Results for "Rob Garratt"

ARTICLE: INTERVIEW January 22, 2020

Kendrick Scott: Making Walls into Bridges

Kendrick Scott authored one of the most compelling jazz releases of last year with A Wall Becomes a Bridge (Blue Note, 2019), a nuanced meditation on identity, history and prejudice, shepherded under the direction of producer and former band mate Derrick Hodge. Pairing gorgeous, searching improvisatory canvases with break beat interludes and samples from guest DJ ...

ARTICLE: LIVE REVIEW November 13, 2019

Robert Glasper Trio at Freespace Jazz Festival

By ROB GARRATT

Robert Glasper Trio with DJ Sundance The Box, Freespace Freespace Jazz Festival Hong Kong November 10, 2019 What can a visiting artist hope to offer a city in turmoil, torn apart and bleeding from months of violent unrest? Distraction, escape, respite-- sure, but just maybe reflection, too. Robert Glasper couldn't ...

ARTICLE: LIVE REVIEW October 9, 2019

4 Wheel Drive at Hong Kong Arts Centre

By ROB GARRATT

4 Wheel Drive Quartet Hong Kong Arts Centre Jazz World Live Series Hong Kong September 3, 2019 When exactly did jazz artists covering pop music shift from being a cheap and/or twee—but near-universally frowned-upon—novelty, to an almost obligatory rite of passage? Some will point to the pioneering piano ...

ARTICLE: LIVE REVIEW October 3, 2019

Hong Kong International Jazz Festival 2019

By ROB GARRATT

Hong Kong International Jazz Festival 2019 Hong Kong City Hall; Hong Kong Park Hong Kong September 22, 25-27 We've long been told that jazz is a world language, but regional dialects are becoming an increasingly louder part of the conversation. Sitting conceptually, if not geographically, on the nexus ...

ARTICLE: LIVE REVIEW September 18, 2019

Marcus Miller at Academic Community Hall of Hong Kong Baptist University

By ROB GARRATT

Marcus Miller Academic Community Hall of Hong Kong Baptist University, Jazz World Live Series Hong Kong September 12, 2019 You gotta feel for Russell Gunn--the trumpet player employed to spend around a half-hour every night being Miles Davis. Of course, as a member of Marcus Miller's band, it's not unreasonable ...

ARTICLE: LIVE REVIEW September 11, 2019

Kamasi Washington at Academic Community Hall of Hong Kong Baptist University

By ROB GARRATT

Kamasi Washington Academic Community Hall of Hong Kong Baptist University Jazz World Live Series Hong Kong September 6, 2019 The anointed savior of 21st century jazz, Kamasi Washington is all about size, scale and scope. He writes big, brash, hummable themes, punctuates them with gutsy, garrulous, ...

ARTICLE: LIVE REVIEW June 21, 2019

Jochen Rückert Quartet at Hong Kong Arts Centre

By ROB GARRATT

Jochen Rückert Quartet with Lage Lund, Mark Turner and Matt Penman Hong Kong Arts Centre Jazz World Live Series Hong Kong June 17, 2019 Jochen Rückert's career has clearly shifted up a gear. “I recently joined the class of professional artists that always travels with a permanent marker," the ...

ARTICLE: LIVE REVIEW May 26, 2019

Le French May Live Jazz Series in Hong Kong

By ROB GARRATT

Samy Thiébault; Laïka and the Unit Hong Kong City Hall, Theatre Le French May Arts Festival: Live Jazz Series Hong Kong May 21-22, 2019 The now-annual Live Jazz Series of long-running Hong Kong arts fest Le French May might have slimmed in size and shifted from ...

ARTICLE: LIVE REVIEW May 7, 2019

Ballaké Sissoko at Sheung Wan Civic Centre Theatre

By ROB GARRATT

Ballaké SissokoSheung Wan Civic Centre Theatre Le French May Arts FestivalHong Kong May 5, 2019 The kora must be one of the world's great improvisatory instruments, and Mali's Ballaké Sissoko is surely one of the instrument's most visible proponents. Somewhere between a harp and a double lute, the ...

ARTICLE: INTERVIEW May 6, 2019

Thundercat: On Kendrick Lamar, Kamasi Washington, Erykah Badu and the great LA jazz renaissance

By ROB GARRATT

When, a few years back, the mainstream media began breathlessly anointing the arrival of a West Coast-born jazz “renaissance," Thundercat's name was invariably invoked second in the evidence list— behind, of course, that of his childhood buddy Kamasi Washington. While Washington's career has gone stratospheric—with a summer co-headline tour alongside Herbie Hancock the latest summit mounted—Thundercat ...