When I was about 18 I went to see Jim play with Mike Carr for the first time and was simply blown away. I approached him in the break and asked what I should be practicing as I’d only recently started to try to fathom out how to play jazz on the guitar. He looked at me and said one word – TUNES!

And therein lies the secret to Jim’s wonderful playing. Every note he plays is in the pursuit of something melodic. That, coupled with an innate sense of swing and a profound feeling for the blues, make Jim one of the greatest of all jazz guitarists.

This latest release, although under Jim’s name, is in fact a true group effort with American organist Ben Paterson alongside saxophonist Jan Harbeck and drummer Kristian Leth, both from Denmark, playing WITH Jim and not merely behind him.

One is reminded of those classic Grant Green or Wes Montgomery recordings from the 50’s and 60’s as the band work their way sensitively through a selection of great standards (the solitary original being Jim’s own Medication). In this day and age of jazz needing to be constantly ground-breaking it’s a relief to listen to an album that is more ground-affirming!

Nothing outstays its welcome here. The heads are shared, the solos are short and concise, the arangements are simple yet perfectly crafted and the whole thing, 11 tracks in total, demonstrates that often-missed dynamic of ‘bubbling’ away without ever descending into bombast.

It’s unnecessary to single out any track on this record; each follows the last so well that it really should be listened to more as a suite than a collection of individual numbers. One gets the sense that the quartet are firmly ‘on the same page’ throughout. There’s no competition here; no grandstanding. Each and every selection is performed in the pursuit of something way beyond ‘check me out’! What a refreshing thing that is for listeners who love “tunes”!

As for Jim himself, this album proves he is playing as well, if not better, than ever. All those years at jazz’s coalface leave us with a musician at the peak of his craft. At an age where many musicians might start to slow down, Jim just keeps on going; out there night after night, serving the tune and improvising at the highest level.

For Heaven’s Sake is a very welcome addition to Mullen’s recorded legacy and will surely introduce the rest of the group to a wider audience. They certainly deserve it. If nothing else, it will serve as a reminder that jazz, in its purest form, is safe in the hands of musicians like Jim Mullen and this fabulous quartet. Will somebody, please, bring this group to the UK?

The post Jim Mullen Quartet – ‘For Heaven’s Sake’ first appeared on UK Jazz News.

Technically, Koo’s early schooling in the classical piano repertoire is apparent, and there is a Debussy-like fineness to the compositions, which also often evoke the angularity of Keith Jarrett as well as the quiet thoughtfulness of Bill Evans. Koo’s occasional singing is strong and well-modulated, as on the piece “Slowly”, released as a single in November 2024. At this and several other points in the album, such as the track “Elements” you sense that Koo’s aim is to make you forget yourself and be carried along trance-like for a short while, until you regretfully realise the tune is over. There’s a lot to be said for being able to lose yourself in this way.

There is also a filmic quality to some the music, most obviously perhaps on the track “Eagle of The Sun” with its whistling entry and an overall feel of a western movie, all carried along by Koo’s vocal and the great repeating riff. This somehow bespeaks an awareness of how our music is so often consumed, sitting in a train or car, watching the city or landscape roll by, characters in our own movie.

And that visual sense is repeated in the track “Jonass”, also released as a single and dedicated to one of Koo’s childhood friends who tragically passed away. It is probably the highlight of the whole album. In the opening melodic riff section, you can almost see the happy riotous play of youth. It gives way suddenly to a deeply felt passage of loss and sadness, beautifully delivered through Koo’s delicate playing and Akinmusire’s solo, gradually building back and returning to happier memories of earlier times. It’s a masterclass in evocative playing that is very affecting, in a way which is rare in modern music.

The album concludes with the title track “Blame it on the Chromosomes”, which opens with a wonderfully deliberate solo from Heyndels before building to a complex rhythmic piano and drums climax and authoritative finale. I almost stood up to applaud.

Release date is 7 February 2025

The post Alex Koo – ‘Blame it on my Chromosomes’ first appeared on UK Jazz News.

His innovative works blend modern improvisation with production-based technology. He has toured with D’Angelo for the ‘Black Messiah’ tour and joined Clean Bandit’s ‘Rather Be’ tour alongside pop artist Meg Mac. Collaborations such as his piano trio, “Pascal’s Triangle” with bassist Linda May Han Oh and drummer Justin Brown show his versatility. His compositions have garnered support from major organizations, and he has received multiple accolades, including Grammy nominations and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Currently, he teaches Music and Technology at Vanderbilt University and is pursuing a Ph.D. in Music Composition at Princeton. Pascal and his partner, composer Molly Herron, have two children, aged three and one.

UK Jazz News: What is the best advice you received about balancing/juggling parenthood and career?

Pascal Le Boeuf: “Make the most of your time: when you spend time with your child, be fully present with them; when you have time to yourself, be efficient. Even 15 minutes is enough time to compose a few bars of music.” (Coming from a combination of Terence Blanchard and Steve Mackey advice). 

