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

Anmol Mohara

Across The Sea

A very impressive debut from Mohara who excels both as an instrumentalist and a composer. The music is colourful and richly textured and embraces a variety of musical styles both eastern and western.

Alex Clarke Quartet

Out of the Woods

Howl Quartet

Night Song

Nils Kavanagh

No Expectations

Harben Kay

The World I Live In

Ant Law Quintet

Unified Theories

Shear Brass

Extraordinary Journey

Jazz Mann Recommended Listening

Finn Genockey

Tacet Trust

"Tacet Trust” is the most outstanding debut album that I’ve heard in some time and deserves to establish Genockey as a major figure on the UK jazz scene and beyond.

Harry Brunt

Carolina Peaches

Intelligent, frequently quirky, writing from Brunt combines with some superb playing from all four members of a very well balanced and calibrated group.

The Weave

Snishoo

Intelligent and individual writing, excellent playing from all concerned, and that all important sense of humour & irreverence, that makes the group’s sound so distinctive. It's good to have them back

Ted Morcaldi

Celestial Stranger

Part solo recording, part band album it successfully combines both elements and also delivers a successful and beguiling mix of electric and acoustic sounds embracing a variety of musical styles.

Live Jazz Reviews

Chris Cobbson Quartet

Chris Cobbson Quartet, ‘From Dixie to Smooth: The History of Jazz Guitar’, Black Mountain Jazz, Melville Centre, Abergavenny, 26/10/2025.

Resolution 88

Resolution 88, Music Spoken Here, The Marr’s Bar, Worcester, 23/10/2025.

Chris Biscoe

Chris Biscoe’s Profiles Quartet, Progress Theatre, Reading, Berkshire, 10/10/2025.

Steven Kirby / Deirdre Cartwright Quartet with John Close

Steven Kirby / Deirdre Cartwright Quartet, Brecon Jazz Club, The Muse Arts Centre, Brecon, 14/10/2025.

BMJ Collective with Nigel Price

BMJ Collective with guest Nigel Price, Black Mountain Jazz, Melville, Centre, Abergavenny, 12/10/2025.

Robert Castelli

Robert Castelli BOOM! Quartet, Music Spoken Here, The Marr’s Bar, Worcester, 09/10/2025.

Jazz Mann Features

Fifth Stourbridge Festival of Improvised Music, Claptrap The Venue, Stourbridge, West Midlands, 02/11/2025.

Highly enjoyable. The format of the Festival with its focus on multiple small ensembles ensures that there is plenty of variety with no single line-up or improvisation allowed to outstay its welcome.

Tatar Jazz: Rimma Shaikhelova And Her Journey Of Music And Linguistics Intertwined.

Guest contributor Taliya Hafiz talks to Tatar jazz vocalist Rimma Shaikhelova about the Tatar Jazz Project, which translates jazz standards into the Tatar language.

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