Tabla de contenidos para February 2025 en Jazzwise

Organisers of the Cheltenham Jazz Festival, which returns from 30 April to 5 May 2025, have now confirmed the first names for the 2025 programme will now include British jazz star Nubya Garcia who will headline the Town Hall on Sunday 4 May 2025. The Mercury nominated saxophonist and bandleader (pictured, inset right) will be performing music from her critically acclaimed recent album, Odyssey. Also announced for the 2025 programme is double-Grammy Award-winning singer Corinne Bailey Rae (main picture, right), who will be playing her hits and a selection of classic big band material with the talent packed Ronnie Scott’s Orchestra for an exclusive Cheltenham Jazz Festival show when she headlines the Big Top on 3 May. Further headliners already announced in Jazzwise include the hugely popular blues and boogie…

Step back with us now to the grim, snow-bound, freezing days of mid-February 1955 when jazz musicians were thin on the ground and jazz clubs even thinner! Not at Albert’s Place though, where you couldn't turn around without bumping into a jazz musician at this 'All-Star Parade Concert', the hottest gig in town for months! Ted Heath’s Big Band were acclaimed by Count Basie and Nat King Cole as one of the top swing bands and recorded more than 100 albums with 20 million copies sold during their lifetime. They worked with arrangements by Tadd Dameron, Bill Russo and John Dankworth, toured America with Nat King Cole on a MU reciprocal arrangement with the Stan Kenton Band and had musicians of the calibre of Ronnie Scott, Kenny Baker, Jack Parnell,…

1 Twins I & Twins II by Jaco Pastorius Big Band (1982) “Jaco blew me away when I first heard him in 1976 and though I have many of his recordings, this live recording in Japan of his fabulous big band with longstanding friends/soloists Bobby Mintzer, Othello Molineaux and Toots Thielemans, is my favourite. The standout track for me is Jaco’s beautiful ‘Three Views of a Secret’.” 2 Hommage à Eberhard Weber by Pat Metheny, Jan Garbarek, Gary Burton and others (2015) “I loved Eberhard Weber’s work with Jan Garbarek and in his Colours quartet in the late 1970s/early 80s. His electric upright bass playing was ethereal, wondrous. In 2007 a stroke left him unable to play. This album, created in his honour, features tapes of him playing, accompanied live by…

June 2024 saw the Royal Academy of Music’s Jazz Department collaborate with the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music for a special recording of late jazz trumpet legend Kenny Wheeler’s ‘Lost Scores’, performing rarely heard works from Wheeler’s formative years and then recording them at Abbey Road Studios. The resulting album is now set to be released as Some Days Are Better: The Lost Scores on top US trumpeter Dave Douglas’ imprint, Greenleaf Records on 31 January. This is soon after Wheeler’s birthday on 14 January and also coincides with the release of a new biography, Song for Someone: The Musical Life of Kenny Wheeler, co-authored by RAM head of jazz, Nick Smart. The album’s stellar guests include Ingrid Jensen, Brian Lynch, Etienne Charles, James Copus, Shelly Berg, Chris…

French pianist-composer Martial Solal, who has died at the age of 97, was one of the great figures in post-war international jazz who performed with a string of significant American players. Chief among them were Sidney Bechet, Don Byas, Lee Konitz, Johnny Griffin, Dave Liebman and Dave Douglas. Solal became one of the relatively small number of European artists to have the distinction of recording for Blue Note, but during a career spanning the best part of six decades he made over 40 albums as leader for other renowned imprints, such as MPS, Soul Note, Dreyfus and Cam. Born in Algiers, Algeria during French colonialism, Solal faced discrimination in the 1940s under the collaborationist Vichy governmen due to his Jewish ancestry, but a move to post-war Paris in 1950 signalled…

Listen to bassist, composer and singer Myra Brownbridge’s recently-released debut album, The Voyage Out, and you’ll gain an insight into how she presents in person. There’s an unassuming, sunny positivity that engages immediately, but a closer acquaintance reveals a calm but steely determination driving the music forward. The album has already made some influential friends, supported by a select range of gigs at venues like The Vortex and Birmingham’s Spotted Dog. All Myra’s tunes are very high on 'singability', with the accessible melodies at once rooted and propelled by her gratifyingly fat-toned bass lines. In addition to composing and performing in her own band, she’s in demand as a bassist for a wide array of projects across the fertile crosscultural scene of young London-based music makers. There’s straightahead work with…

