Winter Jazzfest runs for a full week across the city, with shows and talks covering jazz of all subgenres. But it is the two Marathon nights – all-night multi-venue showcases hosted across a half dozen different venues, encouraging constant choose-your-own-adventure venue swapping with the simple wave of a wristband – that are the unique differentiator from other city festivals. On these Marathon nights it feels like mainlining live jazz; hoovering the stuff up as early in 2025 as possible, as if it is time-limited and someone might take it away later in the year.

While the Marathon night is a special format, for each quiet moment inside a specific venue a gig might look and sound disarmingly familiar; trios and quartets proliferated across the schedules, with intimate shows in classic small Manhattan jazz bars. Riley Mulherkar led a group with tasteful traditional trumpet stylings in the back of Zinc Bar, and The Bitter End was taken over by Paris Jazz Club to showcase either perfectly coordinated modern jazz from pianist Amaury Faye, comforting hard bop standards with drummer Paul Moravan, or having Flash Pigs present variable tempo jazzed-up Doris Day classics. NYC scene stalwart Vijay Iyer expanded the cosy quartet format at a packed-out National Sawdust in Williamsburg – a hi-tech high-fidelity newer music space – mixing his grand piano with Fender Rhodes for some funkier pieces, and leaning into his multi-decade rewarding working relationship with Tyshawn Storey on drums.

The 2025 Marathon’s might also be the year that jazz and science unexpectedly meet. Sirintip gathered a rich nine-person lineup at the Le Poisson Rouge, replete with swooping nordic bass clarinet and violin lines to reimagine her new project MYCELIUM, an “interdisciplinary musical suite” which covers the magical world of fungi. Pyrophilous an energetic piece about regrowth after wildfires – one of a few poignant moments at the festival in light of the current fires ravaging Los Angeles. Caroline Davis and Wendy Eisenberg lean into the science of cells and the cores of atoms in their recent project Accept When, and Eisenberg’s mesmerizing clean guitar and clear singing coupled with Davis’ live alto saxophone multitracking.

Compared to Sirintip’s 9-person musical presentation, Londoner Theon Cross made a lot out of seemingly very little, using electronic augmentation of a solo horn to the next level. Standing center stage alone – surrounded by the looming frames of a literal dozen abandoned microphone stands from the previous acts at Nublu – it was a joy to watch Cross at work armed only with his tuba and a board of knobs and buttons, looping and dropping snappy drum machine lines to conjure up irresistible grooves and deep engaging soundscapes. At times appearing to be clutching at his tuba for safety, at others wielding it confidently, watching this band leader and sideman by himself live is an unusual treat.

Theon Cross was introduced with snappy radio DJ flair (“deep sound, big horn”) by KMHD radio, and it was interesting to see the depth that WJF enjoys wide support from established radio in what is a reassuring multi platform approach to sharing live music. The continued support of US West Coast radio from Oregon and Washington – as well as East Coast local NYC and Philadelphia-area radio – hid the fact that much of this year’s WJF has its center of gravity not on the US coasts, but deep in the middle in Chicago. The 2025 artist-in-residence Makaya McCraven is for sure integral to the Chicago jazz scene, but the influence of the windy city (perhaps secretly named for the proliferation of horns and woodwind, not for meteorological effects?) was wider than just McCraven. The excellently-named Mike Reed’s Separatist Party brought intense energy to the Brooklyn Marathon outpost venue Union Pool, Reed’s strong drums combining powerfully with the spoken-word rhythms of Marvin Tate.

However it was Chicago’s Isaiah Collier who ‘won’ the marathon nights, his group The Chosen Few performing an important set at Brooklyn Bowl. This is a versatile band, swinging from percussion-heavy joy and sweeping tenor in their opener, to anguished strains and a sensitive soprano improvisation in their second. There was Amerikkka the Ugly – a send-up of patriotism, and also an exciting cross-generational collaboration with AACM’s Ernest Dawkins. Building on the release of their October 2024 album The World Is On Fire, Collier admitted that he didn’t expect that title to land quite like it does this week. But he delivered calm and wise musical commentary on the ills we face today, and the influence that the ills of the past still have. It is sets like this that one occasionally wishes there was more leeway in the schedules for a few more songs.

