Blicher, Hemmer, Gadd, It Will Be Alright, C-Nut ***1/2

With superstar drummer Steve Gadd on board you expect a titanic groove and your expectations aren't confounded as Blicher Hemmer Gadd resume precisely where they last left off here on It Will Be Alright. Saxist Michael Blicher provides the …

Published: 1 Sep 2023. Updated: 24 days.

With superstar drummer Steve Gadd on board you expect a titanic groove and your expectations aren't confounded as Blicher Hemmer Gadd resume precisely where they last left off here on It Will Be Alright. Saxist Michael Blicher provides the soulfully funky licks while Hammond organist Dan Hemmer knows how to lay back or move in for the kill when necessary during wave upon wave of these generously feelgood playing passages. Their fourth record together the trio still have plenty to give - and hear Blicher Hemmer Gadd in Glasgow this weekend, click for details. The album itself is out today. Steve Gadd, above

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Ian Shaw, Greek Street Friday, Silent Wish ****

A bit of a treat here for fans of Ian Shaw with one of the great jazz singer's most intimate albums to date tilting towards a singer-songwriter seam in these 11 autobiographical portraits of people and places as the album is described spanning …

Published: 31 Aug 2023. Updated: 25 days.

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A bit of a treat here for fans of Ian Shaw with one of the great jazz singer's most intimate albums to date tilting towards a singer-songwriter seam in these 11 autobiographical portraits of people and places as the album is described spanning 1980s London, New York, ''loving and losing, basement bars, poets, friendships, lovers, near-escapes and far-away places''. With some of Shaw's finest melodic excursions and a bittersweet tristesse never far away, Greek Street Friday is less about retro classic ballads or bebop and more about exploring a wider classic singer-songwriter inspired consciousness. The album includes Shaw and Jamie Safir co-writes and a cover of Rickie Lee Jones' ‘Blinded By The Hunt’. With Ian Thomas on drums and David Preston on guitar, Iain Ballamy on sax continues a strong association down the years with Shaw following on from What's New. Shaw never stands still and continues to challenge himself. And Greek Street Friday launched tonight at Ronnie Scott's is certainly a new career landmark.