Browsing Tag

Jazz Composer

Zach Hodges Bottled an Atomic Glitch in Jazz Fusion Form in ‘Nuclear Muskrat’

Posted on 26 April 2025

Zach Hodges let chaos reign in Nuclear Muskrat and conducted it with a conductor’s cultivated touch and a mad scientist’s curiosity. The 19-year-old Midlands-based musician, composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist may be early in his career, but through his LP, Baby Landmark, he’s already proven that genre loyalty is a concept best left in the past.

Hodges, known for his work as a theatre musical director for String Cheese Theatre, his position behind the kit in Midlands jazz trio Head to Head, and his international touring experience, funnelled every inch of his multidisciplinary pedigree into this 7-minute experimental tour de force. Nuclear Muskrat isn’t content to sit still—within its frenetic framework, it flexes polka funk motifs, indietronica laced with avant-garde effects, funked-up disco grooves, blues-drenched riffs, erratic polyphonic keys, and incendiary synth bursts.

While it could have been easy for this to feel like a pure act of self-indulgence, it’s easy to go along with the ride with Hodges as he demonstrates the malleability of sound in a way so seamless it is as though all of the textures, tones and tempos have always been complementary pairings. It’s as though the contemporary history of music has been condensed in the explorative mind-melter that continually pulls the rug and lays down a different one before the last footstep can land.

If you’re always on the hunt for music that challenges mediocrity, Nuclear Muskrat is the ultimate contender.

Nuclear Muskrat is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast.

Seungmin Jung’s ‘Acadia’ Smokes Out Complacency with Sophisticated Jazz Fluidity

Posted on 16 March 2025

For 12 minutes, Seungmin Jung and his virtuosic ensemble take easy listening jazz and give it a smoky revival with Acadia, a composition that reaches the epitome of fluidity. The time signatures refuse to leave room for complacency, locking listeners into a state of mesmerised anticipation. It’s textural tonal alchemy at its finest—low reverberating basslines create a striking contrast against ascending brass notes and the ornate chimes of piano keys, threading together a soundscape as suave as a tailored suit.

Jung’s journey into jazz began in Seoul, where a spontaneous purchase of a double bass at 17 set the course for his future. Now based in New York, he has studied under some of the biggest names in the scene, including Buster Williams and Ingrid Jensen, earning his master’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music. His career has seen him grace renowned venues from Korea’s Giwon Art Museum to Dizzy’s Jazz Club in New York, and his talent has been recognised with a second-place win at the Hyunsik Kim competition.

Acadia showcases a musician who understands the elegance of timeless jazz while fearlessly pushing its parameters. Jung orchestrates moments of undeniable intrigue, making every shift in tempo feel like a deliberate seduction.

Stream Acadia on YouTube now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Keys from Neptune Maps the Stars in His Classical Composition ‘Do the Cosmos Think?’

Posted on 8 March 2025

True to his moniker, Keys from Neptune is out of this world in the star-roving classical composition Do the Cosmos Think? Synthesising elegance with wonder, the self-taught San Diego-based pianist visualises the vastness of space in the twilight of the production; each piano key is a starlight illumination in the pitch black that surrounds us. The spatial effects and the intensity of the subtle yet affecting crescendos leave you under no illusion of the composer’s talent.

Words are surplus to requirement in this eloquent reminder of our place in the world, in the galaxy, allowing any anxiety you felt before nestling into the production to feel completely inconsequential. With each note, the ambient jazz artist extends a moment of solace, yet leaves you yearning for the next sanctifying note.

Slowly building his repertoire, Keys from Neptune has already proven his ability to pull listeners into the gravity of his compositions. Do the Cosmos Think? is a celestial reflection set to sound, and the perfect way to introduce yourself to Keys from Neptune’s talent.

Do the Cosmos Think? is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Nick Marks Charts New Coordinates in Jazztronica with ‘Current Location’

Posted on 13 February 2025

From the first note of Current Location, Nick Marks and his armada of collaborators pull listeners into an aural cosmos where jazz motifs greet futurism with traditionalism.

Opening Cinematic Chromatics Vol. III, the final instalment of his 3 EP trilogy, Current Location exists in a liminal space where textures shift like constellations, guiding listeners through a field of gravity formed by soul, neo-soul, and jazztronica.

