Jazz Articles about James Copus

About James Copus

Album Review

Acclaimed drummer, composer and producer Richard Spaven has forged a distinctive musical identity by blending jazz, drum and bass, electronica and hip hop. His technical fluency has seen him collaborate with a wide range of artists, including Cinematic Orchestra, Flying Lotus and Loyle Carner. Spaven, initially grounded in big band jazz, was heavily influenced by the London club scene, immersing himself in drum and bass, garage, dubstep and other styles. This has evolved into a singular approach that ...

Album Review

Kenny Wheeler Legacy: Some Days Are Better: The Lost Scores

Read "Some Days Are Better: The Lost Scores" reviewed by Francesco Varriale

by Francesco Varriale
January 27, 2025

A distanza di pochi mesi dal decennale della scomparsa di Kenny Wheeler (avvenuta il 18 settembre 2014) e in prossimità di quello che sarebbe stato il suo novantacinquesimo compleanno, la Greenleaf Music pubblica un omaggio al musicista canadese, le cui composizioni vengono proposte secondo arrangiamenti dell'autore che mai erano stati eseguiti in questa forma. Si tratta di un ambito--quello della musica per ensemble allargati--che Wheeler ha più volte curato nella sua vasta produzione artistica, a cominciare da Windmill ...

Album Review

Alex Hitchcock: Dream Band: Live in London

Read "Dream Band: Live in London" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
February 29, 2024

This is a bold expedition into the heart of progressive jazz, rendered across a vast canvas of three enthralling nights at the Vortex Jazz Club in London. This three-CD collection is not just a mere album, but a grand, audacious gathering of talents which blurs the line between a larger ensemble setup and a more intimate, modern band experience. Hitchcock's nifty approach to ensemble creation is at the core of this live recording. Rather than sticking ...

Album Review

Alex Hitchcock: Dream Band Live In London

Read "Dream Band Live In London" reviewed by Chris May

by Chris May
January 18, 2024

Viewed in retrospect, the abiding memory of 2023 is that it produced too many jazz albums prioritizing technical facility over emotional engagement. In London, New York and elsewhere (but not, so it seemed, in Chicago), musicians appeared to focus on virtuosity rather than feeling. Dullsville. For the record, some of those albums that did put soul on, at the least, an equal footing with cerebralism, are to be found in the Best Albums of 2023 round-up which can be read ...

Album Review

Daniel Casimir: Boxed In

by Chris May
October 22, 2021

Because of the supporting-cast role generally assigned to his instrument, bassist Daniel Casimir is not a household name in British jazz. But among musicians on the alternative London scene, and aficionados of it, he is highly regarded. Casimir is, for example, the bassist on all of tenor saxophonist Nubya Garcia's recorded output to date. Garcia returns the favour by being one of the two featured soloists on Boxed In, Casimir's ambitiously conceived, out of left field--and stonkingly good--debut under his ...

Album Review

Joe Downard: Seven Japanese Tales

Read "Seven Japanese Tales" reviewed by Chris May

by Chris May
May 29, 2020

Up-and-coming London bassist Joe Downard's debut album is an ambitious affair which winningly blends intricate soundscapes created by retro-modern analog synthesisers with the two-horns-and-a-rhythm-section acoustic jazz tradition. Downard's sextet includes five other rising stars of the London scene, prominent among them trumpeter James Copus, tenor saxophonist Alex Hitchcock (whose self-titled album debut with his band AuB is on Edition) and drummer Felix Ambach. The seven-piece suite which is Seven Japanese Tales was, apparently, inspired by Japanese culture and, ...