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Johanna Burnheart: Burnheart
by Chris May
The violin has an eventful history in jazz. But it is still a niche instrument, despite a line of singular players stretching back to Stephane Grappelli and Stuff Smith (who deserves some bonus points for composing the immortal “If You're A Viper"). There are no schools of jazz violinists, simply a succession of one-off stylists, with ...
Various Artists: Blue Note Re:imagined
by Chris May
The idea—honouring Blue Note's legacy while mapping out a possible future—promises much. The actuality is a curate's egg. The sixteen artists each interpreting a classic Blue Note-associated tune are not, as the label's American publicity has it, among the London scene's “most exciting young talents." A few are, but not many. The sixteen are instead an ...
Samuel Hällkvist: Epik Didaktik Pastoral
by Chris May
Swedish guitarist Samuel Hällkvist's rifftastic electric trio plays an exhilarating mixture of jazz, prog rock and minimalist music. Riffs aside, the key ingredients are cross rhythms, rhythmic displacement and lavish servings of MIDI-enabled keyboards and tuned percussion. The result is heavy on the tension and light on the release. A close comparator is Swiss keyboard player ...
New Jazz From London: Top 20 Paradigm Shifting Albums
by Chris May
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 ...
Agile Experiments: Alive In The Empire
by Ian Patterson
The clue is the name. Take a handful of musicians, place them in front of an audience and say “ready, steady go." Since starting Agile Experiments in 2015, multi-instrumentalist Dave De Rose has marshaled dozens of musicians for his sonic experiments, whereby small combos play entirely improvised one-hour gigs. Alive in the Empire, the fifth release ...
Olive Branch or Pat Nip?
by Patrick Burnette
After the “politicapocalypse" (Mike's coinage--ask him) of the previous episode, the boys decide to gently transition away from that minefield by looking at two artists more obliquely engaged with political discourse and two artists more or less removed from it entirely (by temperament and timing). To soothe Pat's scalded nerves, Mike brings a couple “cool" cats ...
A Jazz Immuno-Booster: Part 2
by Ludovico Granvassu
Our sequestration continues. But so does this mix-tape series featuring music selected by jazz musicians to whom we have asked to share one song they rely on when they need to be uplifted, or soothed, and to make us fly beyond the walls that keep us protected from the greatest pandemic of our generation.
Yazz Ahmed: The Inclusive Saboteuse
by Ludovico Granvassu
Pretty much from the beginning of her career, trumpet and flugelhorn player Yazz Ahmed has been intent on sabotaging the walls and fences that divide the jazz world, championing an inclusive vision in which Arabic traditions blend seamlessly with loops and electronics, and rock and pop can offer jazz plenty of inspiration. Two years ...
Alison Rayner Quintet: Short Stories
by Chris May
The Alison Rayner Quintet's third album is good medicine. Despite the sad events which inspired it, about which more in a moment, Short Stories tells its tales through strong melodies, sinewy rhythms and luminous solos, is by turns tender and exuberant, has an uplifting narrative arc, and simply makes you feel better for listening to it. ...
Rebecca Nash: Peaceful King
by Chris May
You can judge a book by its cover, and likewise an album. Sometimes. Too often, striking content fails to follow striking packaging. British keyboard player Rebecca Nash's Peaceful King, however, proves to be as beautiful as its artwork and graphic design. It joins a handful of other more or less recent, promise-fulfilling albums, from which Binker ...
