As genre conventions continue to morph and blur, there's a wealth of stunning new music being made wherever groups of musicians have the imagination and ingenuity to transcend the old boundaries and just play whatever comes naturally. Sun Speak are such a group and their album Probiotic Orchestrations is full of music that's urgent, powerful, accessible and humorous, pulling together sounds and textures from the worlds of rock, jazz, electronica, Americana and the outer reaches of progressive music into compelling whole. Guitarist Matt Gold and drummer Nate Friedman first came together as Sun Speak ten years ago amid the white heat of the Chicago experimental scene, where they'd worked with such luminaries as Makaya McCraven and Patricia Barber. On this, their sixth release, they continue to develop their own distinctive sonic world with the aid of fellow Chicagoan Daniel Pierson who joined as engineer/sound sculptor and now increasingly takes a collaborative role as a third member of the band on keyboards. Now the trio are dispersed and live in different corners of the USA, but in 2024 they came together in a remote seaside cabin in New Hampshire, writing and recording every day in an intense undisturbed whirlwind of creativity. Probiotic Orchestrations is the result - a dazzling mix of improvisation and composition, exploring rhythm, colour and texture with the directness of rock and the fearless improvisatory flair of jazz.

For a decade, the trio of Ben Allison, Steve Cardenas, and Ted Nash has coalesced into a singular ensemble highlighting impressive group interplay and creative interpretations of the music of their favorite composers. After years of focusing on the music of others, the drummer-less trio found it the right time to take on the compositions of it's members on the new recording, Triological. The relationships between Allison, Cardenas, and Nash have spanned decades. Woodwind master Nash enlisted Allison for the bassist's first professional gig in 1990. Their bond deepened later in the decade as they became members of the Jazz Composers Collective. Guitarist Steve Cardenas was brought into Allison's orbit in 2004, the two discovering a deep connection evidenced on the many projects they have worked on together. The trio came together when Cardenas and Allison were approached with a gig in Upstate New York. For the performance, they decided to focus on the music of guitar legend Jim Hall. After a first rehearsal, Cardenas and Allison decided to add a horn to the mix in homage to the revolutionary trio of Jimmy Giuffre, which had featured Hall and bassist Ralph Pena. Their choice of Nash as the woodwind voice was inspired and the trio has been impressing listeners ever since. The configuration of the trio may owe much to the model of that Giuffre group. They reference, but do not intend to duplicate, that trio's example, as the instrumentation has allowed for an openness to explore any musical direction, from free to folk, all in the most conversational of manners. Naturally, the group's first recording, Quiet Revolution (Newvelle and Sonic Camera Records, 2016/2018), featured their arrangements of Hall and Giuffre. Their next recording, Somewhere Else: West Side Story Songs (Plastic Sax Records, 2019) presented the trio's takes on the music of Leonard Bernstein's beloved musical. Their 2022 Sunnyside recording, Healing Power, celebrated the genius of Carla Bley and their 2024 release, Tell The Birds I Said Hello, shined light on the brilliance of Herbie Nichols. When faced with choosing another composer to feature, the trio reached a creative dead end. They felt that it was time to do something conceptually different and that provided a reflection of where they were as an ensemble. Each being a celebrated composer in his own right, the trio decided it was time for a new challenge: To write for this themselves. The trio members knew that a program of original music from each member would provide a fantastic mix of music, as they all write so differently from one another. The trio brought three pieces each (plus one more for Allison) to record at Matt Balitsaris's Maggie's Farm Studio over two days in late June 2025. The trio of Ben Allison, Steve Cardenas, and Ted Nash has spent ten years honing an individual group sound by funneling the influences, their years of experience, and their love of discovery. It is through that prism that their new recording, Triological, highlights a new side of the trio's personality, as they explore their own compositions.

The silky smooth vocal style of Earl Grant was, along with his keyboard skills, highly regarded among young and old record buyers from the mid-50s until his untimely death in a road accident in 1970. When he passed away prematurely, he left behind a vast catalogue of albums and singles that have mostly remained un-reissued in the digital era. Some years ago, Jasmine put together a 2CD set containing his first four albums. We are now finally following that release up with a compilation of almost all of Earl's vocal 45s from the first six years of his career - the first time, to our knowledge, that such an undertaking has been attempted and accomplished. Earl did not have many significant hits outside of his international 1958 chart smash 'The End' and the ever popular 1960 club favourite 'House Of Bamboo', but he always delivered a quality product and many of these singles sold extremely well over an extended period of time. He was with the same record label for his entire career barring his first two obscure 45s - and let's face it, that would not have happened if he hadn't been selling records! The selections here range from cool R&B covers to sublime, mature balladry, all delivered in a style not unlike that of Earl's idol Nat King Cole. The music featured has aged well, stood the test of time and offers a fine testament to his abundant talent.

