Dusty Springfield’s United Artists Years Collected for the First Time on New Real Gone Music Set

Dusty Springfield’s remarkable artistic journey through the 1970s gets a new chapter with Dusty Springfield: The United Artists Collection, the first-ever collection devoted to the legendary British singer’s United Artists recordings. The 2-LP/2-CD set from Real Gone Music brings together her two UA albums, It Begins Again and Living Without Your Love, along with five non-LP bonus tracks, offering a comprehensive look at a fascinating period in Springfield’s career.

By the mid-1970s, Springfield had stepped away from performing and recording following a difficult period that included her departure from ABC/Dunhill Records. After relocating to Los Angeles in hopes of strengthening her American career, her well-documented insecurities contributed to the abandonment of an album in 1974.

Springfield was subsequently courted by Elton John for his Rocket Records label, but when she returned to the studio in 1977, she instead signed with United Artists Records. Young songwriter Steve Dorff was brought in to produce two of his compositions with Springfield, with “Let Me Love You Once Before You Go” ultimately selected as the single. Although the song only briefly bubbled under the Billboard Hot 100, it marked the beginning of a new phase.

The follow-up sessions were overseen by producer Roy Thomas Baker, best known for his work with Queen, and resulted in It Begins Again, released in 1978 as Springfield’s comeback album.

The record demonstrated just how much Springfield still had to offer. Moving comfortably between pop, rock, soul and disco, It Begins Again paired her distinctive voice with some of the finest West Coast studio musicians. Springfield's vocals revealed both warmth and vulnerability, while also displaying new textures and techniques that expanded the sound she had established during her earlier career.

For her second United Artists album, Living Without Your Love, Springfield took a somewhat softer direction. Released in 1979 and produced by David Wolfert for the Entertainment Company, the album focused primarily on soulful pop, with light dance elements adding variety. Together, the two albums document an artist who had rediscovered both her confidence and the joy of performing.

The new collection expands the original albums with five non-LP bonus tracks, highlighted by the promotional-only extended disco mix of “That’s the Kind of Love I’ve Got for You.” The Tom Moulton mix became a Billboard dance-chart entry and, in retrospect, offered an intriguing preview of Springfield’s later embrace of dance-oriented music, culminating in her celebrated collaboration with the Pet Shop Boys a decade later.

For the new edition, most of the tracks have been sourced from the original American masters for the first time. The collection has been remastered for vinyl by Mike Milchner at Sonic Vision, while Joe Marchese provides new liner notes in an LP-sized four-page insert featuring rarely seen period photographs.

Available as a two-LP set pressed on violet PET plastic or as a two-CD edition, The United Artists Collection captures an important but sometimes overlooked chapter in Dusty Springfield’s career. Rather than simply marking a comeback, the recordings reveal an artist continuing to evolve, experimenting with contemporary sounds while retaining the emotional depth and unmistakable vocal personality that made her one of popular music’s most enduring singers.

Track Listing

Side A

1. “Turn Me Around”
2. “Checkmate”
3. “I’d Rather Leave While I’m in Love”
4. “A Love Like Yours (Don’t Come Knocking Every Day)”
5. “Love Me by Name”
6. “Sandra”

Side B

1. “I Found Love with You”
2. “Hollywood Movie Girls”
3. “That’s the Kind of Love I’ve Got for You”
4. “Let Me Love You Once Before You Go”
5. “I Am Your Child”
6. “You Set My Dreams to Music”

Side C

1. “You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me”
2. “You Can Do It”
3. “Be Somebody”
4. “Closet Man”
5. “Living Without Your Love”
6. “Save Me, Save Me”

Side D

1. “Get Yourself to Love”
2. “I Just Fall in Love Again”
3. “Dream On”
4. “I’m Coming Home Again”
5. “Give Me the Night”
6. “That’s the Kind of Love I’ve Got for You (Extended Disco Mix)”

Jesse Cook Goes “Past the Breakwater” with a New Album and Extensive Forever Live Tour

Rumba flamenco guitarist Jesse Cook returns September 18 with past the breakwater, a 10-track album that finds the acclaimed guitarist moving deeper into the jazz influences that have shaped his musical life. Released through Coach House Music and distributed by Believe, the album arrives just as Cook launches the extensive Forever Live Tour, a North American run that will keep him on the road through 2027.

The album follows the release of two singles, “forever” and “you were looking north,” and represents a notably intimate direction for an artist known for his distinctive fusion of flamenco, jazz, classical and world music. Rather than building around dense arrangements, Cook has chosen to create an album with space, atmosphere and room for every note to breathe.

“As a music lover, there’s a category of music I have always listened to on rainy days, or late nights with friends,” Cook says, pointing to albums such as Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue and ’Round Midnight, Getz/Gilberto by Stan Getz and João Gilberto, and Keith Jarrett’s The Köln Concert. “Albums you can put on and live in. Quiet albums. Albums that breathe.”

That idea became the guiding principle for past the breakwater. Cook wanted to make music that listeners could inhabit rather than simply consume, allowing the emotional character of the guitar to come forward without being surrounded by unnecessary layers.

