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John Fordham

John Fordham is the Guardian's main jazz critic. He has written several books on the subject, reported on it for publications including Time Out, Sounds, Wire and Word, and contributed to documentaries for radio and TV. He is a former editor of Time Out, City Limits and Jazz UK, and regularly contributes to BBC Radio 3's Jazz on 3

September 2024

  • Worth the wait – (L-R) Misha Mullov-Abbado, Alice Zawadski and Fred Thomas

    Jazz album of the month
    Alice Zawadzki/Fred Thomas/Misha Mullov-Abbado: Za Górami review – beautiful music and absorbing stories

    Seven years after a supposed one-off gig, the jazz-immersed trio release their debut album full of uniquely conveyed songs drawing from European, Latin and Sephardic Jewish sources

August 2024

  • Autumn Preview Film

    Autumn arts preview 2024
    From Charli XCX and Van Gogh to Gladiator 2: the best culture to go out and see this autumn

  • Orrin Evans standing beside a grand piano.

    Jazz album of the month
    Orrin Evans and the Captain Black Big Band: Walk a Mile in My Shoe review – perseverance and Philly pride

  • Irène Schweizer performing in Zurich, Switzerland, in 2013.

    Irène Schweizer obituary

  • A eureka moment … Wayne Shorter.

    Jazz album of the month
    Wayne Shorter: Celebration Volume 1 review – first posthumous LP is a true classic

July 2024

  • Kit Downes and Norma Winstone.

    Jazz album of the month
    Norma Winstone and Kit Downes: Outpost of Dreams review – bonded by jazz tradition

    The esteemed vocalist and prolific pianist weave their sounds together in an album of exquisite songs and extraordinary empathy

June 2024

  • ZARA MCFARLANE - singer - press handout image - KA V 0747 (1) pic credit Kareem Abdul

    Jazz album of the month
    Zara McFarlane: Sweet Whispers: Celebrating Sarah Vaughan review – terrific tribute to a jazz legend

    The British jazz singer pays homage to Vaughan with earthiness and spontaneity: an animated reinvention of these classics

May 2024

  • Sensitive soulmates … Wadada Leo Smith and Amina Claudine Myers.

    Jazz album of the month
    Wadada Leo Smith and Amina Claudine Myers review – an elegiac homage to New York’s green lung

    In their album Central Park’s Mosaics of Reservoir, Lake, Paths and Gardens the two musical soulmates impressionistically reflect on John Lennon, Albert Ayler and more

April 2024

  • Spontaneous conversation … (L-R) Grégoire Maret and Romain Collin.

    Jazz album of the month
    Grégoire Maret/Romain Collin: Ennio review – emotional, ecstatic Morricone homage

    Harmonica star Maret and pianist/composer Collin pay homage to Ennio Morricone with drifting church-echo and trancelike sounds

March 2024

  • Bewitching … Charles Lloyd.

    Jazz album of the month
    Charles Lloyd: The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow review – sax legend shows no sign of slowing down

    The octogenarian joyfully whispers and warbles his way through sublime tone poems, impassioned tributes and traditional spirituals with an all-star band

February 2024

  • Tyshawn Sorey, Vijay Iyer and Linda May Han Oh.

    Jazz album of the month
    Vijay Iyer/Linda May Han Oh/Tyshawn Sorey: Compassion review – a trio of rare intuition

    Improvising around Iyer compositions and numbers by Stevie Wonder, Roscoe Mitchell and more, these musicians foreground openness and receptivity

January 2024

  • Turbulently dreamlike … Mary Halvorson.

    Jazz album of the month
    Mary Halvorson: Cloudward review – compositions fuse with improv to wondrous ends

    (Nonesuch)
    The Brooklyn jazz guitarist’s seamless, beautifully interwoven tracks are full of welcome surprises

December 2023

  • Marius Neset, Lionel Loueke, Gretchen Parlato and John Scofield

    Best music of 2023
    The 10 best jazz albums of 2023

  • Watchful patience … Ambrose Akinmusire.

    Jazz album of the month
    Ambrose Akinmusire: Owl Song review – quietly joyous jazz grooves

November 2023

  • Pushing the story on … Paul Dunmall.

    Jazz album of the month
    Paul Dunmall: Bright Light a Joyous Celebration review – infused with the spirit of Coltrane

    As the UK saxophonist turns 70, he juggles abstraction and song forms with a starry cast including Xhosa Cole, Soweto Kinch, Corey Mwamba, Dave Kane and Hamid Drake

October 2023

  • Urgent clamour … the Angelika Niescier Trio (left to right) Savannah Harris, Angelika Niescier, Tomeka Reid

    Jazz album of the month
    Angelika Niescier/ Tomeka Reid/ Savannah Harris: Beyond Dragons review – immense improv

    Seven original tracks of free jazz span fast, jagged pieces and quiet tone poems, with a composer’s ear giving shape, drama and contrast

September 2023

  • Richard Davis en concert le 3 septembre 2016 pendant le Festival Jazz à la Villette, Paris, France. (Photo by Paul CHARBIT/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

    Richard Davis obituary

  • Emma Rawicz.

    Jazz album of the month
    Emma Rawicz: Chroma review – young British jazz star taking admirable risks

August 2023

  • Tristan Honsinger<br>GRONINGEN, NETHERLANDS - 18th APRIL: American cello player Tristan Honsinger performs live at the jazzmarathon in the Oosterpoort in Groningen, the Netherlands on 16th April 1987. (photo by Frans Schellekens/Redferns)

    Tristan Honsinger obituary

  • Tyshawn Sorey.

    Jazz album of the month
    Tyshawn Sorey Trio: Continuing review – genre-hopping triumph from award-winning drummer

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