The Jazz Mann | Jazz music reviews and news from the Jazz Mann Ian Mann

Winner of the Parliamentary Jazz Award for Best Media, 2019

Jazz Album Reviews

Fraser Smith Quartet

Lifeline!

This latest album is a total success on its own terms. Smith’s command of his chosen idiom is undisputed and in Barron, Read and Brown he has three other masters of their chosen jazz field.

The Weave

Snishoo

Ted Morcaldi

Celestial Stranger

Matt Carmichael

Dancing With Embers

Aurelius

Rizes Cave

Germana Stella La Sorsa and Tom Ollendorff Duo

After Hours

Emily Francis Trio

Atomic Tour Live

Jazz Mann Recommended Listening

Small Blue

Furrow

The music is by turns beautiful, playful and evocative with the leader’s drums at the heart of the music in what is a particularly well calibrated trio. It’s a recording that Pyne can be proud of.

Shez Raja

Spellbound

The playing of every musician involved is exceptional and the performances are dynamic and exciting, with Raja’s bass a unifying force as he explores a broad range of music from east and west.

Emma Rawicz / Gwilym Simcock

Big Visit

A genuinely impressive piece of work, intimate but ambitious and featuring intelligent original writing and inventive arrangements alongside some brilliant playing.

Lukas DeRungs

WAKE

DeRungs is an emerging artist with plenty to say, a supremely accomplished pianist and also the visionary force behind this varied and very impressive album.

Live Jazz Reviews

Aaron Moloney Trio with Vasilis Xenopoulos

Aaron Moloney Trio with Vasilis Xenopoulos, Kidderminster Jazz Club, St. Ambrose Parish Centre, Kidderminster, 05/09/2025.

Jon Crespo Quartet

Jon Crespo Quartet, ‘Beyond Armstrong’, Black Mountain Jazz, Melville Centre, Abergavenny, 31/08/2025.

Lucy Sissy Miller / Walt McClements

Lucy Sissy Miller / Walt McClements, Sy; Gigs, Unitarian Church, Shrewsbury, 16/08/2025.

Ibrahim Maalouf

Ibrahim Maalouf, BBC Proms, Royal Albert Hall, London, 29/07/2025.

Ursula Harrison and Sylvie Noble Duo

Ursula Harrison and Sylvie Noble Duo, Black Mountain Jazz, The Melville Centre, Abergavenny, 27/07/2025.

Tiggy Blackwell Quintet / Huw Llewellyn Quartet

Tiggy Blackwell Quintet / Huw Llewellyn Quartet, Brecon Jazz Festival, The Muse Arts Centre, Brecon, 08/07/2025.

Jazz Mann Features

Sunday at Brecon Jazz Festival, 10/08/2025.

Ian Mann enjoys the final day of the Festival and performances by Julian Martin/ Ben Thomas, Soweto Kinch. Emily Masser / Alex Clarke, Dreamscapes, Ashley John Long's Rare Earth Project, Jazz Sabbath.

Saturday at Brecon Jazz Festival, 09/08/2025.

Ian Mann enjoys the second day of Brecon Jazz Festival 2025 and performances by Ursula Harrison and Sylvie Noble, Sultan Stevenson, Double Double, Ben Shankland, Remi Harris, Geoff Eales, Ruby Turner.

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