Reel To Real returns with more top notch live archival music from Bob Mover and Walter Davis Jr. Recorded in Salerno, the recording beautifully captures the short-­lived duo association between two musical legends deserving greater attention.

I'm so excited to have the opportunity to record again with Champian in the duo format. I'm very proud of our first album Dream A Little…. but our friendship and musical partnership has grown so much since that recording and the opportunity to record again is something I'm very grateful for. I would like to sincerely thank Kodi Hutchinson and the team at JazzYYC for providing Champian and I such a wonderfully unique situation for us to record. We both loved the experience and a big thank you to Scott Morin for taking on this production of this project with such elegance and grace.

Pianist Noah Haidu sees a certain irony in his current recorded output. “I love composing but improvisation has always been my greatest passion. When I started releasing music in 2011 I relied on my songwriting to make a unique artistic statement, but I’ve come full circle and realized that finding my own voice on a simple, unadorned standard is a rare and necessary endeavor.” Haidu embraced that endeavor on his 2023 release Standards, and on Standards II, due out April 12, 2024 on Sunnyside Records. The new album is a breathtaking masterpiece featuring Haidu with two of the music’s most esteemed players, Buster Williams on bass and Billy Hart on drums.

Mr. Counterpoint. This album took its title from a club in West Orange, N.J., called Counterpoint. The club was owned by pianist John Gamba, making him one of the few jazz musicians to become a club owner. A skilled technician, the pianist managed to infuse his performances with a good deal of unexpected fire. Indeed, there were moments on “Words,” “Yesterdays,” and “Leaves” that sharply suggested the legendary Eddie Costa. Gamba had the strong percussive approach to his instrument that was a hallmark of Costa and displayed a similar concept of time.

Jerry Lu crowns his grandiose, often hymnally celebrated live performances of recent years with the release of his debut album. "In Two Minds" presents eleven studio productions by the young pianist, recorded with his confident trio - while saxophonist Denis Gäbel joins him as a special feature guest on one of Jerry Lu's five original compositions.

Recorded live at the Black Hawk, San Francisco in September 1959, “At The Blackhawk, Vol 1” is the first of 4 volumes released in 1960. Featuring six cuts, Manne (drums), is joined by Joe Gordon (trumpet), Richie Kamuca (tenor sax), Victor Feldman (piano) and Monty Budwig (bass). This new edition features remastered hi-res audio from the original tapes.

With this new project, Joan Monné offers us a handful of old compositions, recorded in previous projects, such as his own trio, the Nou Nonet or the quartet with Carme Canela, performed by a new formation of a quartet without drums. He is accompanied by Rai Ferrer on double bass, with whom he had already shared multiple formations years ago; Santi de la Rubia on the saxophone, which had been part of his nonet; and Óscar Latorre on the trumpet, with whom he collaborates for the first time. A formation, then, where the veterans of Monné and Ferrer meet with the youth of Latorre and de la Rubia, at the service of a music where lyricism and a way of doing things that may be old, but which is always in search of beauty.

The WDR Big Band consists of 17 soloists who usually develop an extraordinary sound together in studio and concert productions. In this new series we present the individual musicians in small formations called "WDR BIG BAND - SMALL GROUP SESSIONS": their own compositions are played in duos, trios or quartets. Karolina Strassmayer (alto saxophone, composition) and Billy Test (piano) play the piece "Quiet Fortitude". Karolina says of her composition: "Quiet Bravery is a recognition of the people who consistently work to make their part of the world a little brighter and better, to give the rest of us a soft landing when we need it. You know who is meant."

Paolo, Marco and Dino celebrate the myth of Chet Baker with original tunes and some of his favorite standards. "Tempo Di Chet" is also and especially the intimate and delicate soundtrack of a play dedicated to the legendary Chet Baker.

If I didn’t know them, I would still feel, listening to this album, that they are good friends in private life – not “just” colleagues – who know each other’s thoughts and feelings and pay maximum attention to each other’s every musical and human emotion. The heart and soul are also very much in evidence. As the way the themes are played and shaped in each case brings out their beauty and sentimentality.

Gábor's compositions are rooted in the European musical tradition, but they also often wink towards jazz-rock, funk, or fusion music. However, they are always characterized by being emotionally united and offering easy points of connection to the listeners. Gábor is a jazz pianist whose music is influenced by many modern trends. He is mostly active with the formation of two trios, the Hungarian Gábor Csordás trio and the international Swansong trio. The characteristics of his music are harmonic freshness, catchy melodies and unexpected rhythmic solutions.

It has come to my attention that over 40 + years of recording, fans very much appreciate the way that I arrange and perform ballads. I think my love for ballad playing goes back to my early years as a music student and how much I learned about harmony studying the solo piano recordings of the late great Bill Evans. He has a melancholy joyfulness in his approach to ballads and that sound has never left my ear.

The Doncaster Jazz Alumni (DJA) mark the golden anniversary of the Doncaster Youth Jazz Orchestra (DYJO), showcasing the remarkable journey and enduring legacy of its founder, John Ellis MBE, as well as their own individual and collective achievements. 50 Years was recorded with a special intention to try and help support students at the Doncaster Youth Jazz Association (DYJA). As proud Doncaster Jazz Alumni and former members of the association, their shared passion for jazz and the community is a motivating factor to give back to the next generation of talented musicians.

‘So much of traditional jazz is about romantic love,’ says saxophonist Holly Moore. ‘I feel like there’s never really that much on friendships and the other relationships in our lives”. Her debut album for ABC Jazz, Reunion, is a five-part suite about those bonds, from adolescence to adulthood.

"Contemporary Soul Jazz" is probably the best way to describe Elmar Frey's music. This brand-new septet presents bluesy and melodic compositions played with a lot of verve, underpinned with a rich groove and peppered with cheeky brass arrangements.