Brighton Alternative Jazz Festival: Trevor Watts & Veryan Weston The Verdict, Brighton Thursday 4th October, 2018 Brighton’s Alternative Jazz Festival, in its third incarnation this year, kicks off with a raucous exposé of jazz from the distended edges of tradition. This evening’s gig, having swung through the clipped snapshots of In Threads and the […]
Brighton Alternative Jazz Festival: Terry Riley St. Luke’s Church, Brighton Monday 8th October, 2018 Celebrating its third successful year, Brighton Alternative Jazz Festival was fortuitous enough to have some of the biggest names in contemporary music listed on its programme. As sunset hit the high gothic points of the magnificent venue that is St […]
Brighton Alternative Jazz Festival: Adam Fairhall, David Birchall/Andrew Cheetham/Julie Kjaer/Hannah Marshall, Laura Jurd’s Dinosaur, Ivo Perelman & Matthew Shipp, Peter Brötzmann & Full Blast, Irreversible Entanglements St. Luke’s Church, Brighton Saturday 13th October, 2018 Still illuminated from the previous week’s performance of legendary composer Terry Riley, St Luke’s Church had the enormous honour of […]
Gabrielle Ducomble Across the Bridge (MPG Records – mpgcd020) Ducomble studied jazz at Guildhall; previous releases featuring the likes of Gilad Atzmon and Chris Garrick have established her on the UK jazz circuit, and she’s appeared alongside Jacqui Dankworth and Tina May as part of the Jazz Diva series, and as part of Georgia […]
Elliot Deutsch Make Big Band Great Again (self-release) Although in some quarters, jazz has been regarded as a subversive form of music, big band music has not been considered as a vehicle for protest. Until now. When he started to write this album, Elliot’s original plan was to pay tribute to his hometown, […]
Lorraine Baker’s Eden Spark! (Spark006) Here’s something new – a young drummer leading a tribute to veteran New Orleans sticksman Ed Blackwell, with a band that features streetwise new-thing iconoclast Binker Golding alongside long-established, critically acclaimed pianist and mentor Liam Noble, with feisty newcomer Paul Michael providing tough, imagnative basslines and credited with key […]
Hexagonal McCoy & Mseleku (Hexagonal Records – HRCD101) John Donaldson’s piano style – dynamic, exciting, heavy with dense left hand chording and furious pentatonic runs – has drawn comparisons with that of McCoy Tyner, and he worked extensively with maverick South African pianist/composer Mseleku before the latter’s untimely death. Ensconced in his Hastings stronghold, […]
Pete Hill Quintet The Verdict, Brighton Friday 31st August, 2018 Drummer Pete Hill made a name for himself on the Brighton scene as an experienced, contemporary drummer and since moving to London he’s continued to develop both his playing and the variety of bands he performs with. Performing as part of the excellent New […]
Peter Ind at 90 The Verdict, Brighton Friday 14th September, 2018 “When I was younger, if I said ‘fuck’ it would be the end of the world. It no longer is, and I love saying it. Fuck!” -Peter Ind Peter Ind’s career began in 1949 when he travelled to America as a […]
Camilla George The People Could Fly (Ubuntu UBU0015) Saxophonist Camilla George, who released her acclaimed debut album Isang early last year, often surrounds herself with musicians of a similar high calibre; pianist Sarah Tandy and bassist Daniel Casimir are regulars in her quartet. Likewise, for her new album the opening track, Tappin the Land […]