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Singer Cyrille Aimee gets help from some great "friends" here – a tight quintet with Roy Hargrove on trumpet, Joel Frahm on tenor, and Spike Wilner on piano – really helping set up her vocals with a solid instrumental footing! Aimee's got a slight Billie Holiday quality to... read more

An incredibly well-crafted set from bassist Omer Avital – a player who's really got a bold vision for his group here, and manages to lead a host of strong players through a set of very personal material! There's some great righteous energy going on here – making the set easily one of... read more

Bruce Barth is a pianist who always knows how to open up and run – making him an excellent choice for the Smalls Live series – easily some of the best-recorded live jazz CDs in recent years! Barth's touch on the keys is amazing – very fluid, and a mixture of sharp tones and... read more

A trio of modern talents, working beautifully together on a set of extended live tracks! The group features guitar from Peter Bernstein, Hammond from Larry Goldings, and drums from Bill Stewart – coming together in ways that remind us of the hipper side of 60s organ combos – those... read more

Peter Bernstein really makes things kick here – thanks to a hip quartet that features Richard Wyands on piano, John Webber on bass, and Jimmy Cobb on drums! With a rhythm section like that, the session better cook – and it does so nicely, in the open freedom of the Smalls Live setting... read more

The tenor sound of Seamus Blake is always a treat – and he really stretches out here on a set of long, live tracks with a great group! Most titles go way past the ten minute mark, and the always-inventive Blake manages to make plenty happen with all that time – working deftly in a... read more

One of the best albums in years from altoist Jesse Davis – recorded in a relaxed, open-ended style that really unlocks some new magic in his horn! Davis' studio records are all quite nice, but this live date really takes him to places we've never heard before – a really old school... read more

One of our favorite records ever from trombonist Steve Davis – a live date recorded at Smalls, and one that lets him stretch out a lot more than most of his studio albums! The setting is wonderful – an open-ended, easygoing quintet with great piano from Larry Willis – and a... read more

Bassist Dezron Douglas can be one hell of a leader – especially when he's working with a group and setting as great as this! The album's got that solid punch we love in the Smalls Live series – a way of allowing players to really open up and be themselves, yet also find a cohesiveness... read more

There's lots of great guitar/tenor interplay in this live set from Joel Frahm – a date that's recorded with a wonderfully warm feel that almost makes it top any of Frahm's studio sessions! Tracks are nice and long, and really balance a lot of Frahm's snaking tenor lines with the guitar of... read more

The rhythms are wonderful here – really old school hardbop sounds, set to rock-solid piano from Rick Germanson – and driven onwards by the bass of Paul Gill and drums of Lewis Nash! And if that's not enough, the album also features excellent work on trumpet from Eddie Henderson –... read more

Jimmy Greene really knocks it out of the park with this cooking live set – showing us again that he's definitely a tenor talent to watch – one with a depth of soulfulness that stretches back to some of the more righteous players of the 60s, but with a contemporary vibe too – one... read more

Proof that this Smalls Live series really brings out the best in most players – as pianist Kevin Hays grabs our ears here more than ever! The set's got an open, spontaneous energy – lots of really long tracks from Hays and his trio of Doug Weiss on bass and Bill Stewart on drums. Yet... read more

A great set from tenorist Ian Hendrickson Smith – a player you might know from his work with Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings! Smith was in the Dap-Kings for a good part of the oughties, but has really opened up as a jazz musician too – and here, he really cooks in the wonderful... read more

Forget the "punk" in the group's name, and just focus on the "bop" – as the quintet have a nicely angular sort of energy, one that's definitely modern, but which certainly owes a lot to the sharp changes of jazz generations gone by! The instrumentation really draws a lot... read more

An amazing little record from a trio that features pianist Ethan Iverson, bassist Ben Street, and drummer Albert Tootie Heath – way more than you'd expect from the outside, and proof again that these Live At Smalls albums are some incredible gems! Iverson's a player with a great sense of... read more

The trumpet of Jeremy Pelt really makes this album sparkle – blown with a mixture of lyrical tones and sharper edges, and getting great support from a lineup that features Anthony Wonsey on piano, Dezron Douglas on bass, and Louis Hayes on drums! The solo horn in the lead also gives the... read more

Lots of long tracks played with plenty of fire – just the kind of record to remind us again that David Kikoski's a hell of a pianist, especially in a setting like this! The album follows the format of the other excellent live dates on the Smalls label – lots of room for the artist to... read more

Trumpeter Ryan Kisor's got a great partner in the frontline here – alto player Sherman Irby, whose angular tones really give the record an edge! As we love in Irby's own sessions, there's a mix here of soulful and modern that's really wonderful – kind of an open flow on the horns, but... read more

Tenor, bass, and drums – a wicked combination here that really holds together beautifully over the course of the album's long live tracks! Tenorist Ralph LaLama's hardly sounded better – definitely blowing with the bop influences you might guess from the group's name, but also spinning... read more

Great tones here from guitarist Lage Lund – a player who works in these rich, chromatic modes that are really beautiful – and strung together here with a nicely gentle swing! The rhythms of the tunes are quite fresh – not what you'd expect for a conventional jazz guitar record... read more

An ultra-hip set from bassist Tyler Mitchell – a player who doesn't often record as a leader, but really makes his mark with this live performance from Smalls! Mitchell's group here is a great one – a really cohesive quintet with Josh Evans on trumpet, Abraham Burton on tenor, Spike... read more

A great New York group – and one that features the heavy frontline talents of Joe Magnarelli on trumpet, Jerry Weldon on tenor, and Peter Bernstein on guitar – plus razor-sharp rhythms from Spike Wilner on piano, Neal Miner on bass, and Joe Strasser on drums! As you'd guess from the... read more

A batch of long, extremely inventive tracks from the quintet of reedman Tim Ries – a group that features just the right sort of heavyweight talents to make the whole thing work! The lineup features Chris Potter on tenor, alongside Ries' tenor and soprano sax – plus John Patitucci on... read more

A fantastic group of well-matched players – one we've heard together often on albums for other labels, but who really find a new sort of energy here in the Smalls Live series! Trumpeter Jim Rotondi's joined here by equal frontmen Eric Alexander on tenor, David Hazeltine on piano and Fender... read more

A brilliant set from tenorist David Schnitter – maybe the best we've heard from him in years – and that's saying a lot, given the strength of his work! The album's got that special spark and crackle we love in the Live At Smalls series – a magic way of really letting the leader... read more

Drummer Neal Smith has a hell of a group here – Eric Alexander on tenor, Steve Wilson on alto, Mark Whitfield on guitar, and Mulgrew Miller on piano – a lineup that he more than lives up to with his tight leadership, and great choice of material for the date! The tunes include two... read more

A great tenorist, heard here in a wonderfully rich setting – a set of long, open tracks that really let Grant Stewart solo strongly – all with the special sort of energy that seems to take place in these Smalls Live recordings! Most numbers push up towards the 10 minute mark, leaving... read more

A great solo set from pianist Spike Wilner – the driving force behind the whole Smalls Live series as a producer, but a hell of a musician as well! Wilner's got a great style that draws strongly from jazz piano tradition, but really makes things his own – using strands of 20th century... read more

Way more than just a live recording – and instead a host of original material from bassist Ben Wolfe –- really sparkling with the strength of a well-crafted studio session! The tunes are fresh, and handled by a dynamic group that really brings out some wonderful energy in the music... read more