The intensity of Collier’s set meant that the novelty of background noise of flying skittles from the adjacent ten pin bowling alleys was easily ignored (it is called Brooklyn Bowl for good reason). In contrast, Smag På Dig Selv brought all their own novelty themselves. Exhaustingly high-energy and charmingly irreverent, this young Danish trio of two saxophones plus drums brought an intimate-yet-adoring crowd through a party-trick set of neverending tenor trills and screaming solos over storming bass saxophone rumblings. One can only have respect for a drummer who carefully starts a set wearing a fur hat on top of a hoodie, only to slowly striptease items of clothing number by number, and a saxophonist who is so serious about playing the lowest notes possible that he travels internationally with both a baritone and a bass saxophone, two instruments that are together larger than most New York apartments.

Two days of this much live jazz choice is an overwhelming joy. Getting this show on the road is also a logistical feat, and organizer Brice Rosenbloom and promoters Matt Merewitz and Taylor Haughton at Fully Altered Media deserve praise for running a tight ship that gets tighter each year. The Marathon nights, unique in providing the crowd with flexibility to float between diverse spots and genres, have in the past come a little unstuck when schedules have been unbalanced by a few very-in-demand groups playing at over capacity venues. This year a helpful venue capacity update was posted on the WJF website to help punters understand which venues might let them in before trying their luck, which I think helped minimize the numbers forlornly waiting outside. And while no concert lineup ever stays on track, this year the schedule timings seemed to slip less than they have done in the past.

The NYC jazz scene thrives on regional and international travel and cross-pollination, and WJF is no different. And while it might seem unusual at first glance to have a New York festival with its heart in Chicago, this is perhaps missing the point. What I think makes WJF so special is how the city owns it: straddling traditional jazz clubs, modern performance art spaces or capacious venues, WJF is a showcase of the diversity of jazz infrastructure that is available here. And while the at capacity venues could indicate WJF is a victim of its own success, I am constantly heartened by the size of the crowds who have a hunger for this music. And this engaged, critical and enthusiastic crowd is the most important piece of the NYC jazz network. 

And now, after the come down from the NYC Winter JazzFest Marathon nights, that crowd has a year to absorb jazz in a more normal way and recover to do it again in 2026.

The post Winter JazzFest – Marathon Nights first appeared on UK Jazz News.

Most albums are more than simply the next tranche of songs by an artist, but This Rock We’re On: Imaginary Letters – a double-CD opus from Mike Holober & The Gotham Jazz Orchestra (Palmetto Records) – is the product of an unusual recipe: two parts personal ode to nature, one part academically-funded research, one part environmental activism, and a dash of jazz orchestra composition masterclass.

Mike Holober describes This Rock… as “a meditation on the beauty of nature and the fate of the planet”, and worked on it with the support of the Stuart Z. Katz Professorship in the Humanities and Arts at the City College of New York. At the album launch on June 14th at Aaron Davis Hall, at the City College of New York in Manhattanville, an intimate in-crowd was treated to a no-frills uncut rendition of the project.

The project is structured as a series of detailed instrumental pieces for the full jazz orchestra, each a tribute or musical ode to one of six environmentalists who inspired Holober. These are interspersed with shorter, small ensemble vocal pieces, framed as the eponymous Imaginary Letters to or from the same characters. The contrast between these two forms was sharp. The vocal pieces, led by Jamile Staevie Ayres, were concise tender moments, such as the loving “To Virginia”, structured around a letter from photographer Ansel Adams to his wife. The large format pieces leant on a full orchestra equipped with a gleaming arsenal of woodwind (the five saxophones on the front row alone shared 21 flutes, clarinets and saxophones between them). “Domes” was a storming example of the full group in action, the tussling horns layering a driving theme powered by the energetic Jared Schonig on drums, evidently relishing the power of the collective, delightful drumstick twirled in an elevated hand in anticipation of big hits.

Some pieces bridged the divide between the two formats: instrumental “Tides” opened with an  extended introduction from Jody Redhage Ferber on cello, building into a gentle melody and an emotive solo from Jason Rigby’s breathy tenor as some roles reversed, Arco bass slipping behind plucked cello. Other pieces required a change of tone. “Tower Pulse” and “Erosion”, both written for Castle Valley in western Utah, switched Matt Clohesy’s upright bass for electric, and Holober’s grand for keys. But the most successful orchestrations, like “The Dirt Lover’s Almanac”, were those that harnessed the live visual spectacle of the Gotham Jazz Orchestra’s contained choreography and combined it with the individual spectacle of a solo cello; those that flitted between introspective piano, and strong clean sax themes over a rich horn backing.

