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Articles by Bruce Lindsay
Steve Fishwick/Alex Garnett Quartet: Marshian Time Slip
If the record label's name and the vinyl album's gorgeous retro sleeve aren't enough of a clue, the first few bars of “The Wrath Of Karn" make it clear. Marshian Time Slip is a contemporary slice of hard bop, from four excellent practitioners of the art. From cool, slow-burning and moody ensemble pieces to fast-paced, explosive, unison playing, the Steve Fishwick/Alex Garnett Quartet is at the top of its game on this impressive and highly-enjoyable release. London-based trumpeter ...
read moreSam Braysher: Golden Earrings
Mostly these days aspiring jazz musicians hear the songs of the American Songbook as “jazz standards," their melodies taken as jumping-off points for improvisational flights of fancy that move the tunes far beyond their earlier incarnations as pop tunes or Broadway showstoppers. It's a distinction that the young English altoist Sam Braysher makes in the liner notes to his debut album Golden Earrings, recorded in collaboration with pianist Michael Kanan. The duo also took note of it when preparing to ...
read moreBalagan Cafe Band: Balagan Cafe Band
The Balagan Café Band is a London-based trio--guitarist Christian Miller, violinist Richard Jones and cellist Shirley Smart--whose sound encompasses traditional tunes, jazz standards, medieval romance and music for the lute. On this, the band's debut release, the core trio and guests take those influences and create an impressively diverse and enjoyable collection of tunes, played with skill and flair. “Balagan" is Hebrew for “a big mess," but forget any negative connotations of that definition: the Balagan Café Band ...
read moreBeverley Beirne: Jazz Just Wants To Have Fun
What do the following artists have in common? Adam & The Ants, Foreigner, Kajagoogoo, Billy Idol, Bananarama, Right Said Fred, Kim Carnes. None of their songs are staples of the jazz vocalist's repertoire? Not long ago that would have been an acceptable answer, then British singer Beverley Beirne recorded her second album, Jazz Just Wants To Have Fun. Now those artists have something else in common--they stand every chance of becoming staples of the jazz vocalist. Beirne's chosen ...
read moreLinley Hamilton: Making Other Arrangements
Making Other Arrangements has been a long time coming--over 25 years, since trumpeter and broadcaster Linley Hamilton first heard Freddie Hubbard's Ride Like The Wind and decided that one day he, too, would make an album with a large ensemble. It's been worth the wait. Hamilton's third album as leader is lush, romantic and beautifully performed. Based in Belfast, Hamilton is an important figure on the jazz scene of the island of Ireland, as a musician, lecturer and BBC radio ...
read moreWild Card: Life Stories
Wild Card is, at its heart, an organ trio--guitarist and composer Clément Régert, organist Andrew Noble and drummer Sophie Alloway-- joined on Life Stories by a series of guests including trumpeter Graeme Flowers who was also an ever-present guest on the band's previous album, Organic Riot (Top End Records, 2015). Life Stories boasts a similar mix of instruments, voices and tunes to the previous album (although most of the guest players are new to the line-up) and, as before, funky ...
read moreHenry Lowther: can't believe, won't believe
If any jazz ensemble can be said to define the word “prolific" it's not Henry Lowther's Still Waters. The band's debut album, ID, appeared in 1997. can't believe, won't believe is its second release, just 21 years later. Good things, as they say, come to those that wait. Bandleader, composer and trumpeter Lowther has been a busy professional musician for over 50 years. He played at Woodstock in 1969 with Keef Hartley, was associated with the bands of ...
read moreAndrew Linham: Weapons Of Mass Distraction
Composer, saxophonist and bandleader Andrew Linham debuts his 17-piece Jazz Orchestra on Weapons Of Mass Distraction. “Jazz Orchestra" can be a warning sign of po-faced and serious “art" up ahead, but no such worries here. This is a Big Band in the best, big sound, big fun, sense of the phrase, performing 11 of Linham's compositions with all the energy and talent required to do them justice. Linham clearly enjoys inventing tune titles -each one seems to have ...
read morePeter Horsfall: Nighthawks
The title of Peter Horsfall's Nighthawks may call to mind the iconic Edward Hopper painting, or maybe Tom Waits' Hopper-inspired Nighthawks At The Diner (Asylum, 1975). A few bars into “Nighthawks" it becomes obvious that Horsfall and Waits both take inspiration from the painting ("Nighthawks lead a lonely life...")--but Horsfall's melancholy vocal stands in sharp contrast to Waits' gritty growl.Peter Horsfall is probably best known as the trumpeter and vocalist with Kansas Smitty's House Band, a young London-based ...
read moreIñaki Sandoval: Estonian Suite: Live In Tallinn
Berklee educated Spanish pianist and composer Iñaki Sandoval moved to Estonia from Barcelona to take up a post as Director of PhD studies at the Viljandi Culture Academy, University of Tartu. The move from the warm and sunny south of Europe to the no-less-beautiful but somewhat colder Baltic state seems to have kick started a period of intense creativity. Sandoval recorded Estonian Suite: Live In Tallinn at his concert in the Estonian capital in March 2017, part of the Iberofest ...
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Songs on the eve of... by Chris Abelen
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Venetian Blinds by Mike Freeman
Featured Event
Northampton Jazz Festival in Western Massachusetts: October 19-21, 2018. Paquito D'Rivera, Don Braden, and more!
Story of the Day
I love jazz because of Miles Davis and Vitor Assis Brasil. I was first exposed to jazz seeing I Festival Internacional de Jazz de São Paulo in 1978. I met Ron Carter at Arpoador. The best show I ever attended was Miles Davis at Canecão in Rio de Janeiro. The first jazz record I bought was Memorial Clifford Brown. My advice to new listeners..
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By Hernani Heffner
Member since: 2018
