Indholdsfortegnelse for July 2025 i Jazzwise

The Sounds of Denmark mini-fest returns this year for its seventh edition with two shows at PizzaExpress Jazz Club on Denmark Street, Soho plus an additional night at Turner Sims in Southampton, all on 25 and 26 September. Previous years’ programmes have helped launch the international careers of acts such as prog-jazz trio Athletic Progression and the acclaimed pianist/composer Kathrine Windfeld, and this year sees the first night feature two newer names on a double bill with rising talents Cecilie Strange Quartet and Astral Cinema (26 Sept). An internationally acclaimed Danish saxophonist and composer, Strange presents music from her recently released fifth album as a leader, Beech. Inspired by nature, memory, and place, Beech blends the saxophonist’s experiences in the rich cultural landscape of her childhood in Odense and her…

there’s a gracefully serious intent in how Claire Cope speaks of music. Beneath the ready smile stirs a resolve that resonates with [legendary writer, photographer and Jazzwise contributor] Val Wilmer’s assertion that music is "as serious as your life". She’s just travelled back from the Royal Northern College of Music where she’s completing a Master’s in composition. Which is curious given she has a major composition, 'Agita', to be performed at Princeton (“they seem to get me in the USA”), and a significant choral work, 'In Its Light', to be premiered in London. “But I really wanted to go back to RNCM and learn thoroughly what composition meant…I guess I’ve composed since I was little, songs and sketches. But around five years ago I had a moment of realisation. Until…

Before Gary Crosby thought seriously about playing music, he wanted to be an electrical engineer. But the jazz gods work in mysterious ways. He was employed by a construction company from Brixton, doing up a house for Sir Trevor Phillips, when he found his calling. “I think it was the first black construction company,” he remembers. “I wouldn’t say they were Afrocentric, but they understood the problems we faced.” Part of his role was looking after the apprentices. “And I think that’s where I developed this love of working with younger people,” he says. “I discovered that this could be my role in changing the world, by helping young black males who had fallen off the rails. A couple of them had come from probation services and, yeah, a couple…

Joshua Redman Words Fall Short Blue Note 7591509 (CD, LP, DL) Joshua Redman (ts, ss), Paul Cornish (p) plus guests Melissa Aldana (ts), Skylar Tang (t), Philip Norris (b), Nazir Ebo (d) plus Gabrielle Cavassa (v). Rec. date not stated The title sounds like it could be a reference to saxophonist Joshua Redman’s previous debut Blue Note vocal-based release where are we that scooped the Jazzwise album of 2023 (see the Q&A below for an explanation straight from the horse’s mouth.) Indeed Redman could be considered the closest of all the adventurously mainstream contemporary saxophonists to sound like he’s actually singing through his horn. This is a collection of Redman originals, some of which were written during the pandemic, which he says, “hadn’t found a home yet”. The demanding schedules…

Max Alduca Ghosts Between Streams Earshift Music One ofAustralia’s most in-demand bassists, Alduca’s debut as leader demonstrates his potential as a composer as well as a player. It veers from meditative ballads to free-flowing improv. The title track is especiallyworthy of close listening with its almost sacral tone. (KW) Tom Avgenicos Ghosts Between Streams Earshift Music Aussie trumpeter and electronics wiz Avgenicos’ impressively ambitious debut album, made with a talented team of like-minded souls is a multi-part suite, the soundtrack to a multi-media event. Lush strings and synths, field recordings, Hassell-esque trumpets and polyrhythms abound. One to watch. (KW) Michael Doneda/Thierry Waziniak Le Chemin Du Jour Intrication Label The duo of saxophonist Doneda and drummerWaziniak are caught live in March 2024, scoping out three lengthy and fierce improvisations. Not…