“I wanted to leave more space in these recordings,” he explains. “So, some of these songs are just Spanish guitar and double bass. I wanted to be able to hear every note, every articulation.”

The album's title comes directly from the environment in which much of the music was created. Cook recorded the project in a cabin on a small, remote island in the lake country of the Canadian Shield, accessible only by boat. Surrounded by the stillness of the Canadian wilderness, he found the isolation suited the kind of music he was trying to make.

“The stillness there is protected by rows of ancient shoals,” Cook says. “Like prehistoric sentinels, a breakwater against the storms that lay beyond. Sometimes I need to get away from everything, so I can just get lost in the music.”

That sense of retreat and reflection is woven into the character of past the breakwater. The music remains unmistakably Jesse Cook, but the familiar rhythmic energy of his rumba flamenco style is balanced by a more contemplative approach. Spanish guitar, double bass, strings and percussion are allowed to occupy their own spaces, creating an album that emphasizes subtlety as much as virtuosity.

Cook composed, arranged, produced, recorded and mixed the entire album himself, with mastering handled by Chris Gehringer at Sterling Sound. He is joined by longtime collaborators Marito Marques on drums and percussion, Will Lamoureux on strings and violin, and Ross MacIntyre on double bass. Cellist Jill Sauerteig appears on “forever.”

The result is another chapter in a career that has taken Cook's interpretation of Spanish guitar music to audiences around the world. Born in Paris and raised in Toronto, Cook has spent three decades developing a devoted international following while expanding the possibilities of rumba flamenco through his embrace of jazz, classical and world music.

His reach is reflected in his enormous digital audience. As of March 2026, Cook's combined lifetime streams and views had surpassed 1.164 billion, including 425 million Pandora streams, 175 million views through Instagram user-generated content, 155 million YouTube views and 145 million Spotify streams. His social following includes 661,000 Instagram followers, 307,000 YouTube subscribers and 299,000 monthly Spotify listeners.

past the breakwater continues that global journey while taking Cook somewhere quieter.

The album's 10 tracks are:

1. “forever”
2. “you were looking north”
3. “past the breakwater”
4. “life in e minor”
5. “easton revisited”
6. “the secret shape of things”
7. “eleven unnecessary turns”
8. “floating on the silence”
9. “my beautiful exile”
10. “long shadows and small mercies”

The Forever Live Tour begins September 19, just one day after the album's release, with an extensive series of Quebec performances before moving through the northeastern United States and Ontario. The tour then heads west in January and February, with additional dates expected to continue into 2027 across Canada and Europe.

Forever Live Tour Dates

September 2026

• September 19 — Théâtre de Lac-Brome, Lac-Brome, QC
• September 21 — Grand Théâtre de Québec, Quebec City, QC
• September 22 — Théâtre de la Ville, Longueuil, QC
• September 24 — Salle Pauline-Julien, Sainte-Geneviève, QC
• September 25 — Théâtre Lionel-Groulx, Sainte-Thérèse, QC
• September 26 — Théâtre Hector-Charland, L'Assomption, QC
• September 27 — Théâtre Granada, Sherbrooke, QC
• September 30 — Espace Théâtre Muni-Spec, Mont-Laurier, QC

October 2026

• October 1 — Théâtre du Vieux-Terrebonne, Terrebonne, QC
• October 2 — Théâtre du Casino Lac-Leamy, Gatineau, QC
• October 3 — Centre des Arts Juliette-Lassonde, Saint-Hyacinthe, QC

November 2026

• November 5 — City Winery Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
• November 6 — Groton Hill Music Center, Groton, MA
• November 7 — HOPE Center for the Arts, Springfield, MA
• November 8 — Shalin Liu Performance Center, Rockport, MA
• November 10 — The Kate, Old Saybrook, CT
• November 11 — Infinity Hall, Norfolk, CT
• November 12 — Narrows, Fall River, MA
• November 13 — Alder Hall at NY Society for Ethical Culture, New York, NY
• November 14 — Victoria Theatre at NJPAC, Newark, NJ
• November 15 — Sellersville Theatre, Sellersville, PA
• November 17 — Rams Head On Stage, Annapolis, MD
• November 18 — Attucks Theatre, Norfolk, VA
• November 19 — Birchmere, Alexandria, VA
• November 20 — Hart Theatre at The Egg, Albany, NY
• November 21 — The Temple at Tellus 360, Lancaster, PA
• November 22 — Beston Hall, Pittsford (Rochester), NY
• November 27 — Casino Rama, Orillia, ON

January 2027

• January 14 — Tower Theatre, Bend, OR
• January 15 — Newmark Theatre, Portland, OR
• January 16 — The Shedd, Jaqua Concert Hall, Eugene, OR
• January 17 — Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA
• January 19 — McCallum Theatre, Palm Desert, CA
• January 20 — Crest Theatre, Sacramento, CA
• January 21 — Rio Theatre, Santa Cruz, CA
• January 22 — Lobero Theatre, Santa Barbara, CA
• January 23 — Saban Theatre, Los Angeles, CA
• January 25 & 26 — Smith Center, Las Vegas, NV
• January 27 — Irvine Barclay Theatre, Irvine, CA
• January 28 — Magnolia, San Diego, CA
• January 29 — Mesa Arts Center, Ikeda Theater, Mesa, AZ
• January 30 — Fox Tucson Theatre, Tucson, AZ
• January 31 — KiMo Theatre, Albuquerque, NM

