Formed in Sweden in the early-1990s EST grew to be the biggest and most influential new presence on the jazz scene during the millennium decade, releasing 12 acclaimed albums and reaching beyond the core jazz audience to hundreds of thousands of fans worldwide.

Their extraordinary empathy, highly tuned melodic imagination, powerful improvisation, hunger for change and that all important “magic touch” saw them redefine the piano trio, taking jazz to new audiences, from Radiohead fans to classical heads, without compromising the integrity or soul of the music.

From Pat Metheny and Brad Mehldau to Courtney Pine and Jamie Cullum few were not won over by their unique talent, and their appetite to continually evolve and experiment saw the trio’s final album, Leucocyte, recorded in 301 Studios, Sydney Australia just prior to Svensson’s death, become their most radical departure yet.

In addition to the released album nine hours of music were tracked at the Leucocyte sessions and it was Esbjörn’s initial plan to edit it down to a double album, or release two consecutive albums. In the circumstances following his death it was decided to release it just the single album.

In November 2011 after both recording solo albums and touring, bassist Dan Berglund and drummer Magnus Östrom decided to revisit the sessions and together with their sound and recording engineer Åke Linton, whose electronics played a key part in these recordings, decided to edit the remaining material. The result is 301, an album of new unreleased EST music named after the Sydney studio where it was recorded.

Just to remind you that EST performed at Jazz Fest Sarajevo in 2003.

Jamal’s interest in cinema runs deep. When he was younger, he says, “I would occasionally watch several films a day.” Jamal sees music and film as closely related. In fact, his own music was even used in the 1995 Clint Eastwood film, The Bridges of Madison Country. “Music plays a central role in cinema,” he says. “That is the very reason why generations of great composers and arrangers dedicated themselves to this art: Johnny Mandel, Quincy Jones. … Even during the silent era, pianists were in demand.”

An important and influential figure in jazz history (he was a key influence on Miles Davis in his formative years, and countless others), Jamal, now 81, introduced the concepts of space, silence and dramatic dynamics into jazz performance.

In addition to the six songs on Blue Moon drawn from cinema and Broadway, there are three Jamal originals: “Autumn Rain,” “Morning Mist,” and “I Remember Italy,” which underlines the empathy he has for that country. In reflecting on the overall album and his new group’s chemistry, Jamal states, “Recording an album is like playing on stage—all together and, most importantly, not isolated in our booths. There is no secret. It is a very human matter.”

Already in their third season of playing every Monday evening, band is exploring the limits of standard jazz forms as well as playing some modern and improvised pieces.

With amazing vocal abilities of their lead singer Elvir Bandić, great musicianship of Bojan Ahac on piano, Adis Sirbubalo on accordion, Darko Poljak on tenor sax and Dino Šukalo on guitar, plus imagination and creativity of stable rhythm section of Edvin Hadžić on bass and Anes Beglerbegović on drums, it is almost impossible to imagine the local scene without the passionate performances of this group of quality individuals.

The two first worked together when Danger Mouse called upon Jones to contribute vocals to his 2011 album Rome. Around the same time, they began working on some of the material that would eventually become Little Broken Hearts, Jones’ fifth studio album, which features original songs co-written by the pair.

The duo reconvened in Danger Mouse’s Los Angeles studio this past fall to finish what they had begun. The songs were all built from the ground up in the studio, with Jones and Danger Mouse sharing all the songwriting credits and performing the majority of the instrumental parts: Jones on piano, keyboards, bass and guitar; and Danger Mouse contributing drums, bass, guitar, keyboards and string arrangements.

Jones will tour extensively in 2012, performing at various venues in the United States and abroad. On June 29, Jones will perform at the Kodak Hall at Eastman Theater in Rochester, New York. On August 10, the nine-time Grammy-winning singer will return to the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. More dates will be announced in the coming months.

