jazz
Edinburgh Fringe: Luke Haines/ The Horne SectionMonday, 22 August 2011
If the cards had fallen differently Luke Haines might have been as big as Blur. As frontman of The Auteurs he was briefly tipped for Britpop greatness, so it is no surprise that he likes the idea of alternative histories. This special show, The... Read more... |
CD: Mara Carlyle - FloreatSunday, 21 August 2011
It opens quietly, with swelling strings that evoke Mendelssohn's Fingal's Cave. After they give way to a jazzy percussion and wordless vocal interplay, Carlyle declares, “I used to sleep/ Too many secrets to keep”. Floreat itself was almost a secret... Read more... |
ELF. Eales, Lee, Findon. Piano, Horn and... Flute?Friday, 19 August 2011
Some things just don’t seem to belong in a pairing. The flute and the French horn both have their distinct sonic personality. It wouldn’t be going out on a limb to suggest that the average listener tends to lean towards one or the other. Even Mozart... Read more... |
Wynton Marsalis Quintet, Ronnie Scott'sTuesday, 16 August 2011
“Wynton Marsalis has had an enormous impact on jazz over the last 40 years,” say the programme notes, “being one of the first artists to perform and compose across the full jazz spectrum from its New Orleans roots to bebop to modern jazz.” Although... Read more... |
Outlook: four days in the sunshine and two fingers to the bigotsTuesday, 16 August 2011
At the start of September, the fourth Outlook Festival takes place in a 19th-century fort on the Croatian coast. Already this festival has become a vital point in the calendar for those involved with dubstep, grime and other UK underground scenes –... Read more... |
Mahala Rai Banda and The Trans-Siberian March Band, Rich MixThursday, 04 August 2011
Variety, as they say, is the spice of life. So it’s something to both celebrate and ruminate upon, that on Tuesday night I was reviewing a gig at which the guitar was undisputed king, whereas last night I was standing before an 11-piece band that... Read more... |
WOMAD III, Charlton ParkTuesday, 02 August 2011
WOMAD is in its 29th year, and ticket sales have gone up 29 per cent, we are told, with over 35,000 sold. World music, always rather beyond fashion, is thriving, at least in this live festival incarnation in Wiltshire. One criticism, according to... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Thelonious MonkSaturday, 30 July 2011
We go out of this column's comfort zone for this week’s releases which include orchestrated versions of songs by the Fab Four, and an Italian pianist’s imaginative response to jazz god Thelonious Monk. And there’s also some Led Zeppelin played by a... Read more... |
Amy Winehouse, 1983-2011Saturday, 23 July 2011
Amy Winehouse, who was found dead at her London home this afternoon, was the greatest female pop singer of her time, in the way that Billie Holiday was of hers, says Peter Culshaw, the first of theartsdesk's writers who tell below what she signified... Read more... |
CD: Nat Baldwin - People ChangesThursday, 21 July 2011
Nat Baldwin’s alt cred is impeccable. Not only is he a former bassist for Brooklyn’s über-cool Dirty Projectors, he’s also responsible for a string of releases that began with 2003’s free jazz set Solo Contrabass. Also prepared to take a stroll with... Read more... |
CD: Jazzsteppa - Hyper NomadsTuesday, 19 July 2011
It's always interesting to see how revolutions in music get folded back into the fabric of the culture that fomented them. Dubstep, which changed club culture so dramatically in the mid-2000s, is now an intrinsic part of that culture from mainstream... Read more... |
CD: Florence Joelle - Kiss of FireFriday, 15 July 2011
I never thought I’d find myself saying that a French female vocalist reminded me of Howard Devoto. But there we are, what can you do? There’s just something in the way she sings the verses of “Hell be Damned and Look Out”: the pauses between words... Read more... |
