Love remains…In 1993, three musicians from Sweden, Esbjörn Svensson, Dan Berglund and Magnus Öström formed the band e.s.t.. Svensson and Öström had known each other ever since their first steps into music as children. Neither of them could have anticipated that e.s.t. would become the most influential band in European jazz of the noughties. And when the band formed they probably didn't think they were particularly ‘jazz’ either; all they wanted to do was to play the music which united their passions: rock, pop, classical, folk, improvisation. In the following 15 years, e.s.t. would play thousands of concerts worldwide, release ten studio albums and several live recordings, win awards, gold discs. We all know how the story ends.

The Iiro Rantala HEL Trio is capable of incredible contrasts, and therein lies its appeal. As a pianist, Rantala can take the breath away both with his lightness of touch and the grace of his melodic lines. But then he can transform himself into other, very different characters: there is one who inspires laughter with his rummaging in the piano, another whose pathos, openness and honesty touch every heart. He has a baroque demeanour, his playing is full of relish, so that it only takes a few notes and he already has the audience on his side.

In the past four years, Fabian Dudek received a lot of attention, especially with his quartet (with Felix Hauptmann, Fabian Arends, David Helm). Already their debut release in 2019 and the subsequent tour, sponsored by the Musikfonds, were met with enthusiastic responses.

The Act Of Noticing is an invitation to enter a sound world rich in sonic imagery, evocative atmosphere, and finely wrought detail.

Trumpeter-bandleader Charlie Sepulveda brings a lifetime of Latin and jazz musicianship from his home in Luquillo, Puerto Rico, a place with hundreds of years of musical tradition preceding him. At the very dawn of jazz when James Reese Europe couldn’t find musicians in the U.S. who could read music for his orchestra, Europe went to Puerto Rico to hire from the many municipal bands. The best of the trumpeters of his generation, Sepulveda also taught music on the island for many years and believes fervently in encouraging young jazz musicians.

This second volume of solo piano from Grew comes hot on the heels of his 2023 Discus Music release “Chasm”, also for solo piano. For all the brilliance of that earlier work, Grew was keen to push himself even further and engage with a piano and a space with which he was already very familiar – at Lancaster Baptist Church, close to his home in the North West.

I made up a definition, solely for myself, a highly subjective description of the result of a truly spontaneous musical interaction. I call it “pure music”. It’s not some term that musicologists might use to analyze musical phenomena. It’s personal. It describes a feeling I get in an ideal improvisational setting. It defines what happens to me when I feel that certain spark of creative excitement beyond the material, structure, form, harmony, etc.

"Intermediate tones are only cramps in class struggle," the folksinger/songwriter with left-wing politics Franz-Josef Degenhardt once criticized.

On her newest album, "Bluer Than Blue," Sweet Megg combines Nashville musicians with early jazz players from the roster of Turtle Bay Records artists. The band's style is relaxed and convivial, using elements of both styles, and the solos flow together without any stylistic conflict. The repertoire was pulled equally from jazz and country standards, with one new song co-composed by Megg and Justin Poindexter. While the general mood of the album is joyous and upbeat, most of the lyrics are about heartaches, which explain the album's title.

A flamenco jazz album led by a bassist. The simple piano trio and saxophone/flute lineup is joined by four flamenco singers, each of whom sings jazzy songs full of exotic moods.

Monophonic is the name of the new album by Maria Bertel. As the title hints the album is a study of music played with 'one voice'. The amplification of the trombone mimics the effect of a magnifying glass, that let otherwise inaudible sounds be heard and brought forward. The compositions are long swathes of sound slowly developing, heavily inspired by drone and noise.

Hardly a German musician has distinguished himself so consistently as an instrumentalist and songwriter by such an unmistakable musical language and has constantly evolved as well as ECHO award winner and exceptional bassist Hellmut Hattler, who has been with Kraan, Tab Two or his for nearly five decades Formation Hattler - always innovative and confidently indicating groove and sound.

The repertoire consists entirely of classical music arranged in jazz (Schumann, Chopin, Bach, Mozart, Piazzolla, etc.).

1965 release. Second LP from the best selling book "Are You Running With Me, Jesus?". Produced by Teo Macero.

He's there in the classic "Great Day in Harlem" photograph, but it would have been hard to take many photos of happening jazz bands or Harlem scenes from the '30s and '40s without Emmett Berry's smiling face. Not that he would be smiling; actually, he would probably be too busy playing trumpet. Jazz fans have enjoyed this blowing, sometimes without knowing his name.