The last time I interviewed Samara Joy for Jazzwise – for a Taking Off profile in the August 2021 issue – she had just released her self-titled debut on Michael Janisch’s Whirlwind Recordings label. One of the year’s standout vocal jazz releases, it was immediately clear that the young singer was destined for great things. A little over three years later, with three Grammys under her belt, a nonstop touring schedule since graduating from SUNY Purchase College that same year, plus a brace of acclaimed albums on the Verve label, it would be fair to say that life has changed ever so slightly for the vocalist, songwriter, arranger and bandleader. No sooner do we meet in the lobby of The Hoxton, Shepherd’s Bush, she’s immediately approached by a starry-eyed young…

Cristián Tamblay – Cristián Tamblay Self-released: digital What a discovery: Berklee grad, drummer Cristián Tamblay delivers an album right along the traditions of US electro/acoustic fusion. I am assuming all the compositions are written by Tamblay as nearly every track has a drum feature (and he shines!) alongside plenty of interaction with some great soloists, most notably saxophonist Trace Zacur, guitarist Isaac Ramagoza and keys player Warren Pettey. Stand out tracks are the firing opener ‘Against the Odds’, which does what it says; ‘Shuffled Up’; and the East Coast fusion homage ‘Uptown, Downtown’. Scott Henderson – Karnevel Self-released: CD and digital As guitarists go, there is nobody more deserving of praise and adulation than Scott Henderson. For me he is one of the greats, for his playing, his compositions and…

Yazz Ahmed La Saboteuse Night Time Stories ALNLP75 (2 LP, DL) Yazz Ahmed (t, flhn, v, Kaoss pad, perc), Shabaka Hutchings (ts, cl), Naadia Sherriff (el p), Fartun Tahir (v), Samuel Hällkvist (g), Dave Manington (b), Lewis Wright (vb), Dudley Phillips (b, el b) Martin France (d) and Corrina Silvester (perc). Rec. November 2016 Polyhymnia Night Time Stories ALNLP76 (2 LP, DL) Yazz Ahmed (t, flhn, v, Kaoss pad, perc), Becca Toft (t, v), Noel Langley (t, flhn, ky, v), Helena Kay (as, cl), Sophie Alloway, Tom Jenkins (d), Josie Simons (s, v), Sam Halkvist (g), Johanna Burnheart (vn, v) Rosie Turton (tb), Nubya Garcia (ts), Ralph Wyld (vb), Alex Ridout, Sheila Maurice-Grey (t), Shirley Teteh (g, v), Sarah Tandy (ky, v), Camilla George (s, v), Nadia Sherrif (ky), Gemma…

Listings are free, but due to space restrictions cannot be guaranteed to appear – expanded gig listings can be found at www.jazzwise.com/gig-guide. To advertise your event, contact Ros McRae on ros@jazzwise.com SATURDAY 1 Derek Nash 606 Club, 90 Lots Road, London SW10 1 Rendezvous Jazz Red Lion, Front Street, Earsdon, Tyneside 1 Angela Grey Quartet Pizza Express Jazz Club, 10 Dean Street, London W1 1 Alexander Hawkins Cafe OTO, 18-22 Ashwin Street, London E8 1 YolanDa Brown Soul Mama, Gantry Hotel, 40 Celebration Avenue, London E20 1 Kim Cypher Peggy’s Skylight, 3 George Street, Nottingham 1 Ian Shaw with Norma Winstone (lunchtime), Bireli Lagrene, Martin Taylor and Ulf Wakenius (evening) Ronnie Scott’s, 47 Frith Street, London W1 1 Alan Barnes and John Hallam with Tom Kincaid Trio St Augustine’s Parish…

