Author Archives

Idler

• Do not send me any CDs!

  By Peter Bacon on 5 July 2017 • ( 5 )

  Important note to musicians and record labels: Please do not send me your CDs! If you want your new release considered for review by a whole bunch of fine writers, look here: LondonJazz News. (See the About Us page for… Read More ›

• Terri Lyne Carrington

  By Peter Bacon on 24 May 2017 • ( 0 )

  

  Review by Robbie Fearon Birmingham Town Hall 21-05-2017 When Terri Lyne Carrington put the original Mosaic Project (Concord Jazz) together in 2011, it featured a rotating cast of all-star female jazz musicians. The project’s second album from 2015 was in… Read More ›

• LondonJazz: CD REVIEW: Tom Haines & the Birmingham Jazz Orchestra – Live

  By Peter Bacon on 24 May 2017 • ( 0 )

  In the end it’s the overall mix of great ensemble playing and strong soloing that make this such a satisfying listen Source: LondonJazz: CD REVIEW: Tom Haines & the Birmingham Jazz Orchestra – Live

• Mark Lewandowski’s Waller

  By Peter Bacon on 15 May 2017 • ( 0 )

  

  Review by Robbie Fearon The Spotted Dog, Digbeth, Birmingham 09-05-2017 This was tour date seven out of 24 for bassist Mark Lewandowski’s trio, featuring Liam Noble on the piano and Will Glaser – stepping in for Paul Clarvis – on… Read More ›

• LondonJazz: REVIEW: Soweto Kinch at CBSO Centre, Birmingham

  By Peter Bacon on 9 May 2017 • ( 0 )

  In one sense Soweto Kinch has moved perfectly logically from his last project, The Legend Of Mike Smith, to his current one, Nonagram. It’s a natural seven (as in the deadly sins which Smith was working his way through) to… Read More ›

• LondonJazz: CD REVIEW: Chris Potter – The Dreamer Is The Dream

  By Peter Bacon on 5 May 2017 • ( 0 )

  The improvisational power of saxophonist Chris Potter, his astonishing command of his instrument and his seemingly endless ideas when it comes to threading a single continuous line through the music, is easy to find overwhelming in a live situation, as… Read More ›

• LondonJazz: PREVIEW: Ten gigs for May in the Second City

  By Peter Bacon on 5 May 2017 • ( 0 )

  LJN’s Editor-at-Large Peter Bacon chooses ten gigs in Birmingham during this merry month that he reckons are worthy of your attendance. Source: LondonJazz: PREVIEW: Ten gigs for May in the Second City

• LondonJazz: NEWS/PREVIEW: The Warwickshire jazz scene gets lively (Winstone at Leamington 1 May; Garland at Kenilworth 19 May)

  By Peter Bacon on 24 April 2017 • ( 0 )

  The little, local, volunteer-run jazz club is alive and well in Warwickshire, where there are regular gatherings in Stratford-Upon-Avon, Kenilworth and Leamington Spa, as well as a refreshed jazz programme in the county’s prinicipal city, courtesy of Jazz Coventry. There… Read More ›

• LondonJazz: PREVIEW: Ten choice April gigs in the English Midlands

  By Peter Bacon on 1 April 2017 • ( 0 )

  Our resident in the English Midlands, Editor-at-Large Peter Bacon, makes his pick of the April gigs worth travelling for. Source: LondonJazz: PREVIEW: Ten choice April gigs in the English Midlands

• Sid Peacock – Surge In Spring

  By Peter Bacon on 23 March 2017 • ( 0 )

  

  Here is a feature piece I wrote for The Birmingham Post – it was in their edition of 16-22 March: Composer and band-leader Sid Peacock is presenting the first of a new kind of arts festival. It’s called Surge In… Read More ›

• LondonJazz: PREVIEW: March live highlights in Birmingham and surrounding areas

  By Peter Bacon on 4 March 2017 • ( 0 )

  Editor-at-Large Peter Bacon picks the choice jazz events close to his home. And remember, it’s often quicker to get up to Birmingham than to get to the other side of London… Here is a bunch of gigs worth getting to… Read More ›

• LondonJazz

  By Peter Bacon on 25 February 2017 • ( 0 )

  I try to approach instrumental music with as much emotive clarity as if the music had lyrics. In fact, when writing now I often still use lyrics as a way to stay connected with the original motivation behind the composition…. Read More ›

• LondonJazz: CD REVIEW: Benedikt Jahnel Trio – The Invariant

  By Peter Bacon on 16 February 2017 • ( 0 )

  My favourite tracks on this album keep changing. At the moment it’s Mirrors with its dense structure and perfectly controlled transitions through nine-and-a-half minutes. It feels like a classical piece in the thoroughness of the writing and in the romantic… Read More ›

• LondonJazz: INTERVIEW/CD PREVIEW/ TOUR DATES: Tim Armacost – Time Being (Whirlwind)

  By Peter Bacon on 16 February 2017 • ( 0 )

  Swinging for me has always been the main attraction to playing jazz, but that has meant finding the way to feel the music together. The Lonely Woman idea led to these explorations of creating tension by playing in parallel spaces,… Read More ›

• LondonJazz: CD REVIEW: Allison Miller’s Boom Tic Boom – Otis Was A Polar Bear

  By Peter Bacon on 16 February 2017 • ( 0 )

  She drives Boom Tic Boom not just through her drums but in her compositions which, while they may incorporate snatches of klezmer and chamber music counterpoint along with long-lined melodies and loose-limbed rhythms, do so in a really cohesive fashion…. Read More ›

• LondonJazz: CD REVIEW: The Baylor Project – The Journey

  By Peter Bacon on 13 February 2017 • ( 0 )

  The pair share a church background and the gospel feel is there right from the start, with Block Party, which opens with old-school dropping of needle onto vinyl and has a real party feel along with good-time handclaps Source: LondonJazz:… Read More ›

• LondonJazz: CD REVIEW: Escape Hatch, featuring Julian Argüelles – Roots Of Unity

  By Peter Bacon on 8 February 2017 • ( 0 )

  The lovely thing about this band is its ability to stretch out and create all kinds of emotional colour, passionate drive and diversity of artistic interest from what might be esoteric base materials. Source: LondonJazz: CD REVIEW: Escape Hatch, featuring… Read More ›