Sekou Bunch is a world renowned musician and bassist. Born and raised in New York City, Sekou Bunch was exposed to the arts, virtually from the very beginning. Thirty plus years in the trenches providing the rock solid backbone for some of the brightest stars in the business; Michael Jackson, Anita Baker, Luther Vandross, George Benson, Whitney Houston, Lionel Richie, Roger Daltrey and Marc Anthony to name a few has provided Bunch rich opportunity to draw influence from rock, jazz and R&B.

Laurent de Wilde (born in Washington, D.C. in 1960) is a French jazz pianist, composer and writer. In 1987, he recorded the first of a series of four albums for Ida Records Off the Boat with Eddie Henderson, Ralph Moore, backed by Ira Coleman on bass and Billy Hart on drums. In 1989, Odd and Blue was released with Coleman and Jack DeJohnette (drums), followed in 1990 by Colors of Manhattan, with Coleman, Henderson and Lewis Nash. In 1995, de Wilde signed with Sony Jazz (Columbia) and recorded The Back Burner.

After his electronic experiences, De Wilde comes back with his trio and acoustic jazz lovers are delighted. The album contains outstanding guest star appearances such as Laurent Robin (Michel Jonasz, Michel Potal), Darryl Hall (Hank Jones, Elizabeth Kontomanou) among others.A very good album where a variety of styles (groove, blues, reggae, swing, free) find in the performance of this trio a unite and compact sonority. A genuine trio of a modern jazz that is open to the world and curious of everything around.

Laurent de Wilde (born in Washington, D.C. in 1960) is a French jazz pianist, composer and writer. In 1987, he recorded the first of a series of four albums for Ida Records Off the Boat with Eddie Henderson, Ralph Moore, backed by Ira Coleman on bass and Billy Hart on drums. In 1989, Odd and Blue was released with Coleman and Jack DeJohnette (drums), followed in 1990 by Colors of Manhattan, with Coleman, Henderson and Lewis Nash. De Wilde then returned to Paris to settle but came back to New York in 1992 to record a trio album, Open Changes, with Coleman and Billy Drummond (drums). The success of this record in 1993 earned him the Django Reinhardt Prize, awarded to the best musician of the year. He now shares his time between Paris and his career in New York as a leader or sideman with Barney Wilen, Aldo Romano and André Ceccarelli.

This compilation in Verve's Jazz in Paris reissue series features two long unavailable studio sessions by two somewhat obscure pianists. Art Simmons, who recorded as a sideman with James Moody in 1949 and also appeared on discs by Dizzy Gillespie, Don Byas, Trummy Young, Bill Coleman, and Clark Terry, made his recording debut as a leader in 1956 with English guitarist Terry Donahue, bassist Bill Crow, and drummer Dave Bailey. Although his cool style of playing is a bit conservative, his treatments of standards such as "My Funny Valentine," "Too Marvelous for Words," and "Nice Work if You Can Get It" are worthwhile. Ronnell Bright is primarily known for his work as pianist for Sarah Vaughan and Nancy Wilson, though he did a few dates as a leader…

This SACD hybrid recording was beautifully crafted at Oslo's Rainbow Studio with engineer Jan Erik Kongshaug, home and technician behind so many classic ECM recordings. While Libera Me is unquestionably a well-crafted album for those who want to simply sit back and be enveloped by something that doesn't confront or challenge, it is in the odd man out tracks—"The Teacher," "Both Sides Now," and especially "Asnah"—where we hear what this album could have been and, perhaps, should have been. Hopefully they are harbingers of what Danielsson has in store next time around.

Lars Danielsson ACT-debut “Libera me“ (ACTSACD 9800-2) left no doubts about his creative versatility. And yet: the bass player, cellist and composer continues to surprise. His latest ACT-release “Mélange Bleu” (ACT 9604-2) shows up a completely new dimension to this musician with enormous potential. Danielsson has surrounded himself with partners like pianist Bugge Wesseltoft, trumpeter Nils Petter Molvaer und guitarist Eivind Aarset, all of them specialists for mood music that often develops in before a backdrop of ambient inspired sounds, samples and programmed beats.