February 2027

• February 1 — The Lensic, Santa Fe, NM
• February 3 — Paramount Theatre, Denver, CO

With past the breakwater, Jesse Cook isn't abandoning the vibrant rhythmic language that has defined his career. Instead, he is stripping it back, giving the guitar more room to speak and allowing the quieter side of his musical personality to take center stage. The album's combination of flamenco technique, jazz sensibility and spacious production makes it a natural extension of Cook's evolution—and perhaps his most intimate recording yet.

Shane Sato’s Wavelength Connects Jazz, Soul and Indie R&B in a Fluid New Sound

Los Angeles-based multi-instrumentalist, producer and songwriter Shane Sato returns with Wavelength, an expansive sophomore album that finds him pushing further into the intersection of jazz, indie R&B and soul. Released May 15, 2026 via Mixto Records, the 11-track collection is warm, melodic and deeply collaborative, tied together by themes of love, connection and the calming, connective pull of water.

For Sato, that sense of connection is both musical and personal. Born and raised in Southern California and of Japanese-American heritage, he has built his music around the meeting of different cultures, sounds and influences. His 2025 debut, Until We Meet Again, established him as an artist to watch, earning critical attention, a series of notable collaborations and more than a million streams.

With Wavelength, Sato expands that foundation considerably. The album brings together an impressive community of artists, including saxophonist Braxton Cook, indie-pop artist Box Dreams, R&B vocalist Oli-J and Japanese-American R&B songstress Nao Yoshioka, among others. Rather than treating jazz, soul and R&B as separate musical worlds, Sato allows them to naturally overlap throughout the album.

The lead single, “Never Let You G,” is a soulful meditation on love and devotion that grew out of a spontaneous jam session just days after Sato's wedding. Created with Nashville vocalist Oli-J and co-producers Coastal and Clay Sauter, the track captures the album's emphasis on organic collaboration and emotional immediacy.

Elsewhere, “Deep Dive” takes a moodier, more indie-oriented approach. Born from late-night sessions with Box Dreams frontman Adam Rhodes, the song explores the feeling of falling into new love, with Rhodes' raspy vocals complementing the cooler, jazz-influenced textures of Sato's production.

“Surfliner” may be the album's most direct expression of its Southern California identity. Inspired by the coastal train route of the same name, the neo-soul and jazz-inflected track features Braxton Cook's warm, breathy saxophone. Its relaxed pulse mirrors the experience of watching the California coastline pass by, emphasizing atmosphere over urgency.

On “Clouds,” acclaimed musician Reuben James contributes both his jazz virtuosity and soulful vocal presence, while “Pulse” moves in a more lo-fi, dance-oriented direction with producer and musician Coastal.

Across Wavelength, Sato's arrangements favor texture, groove and atmosphere without sacrificing melody. The album feels less like a collection of genre exercises than a continuous musical environment—fluid and constantly shifting while retaining a recognizable sonic identity.

That quality makes Wavelength a natural progression from Sato's debut. The new album is more expansive in both its collaborations and its musical vocabulary, yet its underlying purpose remains straightforward: using music to create connection and uplift.

Available on vinyl and digitally through Mixto Records, Wavelength marks a defining new chapter for Shane Sato, an artist increasingly comfortable occupying the space between jazz, neo-soul and contemporary R&B. With local performances planned and a larger tour expected later in the year, the album also sets the stage for Sato to bring its warm, fluid sound into a live setting.

Irreversible Entanglements Return With Future Present Past, A Powerful Call to Collective Action

Free jazz collective Irreversible Entanglements return with Future Present Past, their fifth studio album and a powerful continuation of the group's ongoing exploration of improvisation, liberation and collective expression. Released via Impulse!, the album is introduced with two new singles, “Don’t Lose Your Head” and “Vibrate Higher,” both featuring longtime friend and frequent collaborator MOTHERBOARD.

The two tracks offer contrasting windows into the musical world of the new album. “Don’t Lose Your Head” arrives as a restrained but intensely focused rallying cry. Vocalists Camae Ayewa and MOTHERBOARD deliver the song with a subdued passion, riding an agile groove from drummer Tcheser Holmes. The arrangement remains tight and purposeful, creating a sense of urgency without sacrificing the space that has always been essential to Irreversible Entanglements' music.

“Vibrate Higher” takes a more expansive and unsettled approach. The track originated as a live performance recorded before a capacity crowd at Brooklyn's Pioneer Works, on bassist Luke Stewart's birthday. It begins with atmospheric synth drones from Keir Neuringer, joined by Stewart's expressive bass, before gradually building into a dense combination of percussion, horns and voices.

