Steven Bernstein's Millennial Territory Orchestra & Catherine Russell, 'River's Invitation,' Royal Potato Family ***

Steven Bernstein has been prolific over the last year and this second instalment of the slide trumpeter's ''community music'' output, the good time music moniker in the album's title inspired by a Lou Reed comment and themed distinctly New …

Published: 2 Jan 2022. Updated: 2 years.

Steven Bernstein has been prolific over the last year and this second instalment of the slide trumpeter's ''community music'' output, the good time music moniker in the album's title inspired by a Lou Reed comment and themed distinctly New Orleans, is released next week.

Catherine Russell provides a neatly restrained vocal on Percy Mayfield's 'River's Invitation' from 1953 that bubbles out as the momentum of the horn section grows (the turbulence injected partly thanks to notable baritone saxophone riffing from Erik Lawrence). Listen to the original much silkier Mayfield version and you can hear by contrast how Bernstein adds a lot more disruptiveness in the rhythmic fabric of the arrangement proving all over again how to be credible and populist at the same time. Bernstein has two further albums coming up in 2022 – firstly with his Hot 9 in May and later in the year again with the Territory Orchestra.

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What's on at Club 85

One new effort on marlbank this year is to spread the net to focus occasionally on less heard-of clubs that nonetheless are putting on dynamic programming but well away from the usual city hotspots. Take the town of Hitchin in Hertfordshire which …

Published: 1 Jan 2022. Updated: 2 years.

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One new effort on marlbank this year is to spread the net to focus occasionally on less heard-of clubs that nonetheless are putting on dynamic programming but well away from the usual city hotspots. Take the town of Hitchin in Hertfordshire which is home to Club 85. A venue on the Whinbush Road, the 85 spans a range of genres from the more grisly end of metal through blues-rock and beyond towards the jazz oasis. Choice pickings coming up on 29 January centre firstly on skilled retro outfit Quintet Blue, with pianist Alex Webb, tenor saxophonist Denys Baptiste, guitarist Nigel Price, bassist Mikele Montoli and drummer Shaney Forbes.

Then veteran acid jazzers JTQ follow on 12 February, a perennially popular and well-travelled band since the 1990s where James Taylor's Hammond B3 Organ is at the heart of the sound. Check out the venue for more details here