Home » Jazz Musicians » James Maddren
James Maddren
Fini Bearman: Last Night of the World
by Neil Duggan
As professor of Jazz Voice and Songwriting at London's Guildhall School, Fini Bearman naturally incorporates songwriting exercises into her teaching. Over time, some of the songs born from these sessions evolved into fully realised pieces, several of which now appear on her fifth album, Last Night of The World. Bearman brings an impressive jazz pedigree to the project. A celebrated singer, composer, and instrumentalist, she has earned nominations for London Jazz Singer of the Year from the Global ...
Continue ReadingJosephine Davies: Satori: Weatherwards
by Chris May
From an international perspective, the best kept secret in British jazz could be tenor and soprano saxophonist Josephine Davies. She first recorded in 2000 as a member of Crissy Lee's Jazz Orchestra, a fifteen piece all-woman band who made one album, the self-produced ...With Body And Soul. (Actually, there was one male in the lineup, trumpeter Craig Wild, and the joke in the boys' club that British jazz pretty much still was at the time, was that he had the ...
Continue ReadingOrlando le Fleming & Romantic Funk: Wandering Talk
by Chris May
Wandering Talk is the second part of a project from British bassist Orlando le Fleming which began with Romantic Funk: The Unfamiliar (Whirlwind, 2020). The album convincingly brings together the acoustic jazz tradition and the lush but muscular electric fusion which emerged in the 1980s. Not for nothing is one of le Fleming's heroes, paid tribute to on both albums, Wayne Shorter, a master of acoustic jazz and an architect of electric fusion. Romantic Funk: The Unfamiliar ...
Continue ReadingAlex Hitchcock: Dream Band: Live in London
by Glenn Astarita
This is a bold expedition into the heart of progressive jazz, rendered across a vast canvas of three enthralling nights at the Vortex Jazz Club in London. This three-CD collection is not just a mere album, but a grand, audacious gathering of talents which blurs the line between a larger ensemble setup and a more intimate, modern band experience. Hitchcock's nifty approach to ensemble creation is at the core of this live recording. Rather than sticking ...
Continue ReadingMatthieu Bordenave: The Blue Land
by Mike Jurkovic
Getting across the great open land beneath big sky country is full of epic moments. The Blue Land, French saxophonist Matthieu Bordenave's second for ECM, is that migrant's diary. As he so skillfully rendered on his 2020 ECM debut La Traversée, Bordenave again enters the studio conjoined with the assertive mood swings of bassist Patrice Moretand the rapidly moving divertimentos of pianist Florian Weber. Only this time he adds to that valorous energy the meatier, Art Blakey-like sentiments ...
Continue ReadingAlex Hitchcock: Dream Band Live In London
by Chris May
Viewed in retrospect, the abiding memory of 2023 is that it produced too many jazz albums prioritizing technical facility over emotional engagement. In London, New York and elsewhere (but not, so it seemed, in Chicago), musicians appeared to focus on virtuosity rather than feeling. Dullsville. For the record, some of those albums that did put soul on, at the least, an equal footing with cerebralism, are to be found in the Best Albums of 2023 round-up which can be read ...
Continue ReadingMoss Freed / Union Division: Micromotives
by John Sharpe
A question any composer for improvisers must face is whether they can create something more worthwhile than what they might come up with if left to themselves. It can be a tough call. For some, such as Alexander von Schlippenbach's Globe Unity Orchestra or Peter Brötzmann's Chicago Tentet, the ultimate conclusion was no, while for others such as Anthony Braxton and Barry Guy the answer has been far less clear cut. British guitarist Moss Freed falls somewhere between the two ...
Continue ReadingPhotos
Music
La Porte Entrouverte
From: The Blue LandBy James Maddren
