Table of contents for December 2023 - January 2024 in Jazzwise

The annual Bath Jazz Weekend is set to return in early 2024, at the Widcombe Social Club in the city, running across the first weekend of the year from 5 to 7 January. Promoted by Nod Knowles, who runs Bath’s All Of The Above jazz concert series, the programme includes a number of musicians from Europe, reflecting the BJW’s ever-widening reputation in the jazz community The running order has yet to be finalised, but artists so far confirmed include: trumpeter Claude Deppa and his Quintet with saxophonist Claire Hurst; saxophonist Larry Stabbins (aka Stonephace) in a duo with high-flying improv pianist Alexander Hawkins; post-M-Base jazz from Robert Mitchell’s True Think featuring vocalist Liselotte Ostblom; baritone saxophonist Francois Corneloup with pianist Tony Hymas; French pianist Sophia Domancich and improv titan Paul…

Where has the time gone? While another year has flashed past, the whirlwind of exciting new music and incredible abundance of archival gems is all somewhat offset by some very tough financial times, desperate dog-whistle politics, two brutal wars and the ever-worsening climate crisis… So looking for reasons to be cheerful, we close out 2023 with a double musical celebration: once again ourAlbums of the Year Critics Poll shows the resilience and phenomenal creativity still at work in jazz today, as both our new and archival Top 20s demonstrate. We also mark the 100th anniversary of Duke Ellington’s Jazz Orchestra, an ever-evolving ensemble that was the engine room driving his many innovative compositional ideas. It also became emblematic of how a creative genius can walk between the mainstream and the…

Return with us 53 years ago to Ronnie Scott’s in December 1970 as the club lured the pre-Christmas crowds with the pickled promise of ‘3 floors of entertainment’, though whether the tiny basement bar could be classed as ‘entertainment’ back then depended on one’s capacity for the incessant moaning and seasonal vulgarities of off-duty jazz musicians. In the club however, business was brisk with a cracking fortnight-long double bill of scat and vocalese masterJon Hendricks and the vibrant Afrobeat of Osibisa. Meanwhile Upstairs At Ronnie’s the progressive booking policy of Pete King and Ronnie featured funksters Gass, featuring future Jeff Beck singer Bobby Tench; Afro-rockers Demon Fuzz and the psychedelic blues of They Bite, the latter including this writer on drums making his first ever appearance at the club. Ronnie…

1 At the Sands by Nat King Cole (1966) “Hearing his voice in between songs and the ease with which he’s doing this with a big band, on his recordings it’s such a refined sound, just to hear him stretching out in that same way live… it’s a different experience. Live albums are something special for me, they’re something I really enjoy. I think the musicians of that time they were such great, well-rehearsed artists – even when there’s more flexibility and room to stretch it’s still just so perfect, it’s amazing.” 2 What’s Going On by Marvin Gaye (1971) “This idea of the groove sensibility, yet saying something profound that for generation after generation it still resonates, that the lyrics still mean something, What’s Going On it’s so relevant today: "Save…

"Duke Ellington is our ‘musical God’, and the rest is just noise. When we talk about the best musicians of all time, we don’t mention Ellington or Armstrong because they are in their own league. I was a teenager when I first heard ‘Bakiff’ composed by Juan Tizol and arranged and recorded by Duke Ellington in 1941. When I heard that track, I started to understand that all modern music owes Duke. Groove, funk, avant-garde, modal, swing all owe so much to him. His is grown up people’s music. It was smart, sophisticated, political but without his fist in the air. He was socially conscious, and he was an important part of the Harlem Renaissance. Duke Ellington represented the new black man in music. Even today we can hear Duke…