MUSIC FOR CLARINET & PIANO

Tenor saxophonist Melissa Aldana's third Blue Note album, Filin, is an exquisite ballads album that presents stunning new versions of songs drawn from the Filin music tradition of Cuba, a style of popular song from the 1940s-60s that was deeply influenced by American musicians such as Nat King Cole. The album title is a homophone with the word feelin' and the deeply felt performances find Aldana with a remarkable quartet featuring the Cuban pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba with Peter Washington on bass and Kush Abadey on drums, as well as special guest vocalist Cecile McLorin Salvant on two tracks. The band also interprets songs by Brazilian composers Hermeto Pascoal ("Little Church") and Cartola ("Las Rosas No Hablan").

With 'The Rule of Three', the unique generation-spanning entity that is QOW TRIO are back with a barnstorming third album. Building logically on the natural development of their two previous collections, this time the fearless threesome can be heard roaming further than ever before into the uncharted hinterlands where the deep jazz tradition of the classic tenor trio format, laden with melody and swing, ventures into the untamed regions of free improvisation. At the heart of the band is the unmistakable beat of drummer Spike Wells, who this year celebrates his 80th birthday and the 65th year of his extraordinary career at the forefront of jazz in the UK, providing the driving force behind everyone from homegrown heroes Tubby Hayes to Bobby Wellins to visitors like Stan Getz and Roland Kirk and countless others. Riding at his side to represent the current London-based millennial cohort is saxophonist Riley Stone Lonergan, whose intriguing compositions and boundless creative imagination as an improvisor continue to add to his burgeoning reputation. Representing the diversity of tastes and interests and uncompromising creative stance typical of Gen X, big-toned bassist Eddie Myer rounds up the posse. From Ayler to Strayhorn, from be-bop to calypso, from cowboy movie to free-jazz shootout, there's a surprise at every turn, but always delivered with total sincerity and conviction and a driving desire to bring the audience with them every step of the way

The ensemble brings together the intimacy of a classical trio (violin, cello, piano), the rhythmic grounding of a jazz piano trio, and three distinctive vocalists, resulting in a fluid and highly expressive group sound. The album moves freely between song, chamber music, and improvisation, setting H�lsmann's original compositions alongside a personal interpretation of Ani DiFranco's "Up Up..." and a Brazilian song by Z�lia Fonseca. Lyrics by poets such as Emily Dickinson, Margaret Atwood, and E.E. Cummings add literary depth, while shifting textures evoke Brazilian dance, musical theatre, and moments of dense collective improvisation. While I Was Away presents a luminous and fearless ensemble statement, reaffirming H�lsmann's place as one of contemporary jazz's most thoughtful composers.

After keyboardist/composer Bayet� a.k.a. Todd Cochran established his musical presence on the San Francisco scene playing in Bobby Hutcherson's band, and before becoming a key member of the innovative band Automatic Man, which he co-founded with Santana drummer Michael Shrieve, he recorded a couple of solo albums for the Prestige label that feature some of the most far-out, futuristic music the legendary jazz imprint ever released. The first, Worlds Around the Sun, created quite a critical stir and debuted his composition "Free Angela," which was later recorded again by Santana and sampled widely by artists like Kendrick Lamar, de la Soul, and Jay Electronica. But it was this album, 1973's Seeking Other Beauty, that represented the full flowering of his vision. As Bayet� says in the notes by Pat Thomas that accompany our Real Gone reissue, "While I've held space for the blues aesthetic and jazz in everything I've done, I was leaving one world and entering another, unmooring the ship and heading into a sea of unknowns, so to speak." That ship ended up at a dazzling destination reached by few; early '70s electric Miles is a clear point on the compass, but so are Parliament-Funkadelic and Lonnie Liston Smith, if he were playing a fuzzed-out clavinet instead of a Fender Rhodes. Bayet� went on to collaborate with everybody from Peter Gabriel to Herbie Hancock to Stanley Clarke, but Seeking Other Beauty delivers the full measure of the man. This is a first-ever reissue, featuring an all-analog pressing in either black vinyl or "plasma" vinyl, accompanied by an added insert. In it's attitude, emotion, and performance, this recording captures an urgency that people are feeling again today. If you're a fan of music that features a mosaic of influences - spiritual jazz with a fluid futuristic slant, akin to some of the Black Jazz label titles we reissued on Real Gone - this record is for you.

On Rick Braun Plays Chuck Mangione, Braun performs every track on the same Couesnon flugelhorn he played as a student at the Eastman School of Music and with the band Auracle-fitted with the cherished Giardinelli mouthpiece gifted to him by the legend himself during a meeting at the 2007 Long Beach Jazz Festival. The collection features an extraordinary roster of collaborators including original Mangione guitarist Grant Geissman, saxophonists Richard Elliot and Tom Scott, keyboardist Philippe Saisse, and flutist Steve Kujala.

