Reviews of the week

The freshly released album Dream Archives by Craig Taborn, Tomeka Reid and Ches Smith is welcomed by media in the US, the UK and France

Pianist Craig Taborn records prolifically, but not as often under his own name. Thus when he headlines a record you know it’s a project important to him. Dream Archives puts the maverick musician at the head of a new triad that includes bandleaders as eclectic, adventurous, and amazingly talented as himself: cellist Tomeka Reid and percussionist Ches Smith. This gives Taborn the opportunity to paint four of his compositions – plus a pair of songs by late fellow travelers Geri Allen and Paul Motian – in colors he’s alluded to but never used before. […] in toto, ‘Dream Archive’ showcases a brilliant composer, pianist, and bandleader pushing himself and his players beyond what’s familiar to them, creating a sonic world unique only to this collective.

Michael Toland, Big Takeover

Pianist and composer Craig Taborn, known for his shockingly powerful technique and his ability to traverse post-modern jazz, contemporary classical music, and indie electronics, moves fluidly between structure and freedom. The six tracks on ‘Dream Archives’—four originals and two covers—are smartly conceived, finding fresh sonic angles and probing inventive approaches to rhythm. Working in a trio format with cellist Tomeka Reid and drummer/vibraphonist Ches Smith, the colorfully chameleonic Taborn adds another compelling chapter to his already rich catalogue. […] The album reaches a clear apex with Geri Allen’s ‘When Kabuya Dances’, whose initial three-time piano motion opens into a rubato exploration. It unfolds as a progressive Afro-jazz dance marked by tension-fraught interplay and insistent pulses, alternating between seven and twelve-beat passages. Taborn’s respect for singular compositional voices continues with Paul Motian’s ‘Mumbo Jumbo’. With Smith alternating between drums and vibraphone, the piece achieves a floating sensitivity with bowed, low-register cello strokes and tactical piano mobility adding extra dimension. […] Smartly sculpted with a boundary-pushing ethos, ‘Dream Archives’ showcases Taborn’s phenomenal musicality and wide-ranging sophistication. It will reward adventurous listeners and stands as one of the early highlights of contemporary jazz releases in 2026.

Filipe Freitas, Jazz Trail

The first release by Craig Taborn since being named a MacArthur Fellow in late 2025, ‘Dream Archives’ (ECM, 2026) finds the pianist/composer leading an unusual trio with noted cellist Tomeka Reid and in-demand drummer-vibraphonist Ches Smith. All three are acclaimed bandleaders in their own right, with Reid having an extensive history of collaboration through her association with the AACM and as contributor to Myra Melford and Dave Douglas and Smith equally in-demand. While the leader also plays various keyboards, the acoustic piano is prevalent throughout the record. Even so, the trio creates soundscapes that belie a conventional piano trio format. Sounds merge collectively and freely. […] ‘Dream Archives’’s complex and intricate music lives up to its title. Taborn and his cohorts take the listener from dreamy, hypnotic states to exhilaration, mystery, and the unexpected. While at times unsettling, the overall effect is curiously uplifting and exploratory, encouraging repeat listening.

Jim Hynes, Post Genre

The trio debut of Craig Taborn with Tomeka Reid and Ches Smith has been keenly anticipated, and ‘Dream Archives’ arrives carrying a combination of weight and intrigue. Given Taborn’s reputation as one of the most searching pianists of his generation, now confirmed by his 2025 MacArthur Fellowship, it’s no surprise that this is a deep, often absorbing listen.

Mike Gates, UK Vibe

‘Dream Archives’ – un album de jazz, exigeant et obsédant, comme un rêve. Accompagné par Tomeka Reid (violoncelle) et Ches Smith (percussions et vibraphone), Taborn y explore son antichambre inconsciente, sorte de ‘ bibliothèque du rêve’’ où un contrepoint erratique (‘Coordinates for the Absent’) aboutit à des montagnes russes illogiques (‘Feeding Maps to the Fire’) et où un ostinato expressionniste (‘Dream Archive’) paraît enfanté par des remémorations de Geri Allen (‘When Kabuya Dances’) et Paul Motian (‘Mumbo Jumbo’). Par instants, on peut croire à une télégraphie anarchique ou quasi sérielle. Mais les réécoutes dissipent cette première impression. Elles rendent mieux perceptible la puissance émotionnelle de ces arythmies et mélodies écartelées, dépourvues de sens en surface et néanmoins obsédantes, comme porteuses de vérité, à l’image des rêves.

Louis-Julien Nicolaou, Télérama

An early US reaction to the upcoming bass solo album Convergence by Björn Meyer

The solo electric bass record can go a few different ways. Players often prefer the overtly technical approach, playing funky-butt speed runs that make every lesson they ever took as clear as an A+ on a report card. But Bjorn Meyer prefers a different path, one he previously followed on his solo debut Providence back in 2017. On ‘Convergence’, the former bottom-holder for Nik Bartsch’s Ronin and frequent sidedude for Anouar Brahem uses his six-string bass more subtly, even meditatively, plucking out shimmering melodies and slowly unfolding grooves. […] Meyer isn’t so much a performer here, but a composer, using his instrument to paint the pictures conjured in his mind and heart.

