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 [...]
Classic Elling: high energy jazz vocalese; understated funky grooves; gentle ballads; Beat performance poetry; humour; classic songs reworked in new ways. All these are on his new CD, which draws on the work of songwriters from the 1930s to the [...]
‘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 [...]
For trumpeter Nick Malcolm, improvisation is when ‘…you’re not sure about what you’re going to play next; that’s where the inspiration comes from.’ There are inspired elements of composition and collective free improvisation in this deliciously original album- the quartet [...]
Missing e.s.t? Wondering what direction they would have taken? Italian pianist Kekko Fornarelli’s Room of Mirrors CD (Auand Records, 2011) and major European tour takes the jazz/classical/rock mix a step further. The album is his tribute to the late Esbjorn [...]
Soulful sax, infectious grooves, good clean funk. Tenor-player Justin Swadling writes the tunes and leads the trio. The strength of their debut album lies in the tight band sound and in the tunes themselves. They’re written like songs, with verses [...]
‘Bopcentric’ is baritone-player Pete Lukas’ name for his own recording label, and it describes his music perfectly. London-based American alto-player, Bob Martin, (his ‘partner-in-crime’) was the ideal foil for Lukas’ rich, warm tone. Bebop is a hard taskmaster, with its [...]
Rusconi, the Zurich-based piano trio, bring a rock spectacle to their mix of jazz, free improv and experimental art-noise- all played on real instruments. Like e.s.t. and Medeski, Martin and Wood, the trio often play in rock venues. They’ve learned [...]
You may have heard singer Liz Fletcher‘s mellow tones on Alan Barnes’ CDs, or on her busy gigging schedule? She’s also a fine songwriter and arranger, and her new album shows her at her very best. Here are standards with [...]
