Tori Freestone Trio El Barranco Tori Freestone, tenor sax, violin and vocals; Dave Manington, bass; Tim Giles, drums. Whirlwind Recordings WR4689 Freestone is rapidly carving out a career as an original voice on tenor, taking a highly personal pathway that skirts around such mutually exclusive territories as folk, free improv and the […]
Neal Richardson Band Ronnie Scott’s, London Sunday 5th June 2016 This was my first proper visit to Ronnie’s since the change of ownership way back when. Yes, inevitably things have changed, but it was nice to see that the club has retained a feeling of the original, and of course unlike Pete and […]
Kevin Flanagan Quartet Friday 17th June 2016 The Verdict, Brighton Beginning with Midnight Voyage, pianist Dave Gordon excelled with free-flowing solo lines reminiscent of the tune’s composer, Joey Calderazzo. Combining lesser-played jazz standards with his own original compositions, Kevin Flanagan’s original tune Newk was dedicated to Sonny Rollins and aptly illustrated his influence […]
Nigel Thomas Quartet: Hidden Nigel Thomas, bass Paul Booth, saxophones, bass clarinet, flute Mark Edwards, piano and keyboards Winston Clifford, drums. Pathway Records Contact Nigelglegge@gmail.com South Coast bassist and composer Nigel Thomas makes a welcome return with this excellent album following up his 2011 release, Yoichi. The re-appearance of two […]
Peter Edwards Trio A Matter Of Instinct Peter Edwards – piano, Fender Rhodes Max Luthert – bass Moses Boyd -drums www.peteredwardsmusic.co.uk Peter Edwards has put an satisfying amount of solid achievement under his belt since leaving Trinity Laban with a Masters degree. Starting with a MOBO nomination in 2014, he notched […]
The Paul Richards Trio Episodes Paul Richards – guitar Steve Thompson – bass Tony Shepherd – drums cdbaby.com/cd/thepaulrichardstrio2 www.paulrichardsguitar.com Just as Philadelphia produced great saxophonists and New Orleans incubated any number of wonderful trumpeters, so Wrexham seems to have something going on for guitarists; gypsy jazz supremo Gary Potter is a […]
Jeff Williams Outlier Jeff Williams – drums, percussion, Fender Rhodes Josh Arcoleo – tenor saxophone Phil Robson – guitar Kit Downes – piano, Fender Rhodes Sam Lasserson – bass Whirlwind WR4684 The veteran US percussionist’s new release tops up an already extensive discography that stretches from Dave Liebman’s seminal 1973 […]
Annatta Alex Merritt Quartet (F-IRE Label) Apparently “Annatta’ is a concept drawn from the Buddhist tradition, referring to 'a moment of awakening, whereby one can come to realise the illusory nature of self.’ Alex Merritt has assembled a formidable band of musical heavyweights for this release, and includes among his avowed influences such […]
Miles Ahead Directed by Don Cheadle Starring Don Cheadle, Ewan McGregor, Emayatzy Corinealdi Set in 1980, an era of self-induced retirement for Davis, and shortly before his Eighties comeback, the film leans heavily on the fictional adventures of Miles and the fictional ‘composite character’, Rolling Stone reporter Dave Braden, played superbly by Ewan […]
John Lake Band The Verdict, Brighton Saturday 26th March Pianist John Lake released his debut album Up On The Downs in 2013 and played some of the pieces from that album, but this night was very much about the new material from his new album Wave of Translation. Beginning with the upbeat […]