Amina Claudine Myers is one of those rare musicians where the music of the blues, gospel and jazz stretching out at its most adventurous is in the blood, and this came over no better than in her solo live performance [...]
The alchemy of top-flight groups seen at close quarters really is a miraculous thing. I recently had the pleasure of interviewing John Patitucci, and he talked about his memories of more than two decades with the Wayne Shorter quartet, and [...]
In 2019, singer, pianist, bandleader, presenter, producer, and educator Robin Phillips went on a road-trip on a Harley Davidson motorbike. His goal was “to retrace the path of jazz and blues in America, from Chicago to New Orleans”. It was [...]
Brunhild Ferrari, a significant – and until recently unsung – pioneer of Musique Concrète, has been gaining recognition in the past decade as a composer in her own right. Brunhild Meyer (b.1937) was drawn in to the realm of cutting [...]
My experience of Bergamo Jazz 2025 was elating and inspiring. It’s a wonderfully varied festival in great, characterful venues in a beautiful and unique city. The official stats are healthy: eleven out of twelve ticketed shows were sold out. The [...]
Soft Machine evolved from its roots as a pioneering 1960s psychedelic progressive band into an outstanding jazz quartet underpinned by powerful rock-solid rhythms. But from the opening moments of the current group’s concert in Lichfield, the early days of the [...]
There is a serenity about the music of Gavin Bryars, thoughtful, reflective and resonant. Bryars is both master of the deep-down double bass, from radical 60s jazz and further afield, and a composer of engaging and often meticulously researched works, [...]
It might seem like a diversion, but let’s spend a moment in praise of the “mantello di ufficiale”. Yesterday was the first of the three core events of Bergamo Jazz: double bills at extremely grand Teatro Donizetti. When we, the [...]
This concert in the wonderful setting of Symphony Hall was a triumph for Xhosa Cole and his group of musicians and for the CBSO. The concert featured an opening set devoted to Monk with Xhosa leading a group with himself [...]
Olivia Murphy Jazz Orchestra (OMJO) packed out Pizza Express on Monday evening to provide a chance to hear some of the most exciting large ensemble jazz emerging from the London scene today. The program consisted entirely of Murphy’s compositions, including [...]