Marks has spent the past two years carving his sonic universe, bridging the underground scenes where jazz, hip-hop, and electronica collide with filmic grandeur. Since its inception in 2020, Cinematic Chromatics has been heralded for its genre-blurring ingenuity, earning Marks acclaim from tastemakers and playlist placements, including Spotify’s Best of Fresh Finds Jazz 2024.

Current Location represents the fluidity of place, time, and sound, drawing from Brazilian influences, lo-fi aesthetics, and orchestral sophistication. The track’s inception came as Marks walked through Manhattan, melodies forming in response to the rhythms of the city, later fleshed out with electric bassist CARRTOONS, vibraphonist Chien Chien Lu, and pianist Benjamin Furman.

The soulful yet spacey non-lexical vocals harbour accessibility in the mix, reassuring that, despite the technical chops underpinning the track, pretension is absent. This is pure rhythmic expression, allowing listeners to traverse the same sonic pathways as its creators. The polyphonic tones heighten the groove’s ecstatic zeal, but the crescendos, reaching the epitome of seraphic euphonia, steal the spotlight.

Current Location is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

David Seymour Offers Sonic Solace with His Jazz EP, Shelter

Posted on 30 January 2025

David Seymour’s What a Life, the anchor track from his Shelter EP, figuratively and titularly delivers sanctuary to jazz fans. This smooth resistance against the monocultural mould allows the instrumentals to speak a universal language through their warm timbres and lushly arranged intricate time signatures. Meanwhile, the dreamy reverie within the female vocals seduces listeners further into the all-encompassing soundscape, letting the textural bliss sprawl around them like a tender aural caress.

The North London songwriter and composer draws from a well-travelled life that has seen him immersed in the musical traditions of North America, Mexico, and Europe before settling in London to collaborate with African and South American musicians. The broad palette of influences—including Afro-Latin rhythms, Celtic folk, classical compositions, and 70s icons like Coltrane and Monk—finds its voice in Seymour’s work, but it’s jazz that serves as his creative compass.

While What a Life offers a singularly rich experience, the Shelter EP as a whole invites listeners to explore Seymour’s versatility and skill as he channels his deft, succinct, and sonorous touch into various forms of jazz. For the full catharsis fix, stream the 5-track EP in its entirety and allow the lush arrangements and intricately embellished instrumentation to envelop you. Whether through the warmth of its timbres or the universal resonance of its message, Shelter succeeds in delivering on its promise of musical sanctuary.

Stream Shelter in full via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Tong Cherd delivered a jazz funk-infused shot of adrenaline with ‘CAFF’

Posted on 18 January 2025

Tong Cherd’s instrumental single, CAFF, is as energising as its namesake, delivering a riotous fusion of jazz, funk, and soul that’s impossible to ignore. From the moment the lines of slapped bass hit, it’s clear this isn’t just a groove-heavy funk track—it’s a masterclass in dynamic composition. The melodic bass riffs are elevated further by Augie Bello’s sax riffs, creating a rich interplay of textures that buzzes with kinetic energy.

Cherd, a Thai-born bassist now based in NYC, has carved out a reputation for his melodic sensibilities and aggressive slap bass technique. A graduate of Shobi Music College and The New School, Cherd has collaborated with a wide range of artists across genres, including Augie Bello and Cory Wong. With CAFF, he flexes his virtuosic muscles, layering bold bass solos and rhythmically intricate percussion over soulful rock undertones.

The track doesn’t just coast on its up-tempo energy. Every element—from the smoky outro to the punchy crescendos—exhilarates while showcasing Cherd’s skill. As the sonic journey winds down, the smoky soul infusion ensures that even when you’re through with the track, the earworm laid down by the rhythmatist isn’t through with you.

Add it to your playlists and you may not need your Starbucks order on your morning commute.

CAFF was officially released on January 17th; stream the single on SoundCloud now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Jenny Maybee has unveiled her soul-enrapturing neo-jazz number, ‘Run’

Posted on 13 January 2025

With her latest single, Jenny Maybee delivered a sultry slice of neo-jazz that carries the same smouldering catharsis as Peggy Lee’s iconic rendition of Fever. The tantalising tempo pulsates like a melodic heartbeat while her soulful, sensually charged vocals flow effortlessly through the organically rich progressions. As the second single from her forthcoming LP, due later this year, Run is an irresistible testament to Maybee’s ability to transform a song into an aural aphrodisiac.

