js “Blues for Vita” is saxophonist Paul Carlon’s sixth album as a leader and finds him mining similar material as his previous albums, that is a mix of Latin jazz and hard bop with some modern tendencies toward the abstract. This is very much NYC music and it strikes a nice balance between tradition and modern sounds. Paul cites trumpeter Woody Shaw as a major influence, as well as the soul jazz meets bebop saxophone work of Gene Ammons. Joining Paul on this album is a crew of New York heavyweights with similar backgrounds in Latin music and jazz, probably the most recognizable name in the bunch is bassist and co-producer Harvie S, who seems to be about everywhere these days. Most of these songs are fairly concise as far as jazz goes, its nice that every song does not feature a solo by everyone in the group, a practice that can bog things down. The solos stretch out just enough, but not so much that the songs lose their drive.

Lots of good tracks on here, “Dee Dot” which kicks things off is a high energy post bop scorcher with just the right amount of “Latin tinge”. “Colored Paper” is Latin soul jazz that would sound right at home on a Eddie Harris album, and sometimes sounds like the second coming of “Wade in the Water”. The album’s title track is gritty New York jazz blues, and the ‘Vita” in the song title is actually Lavita, Paul’s wife and also the beautiful woman featured on the cover of the album. Carlon’s interest in Woody Shaw styled energetic modernisms show up on “Isabel the Liberator” and “Unmute”.

Matti P Nu jazz is a subgenre I haven't much explored yet, even though it really seems to please me. In short it's jazz with electronic music ingredients, a step further from its cousin 'acid jazz'. Amusingly named Njet Njet 9 is a Finnish instrumental group founded in 2015 and led by keyboardist-composer Ville Kyttälä. Toivo (=Hope) is their fourth album released a few months ago. I haven't listened to the previous albums, because in fact I just found the band by shuffling through the JMA database. I won't let that bother me, I'm only glad to introdude them here. Great stuff!

Toivo has seven tracks mostly around 5-6 minute length, which feels exactly suitable for the compositions; there's enough space to weave fascinating and hypnotically flowing soundscapes with a feel of progression, and at the same time things are kept compact enough not to lose focus or freshness. 'Pöllö' (=Owl) is an excellent opener. The atmosphere is at first very soft and nocturnal, but the playing gets more intense in an awesome way. Kyttälä's otherworldly synths offer the coolest details, harmonically accompanied by richly nuanced woodwinds. Markus Pajakkala, also remembered as the frontman of UTOPIANISTI, has beautiful flute parts here.

'Maa' (=Earth/Country) is also pretty dynamic and contains important contributions from bass clarinet and bass trombone. The band's overall sound is deliciously juicy. The summery jazz groove and the [space/progressive] rock aspect are in a happy harmony, and that's naturally also due to the gifted rhythm section and guitarist Veikki Virkajärvi.

The fourth piece 'Pieni pilvi' (=Little cloud) is a dreamy slow-tempo tune that brings me -- guided by the title, of course -- associations to the Gil Evans /Sting interpretation of the Jimi Hendrix ballad, whether it's deliberate or not. It doesn't citate the song anyhow but the mood is a bit similar. The longest track 'The Messenger' (8:17) takes a couple of minutes to start properly. The length is used for both deepening the hypnotic beat and bringing variety in the arrangement. The album closes with the romantically peaceful title track.

A very enjoyable, detailed and dynamic nu jazz album indeed. A pity that this time the band didn't invite any guest vocalists as they occasionally have done, but the whole surely works well as an all-instrumental album, too. Warmly recommended.

snobb Tenor David Murray made his name in the late 70s and early 80s as one of the free jazz loft scene stars. Later he switched towards more accessible forms of jazz while still recording more adventurous albums occasionally. Less active during the last decades, David surprisingly returned in 2022 with a soul jazz album on the Swiss Intakt label, recorded with bassist Brad Jones and legendary drummer Hamid Drake.

Two years later, David returns with another Intakt release, his new quartet's work "Francesca". Murray plays soulful post-bop here, similar to the more orthodox post-avant-garde albums Archie Shepp was responsible for in the late 70s and 80s. Quite an unusual offer for a Swiss label specializing in more experimental and free jazz. Probably Murray's name as one of the avant-garde jazz significant figures from the past is a reason.

The album's music itself is beautifully played tuneful jazz usual for the early 80s. Compared with the above mentioned Archie Shepp works, Murray plays a bit more fast-tempo, more elegant, and less melancholic (ie not Shepp's "late night jazz"). His quartet is completed with some of the brightest young generation's musicians from both continents, including fast rising Spanish piano star Marta Sanchez, unorthodox bassist Luke Stewart, and young American drummer Russell Carter. BTW, Marta Sanchez is releasing her album as a leader on the Intakt label this year as well.