As the intensity increases, Ayewa calls for a “different atmosphere,” triggering a dramatic transformation. Trumpeter Aquiles Navarro introduces dissonant lines that seem to open a passage into another musical space, leading the ensemble into an entrancing rhythmic vamp. The transition captures one of Irreversible Entanglements' greatest strengths: the ability to make composition and improvisation feel inseparable, creating music that seems to discover itself in real time.

That quality runs throughout Future Present Past. For the album, the quintet returned to the historic Van Gelder Studio in October 2024 to record most of the primary tracks. The sessions captured the group at an especially mature point in its development, combining group improvisation, composition and rhythm into a sound that draws deeply from diasporic liberation music.

The album's title reflects its broad perspective. The past is treated as a source of ancestral knowledge and historical warnings; the present is marked by uncertainty and anxiety; and the future remains a place of possibility and potential. Rather than viewing those three dimensions separately, Irreversible Entanglements weave them together into a musical continuum.

Additional recording and production continued for nine months after the Van Gelder sessions. In the summer of 2025, Jonathan Schenke worked closely with the band at his Brooklyn studio, editing and arranging the material, while Andrew Lappin returned to mix the collection. MOTHERBOARD and Helado Negro join the group as guests, integrating naturally into the collective's already expansive sound.

The result is more than simply another free jazz recording. Future Present Past is presented as a call to action, rooted in the band's belief that there is no outside force coming to solve the problems confronting society. Instead, the responsibility lies with people to care for one another and build something better together.

That philosophy is reflected in the band's statement about the album, which looks toward the millions of people sharing the planet while drawing inspiration from generations of “healers, alchemists, rebels” and others who have challenged existing ways of living and imagining new possibilities.

Irreversible Entanglements see themselves as part of that continuing tradition. Their music becomes a vehicle for carrying those ideas forward—music that refuses imposed chaos and instead urges listeners to keep moving, to cross boundaries and to seek something beyond the noise and distractions of the moment.

The tension between resistance and hope gives Future Present Past its emotional center. The music can be turbulent, dense and dissonant, but it is never without direction. Even in the most challenging passages, there is an underlying sense of movement toward connection.

With Camae Ayewa, Keir Neuringer, Aquiles Navarro, Luke Stewart and Tcheser Holmes operating as a tightly interconnected unit, Irreversible Entanglements continue to demonstrate how free jazz can function as both musical language and communal expression. Future Present Past draws from the past, confronts the present and imagines what might come next—while insisting that the journey forward is something we undertake together.

Ayn Inserto and the WDR Big Band Bring Jagged Edges & Elegant Lines to Life

Composer, arranger and bandleader Ayn Inserto joins forces with the world-renowned WDR Big Band on Jagged Edges & Elegant Lines: The Music of Ayn Inserto, a dazzling live recording that showcases one of contemporary big band music's distinctive voices. Released August 7, 2026, via Summit Records, the album brings together compositions from across Inserto's career with a newly commissioned four-movement suite written specifically for acclaimed trumpeter Sean Jones.

For Inserto, the opportunity to lead the WDR Big Band in Cologne was both a professional milestone and a deeply personal experience. The Singapore-born, Boston-based composer founded the Ayn Inserto Jazz Orchestra 25 years ago, establishing herself as a composer whose writing combines sophisticated ensemble architecture with rhythmic energy and an unmistakable melodic sensibility. Having followed the WDR Big Band for years and watched the ensemble perform music by many of her mentors and influences, being invited to present her own music with the band was, in her words, "a treat and an honor."

The result is Inserto's first new album in eight years and a vivid demonstration of what happens when her compositions are placed in the hands of one of the world's premier large ensembles. Recorded live on May 31, 2024, the album captures the WDR Big Band navigating music that can be angular and rhythmically demanding while remaining remarkably lyrical.

The title Jagged Edges & Elegant Lines reflects the tension at the heart of Inserto's musical language. Her compositions can feature sharp horn accents, interrupted bass lines, complex rhythmic patterns and unexpected resolutions, yet those seemingly disparate elements ultimately connect into continuous musical lines. There is friction, but also elegance; complexity, but also an inviting sense of movement.

That balance is apparent from the opening selections. "Eshel Sketch," originally recorded by the Ayn Inserto Jazz Orchestra on its 2009 album Muse, immediately places considerable demands on the ensemble, while "Vinifera" reveals a richer, more atmospheric side of Inserto's writing. "La Danza Infinita," originally recorded by the Colours Jazz Orchestra in 2015, provides a lush and gripping ballad, demonstrating that Inserto's rhythmic sophistication never comes at the expense of melody.

"Down a Rabbit Hole," from the 2018 Ayn Inserto Jazz Orchestra album of the same name and also featuring Jones, takes the music in another direction. Inspired by the "curiouser and curiouser" world of Alice in Wonderland, the composition becomes a whirlwind of shifting ideas and rhythmic momentum.

At the center of the new recording, however, is "Suite for Sean Jones," a four-movement work that represents perhaps the most personal composition Inserto has written. Rather than simply creating a vehicle for a star soloist, Inserto set out to create a musical portrait of Jones himself.