As a recording artist, composer, and producer, Jenny Maybee refuses to bow to the confines of any one genre. Her music is a fearless fusion of jazz, pop, rock, and orchestral elements, interwoven with sensuality and defiant experimentation. Each track is guided by her deep reverence for love as a transformative force.

In Run, the love affair between the playful and the profound is unmistakable. With hypnotic rhythms and lush melodies, the single offers an invitation to feel, to connect, and to let go. The magnetic intensity of her voice ensures you don’t just hear Run—you surrender to it.

As the anticipation builds for her LP, Run sets the tone for a 2025 that promises to see this soulstress scale stratospheric heights.

Run was officially released on January 3rd; stream the single on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Michel Héroux Orchestrated Synesthetic Euphoria in the Serenity of His Jazz Fusion Installation, Folk Song

Posted on 24 May 2024
Michel Heroux

Montreal-based guitarist, composer, arranger, and educator, Michel Héroux allowed his latest instrumental piece, Folk Song, to become a paragon of his fusionist prestige. His ability to translate technical skill, while balancing jazz, blues, rock, pop, rock, classical and experimental elements, into profoundly evocative sensory experiences which transcend auditory bliss is superlative – to say the least.

With each progression an explosion of vibrant, almost tropical, soul, you can’t help but be enveloped by the synesthesia-bestowed hues which blossom around the complex layers of the creatively uninhibited melodies which serenade you away from the mundanity of material reality and implant you in a sonic scene of utopia. If you need to be reminded of the capacity for fret-carved beauty, hit play.

Folk Song will be available to stream on all major platforms from May 24th. Discover Michel Héroux via his official website and Facebook.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

David Seymour constructed a euphonic paradise in his jazz-folk piece, What a Life

Posted on 20 May 2024

Easy listening doesn’t come much easier than, What a Life, a standout piece on David Seymour’s jazz-folk fusion EP, Shelter. The elegant-with-soul slice of euphonic paradise doesn’t allow sophistication to get in the way of the accessibility of the release which prises minds open to the possibility of utopias lying wherever your rose-tinted perception looks for them.

The Latin guitar flourishes which beckons the outro adds another layer of auditory serenity to the organically free-flowing release after the female vocalist spills her equable graceful beguile over the score written and composed by David Seymour who has been integral to the London music scene for the past three decades. Following his position as a world music agent at Jenako Arts, he studied with the one and only Amancio D’Silva before studying at the music department at New City College with Chris Wilson.

By filtering jazz through a lens of folk and ensuring soul spills from every note of the instrumentation, David Seymour established himself as an essential artist for anyone who seeks the spiritual sanctity of folk and the expressive fluency of easy-listening jazz. With more music in the pipeline, Seymour is undoubtedly one to watch throughout 2024.

Stream What a Life with the rest of David Seymour’s seminal EP on Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Joanne Louise’ standout score, The Avenue, is a refreshing sojourn through jazz fusion

Posted on 5 May 2024

With her standout score, The Avenue, the rhythmically intuitive composer Joanne Louise captured a distinctive space within the jazz sphere, presenting an easy-listening single that smoulders with classical sensibility and innovative flourishes.

This piece is a testament to the breadth of the Pittsburgh-born artist’s musical education and the depth of her creativity; Louise’s training at The Pittsburgh High School for the Creative and Performing Arts and the University of the Arts in Philadelphia evidently informs the sophisticated orchestration of the track. Her ability to weave hip-hop nuances into the fabric of world music, without overshadowing the jazz foundation, speaks to a refined compositional skill.

The Avenue” itself is an engaging paradox. It is rooted in tradition yet feels entirely contemporary, thanks to Louise’s daring genre amalgamative style. The result is a simmering blend that respects its jazz heritage while introducing an eclectic mix of sounds that serenade the ear and envelop the soul in a lush auditory reprieve.

Stream The Avenue on YouTube now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast