Not a lot causes this writer to laugh out loud, but this album did, repeatedly. For improvising trombonist, prolific composer and band-leader Alex Paxton’s new electro-acoustic album Music For Bosch People is a witty and exhilarating kaleidoscope of musical ideas, [...]
Fergus Hall is a musician, composer, improvisor and producer in the early stages of his career. He hails from the west of Scotland and is now based in Glasgow. His name appears in the album credits for this delightful, lush, [...]
That Which Has Remained…That Which Will Emerge… is the latest album from Austrian-American composer, improvisor and percussionist Lukas Ligeti. Son of the late Gyorgy Ligeti, Lukas’ similarly unflinching search at the fringes of musical invention have to date led him [...]
Scotland is teeming with young jazz talent these days, and a notable example is Glasgow-based drummer and composer Graham Costello. His STRATA features another five talented young musicians, all recognised as bandleaders in their own right: pianist Fergus McCreadie, guitarist Joe Williamson, trombonist Liam Shortall, [...]
Hailing from Glenrothes, violinist, vocalist, arranger, composer and BBC Radio Scotland broadcaster Seonaid (pronounced ‘Shona’) Aitken is one of Scotland’s best-loved jazz musicians. In recent years she has twice been awarded ‘Best Vocalist’ at the Scottish Jazz Awards, while her [...]
There’s a lot of water here in Scotland. We sometimes grumble about it, and about the rain in particular. However, 21-year-old tenor saxophonist Matt Carmichael has used the idea of water, specifically in the form of Scottish rivers, as a [...]
These days an odd image repeatedly appears in this writer’s mind: the UK in the process of being shrink-wrapped. Perhaps such experiences are understandable during these current Covid and Brexit times, but they make globe-spanning albums like this one feel especially [...]
Stories Without Words is an energetic, richly complex, global musical carnival of an album. So, when we hear a piece with multiple excursions in it such as the charming Valse#5, there is a palpable and enjoyable sense of homecoming when [...]
