Back catalogue: Broken Beat/Nu Jazz

Review: The latest album from Chicago composer and improviser Ben LaMar Gay is his most fluid and assured to date. Backed by his long-time quartet of Tommaso Moretti, Matthew Davis and Will Faber, Yowzers ripples with rhythmic intuition and emotional weight, moving between playful sketches and hymn-like vignettes without ever breaking its spell. Tracks like 'the glorification of small victories' and 'I am (bells)' are recorded live, capturing the spatial intelligence of the group's shared language - an ensemble sound built through years on the road. 'for Breezy' and 'leave some for you' find Gay in a balladic register, unafraid of simplicity, while 'John, John Henry' retools folklore through polyrhythmic loops and group chant. The result is at once free and tightly woven - a folk-rooted sound that spirals into cosmic territory. Rob Frye's flute and a mini-choir add further texture, but it's Gay's ear for structure and storytelling that binds it all. These aren't just compositions but musical rituals, alive with history, invention and care. It's not jazz, not quite, not only - this is music that trusts its players as much as its audience, carrying old knowledge forward with lightness, humour and reverence. A quiet triumph.

Review: Ben LaMar Gay expands his musical lexicon with mala-morphemic glee on Yowzers, a wide-berthing new LP trading in exp points racked up as a soloist, bandleader, and key player in Chicago's music scene. Conscripting his long-running quartet (Tommaso Moretti, Matthew Davis, Will Faber) for dispatch on a new instrumental regiment, the record snaps the intimate language they've developed through years of live performance, captured here in a rare set of real-time recordings. As always, Gay pushes outward from folkloric roots, incorporating choir arrangements, in-studio experimentation, and contributions from frequent collaborators like Rob Frye and Ayanna Woods, be that through the looped minimalism of 'Yowzers' to the mournful swing of 'For Breezy' and the guttural blues of 'John, John Henry.'

Review: The first ever release on the International Anthem label came by way of Rob Mazurek, genius musician of of the Jersey and Chicago jazz "schools". The trumpeter and multi-instrumentalist turned ever more avant-garde on this two-suite album, which was dedicated to the lunar cycle and heard him forgoing his signature brass for a monophonic cornet experiment, recorded at Chicago bar Curio. Documenting the performance, which was delivered alongside Matthew Lux on electric bass and Patrick Avery on organ, IA transport us right on back into the room with the trio, letting us in on a real-live experience of sidereal drones, selene harmonics and waning delays, paradoxically featuring in a suite which, both of whose titles suggest, always waxes crescent.

Review: Makaya McCraven's In The Moment marked his breakout, iintroducing the world to the Paris drummer, bandleader and producer's polymathic approach to jazz and beatsmithing. Recorded over 12 months at a single venue, nearly 48 hours of live improvisation were distilled into 19 dynamic tracks here; they were cut, remixed, and reconstructed by McCraven into organic, beat-driven soundscapes, riffing on the fervour of a music scene sustained in unostentatious settings. Namely, the nightlife scene of Chicago: these sessions captured a raw, unfiltered exchange among the city's top musicians during McCraven's time in Illinois, many of whom have since risen to the raft, not least McCraven himself.

Review: Chicago jazz label International Anthem is serving up this superb new album from Carlos Nino & Friends on standard back wax but also as presented here on limited etheric pink vinyl. Whichever version you get though the music remains of unquestionably high standard. NiNo is a real musical shaman who calls his sound Energetic Space Music - a mix of star gazing jazz, lush broken beat, fresh funk and electronic goodness. It's the result of limitless improvisation with his friends and peers and is a record that will leave you spellbound,

Review: The already cult Chicago jazz label International Anthem is back with another essential long player, this time from Carlos Nino & Friends. NiNo like most artists on this label gigs often and plays live in Chicago to plenty of happy fans. Apparently they often ask if he is a shaman such are his magical musical skills. He calls his sound Energetic Space Music and it finds him getting the best out of his collaborators who whom he improvises without preconceived ideas of what might come out the other side. This superb album (I'm just) Chillin' captures some of the results and mixes up energetic drums equally indebted to jazz and electronic funk.

Review: Carlos NiNo & Friends' Placenta represents a deeply conceptual and collaborative effort and serves as their fourth album release under International Anthem. Inspired by NiNo's recent experience of fatherhood, the album reveres the essence of family, birth, and the marvel of new life. Each track embarks on a sonic voyage, from the soulful 'Love to all Doulas!' to the ethereal 'Moonlight Watsu in Dub.' NiNo's eclectic approach traverses various sounds and textures, echoing his belief in the influential force of friendships in fostering creative endeavours. With an impressive lineup of collaborators, Placenta epitomises the resilience of community and the boundless scope of musical innovation.

