Home » Jazz Articles » Kate Williams
Jazz Articles about Kate Williams
Chris Biscoe: Music Is: Chris Biscoe Plays Mike Westbrook
by Duncan Heining
Chris Biscoe can trade choruses with the best and melt the heart with the tenderest of ballads. But that is not what makes him special. Live and on record there is always a sense of quiet anticipation as he starts a solo. One knows one is about to hear something new, something different. It is more than his mastery of a range of woodwinds. It is more than the wonderful tone he achieves seemingly effortlessly on each of his instruments--powerful, ...
read moreChris Biscoe: Music Is: Chris Biscoe Plays Mike Westbrook
by Chris May
Chris Biscoe has played in the bands led by the great British composer Mike Westbrook and/or his wife, singer and lyricist Kate Westbrook, every year since 1979 bar one. He is the Westbrooks' first-call saxophonist and clarinetist and the love runs both ways. It also rings out on every track of this beautiful album. The concept is straightforward. Biscoe has taken seven Westbrook pieces out of their original, mostly big band, contexts and arranged them for a ...
read moreKate Williams: Four Plus Three
by Bruce Lindsay
Pianist Kate Williams seems to be fond of septets: Four Plus Three is her third septet album after Made Up (kwjazz, 2011) and Atlas & Vulcana (kwjazz, 2014). Of course, there are other albums in her discography, including the excellent Smoke & Mirrors duo recording with saxophonist Bobby Wellins (kwjazz, 2012), but the seven-piece ensemble seems to suit the breadth of her ambition. This particular combo--piano, drums and strings, brings a new set of musical possibilities to Williams' originals and ...
read moreKate Williams: Atlas & Vulcana
by Bruce Lindsay
Atlas and Vulcana formed a strongman and strongwoman act--Vulcana's real name was Kate Williams--whose feats of strength were renowned in Victorian and early twentieth century Britain. Pianist and composer Kate Williams (no relation, presumably) takes inspiration from the couple in titling this album and two of its tracks. Atlas & Vulcana has its own strengths--no brute force, but plenty of power and dynamism. Williams has written some stunning tunes: she's also brought together a septet of some of the finest ...
read moreKate Williams Septet: Made Up
by Bruce Lindsay
Made Up is the fourth album from British composer/pianist Kate Williams. Her previous albums have featured trio, quartet and quintet lineups; Made Up leapfrogs the sextet setup to feature a seven-piece group of top flight UK musicians who prove to be superb interpreters of Williams' brightly original compositions.Made Up was released in the UK at the end of 2011: a few months later the group was nominated for a 2012 Parliamentary Jazz Award for Ensemble Of The Year, ...
read more
Giveaway
Days remaining: 7
