Results for "Chris May"
Kokoroko: Could We Be More

by Chris May
One of the features of the 2022 alternative London jazz scene is the incorporation of musical styles originating in Africa and the Caribbean, from whence a high proportion of prominent musicians on that scene trace their heritage. Not every band shares this African and/or Caribbean dimension but the majority do and it is one of the ...
RedGreenBlue: The End And The Beginning

by Chris May
RedGreenBlue sound like they have emerged from the same synapse-snapping dope bunker that La Monte Young and Jon Hassell exited with their Theatre Of Eternal Music in the 1970s, whacked out on opium, hashish and mescaline, dazed but not confused. RedGreenBlue may or may not indulge in the same psychotropic self-medication as their Lower East Side ...
Miles Davis Quintet: Live Europe 1960 Revisited

by Chris May
A high proportion of the studio albums recorded by Miles Davis from the mid 1950s until Bitches Brew (Columbia) in 1970 are landmark ones, so frequent and so momentous were the occasions on which Davis adjusted his direction. With a few exceptions, notably My Funny Valentine (Columbia, 1964), this is less true of the live albums ...
Akusmi: Fleeting Future

by Chris May
Anyone who enjoys the landmark albums that are Terry Riley's minimalist manifesto In C (Columbia, 1968) and Jon Hassell's fourth world masterpiece Dream Theory In Malaya (EG, 1981) is in for a big treat. Actually, a triple treat. French-born, London-based composer and producer Pascal Bideau's entrancing Fleeting Future is redolent of not one of those albums, ...
Mysteries Of The Revolution: Longing For The Dawn

by Chris May
London-based jazz-rock band Mysteries of the Revolution (MOTR) is the sonic equivalent of the James Webb Space Telescope. There might be only two core musicians--keyboardist / programmer Daniel Biro and drummer / flautist BB Davisbut the sound pictures they create are at times as epic as the Webb images of distant galaxies. MOTR debuted ...
Katalyst: Jazz Is Dead 13

by Chris May
Drab graphic design aside, the semiology of the Jazz Is Dead label promises good things. The name itself suggests music that is the opposite of dead--something vibrant, inventive, of its time--while the label's co-founders, producers Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Adrian Younge, are active in the struggle for universal social justice. On top of that, Muhammad was ...
Eyal Netzer & Oded Geizhals: Duo

by Chris May
If what looks like a chocolate cake on the sleeve suggests a birthday party or similarly exuberant affair, perhaps a house warming, think again. Duo is an altogether more intimate and introspective album. It was recorded by the Israeli tenor saxophonist Eyal Netzer and vibraphonist Oded Geizhals live in the studio and with, or so it ...
John Taylor Sextet: Fragment

by Chris May
The not-for-profit Jazz In Britain label is one of the unsung heroes of British jazz. And if it is being sung, apologies, it deserves to be sung louder. While it is fitting that the musicians who make up London's new alternative jazz scene receive a massive shout out, the players who came before them, who paved ...
Meeco: Keeping It Real

by Chris May
The Berlin-based producer and composer Meeco has a niche but devoted following, built up over a series of romantically inclined and elegant albums released between 2009 and 2014. The discs, which have pronounced Latin flavours, are Amargo Mel (Connector, 2009), Perfume E Caricias (Connector, 2010), Beauty Of The Night (Connector, 2012) and Souvenirs Of Love (Double ...
Jasmine Myra: Horizons

by Chris May
Unlike America, a country big enough to support multiple, more or less autonomous jazz scenes, England, like its European neighbours, is more suited to supporting a single centre. However, by a combination of talent and perseverance, a few artists have managed to create regional scenes which flourish independently of London. One such artist ...