The passion in the project was evident in the atmosphere, yet the environmental focus was at times more subtle. The closing piece, the title track “This Rock We’re On”, sought to remove this beyond doubt, both through the deceptively simple lyrics (“This is our home; be good to her please”) and the powerful visual and aural jolt from the deployment of child vocalist Ronan Rigby. He stood in front of his proud beaming saxophonist father, extolling the wonders of the animals of nature, imploring us in a wavering voice to take “take care of them, and me”. This Rock We’re On: Imaginary Letters will not fix our current planetary predicament. However, it can certainly remind us of the finer things in life that we currently enjoy and are at risk of losing, whether in the natural world or in the refined jazz orchestra cultural one – if we don’t try harder to fix our planet soon.

The post Mike Holober and The Gotham Jazz Orchestra – ‘This Rock We’re On’ album launch at Aaron Davis Hall, NYC first appeared on UK Jazz News.

This effect – I’ll dub it the Billy Mohler Ghost Quintet effect – draws in part from the audible space bassist Mohler occupies, switching happily between harmonics and rapid walks to full thrumming chords in progressions. But the sound also draws from the depth of his compositions, and how he manouevres the other three musicians.

The group were comfortable with energetic and tightly coordinated horn line openings and vigorous improvisations, or in more restrained emotional pieces. The Wait gave opportunities for tenorman John Ellis to showcase his fluid and neat style, and Jason Palmer on trumpet to surprise with syncopated stretches and well-timed rhythm section hits. They combined beautifully when trading phrases on Perseverance – their rich and emotional improvisations contrasting between melancholic trumpet and a resigned saxophone. The complexity of the compositions kept the horns on their toes – neither Ellis or Palmer are in the quartet on the recording – as they peered closely at their lead sheets, to enthusiastic head-nodding from Mohler.

Mohler’s evident enthusiasm is important, as is his willingness to vary the sound and style of the group. This should come as no surprise given his long cross-genre career, but the slow changes that morph from delicate work below the bridge to a heavy, dredging rock backing with irresistible swagger on Eventide, or the grooves – which sound like they were written on an electric bass instead of upright bass – such as on the title track of his latest album, Ultraviolet.

The true secret sauce of the group is Nate Wood on drums. Mohler and Wood have known each other since their childhood, and Wood adds both consummate jazz drumming and a versatile rockier edge. Wood rarely knowingly took the limelight, but he often drew it anyway. There were times, for example during The Wait – when Ellis’ fast and perfect virtuoso solo was the focus, but Wood’s restrained, clipped, sharp contributions expanded and grew into a full-kit masterpiece. By the end of the set on closing piece Fight Song, Wood is opening the song with the out-and-out polyrhythmic drum solo we were missing. On their (genuinely unplanned) encore Distant Star he stepped further still to the fore. Mohler’s expression – storming through this with a filthy groove – confirms what he said during the set – jamming with Wood might be one of his happier places.

Mohler was introduced by Ludovico Granvassu – host of weekly radio show Mondo Jazz hosted on Radio Free Brooklyn – who talks about growing up in rural Italy isolated from a jazz scene, and having a permanent Fear Of Missing Out. After moving to NYC and feeling like he would never miss out again, his FOMO eventually began to return when he realized that some of his favourite jazz musicians weren’t in NYC but in LA. His solution this time – instead of moving to LA – was to bring the LA scene to play for him. And a hardworking pillar of that LA scene is Billy Mohler.

However, with the Rizzoli Music Aperitivo – the monthly Sunday afternoon shows Granvassu curates at Rizzoli bookstore in Manhattan – he is also helping relieve the FOMO of a tranche of society who can’t easily stay up to speed with the regular evening and late night circuit, even if they live in the right city. And we NYC Jazz fans who work nights and/or have young kids are certainly grateful.

The post Billy Mohler Quartet at Rizzoli Bookstore NYC first appeared on UK Jazz News.

Harpist Brandee Younger is the musical link across the two years, and leads a trio through a set in large part honouring Alice Coltrane and her groundbreaking role in dragging the harp into the jazz sphere. Younger has a precise style, and switches from moments that sounds more like a minimal piano trio – plucking sparse carefully constructed chords from the strings – to the more dazzling runs and flourishes which are more familiar to classical harp. For Turiya, a Charlie Haden harp/double bass composition written for Alice Coltrane, gave her a spotlight to cement her claim as the jazz harp standard bearer of her generation.

