This superlative set was taped for FM broadcast soon after the release of Herbie Hancock s groundbreaking Man-Child album, and finds the great keyboardist backed by the awesomely tight combo of DeWayne Blackbyrd McKnight, Bennie Maupin, Paul Jackson, Bill Summers and Michael Clarke on a selection of his finest tracks, from Hancock s early classic Watermelon Man right up to the present.

Rekindling the familiarly flowing interplay with fellow travellers Thomas Morgan and João Lobo – the trio’s musical partnership goes back over a decade at this point –, on A New Day Italian pianist Giovanni Guidi moreover expands the group’s instrumental grasp with the introduction of American saxophonist James Brandon Lewis, who makes his ECM debut here. Not only is the ensemble scope widened; with Brandon Lewis in tow, new dialects and fresh perspectives are broached, and different instrumental paths taken, inspired by an overall heightened sense of communication and Lewis’s unmistakable, confident tone. Recorded at Studios La Buissonne, Southern France, in August 2023, the album was produced by Manfred Eicher.

French singer/songwriter Cyrille Aimée, a matchless interpreter of song, is back with a new album and a new story to tell 'à Fleur de Peau' presents Cyrille in her own words, with her own original compositions presented in her own arrangements, developed in close collaboration with New York multi-instrumentalist and producer Jake Sherman. The music on 'à Fleur de Peau' is the most original and personal of Cyrille's career. Drawing on her Dominican heritage with its cargo of African dance rhythms and Spanish folksongs, embracing the directness and simplicity of contemporary pop forms, singing tales straight from her own life, this is Cyrille as you have never heard her before. The album's genesis originates far from New York or her adopted New Orleans home, deep within the forests of Costa Rica and an astonishing tale of a creative rebirth.

In blazing form, the trumpeter from Tel Aviv responds to the turbulent spirit of a troubled time, leading his dedicated band through a five-part suite that runs the gamut of emotions, by turns hopeful, despairing, outraged and profoundly melancholic. The melodic directness of the concluding “The Seventh”, composed by Avishai Cohen’s teenaged daughter Amalia, offers consoling contrast to the suite’s intensity. In between, Cohen turns his attention to the haunting Adagio assai from Ravel’s G major piano concerto, which has long been a highlight of the quartet’s concerts. Ashes to Gold was recorded in November 2023, at Studios La Buissonne, in the South of France.

From the off, Sharon Van Etten and The Attachment Theory is sonically different from Van Etten’s previous work. Writing and recording in total collaboration with her band for the first time, Van Etten finds the freedom that comes by letting go. The result of that liberation is an exhilarating new dimension of sound and songwriting. The themes are timeless, classic Sharon – life and living, love and being loved – but the sounds are new, wholly realized and sharp as glass. Reflecting on this new artistic frame of mind, Van Etten muses.

The album is a beautiful and thrilling dialogue between Japan's most talented trumpeter Miki Hirose and Mayuko Katakura, a first-call pianist who has earned the tremendous trust of many musicians. The recording was made by Taro Okamoto's atelier in the Taro Okamoto Memorial Museum Tokyo, and Mayuko plays the upright piano that Taro loved and made 100 years ago. In a unique art space, two top players develop a sound full of speed and tension.

British jazz composer, pianist, songwriter, Mike Taylor died tragically young, leaving just two albums as well as co-writes with Ginger Baker for Cream’s Wheels Of Fire album to his name.
In 1973, under the direction of Neil Ardley, several of the performers who had worked with him recorded an album of Taylor’s surviving orchestral music, jazz tunes and songs as a memorial to him and to preserve his work as a composer and song writer for posterity. Taken from Ardley’s master tapes, this is their critically-acclaimed tribute to a master of his art by friends and colleagues, themselves representing a cross-section of the cream of modern British jazz talent of the day.

The first call pianist Masyoko Kagura, a proud Japanese jazz world, challenging the opposing theme. "Plays Coltrane" and "Plays Standards" are released simultaneously on October 27. With different color arrangements, John Coltrane famous songs, "Plays Coltrane", a simple standard. "Plays Standards" brings new life to the Do. The two concepts are oppositive, but each one has the talents of Masyuki Katakura. It is a drawer, and its powerful groove embodies the original charm of the jazz. Enjoy the fun, beauty and thrill of a piano trio with creative one-of-a-kind sound. Dare to challenge the simple standard. A new breath to the famous jazz that you have been listening repeatedly.

"In tomorrow's world, men will not need artificial instruments such as jets and space ships. In the world of tomorrow, the new man will 'think' the place he wants to go, then his mind will take him there." — Sun Ra, Jazz in Silhouette album notes (1959)

Jazz classics and modern songs in the spirit of the 1950s. After his tribute to Nat King Cole's album ‘Gentlemen are hard to find’ and ‘Somethin’ Old & Somethin‘ New - Somethin’ Else", Martin Lechner's third album now follows: “Another Step”. On it, he and his band interpret jazz classics, present their own pieces and breathe the breath of the 50s into modern songs. Lechner's songs, sung in the warm timbre of his voice, get under your skin - cosily embedded in the sound of a strong, well-rehearsed band made up of some of the best-known names on the Swiss jazz scene.

Polish keyboard master who had been super busy since 1972, apparently having played with some of Sweden's jazz- rock fusion stars, met Steve Gadd and Anthony Jackson while working on compatriot Michal URBANIAK (Jean-Luc PONTY, DZAMBLE, NEIMEN, Larry CORYELL)'s Fusion III and FUNK FACTORY albums in 1975.

After a sold-out tour in the Netherlands, the renowned Dutch saxophonist Benjamin Herman links up with his long-time friend and fellow jazz compatriot, Japanese pianist Mayuko Katakura, to craft an intimate and emotional ballad-based EP, Café Largo. The project is shrouded in mystique, enticing listeners with its slow, spellbinding saxophone and delicate piano. Each track exudes a relaxed ambiance, allowing the music to flow effortlessly, resulting in a rich tapestry of moods and atmospheres.

John Henry Maunder studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London and served as organist in several London churches, including St Matthew's, Syndenham and St Paul's, Forest Hill. Maunder started his career as a theatre composer during which time he wrote the operetta 'Daisy Dingle'. He later devoted himself exclusively to sacred music. While his oratorio 'The Martyrs' became a perennial favourite it is 'Olivet to Calvary' which has retained its popularity and appeal through the generations.

In 1973, the Sound Sculpture Show took place at the Vancouver Art Gallery. An LP audio catalogue of the exhibition, entitled “The Sounds of Sound Sculpture”, was released in 1975 under the supervision of the Canadian sound sculptor John Grayson and US composer David Rosenboom. Grayson had edited an important early book on the field, “Sound Sculpture”. The LP included rare takes of Rosenboom and Grayson, amongst others, playing famous pieces by pioneering sound sculptors including the Baschet brothers and Harry Bertoia, the latter best known for his Sonambient series. It also included some of the few recordings by Stephan Von Huene, who had begun to create his kinetic sculptures, and the profound atmospheric pressure systems constructed by the New York sound artist David Jacobs.

Samboro is an electrifying new album by the Petar and Daniel Guitar Duo, celebrating the fusion of Serbian, Balkan, Brazilian, and Latin American musical traditions with jazz and classical influences.