This week’s releases open with Émile Parisien’s adventurous new transatlantic quartet on Floating, followed by contrasting European projects from Italian vocalist Sara Rotella and saxophonist Jon Lloyd. Ekep Nkwelle makes an assured debut with Caged Bird, while Sheila Chandra’s poignant Echo preserves rare live performances from her extraordinary career. Swiss pianist Gisela Horat moves between intimate solo playing and responsive trio improvisation on Trio Solo. The vinyl selection revisits three essential Blue Note sessions—Eric Dolphy’s Out to Lunch!, Cannonball Adderley’s Somethin’ Else and Wayne Shorter’s Speak No Evil—before closing with Wes Montgomery’s warmly orchestrated California Dreaming.
One of the most influential soprano saxophonists of his generation, Émile Parisien launches a new transatlantic quartet with Floating. Formed at Paris’s Théâtre de la Cité in 2025, the group brings together pianist Yaron Herman, bassist Linda May Han Oh and tabla player Prabhu Edouard. Their contrasting backgrounds give Parisien’s restless writing a broad palette, moving freely between acoustic improvisation, Indian rhythmic traditions and electronically coloured jazz without sacrificing the intensity of the ensemble’s interplay.
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 88.2 kHz, 24 bit)
Voglio le braccia lunghe
Sara Rotella
Italian vocalist Sara Rotella draws together contemporary jazz and the traditions of her Calabrian upbringing on her debut album, Voglio le braccia lunghe. Its title—‘I want long arms’—suggests reaching towards the future while remaining connected to one’s roots. Across eight tracks, Rotella combines original compositions with imaginative treatments of music by Bobby Hutcherson, Guy Klucevsek and Michel Legrand, as well as a traditional Calabrian song and poetry-inspired material.
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 48 kHz, 24 bit)
Anima
Jon Llyod Quartet
Following the success of Earth Songs, saxophonist and composer Jon Lloyd returns with the second album from his European contemporary jazz quartet. Pianist John Law, bassist Nick Pini and drummer Alex Goodyear join Lloyd on Anima, a set of eleven original compositions shaped by strong melodies, reflective moods and intuitive group interplay. Drawing on non-Western influences, ECM-style spaciousness and neo-classical textures, the quartet creates music of understated beauty while leaving ample room for exploratory improvisation.
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 48 kHz, 24 bit)
Caged Bird
Ekep Nkwelle
Vocalist Ekep Nkwelle makes her recording debut with Caged Bird, a nine-song journey through sorrow, survival and hope inspired by Maya Angelou’s 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings'. Already an experienced performer at Carnegie Hall, Newport and the North Sea Jazz Festival, Nkwelle brings striking poise to material spanning jazz, blues and gospel. Pianists Luther Allison and Julius Rodriguez, bassist Russell Hall and drummer Brian Richburg Jr provide responsive, uncluttered support throughout.
Available format: Vinyl Record
Echo
Sheila Chandra
Echo gathers rare live performances by Sheila Chandra, an artist whose appearances were always infrequent and whose extraordinary singing career was curtailed by the loss of her voice fifteen years ago. Drawn largely from concerts and broadcasts of the 1990s, the collection captures her virtuosic solo explorations of Indian, Celtic and English vocal traditions. Its title invokes the voiceless nymph of Greek mythology, lending this likely final album a poignant sense of farewell and recovery.
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 48 kHz, 24 bit)
Trio Solo
Gisela Horat
Swiss pianist Gisela Horat brings together two sides of her music on the double album Trio Solo. One disc features longstanding trio partners Simon Iten on double bass and Samuel Büttiker on drums; the other places Horat alone at the piano. Brief composed ideas open into spacious free improvisation, with silence and close listening central to both settings. Prepared-piano techniques involving felt, cymbals and seashells add further colour to this restrained yet unpredictable collection.
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Out To Lunch
Eric Dolphy
Eric Dolphy’s 1964 masterpiece Out to Lunch! remains a singular meeting point between hard bop and the avant-garde. Moving between alto saxophone, bass clarinet and flute, Dolphy leads trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, bassist Richard Davis and drummer Tony Williams through five compositions whose fractured rhythms and angular themes never entirely lose their swing. This affordable Blue Note Essential Vinyl edition has been mastered from a high-resolution digital source and pressed on 140-gram vinyl.
Available format: Vinyl Record
Somethin' Else
Cannonball Adderley
Although issued under Cannonball Adderley’s name, Somethin’ Else is as much a meeting of equals with Miles Davis, whose trumpet and unmistakable sense of space shape this classic 1958 session. Hank Jones, Sam Jones and Art Blakey complete the quintet, with the stately reading of ‘Autumn Leaves’ and the bluesy title track among its enduring highlights. This Blue Note Essential Vinyl edition offers an affordable 140-gram pressing mastered from a high-resolution digital source.
Available format: Vinyl Record
Speak No Evil
Wayne Shorter
Recorded on Christmas Eve 1964, Speak No Evil captures Wayne Shorter at a remarkable turning point, newly installed in Miles Davis’s Second Great Quintet and emerging as one of jazz’s most original composers. Freddie Hubbard, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Elvin Jones illuminate six characteristically enigmatic pieces, from the driving ‘Witch Hunt’ to the tender ‘Infant Eyes’. This Blue Note Essential Vinyl edition is mastered from a high-resolution digital source and pressed on 140-gram vinyl.
Available format: Vinyl Record
California Dreaming
Wes Montgomery
Wes Montgomery’s final album for Verve found the guitarist applying his warm tone and trademark octave technique to contemporary pop material, framed by Don Sebesky’s polished orchestral arrangements and Creed Taylor’s production. Alongside the Mamas and the Papas title song and Bobby Hebb’s ‘Sunny’ are several originals, including ‘Sun Down’ and ‘Mr. Walker’. This Acoustic Sounds edition was mastered by Matthew Lutthans from the original analogue tapes and pressed on 180-gram vinyl at QRP.
Available format: Vinyl Record
