This is the third of our Cosmic Jazz tributes to saxophonist John Coltrane, born 100 years ago on 23 September 1926. Here at Cosmic Jazz, we’ve been celebrating the life and music of one of the most influential figures in all of jazz. In this, our final show, we focus once more on the breadth of Coltrane’s music and his lasting influence on other musicians from Michael Brecker to Flying Lotus.
John Coltrane – Dahomey Dance from Olé Coltrane
Olé Coltrane was recorded just two days after Africa/Brass with the quartet back in Rudy van Gelder’s New Jersey studio. Coltrane was owed one last album for his old label Atlantic, and he brought along Freddie Hubbard and Eric Dolphy from the previous session along with bassists Reggie Workman and Art Davis to complete the lineup. Whilst reviews have not always been kind to Olé Coltrane, writer and critic Jeff Terich noted that You can point to any moment of Coltrane’s playing on Olé and it would pretty much seal up why this hovers among the highest tier of the best John Coltrane albums. But it’s how the entire ensemble works in harmony to create a stunning whole that this belongs not just in the ranks of the best John Coltrane albums, but jazz’s greatest albums as well. Even though this was one of the first Coltrane albums Neil bought, he thinks that this over-eggs the pudding somewhat. However, you take anything away from Reggie Workman’s irresistible walking bassline which holds down the central groove of Dahomey Dance over its near 11 minute length. Whilst the tune hasn’t been sampled [“Why not?” asks Neil], this version of the tune appeared on Tom Scott’s 1974 album recorded with his LA Express group.
Michael Brecker – Slings and Arrows from Tales From the Hudson
We make no apology for returning to Michael Brecker’s excellent Tales From the Hudson album from 1996. This is perhaps Brecker’s most directly Coltrane-influenced record with his ‘outside’ playing really to the fore on the opening tune Slings and Arrows. The album won Brecker two Grammy awards and is one of his finest albums on the Impulse! label with an all-star line-up of Brecker on tenor saxophone, Joey Calderazzo on piano, Pat Metheny on guitar, Dave Holland on bass and Jack DeJonette on drums. Over a four‑decade career, he recorded widely in jazz and popular music and appeared on more than 900 albums as a leader and sideman. Tales From the Hudson is a great place to start.
John Coltrane – After the Rain from Impressions
And we’re back to 1963 and the classic quartet with one of Coltrane’s most lyrical performances. After the Rain appears on Impressions, an album that contains live tracks recorded at the Village Vanguard in 1961 and Van Gelder studio tracks recorded in 1963 – including After the Rain. Drummer on this session was Roy Haynes who provides a noticeably lighter touch than Elvin Jones – and it really suits the reflective atmosphere of the tune. After the Rain is now something of a jazz standard with versions by John McLaughlin, Teodross Avery, Kenny Garrett and – of course – Pharoah Sanders. And, to end, here’s a short meditative take by guitarist Rob Luft.
Flying Lotus – German Haircut from Cosmogramma
Steven Ellison (Flying Lotus) is the great-nephew of Alice Coltrane (John Coltrane’s wife), making John Coltrane his great-uncle by marriage. Ellison frequently channels this familial avant-garde and spiritual jazz heritage into his experimental electronic and hip-hop production Indeed, the track Comet Course on his Los Angeles album (2008) incorporates spoken vocal samples and spiritual motifs from The Sun which featured on the Cosmic Music album by John Coltrane and Alice Coltrane, released posthumously in 1968. Neil chose a tune from Cosmogramma (2010) which includes a saxophone contribution from Ellison’s cousin Ravi Coltrane. The music comes full circle…
Pharoah Sanders – Memories of J W Coltrane from Live at the East
No one interprets Coltrane like Pharoah Sanders but here he is with an original composition from his excellent Live at the East album, recorded in NYC 1971. The whole album is suffused with the spirituality of Sanders’ mentor and greatest influence – as noted by writer and activist Harmony Holiday’s article in the art magazine Frieze where she writes: Coltrane’s spirit re-enters the earth plane through Pharoah and they have a conversation in brushes, whispers and a percussive bellow. Joe Bonner’s accompaniment on piano stands out, responding to Coltrane’s haunting presence with delight and meditative frenzy. This is a piece of music that heals and absolves and discloses the urgency of that reconciliation, the triumph of the heart that call and response between worlds is in Black musical tradition… This song heals by teaching us how to stand up and dance among ghosts, how to transition from haunted to empowered by simply deciding to raise the dead and let them speak, celebrating their lives through ours. That pretty much sums up the evocative presence of Coltrane in the three long tracks that are the basis of this record.
Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin – Let Us Go Into the House of the Lord from Love Devotion Surrender
What memories! Neil bought the Mahavishnu Orchestra’s Birds of Fire on its release in 1973 and followed that with the collaboration between guitarists John McLaughlin and Carlos Santana recorded just a few months earlier. The album includes a version of A Love Supreme but for Neil it’s the take on the traditional spiritual Let Us Go Into the House of the Lord that works best. Larry Young’s organ contribution here is particularly noteworthy – Paul Stump, in his biography of John McLaughlin Go Ahead John, wrote: with its overlapping flurries of triplets, [it] is a moment of pure genius, worthy of mention in its own right, a musical equivalent of a swarm of surreally coloured butterflies. It’s also worth listening to the version that also forms the centrepiece on Harold Budd’s ambient album The Pavilion of Dreams along with the Pharoah Sanders take on his 1970 album Summun Bukmun Umyun (Deaf Dumb Blind) which was probably the inspiration for its inclusion on Love Devotion Surrender.
