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Al Muirhead is a true institution in Canadian jazz, widely recognized as one of the country’s elder statesmen of jazz trumpet. Since moving to Calgary in 1966, Al has been a cornerstone of the Western Canadian jazz scene, performing and touring with luminaries such as Dizzy Gillespie, Guido Basso, and Diana Krall. He has contributed as a sideman to more than 30 albums and received numerous awards. Remarkably, Al only began recording as a leader in 2014. Now celebrating his 90th birthday, his new album, “Still Cookin’ at 90: The Canada Sessions Vol.2,” marks a milestone in his extraordinary career, capturing the artistry, experience, and passion that have made him a treasured figure in Canadian jazz.
For Johannes Wallmann’s new album, “Not Tired,” the German-Canadian pianist/composer reunites with long-time friends and collaborators Nick Moran, Ingrid Jensin, and Dayna Stephens, and is joined by Adam Nussbaum, a veteran of the New York jazz community. Work on the disc began in 2023 as a collaboration between Wallmann and Moran at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where Wallmann leads the university’s jazz program and Moran is pursuing a doctoral degree in music. The two workshopped music for the album, meeting weekly to play through sketches and shape them into fully formed compositions. They then travelled to New York City to record the resulting music with their New York colleagues in February 2024 at the iconic Samurai Hotel Recording Studios in Queens.
Also this week, guitarist Kevin Brown puts a jazz spin on historical music that has been traditionally used during the period of advent on “Adventus”; pianist, composer and educator Andy Nevala presents a powerful statement on the vitality of Afro-Cuban jazz with “El Rumbon (The Party)”; plus “And Then Some” is the new work from drummer Steve Houghton, who played with Woody Herman and Freddie Hubbard and taught at Indiana University for twenty years.