Jazz Articles about Chris Laurence

Gareth Williams: Short Stories

by Peter Jones
October 7, 2022

If you have never heard of Gareth Williams, he is a quiet piano master who enjoys a bigger reputation with fellow musicians than with the public. A founder member and MD of the Nineties jazz-hiphop band Us3, and a former accompanist for the singer Claire Martin, he has worked at the highest level for 30 years, mainly in London. But London is a city blessed with many international quality jazz pianists, and Williams has faced formidable competition during his career. ...

John Taylor Sextet: Fragment

by Chris May
July 12, 2022

The not-for-profit Jazz In Britain label is one of the unsung heroes of British jazz. And if it is being sung, apologies, it deserves to be sung louder. While it is fitting that the musicians who make up London's new alternative jazz scene receive a massive shout out, the players who came before them, who paved the way for British jazz's current explosion, tend to get overlooked. Slowly, this is changing, and Jazz In Britain is in ...

Chris Laurence: Ken Wheeler - Some Gnu Ones

by Chris May
December 15, 2021

The Jazz in Britain label has made its reputation with a niche catalogue of previously unavailable archive albums, mostly recorded live back in the day by jazz greats such as the saxophonists Tubby Hayes and Joe Harriott. With the lovely Ken Wheeler: Some Gnu Ones, the label ventures more or less into the present day with three pieces written by the late trumpeter Kenny Wheeler and recorded in 2020 and 2021 by the bassist Chris Laurence, for whom they were ...

John Surman at Seventy

by Duncan Heining
November 25, 2014

John Surman, Chris Laurence & Trans4mation Quartet Kings Place London Jazz Festival November 14, 2014 The first Friday of this year's London Jazz festival saw John Surman celebrating his seventieth birthday at Kings Place near King's Cross Station. The venue is about as far as it could get from anyone's idea of the smoky dives so readily associated with jazz. It's calm and relaxed, comfortable and, well, polite--in a good way--and most definitely smoke-free. ...

Geoff Eales Trio: Master of the Game

by AAJ Italy Staff
May 28, 2009

Dopo Dismantling the Waterfall e Lost Something, splendida testimonianza del lato più avventuroso dell'arrembante etichetta gallese Edition Records, ecco servito Master of the Game. Più canonico nell'interpretazione del piano trio, più ordinato, se vogliamo anche più accomodante, ma comunque con qualche spunto di interesse. Il pianista Geoff Eales ha nel proprio background una intensa carriera nei più svariati contesti artistici e soprattutto nella difficile arte della sonorizzazione di film. Ciò ha segnato profondamente il suo modo di affrontare il materiale ...

Chris Laurence Quartet: New View

by John Kelman
May 4, 2007

Bassist Chris Laurence, nearing sixty, has been a fixture on the British scene for many years, working regularly in the jazz sphere with artists including reedman John Surman, trumpeter Kenny Wheeler and pianist John Taylor. He's recorded pop sessions with the likes of Elvis Costello, Sting and David Gilmour, and remains active in the classical community, playing on orchestral film soundtracks including The Constant Gardener and The Man in the Iron Mask.

New View is Laurence's long-overdue debut as a ...