Sanna Ruohoniemi stands out on the jazz scene, both in terms of compositions and radiance. Her ability to use her voice is enviable; the breadth of her creation is exceptionally free and fluid. The artist and composer Ruohoniemi’s third album Let Everything Happen continues in the same vein as Start from Nothing, which was praised, among others, by the Europe Jazz Media Chart as one of the best music releases in Europe in November 2018.

She’s been heard around the world as the host/ star of the syndicated public radio series Words and Music, but for thousands the most familiar way to enjoy the jazz stylings of Spider Saloff has been through live performances. The Chicago –based jazz vocalist has won accolades around the world for her introspective approach to the genre, most profoundly through her one-woman tribute to George Gershwin, The Memory of All That, conceived with the blessing of the Gershwin estate and headlining the Gershwin Centennial in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Every now and again an album appears as if from nowhere that immediately you get, and more importantly gets you. Well, that now and again has arrived in the shape of Look for the Silver Lining by Stella Bass, and album that spoke volumes to me upon first hearing it and my enthusiasm has not diminished after countless hearings.

Kirk Knuffke is as New York based cornet player, recently voted no.1 trumpet player in Downbeat Magazine, and considered one of the leading improvisers of his generation in New York. Charles Burnham has been a violin frontrunner for decades on the world jazzscene and are among other projects recorded the album `Odyssey ` with James Blood Ulmer.

Luo Ning was born in a family of music in China and grew up in the multiracial province Xinjiang with much ethnic customs. In the year when Luo Ning was 4 years old, his father discovered Luo Ning’s talents in music and become the piano abecedarian of Luo Ning. That is how Luo Ning started his journey of music.

Michael Arbenz has played countless concerts and tours throughout Europe, North America, South America and Asia. He is also a founding member of the Swiss trio VEIN and has worked with Greg Osby, Glenn Ferris, Dave Liebman, Marc Johnson, Wolfgang Puschnig and Andy Sheppard, among others.

Born in Missouri, pianist and composer Steve Million has made his home in Chicago since 1988, spearheading a multitude of projects including the sextet BakerzMillion, a two piano Thelonious Monk tribute, and Jazz Words, a showcase for his lyrics and arrangements with singer Sarah Marie Young. Perfectly Spaced is the latest vessel for Million’s prolific creativity and introduces a top-flight quartet with old friends Eric Hochberg (bass) and Bob Rummage (drums) alongside violin virtuoso Mark Feldman, a more recent addition to the Chicago scene.

Modern and progressive - the two composers and founders of the Munich Lab Band Felix Ecke and Vincent Eberle know how to make tradition sound anew. With great self-confidence, they mix jazz with elements of classical music and thereby manage to give the protagonists the freedom to develop musically on stage. Sometimes pompous and overwhelming, then again gentle, intimate and inviting to dream - hardly a facet of the music remains untouched in the band's repertoire.

Opsahl is an award winning clarinetist and composer whose last album Kyrkja - with Oddrun Lilja and Ellen Brekken - received international acclaim and was hot-listed by Europe Jazz Network as one of the best jazz albums of 2022. Carl Petter Opsahl is one of the most original and prolific clarinet players coming from Norway. Equally at home in jazz and traditional Norwegian folk music, his art is a unique blend of tradition and innovation, flowing from deep spiritual sources. He has collaborated and recorded with artists such as Wendell Brunious, Tord Gustavsen Jon Christensen, Henry Kaiser, David Lindley, Anders Rogg, Zotora, Jokke & Valentinerne, Åsmund Reistad and Jo Asgeir Lie.

Toronto indie rockers Jane's Party have announced a new EP, previewed today by a cover of Steely Dan's iconic "Dirty Work." The Best of Wild in the Woods Vol. 1 arrives November 6, following the band's recent single "Ships on an Ocean." Having previously only been a live performance series uploaded to the band's YouTube channel starting in the summer of 2021, select highlights from Wild in the Woods will soon be available on your streaming platform of choice.

The Blue Hour is Jack Ramsey’s first solo album, recorded on September 15th and 16th, 2022, at Sage Arts Recording Studio in Arlington, WA. For the recording, Ramsey performed six hours of improvised piano music over the course of two days, resulting in 78 short pieces. The 19 tracks in The Blue Hour were selected from these 78 improvised pieces, and arranged into four “suites:” Evening, Night, Dream, and The Blue Hour - an exploration of the transformative journey of one day into the next, and the eerie and ephemeral beauty found in night and dream.

Last Bolero In Berkeley is a most interesting mid-period LP from Cal Tjader. Released in 1973 on the Fantasy label, it’s a meandering and more spaced-out jazz record than what we’re used to. This is best exemplified by the spacious minimalism of Gary McFarland’s opening track appropriately called Gary’s Theme which gradually builds into an edgy chilled epic.

This is the album that launched Flora Purim's solo career with great promise following her magnificent stint with Chick Corea's first incarnation of Return to Forever. Most of the tracks on this album sound like they would have fit very nicely onto one of RTF's first two LPs, with bandmate Stanley Clarke not only lending support on electric and acoustic bass, but also contributing original compositions and arrangements to the mix. The rest of the supporting cast is not too shabby either, including sax and flute man Joe Henderson, keyboard whiz kid George Duke, guitarist David Amaro, and Purim's other half, percussion legend Airto Moreira.

Although Lalo Schifrin is justifiably praised for his soundtrack work, many jazz purists turn up their noses at his jazz dates, such as his '60s work with Jimmy Smith and Wes Montgomery. The things that make Schifrin an anathema to the diehards the huge orchestras, the pop and soul riffs, the general air of over the top theatricality are all over 1977's Free Ride, his reunion date with Dizzy Gillespie. (Schifrin had been Gillespie's arranger in the late '50s.) In fact, Free Ride is so painfully dated that it's transformed into cockeyed cool, just the sort of record ironic hipsters should listen to while they're reading the novelizations of '70s cop shows that they bought for a bundle off of eBay.

Expected, this meeting, this dialogue between two important jazz personalities: the double bassist and composer Pierre Boussaguet and the pianist Giovanni Mirabassi, reveals an album full of charm, freshness and life.