CD's are reveiwed here for a few reasons.
- Some really good CD's are never reviewed in the regular jazz press.
- Most of the reviews in the jazz press I consider not to be very good.
- A large number of these reviews tell more about the reviewer than about the music reviewed.
- Most reviewers have little to no training in music theory nor jazz performance, something I think is needed in order to write good jazz reviews.
- Yet another reason is that CD's recorded in Europe by musicians from Europe receive far less attention in the jazz press than CD's recorded elsewhere.
On this website only CD's are reviewed that I consider to be important contributions to jazz in Europe. There are many CD's out that contain beautiful music, are near perfectly made but have little or no connection to jazz. Despite the claim that these CD's contain jazz, are promoted to be the newest things in jazz, are giving qualifications such as 'redefining the genre of jazz', they will not be reviewed on this website.
The now one age old discussion about what is jazz and what not, will not be continued at full length here. Only a few hints are given. If your CD does not contain swing, if there is no improvisation, if there is no direct interaction among the musicians performing, and no interaction between an audience, it is not likely that your CD will be reviewed on this website.
If you feel that you have a place in the lineage of the living art form called jazz, if you improvise, swing and have an audience that connects with you, and feel you have come up with something important to say, I am more than happy to receive and review your CD.
Wouter Turkenburg