There are many musicians who express themselves articulately and personally, but there are few who can breathe through the instrument, like saxophonist Walter Smith III does. 'Still Casual' maintains the idea of the instrument as an extension of the artist's thoughts and body, being capable to light up the notes to the level of the ideas and feeling. Even since his debut record in 2006, Smith continues to refine his tone, placed between the base of tradition and the pulse of today. His forth record contains a new effervescent collection of compositions, recorded with the trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, the bassist Harish Raghavan and the thumper Kendrick Scott, all of them being amazing soloists. In the same session there are also the pianist Taylor Eigsti and the guitarist Matt Stevens. The communication is fluent and impeccable among all of the musicians, and the mature and polished sound maintains the atmosphere through the whole record. There are many answers for the question regarding the sound of the jazz today, with as many examples expressed throughout the world. A microcosmic version of this reality is memorized in the music of these excellent young musicians, on this record of Walter Smith III.

James Farm - "City Folk"

At the same time with the eponym debut in 2011, the name James Farm, which contains an incredible acoustic quartet formed by the saxophonist Joshua Redman, the pianist Aaron Parks, the bassist Matt Penman and the thumper Eric Harland, kept in the same formula, since the scenic debut in Montreal in 2009, it created an attractive sound formula, which is mainly based on fluent solos of bop, on simpler musical formulas, transposed from ballads or themes from the European folklore, in the elevated and fluent interpretation of a robust group. Although we listen to some very good compositions, on this record, the solos seem to take the lead. The list passes through memorable vehicles for improvisation, especially for the lyrical nuance from the tone of the saxophone. Parks and Redman offer this set a special character, through their captivating improvisations. If the first album came with the question ''What is James Farm?', 'City Folk' sounds like a straight answer, like a group album , which covers the influences of all the members and it evolves towards defining its own sound.