Articles by Bruce Lindsay
Daily articles carefully curated by the All About Jazz staff. Read our popular and future articles.
Robin Phillips: Re-Versed
How long does it take to write the lyrics? Some of the greatest and best-loved American Songbook lyrics might have been rattled out in a couple of hours or less, others might have taken months or years of refinement before their creators decided they were worthy of performance. They may be intended to tell a story, evoke a mood, reveal a character's innermost thoughts or get an audience singing along with the band. Presumably, they are all important, but many ...
read moreLondon Afrobeat Collective: Humans
Hard-driving, politically-charged, rhythmic, irresistibly-danceable music; what else could be expected from a band that mixes influences from Fela Kuti, Parliament/Funkadelic, Frank Zappa, and Nile Rogers and Bernard Edwards into one exciting and uplifting musical pot? Such expectations are high, but the London Afrobeat Collective meets them with ease. There have been a few personnel changes since Food Chain (Self Produced, 2015). Percussionist Zak Cohen has left without being replaced, Giuliano Osella is now on drums and, most noticeably, ...
read moreFor Now: The Turning
For Now is a young Texas-based quintet—vocals, guitar, piano, bass, drums—led by singer and composer Isabel Crespo. The Turning is the band's second album, following 2018's self-produced Elsewhere and the first with new members Ben McDonald and Matt Young. As with the band's debut release, the sound is expanded by the addition of guest players, but this time instead of adding backing vocalists, For Now brings in more instrumentalists with a particular focus on wind instruments, which adds tonal variation ...
read moreShamus Dark: Through A Glass Darkly
It's taken a few years, but at last the enigmatic and talented Shamus Dark has released a follow-up to 2013's Trouble In Paradise (Bunker Media, 2013)--the stylish and sophisticated Through A Glass Darkly. The London-based vocalist focused on Songbook classics on his previous release, and for much of this album he does the same, but this time he's delved into post-punk and blues, with songs by Gary Clark, Elvis Costello and the members of Joy Division joining compositions from the ...
read moreMerry Peers: Merry Peers
The collective name under which Brad Henkel and Yoshiko Klein operate suggests that the duo's debut release is a record filled with jolly songs about inconsequential things (or that it's a tribute to the Grand Slam winning French tennis professional, Mary Pierce). Whether such intentions are deliberate or not, it takes only a few seconds of “Glad We Did" to make it clear that jollity is thin on the ground, even if some sections of these two lengthy compositions might ...
read moreFrancesca Gaza: Lilac for People
Lilac for People is the debut release from singer, composer and arranger Francesca Gaza, an artist currently based in Switzerland and Italy. Imaginative, beautiful and superbly performed, the album is inspired by the seasons and by the myth of Demetra and Persephone. There are two songs per season and, says Gaza, every story “is in my mind connected to my imaginary garden that changes over the cycle of spring, summer, autumn and winter." “Strange Poet" (one of the ...
read moreTamara Obrovac Transhistria Ensemble: live@ZKM
In November 2016, in celebration of her 20-year recording career, Tamara Obrovac took to the stage of the Zagreb Youth Theatre with the Transhistria Ensemble. In front of a sold-out crowd, the Croatian singer and composer performed a concert recorded as live@ZKM. The two-disc set features 11 of Obrovac's compositions, written alone and in collaborations, taken from her back-catalog of nine albums, all performed with passion and style by the singer and her fellow musicians. Obrovac describes her ...
read moreShowcase
-
Songs from a Dream by Avi Adrian
Contest Giveaway
ELIGIBLE WINNERS: 5 | DAYS REMAINING: 21
Prize: Choice of two Origin Records CDs plus t-shirt
Sponsored by Origin Records
Sign in to enter
