Articles by Bruce Lindsay

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

ALBUM REVIEW December 4, 2020

The Golden Age Of Steam: Tomato Brain

Read "Tomato Brain" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

It's been a while. The Golden Age Of Steam released debut album Raspberry Tongue (Babel Records) in 2009, the follow-up, Welcome To Bat Country (Basho Records), in 2012. Then they laid low until 2020 and the appearance of album number three, Tomato Brain. It's been worth the wait. The album's multi-layered, six-part, “Loftopus" is an atmospheric and often disturbing half-hour. The title track is a reminder of the comic, but dark, inventiveness of Scots poet, songwriter, humorist and all-round genius ...

ALBUM REVIEW November 24, 2020

BK3: Think About It!

By Bruce Lindsay

BK3 is the collective name for a trio of Scotland's finest jazz players—pianist Brian Kellock, bassist Kenny Ellis and drummer John Rae. The three musicians first came together as the rhythm section for the John Rae Collective in 1988 and in the 30 or so years prior to the 2020 release of Think About It! the trio has released just two albums. The trio recorded Think About It! at Sound Café in Penicuik, south of Edinburgh, but exactly ...

ALBUM REVIEW November 3, 2020

Eyot: 557799

By Bruce Lindsay

557799 is the fifth album from Serbian jazz fusion quartet EYOT since its debut, Horizon, was released in 2011. It follows on from 2017's Innate (produced by Steve Albini in Chicago) and builds on that album's mix of prog, hard rock and jazz. But this time composer and pianist Dejan Ilijic draws on Balkan myths and traditions, composers such as John Williams and Bruckner, and Sting's album The Soul Cages. The result is another impressive, often beautiful and always intriguing ...

ALBUM REVIEW September 15, 2020

Fini Bearman: La Loba

By Bruce Lindsay

London-based singer, musician and songwriter Fini Bearman has a history of fine recordings, notably 2014's Porgy And Bess (F-ire Records) and 2016's Burn The Boat (Two Rivers Records), which featured her exquisite “I'd Rather Have The Rain." La Loba is her fourth studio album and her first duo recording, featuring the cellist Zosia Jagodzinska. Just two performers, but with a sound that has all of the fullness and tonal variation of a much larger ensemble. On La Loba, ...

ALBUM REVIEW September 4, 2020

Bilge Gunaydin: Daydreams

By Bruce Lindsay

Turkish pianist, keyboard player, composer and arranger Bilge Günaydin showcases her talents on Daydreams, her debut release. It's an impressive first outing for the young musician—stylistically wide-ranging, moving from laid-back melody to drama and mystery, and beautifully performed by the musicians. “Inception" is a relaxed, melodic album opener—smooth without being bland, immediately engaging and providing space for each musician to showcase their abilities—bassist Apostolos Sideris adds an arco solo notable both for its slightly rasping tone and its ...

ALBUM REVIEW August 16, 2020

Andrew McCormack: Solo

By Bruce Lindsay

A solo album from Andrew McCormack—a musician best-known as part of Kyle Eastwood's band and, in the three years prior to this recording, as leader of the “prog-rock math-jazz project" (his words) Graviton—was always going to be an intriguing project. Would it lean towards the small-band, big sound of the Eastwood group, or would it be filled with variations on the prog-rock math-jazz theme, delivered with a plethora of electronics? Or perhaps it would hark back in its musical moods ...

ALBUM REVIEW August 12, 2020

Jamil Sheriff: The Ilkley Suite

By Bruce Lindsay

Commissioned by the Ilkley Jazz Festival to celebrate its fifth anniversary in 2018, The Ilkley Suite is composer/pianist Jamil Sheriff's musical interpretation of some of the legends, history and landscapes of Ilkley and its surrounding countryside in the English county of West Yorkshire. It is an ambitious, complex and wide-ranging suite in eight parts, performed by a quartet of instrumentalists joined on occasion by vocalist Beverley Beirne, who brings her skilful and evocative voice to tracks such as “Verbeia" and ...