Articles by Sid Smith
In the Court of King Crimson: An Observation Over 50 Years: Level Five, VIII
by Sid Smith
On November 15, 2019, as part of King Crimson's 50th Anniversary Celebration, Panegryic will be releasing Sid Smith's significant revision and expansion of his critically acclaimed bio, In the Court of King Crimson (Helter Skelter Publishing, 2001). More than merely adding what has gone on in the nearly 20 years since the original book was published, at nearly double its size, the 2019 edition of In the Court of King Crimson: An Observation Over 50 Years is a major revision ...
read moreLouis Moholo-Moholo / Dudu Pukwana / Johnny Dyani / Frank Wright: Spiritual Knowledge And Grace
by Sid Smith
Accidents are part and parcel of any kind of improvised music. Such occurrences can be fickle things with a capacity to make or break a situation. So, when Chris McGregor was prevented from joining the first night of a Dutch tour by The Blue Notes in 1979, Louis Moholo-Moholo, Dudu Pukwana and Johnny Dyani embraced the accidental non-appearance of their pianist colleague and took to the stage. Another accident, though admittedly much happier one, was the presence ...
read moreTim Motzer / Markus Reuter: Descending
by Sid Smith
Sometimes, with albums built from file-shared overdubs, the sum of the parts can be greater than the whole. Happily the reverse is very much the case with this engaging collaboration between guitarists Tim Motzer and Markus Reuter. The core of this elegantly dreamy music was recorded at a concert given by the duo in 2008, with guest contributions added over the following couple of years. As a result, the original improvisations have been weathered and abraded with ...
read moreKeith and Julie Tippett: Live at the Purcell Room
by Sid Smith
Recorded at the London Jazz Festival in 2008 and originally broadcast on Radio 3's admirable Jazz on 3 series, Keith and Julie Tippett are in fine form on Live at the Purcell Room. A musical partnership that was always remarkable from the outset, the duo is in a reflective, introspective mood for the bulk of this continuous suite. In the early sections, whilst Julie cautiously enunciates the words of a self-penned poem, embers of slow-burning chords, and ...
read moreJack Kerouac with Al Cohn and Zoot Sims: Blues And Haikus
by Sid Smith
I discovered jazz and Jack Kerouac at roughly the same time in my teens back in the early 1970s, when his seminal novel On The Road (Viking, 1957) hooked me into the bohemian world of jazz clubs, intense friendships and the never ending highway under wide open skies described in its pages.
It barely mattered that the quick fluid prose in which this hedonistic manifesto was rolled up in didn't always make sense--it was all about feeling something ...
read moreMike Osborne Trio: All Night Long
by Sid Smith
First issued in 1976 and now making its CD debut with a sumptuous 26 extra minutes, what hits you from the opening moments of this live album is the full-blooded passion and commitment to every single note.
That isn't too much of a surprise, given that Mike Osborne was undoubtedly one of the most formidable sax players to emerge from the fertile grounds of British jazz in the late 1950s and 1960s.
A glance at many of the key groupings ...
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