Murray is the obvious leader here on this recording, still leaving some space for each collab's soloing. In general, the music is more emotionally colored than technically complex, offering a bouquet of tunes. All musicians play concerning tradition, but adding some light touch of modernity.

An album of great musical quality if a bit conservative. Absolute must-have for everyone searching for newly released music based on the tradition of the 70s and 80s.

js Although “Three Chord Monte” is only his third album as a leader, guitarist Tony Romano has been working as a sideman for sometime with jazz, Latin and pop artists such as Randy Brecker, Dave Valentin, Joe Bataan, Stanley Jordan and even Debbie Gibson. He can also be heard on many TV soundtracks as well. Tony wrote all of the material on this album and he enlisted Jennifer Vincent on bass and Rob Garcia on drums to help him out. Saxophonist Paul Carlon shows up on about half of the songs as well. Tony cites Bill Frisell as a major influence which will be obvious to those who know Bill’s work, but you can also hear some John Scofield in some of Romano’s funky riffing and contemporary melodic style.

The album opens strong with the Afrobeat groove of “Cadillac Green”, on which you can hear drummer Rob Garcia’s appreciation for Fela’s long time drummer, Tony Allen. As Romano builds his solo he digs into some hardcore Prince style funk riffs, this one is a scorcher. Later on the album, “Lay it Down”, re-visit’s the Tony Allen Afrobeat drive. The Frisell influence shows up on several melodic ballads, the best of which is “Home”, because this one gives Tony more room to stretch out on a solo. The band gets into their jazzy post bop thing on a couple numbers and “Onward and Upward” features some of sax man Paul Carlon’s best work. Romano’s extensive work in Latin jazz shows up on a couple tracks and “Squirrelly” gets into some bluesy RnB with a New Orleans backline beat. All of the tracks are well composed and executed with imagination, but for my money, I would love to hear Tony get into some more of that groovy Afrobeat thang.

snobb Five years ago I noticed a (virtually unknown at the time) young American jazz artist playing a gig during a jazz fest in a small provincial town in Samogitia, where every foreign artist was a real rarity. He sounded like the time machine transferred him there right from late 60s America, and it was quite unusual and interesting. This musician was sax player Isaiah Collier.

Now, after a few albums released and a lot of gigs played all around the globe, Isaiah is not a jazz world's "dark horse" anymore. His just released album, "The Almighty", is obviously noticed by media and listeners. What Isaiah offers on his new release is in fact a continuation of his earliest work. Emotively colored, richly arranged spiritual jazz, more precisely - a jazz suite performed by Collier's quartet with the help of a whole small orchestra on some pieces.

The album's music sounds exactly as one can expect from Collier - strongly influenced by Pharoah Sanders/Alice Coltrane works from the late 60s-early 70s, without even a trace of more current decades influence. To be precise, it is important to mention there is a stronger attention on composition in this album's music.

Just five longish songs, lasting more that one hour, all are tuneful, soulful and well played and arranged. Depending on the listener's taste, one can enjoy almost authentically re-vitalized sound and atmosphere of half-a-century old spiritual jazz, or miss some of nowadays musical elements in it. Same way, for some, the whole album can sound a bit bombastic, but then it fits well under the late 60s genre standards.

All in all, it's an interesting work of a rising artist who continues going his own way.

js Sadao Watanabe is one of the top alto saxophonists in the jazz world for the last six decades. He, along with Phil Woods, Eric Dolphy and Cannonball Adderly, is one of the top successors to the legacy of Charlie Parker. Sadao has put out many great records over the years and has worked with some of the best musicians that the US and Japan have to offer, but he is also known for putting on some commercial fare, more than likely to help pay the bills, which leads us to 1986’s “Good Time for Love”. The mid-80s were not a great time for jazz, commercial interests had taken over and saccharine smooth jazz was dominating the jazz charts. There is a lengthy list of musicians involved on this album and you may recognize many names from the US, Japan and Jamaica. About half the album is okay smooth jazz, with the other half just being way too sweet and vacuous for consumption.

Lets look at some of the better tracks. The album opener shares the same title as the album and is a decent reggae groove. It helps that they have some top notch Jamaican musicians on board as few things sound worse than badly played reggae. “Loving You is Easy” is a good funky soul jazz number and may be the best cut on the album except for the Caribbean groove of “Pogo”. “Pogo” is the only track on the album that just seems to end too soon. “Step Out on the Street” is okay smooth jazz RnB, but the rest of the album is pretty sappy and hits a low with “When We Make a Home”. This one actually has cringe vocals and the sort of lyrics you could imagine that would go with a song title like that. Overall, this is an okay smooth jazz record if you like that sort of thing, but if you like the real jazz, Watanabe has some much better albums out there.