This isn’t the first time Zorn has appeared with Napalm Death – Mick Harris was the drummer in Zorn’s Painkiller trio, and a split 7″ flexidisc was released in 1990. A John Zorn Primer appeared in The Wire 136 (now sold out), available to read online here.

Utilitarian will be released on 27 February.

Yuri Honing will receive the VPRO/Boy Edgar Prijs on May 16, 2012 at the Bimhuis in Amsterdam during a special concert program put together by Honing himself. The concerts and the award ceremony (8-12 PM) will be broadcast live and webcast on Radio 6 and via vprojazzlive.radio6.nl.

In 2012 Yuri Honing will be on tour celebrating his award and promoting the new album ‘True’ of the Yuri Honing Acoustic Quartet, which will be released February 14 (Challenge Records). With this quartet, but also with his electric group Yuri Honing Wired Paradise he will be performing a/o in The Netherlands, Ethiopia, Switzerland, Germany, UK, Canada, China, the USA.

McCartney admitted he has been planning this kind of album for 20 years. He plans to include compositions that his father played to him on piano during his childhood. Album will also include two new McCartney’s songs. On the album he collaborates with Diana Krall and her band, and as guests Eric Clapton and Stevie Wonder are also announced.

McCartney says that working with Krall was “very spontaneous and organic and that it somehow reminded him on working with the Beatles”.

Officially released on January 17, ‘’Sound Travels’’ is his 32^nd album as a band lider. DeJohnette, who will turn 70 in August 2012, is also set to receive a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master Fellowship, the highest U.S. honor for jazz musicians.

„Sound Travels“ features an array of collaborators, including vocalists Bruce Hornsby, Bobby McFerrin and Esperanza Spalding. Also on board are emerging talents such as trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire and guitarist Lionel Loueke and established jazz stars such as saxophonist Tim Ries, percussionist Luisito Quintero and pianist Jason Moran.

This reissue represents a perfect marriage of technological and artistic innovation by harnessing the combined brilliance of Sinatra’s timeless voice, Nelson Riddle’s legendary arrangements, and some of the finest songs to emerge from the Broadway tradition. It all comes together via a recording process that was well ahead of its time in the 1960s, and has been further enhanced by modern-day digital remastering technology.

When The Concert Sinatra was recorded in February 1963, multi-track master tape machines were not yet a reality in the recording studio. In order to facilitate the sound mixing advantage of multiple channels of audio, The Concert Sinatra was recorded on a motion picture scoring stage with the use of multiple synchronized recording machines that employed 35mm magnetic film. This master recording has not been used in any re-release of The Concert Sinatra since the original sound mix was prepared nearly 50 years ago.

Producers located the original film canisters where the masters had been stored for nearly a half-century. Despite considerable degradation over time, a team of engineering experts, led by Frank Sinatra, Jr., used contemporary digital recording technology delivered a completely new sound mix for the 2012 re-release.

Track list

• I Have Dreamed
• My Heart Stood Still
• Lost in the Stars
• Ol’ Man River
• You’ll Never Walk Alone
• Bewitched
• This Nearly Was Mine
• Soliloquy
• Bonus tracks (not on original LP):
• California
• America, The Beautiful

Arve Henriksen (43) is one of the leading composers and performers of modern jazz in his country. His main instrument is the trumpet which is not enough for the versatile musician who also uses electronics, voice and drums in his music.

Since it is not always possible to make musical ideas happen because of financial circumstances of such an attempt, Arve commented award with following words, ‘’This was very pleasant and motivating.’’

Asked about what the award means to him, he said, „First of all, it is a privilege  to be chosen among this big number of talented musicians in Norway. It is an honor and appreciation of what is important to me in music. The next thing I’m going to say is a fact, this gives me the opportunity to be creative and that is the most important thing for an artist. Money is needed for organization and the logistics of this profession and that can take away lots of creative and spontaneous time we need so much. This award makes it possible to take that time for yourself.’’