Jazz Articles about Dave Stapleton

About Dave Stapleton

Album Review

Fourteen years on from the previous album under his own name, the music world is a different place, and indeed, Dave Stapleton is a very different musician. While his distinct ear for melody is recognizable, this affair is a world away from 2012's Flight (Edition). The pianist's breakthrough-at-the-time solo outing was an ambitious and expansive chamber-jazz affair crossing acoustic combo with string quartet. The feeling here is likewise evocative and picturesque, but on a more introspective and intimate scale.

Album Review

Slowly Rolling Camera: Silver Shadow

Read "Silver Shadow" reviewed by Geno Thackara

by Geno Thackara
July 28, 2024

Apparently you can roll quite a long way in a decade, slowly or not. To jump from Slowly Rolling Camera's self-titled debut (Edition, 2014) to Silver Shadow feels like hearing two different bands entirely. Granted, they switched from vocal songs to all-instrumental pieces along the way, so just about any outfit would sound completely changed. Besides that obvious shift in tone, though, this trio's electro-jazz-hop fusion has also come a long way in itself--and yet to those who might have ...

Album Review

Slowly Rolling Camera: Flow

by Geno Thackara
August 4, 2023

At first glance, it looks like an album they were always destined to make. Natural flow has been one central characteristic of Slowly Rolling Camera since the start. From their beginnings in quasi-trip-hop/jazztronica fusion, through a shift into a picturesque instrumental outfit, they have always been effortlessly fluid and comfortable with a good slow burn. They have seemed to be following a sort of elemental theme as well, with Juniper (Edition, 2018) setting down some earthy roots and Where the ...

Interview

Dave Stapleton: Moving Edition Records With The Horizon

by Ian Patterson
April 24, 2023

The old market town of Newbury lies an hour or so from London, on the edge of the chalky Berkshire Downs. Like any 1,000-year-old English settlement, it has seen its fair share of history, but it is probably best known for its 200-year-old horse-racing course. Or perhaps Greenham Common holds that distinction. The WWII air force base gained international notoriety in the 1980s when nuclear-powered cruise missiles were stationed there, provoking prolonged protests by fiercely determined women who eventually prevailed. ...

Album Review

Slowly Rolling Camera: Where the Streets Lead

Read "Where the Streets Lead" reviewed by Geannine Reid

by Geannine Reid
October 30, 2021

Slowly Rolling Camera is a jazz ensemble. Its core is pianist-composer Dave Stapleton, producer Deri Roberts, vocalist-lyricist Dionne Bennett, and drummer Elliot Bennett. Their newest album Where the Streets Lead is a follow-up to their acclaimed album, Juniper (Edition Records, 2018). The album presents eight tracks with a large ensemble, including an 8-piece string section and a list of world-class guests including Mark Lockheart, Jasper Høiby, Verneri Pohjola, Chris Potter, and Sachal Vasandani, as well as the band's regular guitarist ...

Album Review

Slowly Rolling Camera: Where the Streets Lead

Read "Where the Streets Lead" reviewed by Chris May

by Chris May
July 21, 2021

You might imagine jazz musicians are well suited to run record companies, for risk taking and creativity are fundamental to both activities. Mostly, however, musician-led labels have unhappy histories. Either the musician is not from the top drawer and their A&R skills suffer accordingly; or they lack the administrative skills to run a business enterprise effectively. Bassist and composer Charles Mingus was an example of the latter. But just occasionally the combination works. Trumpeter Charles Tolliver and pianist Stanley Cowell ...

Album Review

Slowly Rolling Camera: Where the Streets Lead

Read "Where the Streets Lead" reviewed by Geno Thackara

by Geno Thackara
July 21, 2021

When you're not sure which street to take, why not take several and see where they all lead? The inability to decide might just turn into the strongest asset in the right hands. It's always worked just fine for Slowly Rolling Camera, who have always remained too busy carving out a picturesque one-of-a-kind niche to actually bother pinning down what it is they do. Following on from the superb turning point of Juniper (Edition, 2018), which reinvented the ...