Sommaire pour August 2024 de Jazzwise

More leading international jazz names have been announced for this year’s EFG London Jazz Festival which runs from 15-24 November 2024 across venues large and small around the capital. Among this next tranche of newly confirmed gigs is a second night at the Barbican for global jazz guitar star Pat Metheny on Friday 15 November, following his previously announced appearance on 16 November now being sold out. Another jazz heavyweight now on the bill is veteran trumpeter Charles Tolliver, who marks what would have been the 100th birthday of his former bandmate, and iconic drummer, Max Roach. Tolliver will perform alongside drummer Darrell Green and tenor saxophonist Camille Thurman and an all-star UK big band led by Tony Kofi (Barbican, 18 Nov), all combining on the trumpeter’s composition ‘Drum Suite’…

What looked to be the biggest UK jazz concert of summer 1954 at the Royal Albert Hall was unexpectedly marred when American trumpeter Jimmy McPartland, advertised in the previous week’s Melody Maker, was refused a work permit by the government’s Ministry of Labour. A move prompted by the Musician’s Union’s then ban on touring American musicians taking away British jobs. This left his wife, pianist Marion, a British citizen, to appear solo, providing, of course, that she joined the MU first! The evening’s star turn, swing to mainstream American born singer of Russian descent Georgia Gibbs, who also had a fondness for rocking r&b, somehow sidestepped the MU ban, a move that we’re assured had nothing to do with union officials worried she might engulf them with her ‘Kiss of…

1 ‘Little Petherick’ by Django Bates’ Belovèd from The Study Of Touch (2017) “The piano sound in the beginning is pure beauty in my ears. This cyclic piece is performed with great sensitivity. The organic phrases flow like water in a perfectly balanced trio. Django Bates is a unique composer, and his extraordinary sense of phrasing and orchestrating shines through his piano playing too.” 2 ‘Synthetics’ by Kurt Rosenwinkel from Deep Song (2005) “A brilliant, sophisticated masterpiece. Rhythmically and harmonically complex with a physical appeal. The fiery theme sets off with perfectly synchronised tenor and guitar in a slightly ambiguous rhythm. Where is the downbeat? The piano solo opening is iconic with an intense rimshot triggering Brad Mehldau’s punchy lines in the deeper register.” 3 ‘Peaceful Warrior’ by Aaron Parks…

In the 1920s and 1930s there were hundreds of local radio stations in the USA, which were often a source of employment for musicians. Occasionally it was live feeds from venues (Ellington at the Cotton Club, Basie at the Reno) but more often the players were in their local studio. They may have been plugging their public gigs, but a few musicians had regular slots, such as Art Tatum, Fats Waller and their predecessors such as Lee Sims, an acknowledged influence on Tatum. Starting in the late 1920s, the production of “transcription records” (16-inch discs played at 33⅓rpm and running up to 30 minutes) enabled subscribing local stations, who weren’t part of the major national networks, to air significant performers unlikely to appear in their area. From the mid-1930s onwards,…

TRADITIONAL NEW ORLEANS FUNDRAISER ORGANISED FOR NATIONAL JAZZ ARCHIVE There’s a great chance to catch Pete Lay’s Gambit Jazzmen when they appear for a special fundraising concert in aid of the National Jazz Archive at Loughton Library Traps Hill, Loughton at 2.30pm on 20 July. One of the UK’s top trad jazz drummers, Lay has worked on both sides of the Atlantic performing alongside Ken Colyer and remains a tireless ambassador for New Orleans jazz. His sextet features John Maddocks (clarinet/saxes), Iain McAulay (trombone), Tom Connor (trumpet), John Arthy (double bass) and Andy Maynard (banjo and guitar). For full details and tickets visit www.nationaljazzarchive.org.uk/news-events MICHAEL WOLLNY AND KIT ARMSTRONG TO PLAY LONDON PIANO FESTIVAL Top German jazz pianist Michael Wollny makes a rare UK appearance this autumn when he visits…

In 1963 pianist Horace Parlan recorded Happy Frame Of Mind, an album that has its rightful place in the hard bop canon. By and large the songs crackle with blues and gospel rhythms that are as upbeat as the title suggests, but one composition stands out for its structural finesse as well as political substance. The piece has a Shorter-stamped elegance and mood of profound reverence. It is called ‘Home Is Africa.’ Blue Note, the American label that issued the music now has a home in Africa. “We took on Nduuzo Makhathini’s first album and it was incredible. Then I met him and then we spent a lot time together,” says Blue Note president Don Was of the South African pianist-composer whose work is marked by both deep spirituality and…

