Revisiting his alter-ego Oli Mac for a second time with Oli Mac presents Slim Pickin', Mississippi Macdonald has produced a true nugget of acoustic folk-blues. MacDonald is a three time UK Blues Award Winner with second acoustic album for APM Records. The album features the trio Oliver MacDonald (gtr/vcls), Phil Dearing (gtr/piano) and Brent Cundall (bass). Includes the songs Bad Attitude, I'm Sorry, Sad Songs developed from sessions in Memphis with the Reverend Charles Hodges and Boo Mitchell. Slim Pickin' is a No.1 album on the Roots Music Report and IBBA charts, also on the Big Blues Chart. On tour in Europe March-April 2026.

SHAPESHIFTER

Return to the Enchanted Forest by Heisenberg Uncertainty Players is a vivid and imaginative exploration of memory, nostalgia, and transformation. Led by composer and bandleader John Dorhauer, this genre-blurring jazz big band album features eight tracks-six originals and two inventive covers of pop hits by the Backstreet Boys and Wilson Phillips. With hypnotic grooves, rich harmonies, and emotionally charged improvisations, the album invites listeners on a journey through memories as they evolve and distort over time. The result is both accessible and artful, blending memorable melodies with bold, unexpected turns. A must-hear for fans of progressive jazz, cinematic arrangements, and fresh big band energy.

BLOSSOM

IN THE BRASS PALACE

Revered for his Hammond organ work, soul-jazz grooves, and his three-decade career leading The James Taylor Quartet, maestro keyboard player James Taylor releases his first album of classical works. His long association with Acid Jazz Records continues, as the label also steps into the classical world for the very first time. Recorded solo on a Steinway grand piano, Taylor performs some of his favorite pieces from the classical cannon, with familiar tunes alongside lesser-known works on this beautiful, atmospheric recording. His interpretations show a deep love of classical music. Always one to evolve, just as the James Taylor Quartet introduced Herbie Hancock to the indie scene of the late '80s, Taylor in turn introduces his audience to a new repertoire, with a remarkable, fresh and modern solo classical piano album.

Recorded during an almost 24-hour marathon first-day session for All My Relations, "Mitote" emerged from group improvisation and composition, featuring Sunny Jain (Red Baraat) on the dhol. Bosco and the band worked up an arrangement quickly with a heavy backbeat, building the melody on a blues form-embodying the world's nature of ecstasy and struggle. "Dilo" was recorded during the Ancestros Futuros sessions, but was left off the album. The rhythmic framework was composed by Brian Wolfe and arranged by the band. The song features call and response between the percussion and saxophone punctuated by high bell patterns and low bottom drum hits.

Delivering the second sermon in their Disco Gospel series, Chicago's Sadar Bahar & Marc Davis hand-pick and re-edit two more under-the-radar disco/gospel fusion tracks for the modern dancefloor. Both revered selectors and producers, Marc and Sadar are integral parts of Chicago's underground music scene, sharing the city's spirit with the world. Through his own label, Black Pegasus, and the Chi Talo series, Marc has become an in-demand DJ known for his raw and eclectic sets. He joins forces with good friend, DJ's DJ and Soul In The Hole head Sadar Bahar, whose name regularly tops the bill at some of the finest clubs and festivals around the globe. Digging deep once again, the pair serve up two certified secret weapons from their renowned collections. Finding that sweet spot that drew out the most uplifting, powerful, and danceable elements of both gospel and disco, they shine a light on two beauties from Myrna Summers and The Yancy Family. Tweaked and re-edited with style and consideration, they re-work the tracks with DJs and dancers in mind. As Robert M. Marovich of Journal of Gospel Music puts it, "The rise of contemporary gospel music in the 1970s and 1980s changed the style, if not the substance, of Black sacred music. Artists, including the Yancy Family and Myrna Summers, worked within the groovy new sound to attract the attention of a generation growing up on rock, jazz, pop, and soul. Bring them into the church through the music, the maxim goes, and they'll stay for the sermon. Likewise, these two re-edited album tracks by Sadar Bahar and Marc Davis keep the gospel music heritage alive while encouraging a brand-new generation to dance through the church doors." Up first, Myrna Summers 'So Much to Live For' channels that straight from the heart passion and collective joy that gospel embodies. Bursting with uplifting lyrics, scintillating organ melodies, and an infectious sing-along spirit, Marc and Sadar give it a club-ready DJ edit, extending it for maximum dancefloor deliverance. The B side sees the duo work their magic on, 'Lifted Me Higher'. Written by Kevin Yancy and taken from the Yancy Family's 1989 album From One Christian Family to Another, it features vocals from siblings Kevin, Judy, and Rev. Darryl Yancy, along with Lois Scott. The all-star team of Chicago musicians includes Sherwin (Butch) Yancy on organ, Michael Wade on piano and synthesizer, and Richard Gibbs (longtime accompanist for Aretha Franklin) on piano and bass. With a soulful boogie flavour, dripping in slap bass and '80s synthlines, Marc and Sadar rework the intro so it rides out on a section of delectable instrumental grooves, before letting the glorious vocals hit home.

