Category: jazz

Single Review by William Ruben HelmsApr 24, 202511:30

New Audio: Milena Casado Shares Meditative “SELF LOVE”

Milena Casado is a rising Spanish-born composer, producer, trumpeter and flugelhorn player, who has generated incredible buzz over the past years through her work with Terri Lyne Carrington, Vijay Iyer, Aaron Parks, Kris Davis and others, which has led to performances at some of the world’s most renowned venues and festivals, including Carnegie Hall, Village Vanguard, The Kennedy Center, North Sea Jazz Festival, Montréal Jazz Festival and Monterrey Jazz Festival.

During that same period, Casado has also developed a reputation as a notable bandleader in her own right, leading a working quintet with sets at North Sea Jazz Festival, Montréal Jazz Festival, NYC Winter Jazzfest and a list of others. Adding to a breakthrough year, the rising Spanish artist will be releasing her full-length debut, Reflection of Another Self on May 16, 2025 through Candid Records.

Reflection of Another Self is reportedly a sonically adventurous and deeply personal exploration of her identity that tackles overcoming personal trauma, including experiencing racism in Spain, grappling with her dual heritage and more.

The album’s latest single, “SELF LOVE” is a meditative neo-soul/smooth jazz-like number that features Casado’s ethereal cooing, floating over glistening synths played by Casado and Morgan Guerin, Casado’s soulful and punchily swaggering trumpet lines, a supple and soulful bass line from the legendary Meshell Ndegeocello, shimmering keys, synths and Rhodes from Mike King and expressive yet minimalist drumming from Jongkuk Kim. While subtly recalling Dave Guy‘s long-awaited full-length debut, last year’s Ruby and Robert Glasper, “SELF LOVE” expresses a contented sigh of hard-earned yet empowering self-acceptance.

“Loving yourself is one of the hardest things to do,” Casado explains. “With ‘SELF LOVE,’ I wanted to capture that journey, what it feels like to reach a place of acceptance and understanding. For me, self-love is still a work in progress, but maybe . . . this is how it sounds.”

Along with the new single, Casado announced an album release show on May 10, 2025 at Public Records. The show will feature guest spots from Morgan Guerin, David Virelles, Maasai, Zacchae’us Paul and more.

Video by William Ruben HelmsApr 22, 202507:00

Throwback: Happy 103rd Birthday, Charles Mingus!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 103rd anniversary of the birth of Charles Mingus.

Video by William Ruben HelmsApr 14, 202514:00

Live Footage: The Offline Performs “Cap Camarat”

Felix Müller is a Hamburg-born and-based photographer, composer and creative mastermind behind the cinematic soul project The Offline. Müller can trace the origins of The Offline to his travels along the the Atlantic coastline of southern France with an analog camera, capturing beach life. Upon his return to Hamburg, he started writing compositions as the sonic counterpart to his visuals.

The German-born artist’s full-length debut, 2023’s Timor Litzenberg co-produced La couleur de la mer was inspired by the work of Francois de Roubaix — and saw him creating a soundtrack to an imaginary film. The album’s material evoked images of manorial, fog-swept villas at the ocean’s edge, silhouetted sailing boats and cigar-chomping villains attempting to thwart the mission of the imaginary film’s hero. The album also saw the German artist experimenting with themes and atypical song structures, moving from dramatic cues to fragile romanticism while incorporating psychedelia, retro soul and hip-hop, inspired by and informed by his extensive record collection.

Last year’s Les Cigales EP built upon the head-nodding blend of hip-hop and 70s soul jazz the German-born artist developed on La couleur de la mer. Sonically, the EP’s material took sonic cues from the structure of film and TV music from the 1960s and 1960s, channelled long-time influences of film composers like Francois de Rouabix and David Axelrod while also seemingly sitting between the chilled out, summery grooves of Surprise Chef and Robohands. As the EP unwinds, its narrative reflects a love story full of longing, melancholy and drama, connecting with the story of Cyptis and Protis — the founding myth of Marseilles — whose love broke convention and welcomed the arrival of foreigners on French soil.

2025 has seen Müller release live renditions of two previously released songs — “Théme de la couleur de la mer and his latest single “Cap Camarat,” which will appear on the live EP, The Offline In Session slated for a May 27, 2025 release through DeepMatter Records. Both of these singles originally appear on Müller’s 2023 full-length debut, and fittingly, the live rendition will remind listeners of the German-based artist’s uncanny knack for sleek craftsmanship paired with his long-held penchant for funky yet cinematic-inspired compositions.