In March of 2023 composer, arranger & alto saxophonist Cassie Kinoshi premiered a commissioned suite of music in front of a sold out crowd at London’s Southbank Centre. She wrote the piece – gratitude – for her flagship large ensemble seed., in a special augmented formation that also featured turntablist NikNak and the London Contemporary Orchestra (LCO).

Several years of travel and musical research led double bassist Gabriel PIERRE to create this quintet, of which here is the first album. From jazz to hip-hop, drum'n'bass, soul or classical music, Gabriel's group will draw its influences from many diverse musics. But it is in the ever freer interpretation of each musician that the sound of Gabriel’s group is made. In addition to the instrumental quintet, there is the saxophone of Irving Acao, the voice of Katrin, and the flow of Emcee Agora as well as a string quartet on certain pieces. Whether instrumental or vocal, each song has its own story and its own sound.

From award-winning pianist and composer Wilbur Whitta comes a musical call to action on climate change. Whitta has gathered together three of Sydney's leading, young voices for this collaboration: Tom Avgenicos on trumpet, Jack Stoneham on alto sax and drummer Alex Inman-Hislop. Together, they form the band 'Wildfire', playing music that draws on environmental negligence in Australia and around the globe.

"Fractured" contains six tracks that tell of different feelings and very personal experiences. They are about love, an almost missed opportunity or the feeling of sheer endless freedom. The pieces, which were all written by Jan Schrüllkamp, the band's guitarist, are refreshing due to their lightness and the interesting arrangement with vibraphone, saxophone, double bass and drums. Each track creates its own little cosmos.

Mirror Mirror is the new album by the Finnish jazz legend, pianist-composer Olli Ahvenlahti. Championed by the likes of Gilles Peterson and Kenny Dope, Ahvenlahti is a master of hard-grooving jazz funk. Here, he continues the evolution of his style, much-beloved since the legendary 1970s albums such as The Poet and Bandstand. Ahvenlahti's new group highlights some of the best talent on the Finnish scene, including trumpeter Jukka Eskola, saxophonist Joonatan Rautio, bassist Ville Herrala and drummer Jaska Lukkarinen.

Bernd Haas' NOW focuses on atmospherically dense free improvisation. What is commonly referred to as "new improvisational music" or simply "improvised music", which emerged from free jazz with links to the ideas of representatives of contemporary classical music (Cage), can be located in the border area of jazz and new music.

Revered vocalist Randi Pontoppidan and leading vibraphonist Martin Fabricius proudly present the culmination of a blossoming musical relationship of the past eight years. Blending acoustic and electronic timbres, free improvisation and ethereal composition, their otherworldly universe ‘Clouds’ is set to release on the 12th of April.

“How often do we step back and realize what a gift it is to have this music in our life?” asks acclaimed trumpeter, composer and Greenleaf Music founder Dave Douglas. On Gifts, his newest Greenleaf project, Douglas harnesses that feeling of simple wonder with a new book of pieces and four intriguing takes on Strayhorn songs, premiering a new quartet with poll-sweeping tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis and two members of the Oscar-nominated post-rock trio Son Lux: guitarist Rafiq Bhatia and drummer Ian Chang. The sound is harmonically spacious, with no bass, but a full, sonically adventurous guitar palette from Bhatia that frames the group’s trumpet-tenor melodic concept in fresh and unexpected ways.

For their third album, Maridalen changed their recording space from the wooden church in the scenic valley of Maridalen, just north of Oslo, and from which they take their name, to the island of Gressholmen, 10 minutes from the Oslo harbor.

As a trumpet soloist, improviser and composer at home in jazz as well as in contemporary and classical music, Markus Stockhausen is one of the most versatile musicians of our time internationally and is known as a musical border crosser – always in search of new forms of expression. After “Wild Life” and “Tales”, “Celebration” is now being released. On their third album, the Markus Stockhausen Group celebrates the life, music and friendship of their quartet with six wonderful guest musicians from many different countries. As the previous album “Tales” (o-tone music) already showcased many facets of the group, this time they really want to “celebrate” and enrich their music with the extraordinary musicality of those guest soloists.

The new project of saxophonist Victoire du Jazz in 2020, traveling partner of Anne Pacéo, is rooted in her previous experiences with multiple pianists (Les Âmes Perdues (2016), Les Mauvais Tempéraments (2019)), with a new dynamic found in keyboards, synthesizers, drums and electronic sounds. It is a new stage in Christophe Panzani's quest for the evocative power of music, the search for the right, pure emotion, beyond words, without filter. Stop wanting to understand, and just feel music that transfixes you.

Eric Petzoldt (*1990 in Kassel) is a saxophonist, Guitarist and musicologist. In addition to music projects in the fields of jazz and improvised music, he is also active at the Center for Intercultural Music in Kassel. He is currently doing his PhD at Cambridge University on jazz in Morocco. He lives in Rabat and Kassel.

Israeli NYC-based drummer and composer Eden Har-Gil releases a mesmerizing and vivid musical representation of Prospect Park’s vibrant Nethermead. Released on March 8th under the label XJAZZ! Music, “Nethermead” features an exceptional lineup of collaborators, including saxophonists Caroline Davis and Lo Wood, along with bassist Dezron Douglas.

Hailed as one of the most compelling albums by a drummer/composer in recent decades, Steve Lyman's SPIRAL masterfully integrates diverse musical idioms into a sincere and uniquely relevant statement. This collaborative work features some of the leading contemporary musicians globally, including Austin White, Donny McCaslin (David Bowie), Ben Lukas Boysen, and Jimmy Chamberlin (Smashing Pumpkins, the Jimmy Chamberlin Complex). SPIRAL seamlessly blends experimental electronic music, ambient textures, hymn-based chorals, modern jazz, and Lyman's distinctive multi-faceted rhythmic language into a singular, immersive sonic journey.

Named ‘one of Europe’s most versatile and curious players’ by Downbeat Magazine, Polish trumpeter Tomasz Dąbrowski returns with the sophomore album from his internationally acclaimed septet. Following their eponymous 2022 debut, the ensemble proudly presents ‘Better’, set to release on March 29th on April Records. With an atypical lineup featuring the cream of the crop of the Polish and Scandinavian contemporary improvisation scenes, ‘Better’ captures the edge and energy of a live performance extended and elevated by the use of electronic instruments and textures.