Arena Theatre, Wolverhampton 08-10-2016 The Anglo-American quartet had expanded to a quintet since their last visit here, and if the Jazz @ The Arena audience couldn’t expand further due to having reached capacity for this lovely, intimate venue, then they made… Read More ›
(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 ›
He has a new album of King Crimson music with the Delta Saxophone Quartet out on Basho Records, he’s playing Bach all over the place and as if all that wasn’t enough, Gwilym Simcock’s off on a world tour as… Read More ›
CBSO Centre, Birmingham UK 18-10-2015 I’ve heard drummer Andrew Bain many times in other people’s bands but never as a leader. And what a band to lead! On piano was Gwilym Simcock, on bass Steve Watts, on tenor and soprano… Read More ›
The Brecon Jazz Festival starts tomorrow and runs till Sunday with over 40 events. Here is my top 10: 1 Kenny Barron/Dave Holland – We rarely get a chance to hear this most sophisticated of pianists over this side of… Read More ›
There must have been countless jazz gigs over the last seven days which have included a tribute to the late, great and painfully-missed John Taylor. Here is a particularly lovely one, complete with a poem from Mike Walker: There is also… 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 ›
Presented by Lichfield Festival Lichfield Cathedral 04-07-2015 There are some jazz groups that are built on contrast and opposites – players that rub up against each other in interesting ways; there are others that are founded upon shared leanings – where… Read More ›
Pianist Gwilym Simcock has strong connections with the Lichfield Festival. After he played at the 2004 festival in both Bill Buford’s Earthworks and in Acoustic Triangle, he was invited to be musician in residence in 2006 and wrote his Lichfield… Read More ›
Review and photograph by John Watson The Sage, Gateshead, UK 10,11,12-04-2015 The 2015 festival was the 11th international jazz jamboree to be held at The Sage concert complex in Gateshead… which is currently celebrating its 10th anniversary. Confused? Well, as the… Read More ›
The first major jazz festival in Britain gets underway tomorrow at The Sage, that excellent arched edifice that looks over the Tyne from its Gateshead bank. There’s a lot going on over the three days of the 2015 Gateshead International… Read More ›
Of course it happens all the time – that headline is just a convenient tag – and here are the latest two examples of jazz musicians playing a little outside of the conventional jazz repertoire and/or in spaces not renowned… Read More ›
Reviewed by John Watson Arena Theatre, Wolverhampton UK 31-01-2015 There’s a chemistry among the finest groups that is unique to jazz, an extraordinary telepathy between the players combined with a selfless desire to allow the music to grow organically –… Read More ›
The next 10 of the 50 CDs I have most enjoyed listening to in 2014, in ascending order. Numbers 20-11 tomorrow: 30 Michael Wollny Trio Weltentraum (ACT 9563-2) Full review here 29 Mark Turner Quartet Lathe Of Heaven (ECM 378 0663) Full review… Read More ›
The next 10 of the 50 CDs I have most enjoyed listening to in 2014, in ascending order. Another 10 tomorrow: 40 Jean Toussaint 4 Tate Song (Lyte Records LR022) Full review here 39 Chick Corea Trio Trilogy (Stretch Records/Concord Jazz CJA3568502) Full review… Read More ›
There were all sorts of warnings: “we’re only doing a few gigs”, “we don’t want to be our own tribute act”, or words to that effect… But they must have been happy with how those few gigs went because Loose Tubes are… Read More ›
(Basho Records SRCD 45-2) I’ve been wrestling for weeks with this disc – trying to decide whether or not to write about it. There are lots of very good reasons why I should write about it. Trish Clowes is a… Read More ›
