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Jazz Articles about Nick Smart
Mammal Hands: Gift from the Trees
by Neil Duggan
At first glance, Mammal Hands may seem a traditional jazz trio, but their perspectives on the jazz landscape offer enticing and engrossing new directions. Gift from the Trees is their fifth album and shows a new maturity in sound and feel. It draws on influences from folk, electronica, modern classical and ambient to produce a fresh and enveloping sound. The trio--saxophonist Jordan Smart, pianist Nick Smart (yes, they're brothers) and drummer/percussionist Jesse Barrett--all jointly contribute to the compositions. Jordan Smart ...
read moreNick Smart's Black Eyed Dog: Remembering Nick Drake
by Chris May
Back in the day, during his tragically short life ('48-'74), British songwriter Nick Drake couldn't get arrested. The country's folk-rock movement, of which he was perceived to be a part, was booming, and Drake had the support of its two most influential movers and shakers: Chris Blackwell, owner of Island Records, and Joe Boyd, producer of Fairport Convention, Incredible String Band, John Martyn, and just about everybody else who counted. But Drake and his music were too fragile and too ...
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