Results for "Empirical"

Empirical

Founded in 2007, ‘Empirical is still a reliable touchstone of contemporary British jazz at its most sophisticated’ today (Jazzwise 2022).

Featuring Nathaniel Facey (alto sax), Tom Farmer (double bass), Lewis Wright (vibraphone) and Shaney Forbes (drums), the band settled on its line-up in 2008 following the departure of three of the original college-friends quintet.

The quartet bonded through a sense of common purpose: “I’d never met guys who took it so seriously. The process of studying together is really what brought us together, and we just carried on doing it” recalls Tom Farmer.

Like Lambs

By Empirical

Label: Empirical Music
Released: 2022
Track listing: Giants Like Lambs Pt 1 Like Lambs Pt 2 The Garden of Beginnings

James Kitchman: First Quartet

by Chris May
February 28, 2022

In the pen portrait of London-based guitarist James Kitchman which is included on the website of his record label, Ubuntu Music, Kitchman singles out the five jazz musicians who have most inspired his playing. Four of them are saxophonists John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins and guitarists John Scofield and Bill Frisell--titans all, frequently cited as influences ...

Ferg Ireland Trio: Ferg Ireland Trio

by Chris May
June 4, 2021

Bassist Ferg Ireland is a young London lion whose recent credits include pianist Ashley Henry's Beautiful Vinyl Hunter (Sony, 2019) and tenor saxophonist Alex Hitchcock's AUB (Edition, 2020), stonking albums both. On his own-name debut album, Ireland is joined by drummer James Maddren, who is probably best known for his work with the ...

Sam Braysher Trio: Dance Little Lady, Dance Little Man

by Thomas Fletcher
May 21, 2021

It was back in 2017 when we were first introduced to Sam Braysher with his debut release Golden Earrings (Fresh Sound New Talent), performed alongside pianist, Michael Kanan and featuring a collection of reinterpreted songs from the Great American Songbook. Braysher is now following his own footsteps by releasing a trio album with a similar theme. ...

Pulled By Magnets: Rose Golden Doorways

by Chris May
February 17, 2020

After a momentous start in the mid 2000s with saxophonist Pete Wareham's Acoustic Ladyland and his own band, Polar Bear, drummer Sebastian Rochford's path through British jazz has been distinguished, though not without the odd glitch. The highs have been Himalayan. Perhaps most notably, he played a key role in reeds player Shabaka Hutchings' Sons Of ...

Indifference Culture

By Empirical

Label: Empirical Music
Released: 2019
Track listing: 1 – Non-verbal Language (Tom Farmer) 2 – Persephone (Lewis Wright) 3 – Jebel Barkal (Shaney Forbes) 4 – The Master (Lewis Wright) 5 – Indifference Culture (Tom Farmer) 6 – Celestial Being (Shaney Forbes)

Jean Toussaint: Live At The Jazz Cafe 091218

by Chris May
October 17, 2019

Most times, the transatlantic flow of jazz musicians is from east to west. Less frequently, as with Jean Toussaint's relocation from New York to London, it is contrariwise. Hot from four years as a member of Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers's Jazz Messengers, Toussaint arrived in Britain in 1987. He soon established himself as a ...

Distraction Tactics

By Empirical

Label: Empirical Music
Released: 2018
Track listing: ‘Distraction Tactics’ - Tom Farmer ‘Substrate’ - Tom Farmer ‘No Service’ - Tom Farmer ‘Jebel Barkal (Communion)’ - Shaney Forbes ‘Big Step’ - Nathaniel Facey

Alexander Hawkins/Elaine Mitchener Quartet at Sonorities Festival Belfast 2018

by Ian Patterson
May 5, 2018

Alexander Hawkins/Elaine Mitchener Quartet Sonic Lab Sonorities Festival Belfast jny:Belfast, N. Ireland April 21, 2018 Sonorities Festival Belfast is one of Ireland's longest-running contemporary music festivals. This year saw the biannual SFB hit the thirty-year mark and to celebrate the milestone festival directors Miguel Ortiz and Simon Waters assembled ...