Martin Toland, The Big Takeover

A US reaction to the new album Off Stillness by Thomas Strønen’s Group Time Is A Blind Guide

Strønen the composer has a light touch. Strønen the drummer is an instigator. On pieces like ‘Memories of Paul’ (for two Pauls, Motian and Bley),  his stirrings insert rhythmic relativism into his meticulous music. Energy waxes and wanes. The pianist here, Ayumi Tanaka, picks her spots. ‘Fall’ is mostly muted colours and fine-grained textures of Aase and Sander. But Tanaka’s bright piano keeps appearing, spilling across the song like movements in a dream. In music this spare and implicit, every gesture is chosen. ‘Off Stillness’ has the the living, lucid, intimate sound associated with a facility ECM has used for 55 years: Rainbow Studio in Oslo.

Thomas Conrad, Stereophile

The new album Pur Ti Miro by Wu Wei, Martin Stegner and Janne Saksala attracts acclaim in the UK

The sound of the sheng has been likened to the singing phoenix of Chinese legend but to these ears and in this context sounds like a soft and quietly spoken organ such is the range of sound, dynamics and expression that Wei brings to the ensemble with his mastery of the instrument. This unique ensemble transforms majestically music by Claudio Monteverdi performing pieces by the composer from L’incoronazione di Poppea in recitals of ‘Si dolce è’l tormento’ and ‘Pur ti miro’. In the liner notes that accompany the album, violist Martin Stegner talks about the challenge in arranging works for the trio to perform, but here the music seems to develop organically with the ensemble able to react quite freely to each other and find a remarkable flexibility in the scores. Tackling Johann Sebastian Bach’s Organ Trios, No’s 1 and 4 bring a new dimension to these wonderful compositions, and I have never heard Vivaldi’s ‘Trio Sonata in d minor ‘La Follia’, op. 1/12, RV 63’ performed with such a lightness and exuberance. The trio conclude their programme with the traditional Norwegian bridal march ‘Buremarsj frå Beiarn’ in a reading of sublime delicacy and lyricism. The colours and textures conjured by these three virtuoso musicians is a delight, and if experiencing some hesitation in the unusual instrumentation, then I urge you to take the plunge and take a listen to one of the most distinctive and original of ensembles.

Nick Lea, Jazz Views

A Swiss weekly on the album Arcanum by Arve Henriksen, Trygve Seim, Anders Jormin and Markku Ounaskari

Den Namen hat die ‘Nordic Supergroup’ vom lateinischen Wort ‘Arcanus’, was so viel bedeutet wie geheim, geheimnisvoll. Die Musik der nicht weniger als sechzehn Stücke – davon zehn im Kollektiv entwickelt, entweder gemeinsam abgesprochen oder gemeinsam improvisiert – ist freilich keineswegs hermetisch. Sie hat allerdings ein Geheimnis. Sozusagen die Umsetzung des alten ECM-Slogans ‘The most beautiful sound next to silence’ (den Titel ‘Supersilent’ hat Henriksen schon für eine seiner früheren Gruppen vergeben). Das Zusammenspiel der beiden Bläser (mal unisono, mal im herzzerreissenden Terz-Abstand, oft in höchster Lage an die Grenzen des Spielbaren ausufernd) hat den einen Pol in nordischer Volksmusik. Der andere ist, bei aller elegischen Unterströmung, eine zuweilen sehr freie, meist kollektive Improvisation. Schon die Eröffnung dieser sechzehn scharfgezeichneten, bei aller formalen Stringenz bisweilen entfesselten Miniaturen klingt wie ein Stück von Ornette Coleman. Ausser einem finnischen Traditional ist Colmans ‘What Reason Could I  Give’ der einzige Titel von einem andern als den vier mit viel Zurückhaltung agierenden nordischen Lyrikern.

Peter Rüedi, Weltwoche

The re-issue of Gary Peacock and Ralph Towner’s duo recording Oracle within the Luminessence series intrigues a UK reviewer

With Peacock having penned all but two of the pieces, one is immediately struck by how well they are suited to the bare bones of the duo. Both musicians can provide strong rhythmic frameworks they are equally adept at taking the lead as the bassist does so effortlessly on ‘Empty Carrousel’ with a superbly stated and melodic melody and solo before switching to a gently supporting role for Towner’s offering. This sense of camaraderie prevails throughout this absorbing set; the dialogue and musical sparring is particularly fascinating on ‘Burly Hello’ and with Peacock’s writing seemingly perfectly suited for quiet dialogue the bassist tears up the rule book on ‘Flutter Step’ with a fierce opening statement from the double bass and furious rhythmic figure that is alternately played in unison or supported by some equally declamatory comping from Towner. It is rare to hear Towner dig in quite so hard as he does here.

Nick Lea, Jazz Views

The vinyl-reissue of Jan Garbarek and Anouar Brahem’s Madar within the Luminessence series is hailed in a German magazine

Es sollte das einzige Zusammentreffen der drei Musiker bleiben, denn kurz nach der Aufnahme beendete Ustad Shaukat Hussain seine Karriere und verstarb zwei Jahren nach der Veröffentlichung des Albums. Das durchweg faszinierende Album besticht insbesondere mit der Art und Weise, wie auf ‘Sull Lull’ und ‘Ioron’ traditionelle norwegische Melodien in der interkulturellen Mühle der drei Musiker verarbeitet und zu einer leuchtenden Sonne werden, die im Orient aufgeht. Aber auch die Stücke, die maßgeblich von der Oud Anouar Brahem’s dominiert werden, sorgen dafür, dass mit ‘Madar’ ein fesselndes Werk erschaffen wurde, das die Zeit überdauert. Der wie immer ausgezeichnete Klang der ECM-Veröffentlichung, gepaart mit hochwertiger Press- und Fabrikationsqualität des mit Portraits der drei Musiker ausgestatteten Klappcovers, macht aus ‘Madar’ ein Album von besonderer Güte.

Ralf Henke, LP-Magazin