jazz
peter.quinn
Almost 50 years since he started working on it, and following its world premiere in New York in February, it was a huge thrill to hear Jon Hendricks' lyricisation of the classic Miles Davis-Gil Evans album Miles Ahead at Kings Place.That the vocalese master not only got to finish, but also hear, his labour of love is thanks to a cat's cradle of happy circumstance involving a conversation between Hendricks and Pete Churchill at the Royal Academy of Music in 2010, the doggedness of Churchill in following up his offer to perform the work, the long-term commitment to the music of the incredible Read more ...
Matthew Wright
From a residency at a low-key Hollywood piano bar, jazz fusion collective The West Coast Get Down has seemingly launched a global takeover of jazz. First, saxophonist Kamasi Washington went stellar; currently four other members of the group are releasing their own albums. Of these, upright bassist Miles Mosley is possibly the slowest burn, but after collaborations with the likes of Joni Mitchell, Kendrick Lamar, and Chris Cornell, he, like Kamasi Washington before him, is in danger of being handed the saviour-of-jazz mantle. It’s passed around many a young(ish) cat with broad shoulders and an Read more ...
David Kettle
Has Glasgow’s Tectonics weekend turned away from its wilder excess? Has it, in its fifth outing, even – well, grown up and got serious? That was partly the sense from the opening day of conductor Ilan Volkov’s visionary mix of contemporary classical, rock, folk, jazz, electronica, and all the uncategorisable hinterlands in between them, a concept that he kicked off in Reykjavík and which he’s now delivered all over the globe. In Glasgow’s previous offerings, we’ve had works directed from a kids’ sandpit, foley artists making music from scrunching packets of dried pasta and flicking through Read more ...
Kieron Tyler
A strong candidate for reissue of the year, World Spirituality Classics, Volume 1: The Ecstatic Music of Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda is a rarity amongst archive collections as it does what is always hoped for but seldom accomplished. A new story is told, the music is unfamiliar but wonderful, and it has been put together conscientiously.The Ecstatic Music of Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda collects tracks – eight on the CD edition, 10 on the vinyl set – recorded between 1987 and 1995 which initially had limited circulation. The original releases drawn from were issued by the Avatar Read more ...
peter.quinn
Hosted by Jazz FM presenter, Jez Nelson, an impressively varied mix of UK and international artists from the worlds of jazz, blues and soul were honoured at the fourth Jazz FM Awards on Tuesday night. Taking place in the stunning surroundings of the Assembly Hall – a grand, high-ceilinged room located on the first floor of Shoreditch Town Hall (a Grade II listed building) – the evening kicked off with a tribute to Ella Fitzgerald. Laura Mvula, having just received the Soul Artist of the Year Award, performed “The Man I Love” from Fitzgerald’s peerless Gershwin Songbook.The tribute was Read more ...
Matthew Wright
Decade Zero is a new commission from acclaimed contemporary classical composer Dave Maric, receiving its world premiere this weekend at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival. Maric has taken his inspiration from the work of stellar jazz trio Phronesis - bassist Jasper Høiby, drummer Anton Eger and pianist Ivo Neame - which he infuses throughout the new piece with both direct and indirect reference, so that Phronesis’ music is woven into an original score. With Phronesis best known for their lightning rhythmic shifts and jazz exploring the loops and textures of minimalism, and Maric for his brilliance Read more ...
Thomas H. Green
"An Evening with Pink Martini" consists of two sets by the Portland, Oregon group/mini-orchestra. Of these, the first takes the prize, but only by a very short lead. During it the nine-piece, led by Thomas Lauderdale at the piano, seem to relax and really allow spontaneity to take hold, in a manner that’s both risky and thrilling, in terms of stagecraft. At one point trombonist Antonis Andreou is coaxed to sing a number in Greek that he can hardly remember, which means moments of quiet conflab with lead singer Storm Large. Or there’s Large’s off-the-cuff, innuendo-filled and thoroughly Read more ...
Guy Oddy
Barry Adamson has forged an impressive solo career since the soundtrack-without-a-film of Moss Side Story in 1988. His epic cinematic noir sounds have absorbed blues, jazz, rock and a myriad of other musical designs along the way and Love Sick Dick happily doesn’t stray too far from that tradition. Much like his debut, Love Sick Dick is a song cycle that follows an implied narrative and features a lonely and paranoid bloke adrift in the big bad city as he crashes ever downwards. In fact, despite outward appearances, Love Sick Dick is really a blues record.Things start with a zap and a pop, as Read more ...
peter.quinn
While this is a big beast of a record, it’s one that’s surprisingly light on its feet. Consisting of Danish bassist Jasper Høiby, British pianist Ivo Neame and Swedish drummer Anton Eger, anyone who’s familiar with Phronesis knows that metric shifts, whiplash-inducing changes of gear and tricky ostinatos are meat and drink to these musicians.Commissioned for their 10th anniversary, the album sees the trio’s back catalogue cast in dazzling, widescreen big band arrangements courtesy of sax player, bandleader, arranger and conductor Julian Argüelles, together with the acclaimed Frankfurt Radio Read more ...
Peter Culshaw
Mulatu Astatke has carved out a particular niche within music. He is a one-off purveyor of what Brian Eno called “jazz from another planet”, smoky, mysterious and playful. He’s about the only artist you could describe as both transcendent and sleazy. The sleazy bit is mainly due to the colours of the horns and vibraphone, suggesting a less than salubrious nightclub, and he himself has something of the demeanour of a lounge lizard.He studied classical music at Trinity College in London at more or less the same time as that other musical visionary, Fela Kuti ( I’d pay to watch a docudrama of Read more ...
Kieron Tyler
Over 1972 to 1975, Finland staged a small-scale invasion of Britain. A friendly one, it was confined to music. First, the progressive rock band Tasavallan Presidentti came to London in May 1972 and played Ronnie Scott’s. The Sunday Times’ Derek Jewell said they were “frighteningly accomplished” and that readers should “watch them soar”. The next year, they toured and appeared on BBC2’s Old Grey Whistle Test. Their albums Lambertland and Milky Way Moses were issued here.Richard Branson was hip to the Finnish prog tip, picked up their countrymen Wigwam and issued their fifth album Nuclear Read more ...
Matthew Wright
At least you always get something different from José James. Originally sprung to fame for blending jazz and hip-hop, this album has little of either, but according to his blurb, touches on R&B, soul, pop, electronica, folk, gospel and funk. Quite an achievement for 11 four-minute songs. What stands out, though, is less the ticking of genre boxes than the imaginative way he uses electronic sound a little like an acoustic instrument, with exceptional sensitivity to its diverse effects. His journey of chameleonic experimentation started with jazz, but like many musicians who’ve Read more ...