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1
Album Review

Olie Brice Quintet: Day After Day

Read "Day After Day" reviewed by John Eyles


Three years on from the debut album by the Olie Brice Quintet, Immune to Clockwork (Multikulti Project, 2014), comes the follow-up, Day after Day. Despite the unchanged band name, the intervening years have brought changes; not only has the band switched record labels from Multikulti to Babel, tenor saxophonist Mark Hanslip has been replaced by George Crowley, and Polish alto clarinetist Wacław Zimpel by alto saxophonist Mike Fletcher. Despite those changes, most of the things that made the quintet work ...

2
Album Review

Tom Challenger's Brass Mask: Brass Mask Live

Read "Brass Mask Live" reviewed by Duncan Heining


You need a truly modern street band in your musical life. That's a statement. Period. No “buts," no “maybes." You might not know it but it's just what you've been lacking and here it is with Brass Mask's second CD, Live. I enjoyed their first record, Spy Boy a lot. Here was a band that were investigating the tradition, not just plundering for repertoire or for musical colour or as bricolage. These guys wanted to go back to ...

9
Album Review

Brass Mask: Live

Read "Live" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay


London's LOOP Collective has many talented members, including saxophonist and composer Tom Challenger and his band, Brass Mask. The nine-piece band--the octet which appeared on debut album Spy Boy (Babel Label, 2013) plus percussionist Jon Scott--mixes New Orleans, country blues, brass bands and contemporary jazz (including the influence of Henry Threadgill) and electronica. Many of these tracks appeared on that debut recording but Live, the band's second release, recorded at Servant Jazz Quarters in London, gives the tunes added punch ...

1
Album Review

Olie Brice / Achim Kaufmann: Of Tides

Read "Of Tides" reviewed by John Eyles


Recorded live at The Vortex in December 2014, Of Tides combines London double bassist Olie Brice and German pianist Achim Kaufmann in a duo. Bass and piano is an uncommon combination for a twosome, this one having arisen after the pair initially combined in a trio that also included Roger Turner on percussion. Potential obstacles to Brice and Kaufmann collaborating include an age gap of nearly two decades, and the fact that the pianist rarely plays in London. Despite such ...

25
Album Review

Indigo Kid II: Fist Full Of Notes

Read "Fist Full Of Notes" reviewed by Karl Ackermann


At the risk of implying that the very selective UK-based Babel Label has gone “mainstream," they have--of late--issued a number of releases that certainly have a broader appeal. A homage to Bill Evans Postcard to Bill Evans (2015) and vocalist Emilia Mårtensson's fine Ana (2014), now share a catalog with cutting edge artists like pianist Alexander Hawkins and groups like Woven Entity and Black Top. To be fair, Babel has long produced more genre-agnostic talent like vocalist Christine Tobin (the ...

4
Album Review

Indigo Kid II: Fist Full Of Notes

Read "Fist Full Of Notes" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay


The self-titled debut album of guitarist Dan Messore's UK-based quartet was credited to Indigo Kid. Album number two, Fist Full Of Notes, is credited to Indigo Kid II--a nod, presumably, to the personnel changes that have occurred between releases.For this second album, Messore is joined once again by bassist Tim Harries. The experienced Iain Ballamy is now a guest player, his place as a full-time band member taken by tenor player Trish Clowes. Martin France, Ballamy's band mate ...

56
Album Review

Woven Entity: Woven Entity

Read "Woven Entity" reviewed by Karl Ackermann


Even by the standards of the increasingly improvisational Babel Label, the self-titled Woven Entity is an unusual release. With a core group of three percussionists and a bass, the Woven Entity quartet includes Lascelle Gordon, formerly with the acid jazz band, The Brand New Heavies. While Gordon doubles up on percussion and electronics, fellow percussionist Patrick Dawes and drummer Paul May stretch their limits by extending their kits to include almost anything that generates a congruent resonance. May has worked ...

12
Extended Analysis

Now's the time III: The best in contemporary jazz from France and [tax haven] Luxembourg

Read "Now's the time III: The best in contemporary jazz from France and [tax haven] Luxembourg" reviewed by John Ephland


Every. One. Of. These. Tracks. Is. A. Keeper. To be swept up in a fervor when listening to music (always an unexpected pleasure) and finding it next to impossible not to write about the experience--during as well as after--is the dream all music journalists crave and celebrate every time they find themselves returning to that zone. Indeed, and in case you didn't know, every one of the writers you read here at allboutjazz.com writes for free. Why? My guess is ...

5
Album Review

Paul Rogers/Robin Fincker/Fabien Duscombs: Whahay

Read "Whahay" reviewed by Mark Corroto


Is playing with a European free jazz sensibility antithetical to the music of Charles Mingus? Absolutely. Does renowned bassist Paul Rogers try his hand at it with his new trio Whahay? Yes. Do they triumph? Without question, yes. Rogers, a veteran of the London scene and bands of Keith Tippett, Paul Dunmall, and Elton Dean, called upon two French musicians saxophonist/clarinetist Robin Fincker and drummer Fabien Duscombs to perform this Mingus tribute. The music is built upon Mingus' ...

11
Album Review

Alexander Hawkins: Song Singular

Read "Song Singular" reviewed by John Sharpe


Pianist Alexander Hawkins shines brightly in the firmament of the UK jazz scene. Already his resume is impressive. As well as leading his own ensemble, he features as part of outstanding collectives like the transatlantic Convergence Quartet with cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum and drummer Harris Eisenstadt, and Decoy with fellow countrymen bassist John Edwards and drummer Steve Noble. In addition he's shared the bandstand with the likes of saxophonists Evan Parker, Joe McPhee and Marshall Allen. Richly gifted Hawkins is ...


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