April 2025
Some Recent Releases
Recent Releases
A few words about recent releases / reviews:
Apart from where they are included in articles on this website, I don't have a 'Reviews' section for a number of reasons:
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I receive so many requests to review recordings it is impossible to include them all.
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Unlike some publications/blogs, Sandy Brown Jazz is not a funded website and it is not possible to pay reviewers.
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Reviews tend to be personal opinions, something a reviewer likes might not suit you, or vice versa.
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It is difficult to capture music in words, so much better to be able to listen and see whether the music interests you.
For these reasons in particular I just include a selection of recent recordings below where I share the notes issued by the musician(s) as an introduction and links to samples so you can 'taste' the music for yourselves. For those who like to read reviews, these, of course, can be checked out on other sites.
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Some albums are priced in dollars or other currencies. These are marked ^. There are currency options if you proceed to order. Recordings are now regularly available on different formats (CD, mp3 downloads, vinyl) or platforms e.g iTunes, Spotify, etc. I am unable to list them all so it is worth checking if you have a favourite platform).
Featured In April 2025
UK
Matt Holborn - For Stuff
(BL Records) - Released: 16th April 2025
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Matt Holborn (violin); Fraser Urquhart (piano); Joe Dessauer (drums); Simon Read (bass); Honey Boulton (guitar # 3, 6 and 8)
'Matt Holborn’s For Stuff is a wonderful tribute. It’s almost possible to envisage these pieces as previously unknown Stuff Smith takes, for they are as fresh as possible while paying non-imitative homage to how Stuff himself played. Each time Smith performed the “same” tune, it was never truly the same. There are only two actual Smith compositions in this set: “Desert Sands,” in which it might be said guitarist Honey Boulton is heard playing somewhere between Barney Kessel and Herb Ellis, both of whom Stuff recorded the tune with in 1957, and “Stop Look.” Yet traces of Smith can be heard elsewhere too: notably, Matt’s “Yune’ June” is pretty much a contrafact of “Ain’t She Sweet” (Ager, Yellen), recorded a couple of times by Smith in Europe. Smith also recorded Victor Young’s “I Don’t Stand a Ghost of a Chance With You” (lyrics by Ned Washington and Bing Crosby). I’ve always considered “Desert Sands” to be a major signature of Smith’s, and it pains me to recall how, at a club just outside Copenhagen, when Smith asked me what I would like him to play, I called for “Take the ‘A’ Train” when I could have called for “Desert Sands.” One of several retrospectively important questions I failed to ask him was why he never played this wonderful composition again after his permanent move to Europe in 1965 ..... (album notes by Anthony Barnett)
The Alexander Bryson Trio - Live At Mike's!
(MWR100) - Released: 20th January 2025
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Alex Bryson (piano); Jeremy Brown (bass), Matt Fishwick (drums)
'Alex Bryson is a leading British jazz pianist and recording artist signed to Hard Bop Records. He has featured regularly at internationally prestigious venues. LIVE AT MIKE'S! is a selection from a run of live gigs in September 2023. It was recorded straight to tape, the tape edited by hand, and cut straight to vinyl on the 1967 Haeco Scully Lathe at Gearbox records. It's the full analogue experience and full of the atmosphere of the the gigs themselves. We pressed a limited number of copies, so get yours while you can!' (album notes)
Matt Carmichael - Dancing With Embers
(self release) - Released: 28th March 2025
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Matt Carmichael (tenor saxophone; piano track 1, 12); Charlie Stewart (fiddle); Fergus McCreadie (piano); Ali Watson | (double bass); Tom Potter(drums); Innep White (acoustic guitar Track 2, 3, 5, 6, 11); Chris Amer (electric/tenor guitar Track 1, 5, 6, 10, 12); Brìghde Chaimbeul (small pipes Track 7, 8); Rachel Sermanni (voice Track 10)
'A collection of emotionally driven instrumental songs where melody takes centre stage, Carmichael’s new album features four of his closest friends and long-term collaborators. The quintet, playing together since they were teenagers, have developed a special chemistry grounded in collective improvisation. His most ambitious work to date, Dancing With Embers sees the saxophonist expand his soundworld with guests Rachel Sermanni (voice), Brìghde Chaimbeul (small pipes), Chris Amer and Innes White (guitars) alongside his core quintet including pianist Fergus McCreadie. The record’s warm, intimate sound leans more into influences from singer-songwriters such as Adrienne Lenker and Bon Iver than Carmichael’s previous works. He explains ‘I listened to more singer-songwriters than anything else in the time period I wrote Dancing with Embers and wanted to create an album where the focus is on the song and not so much on having any typical Jazz solos... on live gigs the band have free reign and improvisation is at the core, but I approached the recording of this album a little differently.’ ..... (album notes)