jazz
Joshua Redman Still Dreaming, Barbican review - world-class quartetWednesday, 20 February 2019
Joshua Redman's Still Dreaming Quartet is a project surrounded by an abundance of facts, context and backstories. Jazz folk really like that stuff. If fans can’t get enough of all the interconnections and the minutiae, the truth is that a concert... Read more... |
CD: Leyla McCalla - The Capitalist BluesThursday, 07 February 2019
Who doesn’t like the rolling swagger of a bunch of seasoned Louisiana musicians? And that’s what New Yorker McCalla has assembled here to create a wider sound pallet for her third album. But we don’t just get a dozen generic New Orleans jazz tunes... Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: Composer Michel LegrandSaturday, 26 January 2019
“I want to be a man without any past,” said Michel Legrand, who has died at the age of 86. He had perhaps the longest past in showbiz. Orchestrator, pianist, conductor, composer of countless soundtracks, who else has collaborated as widely - with... Read more... |
CD: Que Vola - Que VolaFriday, 25 January 2019
Great music is often born of “what if”s. What if we played Beach Boys-style songs lo-fi, loud, at high velocity? What if we played indie guitar with a hint of Congolese rumba? What if we added a string section to late-Sixties pop-rock? What if we... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Charles MingusSunday, 20 January 2019
Releases dedicated to previously unisssued live recordings can be tricky. The variables at play don’t necessarily ensure that what’s in the shops is worth investigating. The audio sources may be of sub-standard quality or capture an off night. Some... Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: Hedvig Mollestad, Norway's bridge between heavy metal and jazzSaturday, 19 January 2019
Norway’s Hedvig Mollestad Trio reset the dial to what jazz fusion sought to do when it emerged, and do so in such a way that it’s initially unclear whether they are a jazz-influenced heavy metal outfit or jazzers plunging feet-first into metal.... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Music is the Most Beautiful Language in the WorldSunday, 13 January 2019
The title comes from a slogan used in a 1920s newspaper ad for Weinberg’s, a gramophone, record and sheet music shop in Brick Lane. Readers saw the words in Yiddish though. Brick Lane was central to London’s Jewish East End and those who lived in... Read more... |
Albums of the Year 2018: William Parker - Voices Fall From The SkyWednesday, 26 December 2018
A 3CD set featuring 17 singers, 34 tracks and over three hours of uniquely rewarding music, my Album of the Year, Voices Fall From The Sky by the NYC-based musician, improviser, composer, educator and author William Parker, represented an... Read more... |
Merry Christmas Baby - Gregory Porter & Friends, BBC Two review - mellow becomes slo-moTuesday, 25 December 2018
In 2017, the BBC Wales team with director Rhodri Huw filmed a Christmas show in the old 1888 Coal Exchange in Cardiff, now a hotel. Tom Jones and Beverley Knight’s Gospel Christmas was an exciting and upbeat show, which ended in an electrifying “... Read more... |
Albums of the Year 2018: Fiona Monbet - ContrebandeThursday, 20 December 2018
2018. Another year when strong presences who have shaped and defined the music for decades, and whom one had fondly imagined might be around for ever, are gone from our midst. Unique vocalists Aretha Franklin and Nancy Wilson have passed... Read more... |
Albums of the Year 2018: Nightports w/Matthew BourneMonday, 17 December 2018
Matthew Bourne has been a significant experimental and collaborative presence on the scene since 2001, when he won the Perrier Jazz Award. This project with musician-producing duo Nightports (Adam Martin and Mark Slater) is the first of a series... Read more... |
CD: Kim Myhr - Pressing Clouds Passing CrowdsMonday, 26 November 2018
If a new soundtrack for L'Année dernière à Marienbad was needed, Pressing Clouds Passing Crowds is it. Thematically, the collaboration between Norwegian guitarist Kim Myhr, French-Norwegian poet Caroline Bergvall, the Québécois string quartet... Read more... |