Beyond this Place Artwork Records (CD, DL) EDITOR’S CHOICE Kenny Barron (p), Immanuel Wilkins (as), Steve Nelson (vb), Kiyoshi Kitagawa (b) and Johnathan Blake (d). Rec. date not stated From the late 1950s, when he was a teenager barely out of high school, Kenny Barron was good enough to play piano for a bebop elite including James Moody, Lee Morgan and Dizzy Gillespie. Now 81, he’s as warmly at one with his materials and his partners as he’s ever been. For Beyond This Place, regular bassist Kiyoshi Kitagawa and drummerJohnathan Blake are joined by vibraphonist Steve Nelson, and rising-star alto sax virtuoso Immanuel Wilkins, while the repertoire joins Barron originals going back to the 1970s (‘Innocence’) with newer pieces and standards (‘The Nearness of You’, Monk’s ‘We See’). A laconic…

Nduduzo Makhathini uNomkhubulwane Blue Note Records 6518523 (CD, 2 LP, DL) Nduduzo Makhathini (p, v), Zwelakhe-Duma Bell le Pere (b, v) and Francisco Mela (d, v). Rec. 2023 Despite the contemporary praise for its 'African authenticity', on Makhathini’s 2020 Blue Note debut, Modes of Communication: Letters From the Underworlds, contemporary American jazz provided an additional strand that coloured the South African expressionism. In part a product of the ubiquity of jazz education and to an extent, the codification of the music, and in part the way the music had gone anyway in South Africa – certainlywhen Abdullah Ibrahim returned to perform in South Africa under Nelson Mandela, he lamented how the traditional Township style that the sounds he and players like Kippie Moeketsi pioneered had been lost among younger players…

My Prophet ECM 2821 (CD, LP, DL) EDITOR’S CHOICE Oded Zzur (ts), Nitai Hershkovits (p), Petros Klampanis (b) and Cyrano Almeida (d). Rec. November 2023 This is the third minor masterpiece in succession from Tzur, following Here Be Dragons (2019) and Isabela (2021). Throughout the personnel has remained unchanged, so important in developing a unified group sound that evolves through learned and intuitive responses to each other’s playing on the bandstand. So important too, because every musical nuance and inflection are part of a collective sound that on the one hand possess unity and depth and on the other a part of a spiritual element that permeates Tzur’s performances. Each composition seems finely wrought, and, like medieval craftsmen, every phrase seems fashioned for the ages. This is music of simmering…

Derek Bailey/Simon H Fell At Sound 323 Confront Recordings CORE 03LP (2 LP, DL) Derek Bailey (g) and Simon H Fell (b). Rec. 13 August 2001 Here are two of the giants of the UK avant-garde playing together at a show at a London gallery back back in 2001. This is not the first time this material has appeared: it was originally released in 2013 as a limited edition Confront CD, The Complete August 15th 2001; now, freshly remixed and remastered on a deluxe double 180g white vinyl LP set, it sounds better than ever. There are four pieces here, two titled ‘Pre-Tea’ and two ‘Post-Tea’, and each taking up a side of vinyl. The lengthy ‘Post-Tea I’ is an undoubted highlight, but taken together, all four make for a…

Cannonball Adderley with Bill Evans Know What I Mean? Riverside/OJC/Craft Recordings CR00716 (LP, DL) RECOMMENDED Cannonball Adderley (as), Bill Evans (p), Percy Heath (b) and Connie Kay (d). Rec. 27 January, 21 February, 13 March 1961 Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers Caravan Riverside/OJC/Craft Recordings CR00717 (LP, DL) RECOMMENDED Art Blakey (d), Freddie Hubbard (t), Wayne Shorter (ts), Curtis Fuller (tb), Cedar Walton (b) and Reggie Workman (b). Rec. 23 and 24 October 1962 Kenny Burrell/John Coltrane Kenny Burrell & John Coltrane New Jazz/OJC/Craft Recordings CR00720 (LP, DL) Kenny Burrell (el g), John Coltrane (ts), Tommy Flanagan (p), Paul Chambers (b) and Jimmy Cobb (d). Rec. 7 March 1958 Red Garland Trio Groovy Prestige/OJC/Craft Recordings CR00719 (LP, DL) Red Garland (p), Paul Chambers (b) and Arthur Taylor (d). Rec. 24…

