Executive Overview In the depths of Auckland’s southern winter in 2025, a cultural void was acutely felt across Aotearoa’s largest metropolis. Despite a thriving nocturnal landscape, the city lacked a reliable, mid-week anchor for improvised, adventurous music. Recognizing this gap, local DJ luminaries Frank Booker and Samuel Harmony—the creative engine behind the club outfit Music … Read more
Forty years after its initial pressing by Italy’s esteemed Red Records, the historic live recording On Tour by the legendary jazz supergroup Sphere has returned to the physical marketplace. Remastered directly from the original analogue tapes, cut and pressed on 180-gram audiophile vinyl at Germany’s Pallas plant, and packaged in a deluxe gatefold sleeve limited … Read more
Executive Overview For nearly two decades, acclaimed Toronto-based drummer and bandleader Ernesto Cervini has anchored his artistic output in the dependable, high-energy camaraderie of his core musical partnerships. Since his 2006 debut recording, Here, the nomenclature of the Ernesto Cervini Quartet has represented a gold standard of Canadian modern jazz. Historically featuring saxophonist Joel Frahm, … Read more
Executive Overview In the sprawling, often insular narrative of post-war British jazz, few figures cast a shadow as long, sharp, and avant-garde as Jamaican-born alto saxophonist Joe Harriott. Celebrated globally as a pioneer of free-form jazz—an innovator working concurrently with, yet entirely independently of, Ornette Coleman in the United States—Harriott pushed the boundaries of musical … Read more
Executive Overview After a twelve-year hiatus from releasing an album under her own name, celebrated Canadian saxophonist, composer, and educator Tara Davidson has re-emerged with The Reflection of an Echo. Released to critical acclaim, this eight-track collection of original compositions showcases a mature artist who has successfully distilled decades of musical exploration into an intimate, … Read more
Executive Overview In the ever-evolving landscape of contemporary improvised music, few artists possess the rare capacity to merge high-art sophistication with immediate emotional accessibility quite like Toronto-based pianist and composer Thompson Egbo-Egbo. With his latest critically acclaimed release, Just A Thought, Egbo-Egbo significantly expands upon the robust architectural foundations of his established piano trio, introducing … Read more
Executive Overview At the intersection of ancestral memory and contemporary sonic architecture lies a radical reconfiguration of Irish traditional music. On their sophomore full-length release, Birth Is Upon Me, Death Is Upon Me, the Belfast-based Córas Trio—comprising fiddler Kevin McCullagh, guitarist Paddy McKeown, and drummer Conor McAuley—dispenses entirely with the museum-piece approach that has occasionally … Read more
Executive Overview For fourteen years, the avant-garde contemporary jazz trio Twin Talk has cultivated a reputation as one of American improvised music’s best-kept secrets. Comprising tenor saxophonist Dustin Laurenzi, bassist and vocalist Katie Ernst, and drummer Andrew Green, the ensemble has steadily built a dedicated following through a string of critically acclaimed releases. Yet, despite … Read more
Executive Overview In the contemporary landscape of improvised music, genre boundaries are routinely challenged, yet few artists navigate the treacherous waters between progressive rock and modern jazz with the nuanced perspective of bassist Andrew Lion. Best known in jazz circles as the co-leader of the Oakland-based ensemble Negative Press Project alongside pianist Ruthie Dineen, Lion … Read more
Executive Overview The contemporary British jazz landscape is currently undergoing a profound generational renaissance, fueled by fluid cross-pollination between classical rigor, diasporic rhythmic heritages, and deeply personal spiritual foundations. At the center of this movement stands Christ-Stéphane Boizi, a rapidly ascending trombonist, composer, and bandleader whose debut album, As The Spirit Leads, released via Banger … Read more