Promised Heights solidified Cymande's place in music history, and contains some of their most-beloved and often-sampled tracks such as "Brothers On The Slide" & "Promised Heights." They were part of the first wave of innovators and originators of the fledgling Black British music scene. Promised Heights was recorded following the band's legendary US tour with Al Green. 2026 repress on black vinyl.

ESSENTIAL RAY BRYANT: TRIO & SOLO ALBUMS 1956-59

Stardust & Starlight: Live at the Jazz Showcase is a previously unissued recording of the enigmatic piano icon Mal Waldron captured live at Joe Segal's Jazz Showcase in Chicago, IL in August of 1979 with bassist Steve Rodby (Pat Metheny Group), drummer Wilbur Campbell, and special guest saxophonist Sonny Stitt on 2 songs. The set was mastered from the original tapes.

The Colonel & The Governor "World-renowned Australian "fingerstyle" acoustic guitarist Tommy Emmanuel, CGP, and Britain's Martin Taylor, MBE, release their highly anticipated collaboration album "The Colonel & The Governor" on Mesa/Bluemoon Recordings. " - Guitar International "Aficionados of the style out there will love it... The guitar work is mesmerizing. " - No Depression "Tommy Emmanuel and Martin Taylor Releasing New Album - A Top Story" - AntiMUSIC. Com The sound they put together is inviting, homely and truly incredible. The images each tune throws up is one of stimulating and carefully loved enticement, designed to relax the listener whilst at the same time giving a sense of hope and off beat gentleness. - Liverpool Sound and Vision The music has a delicious feel, relaxing and soulful and one can picture up families, even with small children, dancing around the kitchen or living room, the music has a wholesome, family feel about it all, and in today's commercial world this album is a simply a blessing. - Rockshot. Com "Any aspiring guitar player might have one of two reactions to a performance by six-string virtuosos Tommy Emmanuel and Martin Taylor. You might stand, open-mouthed in amazement and admiration, and walk away inspired and energized. Or you might savor their complex skills and beaming passion, then abandon all hope of ever being able to master the instrument yourself... Few can match his [Emmanuel] flawless standard, but for his latest record release and tour Tommy has teamed up with a man with all the right credentials - his long-time friend and British acoustic guitar hero Martin. " - This is Somerset "It's as if they were always destined to work together. " - The Birmingham Mail "After years of planning, they're out on the road for a 21-date UK tour following the release of The Colonel & The Governor album, a sensational collection of personal favourites. In the autumn they tour China, Japan and Asia. There's no language barrier when two great performers let the instruments do the talking. " - This is Devon

Extra Stars is Gregory Uhlmann's solo debut on International Anthem. It's a deep and gorgeous expansion of the LA-based multi-instrumentalist producer / composer's rhythmic ambient side, as nascently explored in his much-lauded duo with Meg Duffy, his trio work with Josh Johnson and Sam Wilkes, and in the gentler moments of SML (the improvising trance-jazz unit of which he is a member). A radiant sidereal serenade, the album's fourteen miniature infinities swirl serendipitous synthesis and measured, melody-rich song into a panoramic menagerie of sound. For a record that seldom incorporates percussion instrumentals, the music is distinctly rhythm-forward, while Uhlmann also leans heavily into swaths of pastoral beauty. Extra care was clearly poured into the kind of harmonic depth that's often missing from vibe-only "ambient" music, making for a delightfully refreshing take on the electronic, processing-heavy quiet sound.

If music... showcases star countertenor Jakub J�zef Orlinski in 17 songs and arias by three composers of the Baroque era: Purcell, Handel and Fux. Perhaps unexpectedly, he is partnered not by an ensemble of period instruments but by a pianist - his long-standing colleague Michal Biel. "On this album we have combined arias and songs that inspire and speak to us, " says Jakub J�zef Orlinski. "I love thinking of albums as pages out of my diary. They are a statement of where I am as an artist." As Michal Biel, who draws on all the possibilities of a Steinway grand piano, freely admits: "If music... is not an answer to the question of how to perform these masterpieces with historical authenticity." He sees each aria or song as "a carefully considered transcription that reveals it's appeal transcending instrumentation".

Walter Smith III -"Twio, Vol. 2" / For his third Blue Note album, tenor saxophonist Walter Smith III reprises his Twio concept with a highly enjoyable Vol. 2, a set of classic jazz songs that exudes a playful sense of joyful freedom. The album features a new cast of musicians including bassist Joe Sanders and drummer Kendrick Scott, plus special guest appearances by eminent elders Ron Carter on bass and Branford Marsalis on tenor saxophone. Capitol Music Group; Blue Note; Jazz.

