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Emma-Jean Thackray: Yellow
by Jim Trageser
Many of the most prominent exponents of melding jazz with soul, funk and hip-hop have been trumpeters. Even in the late 1970s, Chuck Mangione was already taking soul-jazz and moving it further into an R&B orbit (and taking heat from jazz purists for supposedly selling out"), and in so doing exposing lots of pop fans to jazz for the first time. Herb Alpert, no stranger to bringing jazz influences to pop music, transitioned from his jazz-influenced easy listening ...
read moreEmma-Jean Thackray: Um Yang
by Chris May
Right now, in summer 2020, using new and recent releases as the yardstick, the two most exciting musicians on London's alternative jazz scene are trumpeters. One is Laura Jurd, whose recent To The Earth (Edition) is a high-water mark for her electro-acoustic band, Dinosaur. The other is Emma-Jean Thackray, whose EP Um Yang is also remarkable. Jurd is the longer established musician, having released three albums with Dinosaur since 2016. Thackray's first release came two years later, and she has ...
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