Irreversible Entanglements was certainly a sonic pivot, following Younger with a series of pieces from their latest album Protect Your Light. On this record the group had sounded more musically controlled – and less outraged – than before, and I had mused (in this review) on whether this was an artifact of the recording process, or a conscious change of direction. It was a little of both. The vocal interjections from the band across the stage brough contemporary political injustice to the fore, and the evils of empire and flaws in our democracies were spelled out with an invigorating intensity. And live, Irreversible Entanglements really do move – a propulsive drum line and active bass, with screaming punctuation from the two horns. The rendition of Soundness is mesmerizing in its intensity, a blistering interplay between Keir Nuringer on alto sax and Camae Ayewa’s spoken word. There was also evidence of a softening of some of the stage craft: the crowd were still sworn at, but we were also invited on numerous occasions to sing along, and even graced with some complimentary stage patter. Swoon!

The showcase finale of the evening placed Shabaka on stage for the last set of his artist-in-residence at the festival along with a star-studded cast, including two (yes, two! Brandee Younger joined by Charles Overton) as well as Esperanza Spalding on double bass and vocals. We were being invited to see “Something that’s never been done before”, and it was a dreamy journey. While the stage was packed, the set often felt like a series of one-to-one conversations: flute with double bass, flute with drums, flute with live samples and playback, flute with harps. The variation in musical partner added novelty and variation, but it didn’t quite meet the depths of meaning and vigour that Shabaka reached during his full set last devoted to building a profound dialogue with Joe Lovano (review here). His moment returning to one of his first instruments, the clarinet, brought a real warmth and empathy.

Slightly surprisingly, it may have been the opening act, the Messthetics, who stole the showcase. Built around the rhythm section of punk rockers Fugazi, to me they were both a surprise and a genuine joy. Hitting the same sweet spots of furious energy as Acoustic Ladyland or Led Bib, with a sprinkling of some of London’s old Loop Collective bands, this was the a set that demanded all your attention, but didn’t let you do anything else – the sort of music that you can’t dance to, but just sort of twitch and stare. This magic was driven by the regular Messthetics, but the inclusion of James Brandon Lewis on tenor seems totally essential. At the end of the first song Lewis stopped, took a quick breath as he shared an intense look with co-conspirator Anthony Pirog on guitar. We may have been lucky that Lewis was a guest tonight, but I couldn’t imagine the set without him. This is the mark of a truly successful showcase event: leaving with an unexpected gift like this.

The post Impulse! Showcase at NYC Winter Jazzfest first appeared on UK Jazz News.

This wasn’t Shabaka’s first showing at Winter Jazzfest – since 2017 he’s been here with Sons of Kemet, The Comet is Coming, and Shabaka and the Ancestors, as well as a saxophone for hire filling in for dropped out shows. This was Shabaka’s first time at Winter Jazzfest without his saxophone, and this was the first night of his residency, held at Dizzy’s and presented by Jazz at Lincoln Center in collaboration with Winter Jazzfest.

Shabaka’s change of instrument family was still clearly catching people by surprise; the venue’s website – Dizzy’s Club – was selling the tickets for this first gig of Shabaka’s residency as a two-tenor saxophone duel between him and Joe Lovano and Shabaka. As Shabaka started methodically soundchecking a battery of different types of flute (*) , it became clear this would be a night different to its billing. And as they started playing, it also became clear that the billing order – Lovano with Shabaka – should probably have been reversed, too.

Shabaka started quietly with the shakuhachi – the Japanese longitudinal flute we heard on his 2020 solo release Afrikan Culture. leading Lovano in, working the upper register of his tenor with his left hand while giving a percussive shake with his right hand. The attention was on the less-familiar sounds of the flute, and as Shabaka went on a musical exploration drawing from traditions from multiple continents with what felt like a never ending and magical array of different traditional flutes – end blown, side blown, fipple, vessel – he easily pulled the crowd along with him.

His transverse bamboo flute was delightfully breathy, with clipped short notes and Lovano supporting delicately on balance drum. His ocarina, accompanied by buddhist cymbal crashes. His long thin flute, controlled with a rapid finger covering and uncovering the opening at the end, produced a seemingly unbroken sequence of fleeting notes in the embouchure-only harmonic range of a simple bugle – hints of military tones meeting near-circular breathing.

