London scene band the Sultan Stevenson trio: l-r: Joel Waters, Sultan Stevenson, Jacob Gryn play the Schlachthof, Bremen on the 11th ahead of a Brick Lane Jazz Festival show later this month. Photo: press
Marcus Strickland Twi-Life Moods, Switzerland Monday 8 April
Gretchen Parlato and Lionel Loueke Bimhuis, Amsterdam Wednesday 10 Apr
Highly influential and innovative US singer Gretchen Parlato in 2023 on Lean In with long time collaborator the Herbie Hancock guitarist and singer US based Benin jazz great Lionel Loueke proved on form. Very much a close knit affair, Gretchen's husband drummer Mark Guiliana of Mehliana fame, Guiliana and Loueke family members and close friend bassist Burniss Travis (known for his work with Common and James Francies) figured among the personnel on Lean In which was recorded in Los Angeles. Full of Brazilian music, West African sounds and more it represented the state of the art in terms of jazz vocals and also joins the dots passing the baton from singer to instrumentalism and back again in a parity of esteem and represents another peak in both Parlato and Loueke's remarkable careers. Highlights included a very fine version of Lynn Malsby's 1980s song 'I Miss You'. Parlato's sound is metrically astounding and highly expert in harnessing the power of difficult syncopated runs that still retain their communicative rather than impressive-for-the-sake-of-it appeal to gain traction and a sense of rewarding release. Also playing Stadtgarten in Cologne next night, the 11th April.
- Mario Canonge and Annick Tangorra Le Baiser Salé, Paris Wed 10 Apr
- Fred Wesley Generations Porgy & Bess, Vienna Wed 10 Apr
James Brown legend Fred Wesley is incredibly, yes, funky live, read a New JBs review from 2013. The real deal
- Ariel Bart Schlachthof, Bremen - Jazzahead Thursday 11 Apr
One of the many acts taking part at this year's Jazzahead across several venues but chiefly sited in the Schlachthof and Messe exhibition halls that runs until Saturday. Others include Sultan Stevenson, the Tineke Postma Aria Group, Julia Kadel Trio, Rebecca Trescher Tentet, Shuteen Erdenebaatar Quartet, Andy Milne & Unison, Oran Etkin Open Arms Project, Linda Fredriksson Juniper, Mama Terra and Matt Carmichael. Bart's 2022 album Documentaries featured not just a very fine harmonica player and composer but also finding a musical situation that defies easy categorisation, Bart harnessing a new melodic, chamber jazz and occasionally Sephardic ('Nine Souls') feel. Surrounding the Israeli's compositions are a rhythm section enhanced by cello. Trumpet is the brassy element on top. That horn player Itamar Borochov adds a lot of life to the sound but does not take over at all. Extraordinary harmonies in the arrangement almost casually strung together on 'Between Light and Shadow' where Bart proves if she were a saxophone player would be a Joshua Redman-type player melodically. Meditational and mindful it's a fantastic world class record (the best Bart improvisation is on the magisterial 'Teardrop').
Marcus Strickland Twi-Life Fasching, Stockholm Thurs 11 Apr
Julian Lage trio Victoria, Nasjonal Jazzscene, Oslo Thurs 11 Apr
Elé Howell Quartet Zig Zag, Berlin Fri 12 Apr
Howell, here leading his own band, excelled in Ravi Coltrane's band playing the Barbican in 2022. With the drummer are altoist Regis Molina, pianist Kevin Sholar and bassist Charles Sammons.
Goran Kajfeš' Tropiques Jazzhus Montmartre, Copenhagen Friday 12 Apr and Sat 13 Apr
Joel Frahm Trio Arthur's, Dublin Sat 13 Apr
Mark Turner Quartet Jassmine, Warsaw Sat 13 Apr
Jim Snidero Quartet Sunset, Paris Sat 13 Apr
The US altoist in Paris with pianist Fred Nardin, bassist Matteo Bortone and drummer Francesco Ciniglio. We liked For All We Know (Savant) reviewed in January which had Snidero with drummer Joe Farnsworth and bass icon Peter Washington giving ideal support on a set of familiar standards. What Snidero was able to do in his reactions to the themes in his improvisations is the really interesting customised bit - what he does to 'You Go To My Head' in particular one of the highlights on, yes, a real ''bebop heads'' album is a track you will be returning to time and time again.
Elizabeth Shepherd trio Casa del Jazz, Rome Sunday 14 Apr
Dominic Miller Porgy & Bess, Vienna Sun 14 Apr
English keyboards jazz great Jason Rebello is in his former Sting colleague guitarist Dominic Miller's band here for this Vienna gig - bassist Nicolas Fiszman and drummer Ziv Ravitz completing the American-Irish Argentina born 'Shape of My Heart' co-writer's band.
With every record on ECM it seemed to us listening to 2023's Vagabond that Miller seems to go deeper into his own world. And on what was a 2021 recorded Manfred Eicher produced studio album that sense of individuality coated in a Mediterranean dreaminess is the gateway to everything that unfolds. But there's an intensity too say on 'Lone Waltz' when pianist Jacob Karlzon added a heat and the crescendo sweeps us into a new intimacy. A very different in atmosphere feeling and listening experience is engendered to say what you'll hear on a record by another consummate guitarist such as Julian Lage or indeed Miller's extensive work with Sting you don't, in other words, acquire swinging freebop or dive into the singalong heart of a rock anthem - not by a long chalk.
But you do get detailed development of the themes as they often veer into more interesting waters out of the safe harbour of their pristine melodicism. In Miller's soliloquising and interior mood music he sometimes has a lot in common with a world Andrés Segovia painted so luminously or a Joaquín Rodrigo classical work in its more starker disciplined moments. Bassist Fiszman and drummer Ravitz, whose touch when it comes on 'Clandestin' is just right, prove a gruff contrast to the tracery of the rhapsoding piano lines that so naturally dance around.
- Gary Husband Stadtgarten, Cologne Sun 14 Apr
Playing the music of V. S. O. P. The Quintet, north country English drummer Gary Husband dabbing on the toms here and hitting the hi-hat ''cymbalically'' in Cologne with fellow countryman Germany based erstwhile Brum head Percy Pursglove plus Germany scene jazzers Paul Heller, Hubert Nuss and Ingmar Heller. Husband is known for his work with Billy Cobham and John McLaughlin, and has a fine new album featuring his superb Evansian-esque piano playing on Songs of Love and Solace just released. V. S. O. P. was a Herbie Hancock band that in the 1970s celebrated the Miles Second Great Quintet and featured Freddie Hubbard.
Tags: gigs