No guide to the best Bill Evans albums would be complete with taking a listen to his iconic album You Must Believe in Spring. In this article, British saxophonist Sam Braysher takes a listen to the 2022 reissue which thrilled jazz fans so recently. The 1970s were not a particularly happy decade for Bill Evans. …
Whilst there are many thousands of songs in the jazz repertoire, a much smaller selection achieve ‘legendary’ status, being reinterpreted by countless musicians both old and new. The subject of this article – Hoagy Carmichael – wrote a whole host of songs that can count themselves part of this exclusive club and we’ve picked 10 …
Join us as we take a look and listen to one of the most original and influential alto saxophonists in jazz history: American great Lee Konitz. With a relentless commitment to “pure” improvisation, Lee Konitz was one of the most distinctive voices in jazz. In the early part of his career the alto saxophonist was …
Undoubtedly one of the most famous alto saxophone players in history, Charlie Parker was a central figure on the 1940s jazz scene – as well as an influence on much of what has come since. In this article we’re going to look at 10 of the best Charlie Parker albums and dive into the short …
Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington was born on 29 April 1899 in Washington D.C. As well as leading his famed orchestra from the piano chair, he is considered by many to be the greatest jazz composer in history. In fact, he is arguably one of America’s finest composers, regardless of genre. The Duke Ellington discography contains …
Legendary Hard Bop trumpeter Lee Morgan appeared on some of the best jazz records of the late-50s and 1960s before his tragic death aged just 33. In this article, we take a look (and a listen) at some of the career highlights of one of the true jazz trumpet greats. After appearing on the jazz …
One of the most famous jazz musicians of all time, Chet Baker was an iconic cool jazz trumpeter and singer. We of course already included him in our round up of best trumpet players of all time, but for this article we dive deeper into his life and music. The music of Chet Baker is …
Art Pepper is widely considered to be one of the greatest alto saxophonists of all time and, for this article, we’ve picked out 10 of his best albums to check out. Born in California in 1925, Art Pepper came to prominence during the 1950s as one of the major soloists of the West Coast and …
Bebop emerged in the 1940’s as a reaction to the more commercial, audience-friendly music that came before it. Its fast tempos, virtuosic solos and rich harmonic vocabulary marked a massive turning point in the development of jazz. In this article, we’ve rounded up 10 of the most essential bebop artists and albums from this style …
Almost every classic jazz album contains at least one jazz ballad, where the artist can showcase a more expressive or sentimental side to their playing, perhaps in contrast to the rest of the set. Historically, these have often been romantic ‘torch songs’ drawn from the Great American Songbook – songs that were originally written as …