It takes a village to raise a child. You can ask for help. If you are fortunate enough to have friends or family members willing to come to you to assist with childcare, it may be necessary to ask them for help in order for you or your partner to engage in professional work. If my partner or I want to go on tour, premiere an orchestra piece, or make a record out of town, we rely on our parents to help out by either accompanying us with the kids or visiting one of us at home to assist while the other is away. 

Before saying “yes” to professional opportunities, I first have to make sure my partner and our support network are on board. Sometimes it doesn’t work and that’s ok—saying “no” to an opportunity just means you are a supportive parent/partner and people (who matter) will understand and respect your choices. 

UKJN: What information or advice do you wish you’d received but didn’t (and had to learn through trial and error or on the go)?

PLB: First, I want to mention that I am fortunate to have a wonderful and supportive partner (Molly Herron) who is also a musician and understands the many challenges of balancing parenting and career. In the initial whirlwind of breastfeeding and poopy diapers I thought I was being an equal partner by constantly asking Molly “what can I do to help?” I was afraid of doing something wrong and wanted her to be happy, so I would ask to be sure I was “doing it right” or “doing the right thing”. I think a lot of men do this because it is what is modeled for us in society. The problem with this was it put Molly in the role of being in charge of parenting decisions, which is not equitable. Eventually something clicked and I realized I could be more supportive by taking initiative regarding decisions, even if Molly and I sometimes disagree on how something should be done. So—Dads especially—be sure you are doing your part and don’t wait to be asked to take initiative as a co-parent. Educate yourself about breastfeeding, bottles, co-sleeping, sleep training, solid foods, developmental stages, so you can initiate conversations about these with your partner. 

On a related note, beware the influence of outdated gender stereotypes at every turn. Children’s songs, kids books, Thomas the Tank, and media of all kinds are ready to normalize Daddy working late while Mommy stays at home and does the cooking/bedtime/laundry etc. This can be frustrating. Even if you are a progressive parent, it takes vigilance and critical thinking to recognize the powerful social influences in the world around you, how they affect your family, and how you are going to respond to them. 

Helpful Books:

• “Equal Partners: Improving Gender Equality at Home” by Kate Mangino
• “Expecting Better” by Emily Oster (for soon-to-be parents)

UKJN: Your top tip(s) for other parents in jazz:

PLB: If you want to be a parent someday, try to plan far ahead. Imagine the lifestyle you want for yourself and your family, then try to lay the foundation so you can embody it. If you have a partner, be sure to look for the center of a venn diagram that includes both of your priorities.

UKJN: Best general travel/gigging/tour-with-child advice:

PLB: You don’t have to go on tour to be a musician. If you want to be a parent but don’t want to be on tour all year, try to invest in creative processes that aren’t dependent on traveling. For me, it made sense to invest in academia, composition, recording, production and other creative outlets that would allow me to stay at home with my family without feeling creatively or professionally restricted. I can still tour (and I do, especially for album releases) but touring isn’t something I have to do in order to be professionally active or artistically fulfilled. Many of my artistic/parent role models (Geri Allen, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Brad Mehldau) took their kids on the road or spent long periods away from home. I always imagined doing this until I really thought about the challenges (health insurance, stable income, kids going to school, developing consistent routines at home). There are certainly ways to make touring work but it is not a requirement for a thriving career. You are in charge of your own path. 

When you do travel/gig with your child(ren), be on the lookout for libraries, museums, parks, kid-friendly restaurants, and other activities so they can play and explore in child-centered settings. Bring a grandparent or a friend on the road to help with childcare if you can. This can make touring feel more like an adventure or an excuse to see a friend/family member that lives far away.

UKJN: What is one way that figures or structures in the jazz industry could better support parents who are working jazz musicians?

PLB: Hire them. Don’t assume they are too busy taking care of the kids to make music. Being a parent can have a profound effect on creativity and should be viewed as an asset. 

UKJN: What has surprised you about becoming a parent and remaining engaged with your professional activities and ambitions?

PLB: Composing is easier and improvising feels more purposeful. I was worried I would be unable to maintain my creative work as a parent. This is not the case at all. I have had to change the way I work to be more efficient, which has been a positive development. Now I say “yes” to the first idea rather than cycling through many ideas and losing time.

UKJN: What boundaries have you set for yourself as a parent in jazz (could be related to travel/touring, riders, personal parameters, child care decisions, etc.)?

PLB: I am not taking local gigs until after dinnertime, bathtime, and bedtime. This wasn’t an issue until Molly and I had our second child. It’s a marathon for one parent to manage bedtime for two kids. I have never regretted saying “no” to an opportunity in order to prioritize my family. People will always understand and respect your decision to be a parent first. 