John Coltrane – Offering from Offering: Live at Temple University
In 1966 John Coltrane toured Japan with his then new quintet – Pharoah Sanders on tenor sax, Alice Coltrane on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass and Rashied Ali on drums. This remarkable tour in which the group played dramatically extended versions of some of Coltrane’s favourites (including a 57 minute take of My Favourite Things!) was followed by more live dates in San Francisco and New York. Towards the end of the summer, Garrison – who had played with Coltrane since 1961 and was the last link with the classic quartet – left the group. There were also increasing concerns about Coltrane’s health and he began to cut down on his live performances until this memorable November date at Temple University, Philadelphia – Coltrane’s home city. The audience included university students, members of the black radical organisation The Revolutionary Action Movement, old friends of Coltrane, and local fans and musicians – including the 18-year-old Michael Brecker. The show was recorded for broadcast but the complete tapes didn’t appear on record until 2014. The full personnel on this extraordinary music isn’t completely clear but Alice Coltrane, little known bass player Sonny Johnson, possibly Jimmy Garrison and also Rashied Ali on drums were supplemented by batá drummer Algie DeWitt, Omar Ali, Robin Kenyatta and Charles Brown all playing percussion. To this already large, percussion-heavy group, Coltrane added two local alto saxophonists, Arnold Joyner and Steven Knoblauch who sat in and took a solo each. Their presence was consistent with Coltrane’s habit of inviting younger, relatively unknown musicians to participate, but this was surely one of the most unusual Coltrane groups ever to take the stage. We’ve selected the relatively restrained title track, but on Leo Coltrane vocalises while beating his chest. Rashied Ali stated: People really thought he’d lost his mind then. He wasn’t even playing anything recognisable with the horn. Ali recalled asking Coltrane Trane, man, why are you doing that, beating on your chest and howling in the microphone? Coltrane responded Man, I can’t find nothing else to play on the horn. Whether anecdotal or not, Coltrane was clearly at an artistic crossroads that is reflected in more recent evaluations of this extraordinary concert. Writing for AllMusic, Matt Collar stated that the group seems to have codified the spiritually infused free jazz, modal, and Indian raga influences Coltrane had been exploring since the early ’60s, and describes them as an ensemble of like-minded musicians unified as much by spiritual concerns as creative ones. Collar concludes: though we will never know where Coltrane would have taken his music had he lived, Offering works as a live culmination of Coltrane’s musical journey, a homecoming and spiritual communion with the deep, creative forces that drove him right until the end of his life and, based on the music here, one can only assume beyond. A few months later, in July 1967, Coltrane died from the liver cancer that, unacknowledged, had plagued his final years.
More from Cosmic Jazz soon.
Neil is listening to…
- Outkast – My Favorite Things
- Aki Takase – Monologue
- Brian Auger – Maiden Voyage
- Miles Davis – Tutu
- War – The World is a Ghetto (Special Disco Mix)
Derek is listening to…
- The Mighty Sparrow – Memories
- The Mighty Sparrow – Congo Man
- The Mighty Sparrow – Good Morning Mr. Walker
- The Mighty Sparrow – Maria
- The Mighty Sparrow – Big Bamboo
As Kevin le Gendre’s sleeve notes record in the Jazzman Trane tribute album from which this (and other) tunes come, few artists produce work that is so moving it’s considered sacred. But not only does Coltrane’s music have a uniquely spiritual dimension, there is even an 
The influence of Coltrane’s sound has spread far and wide over the years. The little-known Swiss saxophonist Gilles Torrent only picked up the soprano saxophone in his twenties but spent the next eleven years studying Coltrane’s approach. The result can be clearly heard in this superb extended title track from his 1985 album with its echoes of Lonnie’s Lament, My Favorite Things and more. The music’s title actually references the mythical drowned city of Atlantis which seems a suitably Coltrane-like title to choose. Once again, this excellent track appears on the Jazzman tribute compilation but if you can find a copy of the original Terre Engloutie album you’ll be lucky. There are currently two available on 
Our final visit to the excellent Jazzman compilation is another favourite Coltrane tune, Naima. This much-covered composition first appeared on his Giant Steps album, recorded for the Atlantic label in 1959 and featuring the epic title track along with Countdown and Mr. P.C. – both tunes that have become standards in their own right. This perhaps surprising version comes from organist Brother Jack McDuff and dates from 1981. As the title might suggest, the album features a Baptist Church choir but here the funky backbeat and Fender Rhodes from McDuff is augmented by sax and guitar solos to create a rather unexpected but chilled vibe.
We begin with a new album from drummer Jake Long and his outfit Your Brother’s Keeper, featuring saxophonist elder statesman Gary Bartz, Released just a couple of months ago, the new band is born out of previous project Maisha (featured several times previously on CJ), with this first album Where Rivers Meet appearing on Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood label. There’s electronics, dub, funk and more than a touch of spiritual jazz on this mix and, whilst the record is patchy, there’s some great playing from Bartz here – a saxophonist whose career now spans more than five decades. He emerged performing with Charles Mingus, Max Roach and Art Blakey before joining Miles Davis during the trumpeter’s electrifying early-1970s period. Bartz soon became a defining figure of the spiritual jazz movement through his celebrated NTU Troop recordings, creating a body of work that continues to resonate across generations of musicians and listeners alike. Perhaps the most celebrated of those 1970s records is his excellent live at Montreux recording from 1973, and featuring the epic 
From the ever-inventive Edition Records comes a new Chris Potter record – his seventh for the label. It’s a really interesting one too as there’s a clear theme: it’s the story of John Brown, the Christian Abolitionist who saw slavery as sin and, horrified by the state-backed violence of the pro-slavery armed forces, finally chose violence after years of facilitating the Underground Railway to assist escaped slaves. He was subsequently the first man in the States to be hung for treason. It’s a story that holds the complexity and tragedy of America in one moment, Potter says. It felt important to engage with it now. Potter’s approach is typically eclectic, with the opening title track a statement of intense intent, followed by the bluesy groove of Osawatomie Brown, with its echoes of Marvin Gaye in the bass line and its tough tenor stance. The violin is still a rare instrument in jazz but on this record Sara Caswell is a vital force. Guitarist Bill Frisell laces it together, sometimes resonating with his African heroes like Ali Farka Touré or rocking out as of old. Into Africa begins with a typically inventive tenor solo before some terrific ensemble playing (including some lovely bass clarinet from Rane Moore. All of Potter’s huge output is worth exploring but this new album is right up there with the best – check it out now.