A question I get asked a lot is, “what’s the best-sounding jazz album ever?” And I usually fudge the answer, as what ‘sounds best’ is really a matter of taste, and entirely subjective. For example, I think RudyVan Gelder was an inferior engineer to Roy DuNann, but you may well disagree (many online discussions think Van Gelder has the edge - Ed); I also think many Blue Note recordings are too bright; Contemporary and certain Columbia recordings set the standard by which all others are measured; I don’t think overdubbing or tape editing are crimes against jazz; I’m not an analogue or mono fundamentalist; nor do I believe that first pressings are always best – they often are, but not always (why this is, is a feature of its own, something…

In our self-publishing age, the concept of a record label can seem a bit arcane. And yet, as this issue focuses on one of the most significant jazz labels in the history of the music, there’s much to be said for the importance of an imprint with this its own sound and aesthetic. While many labels today are instantly identifiable, thanks to sleeve artwork, artist roster and production values, it’s arguable that Blue Note’s founders – German-Jewish immigrants Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff – set the benchmark for others to follow. With a manifesto to “dedicate themselves to the pursuit of authentic music and affording the artist uncompromising artistic freedom”, the label’s identity was also thanks to the pioneering work of (initially) part-time, self-taught sound engineer, Rudy Van Gelder. He…

The Scarborough Jazz Festival will be back at its long-established venue in the town’s Victorian Spa complex for its 21st year from 27 to 29 September in what will be the first edition for new festival director Mark Gordon. As always the event packs in a strong mix of top UK names and exciting newcomers from trios and quartets to full-on big bands. Names so far announced include Tony Kofi/Alex Webb’s project Big Ben: Celebrating Ben Webster; multi-reedist Alan Barnes’ Copperfield: A Dickensian Jazz Suite; Mercury-nominated pianist Fergus McCreadie’s Trio; virtuoso flautist and bandleader Gareth Lockrane’s Big Band; Pete Oxley and Hattie Whitehead’s Joni Mitchell celebration project Hejira; award-winning singer Elaine Delmar; violinist/pianist Benet McLean’s Quintet; guitarist Nigel Price and his Organ Trio; plus singer Fay Claassen with saxophonist Emma…

The much-loved Brecon Jazz Festival returns for its 40th anniversary over three weekends in and around the town in the heart of the Brecon Beacons. Things begin on Sunday 4 August with a series daytime and early evening, family-orientated free concerts including Bristol-based African-jazz band Baraka, swing group Jazz Passengers and jazz-funk outfit Jingu Bang. The main programme starts on 9-11 August with two names from the UK scene: virtuoso pianist Geoff Eales performing in a special line-up of leading Welsh instrumentalists (10 Aug), plus high-energy Latin jazz keyboardist Eliane Correa and her UK Cuban Quintet play on the Sunday evening (11 Aug). There are also appearances by guitarist/singer Rosie Frater-Taylor; guitarist and Berklee professor Steven Kirby; New York-based vocalist Tatiana Eva-Marie performing vocal takes on the music of Django…

Creole Orchestra Cultzck ECO10 (CD, DL) EDITOR’S CHOICE Etienne Charles (t, arr, comp, perc), Jumaane Smith, Walter Cano, Anthony Stanco, Giveton Gelin (t), Dion Tucker, Corey Wilcox, Michael Dease (tb), Chris Glassman (btb), Michael Thomas, Godwin Louis (as, ss), Brian Hogans (as), John Ellis (ts, bcl), Seth Ebersole (ts, cl), Paul Nedzela (bs, bcl), Gina Izzo (f), Sullivan Fortner (p, ky), Alex Wintz (g), Ben Williams, Jonathan Michel (b), Obed Calvaire (d), Jorge Glem (cuatro), Pascual Landeau (maraca) plus guests René Marie, Brandon Rose (v) and DJ Logic (turntables). Rec. 28 and 29 August 2018 Trinidad-born but now US-based, trumpeter Charles makes much of his Creole antecedents and his concern for their cultural traditions and rightly so. His music infuses these varied influences, with his ‘Old School’ combining familiar big…