Gadabout Season Impulse! 7807509 (CD, LP, DL)  EDITOR’S CHOICE Brandee Younger (hp), Rashaan Carter (b), Joel Ross (vb), Makaya McCraven (perc), Shabaka (cl, f) Courtney Bryan (p) and Josh Johnson (s). Rec. 2025 I wanted to love Brandee Younger’s previous album, 2023’s Brand New Life. The composer, bandleader and classically trained harpist has long been celebrated as an Alice Coltrane/Dorothy Ashby devotee with an eclectic, experimental bent. But on Brand New Life her anything-goes aesthetic, however admirable, felt a bit too busy, too overproduced, too unsure of what it wanted to be. Hooray, then, for Gadabout Season, in which Younger, having overcome some recent personal hardship, wields Coltrane’s actual (restored) harp, of which she is now the custodian. It’s not exactly osmosis, of course, but Gadabout Season resonates with a…

The Musings of Miles Prestige/OJC/Craft Recordings CR00854 (LP. DL) Miles Davis (t), Red Garland (p), Oscar Pettiford (b) and Philly Joe Jones (d). Rec. 7 June 1955 This is the genesis of the Miles Davis Quintet – ‘The First Great Quintet’ – recorded just a month before Davis was signed by George Avakian for Columbia. It was Davis’ first session with Garland and Jones; John Coltrane and Paul Chambers would join shortly, as it was a condition of Columbia’s recording contract that Davis have a set, working group. Even then, Davis’ junkie past was hard to shake off, with Columbia having to act as guarantor for clubs and booking agents to enable the band to work. Here, Miles, an avowed Ahmad Jamal fan, offers two numbers unashamedly taken from the…

A corrected forecast… I can clear up the confusion concerning the recording location of the late, lamented tenor saxist Dick Morrissey’s album Storm Warning as discussed in Letters (June 2025). It was, in fact, taped at Philips Studios at Stanhope Place in London on Monday 22 November and 29 Monday November 1965. These details were noted on the master tapes used for the Vocalion CD reissue in 2011. Dick’s quartet did, of course, have a regular Tuesday and Thursday residency at the Bull’s Head in Barnes at this time, and recorded ‘live’ there in May 1966 in the company of the American vocalist Jimmy Witherspoon, but on the dates given for Storm Warning, the Bull’s stage was occupied by US singer Dakota Staton (22 Nov) and vibraphonist Lennie Best (29…

The next wave of names for this year’s EFG London Jazz Festival have been announced for the capital’s biggest live music event that runs for 10-days from Friday 15 November to Sunday 24 November. Notable additions include legendary 88-year-old Brazilian composer and multi-instrumentalist Hermeto Pascoal and his Grupo, who return to the Barbican (16 November). Another jazz heavyweight added to the line-up is guitar guru Bill Frisell who returns with his Trio (Cadogan Hall, 21 Nov), while it’s cult progressive Chicago band Tortoise who will perform songs from the eagerly awaited new album (title TBA) when they appear at the Barbican (22 Nov). There’s a welcome appearance from top German pianist Michael Wollny and his Trio on a double bill with ACT Music labelmate Emma Rawicz and her INKYRA fusion…

Al Foster was one of the most versatile and sought after drummers in jazz. Few other musicians can claim to have worked with such a galaxy of stars, from his famous stints with Miles Davis, to such high profile saxophonists as Sonny Rollins, Illinois Jacquet, Lou Donaldson, Dexter Gordon, Jackie McLean, Art Pepper, George Adams, Joe Henderson, Michael Brecker, Jimmy Heath, Frank Morgan and Chris Potter. (That’s only the tip of the iceberg, and doesn't mention the equivalent A-list trumpeters, pianists, singers and other instrumentalists with whom he played.) Given his first drum kit at the age of 10, after the family moved to NewYork from his birthplace of Richmond, Virginia, Al started learning drums from Max Roach records, being encouraged as a teen by Rollins. He got an early…

