Destination out - Nicole Mitchell, Alexander Hawkins and Orphy Robinson among the line-up at the upcoming Newcastle Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music

Running to include a warm up weekend beginning on Friday and continuing the following weekend Nicole Mitchell, Alexander Hawkins and Orphy Robinson are among the line-up at the Newcastle Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music in the north-east of …

Published: 20 Sep 2022. Updated: 18 months.

Running to include a warm up weekend beginning on Friday and continuing the following weekend Nicole Mitchell, Alexander Hawkins and Orphy Robinson are among the line-up at the Newcastle Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music in the north-east of England. A ''destination out'' for everyone who loves freely improvised music and associated allied styles - note, some acts for instance Noel Dennis, Pete Churchill and Zoe Gilby are far more mainstream in nature - Pendulums: Music for Bellringers, Improvisers and Electronics, Archipelago, SA Malley, Taupe, Skylla, Pete Wareham/Ruth Goller/Will Glaser, Czajka & Puchacz (Lapwing & Eagle Owl) also known as Kaja Draksler and Szymon Gasiorek, Mark Solborg, the Anthropology Band, Adam Johnson, Noel Dennis and Pete Churchill, Orphy Robinson, Emanuele Maniscalco / Francesco Bigoni / Mark Solborg, Binker Golding / Alexander Hawkins / John Pope / Paul Hession, Nicole Mitchell with Alexander Hawkins, The Beck Hunters with John Pope and Laura Cole, Daniel Levin, Black Top with Mariam Rezaei, Helen Anahita Wilson, Zoë Gilby Trio with Noel Dennis, John Garner with John Pope, Dilutey Juice, Farida Amadou, Bex Burch and Leafcutter John and Shifa are in the very impressive line-up planned to keep all very much agog on the Tyne in the early autumn. More details

Nicole Mitchell photo: Bandcamp

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Christian Muthspiel and Orjazztra Vienna, Homecoming, Emarcy/Universal Austria ****

The beautifully arranged free spirited live orchestral jazz release Homecoming is one of two albums that trombonist-bandleader Christian Muthspiel celebrating his 60th birthday is releasing this autumn. The erstwhile Vienna Art Orchestra luminary …

Published: 20 Sep 2022. Updated: 18 months.

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The beautifully arranged free spirited live orchestral jazz release Homecoming is one of two albums that trombonist-bandleader Christian Muthspiel celebrating his 60th birthday is releasing this autumn.

The erstwhile Vienna Art Orchestra luminary and brother of celebrated guitar star Wolfgang Muthspiel has also released Diary 1989-2022 - Selected Recordings. Certainly not rinky-dink in any way, Homecoming is an advanced, deeply seasoned piece of work - Muthspiel leading his 18-piece group Orjazztra Vienna in existence for around three years, the fruits of a live-without-an-audience recording at Vienna club Porgy & Bess made during Covid in March 2021. You get a scintillating filthy blues-like feel on 'Old Wine in New Skins' while 'She Cries Out Loud' begins at funereal pace to quickly skip into a loping more uptempo Ellingtonian swagger. Elsewhere on 'Tribal Dance' in the same vein you get jungle-isms in the braying horns and galloping momentum developed in the rhythm section. Ensemble work throughout is both ridiculously virtuosic and yet comes over despite the complexity highly relaxed and relatable. Arrangements allow lots of light to poke through and let us experience the essence of the instrumentalists' individualism. Easily one of the best releases from a mainland continental European ''big band'' act that we have heard at any time during 2022, Homecoming brings back fond memories of hearing the dazzling Vienna Art Orchestra - particularly the way they covered Fats Waller's 'Jitterbug Waltz' - on the South Bank in the 1990s. What goes around… comes around. SG