Music Reviews | All The Latest Albums, Singles & Gigs

How Kings of Leon got their groove back

KoL are back with few surprises but with equal parts swagger and smoulder

David Gray follows Skywalker to Skellig

David Gray is the last of the true believers on a balm of a new album that finds a secret place between tranquility and tumult

Music • 19 Feb

Foo Fighters' Medicine... a shot in the arm for fans

If you're going to make a big to-do about your group turning 25 and hitting the double-figure milestone with studio albums, you need to back ...

Album Review • 06 Feb

Kenny Dorham: a Cubano-tinged infectious beat

Album Review: Una Mas - Kenny Dorham

Trumpeter Kenny Dorham rustles up a bright, airy and indeed Cubano-tinged selection of tunes on Una Mas, which was first issued in 1963 and now ...

Music • 04 Feb

Dave Brubeck: Lullabies may be fruit of the frugal orientation of a pianist-composer of advanced years

Album review: Dave Brubeck - Lullabies

The late Dave Brubeck recorded this amiable, low-key album of new compositions and standards as a present for his grandchildren

Music • 28 Jan

Freddie Hubbard plays Chicago, September 4, 1982: Sunny, tuneful material in the main

Album review: Freddie Hubbard Hub-Tones

Born in 1938, trumpeter Freddie Hubbard was only 25 when he recorded this charming 1963 set, which features James Spaulding on alto sax and flute, ...

Music • 27 Jan

Art Blakey plays the North Sea Jazz Festival in the Netherlands in 1990

Review: Indestructible Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers

Horns in a tight ensemble setting, with borrowings from rhythm 'n' blues and gospel in the mix - the Jazz Messengers were at their musical ...

Music • 26 Jan

Bobby Hutcherson: light-fingered vibes filigree in the company of the stout-sounding tenor player Joe Henderson and others

Album review: Bobby Hutcherson - The Kicker

This warm, companionable session featuring ace vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson's first Blue Note session under his own name was recorded in December 1969, but not released ...

Music • 20 Jan

John Walsh: an admirable, gutsy quest for self-fulfillment through Flamenco guitar. (All photos Magda Kacperska)

Album review: John Walsh - Irlandalucía

Ireland should be proud of John Walsh, who has gained eminence in Spain, and indeed further afield for his brilliant mastery of Flamenco guitar, as ...

Music • 19 Jan

Stanley Turrentine performs in Chicago, July 14, 1979

Album review Stanley Turrentine - That's Where It's At

Saturated in soul and blues, That's Where It's At is a warmly appealing piece of work from saxophonist Stanley Turrentine, which was first released in ...

Music • 27 Jan

Joni Mitchell Archive Volume 1 - The Early Years

From a 1963 version of Molly Malone to early live recordings of future classics like Both Sides Now and Little Green, this five-disc boxset is ...

Album Review • 11 Nov 20

The best of music for the worst of times

Bruce Springsteen battles the war on hugs on new album

As this war on hugs continues, the sonic cavalry has arrived exactly when needed most

Album Review • 25 Oct 20

John Prine: Close attention to the details of people's lives, often people on the slide, or in trouble

Album review John Prine - Crooked Piece of Time

This new boxed-set collection from the late, great singer-songwriter contains seven remastered studio albums, from his Asylum/Atlantic/Rhino years, 1971-1980

Music • 03 Dec 20

Tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson circa 1970

Review: Joe Henderson - The State of the Tenor Vol 1

Tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson's three 1985 performances at the Vanguard were attended by his students and saxophone players in general, who were there to study ...

Music • 08 Feb

Lou Donaldson performs with Pat Bianchi on the organ at the Newport Jazz Festival in Newport, Rhode Island, on August 2, 2015

Album review: Lou Donaldson Alligator Boogaloo

A young George Benson on guitar joins alto saxophonist Lou Donaldson's team for this pleasing 1967 vinyl reissue that is soaked in swing and R ...

Music • 12 Jan

Pillow Queens dream a little dream on debut album

The foursome deliver an honest to goodness guitar album with plenty to say

Music • 25 Sep 20

John Coltrane: fizzing, bubbling out of the primordial earth on A Love Supreme

Album review - John Coltrane: A Love Supreme/Ballads

Recorded in December of 1964 and released in 1965, two years before his death at the age of forty, A Love Supreme is saxophonist John ...

Features • 03 Nov 20

Jake Stanley: from County Cork, by way of the North of England, a purveyor of fresh-sounding songs with an earthy fabric

Jake Stanley - Fix up Yer Courage, Fasten Yer Smile

Every song sounds individuated, considered, cherished on Jake Stanley's remarkable second album sung by a dream team, featuring Stanley's resonant vocal and Susanna Goodright's sweet ...

Features • 15 Oct 20

Album review: Andrew Hill Smoke Stack

Pianist Andrew Hill's appealing if challenging Blue Note album from 1966 takes no prisoners, you'd better be into improv and wandering airs.

Music • 10 Sep 20

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