New Music Reviews
Ode to the Human Spirit, Kings PlaceThursday, 01 May 2014
Who knew the human spirit needed such bureaucratic care? The celebration of International Jazz Day, founded by UNESCO in 2011, at King’s Place last night was nothing if not well cared-for. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Grace JonesSunday, 27 April 2014
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The Men They Couldn't Hang, Shepherd's Bush EmpireSunday, 20 April 2014
From the balcony overlooking the mosh pit you get a good idea of how long a band has been going. Last night at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire, The Men They Couldn’t Hang celebrated their 30th anniversary while a small kinetic cluster of mainly bald 50-year-olds pinged into one another like shiny billiard balls. A fiver says a sheepish accountant or two will have had some explaining to do this morning in A&E. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: John TavenerSunday, 20 April 2014
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Christy Moore, Royal Festival HallFriday, 18 April 2014
“You’re great listeners. You have surrendered your ears.” The reverent hush that descended for two hours on the Festival Hall is a new sort of sound at a Christy Moore concert. There was a time when such a gathering would bristle with fervour. Twenty years ago, if not of Irish descent, you could feel distinctly like the odd one out. Read more... |
Ivo Neame Quintet, Kings PlaceSunday, 13 April 2014
Pianist Ivo Neame, whose quintet gave a masterclass in the more reflective, concept-driven variety of contemporary jazz at Kings Place last night, is one of the lynchpins of the London scene. As well as leading and composing for this, his own group, he’s also a member of the LOOP Collective, supertrio Phronesis, and Marius Neset’s Golden Xplosion. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Vee-Jay RecordsSunday, 13 April 2014
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theartsdesk in Oslo: The Tape to Zero FestivalWednesday, 09 April 2014
The on-stage collaboration between north-Norwegian ambient maestro Biosphere and his similarly inclined but sonically darker countryman Deathprod was a one off. At Oslo’s Tape to Zero festival, Biosphere and Deathprod bought the you-had-to-be-there moment. The pair had collaborated for a remix project of composer Arne Nordheim in 1998, but this was about new music. Read more... |
Spring Quartet, BarbicanTuesday, 08 April 2014
In the 1960s and early 70s drummer Jack DeJohnette, now 71, was learning his craft with nearly everyone who was anyone, including Coltrane, Monk, Keith Jarrett and Miles Davis. Read more... |
Evan Parker: 70th-Birthday Celebration, Kings PlaceSunday, 06 April 2014
John Coltrane’s extravagant, trance-like saxophone-playing is often considered the pinnacle of jazz technique, but for Evan Parker, who celebrated his 70th birthday with a concert at Kings Place last night, it was only the starting point. Read more... |
Grace Jones: Nightclubbing
John Tavener: The Protecting Veil
Various Artists: Chicago Hit Factory – The Vee-Jay Story 1953-1966Pages
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