Running until 12 June highlights at the Leeds Jazz Festival, which begins today, include: the Nishla Smith quintet; Michael Moore trio; Jasmine Myra; and most appealingly of all the heavyweight quartet of ''free'' players, saxist James Mainwaring, world class pianist Matthew Bourne, top, double bassist Dave Kane and drummer Emil Karlsen. Bourne's solo album Désinances was one of the best of 2021. Leeds is spiritually home ground for Bourne who completed his doctorate at the Leeds College of Music (now called Leeds Conservatoire) and before and since has inspired the free-scene locally. His fame has spread internationally and continues to ripple futurewards exponentially. As a free improviser in some ways Bourne carries on the work of Keith Tippett through his own vivid prismatic refractions. Bourne can do fierce anger very well and you get a punkish fury and nihilistic harshness that can be quite thrilling on some of his recordings and in live performance. Bourne and Karlsen's The Embalmer was released in March.
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