The set of drone flutes – native american, mesoamerican and chinese, and made from wood, bamboo, and clay – really sung: one which looked like a set of bulky binoculars produced an otherworldly, almost theremin-style in its range switching and vibration; another a gourd-like flute which was richly chordal, with a fluttering multi-note drone; another flute with a flatter body and a strapped-on block, which Shabaka played almost in a gaelic folk style, sounding like the clearest bagpipes you’ve ever heard. The mastery of this diversity of flutes is of course in itself impressive, but more so was the familiarity of the musical ground – the same relentless rhythmic energy that ties all these flute impressions together, with a clear throughline from the exciting hype style of Shabaka’s previous band work.

Throughout the show Lovano added texture with his own small music shop of instruments: soprano, clarinet, rattles and gongs. It was only on the final piece in their concise set that the dynamic between Lovano and Shabaka switched. To close, Shabaka swapped woodwinds for a kalimba. And while Shabaka was engrossed, looking as if he was busy on a gameboy, Lovano let loose the long expressive and sorrowful tenor solo that he’d been holding back, to audible rapture from the crowd. But up until that point, the space and support Lovano gave to Shabaka throughout the show was in itself the highest mark of respect for Shabaka’s musicality, and testament to Lovano as a caring musician. When I spoke with Lovano in 2022 (LINK TO INTERVIEW) about his tribute album to Paul Motian Once Around the Room, he referenced how he cherished the different way in which Motian ran a band – sharing the space, without the formally defined role of improviser and supporter. My opinion of Lovano was already sky high – but his delicate support and partnership throughout this unusual show only reinforced it.

So, how much of a break from the past was Flute Shabaka? Was this Miles going electric? Was this Dylan going electric? For sure, this was less seismic. In the noise spectrum, Shabaka has moved in the introspective direction: more acoustic, more variation, more tradition. And it seems Shabaka’s songwriting and playing style easily cuts through, whether it is through a saxophone or otherwise. But still, in his closing words to the crowd, he understatedly implies that the cohesive musical decision that we witnessed maybe hadn’t been straightforward. “Change is never easy”.

Winter Jazzfest has changed, too. The inclusion of Brooklyn in the multi-venue marathon nights has been a real bonus, but for LJN jazz fans, there has also been a scaled back representation from London, with the noted absence in particular of the excellent Gilles Peterson-hosted BBC Music and PRS showcases of past years. Peterson is still here dj-ing this year, but perhaps the visa situation that caused so much trouble for line-ups in January 2020 (LINK TO REVIEW) before other events broke live music put an end to the transatlantic travel. This crowd was just glad Shabaka has made it back, and has moved in for the week.

(*) NOTE by Dan: I am not a flute expert… I was too shy to beat my way through the crowd to ask for names and historical references. But I would welcome any comments, clarifications and corrections on the names and types of flute referenced.

The post Joe Lovano & Shabaka at Dizzy’s Club NYC first appeared on UK Jazz News.

This show was a rare example of the medium, a menu of bari served ten ways. Sinton opened with a breathy, quiet flutter in an always-impressive circular breathing introductory passage. Sat in a quiet space so close to the musician, we the audience were afforded the rare opportunity to see the systems interaction of the musician and instrument – the expansion and contraction of the neck, the audible sharp snatches of breath forming an unusual beat in partnership with the light rhythmic click of the mechanism and the satisfyingly solid clack of the pads.

Sinton then loosened into full-throated play, and a sequence of scales, with small rhythmic distortions and intermediate notes; the sort of study which brings back mild PTSD from one’s own interactions with learning and practicing as a child, tempered by the real interest which Sinton has discretely added. Throughout, a trail of hints of musical references were left for the listener – enough to tug at the attention and draw parallels, but not enough to distract.

The exploration continued with carefully built harmonics, and the enthralling tone of the singing instrument being sung into, creating a sound reminiscent of reedier, more nasal woodwind. Sinton also successfully explored the small shop-front gallery space he took at his stage, walking to the corners of the room to vary the sound, and engaging with some endearing direct call-and-response with the excited infant audience member who he so graciously welcomed into the venue.

This performance was of course a one-off, but it was in large part built off Sinton’s new release, out on 12 January, Couloir and Book of Practitioners Vol. 2. And whereas, when performed live, the short pieces and studies that constitute the double album merge fluidly into one extended event, I’m sure the addition of intellectual clarity from listening to the record – even knowing when each small piece starts and ends – can and will open another level into the work.

