JIMMY WEBB: ‘A Life In Words and Music – The Reprise Seventies Box Set’ (Cherry Red)
Jimmy Webb was hotter than hot in 1968. After serving a three-year apprenticeship at Motown Records, where he worked with The Supremes, the then-21-year-old from Elk City, Oklahoma, collected the Song Of The Year...
MIKE TAYLOR QUARTET/TRIO: ‘Pendulum’ and ‘Trio’ (Decca)
Mike Taylor’s career stopped before it really started. That’s because, on 19th January 1969, his lifeless body was discovered washed up on a beach in the Thames Estuary near the Essex coastal town of...
SAMANTHA SCHMÜTZ and ADRIAN YOUNGE: ‘Samantha e Adrian’ (Linear Labs)
This unlikely collaboration, between Schmütz, a Brazilian actress and comedian, and the Jazz Is Dead label’s Adrian Younge, a Californian law professor turned successful multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer, is an inspired alliance that...
CRAFT RECORDINGS UNVEIL RSD JAZZ, SOUL AND LATIN TITLES
It doesn’t seem five minutes since Record Store Day was last with us but this Saturday, April 12th, 2025, millions of folks around the world will be queuing outside their local record emporiums to...
EXPAND YOUR MIND
Cosmic funk pioneer and acid jazz icon Lonnie Liston Smith talks to SJF about his iconic Expansions album and other storied career highlights. Lonnie Liston Smith vividly remembers the day he was introduced to...
BUTCHER BROWN: ‘Letters From The Atlantic’ (Concord)
Renowned for ignoring musical boundaries, the eclectic Virginia quintet Butcher Brown continues their customary genre-mashing experimentation with Letters From The Atlantic, the quintet’s fifth album for Concord and their twelfth long-player overall. Consisting of...
THE IMPRESSIONS: ‘Ridin’ High’ (Elemental Music/UMe)
Led by the seraphic falsetto of guitarist and songwriting genius Curtis Mayfield after the late Jerry Butler departed for a solo career in 1958, The Impressions became one of the key soul groups of...
BIGGER THAN EVER – NORTH SEA JAZZ 25
The North Sea Jazz Festival, the world’s largest indoor music festival, have confirmed over 70 acts for the line-up for this year’s event. Attracting around 80,000 music fans each year, the festival has built...
ANNIE & THE CALDWELLS: ‘Can’t Lose My (Soul)’ (Luaka Bop)
A small city in Mississippi’s Clay County, West Point is the home of one of the most exciting gospel groups to emerge in recent times: Annie & The Caldwells, who have just returned to...
