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 [...]
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 [...]
A tiny “yay!” split the sacred silence prior to performance, and audience and musicians alike broke into laughter. Sonic Bothy shortly commenced their noisemaking, but the smiles never left their faces. With a staggering array of tools at their disposal, [...]
This was in many ways a homecoming gig for Shuteen Erdenebaatar. The young pianist moved from Mongolia to Munich to study jazz six years ago, and on evidence of the packed room at Unterfahrt, the city’s prestigious jazz club, she [...]
There was something magical about Tracey Thorn’s and Ben Watt’s return to live performance together as Everything But The Girl after a 25-year hiatus. The intimate MOTH Club in Hackney was the perfect setting for their two-day residency, with its [...]
Kansas City-born jazz vocalist Deborah Brown lights up the room. She connects with her fellow musicians, and her audience, like no one else. Her vocal range remains incredible…. Mātyās Gayer and Deborah read each other beautifully, with a connection that [...]
Jazzdor, based in Strasbourg, fosters a spirit of collaboration and co-operation across national boundaries. In addition to its annual ‘home’ festival, it added Berlin more than 15 years ago. The Budapest festival is a relatively new addition, run in partnership [...]
What a long way Sultan Stevenson has come. I cast my mind back to the first time I heard his trio in September 2021. They were in a potentially tricky slot, playing as support for Billy Cobham at the Jazz [...]
