I recently had the good fortune to participate in a recording session with Mark Edwards, noted keyboard supremo, studio whiz and mysterious mastermind behind the uncategorisable and irrepressible Cloggz project. During the downtime he shared his reminiscences of playing with the Tommy Chase Quartet. It reminded me that, although you don’t hear so much […]
Jack Kendon Quintet + Alex Garnett’s Bunch of Fives South Coast Jazz Festival Ropetackle Centre, Shoreham Thursday 21st January Amidst gloomy economic predictions for 2016 and a continuing squeeze on spending for the Arts, it’s very heartening to be back in Shoreham’s Ropetackle Centre for the return of the South Coast Jazz Festival. […]
As the Sussex Jazz Magazine enters its third year, it’s gratifying to see how the scene that inspired its inception is still busy enough to keep it supplied with copy. 2015 was a great year for jazz-and-related-musics in the Sussex area, and 2016 promises a range of delights to come. Sadly but inevitably, […]
Paul Kimber & Phil Merriman Duos, Duets and Duels Paul Kimber (bass), Phil Merriman (piano) Jazz Records JRCD115 Available from www.jazzrecords.co.uk Despite being pioneered by no less than Duke Ellington and his prodigious sideman Jimmy Blanton, the bass and piano duet is a rarely encountered format in jazz, or anywhere else. […]
These are testing times for new artists. In the early 2010s (Twenty-teens?) you could read any number of articles announcing the dawning of a new era for the music business. Self-promotion would be the way of the future – musicians would be empowered to build their own careers, recording at home on their sleek, […]
The 1962 movie The Connection isn’t widely screened today – it’s blend of modernistically gritty black-and-white visuals and that school of 1950s acting which blended broad-brush theatricality with earnest, painstakingly sincere close-ups hasn’t dated particularly well, and it’s strict observation of the Aristotelian dramatic unities (it started life as an off-Broadway play) makes it […]
Where’s the best place to hear live jazz? A Storyville juke joint, a Mississippi paddle steamer, a dancehall or a cellar bar in a sketchy neighbourhood? Or a concert hall, a downtown supper club, a high-production outdoor festival or an arts centre theatre? Maybe you can even dig it when it’s performed in a […]
The unfolding drama of the Labour Party leadership contest provides a sorry spectacle of a beleaguered organisation suffering the additional indignities of infighting and disunity at the very moment when a show of solidarity is most needed. The history of the Labour Party is roughly contemporaneous with that of the many-faceted music identified as […]
The Goldberg Variations August approaches heralding scenes of frantic activity as all manner of desk-jockeys and freelancers belabour their computer keyboards to try and meet their deadlines before the start of the holiday season. It’s an equivocal season for jazz musicians; gig attendances may fall as jazz clubs struggle to compete with […]
Eddie Myer in conversation with Barney Dufton from Neapolitan, the production team behind the Love Supreme Festival. SJM So… Love Supreme is a greenfield jazz festival… who conceived of this idea in the first place? BD The idea came from Ciro Romano who’s our festival director. He’s been involved in music for years […]