Tag: jazz
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Six of the best new albums to listen to in May 2026
The beautiful month of May is here, and with it a host of new music to enjoy.
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Five things to know about Paris’s ‘La La Land’ jazz bar before you visit
Le Caveau de la Huchette is a must visit for your next trip to Paris. Prepare for a wild night out and some top quality live jazz.
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Nubiyan Twist live at Digital review – soul-filling neo jazz is for humans only
Tom Excell’s Leeds collective made a thoroughly convincing argument against AI in music with this evening of unadulterated phone-free joy. The funk and soul delights lit up a dance-ready crowd in Digital, but it was the surprise EDM and punk diversions that really took the breath away.
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Ichiko Aoba live at the Glasshouse review – perfect serenity from the Japanese isles
Ichiko Aoba’s virtuosic guitar playing proved the main draw for a night of deeply beautiful experimental folk pieces from Japan, prefaced by one of the most extraordinary support acts I’ve ever witnessed.
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Maruja live at the Cluny review – an extraordinary plunge into hell
The Manchester noise merchants provided all the expected thrills – tempestuous drumming, atmospheric saxophone, sharp-tongued poetry – and added sweeping improvisations and stupendous operatic climaxes. This tepid Newcastle crowd was spoiled rotten.
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Ezra Collective: Dance, No One’s Watching review – jazz champions play to their strengths
The jazz group that set the Mercury Prize alight last year return with an album that goes all in on infectious dance grooves. Their knack for melody seems to have been forgotten in the party, but this bloated record does conclude with the most moving track of this band’s career.
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Thundercat live at O2 City Hall review – virtuoso bassist goes full jazz fusion
Thundercat may be one of the world’s most respected bassists, but in this exhausting set of samey solos his technical wizardry was largely lost to City Hall’s booming acoustics. Alex Walden and Bertie Kirkwood jointly report.
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Abel Selaocoe live at Boiler Shop review – fiery cello beats come filled with love
No Bach Preludes were to be found here, just consistently thrilling African beats propelled by Selaocoe’s fierce bowing and awesome throat singing. In between show-stopping dance numbers and a spellbinding percussion solo, it was the audience participation that lifted this gig towards something spiritual.
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KNOWER: KNOWER FOREVER review – a grand return for the LA duo
Louis Cole, Genevieve Artadi and an incredible collection of collaborators have crafted an album elevated far above any of their past music, shaping a promising future for the electronic funk duo, writes Matthew Rowe.
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Laufey: Bewitched review – the finest yet from vocal jazz revivalist
A breathtaking title track is the climactic highlight of the Icelandic-Chinese artist’s second album, packed with enough gorgeous melodies and intricate orchestration to singlehandedly spur the revival of an entire genre.
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Emma Rawicz live at Brudenell Social Club review – youthful boundary-pushing veers towards indulgence
Challenging and ambitious, Emma Rawicz’s polymorphous jazz sought to tread new ground on a yearly return to the Brudenell. Epic solos and an extraordinary closing number had the audience baying for more, not least because her 90-minute set contained just six songs.
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Nujabes: The growing legacy of the ‘Godfather of Lo-fi’
A favourite for hardworking students the world over, the relaxing tones of lo-fi hip hop make it a hidden giant of the music industry. Alex Walden traces the origins of the genre through its underappreciated founding father Nujabes and gets to the bottom of the unlikely link with anime.
Undertone 