Jazz Articles about James Maddren

About James Maddren

Album Review

Tom Ollendorff: Where in the World

Read "Where in the World" reviewed by Marco Iacoboni

by Marco Iacoboni
June 29, 2026

Con Where in the World Tom Ollendorff, ribadisce la sua voce come una delle più limpide e tecnicamente rifinite della nuova chitarra jazz europea. Nato a Londra nel 1992, Ollendorff non è certo il classico virtuoso che cerca lo scontro fisico con lo strumento. Questo lavoro lo conferma con una estetica fondata su un'eleganza quasi cameristica--che diluisce la tradizione del jazz moderno con una sensibilità armonica di stampo classico e a volte folk--e lo proietta nel gotha della composizione ...

Album Review

Dave Holland / Norma Winstone / London Vocal Project directed by Pete Churchill: Vital Spark

Read "Vital Spark" reviewed by Neil Duggan

by Neil Duggan
February 13, 2026

Dave Holland, Norma Winstone and the London Vocal Project, directed by Pete Churchill, combine to present Vital Spark, an album featuring a collection of Kenny Wheeler compositions for choir and jazz ensemble, written in the last period of his life.Seven of the nine pieces on the album were mailed to Churchill over the course of a few years. He managed to resolve and arrange these part-formed fragments. Winstone added her lyrics, alongside Wheeler's settings of poems by Stevie Smith, Lewis ...

Album Review

Tom Ollendorff: Where In The World

Read "Where In The World" reviewed by Neil Duggan

by Neil Duggan
November 12, 2025

Since 2021, guitarist Tom Ollendorff has been evolving his sound over two promising albums. Where In The World marks a flowering of his talent, showing sophisticated playing and refined composing. Some of the impetus for this progression stems from his first collaboration with pianist Aaron Parks, whose style forms a natural synergy with Ollendorff's and proves the ideal vehicle for these pieces. Joining them are Ollendorff's long-standing musical partners: bassist Conor Chaplin and drummer James Maddren. The association ...

Album Review

Fini Bearman: Last Night of the World

Read "Last Night of the World" reviewed by Neil Duggan

by Neil Duggan
May 4, 2025

As professor of Jazz Voice and Songwriting at London's Guildhall School, Fini Bearman naturally incorporates songwriting exercises into her teaching. Over time, some of the songs born from these sessions evolved into fully realised pieces, several of which now appear on her fifth album, Last Night of The World. Bearman brings an impressive jazz pedigree to the project. A celebrated singer, composer, and instrumentalist, she has earned nominations for London Jazz Singer of the Year from the Global ...

Album Review

Josephine Davies: Satori: Weatherwards

Read "Satori: Weatherwards" reviewed by Chris May

by Chris May
October 31, 2024

From an international perspective, the best kept secret in British jazz could be tenor and soprano saxophonist Josephine Davies. She first recorded in 2000 as a member of Crissy Lee's Jazz Orchestra, a fifteen piece all-woman band who made one album, the self-produced ...With Body And Soul. (Actually, there was one male in the lineup, trumpeter Craig Wild, and the joke in the boys' club that British jazz pretty much still was at the time, was that he had the ...

Album Review

Orlando le Fleming & Romantic Funk: Wandering Talk

Read "Wandering Talk" reviewed by Chris May

by Chris May
August 27, 2024

Wandering Talk is the second part of a project from British bassist Orlando le Fleming which began with Romantic Funk: The Unfamiliar (Whirlwind, 2020). The album convincingly brings together the acoustic jazz tradition and the lush but muscular electric fusion which emerged in the 1980s. Not for nothing is one of le Fleming's heroes, paid tribute to on both albums, Wayne Shorter, a master of acoustic jazz and an architect of electric fusion. Romantic Funk: The Unfamiliar ...

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 ...