Reviews
Salsa de la Bahia: A Collection of SF Bay Area Salsa and Latin Jazz
In this double-disc third volume of the Salsa de la Bahia series, documentary-maker and timbales-player Rita Hargreaves highlights the contributions...
Reviewed by Mark Sampson in issue: June/2025
Matchless
Formed in 2005 under frontman Steve Lewis’ direction, Deep Cabaret are a shapeshifting group who’ve made a name plumbing the...
Reviewed by Olivia Cheves in issue: May/2025
Menta Selvatica
Gravitating between homes in Milan and Barcelona, versatile Italian singer-songwriter Mila Trani has been producing her Mediterranean Latin-jazz crossover music...
Reviewed by Huw Hennessy in issue: April/2025
Niebla
From Medellín to Montréal… Multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter Alexander Betancur moved from his native Colombia to Canada in 2005. Since then,...
Reviewed by Mark Sampson in issue: April/2025
Yemamaya
With Yemamaya, Portugal-based Brazilian singer-songwriter LUIZGA collaborates across a full-length set with French producer iZem, pulling together tracks from an...
Reviewed by Andrew Taylor-Dawson in issue: December/2025
Cinnamon Flower
For over a decade, Charlie Rouse’s tenor sax graced Thelonious Monk’s quartet during the final chapter of the pianist’s career....
Reviewed by Mark Sampson in issue: October/2025
Born in the City of Tanta: Lower Egyptian Urban Folklore and Bedouin Shaabi from Libya’s Bourini Records 1968–75
Seemingly a world removed from the lushly orchestrated, exquisitely tasteful music of state-approved Egyptian icons like Mohamed Abdel-Wahab and Oum...
Reviewed by Paul Bowler in issue: August/2025
Lisané Bahir
Lisané Bahir, the fourth offering from LA-based Ethiopian keys player Kibrom Birhane is an otherworldly set deftly combining tradition with...
Reviewed by Andrew Taylor-Dawson in issue: January/2026
Let Us Clap
Lamisi is a singer-songwriter from Accra with roots in the Upper East Region of northern Ghana. The project’s musical director...
Reviewed by Jane Cornwell in issue: April/2026
Marjaa: The Battle of the Hotels
The Battle of the Hotels was a vicious conflict that took place in Beirut at the beginning of the Lebanese...
Reviewed by Daniel Spicer in issue: May/2023
