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Album Review

Tara Minton & Ed Babar: Two For The Road

Read "Two For The Road" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian


Australian vocalist and harpist Tara Minton and English bassist Ed Babar have been performing together for a few years, as part of the jazz ensemble Harp's Bazaar. Babar also appeared on Minton's engaging Please Do Not Ignore The Mermaid (Lateralize Records, 2020). This camaraderie is apparent on their first duo release, the aptly titled, Two For The Road. On it the pair cover a dozen standards with their signature versatility and fiery elegance. For instance, “Jazz Autographs," from ...

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Album Review

Derek Nash Acoustic Quartet: You've Got To Dig It To Dig It, You Dig?

Read "You've Got To Dig It To Dig It, You Dig?" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay


You've Got To Dig It To Dig It, You Dig?: not just a groovy album title, but wise words of advice. Saxophonist and bandleader Derek Nash clearly takes this advice to heart, crafting an album that's filled with eminently dig-able music. The advice that inspires Nash and his fellow players, as well as inspiring the album title and a tune of the same name, comes from Thelonious Monk. A few more of Monk's helpful hints--collected in 1960 by ...

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Album Review

Trudy Kerr: Contemplation

Read "Contemplation" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay


Subtitled The Best Of Trudy Kerr, Contemplation is a retrospective of the singer's career through selections from her ten album discography. Contemplation takes in Kerr's career from Blossom Dearie's “Sweet Surprise"--a track from her debut album (Sweet Surprise, Jazzizit Records, 1997)--through to “Poppies," from The Rhythm of Life: Ted And Gladys (Jazzizit Records, 2013), credited jointly to Kerr and her husband and bassist Geoff Gascoyne. Across these songs Kerr is acompanied by some of the finest ...

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Album Review

Mark Jennett: Everybody Says Don't

Read "Everybody Says Don't" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay


On Everybody Says Don't, his second album, London-based singer Mark Jennett joins a bunch of top flight instrumentalists, including producer Geoff Gascoyne, on a collection that takes in an impressive array of songs, composers and moods. Great songs, interpreted with style. Jennett opens up with Stephen Sondheim's “Everybody Says Don't," taken at speed. Gascoyne's acoustic bass and Sebastian De Krom's drums move the song forward with swing and precision, Jennett's vocal is suitably emphatic and Rob Barron's swift ...

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Album Review

The Gascoyne O'Higgins Quartet: The Real Note Vol. 2

Read "The Real Note Vol. 2" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay


It's the facts. Many inquisitive people spend their lives in pursuit of the facts. For the questing jazz musician, by contrast, the contrafacts take precedence. That's certainly the case for the UK's Gascoyne O'Higgins Quartet. The band's second collection of such tunes based on the chord changes from Songbook standards, The Real Note Vol. 2, features nine of them. Bassist Geoff Gascoyne and saxophonist Dave O'Higgins co-lead the group, which is completed by pianist Graham Harvey and drummer ...

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Album Review

Sax Appeal: Funkerdeen

Read "Funkerdeen" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay


Three decades since it was established, by leader and alto player Derek Nash, the UK's Sax Appeal still retains the fire and enthusiasm of youth--and a five saxophone front line that's more than capable of translating that energy into a big, bold, crowd-pleasing sound. Funkerdeen is the band's sixth album. As the title suggests, funk is to the fore, but there's also more than a hint of Latin, smooth '80s soul-jazz and a little bit of New Orleans.

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Album Review

Trudy Kerr and Geoff Gascoyne: The Rhythm of Life; Ted And Gladys

Read "The Rhythm of Life; Ted And Gladys" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay


Great male and female jazz vocal duos are rare as hen's teeth. Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormé? Billy Eckstine and Sarah Vaughan? Now there's a pair of new kids on the block--Ted and Gladys. Or is there? Check the sleeve of The Rhythm Of Life: Ted & Gladys and all is not quite as it seems. The dodgy photos of the musicians in their younger days--especially Gladys and guitarist Chris Allard--are a tad puzzling and the lady and gentleman on ...

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Album Review

Derek Nash: Joyriding

Read "Joyriding" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay


One of the strengths of the current British jazz scene comes from its core of mainstream, straight-ahead musicians, who focus their creative abilities on drawing fresh nuances from established musical styles; saxophonist Derek Nash is one of them. Joyriding features what he refers to as his “regular quartet," although that phrase does scant justice to the quality of the musicianship. Nash is a member of Jools Holland's Rhythm And Blues Orchestra, a regular presence on BBC TV ...

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Album Review

Josh Kyle: Possibilities

Read "Possibilities" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay


Possibilities, the debut album from singer Josh Kyle, is modestly titled. Although he's still only 24 years old, the Australian-born/London-based artist is not merely a singer with possibilities; he's already a mature and innovative vocalist and lyricist. Kyle's chosen an out-of-the-ordinary mix of songs, combining classics with originals and adding his own lyrics to tunes by such master composers as Herbie Hancock ("Proof") and Wayne Shorter ("Is It Yes Or Is It No"). The choices indicate that ...

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Album Review

Trudy Kerr and Ingrid James: Reunion

Read "Reunion" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay


Two talented vocalists, top-class musicians, inspired song selections, a few new lyrics and a genuinely original set of arrangements come together to make Reunion: a fresh-sounding and charming album from Australian singers Trudy Kerr and Ingrid James. Kerr, based in London since 1990, and James have been friends for many years. Each of them has toured and recorded extensively but surprisingly, given the obvious empathy between them, this is their first recording together. Kerr and James' voices ...


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