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Mark Wingfield: The Gathering
by Glenn Astarita
Mark Wingfield's The Gathering is not for the faint of heart or those who prefer their music neatly categorized. This is not background music--it is a sonic assault course demanding your full attention. Wingfield, a British guitar hero who clearly enjoys pushing boundaries, has assembled a supergroup of instrumentalists who seem to be having as much fun defying expectations as creating them. Gary Husband, a musical chameleon who switches from delicate piano to thunderous drums in the blink of an ...
Continue ReadingQuartet Diminished: Deerand
by Mark Sullivan
Deerand is a Persian term which means “duration" of instrument's tones. Quartet Diminished was established in Iran in 2013 by guitarist Ehsan Sadigh. This is their fourth album, following Station Three (Hermes Records, 2021). Their music is stylistically diverse, drawing freely from contemporary jazz, art rock, and avant-garde music. The membership has been relatively stable. Sadigh (electric guitar) has had bandmates Soheil Peyghambar (woodwinds), Mazyar Younesi (piano, voice), and Rouzbeh Fadavi (drums) on most of the group's albums. ...
Continue ReadingUsein Bekirov, Andrew Renfro, Jizue, The Aristocrats and David Preston
by Len Davis
New music from Ukranian pianist Usein Bekirov, New York drummer Andrew Renfro, Japanese band Jizue, and pianist Bill Laurence. Bassist Tony Levin, percussionist Gary Musznski, The Aristocrats, Polish band EABS, and London guitarist David Preston. Playlist Usein Bekirov “Breeze" from Freeway (TLSG Digital) 00:00 Andrew Renfro “Calls" from Primordial (Self Produced) 05:27 Jizue “Republic" from Lotus (Victor) 10:54 Bill Laurence “Ju Ju" from Rhodes MK 8 Sessions (Flint) 16:21 Tony Levin “Bringing It Down To The Bass" from ...
Continue ReadingElton Dean: Elton Dean's Unlimited Saxophone Company
by Chris May
A vitally important platform for apartheid-era expatriate South African musicians, Ogun Records was founded in London in 1973 by the bassist Harry Miller, then in self-exile from South Africa, and his wife, Hazel Miller. Chris McGregor, Dudu Pukwana, Mongezi Feza, Johnny Dyani and Louis Moholo were among those recording with Ogun in the 1970s under their own names or as members of bands such as Isipingo and McGregor's Brotherhood Of Breath. Alongside the South Africans, and often performing with them, ...
Continue ReadingRachel Z: Sensual
by Mike Jurkovic
Whatever her impetus--be it the loss of her parents or peans to a shared sense of hearth, home and heaven--pianist/composer Rachel Z's thirteenth full length album, Sensual, bares a sincere, hopeful humanity. Buoyed by a sense of survival, Sensual opens as if it were a letter, closing with the Foo Fighters' crotch-kick raise-the-roof-'n-rile-'em-up “These Days." Sensual pulls one in fast and fully with the keenly seductive opener, “Save My Soul." It dances. It stirs. Z, whose ...
Continue ReadingA Supreme Love
by Duncan Heining
Alan Skidmore is one of the finest saxophonists to come out of the United Kingdom, Europe or indeed anywhere. In fact, it was hearing Skidmore's tenor solo on “Have You Heard?" from John Mayall's Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton (Decca, 1966) that encouraged a young Michael Brecker to take up the instrument. Skidmore had also served his apprenticeship with blues singer Alexis Kornerin the sixties and by the end of the decade was equally well-versed in the blues and in the ...
Continue ReadingJohn Taylor Sextet: Fragment
by Chris May
The not-for-profit Jazz In Britain label is one of the unsung heroes of British jazz. And if it is being sung, apologies, it deserves to be sung louder. While it is fitting that the musicians who make up London's new alternative jazz scene receive a massive shout out, the players who came before them, who paved the way for British jazz's current explosion, tend to get overlooked. Slowly, this is changing, and Jazz In Britain is in ...
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