Walking to the gig through the Birmingham snow and ice I remembered that German pianist Michael Wollny once told an interviewer he’d like to live in Iceland. But winter flu had been making its way round the trio [em]. Bassist [...]
Modern jazz musicians often have indie rock influences in their playing. Jazz singers less so. Italian vocalist Irene Serra fronts this fine band: she’s paid her dues singing bebop and Latin music, studying jazz in London, and working her way to [...]
Hammond player Larry Goldings has called this trio his ‘truest group’, and he’s been playing with Peter Bernstein (guitar) and Bill Stewart (drums) for over 20 years: they’re a trio of equals. Ronnie’s audience was packed with jazz-players paying tribute [...]
(Title Picture) Femi Temowo’s in another world, singing in Yoruba about his grandmother’s stories. His voice is soft and beguiling, and there’s so much modern jazz guitar inside the West African rhythms. Photo Credit: Roger Thomas. All Rights Reserved Eska [...]
Drummer Paco Séry’s new album is called The Real Life, and that’s exactly what this gig felt like. Born in 1956 in Côte d’Ivoire as one of eighteen siblings (in Divo, he then moved to Abidjan), Séry left his native [...]
Two singers perfectly at home on stage: one invites you to join her as if it’s her living room; the other reaches out with vocal power. Sheila Jordan (about to turn 84) and Kurt Elling (about 40 years younger) sang [...]
‘I feel like jazz needs a big-ass slap,’ virtuoso pianist and enfant terrible Robert Glasper told Downbeat Magazine this year. ‘I’ve gotten bored with jazz to the point where I wouldn’t mind something bad happening.’ This sold-out gig was definitely [...]
Vocalist Emily Saunders’ heroes are instrumentalists: Hermeto Pascoal, Miles, Monk. She’s a particularly instrumental singer, a true improviser. Her band wasn’t there just to back her: the voice emerged from the band as an integral part of it, inviting us [...]
‘Freedom Flight’ is singer Nicky Schrire ‘s debut album and on this gig the young singer was stretching her wings, literally flying across the world to collaborate with her musical heroes. She grew up in South Africa and now lives [...]
Down an ancient Oxford alleyway, lock the bike, up the winding stairs above the old pub, to find music that transports you to another world. Saxophonist Jon Lloyd started out playing free jazz, but his own musical journey has led [...]
