Jazz on the Beach 226: Shunzo Ohno, Biréli Lagrène, Omer Klein, Meg Okura, Red Garland, Steve Coleman, Pete La Roca, Tom Grant, Joan Fort, Lee Morgan
Late night jazz and early evening blues radio shows, listen anytime.
Among the many new releases on this week’s playlist is the indestructible trumpeter Shunzo Ohno (cancer and car wrecks can’t stop him) and the deeply funky Léas Run from Live at Joe’s Pub (Pulsebeats Records, 17th April). The rest of the quartet are pianist Noah Rott, bassist Jeremiah Edwards and drummer Thierry Arpino, and the extra magic comes from the interplay with the Lotus Chamber Music Collective led by Ohno’s daughter Sasha Ono. Really enjoying this.
The phenomenal French guitarist Biréli Lagrène can play anything from Manouche to fusion, and here’s the overdriven blues romp Kings Cross from his upcoming Elegant People (PeeWee!, 3rd April), featuring organist Jean-Yves Jung, double bassist William Brunard and drummer Raphael Pannier.
The Frankfurt-based Israeli pianist Omer Klein pays tribute to his Tunisian maternal grandmother and her culinary skills on the delicious Plat Tunisien from The Poetics (XJazz! Music, 6th March), with saxophonists Tineke Postma and Omri Abramov, double bassist Haggai Cohen-Milo, drummer Amir Bresler and percussionist Tupac Mantilla. Incidentally, have you noticed how many record companies use an exclamation mark in their name? Here’s a live video recorded in Frankfurt last year.
I’m really enjoying violinist and composer Meg Okura & the Pan Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble’s captivating Sushi Gadol from their 20th Anniversary release Isaiah (Adhyâropa Records, 29th February), featuring flautist Anne Drummond, clarinettist Sam Sadigursky, trumpeter David Smith, trombonist Rebecca Patterson, harpist Riza Printup, guitarist John Lee, pianist Brian Marsella, double bassist Evan Gregor and drummer Peter Kronreif. Okura is a fellow Substacker too, her UnKosher Notes comes highly recommended.
Two terrific drummer-led tracks, first a J Jazz classic from the Takashi Miyasaka Quintet and the juicy Soul Tomato from Soul Tomato (Aketa’s Disk, 1982), with tenor saxophonist Toshihiko Inoue, guitarist Hiroshi Matsui, pianist Ritsuko Endo, and double bassist Norikatsu Koreyasu.
The second is from Pete La Roca and the magical Lazy Afternoon from Basra (Blue Note, 1965), with tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson, pianist Steve Kuhn and double bassist Steve Swallow. Basra may not be as well known as other defining Blue Note albums of the mid ‘60s like Speak No Evil, Empyrean Isles, Hub-Tones or Mode for Joe, but it’s right up alongside them.
More new music, Israeli trio Shalosh (meaning ‘Three’) are pianist Gadi Stern, double bassist David Michaeli and drummer Matan Assyag, and the beautiful Ella Plays comes from What We Are Made Of (ACT, 27th March), their fourth for Siggi Loch’s Berlin-based label.
There’s the Amsterdam-based Spanish guitarist Joan Fort and the easy grooving title track from his second album Hangin’ In (45Jazz, 6th March), recorded in New York with pianist Michael Weiss, double bassist David Wong and drummer Aaron Kimmel.
Another play for South London’s Queenstown Collective with Unit 99 from their debut EP Grapefruit (self released, 25th February), featuring special guest trumpeter Poppy Daniels alongside drummer James Morgan, tenor saxophonist James Akers, keyboard player Eddie Lee, guitarist Tjoe Man Cheung and bassist Luke Wynter.
We’re hard boppin’ with two of the finest, trumpeter Lee Morgan’s City Lights from the album City Lights (Blue Note, 1958), featuring trombonist Curtis Fuller, tenor saxophonist George Coleman, pianist Ray Bryant, double bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Art Taylor. And pianist Red Garland’s title track from Soul Junction (Prestige, 1960), with tenor saxophonist John Coltrane, trumpeter Donald Byrd, double bassist George Joyner and drummer Art Taylor. That same lineup recorded the tracks for the album All Mornin’ Long (Prestige, 1958), on the same day, 15th November 1957.
On the more soulful side there’s alto saxophonist Hank Crawford’s Boo’s Tune from More Soul (Atlantic, 1961), his debut as a leader with tenor saxophonist David ‘Fathead’ Newman, baritone saxophonist Leroy ‘Hog’ Cooper, trumpeters Phillip Guilbeau and John Hunt, double bassist Edgar Willis and drummer Milt Turner.
The Argentinian tenor saxophonist Gato Barbieri is in full fiery Latin free jazz mode on Antonio das Mortas from The Third World (Flying Dutchman, 1970), with trombonist Roswell Rudd, pianist Lonnie Liston Smith, double bassist Charlie Haden, drummer Beaver Harris and conguero Richard Landrum.
I finally bought the 45th Anniversary limited edition white vinyl individually numbered reissue of pianist Tom Grant’s Mystified (Timeless Records, 1978). Here’s the terrific Fender Rhodes driven namesake track, produced by and featuring tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson, Mahavishnu Orchestra’s bassist Rick Laird and drummer Ron Steen. If you’ve only heard his later smooth (but bill-paying) records, this may well surprise you.
And finally, Steve Coleman & Five Elements and the funky, edgy Djw from Live at the Village Vanguard, Vol. 1 (The Embedded Sets) (Pi Recordings, 2018), with trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson, guitarist Miles Okazaki, bassist Anthony Tidd and drummer Sean Rickman. They’re playing in London at Ronnie Scott’s on the 18th March, which unfortunately is exactly when I’ll be broadcasting next week’s show live on Deal Radio. C’est la vie, but after four and a half years I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.
To listen to this week’s Jazz on the Beach on Mixcloud, just click below:
Jazz on the Beach #226 11th March 2026
Lee Morgan - City Lights
Queenstown Collective - Unit 99
Omer Klein - Plat Tunisien
Shunzo Ohno - Lea’s Run
Biréli Lagrène - Kings Cross
Meg Okura & the Pan Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble - Sushi Gadol
Joan Fort - Hangin’ In
AS IS - Better than Anything
Steve Coleman & Five Elements - Djw
Takashi Miyasaka Quintet - Soul Tomato
Sam Wilkes - I Said Yes
Pete La Roca - Lazy Afternoon
Aleph Aguiar - Panspermia
Tom Grant - Mystified
Red Garland Quintet - Woodyn’ You
Gato Barbieri - Antonio das Mortas
Shalosh - Ella Plays
Hank Crawford - Boo’s Tune
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Jazz on the Beach broadcasts every Wednesday evening from 10:00 PM to midnight (UK time), repeating on Monday morning from 2:00 AM to 4:00 AM (UK time).
Blues Beach broadcasts every other Thursday from 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM (UK time).
I see some ‘names’ that the late Doug Sides (drummer and composer) talked about in my conversations with him off and on air. Lots of names that I don’t know but keen to listen to.