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HOT BOX – SCORCHING NEW RELEASES FROM THE JAZZWISE INBOX Top of the pile this month is the news that Branford Marsalis has moved to Blue Note and releases his debut for the imprint in the form of Belonging, out on 28 March. If the title seems familiar, then that’s because it’s a full-on celebration/tribute to Keith Jarrett’s much-cherished 1974 album of the same name, with his ‘European Quartet’ of Jan Garbarek, Palle Danielsson and Jon Christensen. The latter disc marked its 50th anniversary last year (covered in these pages in our September 2024 issue) and was in fact Branford’s choice for his Turning Point in our June 2023 edition – where he revealed how Garbarek's sound had strongly influenced him. Look out for an in-depth chat with the sax-toting Marsalis in a forthcoming issue… Also, Blow The Fuse Records on 7 March. Recorded live at East London’s Vortex jazz club with her talented band of Deirdre Cartwright, Steve Lodder, Diane McLoughlin and Buster Birch, the band take the LP’s spirited tunes out for more live dates at Pizza Express Jazz Club, Soho, London (9 Mar); The Blue Room Lincoln (15 Mar); The Globe, Newcastle (16 Mar); The Albany Club, Coventry (20 Mar) and The Verdict, Brighton (4 April). For more dates see Alison’s website www.alisonrayner.com Another top bassist swinging back into solo-album terrain is maestro John Patitucci who hasn’t released a solo album since 2019, but lets loose on both upright and 6-string electric on Spirit Fall (Edition, 14 Feb, sleeve pictured below) with Chris Potter and Brian Blade. And finally, Japanese piano powerhouse Hiromi has announced the second album from her funkily-virtuosic Sonicwonder Band (Hadrien Fraud, Adam O’Farrill and Gene Coye) in the form of their frenetic LP, Out There, out 4 April via Concord/Telarc, that sees the fourpiece hitting new levels of interplay and complexity. And for those that like to plan ahead, Hiromi’s Sonicwonder Band will perform at the Barbican, London on Friday 21 November 2025 – get that in the diary now… (MF) news just in, former Pat Metheny pianist Gwilym Simcock and fast-rising UK saxophonist Emma Rawicz have teamed up for their debut album Big Visit, due for release on 28 March on ACT Music. The relaxed session captures their strong rapport and masterful musicianship on a set of originals plus a strikingly free take on Stevie Wonder’s ‘Visions’ – see our April issue for an exclusive interview with the dynamic duo. Bassist and bandleader Alison Rayner returns with a new live album, SEMA4, on There are some strong names releasing albums on ECM this spring with new albums from Billy Hart and Jon Balke (both out on 28 Feb), Anouar Brahem (7 March) and Nicolas Masson (14 March) and a mouthwatering duo set from Vijay Iyer and Wadada Leo Smith (21 Mar). Alison Rayner Quintet Gwilym Simcock and Emma Rawicz Hiromi & Sonicwonder BACK IN THE DAY... Busy Bill blows into London Sixty years ago this March, the Bill Evans Trio hit London in gale force fashion! There was barely a venue in town that you could not step into without bumping into busy Bill, who'd arrived with his classy trio of bassist Chuck Israels and drummer Larry Bunker, his regular rhythm section from 1963–late 1965, following the premature death of Scott Lafaro. Ronnie Scott's ever-enterprising business partner Pete King kept the trio firmly on their toes with a two week season at Gerrard Street; presented them at The Marquee on Sunday 7 March, where the trio were followed the next night by the Yardbirds with Eric Clapton; and culminated in a major concert appearance at The Prince of Wales Theatre on 14 March, supported by Mark Murphy with the Stan Tracey Trio and the Ronnie Scott Quartet, including future Mahavishnu Orchestra bassist Rick Laird. And, in a typically smart move, King set up a BBC Jazz 625 concert on 19 March at the BBC Studios. Introduced by a slightly nervous Humphrey Lyttelton, the trio are on top form and now you lucky, lucky readers can see the full show on YouTube in a splendid colourised version. Jon Newey 6 Jazzwise March 2025 FUTURE MOVERS HIGHLIGHTING SERIOUS TALENT BUBBLING UNDER THE RADAR…. NAME: Flo Redmonds INSTRUMENT: Sax and flute EXPERIENCE AND INFLUENCES: Flo picked up saxophone aged 10, inspired by the band Madness. It ended up sticking, and 13 years later she has played with Binker Golding and Moses Boyd at the Southbank Centre, and recently with Cassie Kinoshi’s Seed at The Barbican. She also tours the UK and EU regularly with punk rock band Snuff. THIS FUTURE MOVER SAYS: "The largest appeal of jazz and improvising for me is the legacy of collaboration with various genres. I have always been drawn to a variety of soundworlds, having been raised on everything from punk rock to Motown, hence I'm keen to continue infusing my own music with these influences, to create my own distinctive sound." See Flo Redmonds play Ronnie Scott’s Future Movers Late Shows on 7-8 March for an International Women’s Day special led by Phil Meadows (alto sax) and featuring Kezia Abouma (piano), Myra Brownbridge (bass) and Jess Rollason (drums). For more info visit www.ronniescotts.co.uk
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20/4 -1/5/2025 l Jazzkaar Fe s tiva TALLINN – FULL OF JAZZ! Jazzmeia Horn I Bill Laurance & Michael League I Lakecia Benjamin I Luísa Sobral I Poetic Ways I James Carter Organ Trio and many others! Info & programme: jazzkaar.ee Ambrose Akinmusire honey from a winter stone THE ACCLAIMED NEW ALBUM OUT NOW ‘Breathtaking sonic vistas where jazz, hip-hop and experimental music collide. Astonishingly innovative.’ - MojoMojo ‘Akinmusire’s playing has never sounded more mature and exploratory, every component of the music as rigorous and evolved as his own vision.’ - The Wire The Wire nonesuch.com

