Scottish saxophonist Helena Kay won the Young Scottish Jazz Musician of the Year in 2015 and talks to Charlie Anderson about her debut album, Moon Palace. What inspired you to play the saxophone? I started on piano because my dad and grandad played, then violin because that is what was offered at my primary […]
Vibraphonist Jonny Mansfield grew up in the village of Shepley, near Huddersfield in a musical household. “Both of my parents are musical, they’re peripatetic music teachers for Kirklees and Rotherham Music Services. My mum plays oboe and my dad plays bass trombone. I’ve got two older brothers, the oldest plays trombone and the middle one […]
How would you describe the music of ‘Hilary Burt’s Blue Calluna’? My compositions come from a knowledge of jazz and jazz harmony but my writing also has elements of latin, funk and folk. I decided that the most accurate genre is ‘jazz-folk’ but even that doesn’t fit many of my tunes. I never think about […]
My earliest memory of hearing jazz was around the age of 6. It was a memorable sound, very distinctive. It was Count Basie. My dad took me to jazz gigs and festivals from when I was a toddler. He’d regularly take me to a pub called The Goat in St. Albans which had jazz […]
New Generation Jazz: Binker Golding Band The Verdict, Brighton Friday 26th October, 2018 Saxophonist Binker Golding is probably best known for his duo work in Binker and Moses, as well as his sideman role with the likes of Zara McFarlane and Mr Jukes. Fronting his own band, he performed compositions from his forthcoming album Abstractions of […]
Charlie Anderson rounds up the latest jazz news. Talented Portuguese guitarist and composer Vitor Pereira returns to The Verdict in Brighton on 17th November with a new album of material. He’s currently crowdfunding to raise money to tour the music around the UK. Also appearing at The Verdict this month are the Mark Cherrie […]
Saxophonist Tom Barford was the 2017 winner of the Kenny Wheeler Prize and part of the award was the chance to record an album for the Edition record label. The result is his acclaimed debut album, released in August this year, entitled Bloomer, which was produced by Iain Ballamy. Tom started getting into music at […]
Tell us a bit about how you got into playing drums. I started playing the drums quite late for a kid really. I started in secondary school when I was 12. I was lucky to be taught by Dave White who ran an amateur swing band, so when I got a bit more advanced, he […]
SJM editor Charlie Anderson spoke to One World Orchestra’s trombonist and musical director, Paul Nieman, about the band’s development and their upcoming concert at Brighton Unitarian Church. How did you first get involved with One World Orchestra? “Well, I was in Paul Busby’s Big Band for a long time, in fact since the beginning […]
Fraser and the Alibis New Generation Jazz at The Verdict, Brighton Friday 28th September, 2018 Fraser and the Alibis formed 10 years ago when they met on the jazz degree course at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. This was not an album launch as planned, as the new album is still […]