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Michael Moore / John Pope / Johnny Hunter: Something Happened
by John Sharpe
Over the years, quite a connection has built up between musicians from Amsterdam and the North East of England. Further affirmation arrives in the form of Something Happened by a co-operative trio comprising American expat reed man Michael Moore and the increasingly-regular rhythm team of bassist John Pope and drummer Johnny Hunter. Recorded in a studio in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in June 2022 at the end of a six-date UK tour, the album finds the threesome in relaxed and inventive mood, having ...
Continue ReadingRon Caines / Martin Archer Axis: Practical Dreamers
by John Sharpe
Practical Dreamers is the fifth collaboration between Discus label boss multi-instrumentalist Martin Archer and veteran saxophonist Ron Caines, and like the others, situates the latter's largely introspective reeds within varied electro-acoustic soundscapes. Caines was a founding member of progressive British rock band East Of Eden back in 1967, but after leaving to pursue jazzier endeavors, he performed with the likes of Evan Parker, Steve Lacy and Keith Tippett. While the pair's previous release, the excellent Blutopia (Discus, ...
Continue ReadingJohnny Hunter / Mark Hanslip / Olie Brice: Divisions
by John Sharpe
Divisions might seem a strange choice of title for such a cohesive set. It is the name of a four-part suite written by drummer Johnny Hunter for this all British trio completed by bassist Olie Brice and tenor saxophonist Mark Hanslip. As well as his own dates, such as Pale Blue Dot (Northern Contemporary, 2020) for string quartet, sax and drums, Hunter also stokes the fires of Cath Roberts' Sloth Racket and the collective Spinningwork (NEWJAiM, 202z). Perhaps the divide ...
Continue ReadingAdam Fairhall / Johnny Hunter: Winifred Atwell Revisited
by Chris May
Winifred Atwell was a gifted pianist, born in Trinidad, who came to Britain to study classical music at the Royal Academy of Music in 1946. By the early 1950s, a combination of talent and a husband who knew his way around British popular entertainment had established Atwell as a bill-topping theatrical and recording star. Atwell's happy-go-lucky “honky tonk" style was a combination of American boogie woogie, which she had picked up from US servicemen in Trinidad, and ...
Continue ReadingMoonMot: Going Down The Well
by Bruce Lindsay
Six musicians from the UK and Switzerland, with a strong background in improvisation and a talent for mixing acoustic and electronic instrumentation, creating tunes which move from the gentle, Rhodes-led, intro to “35 Years" and the bass-sax interplay which opens “Threnody Of The English Polity" to the raucous baritone sax of the title track—that is MoonMot on Going Down The Well. The sextet formed in 2017 when saxophonists Dee Byrne (Entropi, Deemer) and Cath Roberts (Sloth Racket, Favourite ...
Continue ReadingRon Caines - Martin Archer Axis: Les Oiseaux de Matisse
by Glenn Astarita
The founder of this UK-based label, reedman/multi-instrumentalist Martin Archer and many of his longtime or more recent cohorts radiate a seemingly eternal sphere of invention. Other than ongoing projects with specific artists or ensembles, no two albums are distinctly alike. Hence, the element of surprise is a recurring element. Here, Archer and saxophonist Ron Caines co-lead the septet for a multidimensional jazz-tinged bash amid colorific textures, pulsating free-form sprees, quaint oddities and other captivating attributes throughout the 77-minute runtime.
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