Category: jazz fusion

Single Review by William Ruben HelmsJun 27, 202616:00

New Audio: Jaco Jaco Shares Meditative “Over When It’s Over”

Tulsa-born, Philadelphia-based musician and visual artist Jacob Theriot is a lifelong singer/songwriter and musician, who first picked up bass when he was 12. His musical career began in earnest when he began writing and recording music in grade school with his brother and childhood friend. Those early efforts led to the acclaimed indie project Sports.

After three albums and several international tours with Sports, Theirot relocated to Philadelphia, where began to explore and refine a sound that blends elements of funk, psych pop and 70s AM rock over a period of a handful of years. Those explorations led to Theirot’s solo recording project Jaco Jaco.

The Tulsa-born, Philadelphia-based artist has released two Jaco Jaco albums, 2024’s debut Splat and last year’s Gremlin, which included three singles I wrote about, the Thundercat and 70s jazz fusion/jazz funk-like “Favorite Kind of People,” the Quiet Storm R&B-meets-Steely Dan-like “Woman” and the Tame Impala meets Bobby Oroza-like “I Won’t Bother.”

Building upon a growing profile, the Philadelphia-based JOVM mainstay’s highly anticipated third album, On the Levee is slated for a July 10, 2026 release. The album will include the previously released “Wager,” and its final single, “Over When It’s Over,” “Over Is When It’s Over” is a melancholy, slow-burning tune that — to my ears, at least — sounds like a blend of Tame Impala, 70s AM rock. But at its core, the song is meditation on accepting constant change, with a bit of a sigh.

“The song is about watching the world fly on by, but finding yourself strangely at peace with it,” Theriot says.

women who kick ass by William Ruben HelmsMay 26, 202617:00

Throwback: Happy 100th Birthday, Miles Davis!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 100th anniversary of the birth of Miles Davis.

singer/songwriters by William Ruben HelmsApr 22, 202609:00

News: Newport Jazz Festival Announces 2026 Lineup

Video by William Ruben HelmsApr 13, 202618:30

New Video: CAVS Shares Gorgeous and Groove-Driven “First Light”

Best known for drumming with acclaimed JOVM mainstay King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Michael Cavanagh is the creative mastermind behind the solo instrumental project CAVS. Cavanagh’s sophomore CAVS album Sojourn is slated for an April 24, 2026 release through p(doom) records.

Unlike the fantasy and sci-fi driven storytelling found in much of his work with King Gizz, Sojourn‘s 10 compositions builds its world entirely through music, shaped by Cavanagh’s long-standing interest in spiritual jazz, prog rock and krautock while simultaneously moving beyond traditional genre boundaries. The album’s material follows an imagined journey, using shifting moods, textures and rhythmic structures to suggest exploration, confrontation and transformation.

The King Gizz drummer began developing Sojourn during the recording sessions of his solo debut, 2021’s CAVS, a percussion-only album. Determined to expand his musical palette, he took on the roles of composer, arranger and musical director for his sophomore album — despite not playing pitched instruments. Early demos were constructed from sampled bass, drums and synthesizers, which were expanded and further fleshed out through collaboration.

Cavangh’s key collaborators for Sojourn included Mildlife‘s Jim Rindfleish, who co-arranged the material, alongside a group of Melbourne musicians that included Adam Halliwell (flute, guitar), Siwei Wong (harp), Archibald Pommelhorse (sax), Selene Messinis (keys), Robbin Poppins (percussion) and his King Gizz bandmate Joey Walker (bass). Recording sessions combined structured takes with free-flowing improvisation, which were later edited and arranged to retain a cohesive, live-sounding feel.

Drawing from artists like Herbie Hancock, Alice Coltrane, Tony Williams, Billy Cobham and Harvey Mason, Sojourn‘s material emphasizes atmosphere and groove over technical prowess.

Sojourn’s second and latest single “First Light” evokes the woozy yet awe-inspiring moment of capturing a brilliant burst of dappled light across rippling water while sonically nodding at Midllife and 70s jazz fusion with the composition being anchored around a deep, funky groove.

“The first rays of a gentle sunrise touching a river’s glassy surface, painting the water in soft hues of gold and emerald,” Cavanagh says of the new single. “Slowly, your eyes flutter open — not to the velvet darkness of the night before, but to an unfamiliar brilliance that seems almost too vivid to believe.”

“Two persons and a yowie got a room at a halfway house motel for the night with three beds but only one was ripped apart, the others left in tack [sic]. This is real footage, Cavs is now a Cavsquatch and this proof that sasquatches are real,” the video’s director Jackson Devereaux says of the accompanying video. “Sojourn is an odyssey of an album, and so we wanted to add another chapter to the story, building off the first music clip. In the video for ‘First Light,’ we follow Cavs transition to his new tree form, and his first stages of coping with this new reality. We found a literal halfway house and booked a room for him to tweak out.”

Video by William Ruben HelmsApr 12, 202609:00

Throwback: Happy 86th Birthday, Herbie Hancock!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Herbie Hancock’s 86th birthday.

Video by William Ruben HelmsApr 6, 202609:00

Throwback: Happy 48th Birthday, Robert Glasper!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Robert Glasper’s 48th birthday.

Throwback by William Ruben HelmsMar 29, 202615:30

Throwback: Happy 77th Birthday, Michael Brecker!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 77th anniversary of the birth of Micheal Brecker.