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HOT BOX – SCORCHING NEW RELEASES FROM THE JAZZWISE INBOX Top of the pile this month is the news that Branford Marsalis has moved to Blue Note and releases his debut for the imprint in the form of Belonging, out on 28 March. If the title seems familiar, then that’s because it’s a full-on celebration/tribute to Keith Jarrett’s much-cherished 1974 album of the same name, with his ‘European Quartet’ of Jan Garbarek, Palle Danielsson and Jon Christensen. The latter disc marked its 50th anniversary last year (covered in these pages in our September 2024 issue) and was in fact Branford’s choice for his Turning Point in our June 2023 edition – where he revealed how Garbarek's sound had strongly influenced him. Look out for an in-depth chat with the sax-toting Marsalis in a forthcoming issue… Also,

Blow The Fuse Records on 7 March. Recorded live at East London’s Vortex jazz club with her talented band of Deirdre Cartwright, Steve Lodder, Diane McLoughlin and Buster Birch, the band take the LP’s spirited tunes out for more live dates at Pizza Express Jazz Club, Soho, London (9 Mar); The Blue Room Lincoln (15 Mar); The Globe, Newcastle (16 Mar); The Albany Club, Coventry (20 Mar) and The Verdict, Brighton (4 April). For more dates see Alison’s website www.alisonrayner.com

Another top bassist swinging back into solo-album terrain is maestro John Patitucci who hasn’t released a solo album since 2019, but lets loose on both upright and 6-string electric on Spirit Fall (Edition, 14 Feb, sleeve pictured below) with Chris Potter and Brian Blade.

And finally, Japanese piano powerhouse Hiromi has announced the second album from her funkily-virtuosic Sonicwonder Band (Hadrien Fraud, Adam O’Farrill and Gene Coye) in the form of their frenetic LP, Out There, out 4 April via Concord/Telarc, that sees the fourpiece hitting new levels of interplay and complexity. And for those that like to plan ahead, Hiromi’s Sonicwonder Band will perform at the Barbican, London on Friday 21 November 2025 – get that in the diary now… (MF)

news just in, former Pat Metheny pianist Gwilym Simcock and fast-rising UK saxophonist Emma Rawicz have teamed up for their debut album Big Visit, due for release on 28 March on ACT Music. The relaxed session captures their strong rapport and masterful musicianship on a set of originals plus a strikingly free take on Stevie Wonder’s ‘Visions’ – see our April issue for an exclusive interview with the dynamic duo. Bassist and bandleader Alison Rayner returns with a new live album, SEMA4, on

There are some strong names releasing albums on ECM this spring with new albums from Billy Hart and Jon Balke (both out on 28 Feb), Anouar Brahem (7 March) and Nicolas Masson (14 March) and a mouthwatering duo set from Vijay Iyer and Wadada Leo Smith (21 Mar).

Alison Rayner Quintet

Gwilym Simcock and

Emma Rawicz

Hiromi & Sonicwonder

BACK IN THE DAY... Busy Bill blows into London Sixty years ago this March, the Bill Evans Trio hit London in gale force fashion! There was barely a venue in town that you could not step into without bumping into busy Bill, who'd arrived with his classy trio of bassist Chuck Israels and drummer Larry Bunker, his regular rhythm section from 1963–late 1965, following the premature death of Scott Lafaro. Ronnie Scott's ever-enterprising business partner Pete King kept the trio firmly on their toes with a two week season at Gerrard Street; presented them at The Marquee on Sunday 7 March, where the trio were followed the next night by the Yardbirds with Eric Clapton; and culminated in a major concert appearance at The Prince of Wales Theatre on 14 March, supported by Mark Murphy with the Stan Tracey

Trio and the Ronnie Scott Quartet, including future Mahavishnu Orchestra bassist Rick Laird. And, in a typically smart move, King set up a BBC Jazz 625 concert on 19 March at the BBC Studios. Introduced by a slightly nervous Humphrey Lyttelton, the trio are on top form and now you lucky, lucky readers can see the full show on YouTube in a splendid colourised version. Jon Newey

6 Jazzwise March 2025

FUTURE MOVERS

HIGHLIGHTING SERIOUS TALENT BUBBLING UNDER THE RADAR….

NAME: Flo Redmonds INSTRUMENT: Sax and flute EXPERIENCE AND INFLUENCES: Flo picked up saxophone aged 10, inspired by the band Madness. It ended up sticking, and 13 years later she has played with Binker Golding and Moses Boyd at the Southbank Centre, and recently with Cassie Kinoshi’s Seed at The Barbican. She also tours the UK and EU regularly with punk rock band Snuff. THIS FUTURE MOVER SAYS: "The largest appeal of jazz and improvising for me is the legacy of collaboration with various genres. I have always been drawn to a variety of soundworlds,

having been raised on everything from punk rock to Motown, hence I'm keen to continue infusing my own music with these influences, to create my own distinctive sound."

See Flo Redmonds play Ronnie Scott’s Future Movers Late Shows on 7-8 March for an International Women’s Day special led by Phil Meadows (alto sax) and featuring Kezia

Abouma (piano), Myra Brownbridge (bass) and Jess Rollason

(drums). For more info visit www.ronniescotts.co.uk

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