Jazz Articles

Gareth Williams: Short Stories

by Peter Jones
October 7, 2022

If you have never heard of Gareth Williams, he is a quiet piano master who enjoys a bigger reputation with fellow musicians than with the public. A founder member and MD of the Nineties jazz-hiphop band Us3, and a former accompanist for the singer Claire Martin, he has worked at the highest level for 30 years, mainly in London. But London is a city blessed with many international quality jazz pianists, and Williams has faced formidable competition during his career. ...

Alan Skidmore: After The Rain

by Duncan Heining
August 28, 2017

In 1998, with After The Rain British saxophonist Alan Skidmore got to achieve a lifetime ambition to record this beautiful 'jazz with strings' album. Out of print for some time, its reissue is well overdue. It was once a cliché in the jazz world amongst critics that records such as this represented a descent into the depths of middle-brow hell. The one exception, they would allow was Stan Getz' Focus with Eddie Sauter's gorgeously Bartokian string arrangements. Like most critical ...

Peter King Quartet: Janus

by Chris May
January 16, 2007

In 1994, the London branch of the international art auctioneers, Christie's, held a sale of Charlie Parker memorabilia. The prize exhibit was the white plastic saxophone played by Parker during his celebrated Massey Hall, Toronto performance with Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Charles Mingus and Max Roach in 1953. The winning bid of $150,000 was somewhat higher than that possible from this writer, and so the saxophone went to the mayor of Parker's birthplace, Kansas City.

To encourage the buyers, Christie's ...