Skerik (or Eric Walton) is a tenor and baritone saxophonist from Seattle, Washington who uses a range of electronics and loops to create a unique sound. 061725 is his first fully fledged ambient album in a 30 year career and across six tracks he creates a series of dreamlike states, full of sonic textures that have come to be called saxophonics. An influence on this unique sound was Eno’s Music for Airports (1978) which his mother played around the house while he was growing up. Later, he was introduced to ECM Records and artists like Eberhard Weber, so deepening his connection to spacious, atmospheric compositions. You can listen to and buy the album 
Ah – now Neil has had this record since it first appeared on vinyl in 1973 and he’s played this 1 minute and 22 seconds of aural perfection innumerable times, every time marvelling at Carlos Ward’s gorgeous alto saxophone melody. CJ listeners will recall a similar enthusiasm for Ward’s more extended but equally beautiful solo on Abdullah Ibrahim’s The Wedding from the African Marketplace album. We didn’t acknowledge Ward’s death in January 2026 but this vastly under-rated alto saxophonist deserves much more attention than he received in his lifetime. He featured on many albums over the years although released only four under his own name. Ward was born in Panama City but moved with his family to Seattle where he began to study the clarinet. Joining the US military, Ward was stationed in Germany where he met and played with Albert Mangelsdorff and Karl Berger. In 1965, before returning to the United States, he met and spent time with Don Cherry who was playing with Abdullah Ibrahim, Ward went on to record 11 albums with Ibrahim including the superb The Journey (1978) and Water From an Ancient Well (1983). Ward was also featured on John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme: Live in Seattle, recorded in 1965 and issued in 2021 – it’s one of only two live recordings of 
Recording completely solo is a real challenge in jazz. Interaction between musicians is usually at the heart of the form but (as we’ve just heard with Skerik) it’s not always necessary. Of the Earth is built around multiple loops across a range of different reed and wind instruments. Shabaka is back on his A record built entirely from your own parts inevitably puts composition and editing in the foreground. The structural foundation of Of the Earth is the loop – rhythms of various shapes and sizes tumble out of silence and whirl in place, and when Shabaka lands on an interesting pattern he’s not afraid to let it play on its own for a few bars. More than this, Shabaka raps on the album: I’ve never rapped before but was actually inspired by André 3000’s courage in exploring new dimensions with fearlessness and sincerity; I decided to find my voice on this album. It’s often difficult to know where each tune is going – but that’s part of the delight of this album and surprises abound. Step Lightly even sounds like a bunch of school recorders for the first few bars before a kind of soca rhythm and metallic chimes kick in and the tune goes in a different direction. Worth an exploration – track it down 
This neglected album has just appeared in a Tone Poet edition on Blue Note. Sadly that means parting with around £36 (€41) unless you can track down the original 1974 copy. However, unless you’re wedded to an original pressing, the Tone Poet reissue is the one to go for. This is a superb sounding reissue has a gatefold sleeve and excellent notes by Syd Schwartz – it’s well worth checking out. Pianist McCoy Tyner had been increasingly looking to Mother Africa for inspiration on his Blue Note recordings of the late-1960s on pieces like African Village and Message from the Nile. With Asante (recorded in in 1970), he brought those influences to the fore with a powerful set that’s rooted in the swirling percussive rhythmic bed laid by drummer Billy Hart and percussionist Mtumé. Buster Williams delivers those characteristic fat basslines, and guitarist Ted Dunbar is much more than just rhythm accompaniment. Alto saxophonist Andrew White (who was an equally good bass player on Weather Report’s Sweetnighter album as evidenced by his playing 
Vibraphonist Moullier is one of those random discoveries made by Neil as he explores new online sounds – but he has also appeared earlier on an Cosmic Jazz show this year when we featured the new Edition Records album by Ben Wendel. BaRcoDe included Moullier along with two other leading vibes players we know well on CJ – Joel Ross and Patricia Brennan. Ceiba is Moullier’s sixth album as a leader and the third release with his quartet – Lex Korten on piano, Rick Rosato on bass, and Jongkuk Kim on drums. The album also includes guest percussionist Keita Ogawa on two tracks. All original compositions, Ceiba is full of strong melodies and really effective interplay. Indeed, Joshua Redman notes that Ceiba is one of the best modern mainstream instrumental jazz records I’ve heard in years: gorgeous writing; flawless yet fearless playing; impeccably crafted from beginning to end.
As an improviser, Simon has that holy trinity: melody, feel and flow. And what a sound. It’s difficult to add more. Ceiba is available in DL and LP formats – again from 
It’s thanks to promoter Rob Adams up in Scotland for this one – a brand new live recording from Cuban multi-instrumentalist and Grammy-nominated Omar Sosa. The new album has the frankly awful title We Are Not the Headliner, but get past that and you’ll have a great tiem with this music… The new record features Sosa’s new ensemble Quarteto Americanos – reeds player Sheldon Brown, drummer Josh Jones and bass player Ernesto Mazar Kindelán. The 11 tracks feature tunes the band has presented on tour over the past few years plus several new pieces, There’s special guest contributions from Natascha Atlas (vocals), Guillermo Gómez-Peña (spoken word), Reggie Stephens (spoken word), Tito Leliebre (percussion), and Camilo Landau and Kai Lyons (tres). For more Omar Sosa you could start with his excellent Mulatos album (2004) or that album’s rather good set of remixes – including 
Our final tune is from the outer edges of jazz – but it is excellent. With dub wizard Adrian Sherwood at the controls this set of remixes from the Nightmares on Wax album In a Space Outta Sound is predictably inspired. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of In A Space Outta Sound, George Evelyn (aka Nightmares on Wax) handed over the tapes to Sherwood who went on a heady version excursion with eight tracks from the original record, in the spirit of the reggae and sound system roots that informed the original album. You Bliss [not My Bliss as Neil referred to it in the show] is a reworking of the original 
We had to start with Trane – recorded live in November 1961 and released as part of the album Impressions which emerged two years later. Here Coltrane is joined by his classic quartet members McCoy Tyner on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass and Elvin Jones on drums, along with Reggie Workman on bass and Eric Dolphy, who plays a magnificent extended bass clarinet solo. The Impressions album is something of a patchwork but for the full-on experience go to the Complete Village Vanguard box set on Impulse! Records which features two more versions of India. Many years later, McCoy Tyner was interviewed for the New York Times about these seminal recordings and said: We always were experimenting with something, expanding perimeters, looking for new horizons… That was the nature of the band, but when we played the Vanguard, it was an especially fresh period in the band’s history. We had been spurred on by meeting Ravi Shankar, and we were planning to do an album with him that never happened. But the whole band was really on fire, and it had reached one of those plateaus.
This gorgeous Sam Rivers tune has become something of a jazz standard but this version comes from tenor player Joe Henderson. In his later years, Henderson recorded two excellent albums for Blue Note with both being reissued recently in Tone Poet vinyl versions. Made available as a 2CD set in 1987, Henderson is here backed only by the peerless Ron Carter on bass and Al Foster on drums in a setting that pays homage to one of his stylistic sources, Sonny Rollins. The fourteen tunes he selected range from well-known standards to Henderson originals, along with compositions by Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Charles Mingus, and Horace Silver. Like all of the records featured in this show, this should be part of every jazz lovers collection – indeed, the Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings suggested it as part of their Core Collection. Who are we to disagree?
One of the most famous Village Vanguard recordings has to be this one from pianist Bill Evans. There are actually two single records from Evans’ engagement at the club in 1961 (with the second to be issued being Waltz for Debby), but – as with Coltrane – the complete set on vinyl or CD is the one to go for. This is again available on vinyl or CD in sumptuous box sets – with the CD set being something of a bargain at under £30 (UK). The trio (with Scott LaFaro on bass and Paul Motian on drums) played five sets – two in the afternoon and three in the evening – with each one comprising four or five numbers and lasting about half an hour. In a nod to our celebration of the Miles Davis centenary, we’ve chosen his composition Solar. This was the last performance by the trio with bassist LaFaro, who was killed in a car accident just eleven days after the recording, a tragedy that hit Evans deeply. LaFaro is credited with transforming the role of the bass in jazz being not only a virtuosic player, but also someone who broke through the traditional walking bassline approach to create a countermelodic style that was to influence subsequent generations of players. Along with the sensitive playing of Motian, this trio is deservedly one of the most celebrated in all of jazz. Ignore at your peril!
