eleven-piece ensemble, building on the atmosphere of her debut, painting translucent layerings and weaving a loose net of textures into gorgeous, expansive soundscapes. With composer-bandleader Maria Schneider as a major touchstone, Cope creates luminous arrangements. She cites Schneider's ...

Album Review

Matt Carmichael: Dancing With Embers

Read "Dancing With Embers" reviewed by Neil Duggan

by Neil Duggan
April 3, 2025

Scottish tenor saxophonist Matt Carmichael captured attention with his first album Where Will The River Flow (Porthole Music, 2021), garnering over 8 million streams. His second album, Marram (Edition Records, 2022), developed his blend of jazz and Scottish folk, winning “Best Album" in the Scottish Jazz Awards. He follows this with Dancing With Embers, which changes focus to concentrate on song structure and a sense of intimacy, rather than improvised solos, resulting in an album that is more biased towards ...

Album Review

Joe Robson: Home

by Neil Duggan
January 12, 2025

Many artists draw inspiration from their homeland's folk traditions, which are often reflected in their compositions and playing style. This fusion is particularly evident in Scottish jazz, where prominent performers like Fergus McCreadie, Norman Willmore and Stephen Henderson incorporate strong folk elements. Guitarist Joe Robson advances this blend in his ambitious project Home, achieving a complete marriage of both genres across his ten compositions that make up the album. Supporting his vision are several similarly inspired Scottish musicians. ...

Album Review

Ali Watson: Terrarium

Read "Terrarium" reviewed by Neil Duggan

by Neil Duggan
November 20, 2024

Scottish jazz has recently seen many artists find their inspiration from their landscape, history, geography and heritage. The effect on bassist Ali Watson has seen him mix Scottish folk with contemporary jazz and classical music to develop a musical style that strives to provide an escape from the unrelenting sensory inputs that can pervade modern life. His debut album is named Terrarium. Those with a horticultural interest will know that a terrarium is typically a sealed glass container ...

Album Review

Matt Carmichael: Marram

by Chris May
November 22, 2022

The first thing to register, within the opening few bars of Glaswegian tenor saxophonist Matt Carmichael's sophomore album, is how remarkably similar his sound is to that of New York's emerging saxophone colossus Oded Tzur. In an interview with All About Jazz in summer 2022, the Israeli-born Tzur named his primary formative influence as the great Dexter Gordon. Whether Carmichael cut his teeth on Gordon's Blue Note albums of the 1960s is not known, but it sounds well possible. Like ...