Jazz Articles

RAF Squadronaires and Todd Gordon: Evergreen

by Ian Patterson
February 11, 2013

The Royal Air Force Squadronaires can rightly lay claim to being one of the UK's most historically important big bands, and judging by the vibrancy of Helping the Heroes (Jazz Specific, 2012), undoubtedly one of the very best. A showcase for vocalist Todd Gordon and The Royal Air Force Squadronaires' impressive collective voice, that album is being launched in 2013 in several European countries as well as Canada, Australia South Korea and Japan under the new title Evergreen, no doubt ...

The Royal Air Force Squadronaires And Todd Gordon: Helping The Heroes

by Ian Patterson
November 22, 2012

One of the UK's premiere big bands, the Royal Air Force Squadronaires' roots date to 1939 when some of London's top jazz and dance band musicians were recruited to form the Royal Air Force Dance Orchestra, more popularly known as the Squadronaires. The band toured war-torn Europe to raise troop morale following the Allied Normandy Landings in 1944, and though it seems like fiction, it was heading for Germany before a German counter-offensive pushed the Allied forces--and the Squadronaires--back to ...

The Royal Air Force Squadronaires And Todd Gordon: Helping The Heroes

by Bruce Lindsay
October 29, 2012

Helping The Heroes, from singer Todd Gordon and the Royal Air Force Squadronaires, has the authentic, swinging, sound of a great big band. The guest singers showcase the range of vocal talent on the UK scene, and the album has its heart fairly and squarely in the right place, too, having been recorded in support of Help For Heroes, a charity which provides support for wounded UK Armed Services personnel and their families.The repertoire on Helping The Heroes ...

Jacqui Dankworth: It Happens Quietly

by Bruce Lindsay
August 15, 2011

It Happens Quietly is an album of great beauty. Singer Jacqui Dankworth is at the top of her game, investing this collection of songs with superb technique and humanity. She's ably assisted by superb musicians, and by some of the loveliest and most creative arrangements to grace a jazz record for some time. There's an element of poignancy too, as this album is the last work undertaken by Jacqui's father, Sir John Dankworth, before his death in 2010.

Jay Phelps: Jay Walkin'

by Bruce Lindsay
November 16, 2010

Canadian-born trumpeter Jay Phelps moved to the UK at the age of 17. Since his arrival Phelps has gathered much valuable experience with acts such as Dennis Rollins (who guests on Jay Walkin''s “10 Years"), Tomorrow's Warriors and the award-winning Empirical, before embarking on this debut recording as leader at the age of 28. It's paid off, for Jay Walkin' is confident, stylish and charming. Phelps has a great love of the jazz tradition and an enthusiasm ...

Tony Kofi Quartet: The Silent Truth

by Chris May
March 29, 2008

Saxophonist Tony Kofi is that increasingly rare thing on the British jazz scene, a player who didn't spend three years “learning" the music at an academic institution, but who discovered it, and developed his gift for it, mostly on the bandstand. True, Kofi did once spend a year at Berklee College of Music on a full scholarship, but the bulk of his learning curve came earlier, in workshops and on gigs in his hometown, Nottingham, and later, in the real-world ...

Anita Wardell: Noted

by William Grim
September 10, 2006

The best straight-ahead jazz singer on the scene today is Anita Wardell, the winner of the prestigious BBC Jazz Award last month, and Noted is one of the most impressive displays of vocal jazz and vocalese in many years. Backed up by her usual working trio of pianist Robin Aspland, bassist Jeremy Brown and drummer Steve Brown (along with guest saxophonist Alex Garnett), Wardell delivers knockout performances of well-known jazz classics and less familiar works that she has updated using ...

Various Artists: BBC Jazz Awards 2006

by Chris May
June 24, 2006

As a boy, I was told that wedding reports in our local newspaper generally concluded with the remark that the nuptial gifts were “both numerous and costly." A similarly de rigueur riff accompanies the publication of lists of awards nominations today, with “both varied and of a very high standard" the preferred epithet.

Sometimes the claim has substance, and sometimes it doesn't. It accurately describes BBC Jazz Awards 2006, a two-CD set cherrypicking the best of British jazz activity over ...

Tony Kofi: Future Passed

by Chris May
May 8, 2006

Though its nuances may not be readily apparent online, the back and front sleeve art for Future Passed, London saxophonist and ex-Tomorrow's Warrior Tony Kofi's second album as leader, is reminiscent of the time-travelling cover of Curtis Counce's 1958 recalibration of hard bop, Exploring The Future.

There are no astronauts on Kofi's sleeve, true, but the retro TV console, its 1960s design inspired by NASA space helmets, and the deep space panorama surrounding it, suggest a similar restlessness with present ...

Tony Kofi Quartet: Plays Monk (All Is Know)

by Chris May
September 5, 2004

First making a name for himself on the British jazz scene in '91 as a member of the high profile young Turks the Jazz Warriors, Tony Kofi went on to guest with a wide variety of artists during the first half of the '90s--from the David Murray Big Band, Jazz Jamaica and Eddie Henderson to Queen Latifah and Salt-N-Pepa--before joining the Township Express Orchestra and Tim Richards' Great Spirit, both of which he continues to play with. He is a ...