This was one of those gigs where it all comes together. The enthusiastic buzz of the audience beforehand, the smiling musicians stepping onto the stage and most of all the instant chemistry between them when they start to play. Julian [...]
This was not just a really special evening of music, it was a happy occasion too. At World Heartbeat in Nine Elms, the music is so close you’re almost in it. No, I’ll correct that: you *are* in it (*) [...]
Effra, Misha Mullov-Abbado’s fourth album as bandleader, is in many ways a love letter to Brixton: the London neighbourhood that he calls his home. So it might seem slightly ironic that the composer and double bassist would play the album’s [...]
Arnaud Dolmen’s lively French Caribbean rhythms brought great cheer to his Ladbroke Hall audience on a dreary and drizzly Friday evening. The Guadeloupean drummer’s Adjusting Quartet (with pianist Leonardo Montana, acoustic bassist Samuel F’Hima and tenor saxophonist Francesco Geminiani) performed [...]
Anna B Savage has moved on considerably since last seen at Cafe Oto in June 2015, supporting Jenny Hval. That memorable solo acoustic performance made an impact with the powerful, reverberating quality of her voice and the incision of her [...]
What a pleasure to hear and see this band of top-class musicians so obviously enjoying themselves, playing the music they love with colleagues whom they so clearly respect and want to play with! This was so much more than a [...]
“A Year in the Life celebrates the joy of making music in London, with each track telling a distinct story”, according to the press release for the album. And for its composer and arranger Tom Smith, “…the band sounds like [...]
Rachael Cohen’s alto sax playing just gets better and better. How can it be that she hasn’t recorded an album in her own name since 2012? On Friday evening she called a very slow ballad tempo for “Tea for Two” [...]
This was a marathon. A remarkable marathon. As the lights dimmed, percussionist Tyshawn Sorey led out his illustrious trio partners, pianist Aaron Diehl and bassist Harish Raghavan, and set out his terms of engagement. ‘It’s gonna be a long set,’ [...]
The last time LJN/UKJN covered Sambroso Sambroso was – and I am ashamed to admit it – in 2017 when he hosted the closing party at The Forge in Delancey Street, Camden (LINK BELOW). Dan Bergsagel summed up the tone [...]
