Jazz Articles
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Szun Waves: Earth Patterns
by Gareth Thompson
The second Szun Waves album, New Hymn To Freedom (The Leaf Label, 2018), was a critical smash that united fans of Radiohead and Pharoah Sanders alike. Media types drowned in a torrent of adjectives such as gleaming, sparkling and rippling, as if the combo of brass and electronics could produce anything else. Unless, of course, it was all done adagio in a deep bass register. For their third effort, the trio of Luke Abbott (keys), Jack Wyllie (sax) ...
read moreSarathy Korwar: More Arriving
by Gareth Thompson
In dusty old legends, the tabla came into being when a thirteenth century Sufi disciple sawed a pakhawaj (two-headed drum) in half. Sarathy Korwar has delved deeper into history than that by recording the music of the Sidis, descendants of African tribes who came to India in the seventh century. The results of this bore fruit on his album Day To Day (Ninja Tune, 2016) with ambient sonics flitting among the field work. A devout student of the tabla, Korwar ...
read moreLaurence Pike: Holy Spring
by Gareth Thompson
Most artists in any medium have a need of sunlight, or at least the promise of it. Percussionist Laurence Pike is one third of Szun Waves, a jazzy crossover act whose emergence has been widely acclaimed. On his second solo album Pike is in thrall to spring, the harbinger of summer, though it feels as much a homage to existence itself. Perhaps more so when we consider Pike's previous effort, Distant Early Warning (The Leaf Label, 2018), with its nervous ...
read moreSzun Waves: New Hymn To Freedom
by Gareth Thompson
Pythagoras had this notion that the Sun, Moon and planets all emit their own unique hum. Put simply, as these orbs travel through space they produce certain sound waves. Ever wondered what that might actually sound like? Wonder no more, for this second album from vanguard jazz trio Szun Waves is surely what Pythagoras had in mind. That is, if he could have predicted the later inventions by Adolphe Sax and Robert Moog. Introducing them briefly, we have ...
read moreLaurence Pike: Distant Early Warning
by Gareth Thompson
Laurence Pike famously studied with jazz piano legend Mike Nock at Sydney's Conservatorium. The master and his apprentice then later worked together, both in concert and in the studio. But whilst the percussionist Pike may be shorn of his guru's input on this album, Nock's imprint is still tangible. Distant Early Warning was conceived as a technological and spiritual jazz suite. Pike is the only performer, though this is not just an album for drummers to groove on. ...
read moreNightports w/Matthew Bourne: Nightports
by Gareth Thompson
The night he was named Perrier Young Jazz Musician 2001, pianist Matthew Bourne gave a performance that rather set out his stall. Using stillness and eruptions in the mode of Ran Blake, with soundtrack samples from Willy Wonka, Bourne played like a man possessed. Since then he's left few tones unturned in the search for new auras. Nightports is a series from UK-based The Leaf Label, where only sounds produced by the featured musician can be used. Most ...
read morePolar Bear: Same As You
by Chris M. Slawecki
Geography is rarely something that a writer considers when preparing a review. But Same as You sounds profoundly shaped by where it was mixed and mastered--in the Mojave Desert, by producer Ken Barrientos and Polar Bear drummer and bandleader Sebastian Rochford. “We spent a couple days at his studio then headed out to the desert for five days to mix it," Rochford recalls. Polar Bear's sixth release sounds wide open, dry and warm, quiet and loud, barren and ...
read morePolar Bear: Same As You
by Bruce Lindsay
Polar Bear's seventh album, Same As You appears barely 12 months after album number six, In Each And Every One (Leaf Label, 2014). It's far from being a “more of the same" follow-up though--this is a softer, more-at-peace Polar Bear sound than its predecessor, a mellower vibe. There are just six tracks on the album--all written or co-written by drummer and producer Sebastian Rochford. Rochford gives this album a warmer and more organic feel than In Each And ...
read moreWildbirds and Peacedrums: Rhythm
by Bruce Lindsay
As well as possessing one of the finest band names in contemporary music, Wildbirds And Peacedrums--Swedish husband and wife duo Andreas Werliin and Mariam Wallentin--has also produced some of the most intense, atmospheric and emotive songs. The trend continues on Rhythm, which the band describes as its “going back to our roots" album. Written, performed, produced, recorded and mixed by the duo, the album is the result of some intense creative effort. The result is impressive: it seems almost impossible ...
read morePolar Bear: In Each And Every One
by Bruce Lindsay
Polar Bear is back. Not just with a bang, but with a whole array of other sounds, including the occasional whimper. In Each And Every One brings together 11 tunes from the pen of drummer Sebastian Rochford--from the gently bucolic to the downright macabre. There's also an early front runner for the Best Song Title Of 2014 award. In Each And Every One is the British band's fifth album. It appears four years after Peepers (Leaf Label, 2010) ...
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