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Moving On Music: Literal Magic
by Ian Patterson
2025 marks the 30th anniversary of Moving On Music (MOM), one of Ireland's finest music promotion companies. There will probably be little hoopla, no big party and probably not even a cake. Instead, it will be business as usual for the small but industrious team of four, and that means bringing the best music of all stripes to the island. Jazz, traditional Irish, folk, electronic, contemporary classical, indie-rock, choral... and plenty that slips between the ever-widening genre ...
Continue ReadingStephen Davis: Leaving It All Out There
by Ian Patterson
"How come I haven't heard of you before?" a surprised Anthony Braxton asked Northern Irish drummer/percussionist Stephen Davis. The venerable American saxophonist and composer was bowled over after playing with Davis for the first time. Most musicians are. It is no secret in Ireland, or indeed Europe at large, that Belfast-born Davis is as good as they come. Since the turn of the century Davis has earned a reputation as one of the most innovative and exciting ...
Continue ReadingStephen Davis Unit: The Gleaming World
by Ian Patterson
Belfast-based drummer-percussionist Stephen Davis' debut album for 577 Records takes its name from a line in a Seamus Heaney poem. The Irish Nobel laureate drew deeply on his rural surroundings, and, as these song titles suggest, so too has Davis. In late 2023, Davis spent time as a musician-in-residence at The Courthouse, Tinahely, in County Wicklow--an Improvised Music Company scheme that provides musicians with the support, time and space necessary to follow their artistic muse. Davis tapped into the natural ...
Continue ReadingStephen Davis Unit, Shannon Barnett & Isaiah Collier
by Maurice Hogue
With this show falling during the holidays, the host decided to kick back a little and programmed three hours of random selections from mostly 2024 releases, plus three new ones: Northern Ireland drummer Stephen Davis' The Gleaming World, and keyboardist Marina Albero's A Nomad Of Sound , and one featuring trombonist Shannon Barnett who returned from Germany to her native Australia to record with student ensembles from Monash University in Melbourne. Playlist Emile Parisien Quartet “Tiktik" from Let ...
Continue ReadingAlexander Hawkins Trio With Neil Charles And Stephen Davis: Carnival Celestial
by Ian Patterson
The laws of probability dictate that if three musicians spend enough time together a trio recording will eventually arise. Pianist Alexander Hawkins, bassist Neil Charles and drummer Stephen Davis have clocked up many a road mile since forming in 2012. They have also recorded together in various settings, notably on the Alexander Hawkins/Elaine Mitchener album UpRoot (Intakt, 2017), with Anthony Braxton on Quartet (Standards) 2020 (New Braxton House, 2021) and on Alexander Hawkins/Mirror Cannon's Break a Vase (Intakt, 2022), which ...
Continue ReadingScott Flanigan: Point of Departure
by Ian Patterson
In an era where it's relatively easy to self-produce an album, Northern Irish pianist Scott Flanigan has taken his time with his debut effort. Now in his early thirties, Flanigan has been a mainstay of the small but flourishing jazz scene in Belfast and beyond for over a decade, collaborating with Linley Hamilton, David Lyttle and Mark McKnight, not to mention the likes of Van Morrison and Jean Toussaint. It's been a patient apprenticeship that has paid dividends, for Flanigan's ...
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