In the wider sense, this performance is certainly not a one-off, and forms part of the monthly solo series ‘Me, myself and eye’, organized by Michel Gentile, and hosted at 440 Gallery.

The post Josh Sinton at 440 Gallery, NYC first appeared on UK Jazz News.

Before they started playing, Glasper was keen to point out that – perhaps unlike some of the more famous rock supergroups – they were all here together on stage because they were best friends as well as each other’s favourite musicians. And while one might have assumed that Dinner Party would be primarily playing from their two records as a group – concise tightly produced records – it was clear that this evening was a vehicle to peek into the larger jazz, hip-hop and R&B ecosystem that Glasper and longtime collaborator Terrace Martin have assembled, filled with vocal guests and extensive enthralling improvisation. Thankfully for the audience, as part of the fifth edition of the slyly named ‘Robtober’ – Robert Glasper’s annual October residency at Blue Note – there were plenty of their wider LA scene friends in town for the show.

A shining example of this beyond-Dinner Party approach to the gig was Find You – a Robert Glasper Experiment piece. Animated by a showpiece bass opening from Burniss Travis – plucking and strumming, Find You started with an extended chordal, sustained and multilayered introduction that was longer than the entirety of many of the recorded tunes on Dinner Party’s EP and album. After a recognizable vocal synth melody from Glasper, we were then treated to the first of a series of trademark Kamasi Washington solos throughout the set – this one starting leisurely, patiently building a structure, with the tenor reverberating over a rocky backing. Fast and liquid, Washington eventually breaks a sweat, before a carefully controlled Justin Tyson on drums pulls down the song’s curtain with a perfect fade.

Next, Tyson takes center-stage pairing complicated polyrhythmic lines – endlessly engaging even as the more you try and decode them – with wonky and slick keys work from Glasper, as he busily slips around over the percussive energy. While Glasper’s charisma holds the show together, the most electrifying moments involve Washington. Near the tail of the set Washington’s tenor and Martin’s alto combine to shadow each other tightly before they each split off for an improvisational turn. Over Tyson’s delicately laid afrobeat shuffle, Washington slowly constructs another screaming sax climax, working up a frenzy via a series of false summits, each time nearly running out of rope before taking a sideways route and rebuilding to a euphoric peak.

For all the live-performance exhilaration, the crowd were given pauses for breath. Dinner Party’s recent 2023 album Enigmatic Society is a comparatively restrained record imbued with an overall significantly calmer vibe. At times the live show reached for that calm, too; the breathy appearance of Amber Navran – from neo-soul Moonchild and featuring with Glasper the two previous nights of Robtober –  bringing a slower moment singing Been On My Mind (a piece from Glasper’s other supergroup R+R=NOW). The closing handful of tunes – Dinner Party sharing the stage with another LA-based friend, Gallant – were more straightforward R&B, including Breathe and 311! (a separate Terrace Martin and Gallant project), and Freeze Tag from their 2020 EP. The real hint to which side of Dinner Party are turning up – the freewheeling virtuoso jazz grooves or the overqualified R&B backing band – is in the complexity of the drumbeat: if Justin Tyson is being challenged to do something, then this is a song to lean-in and pay attention to.

Before Dinner Party took to the stage there was an appetizer-style 20 minute set from DJ Jahi Sundance. This was slick and eclectic, but suffered a little from the environment – a DJ set works better in a bar or stand-up venue than a traditional table-service jazz bar. The misaligned formality coupled with the extremely tight packing of the audience in the space made this a slightly awkward interlude before the main event. The Blue Note is a very popular venue with excellent programming, and in an attempt to allow as many jazz-lovers as possible to enjoy each show, they have squeezed tables and chairs into every available square inch of space inside, including corner spots without direct sight of the stage (for an 8pm show I was advised to get on line outside the venue at 5pm to avoid this tragic outcome). Aside from a rush hour subway journey, this was the closest I have come to sitting in a stranger’s lap for a very long time. Claustrophobics be warned!

The post Dinner Party feat. Robert Glasper and Kamasi Washington at the Blue Note NYC first appeared on UK Jazz News.