1. Ellington In Order Vols.1-5 (Sony/BMG via Spotify, Apple Music, etc) The move towards streaming seems designed to encourage background listening, rather than study. But – and it’s a big but – just in the last few months, some 250 tracks from Ellington’s 1927-33 period have become available in this medium. Almost everything from earlyversions of ‘Black And Tan Fantasy’, ‘Creole Love Call’ and ‘The Mooche’; to obscurities previously only found on multi-CD collections are all now online chronologically. You might need a couple of books to help sort the essential from the merely interesting, but extensive discographical details have been assembled online at: www.ellingtonlive.blogspot.com 2. Never No Lament: The Blanton-Webster Band (RCA Bluebird, 3CDs) Most of Ellington’s 1930s records are currently out-of-print, until the above In Order series catches…

Ancient Infinity Orchestra River of Light Gondwana GONDCD/LP065 (CD, LP, DL) Ozzy Moysey (b, perc, guzheng), Mathew Cliffe (ts, f, cowbell), Will Howard (ts), Jake Rider (as, perc), Oliver Dover (bs, cl, kaval), Khemi Shabazz (ob), Joel Stedman (f, bcl, cga), Evan Rhodri Davies (vn, mandolin), Megan Jowett (vla, clo), Michael Bardon (b, clo), Hugh Vincent (p), Elliot Roffe (b), John Arnesen (d), Toma Sapir (perc), Georgie Buchanan (v, hp), Isobel Jones (v, rainstick, bells), Phil Smith, Ruby Taylor, Adam Ash, Alice Spearman, Ella Russell, Rose Io, Marwyn Grace, Kamran Amin, Lau Ro, Ruben Aaronovitch-Bruce, Harley Johnson and Alex Bates (v). Rec. 10-12 August 2022 Taping at the height of summer and basking in the West Riding sun between takes, bassist Ozzy Moysey’s 14-piece band plus auxiliary members and a…

Rhythm Man: Chick Webb And The Beat That Changed America Stephanie Stein Crease Oxford University Press HB £26.99 US author Crease first came to our notice with herwell-received biography of Gil Evans, Out of the Cool, back in 2002. Now comes this new entry in the Oxford Cultural Biographies list, and a very notable volume it is. Drummer Webb’s heyday was in the 1930s and he died in 1939. He gave no interviews and his contemporaries are long gone, too. Armed only with his band’s recorded legacy and the opinions of such eminent drummers as Buddy Rich – “The greatest soloist I ever heard on drums was Chick Webb,” said Rich – and Max Roach, the latter stating, “Anyone who heard Chick Webb would be influenced by him” – Crease…

Dec23/Jan24 Radio BBC RADIO 2 88-91 FM and DAB Jamie Cullum show (Tues, 9pm) BBC RADIO 3 90-93 FM and DAB J to Z (Sat 5pm) Concert highlights from South Korean drummer Sun Mi Hong, plus violinist Miguel Atwood-Ferguson shares his jazz inspirations. (25 Nov) The best in jazz - past, present and future (2 Dec) The best in jazz - past, present and future (9 Dec) The best in jazz - past, present and future (16 Dec) J to Z Christmas Special (23 Dec) The best in jazz - past, present and future (30 Dec) The best in jazz - past, present and future (6 Jan) The best in jazz - past, present and future (13 Jan) The best in jazz - past, present and future (20 Jan) The…

Composer and trumpeterAmbrose Akinmusire makes his debut for Nonesuch Records with his new album, Owl Song, which is released on 15 December. The album features a trio with two musicians Akinmusire has long admired: guitarist Bill Frisell and drummer Herlin Riley. Having signed to Blue Note in 2010, his debut for the imprint, When The Heart Emerges Glistening (2011), received widespread acclaim with a further four albums for the label helping to establish him as a consistently exciting and creative force. Ushering in a new phase of his career, Owl Song presents starkly beautiful music that is stripped back to an almost folk-like simplicity and spaciousness, which Akinmusire confirms is, “my reaction to being assaulted by information. This record is me wanting to create a safe space. Part of the…

