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John Taylor: Close to Mars
by Alberto Bazzurro
Nell'approssimarsi del decennale della scomparsa di John Taylor, che ci ha lasciati nel luglio 2015 un paio di mesi prima di compiere settantatré anni, ecco questo notevole album inciso dal pianista di Manchester nell'ottobre 2006 nei mitici Bauer Studios di Ludwigsburg accanto a un'ideale coppia di coéquipiers, oggi purtroppo a loro volta non più fra noi. Taylor era uomo di sintesi (come Steve Lacy, tanto per fare un altro nome), stilistica, nel suo raccogliere diversi input e riassumerli ...
Continue ReadingGareth Williams: Short Stories
by Peter Jones
If you have never heard of Gareth Williams, he is a quiet piano master who enjoys a bigger reputation with fellow musicians than with the public. A founder member and MD of the Nineties jazz-hiphop band Us3, and a former accompanist for the singer Claire Martin, he has worked at the highest level for 30 years, mainly in London. But London is a city blessed with many international quality jazz pianists, and Williams has faced formidable competition during his career. ...
Continue ReadingChris Laurence: Ken Wheeler - Some Gnu Ones
by Chris May
The Jazz in Britain label has made its reputation with a niche catalogue of previously unavailable archive albums, mostly recorded live back in the day by jazz greats such as the saxophonists Tubby Hayes and Joe Harriott. With the lovely Ken Wheeler: Some Gnu Ones, the label ventures more or less into the present day with three pieces written by the late trumpeter Kenny Wheeler and recorded in 2020 and 2021 by the bassist Chris Laurence, for whom they were ...
Continue ReadingSpin Marvel 2: The Reluctantly Politicised Mr. James
by AAJ Italy Staff
Spin Marvel è una formazione nata nel 2005 da un gruppo di musicisti europei dalle ampie vedute e senza preconcetti stilistici. Guidato dal batterista inglese Martin France (già membro di quell'incredibile fucina di talenti che è stata la big band Loose Tubes) Spin Marvel 2 vede, rispetto al celebrato album d'esordio, l'apporto decisivo del trombettista Nils Petter Molvaer. Insieme all'altro norvegese del gruppo, il percussionista Terje Evensen, indirizza la musica verso una maggior astrazione, verso una fluidità quasi metafisica nella ...
Continue ReadingSpin Marvel: Spin Marvel 2: The Reluctantly Politicised Mr James
by Chris May
It's elephant in the room time. Though no-one likes to mention it, experience shows that it's wise to approach any band led by a drummer with a degree of caution. Drummers are primarily involved with rhythm--a crucial component in music, but only one of several. Unless, like Art Blakey or Chico Hamilton, a drummer/bandleader has an empathetic composer/arranger to hand, the broader musical picture, including melody and harmonic structure, will inevitably suffer. Well, almost inevitably. But for every Paul Motian ...
Continue ReadingMartin France / Spin Marvel: Spin Marvel
by John Kelman
Appearances can be deceptive. Martin France has built a career over the past two decades in largely acoustic environs. Along with being a member of the cooperative ECM group First House from the late 1980s, the British drummer has been involved in over fifty projects, including saxophonist Iain Ballamy's More Jazz (Basho, 2007) and pianist Gwilym Simcock's Perception (Basho, 2007) and John Taylor's Angel of the Presence (Cam Jazz, 2006). While he's the UK's most ubiquitous jazz drummer, none of ...
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