Pat Metheny MoonDial BMG 964026842 (CD, LP, DL) EDITOR’S CHOICE Pat Metheny (acoustic baritone guitar). Rec. December 2023 Metheny places this excellent recording in a lineage preceded by One Quiet Night and What’s It All About – two solo guitar recordings – but this is something more. Using a custom-made Linda Manzer Baritone Nylon String Guitar, Metheny has come up with an unusual slant in how he tunes the instrument whereby the middle strings are tuned up an octave to the general tuning of the Baritone instrument (which is about a 4th or a 5th lower that the standard guitar). While that snippet of information may not mean a lot to the non-guitar playing fraternity, it opened up a whole new dimension of harmony that had been unavailable with the…

Band of Bands Westbrook Records WR014 (CD, DL) EDITOR’S CHOICE Mike Westbrook (p), Chris Biscoe (as, ss), Pete Whyman (as, ss, cl), Karen Street (acc, v), Marcus Vergette (b), Coach York (d) and Kate Westbrook (v). Rec. 25 November 2023 Westbrook’s Band of Bands could hardly be better titled. This is a new band comprised of master musicians that have played in many of the Westbrooks’ line ups across the decades, from the street wise Brass Band to the assembled masses of the Uncommon Orchestra. This sumptuously recorded live show sunbursts open with a joyous post-bop ‘Glad Day’, from the Westbrook Blake album of the same name, and includes the inevitable nod to Ellington with a dazzling re-work of Strayhorn’s ‘Johnny Come Lately’. That’s not the obvious context for an…

Latin–Soul–Rock Fania/Craft Recordings CR00731 (LP, DL) A large cast of Latin musicians inc Willie Colon (tb), Ray Barretto, Mongo Santamaria (perc), Victor Paz, Lou Soloff (t), with guests Billy Cobham (d), Jan Hammer (ky), Jorge ‘Malo’ Santana (g) and Manu Dibango (saxes). Rec. 24 August 1973 The audience for this event, held at the Yankee Stadium in New York, topped 40,000, and photographs in the liner notes make you wonder how they crammed so many musicians on stage, and how those musicians coalesced into a unified sound that on the eight tracks of this LP at least, did not get into some kind of horrible tangle. The crowd went crazy and eventually spilled onto the stage, so versions of ‘Soul Makossa’ were taken from a concert in Pueto Rico, and…

Sarah Vaughan The Divine One – A Centenary Tribute: Her 50 Finest 1944-62 Retrospective RTS 4417 (2 CD) RECOMMENDED Sarah Vaughan (v), with various musicians including Dizzy Gillespie, Clifford Brown, Freddy Webster, Buck Clayton, Thad Jones, Billy Butterfield, Taft Jordan, Miles Davis (t), Benny Green (tb), Herbie Mann (f), Charlie Parker, Buster Bailey, Russell Procope, Georgie Auld, Flip Phillips, Big Nick Nicholas, Scoville Brown, Don Byas, Tony Scott, Budd Johnson, Paul Quinichette, Zoot Sims (reeds), Al Haig, Leonard Feather, Bud Powell, Billy Kyle, Jimmy Jones, Teddy Wilson, John Malachi, Ronnell Bright (p), Bill De Arango, Jimmy Smith, Remo Parmieri, Al Casey, John Collins, Freddie Green, Mundell Lowe, Bucky PIzzarelli (g), Curley Russell, John Kirby, Al McKibbon, Billy Taylor, Bob Haggart, Eddie Safranski, Joe Benjamin, Richard Davis, George Duvivier (b), Sid…

Classical BROUGHT TO YOU BY GRAMOPHONE Bertrand Chamayou Cage2 Erato It’s over 30 years since Cage’s death in 1992, yet opinions remain divided about the American composer’s music and his legacy. Had Cage not gone completely ‘off-piste’ during the 1950s and ’60s, embracing chance, indeterminacy and experimental theatre, perhaps the story would have been rather different. Certainly, the Cage of the 1940s – and the prepared piano works composed during that time – are more immediately accessible and more conceptually graspable than the cryptic Cage of the 1950s. The prepared piano’s exotic appeal has often been exaggerated due to regular comparisons with Eastern music in general and the sounds of the Balinese gamelan orchestra in particular. The prepared piano remains one of the 20th century’s most significant musical inventions, however,…

