Madrid-based pianist Daniel Garcia carries within him a deep sense of the history that has made him. This is not least because he was born and grew up in Salamanca, a city steeped in history, with several important archaeological sites. In the centuries ever since the middle ages, student priests have walked in their flowing robes along the Calle Compañia, a street in the centre of the city shadowed by tall baroque buildings. The city was also one of the main stopovers on the Vía de la Plata (‘the silver way’), a Roman route from North to South of the Iberian peninsula.

With Herd, pianist Vera Kappeler and percussionist Peter Conradin Zumthor present on Intakt Records their long-awaited second duo album after their acclaimed 2014 debut Babylon-Suite. Kappeler/Zumthor is an exceptionally innovative duo. They are bubbling over with ideas, yet take their time to develop new programs, working with the utmost care. They are oriented towards international innovation in the crossover area of jazz and new music and have a huge artistic potential, which the two of them exploit brilliantly on Herd. Their common sound cosmos surprises with playfulness and a peculiarity that reaches into the bizarre. With exceptional musical and technical skills, they have, over the years developed their very own musical language and are masters at telling stories with their music. Author Reto Hänny writes in the literary liner notes "What else is there to say except that I like this music and to repeat it endlessly; it sings, it sings, again and again, touching, stirring, heartbreakingly beautiful."

On his 35th album as a leader, pianist and composer David Benoit changed up his game. Remarkably, 2 in Love is the very first time in his long career that he's worked with a vocalist on an entire album. His chosen collaborator is Jane Monheit, one of the most celebrated mainstream jazz singers. All but one of these ten songs are originals co-written with three different lyricists: Lorraine Feather, Mark Winkler, and Spencer Day. Produced by the pianist, 2 in Love was cut live in the studio – a daunting prospect for most contemporary vocalists. But Monheit is no ordinary singer. Check her delivery on the knotty, Latin-tinged opener "Barcelona Nights." She glides through the changes and imbues her canny phrasing with just a hint of samba, with each articulated syllable entrenched in the song's groove. The sultry passion in her utterance is complemented beautifully by Pat Kelly's nylon-string guitar in the bridge. The title track is a swinging bossa with charging piano and hand percussion. Monheit has demonstrated throughout her career that her grasp on the form is both expert and soulful.

“There’s a galaxy of piano trios in today’s jazz universe,” the BBC Music Magazine has noted, “but few shine as bright as Marcin Wasilewski’s”. On its seventh ECM album the multifaceted Polish group illuminates a characteristically wide span of music. On En attendant, collectively created pieces are juxtaposed with Wasilewski’s malleable “Glimmer of Hope”, Carla Bley’s timeless “Vashkar”, The Doors’ hypnotic “Riders On The Storm” and a selection from Johann Sebastian Bach’s Goldberg Variations. Fluidity is the hallmark , allied to the deep listening made possible by more than a quarter-century of collaborative music-making by pianist Wasilewski, bassist Kurkiewicz and drummer Miskiewicz. En attendant was recorded at Studios La Buissonne in the South of France in August 2019, and produced by Manfred Eicher.

Does George Benson have Irish ancestors? Is there a connection between Belfast’s melancholy ballads and the exciting vocal jazz of today? 25 year-old guitar-wunderkind Torsten Goods and his release Irish Heart call out an enthusiastic yes to these questions. Friends of Irish folk music and infectious reels are in for a surprise, and so are fans of Wes Montgomery, Django Reinhardt or Harry Connick Jr. There is more repertoire out there than the Great American Songbook and Goods’ choices give his twenty-something-quartet a chance to shine.
Whether it’s Van Morrison’s soul-blues (Morrison, like Goods’ mother originally came from Belfast), whether it’s Irish folk or the rhythmic fervour of the “Riverdance” show theme, all the material becomes a wonderful vehicle for Goods talent on his strings and vocal chords alike to shine…

Flautist and saxophonist, Chip Wickham returns with Blue to Red, his most absorbing and cosmically-charged offering to date. Soaring flute melodies, lush harp arpeggios and glistening Rhodes keys interact across six journeying, spiritual jazz compositions, leaning on a rich palette of sounds beyond borders, space and time.

Tinctures in Time is the first original music Bernstein has ever written for the MTO, which from the beginning had exclusively been a vehicle for his arrangements of other people's songs, from Count Basie to Prince. Most of the album was composed in 2019, a tough year for Bernstein: Henry Butler had recently passed, and there were serious injuries and death in his immediate family. Like a lot of people do, Bernstein got through it by working. "I was spending a lot of time on planes, going to visit people in hospitals," he says. "So what else am I going to do with my time? I ended up with all this music."

Portico Quartet announce Monument, the electronic driven follow-up to their acclaimed ambient-minimalist suite Terrain, presenting the band at their most direct.

A "simple, effective melody" must sound as though "you’ve always known it" as Ralph Siegel, the composer of easy listening "Schlager" music once in an interview. For four decades this hit composer has followed his dictum with successful consequences. The "craftsman of emotions" - as the German newspaper "taz" described him - has been recorded as composer or producer of over 3000 "Schlager" pieces, and has been the writer of the German entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 16 times. In fact, in 1982 his Song "Ein bisschen Frieden" was the winner.
Compared with the cosmos of jazz - where ideally melodies are played so that they are no longer recognisable - the shimmering dream world of Schlager music seems light years away. But now we have a clearly serious homage by three top German jazz musicians to the master of glamorous simplicity, Ralph Siegel…