Everyone's a critic

• It's worth diving in more deeply lest we forget what jazz criticism is and isn't. To us the ''is'': honest opinion backed up by some sort of prior knowledge and contextualisation; moderated thought ie again based on a balanced approach that sees the subject as part of the whole; non-didactic; non-aligned (meaning: not being an activist for a particular grouping); observational; pluralistic (meaning the ability to think beyond set genres). The ''isn't'': that's unargued value judgements; abuse; projection; binary ''thumbs up'' or ''thumbs down'' mentalities; manifesting; paradigm shifting; tribalism; whataboutery; surrogate politics. The role? That's easy: the jazz critic is a listener. Their function: to make sense of the jazz and communicate such impressions however subjectively.

I think therefore I jazz Man Ray style collage, photo: dall-e-2. Ponder as you listen to the funk groove masterclass that is George Benson's 'The Thinker' from 1996's That's Right - the drummer with Good King Bad, you'll be wondering when you retrieve your jaw from the floor - is Michael Bland.