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

Martin Speake Big Band

Hidden Vision – the arrangements of Charlie Rees

A triumph for both Martin Speake and Charlie Rees, a superb demonstration of Speake’s abilities as both a composer and instrumentalist and Rees’ as an arranger.

Jack Wilson

The Bear And The Wolf

Aidan Thorne / Jason Ball Duo

Poems of a Space

Swing From Paris

Under Paris Skies

Ursula Harrison and Sylvie Noble Duo

New Eve

Leverton Fox

Eternal Gong Bath of the Sunbed Mind

Tommaso Starace Organ Trio

Live at The Beaver Inn

Jazz Mann Recommended Listening

Tomos Williams’ Cwmwl Tystion

Cwmwl Tystion III / Empathy

The standard of the writing and playing throughout the series has been exceptional. Cwmwl Tystion really has been a major triumph for Tomos Williams

Julian Arguelles

Echo Fields

“Echo Fields” is as good as anything that Arguelles has recorded. This is a mature record from an artist who is still at the peak of his creative powers.

Niklas Lukassen

Still Waters

An excellent leadership debut from Lukassen. His writing is intelligent and multi-faceted and embraces a broad variety of styles and dynamics. The standard of the playing and singing is excellent.

Tim Garland and Geoffrey Keezer

Mezzo

Ultimately the triumph is Garland's, the instigator of the project and its principal composer, and also a true virtuoso of that rarest of musical beasts, the mezzo-soprano saxophone.

Live Jazz Reviews

Gareth Williams / Dave Green Duo

Gareth Williams / Dave Green Duo Play Music Inspired by Bill Evans & Scott LaFaro, Cheltenham Jazz Club, The Victory Club, Cheltenham, 29/06/2026.

Fiona Ross Quartet

Fiona Ross Quartet, Black Mountain Jazz, Melville Centre for the Arts, Abergavenny, 28/06/2026.

Alex Hitchcock Quartet

Alex Hitchcock Quartet, Music Spoken Here, The Marr’s Bar, Worcester, 25/06/2026.

John Horler Trio

John Horler Trio - ‘Celebrating Bill Evans’, Pizza Express Jazz Club, Soho, London, 14/06/2026.

Arild Andersen / Daniel Sommer / Rob Luft

Arild Andersen / Daniel Sommer / Rob Luft, St John’s College Auditorium, Oxford, 13/06/2026.

Ibrahim Maalouf

Ibrahim Maalouf and The Trumpets of Michel-Ange The Roundhouse, London, 12/06/2026.

Jazz Mann Features

First Saturday at Cheltenham Music Festival, 04/07/2026.

Ian Mann enjoys the global sounds of the trio Za Górami (Alice Zawadzki, Fred Thomas, Misha Mullov-Abbado) and the Senegalese / Irish duo of Dudu Kouate and Shunya.

Brecon Jazz Club presents Music Network Tân Cerdd, The Muse Arts Centre, Brecon, 09/06/2026.

Ian Mann enjoys this latest collaboration between Brecon Jazz Club and a collective of singers and musicians associated with the Cardiff based Tân Cerdd Community Interest Company.

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