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 tackles going back. Lean in. ''Get him out,'' the refrain in 'This Man'… fitting in a presidential …

Published: 13 Feb 2020. Updated: 4 years.

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 tackles going back. Lean in.

''Get him out,'' the refrain in 'This Man'… fitting in a presidential election year in the US. Robert Cray plays the UK with these dates:

30 April De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea

1 May Town Hall, Birmingham

3 May Corn Exchange, Cambridge

4 May New Theatre, Oxford

5 May Guildhall, Portsmouth

7 May Alban Arena, St Albans

8 May Cadogan Hall, London

9 May The Anvil, Basingstoke

11 May Buxton Opera House, Buxton

12 May De Montfort Hall, Leicester

14 May The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester

15 May O2 City Hall, Newcastle upon Tyne

16 May The Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh

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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 music. All three are leaders in their own right and these tracks augur well …

Published: 13 Feb 2020. Updated: 4 years.

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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 music. All three are leaders in their own right and these tracks augur well for the whole caboodle because of what sounds like a great feeling of rapport.

I've been a fan of Previte's since seeing him in the band of the great Annie Ross in the 1990s Robert Altman satire Short Cuts [in the clip scroll to around 2mins 54secs for a fleeting glimpse of the charismatic drummer] and even better hearing him more to the fore with a bunch of talented students at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival in 2008 doing his Voodoo orchestra-like take on Bitches Brew. To my chagrin I still haven't managed to see Nels Cline or Jamie Saft live so far. Saft's sound is at the heart of many excellent RareNoise releases, the label's in-house organist and Cline scored big time not too long ago for Blue Note on the impeccable Lovers.

Recorded live on a US tour last year in east coast places such as Quinn's in Beacon, New York state, described online as a ''low-key hangout with an old-timey vibe offering Japanese fare, craft beer & a lineup of live music'' this record is coming out on prog-jazz label RareNoise who describe the absorbing sound as ''essentially a freely improvised organ trio set.'' SG

Bobby Previte, above.

Out on 28 February