Results for "Steve Williamson"

Steve Williamson

Born: June 28, 1964

Sean Khan: Supreme Love – A Journey Through Coltrane

by Chris May
November 5, 2021

One thing you can count on with alto and soprano saxophonist Sean Khan is that he will never approach a project from a predictable angle. In this he resembles tenor saxophonist Steve Williamson. Both are among the most idiosyncratic of British jazz musicians as well as being uncompromising exponents of jazz as rebel music. Both first ...

Giant Steps: Diverse Journeys in British Jazz

by David Burke
May 15, 2021

The following is a revised excerpt from “Chapter 3: Full Force Gail" of Giant Steps: Diverse Journeys in British Jazz by David Burke (Desert Hearts, 2021). In the 1980s, a new generation of black British musicians began to reconfigure the country's jazz scene, changing the face -and sound-of what had previously been a ...

Giant Steps: Diverse Journeys in British Jazz

by Chris May
May 10, 2021

Giant Steps: Diverse Journeys in British Jazz David Burke 240 Pages ISBN: 9781908755483 Desert Hearts 2021 David Burke's survey of British jazz musicians of colour does not begin promisingly. The first sentence of his Foreword reads: “Jazz is, of course, African-American in provenance, just as the greatest ...

Shabaka Hutchings: Black to the Future

by Chris May
May 6, 2021

Though he is far too modest to make any such claim himself, most observers agree that saxophonist and clarinetist Shabaka Hutchings is the standard-bearer for the new wave of jazz musicians who have emerged in London since around 2015. Hutchings is a few years older than most of the cohort. He made his debut recording in ...

Sons of Kemet: Black To The Future

by Chris May
April 30, 2021

Sons Of Kemet is led by tenor saxophonist, clarinetist and composer Shabaka Hutchings who, though he is far too modest to make any such claim himself, is the de facto standard-bearer for the new wave of musicians who have emerged on the London jazz scene since around 2015. The band is one of three Hutchings either ...

Denys Baptiste: Pathfinder For The New London Jazz

by Chris May
June 30, 2020

Bandleader, composer and educator Denys Baptiste is among the generation of musicians, many of them of Caribbean or African heritage, who pointed the way for the younger players who have emerged on the London jazz scene since around 2015. Baptiste's contemporaries include saxophonists Jason Yarde, Soweto Kinch, Steve Williamson and Courtney Pine, and trumpeter Byron Wallen, ...

Tony Allen & Hugh Masekela: Rejoice

by Chris May
June 12, 2020

"Unfinished" is the kindest word to describe this album, recorded in 2010 and left on the shelf until its release was prompted after Hugh Masekela passed in 2018. It should have stayed on the shelf. The album consists of eight tracks of noodling by Masekela, accompanied by autopilot timekeeping from Tony Allen, who ...

New Jazz From London: Top 20 Paradigm Shifting Albums

by Chris May
June 1, 2020

After a lifetime trying to get on an equal footing with its American parent, British jazz has finally come of age. Since around 2015, a community of young, London-based musicians has forged a style which, while anchored in the American tradition, reflects the Caribbean and African cultural heritages of many of its vanguard players. The scene ...

Yazz Ahmed & The Guildhall Jazz Orchestra

by Chris May
November 30, 2019

Yazz Ahmed / The Guildhall Jazz Orchestra / Scott Stroman Milton Court Concert Hall Yazz Ahmed & The Guildhall Jazz Orchestra London November 27, 2019 Performances by student orchestras rarely qualify as must-see events. Audiences tend to be composed of fellow students and friends and ...