jazz
theartsdesk in Helsinki: Flow Festival 2014Sunday, 17 August 2014
An expectant audience isn’t the only thing which can be seen from the main stage of Helsinki’s Flow Festival. Janelle Monáe, Manic Street Preachers and OutKast are also greeted by a gas holder looming ominously before them. This brooding remnant of... Read more... |
10 Questions for singer Laura MvulaMonday, 11 August 2014
Laura Mvula, despite her exotic-sounding name, is a quintessentially British artist. Not just because of where she comes from – Birmingham – but also how she stays humble and understated while dripping with talent. Her story is equally endearing.... Read more... |
CD: Jerry Léonide - The KeyWednesday, 06 August 2014
Pianist Jerry Léonide arrived on the international jazz scene with a splash when he won the Montreux Jazz Festival solo piano competition last year. Born and raised in Mauritius, then transplanted to France at 17 to further his musical education,... Read more... |
CD: Black Top - # OneWednesday, 23 July 2014
Initiated in the latter part of 2011 by Jazz Warrior and multi-instrumentalist Orphy Robinson and pianist/sound sculptor Pat Thomas, I saw the shape-shifting ensemble Black Top play an incredible gig as a sextet at its spiritual home, Café Oto, as... Read more... |
Man Overboard, Aurora Orchestra, Collon, LSO St Luke'sTuesday, 22 July 2014
If the 15-word limit of a succinct listings blurb ever taught you a lesson let it be immediate suspicion of any performer or musician termed "jazzy". This wariness could extend to anything generically suffixed by "y" or "ish", simply because it... Read more... |
DVD: Too Late BluesTuesday, 22 July 2014
Too Late Blues has many individual aspects which, on their own, would make it notable. Released in 1961, it was John Cassavetes’ second film as a director following the ground-breaking Shadows, one of America’s first full-length expressionist art... Read more... |
CD: Preservation Hall Jazz Band - That's It!Monday, 14 July 2014
As the name suggests, New Orleans’ Preservation Hall Jazz Band was established to promote traditional New Orleans Jazz. This release is the band’s first of original material, and the fact they haven’t been short of a tune since foundation in 1961... Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: DJ Gilles PetersonSaturday, 12 July 2014
DJ, broadcaster and all-round musical pioneer Gilles Peterson is one of the most influential figures in contemporary music. In a career that has grown from a DIY pirate station to running a succession of record labels, global DJing appearances and... Read more... |
CD: Anushka - Broken CircuitTuesday, 08 July 2014
As dance music once more sweeps the mainstream, we're returned to the situation of the 1990s where singer and song can seem to become a little detached. Parades of “featured vocalists” deliver refrains for the producer teams who are queueing up to... Read more... |
CD: Pulcinella - BestioleThursday, 03 July 2014
French band Pulcinella is little known over here, but the release of their third album Bestiole (meaning nothing more ribald than “tiny creatures”, apparently), coincides with a brief UK tour, and is looking like the beginnings of a breakthrough. A... Read more... |
theartsdesk at the 2014 Glasgow Jazz FestivalMonday, 30 June 2014
Saturday commuters sprinting for the 17.33 to Ardrossan find themselves dodging an obstacle course of swing-dancing young couples, soundtracked by a pensionable trad jazz band. A shifting crowd of about 100 pause in their journeys at Glasgow Central... Read more... |
Melanie De Biasio, Purcell RoomTuesday, 17 June 2014
It’s statement of intent to open your first British headlining show with a 15-minute version of an album track which lasts a minute and three-quarters – from an album which itself lasts barely more than 30 minutes. And then to riff on it,... Read more... |