Pascal’s latest release was created simultaneously with the arrival of his two children. It is an album-length composition called Are We Dreaming The Same Dream? that examines what Ralph Ellison calls “the unity of American experience” by recognizing musical ancestors — Geri Allen, Dave Brubeck, Charles Mingus, Bill T. Jones, and Leonard Bernstein. The composition asks: Are we really dreaming the same American dream, or is our consumer culture overshadowing our own sense of belonging?

(*) Parents in Jazz was started (first as ‘Mothers In Jazz’) by vocalist Nicky Schrire in August 2022. The initiative aims to create an online resource for jazz industry professionals with children, those contemplating parenthood, and jazz industry figures who work with and hire musicians who are parents. The insight of the musicians and administrators interviewed for this series provides valuable emotional, philosophical and logistical information and support that is easily accessible to all. “Parents In Jazz” shines a light on the very specific role of being both a parent and a performing jazz musician or jazz arts professional.

The post Parents In Jazz: Pascal Le Boeuf first appeared on UK Jazz News.

The photograph above by official photographer Peter Hundert captures the sheer exuberance of this young group after their performance, against the backdrop of Theater Regensburg. The festival venue is a horseshoe-shaped opera house with a spectacular feel to it (“tolles Theater, tolles Team – great theatre, great team – said Festival Director Wolkenstein in her welcoming speech).

As a musician Filippou brings an astonishing lightness of touch to her work, and that encouraging and enabling impulse is what powers the band. She does rapid-fire Swingle-singer-ish duetting with vocalist Zuza Jasinska, or switches to drumkit to provide a barnstorming duelling drum vibe with Andi Haberl. It’s experimental but it’s fun, it speaks of camaraderie but also compositional flair. There is also gentleness, pathos, weirdness and everything in between. So good….

The other two sextet members are names to be aware of. I had picked up a musician buzz about clarinet/tenor sax Julius Gawlik (b.1997 but looking younger) who already has a post in the NDR Bigband. He is just spectacular. He makes an instant impression whether doing Buddy de Franco-ish clarinet fingerbusting, or channeling a Tony Malaby vibe on tenor with the imagination and innate sense of pacing of Mark Turner. Unbelievable. And what I briefly heard of the playing of guitarist Keisuke Matsuno marked him out as another absolutely spectacular player and I want and need to hear more of. Marc Ducret…Eivind Aarset…here’s another individual voice with unbelievable sonic, spatial awareness. Wow.

How wonderful to hear a band without a weak link communicating such joy.

This international festival, now in its third edition has what Thomas Mann called “Das Geschenk eines guten Sterns” (the gift of a good star). The crowd in the theatre last night were loving it – and loudly too! Bavarian Radio has recorded every concert from the start of the first festival. And the Deputy Mayor confirmed from the stage last night that it will definitely be happening in 2026.

Sebastian is in Regensburg as a guest of Sparks&Visions

The post inEvitable extended first appeared on UK Jazz News.

UK Jazz News: What is the best advice you received about balancing/juggling parenthood and career?

Katie Thiroux: Even though you may have less time on your instrument, it doesn’t take away your musical abilities. All that time spent practicing and performing is cumulative. 

UKJN: What information or advice do you wish you’d received but didn’t (and had to learn through trial and error or on the go)?

KT: Trust your gut and not the doctors. I spent months observing my daughter and telling the pediatrician and physio that something wasn’t right and they said “she’s just growing, wait.” I finally listened to my gut and went for second options. It turns out my daughter has low muscle tone and global delays.

UKJN: Your top tip(s) for other parents in jazz:

KT: You can get A LOT done in 20 min. In the beginning, I had maybe 2 hours of the day to myself on my instrument spread out and I would divide that into technique practice and just playing for me.

UKJN: Travel/gigging/tour-with-child advice. This can be gear or gadget-related, or pertain to approach/what to do/what not to do:

KT: I keep a basket of toys and books in the front seat of my car and hand them to my daughter on a long car ride. You will find the books, songs and toys that your child aligns with. In the beginning the only that would calm my daughter down was loud reggae music!

UKJN: What is one way that figures or structures in the jazz industry could better support parents who are working jazz musicians?

KT: For one thing, don’t discriminate. I lost out on a full time teaching position because I was unable to fly to the final interview due to my pregnancy. Also, some people/venues/promoters assume you won’t play anymore so they won’t even ask you. Consider paying an extra fee for travel days as those are typically unpaid days that I still have to pay a nanny for at home to take care of my child. 

UKJN: What has surprised you about becoming a parent and remaining engaged with your professional activities and ambitions?

KT: What has surprised me is when I’m working on the road I am so busy that I don’t even have time to think about my family at home. Especially when I’m in a different time zone and it is a weird feeling to almost feel like you don’t have a family. 

UKJN: What boundaries have you set for yourself as a parent in jazz (could be related to travel/touring, riders, personal parameters, child care decisions, etc.)?

KT: For me, I travel once a month and that fills me up right now. Too much and I would feel disconnected from home. Too little, and I would feel disconnected from The Music. My daughter is not able to travel with me yet and it would be an extra cost to bring my nanny. Most people don’t understand that if I bring my daughter on tour I would also need to hire a nanny.

