Menu
This was special. In the magnificently restored former St Peter’s Church, the Dutch improvising trio Under the Surface presented a multi-media event of extraordinary power and beauty. Their music is inspired by folk, jazz, classical music and the musical traditions [...]
“We should all stand up,” said Thomas Quasthoff. So we did. “And click our fingers on the two and the four of the bar.” That too. Brahms’s “Wiegenlied” Op. 49/4 had been ‘jazzed’ for us into 4/4, and became the [...]
It’s not hard to hear why pianist Clara Haberkamp is making waves on the German jazz scene. Plateaux is her new release, and her first that features Norwegian drummer Jarle Vespestad alongside her long-term collaborator Oliver Potratz on bass. The [...]
Last month saxophonist Phil Bancroftreleased two albums on his new label – and streaming service – Myriad Streams. The first is a reissue of his 2004 quartet CD, Headlong, with international stars Mike Walker on guitar, Reid Anderson (of the Bad Plus) on bass and Thomas Strønen on drums; [...]
Back in the 1970s, around five years after they started performing, a group of young siblings from Aberdeen, Mississippi, known as the Staples Jr Singers despite being unrelated to the older and more famous Staples family, released their first album, [...]
Recorded in concert at Munich’s Muffathalle in September 2004, ‘September Night’ represents the great Polish trumpeter Stanko’s classic quartet with pianist Marcin Wasilewski, bassist Slawomir Kurkiewicz and drummer Michal Miskiewicz, at the absolute top of its form. It was a [...]
No one could say that the great English composer and bandleader Mike Westbrook has settled into pipe-and-slippers mode for his late career. Although he was 87 when this was recorded and is 88 now, his latest ensemble Band of Bands [...]
Zev Feldman’s Jazz Detective record label keeps cracking cold cases, and with some great results. This time it’s a slice of classic Sun Ra recorded in 1976 and ’77 at Joe Segal’s Jazz Showcase in Chicago. At this point in [...]
Aaron Davis Hall, City College of New York. Most albums are more than simply the next tranche of songs by an artist, but This Rock We’re On: Imaginary Letters – a double-CD opus from Mike Holober & The Gotham Jazz [...]
Royal Festival Hall. 14 June 2024. Part of 2024 Meltdown Curators of the Southbank Centre’s annual, iconic Meltdown Festival have included Grace Jones, Morrissey, David Bowie… For this year’s 29th festival the role is taken by legendary singer and musician, [...]
