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Henry Spencer: The Defector
by Neil Duggan
In 2011, trumpeter Henry Spencer won the Best Newcomer Award at the jazz festival in the Wiltshire town of Marlborough; he went on to win the Emerging Excellence Award from Help Musicians UK in 2014. Sometimes these awards add extra pressure or, as is the case here, propel the musician to new heights. He climbs very close to the summit here with The Defector. The nine compositions on the album were inspired by those who defect -soldiers, politicians or partners ...
Continue ReadingEmma Rawicz: Chroma
by Tom Spargo
There are only so many times that one can use phrases such as “emerging talent" or “upcoming star" before one must concede that the artist in question has in fact made it into the major league of jazz. With the August 2023 release of her second full-length album Chroma on the label ACT, this is precisely the point that tenor saxophonist Emma Rawicz has reached in her career. Building upon her successes from 2022, which involved featuring as a finalist ...
Continue ReadingScott Flanigan: Clouded Lines
by Ian Patterson
A hefty eight years separate Scott Flanigan's debut, Point of Departure (Self Produced, 2015), and Clouded Lines (SF Sounds, 2023). Not that Flanigan has been idle. In the intervening years the Belfast pianist has completed a Ph.D in jazz performance, recorded a duo album with French vocalist Fabrice Mourlon, co-founded a thriving Friday-night jazz club and, in his day to day life, juggles gigging and teaching schedules in Belfast, Dublin and Cork. Clouded Lines, the fruit of a joint commission ...
Continue ReadingEmma Rawicz: Incantation
by Chris May
Incantation is the debut album from British tenor saxophonist Emma Rawicz, whose playing has a degree of poise that is not often found in a teenager (she is nineteen years old) on their inaugural outing. It is not unprecedented, however, as we are reminded by the case of drummer Tony Williams, seventeen years old and brimming with confidence when he joined Miles Davis' band. Anyway, Rawicz, like Williams, shows every sign of knowing where she wants to ...
Continue ReadingAnt Law: Life I Know
by Roger Farbey
Ant Law's third album and the follow-up to Zero Sum World (Whirlwind, 2015), is an impressive affair. The eight compositions reflect some of the guitarist's influences and experiences, real or imaginary. Since moving to London in the 2000s, Law has acted as sideman to various leading musicians including Tim Garland and recorded on Partikel's third album, the critically acclaimed Counteraction (Whirlwind, 2017). “Movies" opens the set with Law insinuating a coruscating solo which, at its apex, is redolent ...
Continue ReadingAnt Law: Zero Sum World
by Phil Barnes
The idea of the “Zero Sum Game" originates in economic game theory--in essence a situation in which gains or losses made by one participant when combined with those of all other participants sum to nil. So the cake is finite and if one person takes more, less is available to others. Guitarist and composer Ant Law has structured this album to fit the concept, citing the balance the pieces strike between the dense and dissonant improvisations of tracks like “Parallel ...
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