Katie’s latest recording is a duo record (with Katie on bass and voice. It’s 11 short songs punctuated by 3 John Lennon vignettes of “Look at Me.” Katie says, “It’s my reflection on before pregnancy, during and after. It’s called “Always, but never, Alone.” I had a collection of songs I was working on and the idea solidified one day when everyone needed me and I was in the bathroom. My daughter was screaming, my husband was asking for help and then…the cat started scratching on the door!”

(*) Parents in Jazz was started (first as ‘Mothers In Jazz’) by vocalist Nicky Schrire in August 2022. The initiative aims to create an online resource for jazz industry professionals with children, those contemplating parenthood, and jazz industry figures who work with and hire musicians who are parents. The insight of the musicians and administrators interviewed for this series provides valuable emotional, philosophical and logistical information and support that is easily accessible to all. “Parents In Jazz” shines a light on the very specific role of being both a parent and a performing jazz musician or jazz arts professional.

The post Parents In Jazz: Katie Thiroux first appeared on UK Jazz News.

Links to purchase Full Cream, and to Ward’s website, can be found at the end of this article.

While you listen to Greg Ward, Leo Genovese, Matt Stevens, and Ziv Ravitz’s collaborative album, think of a playroom — musically speaking.

At Clubhouse Recording Studio in the mountains of Rhinebeck, Hudson Valley, New York, the jazz veterans “didn’t have to worry about trying to get back home, and then coming back,” Ward remembers. “We could relax, and sort of settle in.”

This laid-back, exploratory attitude led to Stevens flying from guitar to guitar, and from pedal to pedal — and Genovese on a keyboard instrument you may not expect. And the connection between Ward and Ravitz is a story all its own.

Read it, and the other ins and outs of Full Cream, below.

UK Jazz News: Linda Oh was a huge connector and nexus for you guys...

Greg Ward: I’ve been working with Linda since 2012, I believe. She first called me for her [2019] octet project, Aventurine. That was an amazing thing to work on with her, but because it has eight people — and eight very busy people — it didn’t work [as a consistent unit] very much.

Probably sometime in 2015, I started to work with her quartet in different variations of that ensemble, and then I started touring with her in 2017, with that group. I think I was subbing for [saxophonist] Ben Wendel at the time.

So, I’ve been working with that version of the group since 2017 — and then the pandemic happened, and Linda was one of the first people I worked with, getting back on the road in October of 2021.

At this time, she had recently had a baby, and this version of the quartet was going to be her and [husband and collaborator, pianist Fabian Almazan]. And a drummer I hadn’t heard of at the time: Ziv Ravitz.

They were going to be doing this wild transit across Europe involving Fabian’s mom and the baby. I was pretty much traveling alone with Ziv, and immediately, we hit it off. We connected and really enjoyed playing together. We found out that we had a lot in common, and developed an instant rapport.

UK Jazz News: How did that connection with Ziv develop as the tour progressed?

GW: We knew that we wanted to do something together, and after that tour, we started brainstorming about what we could do. He had done a bunch of duo records recently, like with [guitarist and vocalist] Lionel Loueke.

[The thought came up] that we should do another duo record. He was like, “Well, why don’t we bring somebody else into it?” And I was thinking about [guitarist] Matt Stevens, who was also in that 2017 version of the quartet that went on tour throughout Europe with Linda. Closer to the session, it grew from there — and we added Leo.

UKJN: I love Aventurine. Maybe my favorite Oh. I ranked and reviewed it for JazzTimes. What do you remember about those sessions?

GW: I just remember being excited about, number one, playing with a string quartet. And playing Linda’s music, anyway. She called me because she got one of those Jazz Gallery composer-in-residence commissions.

That’s what I think she was writing this music for — or maybe she had written something, and this was an opportunity for her to further explore this ensemble. It originally featured the Sirius String Quartet, with [Dallas, Texas, pianist] Sam Harris and Ted Poor [of Andrew Bird fame] on drums.

I believe it was one of the last recording sessions at the Avatar [known as such from 1996 to 2017], before Berklee bought it and turned it back into the Power Station [as founded in 1977].

It was rather nerve wracking to be all separate and isolated — everything to a click, having to perform this very complex music. But it came together, and I’m very happy with that recording.

UKJN: “Argo” is a monster.

GW: That’s the more heavy metal joint on the record. We had tried a few variations in a slower tempo, but we just kept amping it up. Then, I had an idea: I’m going to start off the piece like this! And I did my best impersonation of a Colin Stetson saxophone moment.

When we were together, we just kept pushing each other, pushing each other, until we reached the goal. There were lots of moments like that.

UKJN: Can you talk about Genovese on the Hammond B-3?

GW: I was really surprised: it was there at the studio, and Leo was like, “I’m gonna play this.” I wasn’t thinking about that instrument in this context, but I was open.

