Jazz Articles about Alex Ward

About Alex Ward

Album Review

The pairing of clarinetist-guitarist Alex Ward and drummer Andrew Lisle dates back at least to 2014 when the pair recorded the album Red Kite (Raw Tonk, 2014) in a trio with saxophonist Colin Webster. As Ward is kept busy as a member of quite a few other groupings of various sizes, it is no surprise that Doors is their first duo release. Recorded on two separate days in August and September 2016, the album consists of four tracks of similar ...

Album Review

Forebrace: Steeped

by John Eyles
October 20, 2016

Steeped is the second album release from Forebrace, the welcome follow-up to Bad Folds (Copecod, 2013). For those who delighted in that album, the good news is that the quartet's line-up remains unchanged, and the balance between composed and improvised music is as before--composed pieces credited to Forebrace's leader and clarinetist, Alex Ward, alternating with improvisations credited to the whole group. The big difference between Steeped and its predecessor is that this album was recorded live in concert (at Cafe ...

Album Review

Alex Ward Trios & Sextet: Projected / Entities / Removal

Read "Projected / Entities / Removal" reviewed by John Eyles

by John Eyles
October 28, 2015

This release follows so hard on the heels of Glass Shelves and Floor (Copepod, 2015) by Alex Ward Quintet that it is tempting to see the two as a matched pair. Released on Ward's own Copepod label, the two have consecutive serial numbers and very similar sleeve designs and graphics. Each of the albums is titled after the Ward compositions it features. Where the previous album contained two readings--one studio-recorded, one live--of its title piece by the same quintet, the ...

Album Review

Alex Ward Quintet: Glass Shelves and Floor

Read "Glass Shelves and Floor" reviewed by John Eyles

by John Eyles
May 23, 2015

From the personnel of his new quintet, it is obvious that clarinetist Alex Ward keeps his finger on the pulse of the London music scene. In selecting players to join him, he has hit upon four highly-rated musicians who have been impressing audiences in the capital for some years. The quintet's cellist Hannah Marshall is a long-standing member of London Improvisers Orchestra as well as such fine groups as Barrel, Haste, Trio of Uncertainty and a trio with the quintet's ...

Album Review

Forebrace: Bad Folds

by John Eyles
December 7, 2013

Largely because of his contrasting instruments, there have long been two sides to clarinetist and guitarist Alex Ward. But it goes further than the differences between his chosen instruments, for Ward straddles other important divides including those between composition and improvisation, between electric and acoustic, and between rock music and--for want of a better word--jazz. As well as many fine duos, Ward has been a member of a diverse selection of bands including Camp Blackfoot, Pocket, SFQ, Limescale, the Duck ...

Album Review

Gannets: Transmission of Not

by AAJ Italy Staff
November 14, 2012

Una sorta di consesso indiavolato nei quali si trovano virtualmente riuniti Sun Ra e Sidney Bechet, Herbie Hancock versione Headhunters con Fats Waller, un'orchestrina mariachi e lo Sly and the Family Stone più scatenato, il tutto in un climax tra free jazz e indie rock. Non è un video montaggio o un collage ottenuto con le moderne tecnologie ma il pensiero istintivo e viscerale che prende forma all'ascolto di “Walkin the Gannet," brano di apertura di Transmission of Not, opera ...

Album Review

Kay Grant / Alex Ward: Fast Talk

Read "Fast Talk" reviewed by Raul d'Gama Rose

by Raul d'Gama Rose
June 3, 2012

It is not often that the human voice is pitted against another human voice expressed through the vibrations of a moist and well-shaven reed of any instrument that has one, let alone a clarinet, which is made of seasoned wood and has the ability of being made to cry and wail just as naturally as another human voice. Yet this is exactly what can be experienced on the extraordinary Fast Talk, featuring vocalist extraordinaire Kay Grant and clarinetist Alex Ward. ...