Jazz Articles about Byron Wallen

like 7

Zoe Rahman: Colour of Sound

by Neil Duggan
July 4, 2023

If you have shown your virtuosity on the piano in a variety of live and studio recordings, been recognized as one of the leading lights in contemporary British jazz and won multiple awards, what do you do next? In Zoe Rahman's case, more of the same but expanded and magnified. Most often heard in a trio format, Rahman has assembled seven trusted musicians to create an uplifting album, The Colour of Sound. Perhaps resulting from her background in ...

like 35

Rob Luft: Life Is The Dancer

by Chris May
April 7, 2020

British guitarist Rob Luft's debut album, Riser (Edition, 2017), was greeted with huge acclaim. Some observers likened his arrival to the emergence of Wes Montgomery or Pat Metheny. The music world is used to hyperbole, but for once the praise is justified. For anyone yet to hear Luft, a useful yardstick is the pianist Bill Evans: Luft conjures up degrees of seraphic beauty akin to those created by Evans during his purple period with bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul ...

like 7

Byron Wallen: Portrait

by Chris May
February 16, 2020

An all too rare event, an album from Byron Wallen. The British trumpeter is part of that cohort of musicians who immediately preceded, and continue to inspire, the young London rebels who have been renewing British jazz since around 2015. So, too, is this album's drummer, Rod Youngs. Youngs was born and raised in the US, where during the 1990s he was Gil Scott-Heron's drummer of choice. But since moving to London, Youngs has been aligned with contemporaries such as ...

like 255

Byron Wallen: Meeting Ground

by Bruce Lindsay
October 20, 2008

This album arose from a series of journeys--geographical, cultural and spiritual, but above all musical--undertaken by trumpeter and leader Byron Wallen, who first visited Morocco in 1996. The result of these journeys is a joyous and original record, fusing contemporary jazz with the music of the Gnawa musicians of Morocco.

The ten pieces of music on Meeting Ground tell the story of Bilal, a 6th century Abyssinian slave who was known for his beautiful singing. Released ...

like 1

Byron Wallen: Earth Roots

by AAJ Italy Staff
December 10, 2007

I recenti mutamenti ambientali sono stati oggetto di attenzione non solo da parte di movimenti ecologisti, ma anche di musicisti attenti, in giro per il mondo alla ricerca di strumenti etnici e contemporaneamente testimoni di cambiamenti che mettono in pericolo la molteplicità di culture che hanno come base il rispetto per la terra. Il trombettista sudafricano Byron Wallen ci trasmette in un disco ricco di suoni etnici, la sua visione di un'umanità unita nella diversità. Per farlo usa la sua ...