Matti P Here's another not-yet-even-rated artist, American vocalist HALIE LOREN (b. 1984) who started writing songs at the age of 13, being impressed by e.g. Joni Mitchell, Sarah Mclachlan and Annie Lennox. After five years of performing she released her debut album Full Circle (2006). Overall she is perhaps a bit closer being a pop/rock artist than a jazz artist per se.

Some sources say this live album is actually from 2010. As a newcomer to her output I have a feeling that Stages is a rewarding place to start. First, the backing band (piano, trumpet and rhythm section) is excellent -- and notably jazzier than how Halie Loren's studio albums averagely sound like, I believe. The live atmosphere is warm and happy, and also the sonic quality is good, so one can imagine being there in a supposedly intimate club. Second, this set features nicely chosen covers easy for newcomers to relate -- although so do her studio albums as well.

'Danger in Loving You' is co-written by Loren herself. It's an elegant, bluesy ballad. Thee other own songs are scattered across the 13-song set. The scale of cover tunes is pretty broad. The Kinks classic 'Sunny Afternoon' is followed by U2's 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For', the latter succesfully turned into a piano-centred, slow jazz ballad.

Heartaching 'Cry Me a River' is best remembered as Julie London's trademark song, while 'Girl from Ipanema' (the song that introduced Astrud Gilberto) brings a lovely Brazilian ingredient to this show. Loren even sings in Portuguese, too. Usually I'm not much delighted by oldies such as 'Is You Or Is You Ain't My Baby' but I have to say Loren and the musicians give it an enjoyable, laid-back interpretation. Among my favourites is the serenely moody and passionate 'Love Me Like A River Does'(Melody Gardot).

Tuck & Patti's 'High Heel Blues' Loren sings a cappella, which must have been a nice number for the live audience. Even Gershwin's endlessly interpreted 'Summertime' is a delight due to the Eva Cassidy reminding stretching of notes and the luxurious piano work of Matt Treder. The closing track 'Rainbow Race' is a Pete Seeger song.

Jazz is one of those genres that suit extremely well for live settings, and I'm sure I would have greatly enjoyed seeing this gig. Also as the audio-only listening it functions very well.

snobb I have no idea how Antibes looked in 1970, but I believe its great pine forests, sandy beaches and blue sea water were all the same as today. A beautiful town in French Rivera is a piece of heaven on earth. Even those too lazy for a longer walk can enjoy fantastic views from Plage du Ponteil to the sandy beach with palms (looking to the right) or picturesque fortification ruins over the blue sea watching from Boulevard du Maréchal-Leclerc to the left. On sunny days (and days are almost always sunny there) Antibes looks more like the Caribbean than a European seaside town.

This concert, Archie Shepp Live in Antibes Vol 1, is recorded in Juan-les-Pins - formerly a small resort town near Antibes, now - a luxury Antibes seaside district. Jazz fest has been a part of summer Antibes life for decades (and continues every July). The atmosphere is extraordinary - sun, sea, sand, and palms, a small ancient old-town nearby, a lot of cafes and restaurants, but first of all - natural beauty. Many world-class jazz musicians played there (some are recorded as well).

Shepp is in great creative form here, he sounds not as angry as just a few years before, but more inventive, with a lot of improvisation. He is at the peak of his free jazz period, which soon will leave for a more conventional sound.

"Live in Antibes vol.1" contains just one long song, "The Early Bird" - I didn't find that song recorded by Shepp before on any album. The band isn't his regular American one though - no Sonny Murray, Alan Silva, Grachan Moncur III or cornet player Clifford Thornton can be found here. The only link with Shepp's American past is trumpeter Alan Shorter, the rest of the band is completed by members of Claude Delcloo’s (a French drummer and BIG label owner) Full Moon Ensemble. A bit unusual is the presence of guitarist (Joseph Déjean) on board.

Originally a broadcast for French O.R.T.F. radio, the album's sound quality is only very average. Shepp's sax is placed in the very front, the other instruments' sound is a bit muddy and comes somewhere from backstage. Two days later Shepp will play another gig in the same place, and another one-song-long album will be released as "Live In Antibes Vol.2" then.

Both these releases, which offer free music sounding over sandy beaches, pine forests, and blue sea are a piece of emotional evidence from (already moving to the end) a unique era of free jazz.

Matti P Sadly there aren't even ratings here for British artist Katie Melua (b. 1984 in Kutaisi, Georgia). The mellow, relaxed nature of her jazz & blues flavoured adult pop makes it easy to see similarities with American Norah Jones, and also her quick rise to a wide popularity resembles the other well-received young female newcomer of the early 2000's. Melua may not be quite as accomplished as a musician and composer as Jones, but she's not a mere singer either.

