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Balagan Cafe Band: Balagan Cafe Band
by Bruce Lindsay
The Balagan Café Band is a London-based trio--guitarist Christian Miller, violinist Richard Jones and cellist Shirley Smart--whose sound encompasses traditional tunes, jazz standards, medieval romance and music for the lute. On this, the band's debut release, the core trio and guests take those influences and create an impressively diverse and enjoyable collection of tunes, played with skill and flair. “Balagan" is Hebrew for “a big mess," but forget any negative connotations of that definition: the Balagan Café Band ...
read moreJohn Martin: The Hidden Notes - Spirit Of Adventure
by Budd Kopman
The Hidden Notes--Spirit Of Adventure by saxophonist John Martin and his quintet (Ralph Wyld on vibes, guitarist Rob Updegraff, drummer Tim Giles and Tim Fairhall on bass) (mentioned briefly here) is a project that has had a four-year gestation. Calling the naturally occurring harmonics that are produced over the fundamental by all instruments the “hidden notes," Martin has put enormous effort into bringing out and controlling the harmonic possibilities of the saxophone through multiphonics, controlling the overtone patterns through different ...
read moreJosh Ison: Perceive React
by Budd Kopman
The road to saxophonist Josh Ison's debut recording Perceive React is a very interesting one of connecting up with and finding players whom one admires, asking them to take part in a recording session, their acceptance, and finally their meeting for the first time and clicking impressively.Ison had been concentrating on finding the core of what it means to be in the moment and ego-less when improvising in a free setting. He happened to hear bassist Henry Grimes ...
read moreAlex Merritt Quartet: Anatta
by Budd Kopman
Everyone, listeners and composers/players bring their life experience to the music at hand. Jazz musicians in particular, especially today when many, if not most, compose as well as perform, pour themselves once into a composition, and then again when performing it. The performer aims to virtually disappear, to separate the distance and space between himself and the listener, and allow the music to flow. Of course, the listener is also asked to fully “be present" and , in a sense, ...
read moreVitor Pereira Quintet: New World
by Phil Barnes
Vitor Pereira reveals in the sleeve notes that the inspiration for this collection was the fear that our world had reached a tipping point “where an increasingly globalised economic system powered by unscrupulous profit orientated multinational corporations is on the verge of collapse." It's a plea for a new, fairer, world where wealth is not concentrated in the hands of a self-appointed, entitled, elite who dictate societal outcomes without contributing their share through, among other things, taxation. So ...
read moreVitor Pereira Quintet: New World
by Bruce Lindsay
New World is the second album from this quintet, led by the London-based Portuguese guitarist and composer Vitor Pereira. Like the band's 2012 debut, Doors, the music reflects the many influences which Pereira has learnt from but New World sees his work move a step further, his voice as a writer and instrumentalist developing a more distinctive sound. The quintet has undergone a transformation since that debut album--the instrumentation remains unchanged but Pereira and altoist Chris Williams (from ...
read moreVitor Pereira Quintet: New World
by Roger Farbey
This is Portugal-born, now London-based Vitor Pereira's second album for the F-IRE label which again features alto saxophonist Chris Williams, already renowned in the UK for his stellar work with Led Bib and Let Spin. It takes just a few plays but once you “get it," the albums starts to fall into place as something quite remarkable. The chief asset of this quintet is the employment of the two saxophones, playing the ensemble passages alternatively in unison or harmony. This ...
read moreAlex Merritt Quartet: Anatta
by Tyran Grillo
It should be no wonder that Alex Merritt should be a practitioner of Vipassanā meditation. The English tenor saxophonist translates that very focus on mindful breathing to the horn with seamless concentration and awareness of heart. A child of Cambridge and graduate of the Birmingham Conservatoire, Merritt has found a character-building groove among bassist Sam Lasserson, pianist John Turville, and drummer Jeff Williams. As the Alex Merritt Quartet, they bring five years of connectivity to Anatta.Immediately striking about ...
read moreAlex Hutton Trio: Magna Carta Suite
by Bruce Lindsay
Eight hundred years after the creation of the Magna Carta--the Great Charter that signalled a shift in power from the English monarchy to the English aristocracy--pianist Alex Hutton and his trio draw inspiration from that shift in power distribution to create the Magna Carta Suite. Hutton's trio is based in the UK but has an international flavor--Israeli-born drummer Asaf Sirkis and bassist Yuri Goloubev, from Moscow, complete the lineup. Hutton's suite may be short, just 39 minutes, but ...
read moreFini Bearman: Porgy And Bess
by Bruce Lindsay
For her second album, singer and songwriter Fini Bearman moves away from the original songs of her debut, Step Up (Feenz Beenz Records, 2011). She chooses instead to delve into one of the best-known operas of the twentieth century--George Gershwin's Porgy And Bess. It's a work that has inspired some major jazz performers, including vocal greats like Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. Tough acts to follow, but these interpretations hold their own particular magic. The London-based Bearman makes ...
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