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 ›
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 ›
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 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 ›
Review and pictures by John Watson CBSO Centre, Birmingham UK 12-11-16 “Jazz can save the world – right?” Drummer Andrew Bain posed the question to the audience at his Jazzlines concert. Some of us were nodding hopefully, and he added: “Or maybe… Read More ›
Words and pictures by John Watson Belgrade Jazz Festival 26 to 30-10-2016 Pancevo Jazz Festival 03 to 06-11-2016 It’s a mystery to me how I managed to miss out on a country’s marvellous jazz scene for so many years. Great… Read More ›
CBSO Centre, Birmingham UK 15-10-2016 Review and photographs by John Watson When you see the names Kit Downes, Petter Eldh and James Maddren in the publicity for a new trio, you just know this will be a band that cannot fail…. Read More ›
The Red Lion, Birmingham UK 16-09-2016 Presented by Birmingham Jazz Review and Photographs by John Watson Huw Warren must be one of the most versatile pianists and composers on the planet. I have enjoyed his work in a huge variety of… Read More ›
By Marko Paysan (Ear Books, hardback, English and German text, plus three CDs) Reviewed by John Watson “In Germany the band’s job is to provide the entertainment through their music, but in London the bands are pushed into a corner,… Read More ›
Various venues, Lichfield, Staffordshire UK 25 & 26-06-2016 Conflicting commitments, together with the name of this blog, meant that I concentrated on the jazz content of the Lichfied Arts festival. What was offered was a good mix of contemporary jazz,… Read More ›
Rudresh Mahanthappa, the much-lauded alto saxophonist and composer whose album Bird Calls (reviewed HERE) topped many a critic’s best-of list last year, has just gained a prestige job at Princeton University, it has been announced today. He will be director of… Read More ›
City Of Sounds/Jazzlines Adrian Boult Hall, Birmingham Conservatoire, Birmingham UK 10-06-2016 The final Jazzlines performance in this lovely concert hall which has so many special memories for Jazzlines/Birmingham Jazz audiences featured, thoroughly appropriately, one of the most important musicians to… Read More ›
Words and Pictures by John Watson University College Birmingham McIntyre House, Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham UK 22-05-2016 The 2016 JQ Jazz Legends Festival wrapped up with some sublimely lovely singing… followed by an astonishing musical thunderstorm. The storm came from the… Read More ›
Words and pictures by John Watson The Red Lion, Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham UK 21-05-2016 It’s often the case that one ambitious project in the arts world can spark valuable spin-offs. Two of the bands featured in the JQ Jazz Legends… Read More ›
By John Watson The Red Lion, Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham UK 20-05-2016 What a delight it is when an already accomplished musician reaches a whole new level of musical achievement. It’s been two years since I last heard Bristol-based saxophonist and… Read More ›
Cheltenham Town Hall, Parabola Arts Centre & Jazz Arena 01-05-2016 I was really looking forward to the Sunday lunchtime performance by the Frankfurt Radio Big Band and guests playing Julian Argüelles‘ arrangements of South African jazz. The album Let It Be… Read More ›
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