Trish Clowes, with the help of Tom Harrison, held the fifth incarnation of her Emulsion Festival in Birmingham. The name encapsulates the idea of combining different styles of music in to a cohesive whole which nevertheless maintains the integrity of… Read More ›
tony dudley-evans
Jazz Migration
Pantin, France 11-16 Last week I attended the showcase concert for the French Jazz Migration scheme at La Dynamo club in the Pantin suburb just outside Paris. The Jazz Migration scheme is a brilliant scheme run by the national organisation… Read More ›
Match & Fuse Festival
Various venues, London 28/29-10-2016 The annual Match & Fuse Festival has become a major part of the jazz calendar in the UK. It is a two-day festival the focus of which is on bringing to the UK a number of… Read More ›
Dave Kane Large Ensemble & Yana
The Week, Out Front The Voice Box & Baby People Studio, Derby 22-10-2016 The Week is a six day festival of free jazz and improvised music in Derby hosted by Out Front, an organisation led by vibes player Corey Mwamba. Gigs Two… Read More ›
Drake, Dunmall and band on the radio tonight
“Style can be the cause of the death of creativity – if you think that your style is greater or better than any other style.” Those were the words of the late, great trumpeter Don Cherry, as related by drummer… Read More ›
October Meeting
Bimhuis, Amsterdam, Netherlands 08 to 09-10-2016 The October Meeting is a gathering of improvising musicians who meet for a weekend of shifting collaborations curated by Huub van Riel, the director of the Bimhuis, the major club for jazz and improvised music in… Read More ›
Birmingham Jazz @ 40: memories from four who have played a part
Birmingham Jazz is 40 years old. Happy birthday to BJ! There are all sorts of events this autumn to celebrate this impressive anniversary, centred on a performance of music from a past president of the organisation which is on Saturday. Here’s the… Read More ›
Three recently released Improv CDs
Improvised music takes many forms these days and the range of music is as broad as is contemporary jazz. The three CDs reviewed below illustrate this very effectively. Various Artists – Improtest (Improtest Records double CD): The Improtest double album… Read More ›
Saalfelden Jazz Festival
Various venues, Saalfelden, Austria 25 to 28-08-2016 The Saalfelden Jazz Festival takes place in the small town of Saalfelden in Austria in a marvellous setting surrounded by the craggy mountains of the Austrian Alps. It can justifiably claim to be one of… Read More ›
Gaume Jazz Festival
Various venues, Rossignol, Belgium 12 to 14-08-2016 One of the joys of the many invitations I have received to European jazz festivals this year is that I get to see how different festivals work, what their priorities are and what… Read More ›
Big Band Special
The Spotted Dog, Digbeth, Birmingham 31-07-16 The Big Band Special featured four big bands over the afternoon in the lovely garden at the back of The Spotted Dog and was the final promotion of the two stalwarts of the jazz… Read More ›
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 ›
12 Points Festival
Victoria Eugenia Theatre, San Sebastian, Spain 20 to 23-07-2016 The 12 Points Festival is an annual festival run by the Improvised Music Company from Ireland dedicated to the presentation of young emerging bands from different European countries. Twelve bands with an average age of… Read More ›
Jazzdor Berlin
Kesselhaus, Berlin, Germany 31-05 to 01-06-16 Jazzdor Berlin is a short annual festival celebrating cooperation between French and German jazz that takes place in the hip Prenzlauer Berg district of Berlin in a former brewery. It is the sister festival of… Read More ›
Moers Festival 2016
Various venues 13 to 16-05-2016 Moers Festival takes place in a small German town near the Dutch border and is rightly considered to be one of Europe’s leading festivals for jazz and broadly defined contemporary music, i.e. electronica, alternative rock… Read More ›
Jazzahead! – Bremen 2016
Tony Dudley-Evans reports on the huge festival-cum-trade fair that happens in the German city each April. Jazzahead! is an amazing and overwhelming event. It takes place every year in late April in the attractive German town of Bremen; it combines a… Read More ›
Wolves Are People Too
Patrick Centre, Birmingham Hippodrome, Birmingham 08-04-2016 Wolves Are People Too is a collaboration between bandleader and composer David Austin Grey, Birmingham Royal Ballet dancer and choreographer Kit Holder and illustrator Nicholas Robertson to create a dance performance with David Grey’s Hansu-Tori group playing live on stage. The narrative tells the… Read More ›
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