MOSTRA COLLETTIVA

Limited 180gm vinyl LP pressing. Brass/Trio, released in 1958 on Verve Records, is an unusual two-sided statement from saxophonist Sonny Rollins - pairing a full brass ensemble session on one side with a stripped-down saxophone trio on the other. The first half features Rollins with a brass ensemble arranged and conducted by Ernie Wilkins, recorded in New York in July 1958. The lineup includes trumpeter Harry "Sweets" Edison, trombonists J.J. Johnson and Jimmy Cleveland, and tuba player Don Butterfield, supported by a rhythm section of pianist Dick Katz, guitarist Rene Thomas, bassist Henry Grimes, and drummer Roy Haynes. The second half was recorded days later in Los Angeles with bassist Henry Grimes and drummer Specs Wright - a pared-down trio setting that emphasizes Rollins' rhythmic command and melodic elasticity. The Verve Vault Series is always mastered from analog tapes and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal.

The twin trombone frontline is an esoteric but noble tradition in jazz, harking back to the famed 1950s recordings of Kai Windings and JJ Johnson. While respecting the tradition, the internationally renowned trombonists Paul Dunlea (from Cork) and Trevor Mires (from London) are not traditionalists, and their collaborative project Silfra showcases their thoroughly contemporary skills as composers and arrangers to create a fascinatingly diverse set of trombone led music. Silfra is the name of a place in Iceland where the tectonic plates of Europe and America meet and rub together. "I scuba-dived between the two plates and touched them both at the same time," says Dunlea, and the album presents a true transatlantic meeting of talent. The project was conceived after Paul and Trevor worked together on a project at London's famous Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, and the music was recorded at the legendary New York studio of Rudy Van Gelder with a specially assembled band of their favorite US musicians. For the drum chair, Trevor chose Billy Kilson, famed for his long association with Dave Holland, while Paul selected bassist Ike Sturm (Donny McCaslin) and pianist Jim Ridl (Kurt Elling, Joe Locke). Ryan Keberle contributes a third trombone to some of the sections to create a full, lush sound. The result is a stunning album that combines influences from both the leaders' multi-faceted careers, Paul's Irish heritage, and their deep love of the jazz tradition. Silfra is a beautifully realised album from two master musicians completely at ease in their surroundings

Whirlwind debut from Estonian pianist and vocalist Britta Virves. Joined by her regular trio partners Jon Henriksson on bass and Jonas Backman on drums, and a captivating guest appearance from Artadi, she's created a set of sparklingly fresh original music that is at once accessible and outgoing, yet still deeply personal. Drawing from her constant searching for her own unique sound she filters her love of rhythm and groove through her Nordic sensibility to create an accessible, compelling blend of excitement and introspection. Growing up on the island of Saaremaa in her native Estonia, Britta Virves was a keen piano student playing a strictly classical repertoire. A chance encounter introduced her to jazz: "I wanted to learn guitar. So I went to my teacher Tit Paulus, and he told me to stay with piano, and introduced me to Keith Jarrett, Herbie Hancock, Bill Evans - my mind was blown - a new world opened up." Britta immersed herself in the music and her talent soon attracted attention. Moving to Sweden to further her studies, she was soon touring Europe with the acclaimed Norrbotten Big Band, under the direction of Joakim Milder, working closely with featured guest vocalist Genevieve Artadi and accompanying Artadi on a duo tour opening for Louis Cole. Each tune on the album draws inspiration from an aspect of Britta's own life. "Simple Things" has the directness of a pop song married to the depth of jazz, as Genevieve Artadi's ethereal vocals float over an insistent backbeat that supports limpid depths of harmony. Other tracks include "Bravery", which showcases the subtlety and dynamic control of the rhythm team

With 'The Rule of Three', the unique generation-spanning entity that is QOW TRIO are back with a barnstorming third album. Building logically on the natural development of their two previous collections, this time the fearless threesome can be heard roaming further than ever before into the uncharted hinterlands where the deep jazz tradition of the classic tenor trio format, laden with melody and swing, ventures into the untamed regions of free improvisation. At the heart of the band is the unmistakable beat of drummer Spike Wells, who this year celebrates his 80th birthday and the 65th year of his extraordinary career at the forefront of jazz in the UK, providing the driving force behind everyone from homegrown heroes Tubby Hayes to Bobby Wellins to visitors like Stan Getz and Roland Kirk and countless others. Riding at his side to represent the current London-based millennial cohort is saxophonist Riley Stone Lonergan, whose intriguing compositions and boundless creative imagination as an improvisor continue to add to his burgeoning reputation. Representing the diversity of tastes and interests and uncompromising creative stance typical of Gen X, big-toned bassist Eddie Myer rounds up the posse. From Ayler to Strayhorn, from be-bop to calypso, from cowboy movie to free-jazz shootout, there's a surprise at every turn, but always delivered with total sincerity and conviction and a driving desire to bring the audience with them every step of the way

The Messthetics & James Brandon Lewis - Deface the Currency is the second collaboration between The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis. It captures the sound of what the forge of 150 shows in a year can do to a band. They have become a unit designed to destroy on stage. This record is expansive, ambitious, and spontaneous.

