Gondwana Vinilo y CD

Review: Trumpeter, bandleader and composer Matthew Halsall has established himself at the forefront of the contemporary jazz scene. In part that was down to his landmark album, An Ever Changing View, which is an expansive project blending jazz, electronica, global and spiritual jazz influences. Now reissued, the album highlights Halsall's signature meditative sound while showcasing his most experimental work yet, pushing boundaries with innovative production techniques. Composed in striking modernist settings with breathtaking views, the album captures a sense of openness and escapism and embraces a fresh start after Halsall reset his creative approach and explored sound with complete freedom to craft a deeply immersive and transformative record.

Review: Matthew Halsall is one of a few key UK artists who helped make jazz cool again over the last decade. His magnificent trumpet skills and ability to tap into plenty of orchestral talent has resulted in plenty of vital albums on his Gondwana label and one of the best, if you ask us, is When The World Was One. It's a spiritual and joyous mix of contemporary and classic styles in the view of your Alice Coltrane types and now gets reissued across double vinyl. Whether it's soaring brass, heart-melting piano playing, soaring crescendos or more quiet and intimate moments you seek, this an essential jazz album whether you're a wisened old cat or a younger newcomer.

Review: West London's Kessoncoda are the duo of drummer Tom Sunney and keyboardist Filip Sowa. Standing firm between acoustic tradition and electronica, they're founded on a unique blend of melodic, ostinato-laced piano and unwavering drums, fastening a new sond that fuses lilting, lullabying electronica and spiritual jazz. Having long shared a studio setup at the bottom of Sunney's garden, Outerstate was born of curiosity, and a shared tendency towards and taste for the more wondrous ends of jazz, comparable in sound to that of their labelmates GoGo Penguin and Portico Quartet. The mood of the album is captured in the band's comment: "this feeling of being within a group of friends, and you're chatting, and you're physically there but mentally you're not at all / you're somewhere else, a really weird state of being." We'll hazard that this could mean a state of flow; one that is almost impossible to find oneself not in, whether listening to the detuned upswell-ecstasies of 'X Is Closer To A' or the fully textured, metrically moded piano threnodies of 'Greyscale'.

Review: Phi-Psonics, a contemplative jazz ensemble from Los Angeles, is helmed by bassist Seth Ford-Young and features the talents of Sylvain Carton on woodwinds, Mitchell Yoshida on electric piano, and Josh Collazo on drums. Their music, rich in soulful depth, weaves together influences from jazz, classical, and Ford-Young's personal journey through spirituality, yoga, and philosophy, creating a soundscape that is both unique and profoundly meditative. Hailing originally from the Washington D.C. area, Ford-Young relocated to California in the early '90s, where he developed a deep affection for the upright bass and the works of jazz legends like Charles Mingus, John and Alice Coltrane, and Duke Ellington, alongside classical composers such as Bach, Chopin, Part, and Satie. His musical journey has been one of continuous exploration, marked by collaborations with artists like Tom Waits and Beats Antique. The recently announced limited 12" 'Morning Sun/Arrival', drawn from sessions that produced Phi-Psonics' second album Octava, showcases the group's introspective and innovative approach to meditative jazz. These tracks offer a space for serene reflection, encapsulating a spiritual journey through warm melodies and intricate instrumental dialogues, embodying Ford-Young's vision of personal evolution and higher vibrational states.