There’s a rare honesty, and a kind of nobility, propelling the musician Béla Fleck. He is a gifted artist who has travelled, toured, accompanied, and joined in new cross-genre projects with a raft of other magnificent instrumentalists of all nationalities. Like his own mentor and inspiration, Chick Corea, he manages both to inspire and to reach new creative heights with whichever musicians he chooses to collaborate. This July will see two UK concerts featuring his latest trio: Fleck on electric banjo, virtuoso Colombian improviser Edmar Castañeda on harp, and brilliant, versatile Mexican drummer, Antonio Sanchez. BEATrio – Bela, Edmar, Antonio – is a truly international ensemble made in musical heaven. All three have a history of instrumental association with some of the best musicians in the world. It’s also a…

Michael Arbenz Meets Andy Sheppard From Bach to Ellington Live Self-release/Bandcamp (CD, DL) Michael Arbenz (p) and Andy Sheppard (ts). Rec: August 20 & 21, 2024. Michael Arbenez was recently featured in these pages with bassist Ron Carter, where togetherwith his brother they featured on Arbenz vs Arbenz Meets Ron Carter - The Alpine Sessions. A leading exhibit on the Swiss jazz scene, and among the finest pianists in Europe, this album documents his meeting in duo with Andy Sheppard, whose reputation as one of the few soloists to have performed in the orchestras of Carla Bley, Gil Evans and George Russell precede him. More recently, he has performed to considerable success with the critically acclaimed Espen Eriksen Trio from Norway. Here, his musical relationship with Arbenz in duo goes…

Abstraction Is Deliverance Intakt CD437 (CD, DL) EDITOR’S CHOICE James Brandon Lewis (ts), Aruan Ortiz (p), Brad Jones (b) and Chad Taylor (d). Rec. 2024 James Brandon Lewis has seen his trio make a major international impact in the past decade but his quartet also remains a noteworthy small group in contemporary jazz. This fifth album duly confirms its stature. While capable of torrential energy the ensemble is also ultra sensitive, as shown by the misty serenity of ‘Per 7’, a fine piece that conspires to hover on a minimal ostinato from bassist Brad Jones, with drummer Chad Taylor barely touching the kit. Pianist Aruan Ortiz is an equally discreet presence, producing terse but potent responses to Lewis throughout. If Abstraction Is Deliverance were to be subtitled then ‘the alternative…

Near The Pond Wild Geese Stunt Records A second outing forJosefine Cronholm (vocals), Kirk Knuffke (cornet), Bent Clausen (drums/vibes) and Thommy Andersson (bass); this time they draw on the Japanese poet Saigyō Hōshi (1118–1190), who wrote about the beauty of nature. An intriguing collision between Nordic, Japanese and American cultures, it’s both unusual enough to grab the attention and good enough to provide long-term listening thereafter. (KW) NYO Jazz Live in Johannesburg NYO Jazz One of Carnegie Hall’s three critically-acclaimed national youth ensembles, NYO Jazz – comprising 22 outstanding young musicians ages 16–19 from across the US – created this astonishingly accomplished live album, recorded at South Africa’s historic Market Theatre. Led by artistic director and bandleader/trumpeter Sean Jones and vocalist Alicia Olatuja, as well as appearances by South African…

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This month’s issue marks the sixth decade of Nina Simone’s iconic album I Put A Spell On You, one of those special records that effortlessly bridges the gap between deep jazz and classical influences and Simon'e popular appeal that she still retains today. Elsewhere, British jazz hero, the indefatigable bassist Gary Crosby OBE – who through his own direct actions and in a lifelong partnership with Tomorrow’s Warriors co-founder Janine Irons OBE – has helped uplift the lives of countless young musicians. Their ‘Each One Teach One’ ethos has had a transformative effect on so many players who are now winning awards, playing to tens of thousands around the world and passing on their knowledge to the next generation. If Nina’s spirit can also inspire younger talents to take up…

Whoa!….What have we here in the gig guide page of Melody Maker’s 17 July 1965 issue? Bang up against that week’s top jazz names, including Bobby Wellins, Tubby Hayes and Dick Morrissey for South West London’s two major jazz venues – one still with us while the Palm Court Hotel is now, wait for it… high-end luxury office and apartment space – we find a somewhat tactless advertisement for Mascopil acne tablets aimed squarely at female buyers but appearing in a music paper then with over 95% male readership, hence the bikini image. Did Crown Drug Co. think it was a canny 'nudge marketing' angle, or merely a group sell advertisement that went in all popular consumer mags under the IPC Magazines banner, whatever their readership?…

