It’s easy to get angry about the state of music and its fascination with bandleaders over bands, backstories over music, pictures over sound. People like Marshall Allen (is there anyone else like him?) should keep us all hopeful. Making his [...]
There’s a strange contradiction in the weight of these vinyl albums, and the lightness of their conception. Lovingly pressed in 180 gram vinyl with the original liner notes, these are shrink-wrapped time capsules. And yet each of these recordings was [...]
Tim Berne’s music always reminds me of two other famous composers: J.S Bach and Charlie Parker. There’s something utilitarian about it: like Bach’s music, it can be played on any combination of instruments (with a little bit of work). And [...]
This music doesn’t hang around. “Slingshot”, the first track, opens with four deep and clean tenor chimes which are promptly diced up by the trio, and a whole world of complexity opens up. And then, as it progresses, a kind [...]
Sometimes it feels like the history of jazz is propelled solely by innovators and entrepreneurs, a series of formidable iconoclasts who stand like beacons whilst lesser musicians, commonly known as “great players”, emulate and accumulate. Historians often favour that kind [...]
Having seen this duo’s YouTube videos and deciding not to read this album’s press release on first listen, putting this record on was a big surprise. Those early videos were stripped back, piano and tap with some left-hand bass and, [...]
Pianist Liam Noble has a new improvising project with synthesizers…working with dancer Maya Takeda (link to video below) which he describes as “work in progress”. For this article in UKJN’s “10 Tracks…” series he dives into the world of synths. [...]
No One Gets Saved by Bag of Bones (Rick Simpson/Riley Stone-Lonegan/Oli Hayhurst/Will Glaser) was released on 577 Records on 31 May. Liam Noble was originally commissioned to write a liner note for the album, which was not published (*). Here are [...]
For about five seconds I was thinking I might not like this record. There’s a moment, as the first track lurches into gear, where no one seems to be together. Then Frank Butler cracks the snare, and everyone’s suddenly brought [...]
(NOTE: See also details below of “Dreams Are Free: A Celebration of Bobby Wellins at The Showroom, Chichester, PO19 6PE on 6 April 2024, an event produced by Fiona Wellins) Bobby Wellins always seemed to me, in a somewhat time-honoured [...]