Fast-emerging singer/guitarist Rosie Frater-Taylor will release her new album, Featherweight, on Cooking Vinyl in February 2024. The follow-up to 2021’s Bloom, which garnered over three million streams, Featherweight marks a stylistic shift for Frater-Taylor as she draws inspiration from a broad spectrum of musical sources, from songwriters PJ Harvey to Joni Mitchell and Kate Bush, to contemporary musicians John Mayer, Meshell Ndegeocello, and Madison Cunningham. A graduate of the Royal Academy of Music’s Jazz Course, Frater-Taylor matches sophisticated guitar work, deft vocals and grooves with witty lyrics and wryly humorous subject matter. Backed by top UK bassist Robin Mullarkey and her talented regular drummer Tom Potter, the songs also benefit from Frater-Taylor’s ability to double-up hervoice and guitar in both a melodic and soloistic capacity. Commenting on the music Rosie…

The last time Ellington’s name appeared in this column was because of his iconic 1926 band (see Jazzwise 269). Perhaps inspired by that early group, and by his then manager-agent-publisher-producer Irving Mills, in the second half of the 1930s Duke not only recorded his band prolifically but also small units led by its star soloists such as Barney Bigard, Rex Stewart, Cootie Williams and Johnny Hodges. The week before Christmas 1938 was a brief holiday from live engagements, but four consecutive days were spent in the studio with a mixture of band sessions and small groups, including the one led by Hodges on 20 December. This fifth session in a single year under his name, done with a view to jukebox plays, consisted of four eminently catchy melodies credited to…

Count Basie In Concert Steeplechase SCCD36508 (CD) Count Basie (p), Snooky Young, Thad Jones, Sonny Cohn, Al Aarons (t), Quentin Jackson, Henry Coker, Benny Powell (tb), Marshall Royal (as), Frank Wess (as, f), Frank Foster, Eric Dixon (ts), Charlie Fowlkes (bs), Freddie Green (g), Eddie Jones (b), Sonny Payne (d) OC Smith and Irene Reid (v). Rec. 28 April 1962 This is a typical programme on one of Basie’s many European tours of the period and, while there have been official and unofficial recordings circulated from this tour (including apparently a broadcast earlier the same day from the Tivoli Gardens), the present concert at the Falkoner Centre seems to be previously unknown. Its generally good sound presumably derives from the PA system in the hall and, whereas the engineer seems…

Let’s hear it for the girls! I am a big fan of Somi’s music, so I was interested to read the interview in Jazzwise 289 – so many thanks for that. But I’m actually writing because I completely agree with Kevin Whitlock’s statement at the start of that interview about female artists making the running in jazz these days. I too think all the really interesting jazz music is currently being made by females – Somi, Cécile, Lakecia, Esperanza, Terri Lyne, Lizz, Nikki Iles, Yazz Ahmed, Samara Joy, Noga Ritter, Brandee Younger, and many others. Some of them are singers, some instrumentalists, some both, but all are an inspiration to women and girls everywhere, whether they’re musicians or not; and I love how they are serious people, exemplars of female…

Birmingham-based label and live producers Stoney Lane Records have announced a busy autumn/winter schedule that kicks off with a new live recording from much-admired saxophonist and improvisor Paul Dunmall, whose Soultime Again is released on 8 December. The album features his Quintet of Percy Pursglove, Glen Leach, Dave Kane and Miles Levin alongside the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Big Band, with arrangements of Dunmall’s original material by Ed Puddick. Early 2024 sees saxophonist Trish Clowes and long-term collaborator pianist Ross Stanley (pictured right) join forces for Journey to Where, which is released on International Women’s Day (Friday 8 March) to coincide with their performance at Wigmore Hall (where the music was also recorded). The concert will be a "panoramic celebration of women in music as both composers and performers" and includes…