Rarely a month goes by without more gems from the ‘golden age’ of British jazz being dusted off and reissued in lovingly reproduced and expertly remastered packages – and fans of the revered but tragic figure that was pianist and composer Mike Taylorwill welcome the news that his two studio albums Pendulum and Trio, are to be reissued on 25 July via Universal’s British Jazz Explosion series. Pendulum (first released in 1966) has been remastered at Gearbox Records' Studios, London, with the high resolution digital source files, taken from the original master tapes, transferred to a Studer C37 reel-to-reel tape machine and mastered using an all-valve analogue mastering chain, including an ex-Decca Studio 3-band EQ and Telefunken U73b compressors. Lacquers were cut using a Scully disc mastering lathe with Westrex…

There is a wall of fame in the café of The Premises, a storied rehearsal studio in east London. Eyes are immediately drawn to photos of artists that have graced the building with their presence since the early 1990s. Among the many famous faces, American pianist McCoy Tyner, South African trumpeter-activist Hugh Masekela, and Cuban violinist Omar Puente stand out, forming by chance an imaginary United Nations Ensemble. But taking centre stage on the star-studded brickwork is Nina Simone. The monochrome portrait of the legendary American singer-pianist, with her magnetic eyes and dark skin, looks like a publicity shot from the 1960s. Sat at a table just a few feet away China Moses stares admiringly at the image, deferent in the presence of greatness. “She was one of those artists…

A lot more people than Jason Miles realised had heard of him. It took most of his life to discover this, since it was only when he and his wife Kathy decided to relocate from New York City to Lisbon in 2022 that whatever festival or club he played in Europe, people would say, “Oh, so you’re Jason Miles.” Chances are you have heard his work without realising. He is, after all, a Grammy-winning keyboardist, composer, producer, and arranger whose contributions to jazz, R&B, and fusion have spanned more than five decades. His work on albums by the likes of Michael Jackson, Michael Brecker, Luther Vandross, Marcus Miller, Whitney Houston, Dave Sanborn, Aretha Franklin, Roberta Flack, Diana Ross and Miles Davis have gone around the world and then some – and…

We Insist 2025! Candid CD/LPCND 33561 (CD, LP, DL) EDITOR’S CHOICE Terri Lyne Carrington (d, arr), Christie Dashiell (v), Milena Casado (t), Julian Priester (tb – 1 track), Morgan Guerin (f, ts, bcl), Simon Moullier (vib), Matthew Stevens (g), Devon Gates (b, v), Weedie Braimah (perc), Lizz Wright (tambourine), Tamia Elliott, Emmett G Price (narr), Christiana Hunte, Ian Michael and Zacchae’us Paul (v). Rec. date not stated The former child prodigy of the drums will turn 60 in August, and Carrington’s profile as a bandleader and educator has long amplified her undoubted skills as percussionist. This new release, which is well-timed (to say the least), is inspired by the famous 1960 Candid album titled We Insist! Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite. It’s worth noting in passing that Carrington has form…

Seasons in Jazz Sandra-Mae Lux Music SML002CD/LP (CD, LP, DL) EDITOR’S CHOICE Sandra-Mae Lux (v, ts), Tristan Paxton (g), Rob Barron, Christian Vaughan (p), Calum Gourlay, Dave Jones (b), Sebastiaan De Krom, Tristan Maillot (d). Rec. December 2023 and July 2024 This hugely impressive collection of original songs draws from the Great American Songbook tradition, with storytelling at its core. Sandra-Mae Lux – songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist – collaborates with lyricist Alan Marriott to create narratives that follow love through the seasons. The album features two exceptional bands: a quartet featuring Rob Barron, Tristan Paxton, Calum Gourley and Sebastiaan de Krom, plus a trio featuring Christian Vaughan, Dave Jones and Tristan Maillot. Each song takes you on a journey, from the effervescent album opener ‘Are We Having Fun?’ and the…

