Tag: Album Review

1 December 2019

Album Review: BATL Quartet – BATL Quartet Live

BATL Quartet BATL Quartet Live Transplanted Perth-to-London tenor man Brandon Allen is a well respected fixture on the UK scene, sharing with Paul Booth the enviable position of being first-call session player for a host of big names while still preserving an unimpeachable name as an echt practitioner of modern jazz. This album will only […]

1 December 2019

Album Review: Maria Chiara Argiro – Hidden Seas

Maria Chiara Argiro Hidden Seas (Cavalo Records CRMCACD01) Italian keyboardist Maria Chiara Argirò maintains a busy presence around London’s cutting edge of jazz-based musical activities, most recently with Liran Donin’s post-Avishai Cohen outfit 1000 Boats. A formidably accomplished musician, she’s emblematic of the kind of international, wide-ranging scene that’s grown up in London, with musicians […]

1 December 2019

Album Review: New York All-Stars – Live Encounter

New York All-Stars Live Encounter (Ubuntu UBU0030) A long-treasured project for Ubuntu boss Martin Hummel, the first All Stars line up featured the veteran and late lamented Harold Mabern on piano. That set was so well received that a follow up was a must, and with Mabern’s health no longer permitting his participation, so top-flight […]

1 November 2019

Album Review: Barnacles – And So We Begin

Barnacles And so we begin (Cheeba Cheeba Records CCR003) Brass bands are an enduring part of the British musical tradition, and it’s fascinating to see how that tradition has morphed into the current popularity for funky updates on the wind and rhythm sound, from the consciously retro-named Hackney Colliery Brass Band on outwards. Barnacles bring […]

1 November 2019

Album Review: PYJÆN – PYJÆN

PYJÆN PYJÆN (Bandcamp self-release) For the past few years now jazz has undergone a change of face and sound. In 2015 Amercian saxophonist composer Kamasi Washington wowed audiences worldwide with his debut release The Epic, which gave its listeners a new approach to what we class as ‘jazz’ music. Since then the face of jazz […]

1 November 2019

Album Review: Quentin Collins Sextet – Road Warrior

Quentin Collins Sextet Road Warrior (Ubuntu UBU0027) Quentin Collins is a major force in British jazz – not just as a musician whose longstanding occupancy of the trumpet chair in Kyle Eastwood’s band has cemented his international reputation, but also as an educator, bandleader and producer – wearing the latter hat, he was most recently […]

1 October 2019

Album Review: Leo Richardson – Move

Leo Richardson Move (Ubuntu UBU0026) Richardson turned heads with his debut release The Chase, also on Ubuntu – little more than a year later he’s back with the follow up, with Tim Thornton replacing the NYC-bound Mark Lewandowski. Alan Skidmore guested on the latter release – here he contributes fulsome praise via the liner notes, […]

1 October 2019

Album Review: Bob Sheppard – The Fine Line

Bob Sheppard The Fine Line (Challenge Records) What might one expect upon first hearing the music of saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist Bob Sheppard? To the modern jazz enthusiast possibly hints of hard bop icons like Wayne Shorter, Lee Morgan and Joe Henderson may spring to mind. To the average listener floating horn lines mixed with a […]

1 September 2019

Album Review: Alex Hitchcock Quintet – All Good Things

Alex Hitchcock Quintet All Good Things (Fresh Sound New Talent FSNT572) This is the recording debut from a band that came together for Hitchcock’s final performance at the Royal Academy of Music, but this is no undercooked collegiate project – the band and the material have been thoroughly road tested since they graduated in 2016, […]

1 September 2019

Album Review: Mark Kavuma – The Banger Factory

Mark Kavuma The Banger Factory (Ubuntu – UBU0028) The advance in jazz education, the demise of the jazz club and the increase in public funding has changed the shape of career progression for many contemporary UK jazz musicians; the days of learning from ones’ peers on the bandstand, through a series of club residencies, have […]

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