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 ›
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Manchester Jazz Festival
Various venues, Manchester, UK 27/28-07-2016 I have always thought that the Manchester Jazz Festival is a model of how to run a jazz festival in a major British city; it focusses on the local jazz scenes and placing them in the programme… Read More ›
Julian Argüelles’ Tetra featuring Percy Pursglove
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 ›
Cheltenham Jazz Festival adds a few more jazz names
More names have been added to the roster of the 2016 Cheltenham Jazz Festival which runs from 27 April to 2 May in its 20th Anniversary year. We’ll skip past the headliners which feature in the intro pars of the… Read More ›
Sam Crockatt Quartet – Mells Bells
(Whirlwind Recordings) Among the many fine recordings coming out of the younger British scene, this feels like one of the most mature yet. Tenor saxophonist Sam Crockatt has an R-R of a band with Kit Downes on piano, Oli Hayhurst… Read More ›
Thomas Strønen – Time Is A Blind Guide
(ECM) I declare not so much a bias but a certain trust – if my spirits lift when an album from Thomas Strønen pops through my letter box it is because the Norwegian drummer, percussionist and composer hasn’t let me… Read More ›
Julian Argüelles’ Tetra
The Spotted Dog, Birmingham UK 27-10-2015 This was the second date of saxophonist Julian Argüelles‘ current UK tour leading his young band, and was a real treat, not only for the packed audience but for the regular Tuesday night sessions at… Read More ›
Julian Argüelles – Tetra
(Whirlwind Recordings) Tetra is both the name of the album and of this working quartet which has seen Midlands-born saxophonist Julian Argüelles (he cut his teeth with Walsall Jazz Orchestra) enlist musicians from a younger generation: Kit Downes on piano,… Read More ›
Julian Argüelles – October 2015
Saxophonist Julian Argüelles is about to tour with his new, young band Tetra – Kit Downes on piano, Sam Lasserson double bass and James Maddren drums – on the back of a new CD of the same name, released last week on… Read More ›
Mark Pringle – September 2015
Award-winning jazz pianist Mark Pringle is a man on the move. He has a new album A Moveable Feast coming out this month and is currently touring the UK before heading off to Germany. We had a quick email back and… Read More ›
Kit Downes – Tricko
(Coup Perdu – available on CD and LP) Tricko is the British pianist Kit Downes’ duo project with cellist Lucy Railton. They play pieces written specially for this project by Kit. Downes may be best known in the jazz and… Read More ›
Südtirol Jazz Festival
Various venues 26-06-2015 to 01-07-2015 The Südtirol Jazz Festival is based in that part of northern Italy that is right up near the Austrian border in the Dolomite mountains in some of the most stunning scenery in Europe, and is probably the festival in… Read More ›
John Scofield & Pablo Held Trio and Julian Argüelles Septet
Jazz Arena and Parabola Arts Centre, Cheltenham Jazz Festival, Cheltenham UK 03-05-2015 Like Lee Konitz and others before him, the U.S. jazz master John Scofield has found fertile common musical ground with a young European trio, this one from Cologne… Read More ›
Spring jazz festival in Bedfordshire this weekend
There’s a new jazz festival and it happens this weekend in venues around Bedfordshire, from Milton Keynes to Leighton Buzzard. The line-up is strong with a good cross-section of contemporary British jazz both young and middle-aged. Among the line-up we… Read More ›
Troyka – Ornithophobia
(Naim naimcd210) This is the third album from the trio of Chris Montague on guitar, Joshua Blackmore on drums and Kit Downes on keyboards. The band treated the Birmingham audience of the bigger Troyk-estra to a preview back in November. All… Read More ›
Mike Fletcher Trio/Jeff Williams Quintet
CBSO Centre, Birmingham UK 30-01-2015 The common element in this Jazzlines double bill was Jeff Williams. The Ohio-born drummer with a CV that includes playing with Stan Getz, Michel Petrucciani, Dave Liebman and Lee Konitz splits his time between New… Read More ›
Troyk-estra
CBSO Centre, Birmingham UK 08-11-2014 “It’s great to be the support act for our own gig,” said guitarist Chris Montague as he, drummer Josh Blackmore and keyboardist Kit Downes took the stage for a Troyka first half. With a multitude… Read More ›
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