Articles by Ian Patterson
Nigel Price Organ Trio At Magy's Farm
by Ian Patterson
Nigel Price Organ Trio Magy's Farm Dromara, N. IrelandNovember 29, 2025 You probably have to go back to the Duke Ellington Orchestra in the '50s to find a harder-touring jazz outfit than the Nigel Price Organ Trio. Between the beginning of April and the end of June 1950 Ellington led his musicians through 74 gigs in 77 days on a European tour. Talk about logistical headaches. Ellington might have smiled wryly at the notion of a ...
Continue ReadingOrlando Molina At Scott's Jazz Club
by Ian Patterson
Orlando Molina Scott's Jazz Club Belfast, N. Ireland October 28, 2025 One of the great things about Scott's Jazz Club is that musicians are often invited back. You get to see the first steps and evolution of a band or a leader new to the scene. You experience the growth and development of established acts, and you witness the different skins that many hard-gigging musicians inhabit. Venezuelan Chilean guitarist Orlando Molina first played the Ballyhackamore venue ...
Continue ReadingBaku Jazz Festival 2025: Part 2
by Ian Patterson
Part 1 | Part 2 Baku Jazz Festival Various Venues 20th edition, Days 5-8 Baku, Azerbaijan October 24-31, 2025 Driving around Baku the brightly colored dayglow signs advertising Baku Jazz Festival 2025 catch the eye at every turn. So do posters for COP 29, the international climate conference held in traffic-choked Baku in 2024. Baku nestles on the western edge of the Caspian Sea. The shoreline ...
Continue ReadingBaku Jazz Festival 2025: Part 1
by Ian Patterson
Part 1 | Part 2 Baku Jazz Festival 2025 Various venues 20th Edition Baku, Azerbaijan October 24-31, 2025 For any jazz festival to clock up 20 years is a notable achievement. But in Azerbaijan, where jazz is often met with indifference, this landmark is of particular merit. The birth, growth and survival of Baku Jazz Festival is down to the vision, faith and tireless efforts of its founder and Artistic Director, ...
Continue ReadingOrlando Molina: Autorretrato en tres colores
by Ian Patterson
Autoretratto en Très Colores--A Portrait in Three Colors--the debut of Venezuelan guitarist and composer Orlando Molina as a leader, and it is a work steeped in experience. Though recorded over two years, these compositions feel like the product of a much longer journey--one shaped by study, migration, and growth. The album traces the emotional arc of Molina's move from Venezuela to Ireland, carrying with it echoes of loss and distance, discovery and renewal. Melancholy and hope coexist throughout, bound by ...
Continue ReadingRemembering Jack DeJohnette: Unlimited Imagination
by Ian Patterson
It is with sadness that All About jazz must report the passing of NEA Jazz Master Jack DeJohnette--one of the most respected and influential of modern jazz drummers. He died of congestive heart failure on October 26, 2025. He was 83. DeJohnette belongs in the pantheon of great jazz drummers. If there were a Mount Rushmore of jazz drummers--and it would need to be one big old rock--Jack DeJohnette would certainly be there. His unique and ...
Continue ReadingAnthony Jackson and Yiorgos Fakanas: Interspirits
by Ian Patterson
This article was first published on All About Jazz on May 11, 2010. It may come as a surprise to anyone wading through bass guitar giant Anthony Jackson's discography, which mind-bogglingly totals over three thousand recordings, that he has never recorded a solo album. The legendary bassist--who has played with an astonishing variety of artists of the caliber of Chick Corea, Roberta Flack, the O'Jays, Buddy Rich, Paul Simon, Chaka Khan, Michel Petrucciani, Michel Camilo, Pat Metheny, Quincy ...
Continue ReadingJoel Frahm Trio At Magy's Farm
by Ian Patterson
Joel Frahm Trio Magy's Farm Dromara, N. Ireland October 17, 2025 After 30 years in New York and then Nashville, tenor saxophonist Joel Frahm has swapped the year-round blur of club dates and tours for the relative security of the teaching faculty at Texas State University. It is undoubtedly great news for that renowned institution's music students, but a loss for jazz fans around the world who are not going to see Frahm with ...
Continue ReadingChristy Doran's May 95 Sextet: Same But Different
by Ian Patterson
Curse or blessing? A festival handing a musician carte blanche for a one-off adventure sounds liberating, but the allure of artistic freedom can be tempered by pressure: what if the personalities do not gel? What if it bombs? Christy Doran, the Ireland-born Lucerne-based guitarist, has never been one to dodge a challenge. His entire career has been marked by adventure and innovation. From jazz-rock fusioneers OM in the early '70s to his later groups New Bag, Sound Fountain, ...
Continue ReadingEuropean Jazz Conference 2025: Italian Showcases
by Ian Patterson
Italian Jazz Showcase Various venues European Jazz Conference Bari, Italy September 26-27, 2025 Jazz rang out in Bari for four days during the Europe Jazz Network's annual European Jazz Conference. It rang out in Bari's streets, piazzas and theatres, and in ancient church and castle too. It may have been an event of note in Bari's cultural calendar, but in a sense this wonderful celebration of jazz was just business as usual for the ...
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