Billed as both introspective and retrospective, touching on his musical journey through the sounds of the different continents he has lived on and traveled through, Look Inside is a deep and diverse album that partners jazz standard interpretations with personal compositions drawing on his time growing up in Sweden, and studying in India and The Gambia. Ode to Spring is a melancholy narrative piece, bringing a meandering bass line in touch with an oft-returned to hook. Chennai Reminiscence brings variation in a rich bowed bass alternating with pulsing steps and rugged bounces, and Råberg’s interpretation of Prelude to a Kiss is such a comfortable fit, with him able to play the pauses in the piece.

The recordings of Look Inside are confident and strong, and in contrast a solo live performance can feel at times lonely. It is hard to play alone, particularly when there is an unused full band setup on stage behind you in preparation for the second set of the evening, and Råberg jokingly turning around to introduce the band to the audience highlighted their absence. When playing live solo there can be a tendency to try and fill the empty space in the room, while in the studio the space between has been effectively embraced. However, a live performance is perfect for showcasing Gyrating Spheres, where Råberg can busily explore the alternative sound-making mechanisms of the bass, whether that be the tap of the shoulders, the brushing of the upper bout, the primary colours of the strings below the bridge, or the beat between the sound holes. The audience found it irresistible to join in with their own taps and snaps.

This was one of the first shows at the new location of Shapeshifter Lab in Park Slope after their relocation from Gowanus in 2021, a move necessitated by what I can only interpret as a prime example of pandemic-induced unashamed rent extortion. In its new spot co-owners Fortuna Sung and Matthew Garrison have somehow managed to keep the spirit of the old venue – a wide and shallow space with a column-line punctuating the boundary between stage and audience – in their refurbishment of a more prominent location. Shapeshifter Lab functions as a community education and event space, as well as a coffee shop, and during the show its visible shopfront on Union Street was notably bringing in curious looks from passersby even while Brooklyn was suffering uncharacteristically British drizzle.

The post Bruno Råberg – ‘Look Inside’ NYC album launch at Shapeshifter Lab first appeared on UK Jazz News.

Title track Protect Your Light sandwiches a saxophone and trumpet breakdown between upbeat cowbell-led marches that couple crisp horns and rich vocals. Celestial Pathways paints a more introspective path still, a calm lament that is clear and open in tone. Muted trumpet partners comforting breathy sax, with shakers and toms pushing through before a restrained double bass briefly rounds out the texture before pulling to an abrupt halt. These three tracks combine Protect Your Light’ new studio craft (multi-tracked layers of spoken word and vocals) and earnest messaging with relatively concise playtimes. Lyrics such as “I want more love. Sweet love” and “Hold me in the river, sweet home” show a little more heart on sleeve than we’d expect. Is this tongue-in-cheek? 

Of course, Protect Your Light aIso showcases some of Irreversible Entanglements’ better-known fire. Our Land runs three minutes of anguished instrumental introduction, before breaking into a cool spoken word line of questioning on unresolved colonialism from Camae Ayewa over an even cooler creeping double bass and piano backing from Luke Stewart and Janice A. Lowe.  with ticking and embellishing percussion and spars dual horn melody highlight. The calm confident political chastising of Our Land contrasts with the agitated bass and multifaceted drumming of Tcheser Holmes on Soundness, in direct conversation with the wailing, squealing runs of Aquiles Navarro’s trumpet and Keir Neuringer’s saxophone. Soundness conjures anxiety through song and Ayewa’s repeated narrative refrain, finishing with a combination of wittering horns and rich cello from guest Lester St. Louis.

Closing track Degrees of Freedom ties two strands of the album – a gentler, less-acerbic spoken word delivery, accompanied with a two-phase instrumental flipping between agitated intensity and a composed confidence. Here a rapid fire percussive demonstration from Holmes meets the spiked interjections of the horns, before drawing the listener into a calming, hypnotic script paired with a lethargic pulsing beat, fluttering sax and floating trumpet. On Degrees of Freedom Irreversible Entanglements somehow manage to bring to mind totally disparate references: the restrained passionate vocals over punchy instrumental of I’m Just Looking from Dexys Midnight Runners early 1980s debut; the detached and dispassionate voiceover narrative set to a relaxed groove of Air’s late 1990s Suicide Underground. Degrees of Freedom is clearly a different beast with a very different hinterland to these two tracks, yet in tone it somehow adds a new piece to this small niche of unusual spoken word instrumental pairings.

