My childhood was chaotic, exciting and a bit emotionally unstable at times. Both my parents were actors (my mum still is!) but my elder brother and I were loved and were always encouraged to do what we wanted to do. I remember lots of laughs, and my dad played the piano, we grew up […]
The nominations for the JazzFM Awards are in, and it’s especially gratifying to see how many of the nominees have been active within our area of the Jazz-o-sphere over the past twelve months. On the gig front, the Verdict has once again proved its worth as a viable performance space for touring jazz artists, having […]
The first step is knowing what you want. The second is giving yourself permission. The third is to ask the universe. It helps when you’re trying to manifest something that is within grasp, not something like winning the lottery or *hollow laugh* world peace. I didn’t light candles, and I didn’t sit in the lotus […]
Entitled Infection in the Sentence, pianist Sarah Tandy’s debut album takes its inspiration from a poem by Emily Dickinson. Tandy has a love of both literature and music, learning piano from a young age. “My mum was a piano teacher so when I was a kid, from really young, at 4 or 5, I was […]
New Generation Jazz: Alex Hitchcock Quintet The Verdict, Brighton Friday 18th January, 2019 This quintet, featuring saxophonist Alex Hitchcock and trumpeter James Copus, are a formidable frontline partnership. Both are members of Patchwork Jazz Orchestra, and bring a special chemistry to their performances with tight unison lines and an enviable musical telepathy. The quintet released […]
Emute Lab 3: Bog Bodies X the Threnoscope + Koray Tahiroglu & Roosa Poni The Rose Hill, Brighton Wednesday 13th February, 2019 Brighton’s Rose Hill Tavern saw Bog Bodies bring their signature approach to creating music to its cosy stage. Consisting of tenor saxophone, drums and an electric guitar laden with effects pedals, the short […]
James Brandon Lewis An Unruly Manifesto (Relative Pitch Records) Seasoned jazz veteran and tenor saxophonist, James Brandon Lewis has been an active and well-known player on the New York jazz scene for some time now, sharing stages with the likes of Ravi Coltrane and Jimmy Heath among a vast number of the many giants of […]
Patchwork Jazz Orchestra The Adventures of Mr. Pottercakes (Spark Label Spark!007) This impressive project unites some of the London jazz scene’s brightest young sparks (many of whom will be familiar to Brighton audiences from their appearances for New Generation Jazz) into a single multi-headed beast that provides a wide-ranging, ambitious showcase for everyone’s writing, arranging, […]
Sarah Tandy Infection in the Sentence (Jazz Re:freshed) Sarah Tandy has quietly been positioned as one of the movement’s most credible forces, emerging from the fertile South London scene as keys player for Nu Civilisation Orchestra, Maisha, Where Pathways Meet, Camilla George, Nubya Garcia, Nerija, and many more, and earning a ringing endorsement from the […]
Each month Peter Batten recommends a recording that jazz fans may wish to add to their personal library. Clifford Brown Jazz Immortal featuring Zoot Sims [Pacific Jazz CDP 7 46850 2] Last week I began preparing a talk about tenor saxophonist Zoot Sims. His discography suddenly reminded me of a session which I […]