Articles

Daily articles carefully curated by the All About Jazz staff. Read our popular and future articles.

INTERVIEW May 15, 2020

Whirlwind Recordings: Celebrating 10 years

This year London-based label Whirlwind Recordings is celebrating its 10th anniversary and looking back at a decade, during the course of which the label has grown to become an important brand in the jazz scene and beyond, with over 140 top-tier albums released under its name so far. The distinguished mark, which Whirlwind has established over the years, is less defined by a certain roster of artists or a specific sound than it is by a great diversity in musical ...

INTERVIEW November 11, 2015

Michael Janisch: The Whirlwind, Paradigm Shift and London's Label of the Moment

By Phil Barnes

However you look at it Michael Janisch is an extraordinarily driven, highly motivated, success story. Not only has he been the founder, owner and force behind London's wonderful Whirlwind Recordings for the last five years, but he has also just released one of 2015's finest albums in the adventurous 2CD set Paradigm Shift. It's no coincidence that the label takes Janisch's nickname “the whirlwind"--at the time of the interview in late October he was two thirds of the way through ...

ALBUM REVIEW October 23, 2015

Michael Janisch: Paradigm Shift

By Roger Farbey

This impressive double album recorded live over two nights in 2011 at Pizza Express Jazz Club, London is Michael Janisch's follow-up to his 2010 debut album Purpose Built. The release has been some four years in gestation for the U.S. born, Berklee educated and now UK-based bassist and composer. Additional post-production electronics and effects were introduced over a period of roughly a year, between 2014 and 2015, yielding an extremely satisfying result. The low groan of looped bass ...

TAKE FIVE WITH... December 29, 2014

Take Five With Michael Janisch

By Michael Janisch

Meet Michael Janisch:Freelance double & electric bassist, composer, producer, record label owner & bandleader from the USA, resident since 2005 in London, England. Performances with Joe Lovano, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Mark Turner, George Garzone, Dianne Reeves, Shirley Horn, Evan Parker, Gary Husband, Joe Locke, Walter Smith III, Mike Moreno, Jason Palmer, Jon Irabagon, Logan Richardson, Will Vinson, Ingrid Jensen, Patrick Cornelius, Ambrose Akinmusire, etc. Founder and MD of Whirlwind Recordings. Instrument(s): Double and electric basses

ALBUM REVIEW April 29, 2010

Michael Janisch: Purpose Built

By Edward Blanco

A relative newcomer on the international jazz scene, Michael Janisch is an American bassist currently living in London and making his debut recording with the very impressive Purpose Built, a potent selection of eight original composition and four familiar jazz standards. Janisch offers a diverse repertoire of melody-rich, sophisticated charts in a musical palette of essentially modern jazz which--with its improvisational approach, time signatures and many intricate lines throughout--would at first, seem appealing to only the most discerning of jazz ...

ALBUM REVIEW March 21, 2010

Michael Janisch: Purpose Built

By Woodrow Wilkins

The first notes of Purpose Built's opening track draw attention, setting up a pleasurable jaunt into the world of Michael Janisch on this 30 year-old bassist's debut as a bandleader. Born in the United States and now residing in London, England, Janisch is skilled at both the acoustic and the electric bass. He has performed with various jazz luminaries, including vibraphonist Gary Burton, trumpeter Roy Hargrove, pianist Shirley Horn, and saxophonist Joe Lovano. For his premiere release, he ...

ALBUM REVIEW March 3, 2010

Michael Janisch: Purpose Built

By J Hunter

At a glance, Purpose Built, bassist Michael Janisch's debut as a leader, looks like a big-band session. The roster on the back of the CD case is not just stocked with notables, it's a long list of notables. As such, it would make sense to imagine this group arranged on risers, pinning the studio's needles as they achieve full song. However, the key to this disc is in its title. Rather than put all his talented eggs in one basket, ...