She spent months listening to recordings Jones made as a leader, trying to understand his sound and musical personality before beginning the composition. What she heard went beyond technical brilliance. Beneath the pyrotechnics, she found a deep connection to soul and the blues.

The resulting suite explores four dimensions of Jones' life: "The Artist," "The Educator," "The Husband and Father," and "The Human Soul." The music ranges from demanding, intricate passages to moments of extraordinary emotional warmth. Inserto even recalls that Jones became visibly moved during the performance, with tears appearing in his eyes as members of the audience reacted emotionally to the music as well.

The personal connection between the two musicians goes back years. Inserto met Jones when he was chair of the brass department at Berklee College of Music, where she is Assistant Chair of Harmony and Jazz Composition. But their musical history reaches back even further. During a tour of Italy in 2001, a young trumpeter sat in with Inserto's college band. Only years later did she discover that the young musician had been Jones. As Inserto puts it, their story "keeps growing and growing."

Other pieces deepen that portrait. "Mr. Jones and Company," written for NYO Jazz, the Carnegie Hall national youth ensemble led by Jones, and "BJ's Tune," Inserto's arrangement of a Jones composition dedicated to his nephew, offer further glimpses of the trumpeter's warmth and personality.

At the same time, Jagged Edges & Elegant Lines is unmistakably an album about Ayn Inserto herself. Her writing has earned recognition from DownBeat, The Boston Globe and the Jazz Journalists Association, while her work with ensembles including the Frankfurt Radio Big Band has placed her increasingly at the center of contemporary large-ensemble jazz.

Her arrangements of music by bassist Linda May Han Oh, including performances with the Frankfurt Radio Big Band, further established her reputation as a composer capable of bringing sophisticated contemporary ideas to large ensembles without sacrificing accessibility.

Inserto's philosophy can be summed up in one simple statement: "For me, melody is queen." That principle helps explain why her music, despite its technical demands, never feels like an exercise in complexity for its own sake. The compositions may challenge the musicians, but they remain grounded in lines that can be felt and sung.

That quality is ultimately what makes Jagged Edges & Elegant Lines so compelling. It is a showcase for the extraordinary precision and virtuosity of the WDR Big Band, a tribute to Sean Jones, and a career-spanning portrait of Inserto's evolving musical voice. Most importantly, it demonstrates how ambitious large-ensemble writing can remain emotionally direct.

With its combination of intricate architecture, rhythmic intensity, melodic clarity and human warmth, Jagged Edges & Elegant Lines captures Ayn Inserto at a pivotal moment in her career—and confirms her growing stature as one of the most imaginative composers working in contemporary big band jazz.

WDR Big Band – Jagged Edges & Elegant Lines: The Music of Ayn Inserto
Summit Records – SMT-850
Recorded May 31, 2024
Released August 7, 2026

Ran Blake and Dominique Eade Explore the Many Roads of American Music on Roots & Byways

Americana is often reduced to a particular musical sound—folk, country, roots and the familiar twang associated with those traditions. But the idea of Americana can be far more expansive. If American music is understood as the sum of the country's extraordinary musical history, then the definition can stretch from Jimmy Webb to Thelonious Monk, Charles Ives to Beyoncé. Pianist Ran Blake and vocalist Dominique Eade have spent decades exploring those connections, and their latest recording, Roots & Byways, is a fascinating reflection of that journey.

Blake, the legendary pianist, composer, educator and performer, has built a career around musical curiosity and an unmistakably individual approach to interpretation. His work with vocalists has been particularly celebrated, reflecting his ability to treat the piano almost orchestrally while leaving plenty of room for spontaneity and playfulness.

Eade first encountered Blake nearly five decades ago after arriving in Boston to continue developing her musical practice at Berklee. Hearing Blake perform solo piano proved revelatory. His music opened new possibilities for Eade, connecting the jazz and contemporary classical influences she had encountered previously in ways she had not imagined. She soon moved into the Third Stream Music Department at New England Conservatory, where she became Blake's student and mentee.

That relationship developed into a lasting musical partnership. Over the years, Blake and Eade have collaborated in duo and quartet settings and have even worked together in connection with film. Blake's appetite for musical discovery has remained undiminished. He is an enthusiastic collector of what he calls "aural cocktails"—mixtapes, CDs and playlists through which he continually searches for new music and new interpretations of familiar songs. In the digital era, YouTube has become another source of endless discovery, with Blake regularly sharing different versions of songs with his collaborators.

That spirit of exploration is central to the way Blake and Eade work together. Their rehearsals are less about perfecting a predetermined musical product than establishing trust. Once that trust is in place, the performers can approach the music with a greater sense of openness and freedom, allowing arrangements and interpretations to evolve naturally.

Despite decades of performing together, Blake and Eade waited a surprisingly long time before documenting their partnership on record. They finally crossed that threshold with Whirlpool in 2011, followed by Town and Country in 2017. Roots & Byways now adds another chapter to a relationship that continues to develop rather than simply revisit the past.