THURSDAY 1 eqnx Pizza Express Jazz Club, 10 Dean Street, London W1 1 Kai Hoffman with John Harriman Trio The Middle House, Mayfield, Tunbridge Wells  1 Olli Soikkeli Vortex Jazz Club, 11 Gillett Square, London N16 1 Hannah Horton 606 Club, 90 Lots Road, London SW10 4 Tim Garland and Jason Rebello Chelmsford Cathedral, New Street, Chelmsford A great chance to hear this high-flying duo – both internationally recognised names, Garland with Chick Corea and Rebello with Sting and Jeff Beck – here exploring their highly kinetic playing. They’ve recorded together on their recent self-released album, Life to Life, but it was with the saxophonist’s band of Rebello, Ant Law and Asaf Sirkis – as heard on the album One (Edition) – where the absence of a bassist was not…

A new recording from saxophonist Wayne Shorter is to be released as Celebration Vol.1 on Blue Note on 23 August and captures him and his top-flight Quartet of Danilo Pérez, John Patitucci and Brian Blade in their prime in 2014. The album is the first in a series of Blue Note archival releases that Shorter curated before his death in 2023, and is a previously unreleased live recording of Shorter’s acclaimed group captured live at the Stockholm Jazz Festival in Sweden. The album adds to this celebrated band’s recorded legacy that began in 2002 with Footprints Live! which was released on Verve and was the saxophonist’s first album under his own name for the label, followed by Alegría (2003) and Beyond the Sound Barrier (2005), while the 2010 live recording,…

Leyburn Jazz Festival returns for a fourth consecutive year this autumn running from 17 to 20 October at venues in around the town situated in Wensleydale, in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales. There’s a strong mix of headliners across the four-day programme including the widely acclaimed Hejira – guitarist Pete Oxley’s impressive Joni Mitchell-inspired group fronted by the gifted singer/guitarist Hattie Whitehead – plus top Scottish jazz guitarist Jim Mullen, bassist/singer Nicola Farnon and New Orleans-style group Alligator Gumbo. Other highlights include Parliamentary Jazz Award-winning vocalist Zoe Gilby and her partner/bassist Andy Champion, guitarist Edison Herbert’s Trio, the Yorkshire Gypsy Swing Collective, local saxophonist and recent Leeds Conservatoire graduate Jack Pearce and his Quartet. With many of the main events taking place in St Matthew’s Church, the festival also…

NAME: LOX INSTRUMENT: Drummer, composer & arranger EXPERIENCE AND INFLUENCES: Surrounded by percussion since birth thanks to his father, the world-class Ghanaian drummer Paapa Jeh Mensah, LOX began playing drums at age 10 and started his professional career at 16. Having earned a scholarship to Berklee School of Music, the pandemic prevented him from attending. Since then, LOX has exploded onto the professional music scene, diversifying his drumming style and collaborating with artists such as China Moses, Mansur Brown, Guvna B, Wretch 32, Tinie Tempah, Greg Spero, and the late Casey Benjamin. He’s also performed with Femi Temowo, Blue Lab Beats, Steamdown, Ife Ogunjoni, INSXGHT, and virtuoso steel pan player Leon “Foster” Thomas to name a few. THIS FUTURE MOVER SAYS: “I feel the most at home and myself when…

The Lowestoft Jazz Festival returns from 12 to 15 September to the East Suffolk coastal town at The Seagull theatre and Hotel Hatfield. The latter hosts an opening night gig from saxophonist Dave Ingham’s Pangaea, a quintet inspired by music from Africa, Middle East and Latin America and featuring guitarist Stephen Mynott and violinist Rebecca Waller Headlining the Friday night is saxophonist and MC Soweto Kinch (main pic). Weekend events include the Art Themen Quartet (2.30pm), ahead of an evening performance from singer Barb Jungr (right) who presents her interpretations of songs by Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen. The Sunday features an afternoon concert from leading UK saxophonist Trish Clowes and her MY IRIS quartet of Chris Montague, Ross Stanley and Joel Barford ahead of a closing evening set from…

During the period from 1963-1965 when he was in the house trio at the Jazzhus Montmartre in Copenhagen, the Danish drummer Alex Riel established himself as a world class player. Along with pianist Kenny Drew and (more often than not) Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen on bass, this was the rhythm section that played and recorded with most of the visiting stars that played there. T The trio recorded in its own right under Riel’s name for the Danish Fona label, including a lovely version of John Lewis’s ‘Django’, but it reached a bigger international audience by backing well-known soloists. The albums by Ben Webster (such as Sunday Morning at the Montmartre or In a Mellow Tone) are among the tenorist’s best late work, his big throbbing sound gelling perfectly with this…