Review: Carlos NiNo & Friends' album Placenta is available in several formats including CD, translucent purple barbed double vinyl and plain black wax, which is what we have here. The record is their fourth release on International Anthem and was inspired by NiNo's recent journey into fatherhood. It pays homage to family, birth, and the wonder of new life as each track embarks on a sonic odyssey, from the soulful 'Love to all Doulas!' to the ethereal 'Moonlight Watsu in Dub.' NiNo's diverse approach traverses a spectrum of sounds and textures, reflecting his belief in the influential power of friendships to nurture creative ventures.

Review: Will Miller returns with the second album from his ensemble project, Resavoir. Mixing a love for beat scene production with a background in jazz conservatory training, Miller draws in a huge cast of collaborators to shape out an album draped in dreamy soul-jazz, which veers from sweetly sentimental vocal pieces to instrumental escapism. Alongside Miller's keys and trumpet, there's Lane Beckstrom on bass, Marie Stewart on violin, Akenya Seymour on vocals amongst so very many other talented cats. Brought to you by the always reliable folk at International Anthem, this limited 'dusk cloud' edition of the album captures the smouldering mood of the record perfectly.

Review: International Anthem presents a new album from Resavoir, a project from Chicago-based producer and composer Will Miller. This second outing for the group takes in a wide range of collaborators including Elton Aura, Whitney, Akenya, Lane Beckstrom, Macie Stewart and many more besides. Gliding between head-nodding bedroom beats and luxurious soul jazz, Miller demonstrates the clarity of his creative vision which is as rooted in relaxed musical interaction as it is accomplished instrumentation. Each track serves as a miniature world within itself, full of surprises and hidden depths, whether it's a dreamy vocal joint or a purely instrumental flight of fancy.

Review: A new collaborative release from Chicago-based musicians Will Miller aka Resavoir and Matt Gold finds two long-time friends turning their shared obsession with 60s and 70s Brazilian music into something glowing, spacious and gently psychedelic. Both seasoned producers - Miller with credits for SZA and Whitney, Gold known for work alongside Makaya McCraven - they trade virtuosity for vibe here. Tracks like 'Canopy' and 'Dewy' float past on brushed drums, weightless keys and muted trumpet lines, inviting you into a world that feels humid and soft-edged, like a Sao Paulo sunrise seen through Chicago smog. 'Zero Gravity' lives up to its name with glassy guitar runs and smeared synths, while 'Diversey Beach' could pass for a bossa nova daydream refracted through ambient jazz. Nothing here tries too hard and that's the point: it's music for breathing, for early mornings or long windows of time with nothing to do. A quietly dazzling listen from two players unbothered by hype, weaving warmth and clarity into something slow-burning and completely their own.

Review: Horizon finds Matt Gold and Will Miller - respectively the guitarist behind Midnight Choir and the trumpeter/producer steering Resavoir - merging their shared love for Brazilian classics and Chicago's collaborative spirit into something slow-burning and broad-eyed. Orbiting nylon-string guitars and gradated with reeds, horns, strings and synths, 'Canopy' opens with bright chords and unfurls into shuffling groove and soprano sax; 'Diversey Beach', meanwhile, written during a whiteout, pairs NYC songwriter Mei Semones with a string section heard to drift like tidewater. Additions from Macie Stewart, Eddie Burns, Carter Lang and more hear the album bob through chamber jazz and dreamy orchestro-pop.

Review: At 27, Tomin Perea-Chamblee is a Brooklyn-based multi-instrumentalist and bioinformatician already celebrated for his complex harmonies and rich compositions. A product of the area's pre-gentrification era, Tomin has played with various notable jazz-adjacent musicians and now his debut solo album, Flores para Verene / Cantos para Caramina, is a tribute to his family and heritage which blends his personal influences with his own creations and reflecting both tradition and innovation. Flores para Verene features solo clarinet and trumpet renditions of classics by jazz icons, Cantos para Caramina showcases Tomin's original compositions dedicated to his sister, Caramina, using synths and keyboards, and overall the record merges intimate, lo-fi recordings with melodic abstraction. An accomplished record for sure.

Review: Uhlmann Johnson Wilkes is the debut album from Gregory Uhlmann, Josh Johnson and Sam Wilkes, a collective of three versatile improvisers, arrangers and producers whose work spans jazz, rock and experimental. Across 11 instrumental tracks, they explore a jazz-informed take on progressive electro-acoustic chamber music that brings beauty, melody and rhythm to the fore. The record was conceived during live shows and a home session in Los Angeles and features Uhlmann's mournful fingerpicked guitar, Wilkes' bass chording and Johnson's effect-laden saxophone. Their arrangement-minded improvisation results in some nicely otherworldly textures as they push their instruments to create a spacious, lyrical sound.