The Jazz Podcast

Kris Davis is a Grammy award-winning pianist and composer described by The New York Times as a beacon for “deciding where to hear jazz [in New York] on a given night.” Davis has released 24 recordings as a leader or co-leader and collaborated with artists such as Terri Lyne Carrington, Dave Holland, John Zorn, Craig Taborn, Ingrid Laubrock, Tyshawn Sorey and Esperanza Spalding.  She was named a 20...

Niklas Lukassen’s internationally renowned quartet with saxophonist Ben van Gelder , pianist Kit Downes and drummer Francesco Ciniglio , fuses captivating individualists of the jazz scenes of Amsterdam, London, Paris and Berlin into one symbiotic musical organism. With natural improvisational flow, this unit's interplay runs like water through sonic river forks into unexpected directions. Una...

Community spirit has been a constant in the work of composer and trumpet player Sarah Wilson , whose experiences and inspirations have ranged from socially conscious puppet theater to brass band and New Orleans traditions to her own illuminating style of jazz. When musicians are truly inspired and connected with one another, Wilson describes, time seems to stand still for artist and listener alike...

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Harben Kay joins the show to chat about the release of their highly anticipated new album, The World I Live In (Sulis Records, October 3rd 2025). This album represents a deeply personal exploration of identity, transformation, and the way change influences creativity. Written over the past three years, during a time of frequent moves between London, Edinburgh, and Glasgow, The World I Live In refl...

Long time friend of the show Huw joins the show to tell us about his incredible new music. His new single 05/05/21 with his band Di-Cysgodion is out today and we celebrate by listening to the track and diving into all the musical details.  He's also promoting and performing at concerts at the London Jazz Festival at the London Welsh centre and we hear about all his exciting plans and ideas fo...

Spike has played saxophone for over 40 years, with many musicians, in Australia, the USA, the UK, Canada, Ireland, Greece, Singapore, Italy, The Czech Republic, Holland, Turkiye, and New Zealand. He's performed at countless festivals and clubs, from stadium stages to people's kitchens, with both famous and unknown musicians, in front of very large and very small crowds.  He's also b...

Hannah Brine talks to Tara Minton about her new album, 'Blue Sky Now.' Support the show

Tara Minton speaks with Lorna Reid about her new album, songwriting and more.  Support the show

Fini joins Rob Cope to chat about her 5th studio album, Last Night of the World.  Fini Bearman is a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist & composer who has built an impressive profile on the UK Jazz scene as both an imaginative and expressive soloist and as a side-woman. She tours regularly across Europe and notable performances include Ronnie Scotts, The Sage Gateshead, The Barbican, The A...

Daniel Vildosola and John Waugh may come from opposite sides of the Atlantic—one from the sun-scorched deserts of Arizona, the other from the rolling hills of Northumberland, UK—but together, their music finds an effortless middle ground. Drawing from their vastly different environments, they’ve created a sound that feels natural, fusing Americana and jazz with a sense of place and history that’s...

(In) Love explores the different aspects and essences of love, through a simple yet sophisticated musical language, reflecting the singer and song-writer’s experience gathered during the last years. The original songs which compose this collection include jazz, world music, bossa nova, and also a jazz ballad composed by the music veteran Ivan Lins, with lyrics written by Sofia Hoffmann. Enjoy! Sup...

Gwilym and Emma have teamed up to record a new album Big Visit on ACT, which is out now. They sit down with Tara Minton to share their thoughts on the new music.  Support the show

Out February 7, 2025, Griot Songs marks the return of the Omar Thomas Large Ensemble after more than a decade, featuring soloists Jason Palmer, Mark Zaleski, Alex Brown, Mark Cocheo and others  “Griot Songs firmly plants Omar Thomas in the pantheon of distinguished and exceptional writers. He blurs the lines stylistically in the best of ways with a texturally compelling 'heart and soul'...

The French Impressionists revolutionized the art world by privileging the emotional and spiritual perception of the natural world over its literal reproduction. Hailing from France, harpist Isabelle Olivier has always felt an innate affinity for Impressionism and discovered its echoes within her other artistic passions, primarily the parallel worlds of jazz and classical music. On her vibrant new...

Trumpeter and composer Kenny Wheeler (1930–2014) was one of the most enigmatic and influential musicians in recent memory. His instantly recognisable sound was a driving force within every major innovation in modern European jazz during the last half of the 20th century. More importantly, his life provides us with a profound example of the way music can manifest itself in the most unlikely of vess...

The members of all-star family jazz band The 3 Cohens — featuring Anat Cohen (clarinet), Avishai Cohen (trumpet) and Yuval Cohen (soprano saxophone) — have always taken time out from their ever-burgeoning careers as soloists and bandleaders to reconvene for music-making together. The siblings developed a deep musical bond growing up in Tel Aviv, with improvising together becoming second nature for...

Jon Irabagon is a Filipino-American saxophonist, composer, and founder of Irabbagast Records. [1] Winner of the 2008 Thelonious Monk Jazz Competition [1] and one of Time Out ' s "25 essential New York City jazz icons", [2] Irabagon is known for the breadth of his work on a jazz continuum ranging "from postbop to free improvisation, avant country to doom metal". [3] His &qu...

An oft-repeated Chinese proverb states, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Looking back from a vantage point several steps along her own proverbial journey, British composer and pianist Claire Cope came to discover that no matter how daunting a venture may become, it’s always taking that first step that requires the most courage. That realization provided the inspiration be...

When Nishla & Tom met in Manchester in 2019, they quickly realised they had made a rare musical connection. Over the years, the pair’s work has blossomed sideways into an array of creative projects, but at the core of their partnership is a deep respect for the history and culture of the music they play, and a preoccupation with drawing out the characters and stories they find there. Last wint...

French and American singer Laura Anglade is a promising storyteller hailing from the idyllic town of Brousse-le-Château, France. She draws inspiration from Carmen McRae, Blossom Dearie, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Shirley Horn, Billie Holiday, Michel Legrand and Barbra Streisand, among others. Laura has made a mark in the music scenes of New York, Paris, London, Toronto and Montreal, collabora...

Hailed as a “fully committed saxophonist and visionary” by The New Yorker , Ingrid Laubrock has evolved a distinctive, fascinatingly complex and richly layered sonic vocabulary that spans her efforts as an improviser, as leader of her own diverse ensembles or, as in the case of her captivating new album Purposing The Air , as composer and conceptualist for other musicians. Out April 11, 2025 , Pur...

Swiss pianist Sylvie Courvoisier and American guitarist Mary Halvorson show how virtuosity and joy of playing can be beautifully combined in a duo. Their snapping, over-snapping runs sparkle with the neighboring genres of jazz in particle form. Is this now flamenco, blues, country, noise? Unison voices in a rhythm that has more of Stravinsky or progressive rock than Louis Armstrong or John Coltran...

Swedish jazz virtuoso Ebba Åsman has announced the forthcoming release of her third full-length record When You Know . The new album arrives March 21st, 2025 via Dorado Records . Coinciding with the announcement of ‘When You Know’ of the upcoming album are the joint first singles - the title track ‘When You Know’ and ‘No Answer’ . The pair of songs channel the feelings that came into clarity for Å...

Trombone-playing singer-songwriter Aubrey Logan hails from the picturesque surroundings near Seattle, WA. Raised by her two music-educator parents, she began her artistic endeavors as a child singing in theatre and in church, Thoughtful songwriters like Billy Joel & Carole King influenced her early childhood via her singing mother and trumpet-playing father, as well as the soulful musicianship...