A persistent breeze dispersed any accumulating haze, but the Truman Brewery courtyard nonetheless stank of cigarettes. Even in the early afternoon, a line stretched from the outdoor bar and towers of identically branded beer cups dotted picnic tables like wasp [...]
A tiny “yay!” split the sacred silence prior to performance, and audience and musicians alike broke into laughter. Sonic Bothy shortly commenced their noisemaking, but the smiles never left their faces. With a staggering array of tools at their disposal, [...]
Claire Cope is an interpreter of tales. The pianist’s latest compositions, inspired by female explorers and written for an eleven-piece ensemble, rise and fall across dramatic narrative arcs. One can only hear a ten-minute musical hero’s journey so many times [...]
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. [...]
Hunched over the piano keyboard, his pose akin to that of a statistician analysing code, Benjamin Lackner picked out abstracted blues lines with mathematical precision. His solo on set opener ‘Mosquito Flats’ – in which he demonstrates his gift for [...]