One of Neil’s favourite alto sax players, Art Pepper’s later years were characterised by an amazing run of live recordings, including two sets at the Village Vanguard in 1977. The second of these was issued as a series of four separate records on the Contemporary label – with three titled according to the night on which they were recorded. Along with Pepper on alto (and on a great version of Ellington’s Caravan – on tenor) is George Cables on piano with George Mraz on bass and Elvin Jones on drums. Neil is lucky enough to have original versions of three of the four and all are worth searching out. The quartet are on fine form and any of these records are worth looking out for. There is a 9CD set of Pepper’s complete 1977 residency available as The Complete Village Vanguard Sessions, but – inevitably – at a price. Check the alternatives 
Pub quiz trivia question – what was the first live jazz set at the Village Vanguard to be recorded? Yes, it’s this one – Sonny Rollins’ debut at the club, recorded in 1957. Another Core Collection recording in the Penguin Guide, this is also available as a 3LP set in the Blue Note Tone Poet reissues but is more cheaply picked up in the excellent Blue Note 2CD set from 1987. This restored the tracks to their chronological order and so this second take on the tune comes from the evening set with Wilbur Ware on bass and Elvin Jones on drums. Not surprisingly, it’s another Penguin Guide Core Collection record with jazz critic and Village Voice journalist Robert Christgau opining that Rollins is charged with venturing far out from these tunes without severing the harmonic moorings normally secured by a piano. He does it again and again–but not without a certain cost in ebullience, texture, and fullness of breath. Impressive always, fun in passing, his improvisations are what avant-garde jazz is for.
Another piano trio record, this one is a this set of standards by Cole Porter, Thelonious Monk, Henry Mancini and, here, John Coltrane’s Countdown. Pianist Mehldau was just short of 27 when he recorded his first Village Vanguard set with his regular trio of bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jorge Rossy in 1997. Despite accusations of pretentiousness and self-indulgence, Mehldau is a jazz artist who draws directly on his classical training. Like Bill Evans, he struggled with heroin addiction but has consistently released imaginative records in many different formats – the traditional piano trio, solo piano, a classical song cycle with Renée Fleming, film soundtracks and more. All of the trio recordings are worth exploring with the Third volume – which features interpretations of songs by Rogers and Hart, Radiohead and Nick Drake’s beautiful 
It’s not only ‘straight’ jazz artists who have recorded at the Vanguard: next up is pianist Chucho Valdés bringing a Latin sensibility to the show with his enhanced trio featuring additional percussion from Roberto Vizcaino Guillot and vocalist (and Chucho’s sister) Mayra Caridad Valdés. There’s a great take on 
Follow the Red Line is the third live album from saxophonist Chris Potter. It was recorded in February 2007 and released later that year on the Sunnyside label. On this record – that genuinely blurs the lines between, jazz, rock, funk and more – Potter is alongside guitarist Adam Rogers, keyboardist Craig Taborn and drummer Nate Smith. All pieces bar one are over ten minutes long, giving Potter, Rogers and Taborn opportunities to really stretch out. Follow the Red Line may be nowhere near more traditional Village Vanguard residences but it is well worth investigating. Potter now records on the UK Edition Records label and his 2026 release Alive With Ghosts Today will be reviewed in future CJ shows.
We’re staying with Edition Records for this late 2024 live release from saxophonist Ben Wendell and his group – Gerald Clayton on piano, Linda May Han Oh on bass and Obed Calvaire on drums. In some ways this is the most obviously ‘jazz’ record of Wendel’s varied career so far. He’s recorded with Tigran Hamasyan, Bill Frisell, Eric Harland and Terrace Martin among others, and he’s also noted as a record producer in a career stretching across an eclectic range of musical styles. We featured his 2026 release BaRcoDe in a February 2026 show and we’ll undoubtedly bring you more of this Canadian-American new jazz artist in future shows.
And so we end as we began, with John Coltrane recorded at the Village Vanguard in May 1966 and featuring his quintet, with Coltrane on tenor and soprano saxophones, bass clarinet, and flute, Pharoah Sanders on tenor saxophone and flute, Alice Coltrane on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass and Rashied Ali on drums with an uncredited Emanuel Rahim on percussion. There are only two tunes – an extended version of Naima and an even longer take on My Favorite Things with Garrison playing a bass solo credited as Introduction to My Favorite Things. Biographer Eric Nisenson noted that Coltrane was obviously making a statement about how far he had come since both his first Vanguard album and his first recording of these two pieces. By recording such familiar tunes, he hoped perhaps to give those having difficulty with his new music some sort of familiar territory from which he could jump off to new, unexplored terrain. Maybe true, but this album is a world away from Coltrane’s 1961 debut at the venue. Perhaps the most astounding feature of this 15 minute take on Naima is Pharoah Sanders’ solo. Ben Ratliff in his excellent book Coltrane: The Story of a Sound (2007) notes that Sanders’s solo on this ‘Naima’ begins with abrasive huffing and scrambling, not dissimilar from a sound Archie Shepp liked to get; it works through wild passages of fast and repetitive playing, terrifically ugly challenges of squelched and shrieking sounds, and hoarse, brawny tours through sections of the melody. The performance is full of personality, full of its own sound, not at all boring. Sanders uses almost purely metamusical logic—intuitive gestures of the emotions, of the nerves—to make the seven-minute solo cohere. This music is undoubtedly extreme but Coltrane’s striving to find new methods of expression in his music is always worth exploring – perhaps even more so sixty years later.
The full length track on 1970’s Bitches Brew is over 20 minutes long and – uniquely for a jazz tune at the time – features over a dozen studio edits and loops from producer Teo Macero. Jazzwise noted that Miles would Never again would he turn himself, and the music of his time, inside out acknowledging Bitches Brew as the last epoch-making album to appear in jazz. Now whilst Cosmic Jazz might question this unequivocal statement, the influence of this double album on the world of jazz cannot be overestimated. I’ve written about Bitches Brew many times on this platform and elsewhere (see our first Miles @ 100 show) and so had to feature the album once more, choosing the second single edit from the 
Get Up With It is a rather misunderstood album in the Miles Davis canon. It emerged in 1974 and is the second of two sort-of compilations that emerged that year, the first being Big Fun. Both feature music from the 1970-74 period when Miles was wilfully bending genres – and Big Fun contains one of Neil’s favourite out-takes, the improbably funky 
An odd pairing? Not really: in 1982 Brian Eno travelled to Ghana where he spent time recording ambient sounds on a portable cassette recorder and then listening to the results on his headphones. In his liner notes to Ambient 4: On Land released later that year Eno noted that The effect of this simple technological system was to cluster all the disparate sounds into one aural frame: they became music. In the revised reissue notes he added that after returning from Ghana, Eno noted that the guitarist Robert Quine had given him a copy of Miles Davis’ He Loved Him Madly and that Teo Macero’s revolutionary production on that piece seemed to me to have the ‘spacious’ quality I was after and … it became a touchstone to which I returned frequently. 
