This week Jazzlines, Birmingham’s biggest jazz promoter, really gets going with its autumn season, offering three big concerts in five days, part of a programme of 10 events between now and the end of October. Tomorrow evening the Neil Cowley Trio brings… Read More ›
A busy Birmingham-centred jazz week begins this evening at what used to be called “cocktail hour” back in the day. No cocktails on hand in the foyer of the Bramall Building on the University of Birmingham campus, but a possibly… Read More ›
CBSO Centre, Birmingham UK 11-04-2014 At one point in this third Jazzlines Fellowship event an image flickered on the screen – Dan was triggering video images during the performance – of what might have been a headphones stall in an African… Read More ›
Tomorrow pianist and composer Dan Nicholls is the next of the Jerwood Charitable Foundation-supported Jazzlines Fellows to get a showcase concert. Nicholls, a Staffordshire boy who studied at Birmingham Conservatoire and now works out of London, has travelled to Africa… Read More ›
Quote from something I* wrote back in 2009 under the title The problem of free jazz: So my point is not that there shouldn’t be free jazz, but, I suppose, should it be quite this good? Quote from Tony Dudley-Evans**… Read More ›
CBSO Centre, Birmingham UK 28-03-2014 This was the second of the Jazzlines Fellowship showcases, revealing what the musicians chosen by the jazz wing of Birmingham’s Town Hall/Symphony Hall producers and supported by the Jerwood Charitable Foundation or the BBC Performing… Read More ›
It’s hard to believe, but one of British jazz’s most innovative and distinctive bands is ten years old. Polar Bear, led by drummer Sebastian Rochford, has toured extensively over this decade and released its fifth recording at the beginning of… Read More ›
On Friday the second of the Jazzlines Fellowship showcases at the CBSO Centre in Birmingham features the Lluis Mather Nonet. Over the past year saxophonist and composer Lluis has been developing his music for a larger ensemble and his core quartet… Read More ›
CBSO Centre, Birmingham UK 21-03-2014 This was the first of the Jazzlines Fellows Showcases, concerts that highlight the work of musicians chosen by the Birmingham-based organisation, with help from the Jerwood Charitable Foundation or, in this case, the BBC Performing… Read More ›
Earlier this year Birmingham band leader Jonathan Silk spent some time with New York bandleader Maria Schneider. Tomorrow evening Silk brings his Big Band in to the CBSO Centre, and we’ll be able to hear the results. Of course, we… Read More ›
The Midlands’ instrumental jazz highlight of the week is a double shiner: two opportunities to hear the Tord Gustavsen Quartet, in Birmingham on Friday and in Wolverhampton on Sunday. The Norwegian musician feels that with their latest recording, Extended Circle,… Read More ›
CBSO Centre, Birmingham UK 14-02-2014 Reviewed by Mike Hurley This promised to be an exciting gig with three prestigious musicians: Nels Cline known for his work with Wilco, Jim Black the versatile drummer with boundless technique, and Tim Berne, a… Read More ›
There are three top-notch Midland gigs all clashing on Friday night so those with broad jazz taste will have some tough decisions to make. If the freer end of the music and downtown New York experimentalism is your bag, then… Read More ›
Drummer, composer and band leader Jonathan Silk is a most familiar figure for jazz listeners in Birmingham. He crops up all over the place, as a sideman, as a leader, in groups small and large. And when he’s not playing… Read More ›
(ECM 376 0239) So, the Norwegian pianist has made some changes for this one. Out goes the acoustic grand piano and in come vintage synths from Korg and Farfisa, all fed through distortion pedals with the setting at what sounds… Read More ›
CBSO Centre, Birmingham UK 18-01-2014 A good turnout for this wet January “first of the season” night: the four men of Empirical in grey suits and ties and the “ladies” of the quartet in concert black. I do like a… Read More ›
Jazzlines’ 2014 programme gets underway in earnest this week with four gigs over six days. The big one is on Saturday evening at the CBSO Centre, when the jazz quartet Empirical is joined by the classical Benyounes String Quartet, to… Read More ›
