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 ›
(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 ›
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 ›
(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 ›
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 ›
(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 ›
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 ›
(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 ›
(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 ›
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 ›
(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 ›
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 ›
(Stoney Lane Records) The band line-up is refreshingly different – guitar, alto saxophone, trombone, organ and drums, and the tunes are as well. A couple – Folk Theme and Beginning Of The End – are adapted from the Devon-born, Exeter and… Read More ›
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