Brad Mehldau Trio, St George's Bristol review - exquisite intelligence

★★★★★ BRAD MEHLDAU TRIO, ST GEORGE'S BRISTOL Exquisite intelligence

A brilliant trio in scintillating conversation

There's something luminous about the Brad Mehldau Trio. The music they create with such joy shines with a special clarity, in which ever-changing forms constantly reveal lines of shared thought, explicitly, yet purveying an abiding sense of wonder. Intellect – and there is plenty of that – is matched here with the fire of inspiration and the thrill of constant surprise.

Edward Burra, Tate Britain review - watercolour made mainstream

★★★ EDWARD BURRA, TATE BRITAIN Social satire with a nasty bite

Social satire with a nasty bite

It’s unusual to leave an exhibition liking an artist’s work less than when you went in, but Tate Britain’s retrospective of Edward Burra manages to achieve just this. I’ve always loved Burra’s limpid late landscapes. Layers of filmy watercolour create sweeping vistas of rolling hills and valleys whose suggestive curves create a sexual frisson.

Album: Mary Halvorson - About Ghosts

★★★★ MARY HALVORSON - ABOUT GHOSTS Between the composed and the improvised

Lauded US jazz guitarist strikes a balance between the composed and the improvised

Although Mary Halvorson leads the sextet Amaryllis on About Ghosts, instrumentally, she does not place her guitar to the fore. The first time her playing really leaps out on her new album is during second cut “Carved Form,” where it weaves through the arrangement. A guitar solo arrives just over a minute in: precise yet slippery, it complements the early space-age feel of the Pocket Piano synthesiser she also contributes to the track.

Songlines Encounters, Kings Place review - West African and Anatolian magic

★★★★ SONGLINES ENCOUNTERS, KINGS PLACE West African and Anatolian magic

Setting the scene for a weekend of close musical encounters from across the globe

Songlines Encounters is your round-the-world ticket to great world music and performances, a chance to travel widely in music and culture without the burden of check-ins, passport control, flight delays, or transfers. 

Louis Cole, Roundhouse review - nothing is everything

★★★★★ LOUIS COLE, ROUNDHOUSE Telepathic grooves and Mahlerian beauty collide in Camden

Telepathic grooves and Mahlerian beauty collide in Camden

London's iconic Roundhouse, packed to the rafters, provided the perfect setting for the UK premiere of Louis Cole's groundbreaking album nothing – his fifth album and third on Brainfeeder. This one-night-only performance, featuring Cole on drums and keys with an orchestra conducted by Jules Buckley, delivered electrifying musicianship, fascinating stylistic mash-ups, and melodies that imprinted themselves on your consciousness.

Music Reissues Weekly: 1001 Est Crémazie

101 EST CREMAZIE Privately pressed Canadian jazz album resurfaces for its 50th anniversary

Privately pressed Canadian jazz album resurfaces for its 50th anniversary

It would have been hard to pick up a copy of the album credited to and titled 1001 Est Crémazie in 1975. Just 500 copies were pressed. It didn’t reach shops but was circulated amongst the musicians playing on it, their friends, families and fellow students at Montréal’s Collège André-Grasset, the school at which those on the album were pupils.

Kenny Garrett, Ronnie Scott's review - a mixed bag

★★★ KENNY GARRETT, RONNIE SCOTT'S Conjuring the spirit and treading water

Conjuring the spirit and treading water

The sax-player Kenny Garrett established a reputation as one of Miles Davis’s band in the Amandla (1989) period. He was also a member of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, the launching-pad for scores of talented young musicians.