Live at the Fillmore East is notable in that it records the final concert with saxophonist Wayne Shorter in Miles’ band. A few months after, he would join Joe Zawinul to create Weather Report – striking out in another direction completely. If Weather Report is new to you then compare what they do with Zawinul’s tune 
It’s About That Time originally appeared on A Silent Way (1969) forming the core of the side-long experiment that was bookended by the title track. This remix from a 2007 tribute-cum-reinterpretation of some classic Miles tunes features rapper Nas on vocals and his father Olu Dara on trumpet, Carlos Santana on guitar and Miles’ nephew Vince Wilburn, Jr. on drums and programming, with co-production by drummer Lenny White. The centrepiece of this unusual EP is the updating of It’s About That Time but there’s a 
Miles had returned to the studio in 1980, after a long hiatus during which he left the trumpet alone and focused on women and cocaine – according to his autobiography. He was certainly not in good health at this time but he recorded the patchy The Man With the Horn (1981) and then formed a live band with Mike Stern on guitar, Al Foster on drums, Bill Evans on soprano sax, Mino Cinelu on percussion and Marcus Miller on bass. It had been six years since Miles had played live and audiences were nervous about the outcome. They needn’t have worried. Miles subsequently won a Grammy for best jazz instrumental performance by a soloist but, characteristically, said that he didn’t know why… Neil saw this group in April 1982 when Miles performed three nights at the Hammersmith Odeon, London and where Back Seat Betty – a highlight of We Want Miles – was a standout. Writer George Cole in his excellent blog The Last Miles has written persuasively about this show – find out more 
Perhaps the most conventional of Neil’s choices for this second Miles special but, nonetheless, this final set of performances by Miles with John Coltrane is a must have. So What comes from a performance at the Tivolis Koncertsal in Copenhagen. It’s the same group that recorded the previous year (in 1959) the iconic Kind of Blue album with Wynton Kelly replacing Bill Evans on piano. These are intense performances with Kelly being an admirable foil for Miles’ modal constructions and Coltrane’s increasingly muscular solos. This anthology was released as part of the ongoing Bootleg series in 2018 and is available as a 4CD with a single vinyl edition of the complete Copenhagen concert also in the racks.
Betsu no Jikan is the culmination of a two-year exploration by guitarist Takuru Okada, improvising with 
Rubberband was recorded in 1985 but not released until 2019. As such, it qualifies as ‘lost album’ – with all the critical uncertainty that this status brings. Of course, it’s not a great Miles album – that would have been too much to expect. But there are many redeeming features – not least the vocals of Ledisi on this version of the title track. It’s a highlight of this patchy album, recorded when Miles had left Columbia Records and was heading to Warner Bros., and it’s very much a record of it’s time – there’s lots of synths and slap bass but there’s still the unmistakeable Miles tone liberally sprinkled across the record (and note that – uniquely on CJ – throughout this piece we will be referring to the trumpeter by his first name alone).
This celebrated soundtrack to Louis Malle’s film (1958) was improvised by Miles while watching a playback of the film in the studio. Miles was playing the Club Saint-Germain in Paris in November 1957 and was introduced to Malle by Juliette Greco (with whom Miles had previously had an affair). Later he was invited to a private screening of Ascenseur Pour L’Echafaud (Lift To The Scaffold) before taking his group to the studio and improvising to a projection of extracts from the film. The result was this perfect soundtrack recorded in just three hours. The band he used was the Barney Wilen Quartet: Wilen on tenor sax, Rene Urtreger on piano, Pierre Michelot on bass and American expat drummer and bebop pioneer Kenny Clarke. In his autobiography, Miles claims he chose the studio for its gloomy, dark ambience and that’s translated into this stunning music. Just check out 
Very recently re-released, The 
Neil acknowledges that there are good reasons why this didn’t make the final cut on In A Silent Way, the album that first saw Miles breaking out of the classic Quintet structure and instead beginning to deploy a bigger cast of what would become the most important musicians in jazz. Splashdown is simply not good enough. But it is fascinating in these box sets to hear the evolution of what becomes some of the most influential music in the genre. By early 1969, Miles’ core working band had stabilised around Wayne Shorter now on soprano sax, Dave Holland on bass with Chick Corea on Fender Rhodes and Jack de Johnette on drums. For In a Silent Way, Miles added Tony Williams (again) and Herbie Hancock (again) and then included English guitarist John McLaughlin and Austrian keyboard player Joe Zawinul (who had been in Cannonball Adderley’s band). Significantly, this was the first jazz album to be extensively edited by producer Teo Macero whose techniques were informed by classical sonata form. The result was that the first and third sections of each of the two tracks on the album were the same. Check out this alternative take on the stunning 
Now, this is music to make you cry – indeed Neil knows people who do when they listen to this early example of work by the First Great Quintet as they were called – Miles on trumpet, John Coltrane on tenor sax, Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass and Philly Joe Jones on drums. As his star rose in 1955, Miles had formed his new quintet and – in order to fulfil contractual obligations – he went into the studio in 1956, recording in just two sessions enough material for four albums. These were subsequently titled Workin’, Cookin’, Relaxin’ and Steamin’. From Workin’, It Never Entered My Mind was a Rogers and Hart tune recorded by – among others – 
Another selection from one of the Columbia boxes, this track comes from the Complete Jack Johnson set, collected in 2003. Named for Panamanian boxer Roberto Durán, this track is also one that didn’t make the final cut on the Jack Johnson album (1971) – but it is a terrific piece, driven by Jack De Johnette’s rock-powered drumming and Steve Grossman’s stunning soprano sax. The album was conceived by Davis to accompany a documentary about Johnson, the first black heavyweight champion and was clearly inspired by the political and racial subtext of Johnson’s story. The musicians on the two day session also included John McLaughlin and Sonny Sharrock on guitars, Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea on keyboards with new electric bass player Michael Henderson setting an irresistible groove.
We end this show with a wonderful tune from Miles’ favourite singer, Shirley Horn. This would be the final guest appearance on record from Miles – just a few months after recording this in 1991 he would be dead. But there’s no sense of loss of tone here – that unmistakable trumpet sound weaves around Horn’s vocal with the same mesmerising effect that we heard on It Never Entered My Mind. In a magazine interview Horn noted Well, I loved Miles so much. He got to be like a part of me. Of course, I knew about him many years before actually. I met him, but I was a married woman and I got a call. To this day, I don’t know how he got this phone number, but I was with my mother-in-law and my husband down in Virginia having breakfast and this party said, “This is Miles Davis. I want you to come to New York. There is some people, I think, you should get to know.” And I thought it was somebody, some friends playing a joke or something. So I thought about it and I thought that maybe I should go to New York. And she did… If you don’t know Shirley Horn’s unique vocal styling then Neil also recommends her later 1998 tribute to Miles which features a cover drawing by Miles of them both. It’s a fitting image to end this first Miles @ 100 show. There will be more.