Recorded over two sessions in August 2023 at Jordan Hall at New England Conservatory, a favored performance space for the duo, Roots & Byways presents an eclectic collection drawn from the enormous landscape of American music. The album features fourteen pieces, along with two solo piano interpretations by Blake, encompassing standards, popular songs, film music and folk material.

The selections demonstrate just how broad the American musical vocabulary can be. Frank Campo's "Grey December," a relatively rare ballad that has also been associated with Chet Baker, receives a performance marked by cool poise. The repertoire then moves into the sophisticated and sometimes challenging territory of revolutionary jazz composers, with Charles Mingus's "Portrait," Max Roach's "Mendacity" and Thelonious Monk's "Pannonica."

Leon Payne's "Lost Highway," famously recorded by Hank Williams, takes on a different character in Blake and Eade's hands, with a new tuning providing another perspective on its familiar story of heartache.

The duo also digs into the vast catalog of soul and popular music. The Sylvers' "I Remember" receives an unexpected interpretation, while Whitney Houston's "Saving All My Love for You" is transformed into something distinctly personal. Mary Lou Williams' "What's the Story, Morning Glory" provides an opportunity for a more acrobatic reading, demonstrating the musicians' willingness to push even well-established material into unfamiliar territory.

Even "On Top of Old Smokey," one of the most recognizable pieces of American folk repertoire, becomes something new through their singular approach. The album eventually reaches across the Atlantic with Michel Legrand's "Watch What Happens," while Blake's solo interpretation of Edith Piaf's "Les Grognards" expands the album's perspective beyond American borders.

That final connection is particularly meaningful within the context of Roots & Byways. The album isn't simply an exercise in Americana nostalgia or a collection of familiar songs. Instead, Blake and Eade look at American musical culture as something constantly shaped by outside influences, historical experience and the continuing reinterpretation of the past.

What emerges is a recording that feels deeply rooted yet remarkably open-ended. Blake and Eade aren't merely performing songs from the American songbook—they are questioning what that songbook encompasses and demonstrating how much remains to be discovered within it.

Roots & Byways ultimately celebrates more than a diverse collection of music. It celebrates a partnership that has endured for nearly five decades and continues to evolve through curiosity, trust and an ongoing willingness to take familiar music somewhere unexpected. For listeners willing to follow Blake and Eade down these musical byways, the rewards are considerable.

Jane Ira Bloom Returns With the Luminous Light from a Person

Soprano saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom reunites with legendary vibraphonist David Friedman on Light from a Person, a remarkable new recording that brings together two longtime collaborators whose musical relationship stretches back to Bloom’s 1980s recording days on CBS Records, including her acclaimed Modern Drama.

For this new project, Bloom and Friedman are joined by renowned bassist Ken Filiano, forming a trio whose sound is both intimate and expansive. Bloom’s soprano saxophone and Friedman’s vibraphone have an uncanny connection, while Filiano provides the deep rhythmic foundation that propels the music forward. Together, they create an atmosphere that can be luminous and lyrical one moment and energetic and explosive the next.

The album features ten original Bloom compositions, including “Bright Bars,” “Slydini,” “White Tower,” “Airspace,” “Desert,” “Van Gogh,” “St Marks Tomorrow,” “Miro,” “True City” and the title track “Light from a Person.” The performances were conceived specifically for the experience of surround-sound listening, giving the music an added sense of dimension and space.

What makes the recording particularly compelling is the chemistry between musicians who have spent decades developing their individual voices and understanding how to listen to one another. Bloom and Friedman seem to anticipate each other, with their instruments intertwining in a way that can feel almost weightless. Filiano's bass supplies a powerful counterbalance, giving the trio's airy textures a deep rhythmic pulse.

The album moves comfortably between breakneck tempos and lyrical ballads, with the musicians displaying the freedom and precision of seasoned improvisers. There is an impressive sense of restraint as well—the trio understands that what is left unsaid can be just as important as what is played. The result is music that is simultaneously spare and full, reflective and kinetic.

There is a particularly appealing quality to the recording's combination of old and new. Bloom and Friedman bring the accumulated knowledge of a long musical history together with the possibilities of immersive audio technology. That intersection is central to Light from a Person: improvisational art meets audio science, with the performances captured in high-definition stereo and immersive sound.

Since Bloom's previous Outline Records release, Songs in Space (OTL146), she has continued to explore new territory. She recorded the four-star duo album once like a spark with percussionist Brian Shankar Adler and has appeared regularly at Brooklyn's Soapbox Gallery with bassist Mark Helias. For Light from a Person, Bloom returned to the Clive Davis Institute in Brooklyn to record the new trio project in surround sound.

The recording also reunites Bloom with Grammy Award-winning engineering collaborators Jim Anderson and tonmeister Ulrike Schwarz, whose work helps translate the trio's unusual combination of acoustic interaction and spatial sound into an immersive listening experience.

With a total playing time of 40:32, Light from a Person offers a concise but richly detailed journey. It is a recording that rewards both close listening and simply allowing the music to surround you. For fans of adventurous contemporary jazz, Bloom's distinctive soprano sound and the extraordinary rapport between these three musicians make this a release worth seeking out.

