The late and much lamented pianist Keith Tippett was a formidable improviser but, as his inclusion in Duncan Heining’s recent book indicates, he was also a significant British jazz composer. It is this side of his art that furnishes inspiration [...]
Brad Mehldau (*)’s reconnection with Jorge Rossy, the drummer in his piano trio for a decade until the early noughties, goes along with a reconsideration of some of his older writing – looking back at it, perhaps, and finding it [...]
Hearing this beautifully absorbing short set, it seems surprising that trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith and pianist and organist Amina Claudine Myers’ musical paths have not crossed more often. Both were associated with earliest days of the Chicago-based Association for the [...]
This Anglo-South African project builds on old jazz connections between the two countries to blend new music from both places into something fresh and rather inspiring. The brainchild of trombonist Raph Clarkson, the project has been a long time coming. [...]
Joe Lovano’s work with Marilyn Crispell and Carmen Castaldi has been one of his main creative outlets now since 2018, with a trio of lauded albums on ECM showing three masters deepening their interaction. While Crispell brings capacious piano technique [...]
Polish-born, now London-resident guitarist Jakub Klimiuk is making a mark on the scene here as a player since he graduated from the Guildhall last year. But as his soon-to-be released CD (un)balanced shows, he’s equally intent on developing as a [...]
“When we think of ‘jazz’, we’re thinking of music that was, from its beginnings, a radical act of resistance against some of the most brutal and dangerous parts of American life.” Chris Searle quotes these words of US pianist Cory [...]
The reliably eclectic biennial Bristol New Music festival returns for a long weekend at the end of April (25th-28th). As usual, there are shows in venues large and small, this time round including the newly refurbished Bristol Beacon and the [...]
Saxophonist, composer and producer Steve Dyer has been an important presence on the South African scene since returning to the country in the 1990s. He brought influences from time spent in Botswana and then Zimbabwe, where he lived in anti-Apartheid [...]
Saxophonist and composer Mark Lockheart is looking for a certain kind of simplicity on his new album for Edition Records – with help from an all-star 12-piece band. “I like that it makes me smile, this album”, says Mark Lockheart, [...]