Welsh harpist Amanda Whiting is making waves on the UK jazz scene and this special edition of her 2025 EP includes her previous record The Liminality of Her. Production is by Adam Scrimshire (see our previous show) and there are guest appearances from vocalist Alice Russell, Chip Wickham and others. Whiting’s style is laidback, thematically inquisitive and – like the great Alice Coltrane – definitely on the spiritual side. It’s something that the contemporary use of the harp in jazz seems to inspire – think of current players like Brandee Younger from the US, Alina Bzhezinska from the UK and Edmar Castañeda from Colombia. For more check out this 
This is a terrific record from San Francisco-born Sacha Berliner and her stellar group featuring Marcus Gilmore on drums, Burniss Travis II on upright and electric bass and James Francies on piano and Fender Rhodes. Special guests include Jaleel Shaw on alto saxophone, Julius Rodriguez on analog synths and vocalist Thana Alexa. Onyx is only Berliner’s second album and this 2022 issue captures her fiery, dense sound beautifully with production from analogue specialist Steven Mandel and engineering from GRAMMY® winning Ben Kane. Very highly recommended.
Another acclaimed vibraphonist, Brennan describes the inspiration for this late 2025 release: I’ve always been captivated by the night sky, endlessly wondering about what lies beyond. Amidst the vast expanse of stars, there is a sense of balance and symmetry that fascinates me—an order within the chaos. The innate patterns of the constellations sparked my curiosity, prompting me to explore how these celestial forms might be translated musically. In the summer of 2024, I developed a process that allowed me to collect pitch and numerical data from constellations. I overlaid the shapes of constellations onto a circle of fifths, intrigued by whether the symmetry of the constellations could translate into musical symmetry—whether harmonic or melodic. The circle of fifths is already a highly symmetrical structure that organizes pitches in a sequence. By mapping the constellations’ shapes onto this circle, I discovered new relationships between pitches, chords, and even key signatures. These relationships emerged purely from the constellations’ symmetry, not from traditional music theory. Err – wow! The instrumentation for this record is a traditional jazz quintet – piano, bass, drums, guitar, and mallet percussion – along with a standard string quartet and additional electronics. Another highly recommended album and available in all three formats from your local specialist record store or 
Neil saw young vibes player Lewis Wright many years ago at a local pub jazz gig in Suffolk. Since then, he released a first album in 2018 before going on to perform internationally with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and working with Hugh Masekela, Tony Allen and Melody Gardot. The Color of Intention features drummer Marcus Gilmore along with bass player Matt Brewer and was originally released in 2019 but is now available on vinyl – again, check it out 
Saxophonist and composer Ben Wendel releases his new album BaRcoDe next month on Edition Records. It’s a daring new electroacoustic album for saxophone and mallets (vibraphone and percussion). The project features four leading vibists and percussionists – Joel Ross, Simon Moullier, Patricia Brennan, and Juan Diego Villalobos – and was recorded at The Bunker Studio in Brooklyn. There’s a blurring of the line between chamber music, modern jazz, and electronic experimentation and this takes Wendel’s creative language into new territory. The question, of course, is – Does it work? And the answer is resolutely, Yes. There’s something of Steve Reich’s minimalist music here – and you can certainly hear it in the album’s opening track Clouds. Not surprisingly, this is another highly recommended release – and it looks and sounds spectacular in the 
Up next on the show is another of our ‘doing it different’ features – one tune in two different versions. This time it’s something of a modern standard – On the Nile. This is a Charles Tolliver composition but it first appeared on McLean’s 1965 classic Jacknife, just reissued by Blue Note in the Tone Poet series. Jacknife captures the saxophonist in a post-bop mode with trumpeters Lee Morgan and Charles Tolliver, pianist Larry Willis, bassist Larry Ridley, and drummer Jack DeJohnette. There’s modal explorations, churning rhythms, and good old hard bop grooves – and, of course, this Tone Poet vinyl edition is produced by Joe Harley from the original analog master tapes and sounds amazing. If you’ve not experienced these pristine vinyl reissues yet then treat yourself to this one.
Tolliver waited until 1969 to record On the Nile for his first album with the Music Inc. quartet, formed with pianist Stanley Cowell. The recording first came out on Freedom Records but then appeared on Arista Records. But this shorter and more powerful version of On the Nile comes from a slightly later release – Tolliver’s first on the label he created with Cowell, Strata-East. This 1971 version compares well with McLean’s take but there’s the additional power of a huge horn section augmented by Bobby Brown, Wilbur Brown, Jimmy Heath, Clifford Jordan, Howard Johnson, Garnett Brown, Curtis Fuller and more. By the end of its life, the label had released 58 albums of near-uniform artistic excellence – a remarkable achievement for an independent company run on a shoestring by two musicians with no previous business experience. We’ve featured the 
Pittsburgh-born pianist Horace Parlan recorded seven records for Blue Note, of which Up and Down is probably the best. The quintet is top drawer – Booker Ervin on tenor, Grant Green on guitar, George Tucker on bass and Al Harewood on drums. The sound is more soul-jazz than hard bop and all six tunes give space for the soloists to shine. Better still, this was one of Neil’s favourite Blue Note Tone Poets from 2025: all have great depth and spaciousness, but this is one of the best. We’ve chosen the title track Up and Down – a Horace Parlan original – but the whole album is hard to beat.
Alluding to the DJ reference in the title of his latest album, Gerald Clayton explains that it’s a record where the A side can be played simultaneously with the B side… you hear two separate pieces at the same time. Each side of the twelve-track album is meant to be heard separately and simultaneously. The music in the latter experience is obviously twice as dense as on the detached tracks. Neil’s not tried this yet but the tracks certainly work individually – and that’s probably down to the calibre of the musicians involved – Marquis Hill, Elena Pinderhughes, Joel Ross, Kendrick Scott and drummer of the moment, Kassa Overall. Spotify (which Cosmic Jazz will never normally endorse because of the 
It’s not easy to equal the original version of Rising to the Top from Keni Burke, but we think one of our favourite funk outfits Lettuce have cracked it. Founded in Boston, US, Lettuce are lead by drummer Adam Deitch and we love this take on the soul classic from the latest album Cook. Released in December 2025, the eleven tracks include funk, soul, jazz, hip-hop and more. As we noted in January when we featured the title track, Lettuce have been described as groovy, soulful and fresh – and we’d agree.
