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Cafe Oto, 3 February 2025

Electric bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma brought his distinguished brew of hefty jazz funk to Cafe Oto with flair, driven intensity and a glowing, light touch. Funk is deeply rooted in his DNA, and flows in his blood, no question. Ornette Coleman [...]

Blackheath Halls, 23 January 2025

Bruno Heinen brought together his band The W (Heidi Vogel, Andrea di Biase, Gene Calderazzo) and an orchestra from Trinity Laban with two special string players as guests, Alice Zawadzki and Sascha Bota. It can be regarded as the “coming [...]

Ronnie Scott's, 30 January 2025. First House

It has been clear for some time that Emma Rawicz is the rising star of UK jazz, but her jazz orchestra’s performance at Ronnie’s on 30 January 2025 has moved her into a new league. We knew that she is [...]

Grand Hotel, Southport, 31 January 2025

The 3rd annual Southport Jazz festival got off to an explosive start on Friday 31 January with the newly-formed duo of pianist Gwilym Simcock and soprano and tenor saxophonist Emma Rawicz. They were the second of the three acts performing [...]

Queen Elizabeth Hall, 1 February 2025 

The theme of the first residency of the Montreux Jazz Festival at London’s South Bank was the legacy of Nina Simone. The choice of Soweto Kinch for the second night of the programme seems particularly appropriate, given both his musical [...]

Royal Festival Hall, 31 January 2025,

Nina Simone stood frozen on the big screen, towering over the Royal Festival Hall. One hand rested on a grand piano; she was otherwise alone. An invisible audience cheered wildly. The applause died down, then cautiously resumed, and faltered again. [...]

Theater Regensburg, Bavaria, 24-26 January.

The full-hearted roar of a capacity audience in Theater Regensburg is something special. The theatre is a horseshoe-shaped opera house modelled after La Scala in Milan. It is at the heart of a cultural city with UNESCO world heritage status, [...]

Bull’s Head. 24 January 2025

Zena James took command of the jazz room at the Bull’s Head on a wintry Friday night with an admirable collection of songs and a crack trio to help her deliver them — Dominic Ashworth on guitar, Mike Bradley on [...]

Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra / Rundell. Brighton Dome, 25 January 2025

Last night at the Brighton Dome, the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra presented a fascinatingly innovative and varied concert. The evening opened with the Gwilym Simcock Trio on stellar form, with Simcock, Conor Chaplin on bass and James Maddren on drums all [...]

Walking through the town before the set, I listened to two Basildon artists: Ralph Dartford whose latest collection of poetry House Anthems has been set to music by Gary Clark. You might find some jazz vibes in his rather plangent sketches…(link below)  In the poem Act! Dartford [...]

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