Home » Search Center » Results: Gareth Thompson
Results for "Gareth Thompson"
Espen Eriksen Trio: End Of Summer
by Gareth Thompson
Any album recorded during the lockdown of 2020 will doubtless be scrutinised for cryptic references. As such, End Of Summer as a title might hint at something deeper (or darker) than mere seasonal flux. But amidst so much global turmoil, the Espen Eriksen Trio has held its nerve and created another poignant opus. Tranquility at the ...
Tashi Dorji: Stateless
by Gareth Thompson
It was an ambitious move from Bhutan to Asheville, North Carolina, that helped shape Tashi Dorji's musical direction. The guitarist had previously been steeped in classic rock and hair metal, but as a foreign exchange student he soon absorbed punk and free jazz. Two saxophonists in particular, John Zorn and Albert Ayler, inspired Dorji to his ...
Rymden: Space Sailors
by Gareth Thompson
Outer space and cosmic jazz have long been a match made beyond heaven. The latest act throwing their hat into Saturn's rings is the excellent Norwegian band Rymden, featuring keyboardist Bugge Wesseltoft. The trio has clearly boned up on Sun Ra and Lonnie Liston Smith, but rockier influences are present too from the likes of Hawkwind, ...
Collocutor: Continuation
by Gareth Thompson
Viewing the CV of musician-composer Tamar Osborn is like watching a tapestry unfurl in bewildering detail. Having started out on clarinet and saxophone, performing mostly classical works, she later studied rhythms and ragas in India, then collaborated with a vast array of talents, often fusing Afrobeat and Ethio-funk into jazzy paradigms. She was part of the ...
The Saxophones: Eternity Bay
by Gareth Thompson
Alexi Erenkov started out as a jazz student, but turned to guitar-based songwriting in a bid for deeper self-expression. Put simply, he found this new approach more liberating than working on Big Band arrangements. Interesting, then, to recall that guitars were merely tolerated and rather buried in the rhythm section during Big Band's heyday, until the ...
Clarence Clemons: Who Do I Think I Am?
by Gareth Thompson
Clarence Clemons Who Do I Think I Am? MVD/Virgil Films 2019 Everyone probably has their favourite Clarence Clemons saxophone solo. Take that fiery blast at the close of Bruce Springsteen's “Thunder Road," for example, where Clemons blows a divine howl like some avenging angel. Clemons's life is documented in this ...
Jo Berger Myhre & Ólafur Björn Ólafsson: Lanzarote
by Gareth Thompson
A testament to water and fire, Lanzarote is the fourth largest island in the Canary archipelago. In the 1960s, tourism was encouraged there at all costs, elements of which survive in Brit-pubs and karaoke bars on the waterfront at Puerto del Carmen. But the island's moon-like terrain has more recently lured visitors seeking yoga and yurts, ...
Resavoir: Resavoir
by Gareth Thompson
In the early 1950s, David Axelrod was hanging out in a Los Angeles park when a group of thugs mistook him for their target and sliced the musician with a knife. It feels apt to mention this in tandem with Resavoir's debut album for two reasons. Firstly, the shimmering spirit of Axelrod's music is a clear ...
Damon Locks Black Monument Ensemble: Where Future Unfolds
by Gareth Thompson
A creative force known as the Black Renaissance emerged on Chicago's South Side in the 1930s and developed through the next decades. This movement produced visual artists, writers and musicians, who explored new ideals of black culture via theatre, art works and composition to address social issues. Damon Locks might seem a modern torch-bearer ...
Sarathy Korwar: More Arriving
by Gareth Thompson
In dusty old legends, the tabla came into being when a thirteenth century Sufi disciple sawed a pakhawaj (two-headed drum) in half. Sarathy Korwar has delved deeper into history than that by recording the music of the Sidis, descendants of African tribes who came to India in the seventh century. The results of this bore fruit ...