What he did throughout the tracks he played organ on, I think was just a really cool use of that instrument. He pulled a lot of wild, uncharacteristic sounds out of the organ. So, I’ll give it to Leo: he surprised me, and pushed us in some other directions.

UKJN: How do your originals on Full Cream — “Argo,” “Good Morning Zebras!,” the title track — reflect your evolution as a composer?

GW: Argo is a suburb of Chicago, on the southwest side. My whole family is from there. When I graduated from college, I moved into my grandparents’ house, in their basement, for about five years. It was an experience being on the southwest side with all the characters that make up that community.

That piece encompasses all the different things that have inspired me. If you’ve heard any of my records, by [my projects like] Fitted Shards, Gaps and Spaces, or Rogue Parade, they have heavier, or rock, elements. That’s been a constant in my compositional taste.

I grew up playing in the African American church with my father, who was a B-3 player. That has a strong element, and mix of things, from the church.

There are things [on the album] that are inspired by my experience with avant-garde playing, via the AACM and other musicians from the South Side and North Side of Chicago — more free playing. So, that’s a blend of those two things — with the music communities in New York and elsewhere.

UKJN: Where do you want to go from here, creatively?

GW: I’m at a moment where I’m trying to figure that out.

Last spring, I started a trio where I sing with electronics and effects on my voice, along with playing saxophone. That’s with guitarist Matt Gold, and a drummer here in Chicago named Quin Kirchner. I’ve written a bunch of music for that. I would love to record this.

Also, I’m always composing — for myself, not for specific projects. But I have some larger ensemble pieces that I would like to complete — something for a large vocal choir, maybe an orchestral thing. I just want to really get these scores done, and ready to be performed if the opportunity arises.

Then, of course, I want to take this Full Cream quartet on the road. That’s something we’re trying to do. We’re trying to figure it out with everybody’s schedule, and hopefully we’ll do something in the fall of ‘25.

The post Mondays with Morgan: Greg Ward – new album ‘Full Cream’ first appeared on UK Jazz News.

UK Jazz News: Can you briefly describe how Livia Records began?

Dermot Rogers: Livia Records began in 1997. An artist called Gerald Davis was also a Joycean scholar and jazz fan, and had produced Louis Stewart’s first album as a leader. He thought that Louis was such a talent that he should be recording in Ireland. At the time, record labels were interested in vanilla showbands and probably not commercially interested in modern jazz guitar. Gerald died in 2005, then the label was dormant until I got curious about where Out on His Own was. I was doing a radio show, and I was dipping into this record and was amazed you couldn’t buy it in Ireland. It was like being unable to buy a Van Morrison record or a James Joyce novel, in the land of their birth. We reactivated the label in 2022 when we found the remasters and tested the tapes, and realized they were really good.

UKJN: Why did the label go defunct, and how did you get involved in relaunching it?

DR: The label went defunct because Gerald died. The relaunch is one of those “I never set out to do this” stories. During lockdown, walking on the beach with a friend, I was telling him about not being able to buy Out on His Own. So he said, “Why don’t you find out where the masters are?” I was working from home and had some had time to spare. I found out that Louis’s widow was still alive, and she got in touch with his son. He said that he and his two sisters had always wanted to release the archive but life got in the way.

UKJN: How did you discover the trove of Louis Stewart recordings?

DR: Louis’s son lives on almost the opposite side of the planet but his two sisters live in Dublin. One of the sisters said the archive was in a lockup. Fortunately, it was a modern lockup with a raised mezzanine, so the tapes were in good condition. To my delight, not only did we find the tapes we expected but also others we didn’t, like the Jim Hall and Noel Kelehan recordings, and Louis the First, which was originally released on a showband label. We didn’t ever expect to find his first album.

UKJN: What’s been the process of cleaning up and remastering these recordings?

DR: I didn’t know about analogue recordings, but I know people who did. The advice I got was “Don’t play them. Digitising is probably the first time they should be played.” These recordings were fifty years old, the crown jewels, so I had to be very careful with them. I discovered a company that could digitise quarter-inch tapes, for Out on His Own and the material that became Some Other Blues [duos with Noel Kelehan]. Even quite hardcore jazz fans didn’t know about the Louis/Kelehan recording. We got those tapes digitised and the files were absolutely fine. As the other tapes had been stored in much the same way, they were probably OK too.

The only thing that was missing was the money. I said to the family I’d do as much as possible pro bono, but I didn’t want to lose money. I spoke to the jazz reviewer for the Irish Times. If we got the money together, would the Irish Times review it? He was incredibly enthusiastic and offered to write a feature for it.

The brothers and sisters put up €500 each. Also, I’d written to the minister for culture and asked how I could get some money – I actually got a considered response from the arts officer for Dublin city. I’d written a business plan that said what the archive contained and different scenarios as to where and how these albums could be released, from minimum to releasing everything.

