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Jazz Articles about Conor Chaplin
Tom Ollendorff: Open House
by Chris May
There is technical excellence, there is pretty, there is a well-honed trio, there is an in-sync guest saxophonist, and yet, and yet.... Open House is London-based guitarist Tom Ollendorff's follow-up to A Song For You (Fresh Sound New Talent, 2021), his debut, which also featured bassist Conor Chaplin and drummer Marc Michel. The vibe is the same as on the earlier album, but there are differences in the detail. This time out, five, rather than eight, of ...
Continue ReadingEmma Smith: Meshuga Baby
by Bruce Lindsay
In early 2012, Emma Smith, already an established member of Britain's National Youth Jazz Orchestra but still only 21 years old, released her debut album. The record mixed standards with Smith's own compositions and established the London-based artist as a talented singer and songwriter. Another album would usually have been expected within a year or two, but it would be another decade before the second album, Meshuga Baby, saw the light of day. It's been worth the wait: Smith's early ...
Continue ReadingLauren Bush: Dream Away
by Bruce Lindsay
There's no “i" in “team," or so the motivational speakers of the world will have us believe, but as far as music is concerned every effective team needs an ear or two. The team responsible for Dream Away—from vocalist and lead artist Lauren Bush to the instrumentalists and producers—is well-served by ears and uses them to excellent effect. Throughout this album of standards and contemporary songs it's clear that everyone listens—to the words, the music and each other—crafting a collection ...
Continue ReadingTom Ollendorff: A Song For You
by Chris May
They say lightning never strikes in the same place twice. But sometimes it does. When it comes to new jazz guitarists of more than average talent, London has produced two in fairly rapid succession. In spring 2020, Rob Luft released his immaculate and uplifting sophomore album, Life Is The Dancer (Edition). Exactly a year later, Tom Ollendorff is releasing A Song For You (Fresh Sounds), a debut which delivers much and promises even more. Ollendorff and Luft ...
Continue ReadingDinosaur: To The Earth
by Ian Patterson
One of the flag bearers of contemporary British jazz, Dinosaur's rise to more international renown accelerated with its signing to Edition Records, and the subsequent release of Together, As One (2016) and Wondertrail. (2018). Formerly known as the Laura Jurd Quartet, the band had already been going since 2010, releasing one album, Landing Ground (Chaos Collective, 2012) to general critical approval. Each album displays significant personality--the embrace of strings, or analogue keyboards--and Jurd's refusal to tread the same stylistic water. ...
Continue ReadingDinosaur: To The Earth
by Chris May
Britain's Edition label has remained independent of London's post-2015 alternative jazz scene, whose aesthetic is formed in part by the emphases of identity politics and which now, in 2020, has gone overground with the signing of three bands led by movement auteur Shabaka Hutchings to Impulse! in the US. Edition, which was founded in 2008 by pianist Dave Stapleton and photographer Tim Dickeson, has preferred to pursue its own path. It has done so with magnificent style. (The label made ...
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