jazz scene
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Further reading
Up yer Aris and other jazz gold, leg-ends all… what we are reading. Experience Rome in a novel way a jazz tram jolly appeals to Matthew Kneale. ''A very public...
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Gigs/radar
Coming up soon. Loft, Cologne….. Pablo Held 2 March What a band: Verneri Pohjola on trumpet from Finland, best known for his work with Ilmiliekki Quartet; UK sax giant Julian...
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Emil Brandqvist Trio, Raindrops, Skip
Tepid tinkling from the Swedes, like something a marketing god has cued up to taunt coffee addicts – doomed prisoners of love to Ludovico Einaudi holed up for ever in...
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Ellman excels
Look out for Last Desert (Pi) by the Threadgillian guitarist-composer Liberty Ellman. A few tracks are streaming ahead of release next month and both 'The Sip' and 'Rubber Flowers' have...
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Nearly blue
Jerry Bergonzi is a widely admired Boston-born tenor saxophonist blessed with great technique but crucially flair and narrative highly expressive ideas – born to play. Live sightings in recent years...
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The new Stacey Kent
Here's the new Stacey Kent. Naama Gheber is excellent on the deftly swinging title track of April's Dearly Beloved. With pianist Ray Gallon, bassist David Wong, drummer Aaron Kimmel and...
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Tony Kofi's Another Kind of Soul to be released on vinyl in late-April
On a Cannonball run Tony Kofi's Another Kind of Soul is to be released on vinyl in late-April. Tracks are: A Portrait Of Cannonball, Operation Breadbasket, Another Kind Of Soul,...
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Gilfema, Three, Sounderscore
It is patently obvious that the Massimo Biolcati-produced Three by meta guitar/vocals-bass-drums trio Gilfema is a 5-star album. I realised that after the first few notes. Truth be told I...
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Gaz Hughes takes Art
Landing in a playing style somewhere between Steve Brown and Clark Tracey, drummer Gaz Hughes has a solid, bouncing, über-mainstream Art Blakey tribute out. See the graphic for touring. The...
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Zhenya Strigalev interview
Now’s the time. This is a big year for Charlie Parker fans. It is the centenary of Charlie Parker’s birth no less. Jazz in 2020, however, while slightly nostalgic sometimes...
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Getting in the Robert Cray zone: playlist + dates
On a vital blues tip to mark the wonderful new Robert Cray That’s What I Heard album to be released on 28 February dig into some of the covers he...
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The chemistry is right for Bobby Previte, Jamie Saft and Nels Cline
Details of Music From The Early 21st Century make very interesting reading and include the fact that Bobby Previte, Jamie Saft and Nels Cline have combined to write all the...
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Selection of stunning Love and Understanding tracks stream
Deconstruct yourself, reconstruct yourself more like. Four tracks are now streaming from the awesome Love and Understanding, quite brilliant really these and the rest. Just hear Surman burn on 'Construction'...
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Misch and Dayes to release What Kinda Music on Blue Note
Bit of a banger this lead-off track, not really a jazz thing to say (and but is it jazz? I hear you mutter). Ah. Actually, the question however puckishly posed...
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The English Session: Vortex workshop programme and bands announced
Jazz Connective's The English Session at the Vortex is looking like this: Wednesday 11 March "No Jazz Club Is An Island: Meaningful Community Engagement" workshop. Discussion around making good contacts...
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Sam Gendel reinvents Satin Doll
Latest promo from Sam Gendel and actually in the title track this highly produced reinvention of Ellington and Strayhorn's 'Satin Doll' is much more interesting… Story so far… Clubby DJ-preferred...
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Emma-Jean Thackray EP
Cosmic 1970s-type keyboard soundz set up 'Rain Dance/Wisdom.' which is new from trumpeter-composer Emma-Jean Thackray. Beats kick in to introduce an electronics coated downtempo trumpet presence, the dystopian mood stretching...
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Viktoria Tolstoy, Stations, ACT
The first thing to bear in mind about Viktoria Tolstoy, that, like a tiny number of jazz singers out there (Dianne Reeves, Cécile McLorin Salvant, etc) she has a technically...
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Phronesis press ‘pause’ on future recordings and touring
''Phronesis press ‘pause’ on future recordings and touring,'' their label Edition has announced. ''This year the band have made a collective decision to take an extended break from the end...
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Joseph Shabalala has died
The great isicathamiya singer and Ladysmith Black Mambazo founder Joseph Shabalala has died. He was 78. Serious, who have promoted Ladysmith in the UK for many years have posted this...
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Saleem Raman impresses
Last year one of the most congenial jazz spots that I managed to check out in a long while was a pub in Highgate, north London, called the Woodman where...
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Emma Smith to celebrate jazz Watford this spring
''Watford is easily overlooked with its proximity to the capital,'' promoter Chris Newstead says, ''but we’ve got it going on here, and I hope this Celebration will shine a light...
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John Donegan tour details
For your gig-going radar pianist John Donegan is touring in Ireland soon. Donegan is influenced by Bill Evans, Lennie Tristano and Wynton Kelly among others and his albums include A...
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Rise-Up want you
Calling out for members, the all-new all-female Birmingham jazz band Rise-Up need 6 players. Attend monthly rehearsals. Play Symphony Hall. Become a role model. Interested? Apply by 21 February.
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Where do you find the next generation on the London jazz scene?
That's easy to guess going on the Tomorrow's Warriors track record. So get down to the informal Seven Dials Market Jazz Sessions with Tomorrow’s Warriors on the verge of Covent...
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Lyle Mays 27 November 1953-10 February 2020
Lyle Mays, synonymous with the music of Pat Metheny, has died. The keyboardist and multi-Grammy winner was 66. He passed away yesterday in Los Angeles after a long unspecified illness....
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English session line-up for Birmingham unveiled
Jazz Connective moves on from Dublin to Birmingham and London next month before reaching a climax in Lyon. Here's what's in place: Sunday 8 March Fizzle at the Lamp Tavern....
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