Gig of the week is Dave O'Higgins and Rob Luft in Birmingham on the 9th. Scroll down for more details and the rest of the week ahead around the UK and in Ireland
Hear JD Beck on the new Pedro Martins 5-star Rádio Mistério. As for last year's Not Tight the toast of TikTok but don't hold that against the pair keyboardist/drummer duo Domi and JD Beck the certifiably viral hip-hop and cosmic jazz-rock phenoms who swept in recently like a hurricane. Older geezers and galz may prefer their Beck the late Jeff or beer varieties. But different strokes for different folks and we are bending over backwards to be fair. Although hey neg wowser on that flakiness. Not. Hashtag Fail. Oh, man. Anyway! Domi and Beck are seriously good no matter how much the more grizzled jazzers may grouch. We mean it. But what a marmite record. 'Smile' the driving motif of which makes us drift away to the Stylistics and 'People Make the World Go Round' is g-g-g-great. It's no copy, tiger. It would be highly unfair to say that the record was dreamt up by a marketing department so we won't. Fans of Thundercat will want 'Bowling' because they want everything he does but it's not the best track. The ever youthful Herbie Hancock also guests on 'Moon' (it's a better track). But as the NME correctly called it Domi and Beck aren't awed by the stellar guests. Guitar god Kurt Rosenwinkel makes his presence felt very well on 'Whoa' which is more a wow then a woah, whippersnapper.
Cast your minds back to Scottish drummer Graham Costello's 'Impetu' in 2021 and the Darrel Sheinman and Hugh Padgham produced Second Lives which was Lalo Schifrin-like in places and certainly beefy and incredibly well recorded. A certain visceral push to its momentum. that album had Liam Shortall impressively on trombone who provided the ecstasy of release. The Costello drum sound reminds us of Lammas period Mark Fletcher a bit and in Strata with him for this late night Manchester show is the biggest star on the Scottish scene in many years pianist Fergus McCreadie plus tenor Harry Weir, guitarist Kevin Cahill and bass guitarist Gus Stirrat.
Note to the geographically challenged - it's the road to St Ives in Cornwall not in Cambridgeshire and where the Carter 8 unstuck beyond Bodmin with any luck will be clambering on the charabanc off to.
Arise made us ask what's so funny 'bout peace, love, and understanding? That's what we want to know: The love child of the far more out there trioVD, the slogan is ''aggro jazz'' the location for the band is Leeds where Arise was recorded and pick of the tracks is easily 'Demise' featuring alto saxophonist Jasmine Myra and the rap from Franz Von on 'Head Up'. Percussion heavy it's a sax, bass guitar, two-drummer/percussionist band. Drummer-percussionist Luke Reddin-Williams - who was on Dave Morecroft's eternally listenable-to punk jazz innovators WorldServiceProject's 2020 release Hiding in Plain Sight - is the best known of the players. The other Vipertimers are tenorist/flautist Ben Powling (also a Hiding in Plain Sight connection) bass guitarist/guitarist Matías Reed and drummer/percussionist George Hall. Guests in addition to Myra who made a splash last year with Horizons on Manchester label Gondwana include drummer Charlie Grimwood.
Read a recent review of the O3 live in Sligo
GIG OF THE WEEK:
His Higness he of the sax not orb and sceptre with guitar Rob ''knows all the chords'' Luft. Completing the Brum dreamteam are jewels in the crown - puting the raj into Rajdoot and no need to curry favour at all - spice of life pianist Ross Stanley, known for his work with pride of Liverpool singer Rebecca Ferguson, scion of the baton bass star Misha Mullov-Abbado and the great Jazz Jamaica drummer Rod Youngs.
Domi and JD Beck, photo: Blue Note