Vinyl LP pressing. Tenor saxophonist Melissa Aldana's third Blue Note album, Filin, is an exquisite ballads album that presents stunning new versions of songs drawn from the Filin music tradition of Cuba, a style of popular song from the 1940s-60s that was deeply influenced by American musicians such as Nat King Cole. The album title is a homophone with the word feelin' and the deeply felt performances find Aldana with a remarkable quartet featuring the Cuban pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba with Peter Washington on bass and Kush Abadey on drums, as well as special guest vocalist Cecile McLorin Salvant on two tracks. The band also interprets songs by Brazilian composers Hermeto Pascoal ("Little Church") and Cartola ("Las Rosas No Hablan").

Limited 180gm vinyl LP pressing. J.J. Johnson adapted the language of bebop to the trombone winning the admiration of Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. After playing on Miles Davis' first Blue Note session, J.J. led several dates from 1953-55 with the likes of Clifford Brown, Charles Mingus, Horace Silver and Hank Mobley that were compiled on The Eminent Jay Jay Johnson, Vol. 2 (BLP 1506). This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is mono, all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original masters, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal.

At the heart of saxophonist and composer Alex LoRe's music making is a fearless approach to exploring the fault lines and contradictions within his art: reconciling the timeless post-bop verities explored by his friends and mentors Greg Osby and Bunky Green with his own awareness of the possibilities of the seemingly opposite extremes of through-composition and freedom. His Whirlwind Records debut Evening Will Find Itselfmarks a powerful step forward in his journey to reconcile these tensions to create a music that isn't limited by expectations, always centered around the unapologetic warmth and humanity of his own playing, and carried forward by his band of long-term musical partners: Glenn Zaleski on piano, Desmond White on bass and (relative) newcomer Allan Mednard on drums. 'This album is me trying to find some different sound worlds to exist in, striking a new balance between notated music and improvisation, giving the musicians freedom to explore those worlds'.

The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis - Deface The Currency / The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis announce their second collaborative album, Deface The Currency, on Impulse! Records. This new album preserves the tightness and variety of their critically-acclaimed self-titled debut album, but reveals new levels of confidence and risk over seven tracks. Deface The Currency - a statement of vigor, sensitivity and spontaneity- is a result of the band playing 150 shows together in one year. More than any earlier statement by the band, Deface The Currency seamlessly melds the sounds that make up it's collective DNA, from punk rock to free jazz and funk, balancing compositional precision with palpable improvisational fire.

Every new release from Quinsin Nachoff is a headline event, a radical combining and recombining of sonic and conceptual innovations, ever-evolving textures, powerful melodies and rhythms, that always open up new vistas for exploration while clearly marking the way back to what has come before. The album Patterns from Nature is an unashamedly ambitious showcase for his remarkable abilities as a composer and orchestrator, working within the space where the heartfelt collaborative improvisation of jazz meets the adventurous rigor of contemporary music and the depth and complexity of conceptual art. As composer, Nachoff created the closely written, intricately detailed scores for a pair of large-ensemble pieces. As bandleader, he oversaw the realisation of those scores by a hand-picked team of remarkable genre-crossing musicians, including pianist Matt Mitchell, percussionist Satoshi Takeishi, bassist Carlo de Rosa, clarinetist Francois Houle, trombonist Ryan Keberle, and the internationally renowned Molinari String Quartet, supported by a large chamber ensemble conducted by JC Sanford. As interdisciplinary collaborator, he worked with physicist Dr. Stephen Morris, whose research into emergent patterns in nature informed the project's structural concepts, and four filmmakers - Tina de Groot, Lee Hutzulak, Gita Blak, and Udo Prinsen - originally conceived alongside them for a multimedia version of the work, resulting in the titular Patterns from Nature suite of four contrasting movements that engage the listener at every level.

WITCHESS

JUST WHEN YOU THINK YOU KNOW

With "My World is the Sun", Dominique Fils-Aim� seeks to dissolve expectations and invite listeners into an artistic space defined not by genre or market demands, but by presence, intuition, and emotional resonance. It is a project that reflects her commitment to freedom - sonic, creative, and spiritual - and her desire to create from a place of honesty and vulnerability. In "My World is the Sun", Dominique Fils-Aim� enters the second chapter of her second trilogy, a collection of introspective and intuitive work that began with "Our Roots Run Deep" (2023).

TRIUMVIRATE

BIRTHDAY PARTY