I tried touting the business plan around some rich people interested in music. I got a response from an arts council guy, saying if you can come up with 50 per cent I’ll give you 50 per cent. So that was €3000. Then I was having a drink with a friend and I said, “Can I send you the document?” She came back saying, “Do you need €10,000?” She’d inherited money from an aunt and wanted to give to a worthy cause. Then we had the wind in our sails.

UKJN: What’s the response been like and who’s the audience?

DR: That was the big question: does anyone care? The response has been fantastic. There’s two tribes: people new to Louis and existing fans, who are by and large older guys north of fifty. In Ireland, he’s like Bird or Miles, referred to just by his first name. He was viewed as a master but mainstream, a sense that he wasn’t progressive enough, for example that he didn’t play non-standard tunes.

But when the recordings came out, the response was very positive, both in Ireland and the UK. Rob [Adams] often supplied me with new releases for my radio show. I asked him how we can get attention, and he’s amazingly well connected. We got fantastic reviews in Ireland and the UK, but also in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France, and Northern Europe – even in Taiwan, India and South America. Interestingly, people who didn’t know who Louis Stewart was were astounded: how come we didn’t know about him? They associated Ireland with folk and rock, and didn’t know about the jazz scene. In Ireland, as is probably the case in the UK, there are rifts and factions. But the response has been positive across the board. For me, it’s been a very rewarding experience.

Louis is a great story of a kid who grew up working class, goes to an audition as a teenager and is identified as a really good musician. He was playing for an Irish showband that was touring in the US and was in Birdland or somewhere when he decided he wanted to become a jazz musician. (In extremely Catholic, 1960s Ireland, the showband venues were closed during Lent, so each year many of the bands went overseas until Lent was over.) He was sitting in with visiting jazz musicians, and got picked up by Benny Goodman and ended up sitting in Charlie Christian’s old seat. It’s like being a footballer in a small club and being discovered by a premier league club.

UKJN: What other recordings have you discovered?

DR: Lots of things are coming. Louis recorded an album with an octet in 1986 with Jim Doherty, the person who discovered Louis. They recorded it in LA. It will come out some time late this year or early next year. Louis also recorded with Sam Jones, Billy Higgins and John Taylor and there’s a funny story to that album. It’s really good, but Louis wasn’t happy with his solos, so he came back to Dublin and re-recorded some of them. We’ll be releasing the original London sessions as the Dublin overdubs used for the original version were of poor audio quality but the original London tapes are very good.

After that we’ll be releasing live recordings, for example with the flautist Brian Dunning. In 1979 Livia released what could fit on an LP, but there’s about twice as much material. Then there’s Joyce Notes. The only recording of this that’s been released so far is one made in Norway, with spoken word in Norwegian. Livia has the original premiere concert from the Cork Jazz Festival 1982, with a renowned Irish actor delivering the spoken word in English and with a far better eight-piece band of Irish and American musicians.

We also have about 15 club dates from Dublin in the 70s and 80s that we’ll filter for the best material. We’ll also be releasing some contemporary artists next year.

One thing I hold very strongly is the value of a recording, which is generally a loss leader in jazz. But if it becomes part of your legacy or a calling card, you should do it. Otherwise a performance is just a memory in the minds of the fifty or sixty people who were in that club. Overall, I’m very pleased. The albums are successful on a jazz scale. They’re covering their costs and living musicians are interested in us getting involved, so I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing.

The post Livia Records first appeared on UK Jazz News.

My journey into world percussion as a student at Berklee was forever changed when I first heard Shakti’s A Handful of Beauty. Long before the internet allowed us to delve into details, the album opened my ears to sounds and rhythms that defied comprehension. One track altered my life: “Isis”.

This 15-minute masterpiece, set in a mind-bending 13.5-beat cycle, showcased Shakti’s revolutionary virtuosity. Featuring John McLaughlin on guitar, Zakir Ji on tabla, L. Shankar on violin, and T.H. Vinayakram on the ghatam, the piece pushed the boundaries of rhythm and musicality. Zakir’s free-flowing solo remains one of the most brilliant mosaics of sound and time I’ve ever encountered. Even now as I lecture on rhythm cycles, “Isis” is a cornerstone of my lessons – it is a testament to the scientific and spiritual beauty of music.

Inspired by “Isis”, I incorporate Solkattu recitation into my teaching. Using the 13.5-beat cycle, my students recite the pattern while playing a simple rock beat, marveling at how the two patterns rotate and expand the cyclic boundaries. Watching their discovery unfold reminds me of Zakir’s ability to make even the most complex rhythms feel accessible and alive.

As my percussion skills evolved, I connected with the classical Indian music community through mentors like George Ruckert (sarod, MIT) and Peter Row (sitar, NEC). Through them, I had the privilege of meeting Zakir Ji. At one gathering, Zakir conveyed his deep love of sound. “Jerry,” he said, moving his fingers as if playing air-tabla, “to this day, I am still looking for more ‘Na.’ The resonance and beauty of pure sound.” That simple yet profound statement reflected his endless curiosity and pursuit of perfection—a quality that inspired everyone who met him.