Single Review by William Ruben HelmsMar 26, 202607:00

New Audio: Naná Rizinni Teams Up with Mark Cake on Quirky and Off-Kilter “Fifth Life”

Naná Rizinni is a São Paulo-born, London-based drummer, composer and producer, whose musical journey began in the mid-2000s, studying with acclaimed Brazilian drummers Lilian Carmona, Vera Figueiredo, and Duda Neves. Rizinni has been a highly sough-after drummer and producer in her native Brazil ever since, touring and recording with acclaimed Brazilian artists like Tiê, Johnny Hooker, Ana Cañas, Bárbara Eugênia, and Thiago Pethit, while recording and releasing four solo albums.

In her native Brazil, Rizinni was known for her fluid, experimental approach to genre with her work evolving from the post rock and garage rock textures of her earliest work into a hybrid, jazz-forward language rooted in rhythm, texture and improvisation.

Adding to a growing profile in her native Brazil, Rizinni has recorded music for television, film and ad campaigns while also making a run of the international festival circuit with sets at Lollapalooza, Rock in Rio, SXSW and Primavera Sound among others.

In 2020, the São Paulo-born artist relocated to London, where she wrote and recorded her highly-anticipated album, Epiblast. Slated for an April 24, 2026 release through Bridge The Gap, Epiblast was written and co-produced by Rizinni and saxophonist and producer Mark Cake over the course of the Brazilian artist’s last two years in London.

Epiblast reportedly sees Rizinni diving deeper into experimental territory with the album sonically sitting somewhere between the synth-heavy sounds of The Comet Is Coming and the future jazz of corto.alto while also nodding at the progressive fusion of jazz and electronics pioneered by fellow drummer/producers Mark Guilianna and Richard Spaven.

Thematically the album chronicles a full cycle of life in all of its intensity, beginning with the excitement and joy of new parenthood, along with adjusting to the pace of life and the creation of relationships in her new home. But along with that the album was in many ways a companion for Rizinni’s grieving process after the tragic loss of her brother. “The title Epiblast comes from an early embryonic layer from which the entire organism develops,” Rizinni explains. “For me, it represents multiple births and rebirths — new roles, identities, and directions — capturing both fragility and infinite potential.”

The forthcoming album will include the previously released “Familiar Stranger” and “The Right Side of the Escalator,” which have received airplay internationally from BBC Radio 3, Rinse FM, KEXP, PBS-FM, as well as its third and last pre-release single “Fifth Life.” Seemingly drawing from early Hiatus Kaiyote, and Mildlife‘s “How Long Does It Take,” “Fifth Life” is a quirky and playful composition anchored around an off-kilter rhythmic-driven groove that’s one part Afrobeat-inspired, one-part Brazilian music-inspired paired with a soulful saxophone and flute solo.

“’Fifth Life’ is probably my favourite track on the album,” Rizinni explains. “It has a quirky, playful vibe that I really relate to. I wrote it on top of a beat I had been developing, and when I brought it to Mark, the guitars he came up with reminded me of a band I loved in the early 2000s called Screaming Headless Torsos, and guitarist David Fiuczynski in particular — a connection that added an extra spark to the track.”

Single Review by William Ruben HelmsMar 25, 202609:00

New Audio: Jerk Shares Meditative “wait”

Prolific Brooklyn-based producer, composer and multi-instrumentalist Joni Kinney is the creative mastermind behind, the rising recording project Jerk. And with Jerk, Kinney has released five albums and several EPs that feature a sound that draws from J. Dilla, Madlib, Patrice Rushen, Earth, Wind & Fire, Louis Cole, Knower, and Roller Trio. Never content with just music as a creative output, Kinney is also an avid writer and video essayist.

Late last year, the Brooklyn-based producer, composer and multi-instrumentalist released the first part of a two EP narrative cycle, as night falls. The two EP cycle sees Kinney using the project’s sound into new territories, taking listeners on a journey through a fusion of electronic influences, midnight funk and forward-thinking jazz.

as day breaks, the second EP of the narrative cycle is slated for a May 15, 2026 release through DeepMatter Records. as day breaks EP will see a limited vinyl release, alongside last year’s as night falls.

While the first EP of the cycle explored the darker side of human nature through a blend of midnight funk and electronic-tinged jazz, as day breaks, which was created with long-time friend and collaborator Martine Wade, is a journey through daylight anchored around uplifting, soulful, instrumentals paired with house grooves, breakbeats, bird song and the sounds of NYC. “This joint album project is the essence of Jerk — neither day nor night, but something more ethereal,” Kinney explains.

as day breaks EP will include the swaggering, funky “steppin’ out” and the EP’s latest single, “wait.” “wait” is a slow-burning, meditative tune featuring a twinkling Rhodes-driven melody, a supple bass line and a hazy, lo-fit beat paired with a NYC traffic light sample. The composition is a reminder to listeners to stop, slow down and be present,

Composed in a style that Kinney has coined “son-tra,” they share: “Meaning ‘sonic mantra’, ‘son-tra’ is a composition style centered around melody and permutation, and a composition technique I’ve used on tracks like ‘Voices in my Head,’ ‘Father Sky’, ‘Still Searching,’ and ‘First Cup.’ The prevailing feeling of this style feels like a spiral to me, something that somehow stays faithful to a core motif while also continuously evolving as it progresses.”