Light from a Person will be released October 22, 2026, as both a stereo digital release and an immersive digital release on Outline Records.

Enrico Rava’s Fearless Five Join Forces With Joe Lovano on Corners

Italian trumpet legend Enrico Rava embraces a new generation of musicians on Corners, the first ECM recording by his Fearless Five, with acclaimed American saxophonist Joe Lovano joining the ensemble for an adventurous collection of all-original music.

The Fearless Five were born almost spontaneously at an impromptu concert outside Rome in 2022. Rava recalls being so impressed by the chemistry among the musicians that he decided on the spot that they should become his new band. The group takes its name from Rava’s composition “Fearless Five,” first recorded on his 1978 Enrico Rava Quartet album.

That spirit of spontaneity is central to Corners. The album combines Rava’s unmistakably lyrical trumpet voice with the individual personalities of trombonist Matteo Paggi, guitarist Francesco Diodati, bassist Ponticello and drummer Evita Polidoro. Lovano adds another dimension, bringing his expansive knowledge of jazz history while responding instinctively to the younger players.

Rava and Lovano are longtime collaborators, having previously worked together on the acclaimed 2019 album Roma. Their musical relationship gives Corners an especially compelling Italo-American character, with the two veteran improvisers interacting with a younger generation whose approach is equally comfortable with melody, abstraction and free-form exploration.

“Certo Angeli Segreti,” an original by Rava, opens the album with a cool, spacious atmosphere. The horns move in and out of the arrangement, with Rava offering melodic clarity, Paggi supplying a strong lower-register presence and Lovano ranging freely across the musical landscape.

The album's repertoire is deliberately democratic. Rava, Lovano and every member of the Fearless Five contribute original compositions, reflecting the fact that each musician is also a bandleader and composer in their own right. Rava says the approach makes Corners notably different from his other albums, allowing each member to bring a distinctive musical perspective to the group.

The result is a program in which deeply melodic passages coexist naturally with free improvisation. Guitarist Diodati and bassist Ponticello contribute ballads, while Polidoro steps forward as a vocalist on her evocative composition “Le Mie Gamb.”

Lovano’s “Sun Rava” begins as an abstract blues before gradually moving into less predictable territory, with the band continually shifting the momentum. Rava’s “Hitchcock at the Beach” carries a nostalgic quality and provides Lovano with an opportunity for an extended solo, while “Tone, Shape and Colours” is a free improvisation built around a motif from Lovano that creates an animated conversation among the three horn players.

“Bowery Dance” reaches back into Rava’s own history. The earthy groove comes from an older composition inspired by his experiences during his years in New York, giving the album another connection between his Italian roots and American jazz influences.

The closing track, Paggi’s “Mamma,” brings Corners to a tender conclusion, offering a final contrast to the album’s more exploratory moments.

Throughout the recording, Rava gives his musicians considerable freedom, trusting their instincts rather than tightly directing the music. That confidence is perhaps the defining characteristic of Corners: a veteran artist creating space for younger players to challenge, reshape and expand his musical language.

Recorded July 21–23, 2025 at Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome and produced by Manfred Eicher, Corners arrives October 16, 2026 on ECM. It captures Enrico Rava not looking backward, but continuing to explore what can happen when experience, youthful energy and improvisational freedom meet in the same room.

Keith Jarrett’s Roma Completes His Extraordinary 2016 European Solo Concert Series

ECM will release Roma on November 6, 2026, the fifth and final concert recording from Keith Jarrett’s acclaimed 2016 European solo tour. Recorded at Santa Cecilia Hall in Rome on July 12, 2016, the album brings the remarkable series to a close with a performance that has a character and identity all its own.

Jarrett’s 2016 tour produced five extraordinary solo concerts, each revealing a different side of his approach to spontaneous composition. Budapest Concert, Munich 2016, Bordeaux Concert, New Vienna and now Roma collectively document an artist at the height of his improvisational powers, creating complete musical structures in real time.

The Rome performance unfolds as a continuous journey through ten improvised parts, followed by two familiar encores. Jarrett begins by essentially clearing the musical canvas in “Part I,” gradually building momentum through dense chromatic lines and sharply articulated figures before allowing recognizable themes and sustained tones to emerge.

“Part II” continues in a darker, more organized vein, while the subsequent sections move through contrasting textures, unexpected counterpoint and passages of intense rhythmic concentration. Rather than sounding like a collection of unrelated improvisations, the performance develops into a large-scale architectural work, with each section contributing to the overall shape.

There are moments throughout Roma that demonstrate just how wide Jarrett’s musical vocabulary remained. In “Part V,” he seemingly pulls a swinging gospel performance out of thin air. “Part VI” is marked by expansive, arpeggiated harmonic structures, while “Part IX” digs into a gritty blues vocabulary. Elsewhere, Jarrett's lifelong affection for the songcraft of the first half of the 20th century emerges through melodies that sound almost like standards, even though they are being invented on the spot.