Ustad Zakir Hussain was far more than one of the great tabla players. He embodied the essence of a true musician—a “musician’s musician.” His mastery of Hindustani music seamlessly bridged into Carnatic traditions from the South.

Beyond his classical roots, his spirit flourished through collaborations with the likes of Mickey Hart, Herbie Hancock, and Béla Fleck, leaving an indelible mark on jazz, fusion, and world music. His contributions to Shakti, Planet Drum, and Remember Shakti redefined global music boundaries, blending cultures with unmatched finesse.

As Ustad Alla Rakha once said, when asked about his greatest accomplishment: “Zakir Hussain.”

Today, the world mourns the loss of a giant, but we celebrate a life that forever changed the way we hear and feel rhythm. Rest in peace, Zakir Ji. Your music will inspire, teach, and heal, transcending time and space.

Jerry Leake is a Professor of World Percussion at New England Conservatory and Berklee College of Music. He leads the world-rock-fusion octet Cubist and is a founding member of Boston-based band Club d’Elf. Jerry has also written eight influential texts on North and South Indian, West African percussion, and rhythm theory.

The post Zakir Hussain – A Tribute first appeared on UK Jazz News.

Singer Anelise Furkin has the power and grace of a complete and versatile jazz chanteuse, but something else too. She speaks frankly between songs about “my struggles with being a musician: when you’re gonna give up, and think ‘Now I’ll get a tech job‘, the struggles between the uneases within me..” Her honesty is disarming. When she reaches into her soul she reaches into yours as well. 

“Anemone” was written while struggling with anxiety, “mixing up stuff that happened and was gonna happen.” Anemone foregrounds her vocal presence and complex personality, with a soaring vocal and a killer tempo change.  “Little By Little” describes the paralysis of “the feeling like you can’t do it”. The songs are invested in personal meaning, demons and doubts but communicated with a resonating force, and the octet conveys the emotional charge through sensitively forceful arrangements, tempo changes, and a collaborative creativity of their friendly band dynamic.

As-yet unrecorded tune “Algae” features some of the band’s characteristic not-so-secret weapons: a deft key change, a facility with change of tempo, time signature or feel. They pass through a key change and where “What I Want” moves into a faster tempo, “Algae” slips into waltz time, and then the ‘hole in the song’ or eye of the storm where the band develop material atmospherically. The emotive vocals and swelling brass rise to an emotive ending.  They have a mastery of structure, taking you on a journey all in the one song, epic episodic structures travailing through breathy scene setting, rising tension, explosive dynamic, restraint, the eye of the storm, the mysterious interlude and reinvigorating reprise. 

Aido Kimura‘s rich electric bass tone is a mainstay, characterising the band and adaptable to any of their soul, jazz, and eclectic impulses. The format gives them modest space to speak to individual personality. The distinctive personalities of the soloists are deployed sympathetically between tunes, with Martin Farrelly‘s energising trombone, and between the two saxophones the jazz brain of Rory Fleming on tenor and the soul heart of Richard Ng on alto.

Listening ahead to the EP, they absolutely had me at “Saudade”, the untranslatable Portuguese word embracing a complex skein of personal and historical yearning and loss. Anelise Furkin is Brazilian from Salvador where her family is based. “I miss them deeply” she mourns, and the ‘home feel’ of language and theme gives the song both class and depth of feeling. Based around an interpolated/altered bossa nova feel (nicely handled by Keith “KJ “Jordan on drums” with Kaelan Zipoli on piano), the heart of the arrangement is the horns, which are replayed dynamically by the band, rich but never quite overpowering or fussing the song.

Anelise Furkin’s hero is Esperanza Spalding, who introduced her to jazz (in a musical sense; in a personal sense it was her dad). “I Know You Know” is solidly realised but sounds comparatively conventional in the midst of their own burgeoning crossover style. Interestingly, her comment on Mongo Santamaría’s 1969 jazz standard “Afro Blue”,  “We would love this song to be ours but it isn’t”, felt redundant. Miles Davis’s 1958 standard “Nardis” — with another significant tempo change— is characteristic of the group approach, which is to be “the vessel of what the song wants to be” through their own distinctive personality and deep groove.

Such emotionally rich music weirdly reminds me in a good way of Evanescence. If jazz emo could or should exist, I’m absolutely here for it: it’s accessible but feels deep. On “What I Want” she sings “I want something real/ Someone I can be myself still”. Introducing the set closer “Amiuge” (the Portuguese word for “often”) the lyrics dramatise a dire impulse: “If this is all you have to give me even if it’s just this I’ll take it.” Talking about these crumbs, Anelise Furkin says “I started writing about love a lot recently: a breakup that was hard and still is hard— thinking about it and not being able to say it: the habit of waiting for crumbs, and thinking you have to stick around.” Then she looks directly at you and states, “And you don’t, and I didn’t.” She wards against “losing yourself before losing someone else,” advising “Keep chasing yourself, folks.”

