Until last Thursday, Eltham I knew only as a junction on the A2, the location of the Palace, and the home of chanteuse Kate Bush. But there is another reason to go there: live, accessible jazz. Award-winning singer Georgia Mancio and [...]
Out of pain, comes beauty. Geyser – the new composition by Norwegian saxophonist Marius Neset – was first written as a response to the emotional impact of the pandemic. It was Neset’s attempt to capture the joy of playing and [...]
The Clash, by The Clash. The Beatles, by The Beatles. The Smiths, by The Smiths. The release by any recording artist of an eponymous album is frequently a sign of brimming confidence and overflowing musical creativity, such that when it [...]
Gary Husband and who? I asked. Drum and keyboard polymath Husband’s music is familiar ground for many UK jazz fans, and he’s been one of my favourites of the last two decades In comparison, Norwegian guitarist Alf Terje Hana is jazz [...]
Debut albums. A big deal for any band or musician. Get it right, and capture the imagination of your audience, and you’re on the path to something special. Get it wrong, and life gets a whole lot tougher thereafter. don’t [...]
This album – sans drums or any hint of electrification – is utterly unplugged, but is in no way diminished by that fact. Indeed, the simplicity at the heart of Bortenfor is what makes it a good listen. It is [...]
This album by a Norwegian trio new to me came with one of the most florid and cryptic press releases I’ve read in a while: “What does it really mean to dream of jazz?” Admittedly, that question might reflect some [...]
I’ve listened to a lot of music. I’ve owned a lot of albums. I’ve yet to see a front cover illustration as, well, I was going to say awful but let’s equivocate and simply say idiosyncratic, as that for Klaus-Dieter. [...]
As a fellow proud resident of south London, I felt compelled out of a sense of geographic loyalty to check out this album by south of the river resident James Beckwith. He’s a keyboardist and composer and Long Distance is [...]
This was a very Norwegian gig. Sure, there were three Norwegian musicians on stage. Trumpeter Nils Petter Molvaer, drummer Erland Dahlen and bassist Jo Berger Myhre. But what I mean was this was a showcase for why Norway is, in my [...]
