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Yazz Ahmed: La Saboteuse
by Chris May
If Miles Davis was alive today and in the studio recording Bitches Brew, the results might, just might, resemble parts of London-based Yazz Ahmed's La Saboteuse. Other approximate reference points are, during the more reflective moments, Jon Hassell and Brian Eno's Dream Theory In Malaya: Fourth World Volume 2 and Davis's In A Silent Way. But Ahmed's album is no knock-off of any of those discs--there are lengthy passages on which it does not sound remotely like either one of ...
read moreEmpirical: Out 'N' In
by Jakob Baekgaard
One of the great things about tributes is that they allow one to revisit and appreciate the influence of artists that deserve more exposure. This is definitely the case with the British group Empirical's tribute to reed player and composer, Eric Dolphy. Out 'n' In was released in 2009 and is still a text book example of how tributes should be done. Instead of playing an album of cover tunes, the group has internalized the influence of Dolphy and created ...
read moreStuart McCallum: City
by Phil Barnes
Much of what passes for progressive radio programming, whether that be traditional live to air or internet stations, has been pushed into genre ghettos in recent times--where a record can be enormous within a particular scene but invisible to 99.9% of the world at large. Even in Europe, where the genre constrained formats common in the USA didn't take hold until relatively recently, it feels as if anything that does not fit a mainstream pop template has been farmed out ...
read moreSons of Kemet: Burn
by Phil Barnes
The first thing you notice about Shabaka Hutchings' latest project, Sons of Kemet, is the unexpectedly large feel to the recording's soundscape. Not only does it have the hallmarks of a warmer analogue past but the reverb is at times extraordinary, being akin to hearing the band play in an immense auditorium with twice as many musicians as the relatively paltry core quartet listed in the credits. Drummer and producer Seb Rochford explained in interview that this was achieved by ...
read moreKairos 4tet: Everything We Hold
by Bruce Lindsay
With the release of Statement Of Intent (Edition Records, 2011) everything seemed to be coming together for Kairos 4tet. That abum, the band's second, was critically acclaimed; the band won the 2011 MOBO Award for Best Jazz Act. Then a trapped nerve in bandleader Adam Waldmann's elbow necessitated surgery shortly after the MOBO success and the saxophonist was unable to play for some months.Fortunately, by the sound of his performance here, Waldmann's recovery is complete. Everything We Hold ...
read moreTrichotomy: Fact Finding Mission
by Bruce Lindsay
So what is a “Fact Finding Mission"? It might be a pretty dull trip to gather data; it may be a euphemism for something a little more sordid. If it's being undertaken by Australian piano trio Trichotomy, then it's a whole heap of musical fun, for this particular Fact Finding Mission is the band's fifth album: a positive, imaginative and surprising collection.Trichotomy has been together since 1999--originally under the memorable but hard to pronounce moniker of Misinterprotato--and has ...
read moreStuart McCallum: Distilled Live
by Chris May
Emerging from the interzone inhabited by post-Pat Metheny guitar jazz, electronica, minimalism and ambient, Manchester guitarist Stuart McCallum's music combines the lush, the layered and the looped with real-time emotional engagement and vigor. Made with a large ensemble including acoustic string and woodwind sections alongside the electronica, Distilled Live sounds rather like an orchestrated version of Steve Reich's shimmeringly beautiful “Electric Counterpoint," written for Metheny and recorded by him in 1987 (and also available in a brilliantly articulated concert recording ...
read moreNeil Cowley Trio: The Face of Mount Molehill
by Dave Sumner
Neil Cowley TrioThe Face of Mount MolehillNaim2012The danger of composing tunes with catchy hooks and enthusiastic infusions of a string ensemble for a jazz album is that it gets dismissed as gussied up pop music; not jazz, just jazzy. Either unaware or unconcerned with the risk, pianist Neil Cowley presents a series of warm tunes that wear their heart on their sleeve. It's not the first time that unguarded sincerity overcame risk ...
read moreNeil Cowley Trio: Radio Silence
by Glenn Astarita
With this British trio's third album--and perhaps its finest hour to date--a heartwarming assault on the customary jazz piano trio format surges onward. Here, pianist Neil Cowley merges rock, pop sentiment and mainstream jazz into a stylistic enterprise, aided by a highly rhythmic undercurrent. Cowley injects a sense of antiquity into the program, via his slightly rustic sounding piano, shaded with a honky-tonk, full-bodied tone. It's an uncanny dimension that casts an earthy keynote into the grand schema, while enhancing ...
read moreNeil Cowley Trio: Radio Silence
by Karl Ackermann
In recent years, a number of piano trios have done an admirable job filling the void left by the untimely passing of Esbjörn Svensson and, by consequence, his pioneering trio, e.s.t. The Tingvall Trio, more than most, along with Sebastian Liedke, Marcin Wasilewski and Colin Vallon, have all overseen efforts that encapsulate a similar style and spirit. Notably, these trios are all European-based, as is the UK's Neil Cowley Trio. Virtually unknown in the United States, Cowley's longstanding group has ...
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