The post Lavery first appeared on UK Jazz News.

These celebrations focused on the Berlin community, in particular on that in the Moabit district, an area in the centre of Berlin that is extremely diverse in terms of its population with significant numbers of Turkish and Syrian inhabitants. The festival mounted an extensive programme in Moabit, culminating in the Sunday Community Walk on the final day of the festival. This began at the Jazz Institute with a concert that featured various acts, a children’s event in which they conducted a piano trio followed by performances by Syrian and Turkish choirs, the latter being composed of teenage girls and four men, accompanied by a couple of saz players. 

The walk took place in the area by the side of the canal and the river and featured occasional pop up improv sessions and open air performances involving rappers from the communities, and bands from the main concert programme, including the Otomo Yoshihide Big Band. The culmination of the day took place in the Refo Moabit Church with performances by the choirs that had performed earlier in the day, the Musho duo of Sofia Jernberg and Alex Hawkins and a group of improvising musicians who played on the church balcony.

A complementary strand of the celebrations involved a two day seminar and a publication reflecting on the history of the festival. Four previous Artistic Directors joined the current Director, Nadin Deventer, to discuss the way the festival has grown. Nadin emphasised that her highlight of this year’s festival was the Community Project and related performances, and that this was an important development for the festival.

It was fascinating to learn that major artists, such as Sarah Vaughan, Abdullah Ibrahim and Miriam Makeba, had been booed at the festival for being too mainstream. It was agreed that this was unlikely to happen today, and that the Berlin audience, while maintaining its penchant for contemporary jazz, has become much more tolerant. 

Turning to the main festival programme, highlights included three piano led groups. Kris Davis’ Diatom Ribbons impressed with its ability to embed Davis’ melodic ideas within an open improvised setting, and to integrate the sounds of Val Jeanty‘s electronicsand Terri Lyne Carrington’s explosive but totally supportive drumming into a cohesive group sound. 

Joachim Kuhn led his French trio with bass player, Thibault Cellier and drummer Sylvain Darrifourcq, chosen for their ‘French way, with lightness, speed and elegance’  (UK Jazz News review of their album by Frank Graham).  Kuhn, now in his 80s, moved from elegant compositions to high energy improvisation driven by the strong and inventive support from Cellier and Darrifourcq.  Each piece built up to a strong climax at which point Kuhn either returned to the tune, or just stopped.  Sylvie Courvoisier presented her new quartet, Poppy Seeds with three key players from the creative New York scene, Patricia Brennan on vibes, Thomas Morgan on bass and Dan Weiss on drums.  The combination of piano with vibes, effectively two keyboards, created very interesting and distinctive textures.

The festival maintains its strong links with the American scene; in the past this has been with the Chicago and the AACM scene, but this year it programmed  a more varied set of players from the USA.  Drummer/composer John Hollenbeck had two projects, both based in the backstage area where the late night concerts take place.  The first was based on Martin Luther King’s The Drum Major Instinct speech in which he criticises the human desire to be out front and to be praised.  There were three parts, each with the members of the group interacting with the recording of the speech, the first iteration featuring three trombones and Hollenbeck on drums, the second a group with guitar, accordion, vibes and Hollenbeck on piano, and the third with the whole ensemble.  Many of the audience found the third repetition of the speech, one too many and drifted away.  His second appearance presented his ‘Letters to George’ project in which the compositions are dedicated to a number of people with the first name George.  The GEORGE group with Hollenbeck on drums, Anna Webber on tenor saxophone and flute, Sarah Rossy and Chiquita Magic, both on keys and vocals, explored very attractive sonic territory.

Darius Jones presented the German premiere of his commission from the Vancouver Jazz Festival, fluXkit Vancouver; this featured Jones’ excellent writing for the strings of Peggy Lee on cello, and the Zubot brothers, Jesse and Josh, on violin,and the very distinctive contrast between Jones’ powerful sound on the alto sax and the sound of the strings.

The festival on the main Festspiele stage concluded with a barnstorming performance by Otomo Yoshihide’s 16 member big band.  This was a joyous performance with full on anthemic compositions, conductions from different members of the band and free collective improvisation.  The encore gave us the Japanese bon dance, a participatory dance music very popular in the Fukushima area of Japan.

The energy and fun of the Yoshihide big band contrasted with an earlier rather lacklustre performance from the Sun Ra Arkestra, which seemed to miss the charisma of Marshall Allen, who no longer tours with the band now that he is 100 years old.

JazzFest Berlin has this year in its 61st edition maintained its standing as one of Europe’s most progressive jazz festivals and has broadened its remit through its focus on the different communities of the city.

The post Jazzfest Berlin 2024 first appeared on UK Jazz News.