Tinariwen evolve once again on their brand new album, connecting with a younger generation of Tuareg musicians to produce a vibrant album of undulating grooves rooted in their nomadic community. Also featuring guest appearances from Jos� Gonz�lez & Sulafa Elyas. Fierce advocates for their people's nomadic culture that exists in the desert borderlands between Mali and Algeria, Tinariwen's bluesy, guitar-driven music has found global acclaim over the past two decades for it's lively blend of Tamasheq-language politicism, syncopated rhythms and soaring melody. While previous records like 2023's Amatssou saw the group collaborate with Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson producer Daniel Lanois, on Hoggar the band look closer to home, and stake their claim as elders of this Tuareg musical tradition. Going back to their early years of songwriting with acoustic guitars and communal singing around the desert campfire, while also passing the torch onto a younger generation of featured musicians who can continue to keep the flame of rebellion and defiance alive.

With Blues in Blueprint, bassist and composer Clovis Nicolas delivers his fifth album for Sunnyside Records and one of his most focused artistic statements to date. Framed by the subtitle "12 Variations on the Blues," the album explores the blues not as a fixed form, but as a living blueprint-flexible, expansive, and deeply woven into the DNA of jazz. For this project, Nicolas set himself a clear challenge: to record an entire program of blues and blues-related repertoire while drawing from a wide range of jazz eras, grooves, and formal approaches. The result is a cohesive yet adventurous journey, revealing the blues as both a historical foundation and an endlessly renewable source of expression. To bring this vision to life, Nicolas assembled an exceptional trio featuring Larry Goldings, heard here in a rare and welcome appearance on acoustic piano, and the masterful Carl Allen on drums. Recorded in New York and engineered by the legendary James Farber, the trio plays with deep rapport, elegance, and rhythmic authority throughout. The repertoire spans an unusually broad terrain. Traditional material such as "Old Stack O'Lee Blues," famously associated with Sidney Bechet, sits alongside modern classics by Duke Ellington, Ornette Coleman, Carla Bley, and Wes Montgomery, as well as a 19th-century hymn to close the album. Each selection reveals a different structural or emotional facet of the blues, from stop-time lyricism and bebop sophistication to free interplay and gospel-tinged introspection. Nicolas's original compositions are central to the album's identity. Pieces like "Hutch," "The Bass Speaks," and "Groovy Globy" reimagine blues forms through unconventional structures, contrapuntal writing, and fresh harmonic language, highlighting Nicolas's distinctive voice as both composer and bassist. His warm, vocal tone and melodic approach-particularly evident on "Abide with Me"-anchor the trio with quiet authority and emotional depth. Highlights abound: Goldings' lyrical imagination and harmonic elegance, Allen's refined swing and coloristic mastery (especially on brushes), and the trio's collective ease across styles-from R&B-inflected grooves on "Lawns" to open, free-form dialogue on Ornette Coleman's "Ramblin'," one of the album's most striking moments of spontaneous interaction. Blues in Blueprint is ultimately a meditation on continuity and reinvention. Rooted firmly in tradition yet forward-looking in spirit, the album presents the blues as a timeless framework-one that continues to inspire new shapes, new voices, and new stories. With Goldings and Allen at his side, Clovis Nicolas offers a blues album that is at once respectful, personal, and unmistakably contemporary.

The first LP released on Ray Charles' Tangerine Records imprint in 1963, Jimmy Scott's Falling in Love is Wonderful exists as one of the most mythic albums in vocal jazz. Due to contract disputes with his former label, Scott's Tangerine debut was shelved shortly after it was released - much like it's Atlantic Records follow-up, The Source - and went un-reissued for decades. Ultimately, Scott, a favorite of his contemporaries like Ella Fitzgerald, never became the star he should have been, but this album remains his masterpiece: A loving, tender collection filled with Scott's masterful work around a ballad.

Free jazz collective Irreversible Entanglements return with their second Impulse! Recording, Future Present Past. Largely recorded at the historic Van Gelder Studio, the album sees the quintet meld atmospheric jazz, global music traditions and spoken word into our shared story of existence - futures full of possibility, the present with all it's uncertainties, and pasts as wellsprings of ancestral wisdom.

ERNESTINE BLUES, with Pat Thomas, Sugaray Rayford, Bob Stroger, Tia Carroll, Johnny Rawls, Oscar Wilson, Tony Coleman, Charles Wilson, Willie Buck, Jimi Primetime Smith, Carla Denise, Bob Margolin, Teeny Tucker, Kid Ramos, Johnny Main, Billy Flynn, Anthony Geraci, Ben Levin, Doug James & more. Recorded over the past three years, this next chapter in Bob Corritore's blues adventure showcases stunning collaborations with some of the top performers of today's blues scene. Story-telling songs with great singers and champion bands provide the ultimate setting for each of the featured guests and Bob's compelling harmonica. Bob has the unique ability to bring out never-before captured aspects of well-known singers, achieving exciting and heartfelt performances. From Bob's cornerstone of straight, traditional Chicago Blues to his explorations with early R&B, Mississippi country blues and soul/blues ballads, Corritore captures the nuanced purity of each style, creating a guided tour of every aspect of Blues, it's tradition, and extension! Note also the graphic art of Vince Ray, as he once again captures a powerful blues mood on his eighth stunning album cover for Bob Corritore.