Neil came across the Japanese husband and wife team – neo-soul guitarist Toshiki Soejima and trumpeter/multi-instrumentalist Nahokimama – in an online search for some new music. Their 10 track album was released in December 2025 on the new Sterofox label and includes this chilled example of their craft. Check our 
Drummer Yussef Dayes has been making waves since he appeared on the South London jazz scene in 2016 with fellow Londoner Kamaal Williams on the self-titled Yussef Kamaal album. Better still was the collaboration on Blue Note with songwriter Tom Misch, What Kinda Music. Then on Brownswood in late 2020 came the Live at Joshua Tree EP with the ambitious 19 track release Black Classical Music following in 2021. Since then, Dayes has released another live EP (recorded in the mountains above Malibu) which will be joined by this new recording due in March 2026. It features the extraordinary Japanese vocalist and sanshin virtuoso Minami Kizuki and Dayes noted that Kizuki came with her vibes, and we just tapped in. And it was literally that feeling of when you’re on edge and you’ve just got to be listening, you’ve got to be in the zone, regardless of the circumstances. The drummer is joined by his longtime collaborators Rocco Palladino, Venna, Elijah Fox, and Alexander Bourt. We’d recommend both this album and the 
New Zealand/Aotearoa’s finest The Circling Sun have released two albums that have been on Cosmic Jazz turntables in recent years. Second LP Orbits channels the cosmic energy of 1970s spiritual jazz, filtered through synths, layered percussion, and an eight piece choir of Maori and Pacific Island singers. The personnel on this album includes Cameron Allen on tenor and alto saxes, John Bell on cornet and tenor horn, Guy Harrison on synths and Julien Dyne on drums and percussion and this track comes from the new download that features an additional three tracks. You can find it 
Producer, multi-instrumentalist and DJ Adam Scrimshire’s latest album is available on download and vinyl with the record being available from just £1 – but we’d recommend that you pay more as 90% of that money will go to three charities – The Refugee Council, MAP (Medical Aid for Palestinians) and Earth Percent. The album includes various guests – all friends of Cosmic Jazz – including Nat Birchall, Idris Rahman, Tamar Osborn and Faye Houston. New music blog 
Saxophonist Dave Liebman and the late pianist Ritchie Beirach formed Quest in 1981 with bassist George Mraz and drummer Al Foster. Later versions of the group had the equally talented Ron McClure on bass and Billy Hart on drums. You won’t find it easy to track down this extended take of the Billy Hart composition, Redemption where Dave Liebman very clearly channels his inner Coltrane – even Discogs doesn’t show it! Beirach is not as well known as he should be: for more information check out 
We end this show with an excellent tune from the live in the studio album from German collective Jazzanova. As far as Neil is concerned, Jazzanova don’t put a foot wrong – whether their studio albums or their remixes. This new record celebrate 20 years of Jazzanova’s groundbreaking debut album In Between with a new live reinterpretation. On its release in 2002, In Between set something of a benchmark for what would come to be known as nu jazz – a 
DeJohnette was born in Chicago where Ahmad Jamal’s drummer Vernel Fournier was an early inspiration. But as well as learning the standard drum kit, DeJohnette was also a talented pianist and bass player – with this breadth perhaps contributing to that uniquely diverse sound. As he said, I see myself as a colorist, not as a drummer, per se... We’re going to begin with his two year association with Charles Lloyd and his 1960s quartet with a live take from a 1967 classic – it’s the best selling album Forest Flower and bassist Cecil McBee’s tender Naima-like composition Song of Her. DeJohnette’s shimmering cymbal work is perfectly judged here and an indication of the sensitivity he would later go on to show in the Keith Jarrett Standards Trio.
Next up we celebrate his tenure with Miles Davis and what is sometimes called the lost quintet. Before he was deployed as the principal drummer on the epic Bitches Brew album (1970), DeJohnette appeared in live sets with Davis on trumpet, Wayne Shorter on soprano and tenor saxophones, Chick Corea on Fender Rhodes, Dave Holland on bass and DeJohnette on drums. In July 1969 the band appeared at Festival Mondial du Jazz d’Antibes and these two dates comprise CD1 and CD2 of the Live in Europe 1969 set, issued by Columbia Records in 2013. They are a revelation. Just listen to DeJohnette’s drumming (and everything else that’s going) on right from the beginning of the band introductions and a version of Directions.
While Bitches Brew was widely recognised as one of the most innovative records in jazz, 1972’s On The Corner polarised opinion. Indeed, Davis biographer Paul Tingen stated that it became the most vilified and controversial album in the history of jazz. Only more recently has its worth been more accurately judged. Writing for The Vinyl Factory, Anton Spice described it as the great great grandfather of hip-hop, IDM, jungle, post-rock and other styles drawing meaning from repetition. DeJohnette was the key drummer on this unique record and he’s heard to maximum advantage with his pattering repeated drum pattern across pretty much the whole of the first side of this extraordinary record. And talking of vinyl, some versions of the record can sound rather muddy, so for a more detailed and balanced version it might be worth exploring the MoFi Original Master Recording – 
DeJohnette began recording for Manfred Eicher’s ECM label in 1974 with the Timeless trio featuring John Abercrombie and Jan Hammer and in the same year he appeared on Steve Kuhn’s superb Trance album. He went on to appear on more essential ECM recordings including Kenny Wheeler’s Gnu High (1975), Gary Peacock’s Tales of Another (1977) and George Adams’ Sound Suggestions (1979). But it was with the Pat Metheny album 80/81 that he joined the jazz superstar ranks with a 2LP live double set released in 1980 and featuring Metheny’s handpicked quartet with Michael Brecker or Dewey Redman on tenor saxes, Charlie Haden on bass and, of course, Metheny on guitars. We’ve chosen the lengthy Two Folk Songs (1st) which includes Metheny’s characteristic strumming, Brecker’s edgy and imaginative tenor solo and DeJohnette’s furious drumming.
DeJohnette established his Special Edition group in 1980 and this first incarnation is possibly the best. It features David Murray and Arthur Blythe on saxes and more and along with Slip Murray on bass and DeJohnette on drums, but also melodica and piano. There are two fantastic versions of Coltrane tunes – Central Park West and India – along with three compositions by DeJohnette. We’ve chosen Zoot Suite which has a great 4/4 bass groove with quirky accents and solos from Blythe on alto and Murray on tenor, along with DeJohnette on melodica. The tune ends with some characteristically powerful drumming from the leader. This is Neil’s favourite Special Edition record and it’s worth finding a copy on vinyl or CD if you don’t know it. It was reissued on CD via ECM’s Touchstones series in 2008 and Neil recently picked up a near mint vinyl copy in the excellent 
Of all DeJohnette’s collaborations with other musicians (and there are many) perhaps the most celebrated and enduring was that with the Keith Jarrett Standards Trio. The association began with the first Standards album in 1983 and continued the trio was disbanded in 2014. Along with bassist Gary Peacock, Jarrett on piano and DeJohnette on drums, the trio have released over 30 albums including some 20 live recordings. By 2000, the musical communication between these three performers had become nothing short of telepathic, and their group improvisations frequently take on a complexity that sounds almost composed. The Trio undertook frequent world tours of recital halls and was one of the few truly successful jazz groups to play both straight-ahead and freely improvised jazz. Derek has already featured one of our favourite tunes from this extended repertoire – the remarkable take on Autumn Leaves from the complete Live at the Blue Note box set (1995) – and we’ve chosen two very different tunes to end this DeJohnette tribute. First up is one of Neil’s favourites – an album he bought on vinyl on its release in 1983 – it’s the extended take on God Bless the Child from that very first Standards album. 
