Irish bass player Ronan Guilfoyle has created for himself a unique position in jazz, although in something of a special niche. He has taken an instrument that’s only rarely seen in a jazz context and he’s made it his own, and [...]
With her first album – the immense 14-track Yellow – South London multi-instrumentalist/vocalist/songwriter Emma-Jean Thackray marked the emergence of The New Wave Of British Jazz in 2021, one of the most interesting movements of the last few decades. After her [...]
It’s been twelve years since vocalist Georgia Mancio and pianist Alan Broadbent began to collaborate as performers and songwriters. As well as numerous live shows, the collaboration has produced three albums: Songbook in 2017, Quiet is the Star in 2021 [...]
Fini Bearman’s fifth studio album, Last Night of the World, features ten original songs performed by the singer and songwriter in the company of some of the finest UK-based musicians. It’s a highly melodic recording, packed with memorable tunes, from [...]
This striking new quintet sport an ambitious name, and while it’s not stated what it is they are transcending, their debut gig certainly showed that they have a lot to offer. You’d know that from the personnel, all richly experienced [...]
Ronny Graupe is a German guitarist, originally from Chemnitz (aka Karl-Marx-Stadt) in the former GDR, who studied in Leipzig from where he paid a short visit to Birmingham in the early 2000s with a young group as part of a [...]
The picturesque ski resort of Vossevangen near Bergen has just a few thousand inhabitants. And yet it hosts several significant cultural events – including a jazz festival which celebrated its 50th edition two years ago. This year’s event – traditionally [...]
Mingus lives. But what lives on in the Mingus Big Band? Is it his music…or his spirit? The right answer is probably both. That the two are inextricably linked, and can’t be separated. That was powerfully demonstrated by the final [...]
I have been to three of the ten concerts of Ralph Moore’s “Homecoming Tour” in the past week. It has, quite simply put, been a joy – even if occasionally surreal – to hear and to connect with the real [...]
Bad Trad is the name of the band, as well as the album – led by London-resident drummer Jay Davis who here offers the first recording with a top drawer quartet of James Allsopp on reeds, Mike Soper on trumpet [...]
