Beth Hart commands the stage with just one click of her fingers! The Californian tigress is still as feisty as ever without getting caught up in the clichés. In this live performance recorded on May 4th 2018 in London’s most prestigious setting, the Royal Albert Hall, she sets up her very own cabaret mixing blues, jazz and vintage soul. A woman who honours Nina Simone, Howlin’ Wolf, Dinah Washington, Buddy Guy and so many other key personalities of rhythm’n’blues, she shows us the full extent of her talent during this two-hour show. With a microphone to hand or sat behind her piano, what impresses us most is Beth Hart’s ability to mix all her musical influences and produce one very personal cocktail. Her secret? Her voice, of course. A kind of unstoppable magnet that pulls every word, every sentence, every chorus and which is made even more powerful by her contact with the audience. © Clotilde Maréchal/Qobuz

Bryan Ferry returned to London's Royal Albert Hall in March 2020, some 46 years after performing there in 1974 on his debut solo tour. Recorded just before the U.K. went into COVID-19 lockdown, the show saw Ferry work through a slew of new material as well as renditions of classic Roxy Music songs. © Rich Wilson /TiVo

In 2017, Gregory Porter released a tribute album - or rather a love letter, to the man he considers his ultimate hero: Nat King Cole. A remarkable musician who weaved his way between pure jazz and easy listening, an innovative and highly skilled pianist-virtuoso, and of course, a captivating singer/crooner with his deep, romantic and velvety voice that set him apart from everyone - this genius had never before been commemorated in so much style. In this live performance recorded on the prestigious stage of the Royal Albert Hall in London, Gregory Porter is supported by his trusty quartet (pianist Chip Crawford, bassist Jahmal Nichols, drummer Emanuel Harrold and saxophonist Tivon Pennicott) as well as by the 70 musicians of the London Studio Orchestra, conducted by Vince Mendoza. He features pieces that are closely associated with Nat King Cole (Mona Lisa, Nature Boy…) but also some of his own compositions ( Hey Laura, When Love Was King, Don’t Lose Your Steam…). Throughout One Night Only it is fascinating to see how Gregory Porter is just as comfortable when singing alongside the sophistication of the string section as he is in the rougher and groovier sequences. A vocal range that makes this show truly magical. © Clotilde Maréchal/Qobuz

Some concerts seem more important after the fact than they did in the moment. On November 15, 2002, Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros played a benefit show for striking firefighters in the West London town of Acton, one of a handful of dates he scheduled near the end of the year. Most of the fans who showed up had no idea that Mick Jones, Strummer's former bandmate in the Clash, would be on hand, and join him onstage for three songs at the end of the set, marking the first time they had shared a stage since 1983. None of the people on hand knew that it would be the last show Strummer would ever play in London, and among the last of his life; a heart condition claimed him on December 22, 2002. The concert took on a greater historical significance in the wake of Strummer's passing, and a soundboard tape of the gig circulated among fans for years before it was issued as a limited edition Record Store Day release in 2012. 2023's Live at Acton Town Hall gives the show a wide release at last, and for the most part, its reputation promises a bit more than the album delivers. While the audio is certainly not bad, it's a soundboard tape that sounds just a bit hollow and echoey, and doesn't always capture the power of the guitars – Mick Jones's contributions are barely audible. And though this truly was a good Joe Strummer show, it wasn't a great one; the folk, Latin, and world influences in the Mescaleros manifested themselves on stage with the band stretching out on many of the songs, and while the grooves are potent and the band is in fine form, the jams may have worked better in front of an audience than listened to in the cold light of a twenty-one year old tape. All that said, the warmth and passion of Strummer's performance is front and center throughout, his engagement with his bandmates and the audience is total, and the live takes of "Bhindee Bhagee," "Shaktar Donetsk," and "Johnny Appleseed" connect more strongly than they did in their studio recordings. What Live at Acton Town Hall does best is preserve one night in the musical life of Joe Strummer and remind us why he was always special – and why no one has truly taken his place in the musical zeitgeist all these years later.© Mark Deming /TiVo

A double-milestone year for jazz, 2001 marked the 75th anniversary of the births of both Miles Davis and John Coltrane. With that in mind, Herbie Hancock went on tour with a quintet modeled after his V.S.O.P. bands of the '70s and '80s and the Tribute to Miles band of the '90s, which in turn were modeled after the 1965-1968 Miles Davis Quintet. The question this disc proposes: Can you go home yet again? Hancock preferred to dodge that one, saying that he was attempting to push the music onward in the Davis/Coltrane spirit of adventure rather than play for nostalgia. But essentially, despite the often unblinkingly hard-nosed soloing and the sometimes radical reworking of the old tunes, the conception of this idiom is that of Miles, and Michael Brecker's often brilliant, searching tenor sax work owes its soul to the example of Trane. Although the quintet's Los Angeles gig on October 11, 2001, was rather disappointing, the Toronto concert recorded here was a big improvement, with two weeks of roadwork evidently having the desired tightening effect. Though Hancock's piano gradually became more abstract and disconnected with its surroundings over the years, here he is in touch with his colleagues. Brecker provides the most fervent individual statement with an unaccompanied rendition of "Naima" that amounts to a virtual encyclopedia of tenor saxophone technique. Roy Hargrove does a serviceable job on trumpet and flügelhorn, trying to fill some heavy shoes, and as accomplished as the rhythm team of John Patitucci (bass) and Brian Blade (drums) is, you miss the irreplaceable combustion of Ron Carter and especially the late Tony Williams (compare the original Davis recording of "The Sorcerer" with this inward, less dynamic, less driving version). The most strikingly reworked cover tune is a slow, drawn-out, mournful take on "Impressions," almost an elegy for Coltrane, and Brecker delivers the eulogy with fire in the belly. There is new material from Hargrove ("The Poet"), Brecker ("D Trane"), and the three headliners ("Misstery"), none of which expands much beyond the parameters of the Davis and Coltrane models. While this quintet does not kick over old boundaries, it does make good, uncompromisingly intelligent music.© Richard S. Ginell /TiVo