This fortnight, Mike's cued up four newish releases with very different approaches to modern jazz. We have a couple piano trios (one of which calls in reinforcements from time to time), a duet with ...

Following an aborted experiment with free drummer Phil Howard, Soft Machine recruited ubiquitous drummer John Marshall to fill out a version of the quartet that ultimately recorded one side of an ...

How did acclaimed drummer Cindy Blackman Santana react when her husband and musical partner, guitar legend Carlos Santana, first suggested she make an album featuring her singing? “I was like: ‘That’s ...

This is subjective, of course, because a full symphony orchestra is a precision tool. But whether you’re talking about a garage band or an octet of seasoned veterans, there are few miracles more ...