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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

November 2021

  • The man with the sticks … Pentad’s leader Johnathan Blake.

    Jazz album of the month
    Johnathan Blake: Homeward Bound review – virtuosi jazz unit scorch and shimmer

    Drummer Blake joins with Dezon Douglas, Immanuel Wilkins, Joel Ross and David Virelles to create enthralling post-bop, soul jazz and Coltraneian pop

October 2021

  • Dr Lonnie Smith<br>(MANDATORY CREDIT Ebet Roberts/Getty Images) Dr Lonnie Smith performs at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival at the Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, Louisiana on May 1, 2014. (Photo by Ebet Roberts/Redferns)

    Lonnie Smith obituary

  • Instantly identifiable timbre … John Coltrane.

    Jazz album of the month
    John Coltrane: A Love Supreme Live in Seattle review – a unique record of a landmark band

September 2021

  • A fluid musical mind ... Pat Metheny.

    Jazz album of the month
    Pat Metheny: Side-Eye NYC (V1.IV) review – new talent and wily reinventions

    Metheny’s new trio, with the formidable James Francies on piano and Marcus Gilmore on drums, provoke rapture in this live set

August 2021

  • Peter Ind, right, on bass, performing with the guitarist Howard Alden at the Tenor Clef, smaller upstairs sibling of the Bass Clef club, in Hoxton Square, London, in 1992.

    Peter Ind obituary

  • Hidden hands ... Andrew Cyrille.

    Jazz album of the month
    Andrew Cyrille Quartet: The News review – rolling coverage from octogenarian jazz hero

July 2021

  • Canadian trumpeter Kenny Wheeler, who features on Journeys in Modern Jazz: Britain 1965-1972.

    Jazz album of the month
    Journeys in Modern Jazz: Britain 1965-1972 review – a pivotal period

    A wide-ranging compilation featuring Kenny Wheeler, John Surman and Michael Garrick kicks off the celebratory British Jazz Explosion series of releases

June 2021

  • An invitingly open window on the world of an iconoclast ... Anthony Braxton (right).

    Jazz album of the month
    Anthony Braxton: Quartet (Standards) 2020 review – astonishing chronicle from a one-off

    Latin jazz, freebop and traditional swing rub shoulders as this mammoth set reworks iconic jazz themes and classic pop songs

May 2021

  • Ches Smith (bottom centre) and We All Break.

    Jazz album of the month
    Ches Smith and We All Break: Path of Seven Colors review – a tour de force of jazz innovation

    Haitian traditions inspire the percussionist’s exhilarating hybrid of melodic drums, evocative vocals and fiery improvisation

April 2021

  • Moving to a group pulse ... Linda May Han Oh, Vijay Iyer and Tyshawn Sorey.

    Jazz album of the month
    Vijay Iyer, Linda May Han Oh, Tyshawn Sorey: Uneasy review – fired-up improv

  • 100Things

    Art, gigs, theatre: 100 must-see events to book as Britain reopens

March 2021

  • An original improviser ... Charles Lloyd.

    Jazz album of the month
    Charles Lloyd & the Marvels: Tone Poem review – heady ideas from a celebrated jazz elder

  • Milford Graves<br>(MANDATORY CREDIT Ebet Roberts/Redferns) Jazz drummer Milford Graves (1941 - 2021) performing with the New York Art Quartet at the South Street Seaport Atrium in New York City on June 13, 1999. (Photo by Ebet Roberts/Redferns)

    Milford Graves obituary

  • Russell was an offhandedly persuasive promoter and campaigner as well as a performer

    John Russell obituary

  • Chris Barber performing in Cologne in 2012

    Chris Barber obituary

February 2021

  • Jeremy Pelt in 2018.

    Jazz album of the month
    Jeremy Pelt: Griot – This Is Important! review – a jazz album for everyone

    Storytelling trumpeter Pelt boldly crosses genres and ages with agile contemporary bop, ballads and spoken word passages
  • ‘A fascinating hothouse’ ... Chick Corea performing in June 1988.

    Chick Corea: his 10 greatest recordings

    From hard bop to fusion, mischievousness to sensitivity, Corea’s wide-ranging catalogue lived at the vanguard of jazz
  • Chick Corea at a concert in Moscow in 2017.

    Chick Corea obituary

    Jazz pianist who was happy to stray into rock and classical fusions

January 2021

  • Delicate distillations of all three ... Trio Tapestry (from left: Joe Lovano, Marilyn Crispell, Carmen Castaldi).

    Jazz album of the month
    Joe Lovano Trio Tapestry: Garden of Expression review – a jazz unit with total empathy

  • Stanley Cowell

    Stanley Cowell obituary

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