Jazz Articles
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Dave Manington's Riff Raff: Challenger Deep
by Roger Farbey
Dave Manington's third album as leader is an intriguing one. It defies the listener's expectations as it progress through its titles. For example, the Chick Corea /Flora Purim-esque opening to Dr. Octopus" may lead the listener into false assumptions of the Latin kind. Similarly, the ensuing title track, including Tom Challenger's Albert Ayler-like tenor wails and Rob Updegraff's subtle echoey guitar, provides an appropriately aquatic, moody soundscape, augmented by Brigitte Beraha's mesmeric, wordless vocals. There's a lot going ...
read moreMa: Live
by Bruce Lindsay
Ma is part of London's endlessly intriguing Loop Collective, a grouping of younger-generation musicians and bands that includes pianist Ivo Neame, vibes player and drummer Jim Hart, trumpeter Rory Simmons and many others. Saxophonist Tom Challenger leads Ma: he's joined in the core trio by Matt Calvert on synths and laptop and by Dave Smith on drums. A quick check of the three musicians' resumés gives a hint of the breadth and extent of their careers. Challenger is ...
read moreKit Downes and Tom Challenger: Wedding Music
by Bruce Lindsay
Six improvised pieces of music, created over a three-day residency by two of the UK's most innovative and visionary young players and performed as church organ and saxophone duets. That's Wedding Music, by organist Kit Downes and saxophonist Tom Challenger. Six strange, atmospheric and starkly beautiful pieces of music. Wedding Music was recorded in St Paul's Church, Huddersfield, in Yorkshire--the home of a church organ which Downes describes as exceptional." It's the culmination of a three-day residency at ...
read moreKit Downes and Tom Challenger: Wedding Music
by Karl Ackermann
The multiple-award winning pianist Kit Downes and the versatile saxophonist Tom Challenger have the distinction of conceiving one of the most unusual releases in years with Wedding Music. This alliance of these critically praised members of the UK's Loop Collective has produced a superb and unique collection of duets for church organ and tenor sax. While organ and saxophone duos are a rarity even in the realm of the B-3, Downes and Challenger take it to an altogether different level ...
read moreDan Nicholls: Ruins
by Bruce Lindsay
Ruins is the debut release from keyboardist and composer Dan Nicholls. Nicholls is based in London, where he is a member of the ever-fascinating Loop Collective. He's declared that his music is inspired, at least in part, by prevalent issues" such as the Arab Spring--a quick check of the song titles, or a glance at the cover design, suggest that there are some pretty heavy prevalent issues under consideration here.The themes may be heavy, but the music is ...
read moreDave Manington's Riff Raff: Hullabaloo
by Bruce Lindsay
A band called Riff Raff, an album titled Hullabaloo; it's a fair bet that a rowdy collection of delinquents is about to create a raucous musical racket. The bet would be lost, however, as both band name and album title misdirect. Hullabaloo is a collection of free-flowing, often meditative tunes written by bassist/bandleader Dave Manington and performed by a sextet that harnesses its creative energies in the service of these compositions.Manington is a founder member of London's Loop ...
read morePhronesis: Green Delay
by Alex J Watson
Following the success of Organic Warfare (Loop, 2007), Copenhagen-born bassist and Loop Collective member Jasper Høiby presents his second album as leader--Green Delay--with his London based trio Phronesis. Høiby is joined on this set of original compositions by drummer Anton Eger and pianist Ivo Neame, who replaces Organic Warfare's Magnus Hjorth. Characterized by intense, bass-driven grooves in odd time signatures, lyrical melodies, and fantastic interplay, this album shows Høiby's flair as a composer, whilst framing the pure strength ...
read moreOuthouse: Ruhabi
by Chris May
This glorious album by London quartet Outhouse is among the most fruitful comminglings of jazz and West African musics ever recorded. It's the band's second disc, following Outhouse (Babel, 2008), and develops an experiment included on that debut. This featured Kaw Secka, a tama drummer from The Gambia, on one track. Secka returns on Ruhabi along with four other drummers from The Gambia, variously playing tamas (small, high-pitched talking drums) and sabars (conga-like drums played with a combined stick and ...
read moreFringe Magnetic: Empty Spaces
by Chris May
Trumpeter Rory Simmons' Fringe Magnetic was a highlight of the F-IRE Collective's festival launching London's smart new concert venue, Kings Place, in late 2008. Now we have the CD, which is released by F-IRE's fraternal co-activists, the LOOP Collective. The distinction between these two collectives, never rigid, is becoming increasingly blurred, as musicians move to and fro between them: see, for instance, the review of the John Turville Trio's Midas (F-IRE, 2010). It's all good.
Fringe Magnetic has ...
read moreJim Hart's Gemini: Narrada
by Bruce Lindsay
Jim Hart is rapidly establishing himself as one of the top vibes players in jazz: an inventive, adaptable and exciting musician capable of playing in a range of styles and ensembles. As well as being a much sought-after sideman, Hart also leads two bands. The Jim Hart Quartet made its recorded debut on the excellent Words And Music (Woodville Records, 2009). Narrada is the second album from Gemini, the freer, more improvisational of the two bands that Hart leads. Emergence ...
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