Accordionist Richard Galliano did for European folk – specifically, the early 20th century French ballroom dance form known as musette – what his mentor Astor Piazzolla did for the Argentinian tango. Galliano reimagined and revitalized a musical tradition, expanding its emotional range to reflect modern sensibilities, opening it up to improvisation learned through American jazz. In fact, Galliano was more of a jazz musician than a folk one, although he blurred the lines so much that distinctions were often difficult to make.

Cuban alto saxophonist Yosvany Terry Cabrera's recording debut as a leader is an impressive affair. A young man already well in command of his main instrument, Cabrera's stunning palette of colors in his original compositions is wide-ranging. One of the many highlights is the lively, often humorous "El Burlón" (The Joker), which even tosses in a tongue-in-cheek quote from Thelonious Monk. The tension within the insistent "This Is It" features compelling solos by Cabrera and trumpeter Avishai Cohen. Bassist Yunior Terry Cabrera (the leader's brother) contributed "The Crying" and introduces it with a moody bass solo that sets the tone for his haunting ballad. The rhythmically complex "Subversive" showcases guitarist Mike Moreno, while the leader works a bit of Charlie Parker into his solo…

French accordion maestro Galliano brings this band to the London jazz festival on 17 November and the mix is certainly tempting – Nino Rota's timeless movie themes interpreted by an elite international jazz quintet featuring Dave Douglas on trumpet, John Surman on reeds, Boris Kozlov on bass and Clarence Penn on drums. Listeners attracted more by the lineup than the material should note that the jazz shades and subtly skews the compositions rather than taking them over, and that Surman in particular isn't much heard outside of his ensemble role.

Richard Galliano has recorded several tristesse fests in his time, but at his best he's a creative composer and improviser who has a gift for non-generic orchestration and who is at home with a variety of atmospheres and emotions, including the happy and the optimistic. Luz Negra, recorded with his Tangaria Quartet and his first studio album since 2001's Face To Face (Dreyfus Jazz), presents Galliano at his very best, and anyone with an aversion to accordion music would do well to check it out.

The track that showcases the classic Jaco chops of old is the 1986 recording of Mike Stern's "Mood Swings". Recorded just two months prior to Jaco checking himself into the Bellevue psychiatric ward, this is the most masterfull bass playing that I have ever heard Jaco record since Word Of Mouth. Jaco just absolutely tears this cut up. Obviously Jaco was on top of his game the day this recording was made. Jaco is all over the instument playing double-stops and litterally playing rhythm guitar licks over Mike Stern's opening statement.

Qantar is more than just another group, it is for all intents and purposes a family and a community with its own customs, growing traditions, and even language (both musical and verbal). These five artists have formed a special friendship that projects a singular energy on the bandstand and on their recordings. Indeed, all are Israeli expatriates, all living in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, all regularly hanging out at their leader’s home, sharing dinner, Turkish coffee, stories, ideas, joys and sorrows. This shared history, even though years apart, imbibes this quintet with the key to Avital’s music: the ability to bring the various rhythmic and harmonic vocabularies underpinning 20th and 21st century hardcore jazz expression to flow with a polyphonic attitude and musical multilingualism.

A modern album classic “Radka Toneff: Live in Hamburg” must be one of the finest Norwegian concert albums ever made – regardless of genre. Now this classic is being released on vinyl for the first time, in a 180 g 2LP edition with a gatefold cover. At the same time a new CD edition with an updated cover is being released. “Live in Hamburg” was released over ten years after Radka Toneff passed away, and shows a side of her that had never before been documented on a recording. The album won a Spellemannspris, the Norwegian Grammy award, in 1993. The material on the album comes from a concert the Radka Toneff Quartet held at the legendary jazz club Onkel Pös Carnegie Hall in Hamburg on 10 March 1981. The German radio station NDR broadcast an hour of the concert live, and an edited version of the recording became this album, a modern classic.