Now this one is very much not a standard. The Jarrett Trio occasionally strayed into free improvisation but only two albums focus on this approach – Changeless (1989) and Inside Out (2001). Both capture the trio departing from its regular format to improvise freely without the framework of the American popular songbook or bop standards – and the result on both albums is spell-binding. The authors of The Penguin Guide to Jazz wrote that Changeless contains original material which is deeply subversive (though also respectfully aware) of the whole tradition of jazz as a system of improvisation on ‘the changes’… On Changeless, there are no chord progressions at all; the trio improvises each section in a single key, somewhat in the manner of an Indian raga. The results are impressive and thought-provoking, like everything Jarrett has attempted.
Originating from Sweden, Frida Touray is a London-based singer-songwriter who has followed up her 2022 EP Mending – a deeply personal release – with a new full album for Edition that captures the essence of who she is and how she sees the world. She’s already toured and recorded with some big names (including Ed Sheeran, Ellie Goulding, the Cinematic Orchestra and Jordan Rakei) and on the new album she’s supported by Ben Jones on guitar, Yves Fernandez on bass and Jake Edwards-Wood on piano and synths. You’ll hear more from Frida Touray, we’re sure.
Newly-nominated for the UK’s Mercury Music Prize 2025, Welsh-born Joe Webb is clearly going places in the jazz world. We’ve selected Beth yn Galw (which can be translated as what’s-his-name or what-d’you-call-it) from his new album Hamstrings and Hurricanes. Webb relocated to London in 2013, where he has since established himself as an active and influential figure on the music scene, touring already with his trio in the UK and beyond. Webb’s fuelled by a deep love of 90’s guitar bands and an unwavering passion for football so there are some unusual influences in his music.
Next up are some old CJ favourites – Sunking, here with another short tune from their new album, the intriguingly titled I Don’t Like My Telephone. The band comprises Antoine Martel and Bobby Granfelt – two members of the Seattle-based collective High Pulp, a band we have featured on Cosmic Jazz previously. Sunking have the brash DIY ethos of an underground punk band and this approach to jazz makes a strong impact. The music may not to the taste of all our listeners but it is innovative, challenging, thought-provoking and worth a listen. We love it!
Norwegian trumpeter and sonic architect Nils Petter Molvær’s presents Khmer Live in Bergen – a charged reinvention of his era-defining 1997 ECM release Khmer. This take was recorded in concert in 2024 and it’s full of subterranean bass, live trip-hop beats and an ambient haze. Over these deeper grooves and greater dynamic intensity, is Molvær’s lyrical trumpet. pushing the music into a rawer, driven by experience, control and creative vision. Well worth investigating.
The dubbiness continues with Joe Armon-Jones’ dub version of the opening tune from his excellent March 2025 album All the Quiet (Part 1). Keyboardist, producer and songwriter Armon-Jones (a member of Ezra Collective too) shares his most extensive solo project to date, All The Quiet – released in two parts, with Part 2 appearing just a couple of months ago. Guest musicians include Nubya Garcia, Oscar Jerome, Goya Gumbani, and more. There’s jazz, funk, dub, hip hop, and soul all here – and it all works.
Straight out of – well, yes – Norway comes Tim Lowerson’s Luna Horns outfit with a daring new sound. Tim comments on the music as jazz meets dub meets whatever we feel like playing! His current influences are Jah Wobble, Kamasi Washington, minimalism and lots of weird electronica that’s influenced by his son. We’d add in a touch of early Sun Ra there too. If you’re not familiar with Jah Wobble (formerly of PIL), then check out 
And over to Scotland where Glasgow-based pianist Paul Harrison has formed Trio Magico with Brazilian bassist Mario Caribe and drummer Stu Brown in a dedication to the work of Brazilian guitarist and pianist Egberto Gismonti. The brilliant new album Encontros (meaning meetings or encounters) features ten of Gismonti’s tunes with the addition of one short piece that Harrison co-wrote with percussionist Edmundo Carneiro. Ano Zero channels Harrison’s inner Keith Jarrett – it’s a stunning interpretation of a beautiful tune. There are further guests on some tunes including saxophonist Laura MacDonald, vocalist Rachel Lightbody and Fraser Fifield on the distinctive Celtic low whistle. Very highly recommended.
The late Hermeto Pascoal, who died earlier this month, was a Brazilian multi-instrumental iconoclast. Let’s start with his nickname – o Bruxo (the Sorcerer), an indication of the extraordinary sounds he derived from conventional and unconventional instruments. He’d use children’s toys, teapots and even – on one celebrated record – the squeal of pigs. Pascoal grew up deep in the countryside of north east Brazil and, because his albinism prevented him from working in the fields with his family, he practised the accordion for hours each day along with using these found objects to make his unique music. This second solo album (the first one was recorded and released in the USA) shows off his talents as composer, arranger and instrumentalist. Bebê, the albums opening track, was sampled in 1994 by Japanese acid-jazz group United Future Organization on their tune Mistress of Dance – check it out 
Sometimes it’s good to go back – and so we returned to 2014 and the Norwegian Eple Trio, whose then new record marked ten years of music making. Recorded in a remote studio in the forests of Sweden, drummer Jonas Sjøvaag, who wrote the liner notes, designed the cover and composed most of the pieces on the album, noted that the music was made in a time where it felt natural to embrace extroversion as a mode of output. It may not become the norm. The beautiful, serene themes expand patiently, providing new insights with every new listening. If you’d like to hear more from Eple Trio, then your best source is the always useful 
In a similar vein, here’s the new one from Fergus McCreadie and his trio. We’re long-time promoters of Scottish pianist McCreadie and the new album is great. There’s an even deeper sense of space and stillness compared to previous records – maybe because the album was recorded in a remote one-bedroom cottage in the Hebridean island of North Uist.
Finnish pianist Rissanen has built an impressive discography through collaborations with artists including Dave Liebman and Randy Brecker, contributing to 18 albums as either leader or co-leader. The new Edition Records album Imaginary Mountains – probably a nod to the Keith Jarrett Trio album Personal Mountains (1989) – features jazz with classical influences from Rissanen’s early training and also reflects his interest in electronic sounds. His trio features bassist Antii Lotjonen and drummer Teppo Mäkynen – and that long-time collaboration is reflected in the tightly focused interplay and lyrical invention.
What a delightful way to end the show! Some remixes don’t add much to the original – but this one really does. Alongside this take, there’s an extended DL version