It’s the 1970s and, looking straight at the camera, Michael Parkinson proclaims: “My first guest is most simply described as the best jazz pianist in the world.” When I was a kid in the seventies, there were only two jazz [...]
In the latest of our series where musicians consider idols, or formative influences, Liam Noble writes about his favourite tracks by pianist John Taylor. I don’t think of John Taylor as a “jazz pianist”. He was a “Taylorist”. He was [...]
From the first chord you hear on this recording, you know you’re not in for the rarefied, classical air of a Keith Jarrett or Brad Meldhau “recital”. It sounds to me like an upright piano, which perfectly complements the humility [...]
The piano trio is a very popular format – not too loud, cheaper than a quartet – but that subdued dynamic can be a challenge. It’s harder to make a break between the tune and the solos, the composed and [...]
In the late eighties, there was a lot going on. Jazz was in rude health – everyone was arguing about what it should or shouldn’t be, and most of it sounded great. Mike Stern, Bob Berg and Brecker were still [...]
In the latest of UKJN’s series where musicians consider idols, or formative influences, Liam Noble writes about composer and multi-reedist Henry Threadgill, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2016 and an NEA Jazz Master in 2021. I have [...]
In UKJN’s series where musicians tell us about tracks by their idols that have inspired them, pianist Liam Noble writes about Lee Konitz. He starts with a moment when there was suddenly a gap where a Lee Konitz album ought [...]
In this edition of ’10 Tracks I Can’t Do Without, a series in which jazz musicians do a personal deep dive into the music of their antecedents and idols, Liam Noble considers Earl “Fatha” Hines (1903 – 1983). Piano lessons [...]
In UKJN’s ‘Ten Tracks I Can’t Do Without’ series, where jazz musicians write about their inspirations, Liam Noble writes about Sonny Rollins: You can’t chose your family, nor the order in which things happen to you. This list is necessarily [...]
In our growing series in which jazz musicians do a deep (and entirely personal and selective) dive into the music of their idols, pianist Liam Noble writes about Duke Ellington as pianist: A musician once told me he thought that Ellington [...]