The Blue Nile Marina Records MA99 (CD, LP) EDITOR’S CHOICE Colin Steele (t), Dave Milligan (p), Calum Gourlay (b) and Alyn Cosker (d). Rec. July 2024 The Blue Nile, an enigmatic, uncategorisable Glaswegian trio (Paul Buchanan, Robert Bell and Paul Joseph Moore), emerged from the indie-pop wasteland of the early 1980s with the magnificent, haunting A Walk Across the Rooftops (originally issued on Linn Records, the label owned by the Scottish hi-fi manufacturer), a debut album that redefined what could be done with electronica. Perhaps the band’s greatest achievement was to humanise the inhuman sounds made by synthesisers – particularly in that decade, when every band under the sun was using them, to largely dismal effect. The raw emotional impact of the Blue Nile’s music also relied heavily on the…

Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers Classic Albums 1960-62 Acrobat ACTRCD9165 (3 CD) Art Blakey (d), Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard (t), Curtis Fuller (tb), Wayne Shorter (ts), Bobby Timmons, Cedar Walton (p) and Jymie Merritt (b). Rec. August 1960–October 1961 The idea here is to bring together the music from two different labels, as issued on LP between 1960 and 1962. The original albums are A Night in Tunisia, Meet You At The Jazz Corner of the World (Vols 1 and 2), and Mosaic (all Blue Note) plus Jazz Messengers!!!! (on Impulse!). We get one bonus, as ‘When Your Lover Has Gone’ (included here) wasn’t on the original Blue Note Tunisia vinyl release from February 1961, having initially appeared on a Japanese CD in 1988. The original LP liner notes…

Taylor Trumpets Piranha After reporting Andy Taylor of Taylor Trumpets impending retirement in The Player section last year, we are pleased to say that he is still at the helm and in ‘semi-retirement’ mode. You can't keep a good man down! This instrument is a development and partial upgrade from the earliest Piranhas which we took a look at a few years back, with the main difference being a more robust design and build. Coming with a medium large bore of 11.68mm (.460”), a large bell and the now signature Taylor shape to the main crooks, the Piranha has a downward slow curve in the lead pipe, with the inverse out to the bell. As well as the two Z-shaped braces between the lead pipe and bell either side of…

The Dome, Brighton Joining Anoushka Shankar for her final performance of the Brighton Festival are Arun Ghosh on clarinet and Fender Rhodes, Empirical’s Tom Farmer on bass and percussionist Sarathy Korwar, as she moves forward through jazz-electronica and trance towards an Indo-futurist soundworld, drawing from her three recent Chapters albums. Opening with an evocative motif on sitar, looped and joined by an ascending electronic tamboura drone, Ghosh’s poignant clarinet introduces the melody of ‘Daydreaming’ and harmonises her sitar line as the pulse gently builds into ‘Hiraeth’. Korwar’s digital tabla hits punctuate her long atmospheric sitar lines and looped sarod sounds while his bass drum pushes the tempo, Ghosh and Shankar snaking and circling each other as the piece turns up the heat and builds to a blistering climax. The sitar…

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) 6.30am-10am Jazz FM Breakfast with Nigel Williams, 10am-2pm Danielle Perry, 2pm-6pm Afternoon drive with Simon Philips, 6pm-7pm Jazz FM’s Greatest, 7pm-9pm Jazz FM’s Dinner Jazz with Mark Walker. (Mon) 9pm-10pm Future Jazz with Ruth Fisher; 10pm-midnight Late Nite with China Moses. (Tues) 9pm-10pm Jazz Travels with Rouhangeze Baichoo; 10pm-midnight Late Night with China Moses. (Wed) 9pm-10pm Jazztronic with Dom Servini; 10pm-midnight Late Night with China Moses. (Thur) 9pm-10pm The British Jazz Show with Helen Mayhew; 10pm-midnight Late Night with…

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 “This superbly written assemblage is…