Dave O'Higgins

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Sean Fyfe: Stepping Stones

by Pierre Giroux
May 8, 2024

In an era when the echoes of jazz legends resonate through the ages, pianist Sean Fyfe emerges as a torchbearer of the hard-bop tradition with his latest release Stepping Stones . This album is a testament to the power of collaboration, as Fyfe is joined by the dynamic ensemble of tenor saxophonist Dave O'Higgins, drummer Matt Fishwick and bassist Luke Fowler, each of whom brings their unique talent and deep respect for those who came before. ...

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Judith & Dave O'Higgins: His 'n' Hers

by Chris May
October 9, 2020

Here is a great idea for a tough tenors face-off in the tradition of the Johnny Griffin / Eddie “Lockjaw" Davis group... Get hold of a tenor duo comprising a husband and wife who are on the verge of divorce and can barely stand being in the same room together and record them as they try to cut each other to ribbons. Nice. Better still, perhaps, get hold of a happily married tenor-wielding couple such as London-based ...

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Denise Mangiardi: Brown Book

by Jerome Wilson
April 27, 2020

Denise Mangiardi dwells in two musical worlds, as both a jazz singer and an accomplished classical composer. She puts all her talents to good use on this CD, singing a collection of self-written ballads, folk songs and torch songs, over her own haunting arrangements. Mangiardi's moving string-writing appears on the two brief “Soundscape" instrumentals which bookend the album, as well as on the songs “The Exchange," “Waves," and “My Beauty"--which is really Thelonious Monk's “Ugly Beauty" with lyrics ...

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Dave O’Higgins Trio + Max Ionata: Tenors Of Our Time

by Roger Farbey
January 5, 2019

Tenors Of Our Time was recorded on 14 May 2018 “live" with all the musicians in the same room and no headphones. Leader, tenorist Dave O'Higgins may have originally taken as a template for this album the team-up of Sonny Stitt and Sonny Rollins on the 1959 album Sonny Side Up (Verve) from where Stitt's boppy track “The Eternal Triangle" is gleaned. But this particular tenor saxophone pairing emanated from the Rochester Jazz Festival in New York when O'Higgins played ...

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Dave O’Higgins: It's Always 9.30 In Zog

by Roger Farbey
August 11, 2017

The back cover to this, Dave O'Higgins nineteenth album as leader, should be a clue as to its contents. A pastiche of the informative reverse sides of all those fantastic Blue Note albums correctly suggests that this is an album which contains at least some hard bop. This is certainly true of the opening title track and its successor, “The Adventures Of Little Peepsie." Things then move on with a more Latin-esque feel, albeit a very Chick Corea one, on ...

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Dave O'Higgins: Fast Foot Shuffle

by Ben McDonnell
September 12, 2004

The idea of an album conceived for a jazz dance group may set alarm bells ringing for many. Whilst Fast Foot Shuffle was written for the talented JazzCotech Dancers, preconceptions and fears that the music may have been compromised in some way are soon waylaid as one listens to O'Higgins' lively collection of reworked standards and self-penned tunes.

In addition to his regular quintet, O'Higgins enlists the help of Pete Eckford on decks and percussion, plus trombonist Barnaby ...

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The Dave O'Higgins Biggish Band: Big Shake Up

by Jack Bowers
September 1, 2001

British saxophonist Dave O’Higgins’ Biggish Band is what we used to call a tentet — but the ensemble is having so much fun playing his picturesque and always interesting charts on Big Shake Up that we won’t hold it against him. O’Higgins the composer draws on a number of influences from traditional and contemporary Jazz to funk, rock, Latin and whatever else enters his quick and resourceful mind. The music he writes is always rhythmic and consistently melodic; in other ...