By Frank Alkyer | Published July 2026
On Winter Songs, bassist Steve Swallow stirs feelings of late-night New York in a small club where the musicians are playing for their own souls and sanity as much as for an audience. It’s thoughtful music of truth, beauty and community brought forth by a stellar cohort of close friends. Chris Cheek beautifully lays it down the saxophone. Mike Rodriguez lopes in his clear, soulful tone on trumpet. Adam Nussbaum comes in as fluid and tasteful as ever on drums. Gil Goldstein adds just the right panache on piano. Steve Cardenas lays back to dramatic effect on guitar. And Swallow, for his part, holds it down perfectly on bass. This is a thoughtful ensemble cast, not a cutting contest of individual stars, and it’s a record this writer will be playing over and over again when the moon and the mood are just right. The tunes on Winter Songs are simply named by numbers “One” through “Nine.” Simplicity, directness, easy swinging yet thematically grand, the music flows so beautifully from one tune to the next, pulling at the heartstrings with a sense of well-worn, timeless nostalgia. On “Three,” Goldstein, Cardenas and Swallow offer a beautiful prayer of a ballad; notes played to let the melody breathe, and not one extra needed. “Six” picks up the tempo to an easy stroll featuring Cheek’s exquisite jazz-noir tenor work with the rhythm section digging deep into the groove before passing the baton to Rodriguez, perhaps the most underrated sideman in the music today. When Mr. Swallow steps out for the occasional solo, as he does on “Seven,” it’s a reminder of what a gift his art has been to the jazz world since his arrival on the scene, at the tender age of 20, with Jimmy Giuffre in 1960. With “Nine,” the album ends as it begins, a collective of artists locked into their thoughtful, heartfelt work, offering a respite from the noise outside. These are Winter Songs for any season.
