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 ›
CD review
LondonJazz: CD REVIEW: Benedikt Jahnel Trio – The Invariant
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: CD REVIEW: Allison Miller’s Boom Tic Boom – Otis Was A Polar Bear
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
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
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 ›
LondonJazz: CD REVIEW: Andrew Woodhead – Pocket Piano Improvisations
Armed with a tiny keyboard and a few twiddly knobs (technical term), he explores improvised sounds with, it seems, often as little reference to musical conventions of key, chord progression, melody and harmony as he can manage. Source: LondonJazz: CD… Read More ›
LondonJazz: CD REVIEW: John Abercrombie Quartet – Up And Coming
Those who like Abercrombie’s wider emotional range on his albums of 20 years ago might find his more recent work a little too consistently mellow. To my ears the range might be restricted but the subtlety within these more constrained… Read More ›
LondonJazz: CD REVIEW: Nguyên Le & Ngô Hồng Quang – Hà Nội Duo
Guitarist Nguyên Le’s albums have always been richly eclectic affairs Source: LondonJazz: CD REVIEW: Nguyên Le & Ngô Hồng Quang – Hà Nội Duo
LondonJazz: CD REVIEW: Nick Dewhurst Band
The trumpeter has always had a soft spot for funk and fusion as well, and in his compositions he cleverly mixes these elements. Read my review of Suspect In You, the debut album from The Nick Dewhurst Band. Source: LondonJazz
Some of the 2016 CDs that nearly got away
These are just a few of the many CDs released in 2016 that thoroughly deserved a review but didn’t get one on this site. Well, not until now, and in brief… Nils Petter Molvaer – Buoyancy (Okeh Records): The trumpeter continues… Read More ›
Kurt Elling – The Beautiful Day
(Okeh Records) This is subtitled Kurt Elling Sings Christmas, and it’s as classy a set of seasonal songs and arrangements as you would expect from one of the classiest singers in the world. Familiar songs like We Three Kings and… Read More ›
Wolfgang Muthspiel – Rising Grace
(ECM) Full marks to the guitarist for his choice of band members. He leads Ambrose Akinmusire on trumpet, Brad Mehldau on piano, Larry Grenadier on bass and Brian Blade on drums. Now you would have very high expectations with such… Read More ›
Jonathan Silk – Fragment
(Stoney Lane Records) This is the most ambitious release yet from the young Birmingham jazz scene, and quite possibly from any Birmingham-based jazz musician. Drummer Jonathan Silk has expanded his big band to 20 players and then added a 13-piece… Read More ›
Nigel Price – Heads & Tales Volume 2
(Whirlwind Recordings) This is the follow-up to Volume 1 which the guitarist released in 2011. It’s a two disc set, the second being Price alone or playing with himself via overdubs, the first being his organ trio with Ross Stanley… Read More ›
Keith Jarrett – A Multitude Of Angels
(ECM) This four-CD set gathers together four solo concerts the American pianist gave in Italy 20 years ago. In Modena, Ferrara, Torino and Genova over eight days, Jarrett seems to have brought all his experience, his knowledge and his energy… Read More ›
Ingrid & Christine Jensen – Infinitude
(Whirlwind Recordings) The Canadian sisters, trumpeter Ingrid and saxophonist Christine, have Ben Monder on guitar, Fraser Hollins on bass and Jon Wikan on drums and an album entitled for the concept of boundless possibility. If the possibilities they explore on its ten… Read More ›
Yelena Eckemoff Quartet – Leaving Everything Behind
(L&H Production) This is the Russian-born, U.S.-resident pianist and composer’s ninth jazz release since 2009. And its follow-up is all ready to go early in 2017. So, prolific Yelena Eckemoff certainly is! You might expect therefore that she would make… Read More ›
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