Sometimes it’s best to start right from the very beginning and locate those initial sparks of inspiration that are still getting the creative juices flowing today. Certainly that’s the case with the 35-year-old trombonist-composer Raph Clarkson. “I feel very lucky,” he says, speaking to me in the small library of the Marylebone Theatre hours before a concert presented by Action for South African (ACTSA) of his band Equal Spirits. “I was a child to two classical musicians: my mum was a baroque violinist, my dad was a viola player. So there was always music in the house so I’d have to credit them. When I picked up the trombone at age eight my mum would practise with me. Also both of my parents taught at Dartington International Summer School and…

In the realm of jazz vocalists, few have left an indelible mark quite like Sarah Vaughan. Her virtuosic range, elegant phrasing, and ability to imbue even the most familiar standards with profound emotion made her a true icon of the art form. For Zara McFarlane, one of the UK’s pre-eminent jazz vocalists and composers, Vaughan’s influence has been nothing short of profound. “She made me really listen to jazz standards and the American songbook in a way that elevated the songs and made me truly feel something, which is ridiculously hard when dealing with such familiar material,” McFarlane shared earlier this year as part of her contribution to our ‘Divining The Divine Sarah’ (Jazzwise April 2024). “There is something about her delivery that makes your ear cling desperately to the…

Sebastien Ammann Change of Course Ropeadope RAD-741 (CD, DL) Sebastien Ammann (p), Ralph Alessi (t), Caroline Davis (as), John Hébert (b) and Eric McPherson (d). Rec. date not stated The pianist-composer Sebastien Ammann, since arriving in New York in 2008 from his native Switzerland, has assembled a few high-profile ensembles on the city’s more left-field jazz scene. His Gaia Quartet boasts an exceptional personnel and their CD Color Wheel (released in 2017) has received plaudits in specialist journals and the more serious online blogs. On the new album Change of Course, a quintet play cohesively and solos grow imaginatively out ofAmman’s elegantly melodic themes. Ralph Alessi, one of the most mesmerising of trumpeters on the more explorative fringes of the NYC jazz scene, plays absorbingly haunting lines throughout sometimes reminiscent…

Speak Low Ubuntu Music UBU0165 (CD, DL) EDITOR’S CHOICE Elaine Delmar (v), Barry Green (p), Jim Mullen (g), Simon Thorpe (b) and Andy Panayi (f). Rec. January 2023 A beautiful collection of songs selected from Elaine Delmar’s 50-plus-year career, Speak Low begins with a wondrously atmospheric version of the great Fred Hersch/Norma Winstone song, ‘Stars’, with its incredibly rich harmonic palette and subtle blurring of the lines between major and minor tonalities. Although she has been performing most of the album material for many years, Delmar – Vocalist of the Year at the 2023 ParliamentaryJazz Awards – hasn’t recorded any of the songs until now. On ‘Let Me Love You’, she adopts an intimate, understated, sotto voce whisper to great effect, while ‘Close Your Eyes’ possesses something of Shirley Horn’s…

Live In Munich ECM 2827 (CD, LP, DL) EDITOR’S CHOICE Jordina Mills (p) and Barry Guy (b). Rec. 2022 Catalan pianist Jordina Milla and British bassist Barry Guy are highly skilled improvisers, as this Munich concert attests, but they also have fascinating individual sounds. The former’s touch on the keyboard, and the latter’s on the fretboard are both marked by subversion and invention in equal measure. The six parts of their spontaneous conversation certainly catch the ear for timbres alone, as the 22-minute opener summarizes the richness of vocabulary that Guy has developed over 50 years. His upper register articulation is startling, to the extent that he hybridizes cello, violin and harp without pastiching any one, his needle-sharp glissando assuming a vocal quality on occasion. Most importantly, it melds to…

Córas Trio Córas Trio Coracle A refreshing blast of avant-folkimprov from this trio of Kevin McCullagh and Paddy McKeown on fiddles and electronics and Conor McAuley on drums, all whom are part of an emerging experimental Belfast seisiún (session) scene. It’s fiery, free flowing stuff – like open ended improvised reels that whirl fast, before dissolving into hypnotic drones with spellbinding results. (MF) Espial The Act of Noticing Discus Music This UK trio of Josephine Davis (sax), Martin Pyne (percussion, vibes) and David Beebee (bass, keys) create 70 minutes' worth of limpid, spacey music which rewards repeated listening. (KW) Lorenzo Felicicati/Daniele Chiantese/Kristian Terzić KAMAYAN Self-release Italian bassist Felicicati leads this trio in commanding fretless fashion with drummer Chiantese and pianist Terzić. Coming on like a modern take on Weather…