So much of what I remember from that first encounter with Irreversible Entanglements in 2019 was the free playing and clear indignation. Protect Your Light has less of both, and feels a little more accessible and a little less overwhelming as a result. However, so much of this perception is in the delivery, and this snapshot of a recording perhaps gives a false sense of security of understanding and forgiveness. Extended free blowing and hitting on record can alienate, feel too isolated and out of context, while in a live show it is endlessly engrossing and deep. This could well be a modulation for the medium, a soundscape that embraces the opportunities of a recording studio: more layers, more friends, more composition.

There is only one way to find out, and based on Protect Your Light, it is certainly worth attending a show on Irreversible Entanglements upcoming European tour to understand how this material is interpreted live. Some sharper edges to these crafted audio moments could make for a fascinating experience. Be prepared to feel totally wired, and totally washed out.

European tour 2023

Sat. Nov. 4 – Berlin, DE @ Jazzfest Berlin
Mon. Nov. 6 – Brussels, BE @ Ancienne Belgique
Fri. Nov. 10 – Paris, FR @ Festival d’Automne à Paris
Sat. Nov. 11 – Rotterdam, NL @ LantarenVenster
Sun. Nov. 12 – Utrecht, NL @ Le Guess Who?
Tue. Nov. 14 – Dublin, IE @ Whelans
Wed. Nov. 15 – London, UK @ EFG London Jazz Festival

The post Irreversible Entanglements – ‘Protect Your Light’ first appeared on UK Jazz News.

Byron Wallen’s piece “Closed Circle” is the most traditionally aligned Blue Note track of the record; a formal compositional structure which could lean on the Jazz Messengers. It opens and closes with layered strings with a mythical Smalltown Supersound tonality, .with a contemporary jazz filling in between. The filling is a looping bouncing sax line with an unhurried trumpet solo, the same structure repeated again with the horns reversed, before the triumphant horns return together – their lines interwoven with a lower tenor shadow. “Plight” from Chicago-based Resavoir channels a similar spirit but over a more propulsive beat. The group, having formed around leader Will Miller’s efforts to compose for the city’s hip-hop community, combine set piece horn cadences with piano and sax improvisation.

Nubiyan Twist horn player Jonny Enser’s ‘solo’ project Matters Unknown leans into rich orchestral horns on “Eloquence”, one of four of the seven tunes that feature a vocalist. Another is Zeitgeist Freedom Energy Exchange’s Isa, based on drummer and bandleader Ziggy Zeitgeist’s shimmering dance beat, the percussion building the piece up from a relaxed spiritual funk to a full party, replete with samba whistle. Crescent is drummer Jake Long’s horizontal super slow beat, pairing meandering saxophone solos and clean guitar.

The two standout tracks of Transmissions pair beats with London vocalists with reassuringly local accents. “Black” by Neue Grafik features Brother Portrait (this is not their first collaboration) delivering clipped, sharp and punctuated spoken word. There are sax breaks, at first clean and then doubled – thick in reverb. “Visions” combines an anthemic synth start with relaxed drums and Kieron Boothe’s light rap flow. Cool muted trumpets set back in the mix (almost back in another room) go with a busy bass line and fuzzy synths in the break. This Soccer96 track is Transmissions’ single – less frenetic than their normal work, and less barnstorming than their trio partnership as The Comet is Coming, but recognisable nonetheless.

The musicians on Transmissions are not all Londoners – they hail from Chicago and Melbourne, and bring with them vocalists from across Europe, Africa and the Pacific. The reason I love this part of London is this – they all are Londoners. Collected together as a seven track LP, Total Refreshment Centre produces a sort-of local cohesive sound; a community with a compelling musical identity; an identity cohesive enough for one of the world’s most storied jazz labels to put out their mixtape and use their enormous promotional loud-hailer to share that identity with the rest of the world.

Living in NYC I don’t often go wanting for jazz, but the current London scene – with the TRC community at the heart of it – is one of the things that makes me pine for the London stretch of the A10 and the music life along it. If you are in London, show up and be a part of it.

Release date is Friday 17 February.

Track Listing

1. Soccer96 “Visions” featuring Kieron Boothe
2. Byron Wallen “Closed Circle”
3. Jake Long “Crescent (City Swamp Dub)”
4. Matters Unknown “Eloquence” featuring Miryam Solomon
5. Zeitgeist Freedom Energy Exchange “Isa” featuring Noah Slee
6. Neue Grafik “Black” featuring Brother Portrait
7. Resavoir “Plight”

The post Soccer96, Byron Wallen… – ‘Transmissions from Total Refreshment Centre’ first appeared on UK Jazz News.