Katie Melua's debut album Call Off the Search (2003) was an enormous success, selling 1,8 million copies in the first five months. It was produced, and half written, by the long-term songwriter, arranger, director and producer Mike Batt who continued as Melua's right hand on subsequent releases. It was easy for this safely done second album to faithfully follow the succesful path. It reached the top of the charts and sold platinum on several countries.

The nice, small-scale opener 'Shy Boy' leans on the blues. The album's lead single, fresh & sweet ballad 'Nine Million Bicycles' (also by Batt) remains deservedly as one of Melua's best-loved songs. Melua's own composition 'Piece by Piece' is enjoyable as a moodier ballad inspired by the break-up from her boy friend. 'Halfway Up the Hindu Kush' (Melua/Batt) has a joyful jazzy feel but isn't among my faves.

Katie Melua is competent enough as an interpreter to feel at home on standards like 'Blues in the Night' in which Paul Jones plays harmonica. 'On the Road Again' happily isn't the worn-out country song but a Canned Heat song from 1967. 'Just like Heaven' is originally a 1987 piece of The Cure and suits Katie Melua surprisingly well.

Within a couple of years Melua had progressed as a songwriter. 'Spider's Web' is a fine, dark-toned ballad. 'I Cried for You' is a tender and slow-tempo love song with a pretty arrangement balanced between acoustic simplicity and orchestral colours. The shamelessly romantic arrangement on the innocently naiive 'I Do Believe in Love' is perhaps a bit too zaccharine. One can of course blame the whole album for staying too safely on the soft side, but admittedly that's where Katie Melua shines the brightest. For the 12-piece song set containing so many beauties, Piece by Piece is undoubtedly among the essential Melua albums and a fine place to start.

snobb Japan found out about jazz fusion soon after fusion took over the scenes in America and Europe. Early Japanese fusion bands were strongly influenced by Western artists and were quite experimental and rough the same way.

In the late 70s, when Western fusion lost its bite and identity mixed with upcoming disco and smooth jazz, Japan experienced the Second wave of Japanese fusion. Generally oriented the same way as in the Western world, the second wave of Japanese fusion found its special sound and gave birth to a J-fusion phenomenon. Some of the genre's bands started their career in the late 70s, and are active and even popular till now, almost a half-century long. Casiopea is one of them.

Founded in 1976, the Japanese guitar-led quartet released their debut in 1979 only. For marketing reasons, there are three renowned Western fusion stars, participating in this album - sax players David Sanborn and Michael Brecker plus trumpeter Randy Brecker. Still, their participation influences the album's music only in a small part, "Casiopea" sounds very much like one of many albums, released by the band themselves, without guests.

From almost half a century distance it's much more easy to evaluate, why this album has so many fans and experienced all series of re-releases (last re-issue comes in 2024). Typically for the leading band of J-fusion's second wave, Casiopea plays a mix of some popular genres of the time - from Mahavishnu Orchestra-like high-energy guitar fusion to well-arranged pop-jazz, to early smooth jazz and funk-jazz. Their sound is generally well-polished and characteristic of the late 70s. It has millions of haters nowadays and not without reason, still Casiopea's debut has almost cult status till now.

The main secret is that the band plays tuneful music with the highest level of precision (usual for many Japanese artists of the time), but the music itself is warm and emotionally colored. The sound mix is crisp and dry, but again - it successfully balanced on the red line, distinguishing it from muzak. In all, this album represents a concentrated late 70s jazz fusion values almost neutralizing the well-known genre's limitations.

The album's opener "Time Limit" is a guitar-lead high-energy piece in a key of John McLaughlin's works with an excellent drummer and dancing bass line. The guest brass section is active here as well, it still doesn't add a lot of blood to the piece. "Tears Of The Star" is a lyrical ballad with soloing sax, Latin-like guitar intros besides of electric guitar soloing, and quite tasteful arrangements. "Space Road" is a funky instrumental, recalling the soundtrack of early computer games. "Midnight Rendezvous" has a catchy melody and sounds pretty much like a Japanese pop song of the time.

Side B is not as strong, as Side A. "Far Away" opens with groovy bass and switches towards a key-lead popular tune, still perfectly arranged. "Swallow" still has great bass and drum lines, but tends to be a smooth jazz hit. "Dream Hill" is probably the most controversial album's song, a sweet pop-ballad with Japanese vocals. The closer "Black Jake" saves the situation a bit offering a faster and more energetic guitar-lead piece.

In all, Casiopea's debut is significant evidence of the time and a great starting point for understanding what the Japanese fusion phenomenon is about. This album gave a lot of inspiration (and citation) to early computer games creators and is popular with every young generation again and again (in most current times its music is tagged as "City pop" genre).