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 ›
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 ›
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 ›
Here the energy and fun which had built steadily during the first half erupted not only in a musically circling mass saxophone solo, but a physically circling piano solo. Source: LondonJazz: REVIEW: Duke Ellington’s We Love You Madly at Birmingham… Read More ›
Trish Clowes, with the help of Tom Harrison, held the fifth incarnation of her Emulsion Festival in Birmingham. The name encapsulates the idea of combining different styles of music in to a cohesive whole which nevertheless maintains the integrity of… Read More ›
Already the arrangements on the recording were beginning to loosen and lengthen as the quartet explored their live malleability. Source: LondonJazz: REVIEW : Laura Jurd’s Dinosaur at the Hare & Hounds, Birmingham (first night of tour)
CBSO Centre, Birmingham UK 09-12-16 This event was even more special than I had expected. Such are the difficulties when recording a big band and a string section – getting everyone in the same studio, getting everyone there on the same day… Read More ›
Stratford Jazz Stratford Arts House 07-12-16 Tom Haines has written some strong music over the last few years and he wanted to get it all down on a recording. What better way than to get a crowdfunder campaign together, employ the… Read More ›
Review by John L. Walters EFG London Jazz Festival Cadogan Hall, London 20-11-2016 Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra was a product of the cultural moment outlined in the Victoria & Albert Museum’s current exhibition You Say You Want a Revolution?… Read More ›
Pantin, France 11-16 Last week I attended the showcase concert for the French Jazz Migration scheme at La Dynamo club in the Pantin suburb just outside Paris. The Jazz Migration scheme is a brilliant scheme run by the national organisation… Read More ›
Birmingham Conservatoire Recital Hall, Birmingham UK 28-11-2016 In the aftermath of 9/11 chances to see and hear U.S. jazz greats dropped dramatically and they have never really recovered. So when we get the chance, the moment is to be seized;… Read More ›
mac Hexagon Theatre, Birmingham UK 22-11-2016 In 1953 the philosopher Isaiah Berlin wrote a book called The Hedgehog And The Fox in which he applied the words of the Ancient Greek poet Archilochus, “Multa novit vulpes, verum echinus unum magnum” (“a… Read More ›
Hare & Hounds, Kings Heath, Birmingham UK 21-11-2016 “That was called – ah, it doesn’t really matter what the titles are. It’s all existential hogwash anyway.” That was seven-string guitarist extraordinaire Charlie Hunter to the crowd in the bigger room… Read More ›
Review and pictures by John Watson Town Hall, Birmingham UK 21-11-2016 “I don’t have a reputation for doing anything cheerful,” Madeleine Peyroux told her audience, with a grin. “But I’m working on breaking that mould.” I like the texture of… Read More ›
Review by AJ Dehany EFG London Jazz Festival Barbican Milton Court, London 18-11-2016 Jazz was banned in the 1950s in Poland under the Soviet regime, and Polish jazz retains a special symbolic value as an emancipatory music with a distinctly… Read More ›
Review and pictures by John Watson Town Hall, Birmingham UK 20-11-2016 “This one is for the ladies . . .” – Herbie Hancock, Town Hall, Birmingham, 1975. “This one is for the ladies . . .” - Robert Glasper, Town… Read More ›
Review by Jon Turney EFG London Jazz Festival Barbican, London 19-11-2016 A classy double bill, this, with Ambrose Akinmusire’s regular quartet up first and getting straight down to business after the briefest of band intros. There were no further announcements,… Read More ›
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