The only item lacking was a sign warning the capacity audience to fasten seat belts. Because, when Guy Barker introduced his new musical extravaganza, explaining that his magnum opus (dialogue by his chum, writer Rob Ryan) had been inspired by [...]
In future years, Emmet Cohen should always be remembered as the ebullient jazz musician whose online performances during Covid, live from his Harlem apartment, raised our spirits and almost vanquished our lockdown blues. But now, with this album recorded early [...]
Allow me to suggest why this album, so extrovert, exuberant and life-enhancing, carries a poignant postscript. Sometime during 1968, 70-year-old Louis (always ‘Lewis’, not ‘Lou-ee’) Daniel Armstrong, internationally celebrated as ‘Satchmo’, is warned by doctors that he’s no longer superhuman [...]
Roll back the carpet while you roll back the years: here’s ‘Swingin’ Uptown’, an album of sole (please excuse the pun) music, 16 tracks dedicated to transmitting the beat to your feet. Eyal Vilner has meticulously assembled various iterations of [...]
Scene: a London hospital bed occupied by Ronnie Scott, legendary club owner poleaxed by a rogue spinal disc. When a concerned visitor asks the cause of Scott’s problem. Scott replies through gritted teeth: “bending over backwards to please Stan Getz”. [...]
Blushing confession: until now, I’d never knowingly heard of Claus Waidtløw. And we’re talking about a tenor saxophonist who’s a member of Copenhagen’s jazz elite and has far exceeded Spotify’s expectations for jazz albums. Frankly, it’s an oversight because, not [...]
‘Moonray’ is vocalist James Hudson’s follow-up to his reportedly well-received debut album. His pleasant voice is pitched, unusually for a jazz singer, somewhere between low tenor and light baritone. His professed influences are Mel Tormé, Frank Sinatra, Nat ‘King’ Cole, [...]
Some years ago, a London magazine commissioned a piece describing the Jewish contribution to jazz from journalist Mike Gerber. As he explains in the introduction to his new book, he diligently went in search of high quality leads, and rang [...]
Remarkable news: Mosaic Records have perfected the time machine. All you have to do is climb aboard this latest collection, set New York City as your destination and dial 1944 on the retro clock. On arrival, you’ll find that. While [...]
As over- and misused adjectives go, ‘epic’ currently receives something of a battering, yet it’s an appropriate description of Oscar Peterson’s 60-year career. A large, imposing man with an expansive range (Duke Ellington dubbed him the “Maharaja of the keyboard”), [...]
