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Keith Oxman: Home
by Pierre Giroux
Tenor saxophonist Keith Oxman has long been regarded as a steadfast guardian of the jazz tradition. With Home, he offers perhaps his most personal and heartfelt statement yet. The album, a warm blend of joyful explorations, reflective ballads, a touch of blues, and elegant bossa nova, is dedicated to those who shaped his life and artistry. ...
John Scofield Dave Holland: Memories Of Home
by Jack Kenny
This album is fundamentally about rapport, deep listening, and a shared musical history that traces back to Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, and the quartet with Joe Lovano and Al Foster. John Scofield's distinctive guitar style seamlessly integrates post-bop, fusion, funk, and roots-based influences. His dry, idiosyncratic tone and subtle inflections have helped redefine modern ...
Seth Yacovone Band: SYBlings, Vol. 2
by Doug Collette
The second of a pair of 2025 releases, SYBlings, Vol. 2 is not exactly a sequel to its predecessor. Rather, it is a series of themes instrumental and lyrical that stands on its own terms. More importantly, while it is not innovative by any means, it is quite likely the best rock album guitarist-composer and Vermont ...
Rodrigo Amado: The Healing
by John Sharpe
The Healing unites tenor saxophonist Rodrigo Amado and drummer Chris Corsano in a tremendous set that tempers visceral power with nuanced exchange. An archival release, it documents a 2016 live date at Lisbon's ZBD Club, marking the second recording by this duo, after a 2014 session issued as No Place To Fall (Astral Spirits, 2019). However ...
Noah Preminger: Dark Days
by Jack Kenny
Noah Preminger possesses one of the most beautiful tones in jazz, and he knows it. He is not inclined to tarnish that sound--nor should he. It is the product of years of rigorous work. His challenge, rather, lies in his relative youth, in jazz terms. Admired already, Preminger also understands that his best years likely lie ...
Ray Barretto: Together
by C. Andrew Hovan
As of this writing, it has been more than 20 years since we lost the great conguero Ray Barretto. A native New Yorker of Puerto Rican descent, Barretto was among the first musicians to bring the conga drum into the standard jazz combo. His unmistakable touch can be heard throughout the early 1960s on a string ...
Julius Gawlik: It's All in Your Head
by Nenad Georgievski
When jazz musicians talk about composition, they often mean something closer to architecture--blueprints that guide but do not dictate. Julius Gawlik's debut album takes this idea seriously, treating written material as a starting point rather than a destination. The Berlin-based saxophonist and clarinetist has assembled a quartet that thrives on incompleteness, where sketches become conversations and ...
Alex Skolnick Trio: Prove You're Not a Robot
by Glenn Astarita
Few musicians have leapt the chasm between thrash metal and jazz with the audacity and grace of Alex Skolnick. Having made his name with Bay Area thrashers Testament in their Big Four-era ascent, Skolnick's departure from metal in the early '90s was not burnout, but a transformation fueled by his pursuit of a BFA in jazz ...
Wes Montgomery: Boss Guitar
by C. Andrew Hovan
By the time Wes Montgomery left us in 1968 at just 45, he had already produced a staggering body of work. To say he changed the way musicians approached the guitar forever is no overstatement. Thanks to producer Orrin Keepnews, Montgomery documented his prime years on Riverside, recording nearly a dozen albums between 1959 and 1963. ...
Wanees Zarour: Silwan
by Jack Bowers
There are times when not knowing what to expect can be helpful. Wanees Zarour, a Palestinian-American artist who now calls Chicago home, plays the buzuq and oud, stringed instruments from the Middle East, and couples them on Silwan with his skills as a composer to produce melodic and colorful images of his homeland interspersed with contemporary ...