We Have Waited Too Long Ubuntu UBU0153 (CD, LP, DL) RECOMMENDED Johnny Mekoa (t, valve tb), Zim Ngqawana (as, f), Nic Paton (ts, ss), Melvin Peters (p, ky), Andrew Eagle (g), Victor Masondo (b) and Lulu Gontsana (perc), directed by Darius Brubeck. Rec. 1988 This is an important album that slots into the continuing evolution of South African jazz. Dating back to the 1980s, the band emerged from a group of exceptionally talented students on the first university jazz studies course in South Africa that Darius Brubeck had been invited to create. Conceptualised by his wife Catherine, The Jazzanians were invited to perform at the National Association of Jazz Educators Conference in the States. As the first muti-racial student jazz ensemble from South Africa to tour outside the country, it…

Never miss an issue of the UK’s only print and digital jazz magazine Jazzwise has been at the heart of the global jazz scene since the magazine’s launch in 1997, changing the way jazz publications look and think for the last three decades, with a stunning editorial and design package that reaches out worldwide to both the new jazz audience and established fans – qualities that have led to it winning Jazz Publication of the Year at the Parliamentary Jazz Awards, the Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Awards and the Jazz FM Awards. Why should you subscribe? ▶ 11 new print and digital issues during the year ▶ Full access to every issue of Jazzwise with over 290 editions in our searchable digital archive and iOS App ▶ Access to 12,000+ expertly…

God Is In The House: A Biography of Art Tatum Mark Lehmstedt Wolke-Verlag HB €48 This impressive account of Tatum traces his foreshortened life (1909-1956) in minute detail, and its length and coverage are perhaps only comparable to the recent Aidan Levy book on Sonny Rollins. That said, while the attitude among fellow keyboardists remains one of effusive admiration, the reaction of ‘lay persons’ has always been more varied. Tatum’s apparently infallible execution, allied to the ability to incorporate ‘classical’ techniques at the drop of a beat, seems to challenge the prejudices; or perhaps just the concentration of many listeners Given that it’s a long time since Tatum’s heyday, there was no list of potential interviewees who saw the man live, but Lehmstedt gathers a huge range of published comments,…

BBC RADIO 2 88-91 FM and DAB Jamie Cullum show (Tues, 9pm) BBC RADIO 3 90-93 FM and DAB 'Round Midnight (Mon-Fri 11.30pm) Jazz Record Requests (Sun, 4pm) BBC RADIO 6 MUSIC DAB Gilles Peterson, Sat 3pm JAZZ FM DAB, Sky, Alexa, smartphone, tablet and online at jazzfm.com (Mon – Fri) 6am-6.30am Business Breakfast, 6.30am-10am Jazz FM Breakfast with Nigel Williams, 10am-2pm Midmornings with Danielle Perry, 2pm-6pm Afternoon drive with Simon Philips, 6pm-7pm Jazz FM’s Greatest with Mark Walker, 7pm-9pm Dinner Jazz with Mark Walker. (Mon) 9pm-10pm The Performance Series with Ruth Fisher, 10pm-Midnight Late Night China Moses. (Tues) 9pm-10pm Jazz Travels with Sarah Ward, 10pm-Midnight Late Night China Moses. (Weds). 9pm-10pm The Big Easy with Lil’ Koko. 10pm-Midnight Late Night China Moses. (Thurs) 9pm-10pm True Brit with Helen Mayhew.…

ONLY £14.99 The 100 Jazz Albums That Shook The World is an exclusive 100-page definitive guide to the most important and influential jazz albums that have gone on to change and shape the course of the music from the 1920s to the present day. ■ Print-only, premium quality, publication edited and conceived by Jazzwise’s editor-in-chief Jon Newey ■ The first time a fully annotated top 100 jazz album countdown from 100 to No.1 has been published in book form ■ Includes new in-depth editorial on each album from Jazzwise’s acclaimed team of writers, plus in-depth features on the making of the top three albums, a look at the albums that almost made the cut and a guide to buying the featured titles on LP and CD Order online at magsubscriptions.com/music-shop or…