New Music Reviews
Jaga Jazzist, Union ChapelSunday, 30 November 2014
Expectations can be dangerous when it comes to live music, but sometimes managing them is easier said than done. Go and see a band like Jaga Jazzist, a genre-crossing collective of Norwegian multi-instrumentalists who skyrocketed to fame in 2002 when the BBC named A Livingroom Hush jazz album of the year, and you expect it to be big. Especially when it’s the group’s 20th anniversary tour and you arrive at Union Chapel to find the queue stretching around the block. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Native North AmericaSunday, 30 November 2014
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Lily Allen, Brighton CentreFriday, 28 November 2014
There is an odd moment about halfway through Lily Allen’s set. Clad in a shaggy white mini dress akin to a Puli dog’s coat, she announces the next song will divide the audience into those that love it and those that hate it. Her sweet voice then wraps itself around the soundtrack to last year’s John Lewis seasonal TV ad, her version of Keane’s “Somewhere Only We Know”. Read more... |
J-Sonics, The Hideaway, StreathamFriday, 28 November 2014
Last night Latin jazzers J-Sonics confirmed their reputation as one of the most compelling proponents of the delicate art of fusion with a deeply grooving, deeply addictive performance of their propulsive repertoire. Read more... |
Kasabian, Brighton CentreThursday, 27 November 2014
It has become a staunch tradition that Kasabian gigs end with their fourth single, 2004’s “L.S.F. (Lost Souls Forever)”. By the time they reach it, a good chunk of the Brighton Centre’s capacity crowd, encouraged by guitarist Serge Pizzorno, have clambered on the shoulders of an associate. Read more... |
The National, O2 ArenaThursday, 27 November 2014
Until recently, The National were a band for the knowing connoisseur, best known for their wry wit and tasteful guitar sheen. They seemed too niche for the O2 Arena, where they played their biggest ever UK headline last night. But that big tent of consumerism has now claimed them, and before an appreciative but rather lukewarm audience, somehow they seemed a little more ordinary and mainstream. Read more... |
Charles Lloyd / Joe Lovano and Dave Douglas, BarbicanMonday, 24 November 2014
It’s not easy to write about a gig when you’re still shaking with adrenaline, still less so when that gig is the grand finale of the 2014 EFG London Jazz Festival, the climax to a giddy ten days of world-class contemporary music. But it’s a cross I’ll have to bear, because last night’s performance from legendary saxophonist Charles Lloyd and jazz giants tenorist Joe Lovano and trumpeter Dave Douglas demands it. Read more... |
Robert Mitchell's 'Invocation', Queen Elizabeth HallMonday, 24 November 2014
Imaginatively constructed and endlessly surprising, this world premiere of the complete version of pianist Robert Mitchell's choral work Invocation elicited one of the most moving performances I had the pleasure of hearing at this year's EFG London Jazz Festival. Read more... |
Kasse Mady Diabate, Purcell Room, Southbank CentreSunday, 23 November 2014
Kassé Mady Diabaté is one of the great singers of West Africa, a member of Toumani Diabaté's Symmetric Orchestra and, more recently, the Afrocubism all-star line-up. Read more... |
Celebrating 75 years of Blue Note, Royal Festival HallSunday, 23 November 2014
Paying homage to the legendary imprint that brought us 'The Finest In Jazz Since 1939', this concert on the penultimate evening of the EFG London Jazz Festival really did have everything, including the unlikely sight of master pianist Robert Glasper pirouetting across the Royal Festival Hall stage. The first half saw Glasper in duo with fellow NYC-based Houstonian, pianist Jason Moran, in an extraordinary, hour-long set that referenced jazz past, present and future. Read more... |
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