By “Part X,” Jarrett returns the music to something resembling the blank canvas with which he began. The concert then concludes with two of his most beloved encores, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and “It’s A Lonesome Old Town.” Both pieces are familiar territory for Jarrett, but his performances are anything but routine, with fresh phrasing and renewed emotional weight.

At the time of the Rome concert, La Repubblica captured the essence of Jarrett’s solo performances, describing him as celebrating a timeless ritual and paying tribute to “the act of creation” through spontaneous composition before an audience. That description seems particularly appropriate when looking back at the entire 2016 tour.

The five concerts were performed over just 13 days, yet each became its own musical world. Budapest ranged from abstract, polyrhythmic improvisation to blues and bebop-inspired passages. Munich was notable for its extraordinary intensity. Bordeaux moved between atonality, hymn-like lyricism, blues and deeply affecting melodic passages. New Vienna presented a more concise, suite-like approach, with nine distinct sections and Jarrett’s characteristic command of melody, space and dynamics.

Roma completes that sequence without simply looking backward. There is a sense of summation, but not retrospection. Jarrett remains focused on the moment, responding to the piano, the room and his own musical instincts as the performance develops.

The album also arrives as part of a continuing series of archival and reissue projects surrounding Jarrett's extraordinary recorded legacy. ECM will also reissue Jasmine, Jarrett’s intimate 2010 collaboration with bassist Charlie Haden, on vinyl November 20, 2026, as part of the label’s Luminessence audiophile series.

Originally recorded at Jarrett’s home studio in New Jersey, Jasmine reunited the pianist and Haden more than three decades after their earlier recordings together. The duo explores a selection of classic standards including “Body and Soul,” “For All We Know,” “Where Can I Go Without You” and “Don’t Ever Leave Me.” The album's understated intimacy stands in striking contrast to the expansive solo improvisation heard on Roma, but both recordings reveal the same fundamental quality: Jarrett's extraordinary ability to listen, respond and create in the moment.

With Roma, ECM completes one of the most significant archival chapters in Keith Jarrett’s solo career. The album doesn't merely document another concert from 2016. It preserves another singular musical event from an artist whose entire career was built around the idea that the most compelling performance might be the one that could never be repeated.

Charlotte Greve’s WATERBODIES Embraces Musical Possibility, Intimacy and the Unexpected

For Charlotte Greve, WATERBODIES is less a statement of stylistic identity than an invitation into the full breadth of her musical world. Produced by Grammy-nominated Shahzad Ismaily, the forthcoming album brings together an expansive cast of collaborators, including the New York-based vocal ensemble KHORIKOS and the Bratislava Symphony Orchestra, while reflecting Greve’s own history as a sought-after sidewoman for artists such as Chris Morrissey, Laura Veirs, Cass McCombs, Cassandra Jenkins and Matt Pavolka.

Rather than pursuing a single sound, WATERBODIES deliberately moves in multiple directions. Spoken word sits alongside full orchestral arrangements, improvised jazz gives way to synth-pop, intimate ballads coexist with expansive compositions, and the record eventually settles into a serene, arpeggiated closing track. The result is an album unified not by genre, but by Greve’s instinct to follow her curiosity wherever it leads.

That openness also makes the record deeply personal. Greve wrote WATERBODIES while pregnant with her daughter and first child, capturing a particularly transformative period in her life. Not long after discovering she was pregnant, a friend encouraged her to record the music before the baby arrived. The suggestion became the spark for a project that might otherwise have remained unrealized.

The circumstances surrounding the album were anything but conventional. Greve was preparing for motherhood while investing her own money into a record she knew was unlikely to fit neatly into a commercial mold. Yet that tension became part of the album’s purpose. Rather than shaping the music around a marketable identity, she chose to make something guided by personal necessity.

“This is the most holistic representation of my musical interests,” Greve says. “I wanted it to feel like a playground — the opposite of an easy-to-sell, career-minded, one-kind-of-thing record.”

That sense of play is central to WATERBODIES. Its songs function as distinct pieces while belonging to the same larger world, allowing contrasting musical languages to sit beside one another without being forced into uniformity. For Greve, the connection comes naturally because each influence passes through the same creative perspective.

“It captures the full range of what I’ve been drawn to musically,” she explains. “Rather than narrowing things down, I wanted to open them up, placing these disparate influences side by side and trusting their connection would come through because they’re all channeled through me.”

The album’s first glimpse comes with “Lighter Blue,” offering an introduction to a project that embraces contrast as a strength rather than a problem to solve. Across WATERBODIES, Greve allows each musical idea room to exist on its own terms, creating a record that feels exploratory, intimate and unrestrained.

To mark the release, Greve will take the album to New York’s Public Records on October 14 for a special joint album release show featuring a performance by Kaoru Watanabe. WATERBODIES arrives October 2 via New Amsterdam, marking the release of a project that Greve describes not as a calculated career move, but as something she simply felt compelled to make.

In that sense, WATERBODIES feels like a document of creative freedom: a record born from a moment of profound personal change and built around the belief that music does not always need to make conventional sense. Sometimes, it simply needs to be honest.