Brooklyn-based guitarist, composer, and MacArthur fellow Mary Halvorson will release the next album from her Amaryllis sextet, Cloudward, via Nonesuch on 19 January 2024. The adventurous improvisatory band were heard on the guitarist’s critically acclaimed 2022 dual releases, Amaryllis and Belladonna, and features Halvorson, vibist Patricia Brennan, bassist Nick Dunston, drummer Tomas Fujiwara, trombonist Jacob Garchik and trumpeter Adam O’Farrill. The album also includes a guest appearance by labelmate Laurie Anderson on the track ‘Incarnadine’. With the music for the 2022 releases written in the depths of pandemic lockdowns, the eight originals on the new album were written during the winter last year, and were in part inspired by the ability to travel again, with the album’s title referencing this. As Halvorson explains: “Performances and tours and recordings were happening…

NAME: Menelik Mulugeta Claffey INSTRUMENT: Bass EXPERIENCE AND INFLUENCES: Menelik Mulugeta Claffey is a bassist born and raised in London, who studied at Tomorrow’s Warriors, Julian Joseph’s JazzAcademy and Trinity Laban. When growing up, music around the house included dub, punk, soul, Ethiopian traditional music and jungle. He was then introduced to jazz through classic bebop recordings, with his key influences on the bass including Jimmy Garrison, Ray Brown and Ron Carter. Claffey can already be seen performing with some of the UK’s best, including Byron Wallen, Jay Phelps, Tony Kofi, muva of Earth and the Nu Civilization Orchestra. THIS FUTURE MOVER SAYS: “I’m grateful that I can call myself a musician, and to have a profession that allows me to spread joy to people.” See Menelik Mulugeta Claffey play…

Armed with an array of great grade results, the aspiring jazz saxophonist Alex Clarke, then aged 18, enrolled at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, doubtless bright-eyed and optimistic. And yet, at the end of her first year, she decided to move on. Looking back now, five years later, and with a busy schedule in place and a recent much-lauded album to her name, Clarke tells me why. “Desperately wanting to prove I could succeed at this strange old profession, I excitedly threw myself into studying at the Conservatoire. However, I quickly began to realise it wasn’t for me. I struggled to find people who were into the same music as me, and I felt as though I was being taken in a musical direction that I didn’t necessarily want to go,”…

“Ellington was a true composer – writing almost every day of his life. I’ve always loved his prodigious creativity when approaching form and structure. There are tunes in the 1920s where you can hear his ability to create original through-composed forms and ideas that moved far beyond the music of the dance halls; it was meant to listened to. His explorations in harmony and tone colour were really streets ahead of anyone at the time, writing with such deft craft, whether composing a popular standard or concert piece. As a big band leader myself, I have always been fascinated by his compositional process and the symbiotic nature of his relationship with his band – interestingly all of whom were hand-picked, and chosen for their diversity. Ellington ran his band for…

It wasn’t a cliché when Billy Strayhorn first said, “Ellington plays the piano, but his real instrument is the orchestra.” But it’s been repeated so often that it has obscured another truth – that Ellington was also an incredibly important and individualistic pianist. It’s true that, as with his composing, he wouldn’t have become the pianist he was without the influence of other members of the band. But there’s much joy and enlightenment from listening just to the piano player, and his development over the decades. The journey from an early piano chorus in, say, ‘Black And Tan Fantasy’ to the album Money Jungle took a mere 35 years, but it was an organic development marrying his own imagination to a heightened awareness of what was going on elsewhere. As…

“The djembé is the glue between every arrangement," says bandleader, composer and percussionist Yahael Camara Onono of West Africa’s skin-covered goblet-shaped drum, with which he fronts the powerhouse Mandé jazz collective Balimaya Project. "The djembé leads you into the groove, the string section, out into other sections," he explains. "Too often West African percussion feels added on, like everyone’s kind of dabbling. For me the djembé is meant to be at the front, going toe-to-toe with the drum kit, the instrument calling to instruments that then respond." He squares his shoulders. "I want to be very clear about the status of the drum I am playing." The Harlesden, London-born Camara Onono founded the 16-piece Balimaya Project in 2019 with the aim of bridging West African folkloric music with jazz and…