(Basho Records) The announcement that the transatlantic quartet was adding a saxophonist conjured up in the imagination a substantial change in the sound of the band. Would the British co-leaders, guitarist Mike Walker and pianist Gwilym Simcock, be settling in… Read More ›
(Basho Records) This is a two-piano affair, a collaboration across the generations for Fairhurst and one of his chief influences and mentors, Taylor. It contains two epitaphs for musicians recently lost to British jazz: pianist Pete Saberton and trumpeter Kenny… Read More ›
It had been planned by Basho Records as a launch for the duo piano album by Richard Fairhurst and John Taylor. With the sudden death of John (see Tony Dudley-Evans’ tribute here), it now becomes a Piano Summit in tribute… Read More ›
(Basho Records SRCD 48-2) The last time the British pianist made a solo album there was a Tory Prime Minister in No.10 Downing Street and he wasn’t leading a coalition government. It was John Major. I’m not suggesting any connection…. Read More ›
The Printmakers’ album Westerly (Basho Records SRCD 46-2) has been a long time coming. Back in June 2013 the band played at the mac in Birmingham and the tracks on Westerly are familiar from that concert. Then in December 2013 came the news… Read More ›
(Basho Records SRCD 47-2) The British saxophonist (here on alto and soprano) has the Frankfurt Radio Big Band with Django Bates on piano and keyboards and his brother Steve on drums and percussion, plus nine classic tunes from South African… Read More ›
(Basho Records SRCD 44-2) The Swiss pianist and composer’s last album was a live one; this is a studio affair and broadens the composing principle from the Isorhythmic (a technique borrowed from medieval motets involving repeated rhythmic patterns) to some… Read More ›
I’ve just been preparing my pick of the live gigs I reviewed in the West Midlands this year, and Nikki Iles and Norma Winstone’s band The Printmakers at the mac in June is in there, so I was delighted to… Read More ›
(Basho Records SRCD 43-2) The coming together of the young British pianist Gwilym Simcock with the slightly older fellow Brit, guitarist Mike Walker and the US drummer Adam Nussbaum, together with the positively ancient – and I mean that in… Read More ›
Light From Old Stars (Basho Records SRCD42-2) This disc shares the same instrumentation as the pianist’s last disc, Quiet Tiger, which despite its Trio claim on the cover was in fact mainly a quintet affair. But whereas the addition of… Read More ›
Live! (Basho Records SRCD39-2) The Swiss pianist and his fellow band members – Thomas Lahns on bass and Lionel Freidli on drums for all but two tracks (Kevin Chesham for those) – start off this album with a piece that… Read More ›
Hush (Basho Records SRCD 38-2) In September 2010 British pianist Nikki Iles went into the recording studio of Tony Bennett’s son, Dae, in New Jersey, accompanied by two New York musicians she had come to know but who had never… Read More ›
Gwilym Simcock St James’s, Picadilly, London UK 16-11-2011 To hear the solo pianist, nominee for The Mercury Prize 2011, playing in this lovely church and for no charge (a donation to the church was recommended) was a real privilege –… Read More ›
The Impossible Gentlemen (Basho Records SRCD36-2) The first recording by this perfectly balanced transatlantic band – guitarist Mike Walker and pianist Gwilym Simcock from this side of the pond; drummer Adam Nussbaum and electric bassist Steve Swallow from the other… Read More ›
Urban Theme Park (Basho Records SRCD 35-2) Oh wow! Even after a few hours’ listening to a random selection of the finest CDs of jazz music from the last 50 years or so, this disc still leaps out. Why is… Read More ›