Welcome to the first issue of Jazzwise in 2025. While there’s already an abundance of new albums, exciting reissues and festivals to look forward to, it’s still an extremely challenging time for musicians. Among my new year’s reading so far has been some of US writer Ted Gioia’s insightful articles on his Honest Broker Substack site. There he’s frequently highlighted ‘The Rise of Dopamine Culture’ – a subliminal trend that has seen old media such as newspapers and magazines mutate into social media clickbait, and albums into tracks and then short form TikTok videos. It’s no wonder many musicians are now in an existential crisis, as Gioia highlights a report by journalist Liz Pelly on Spotify’s “war against musicians and record labels” through its covert use of ‘fake’ artists (often…

Now celebrating its 11th year, the annual Academy Jazz Festival returns to the Royal Academy of Music’s David Josefowitz Recital Hall on 12 and 13 February for what has become one of the highlights of the conservatoire’s busy jazz calendar. The event sees students working alongside guest artists who lead small ensembles performing their own music. Each concert showcases the work of three of the guest bandleaders, across two evenings of public performances. This year’s featured guests include the debut from the Trinidadian steelpan virtuoso Leon Foster Thomas (pictured top) and two stars of the European jazz scene: singer-soundscaper Lynn Cassiers and bassist/vocalist Sarah Murcia (bottom); as well as award-winning saxophonist Xhosa Cole and young ECM star and Academy alumnus Rob Luft (centre); while another former RAM student, saxophonist Will…

Composer and trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire released his new album honey from a winter stone on 17 January via Nonesuch Records. The album, which Ambrose calls a “self-portrait”, features improvisational vocalist Kokayi, pianist Sam Harris, Chiquitamagic on synthesiser, drummer Justin Brown, and the strings of the Mivos Quartet – and is in stark contrast to the minimalism of 2023’s Owl Song with Bill Frisell and Herlin Riley. Commenting on the new music, Akinmusire says: “In many respects this entire work is inspired by and is an homage to the work of the composer Julius Eastman and his organic music concept. This album is about the fears and struggles I personally face, as well as those many black men endure: colourism, erasure, and the question of who gets to speak for my…

Few musicians in jazz have appeared in so many different contexts as the great drummer Roy Haynes, yet remained completely convincing in all of them. Whether in his early days with Luis Russell’s big band, his bebop ventures with Charlie Parker, Bud Powell or Charles Mingus, his brief stints with John Coltrane, or his years with Sarah Vaughan, he always seemed to know exactly how to complement his fellow musicians, and show the best in his own work. The same applied to his fusion ventures with his Hip Ensemble, or with Gary Burton, as well as keeping pace with such players as Chick Corea, Pat Metheny and David Murray. In Roy’s own mind, the reason for his continued success and longevity was simple: “I consider myself a swing drummer, then…

Jazz has had such a vibrant and colourful history it sometimes seems as if the past is in competition with the present. Re-releases of classic albums, ‘complete’ versions of essential albums and the discovery of valuable, previously unissued sessions vie for attention with album releases from the impressive talent pool that is jazz today. Zev Feldman, the self-styled Jazz Detective, has diligently been advancing the case for the past over recent years with the discovery of important, previously unissued tapes that have helped broaden our understanding of the music and refocussed attention on worthy talent that has receded from view. One such musician deserving an overdue ovation is the case of guitarist Emily Remler. Feldman discovered two sets of previously unissued live tapes – Remler never released a live album…

Arild Andersen Landloper ECM ECM 2826 (CD, LP, DL) Arild Andersen (b, elec). Rec. June 2020 As one of Norway’s jazz grandmasters, Andersen has covered vast tracts of sonic terrain in his long and illustrious career – his approach and sound shaped as much by Mingus and Pastorius as it is Frisell and Hassell. And despite being an early adopter of effects pedals and solo soundscapes, Landloper is his first solo bass album. Mostly recorded live at Oslo’s Victoria Nasjonal Jazzscene, opener ‘Peace Universal’ was recorded at Arild’s home (an echo perhaps of the proximity of the Pandemic at the time) its bowed notes emanate from the depths like whale-song. The Mingus influence (which Andersen picked up as a teenager, hearing the great man play in Oslo on 12 April…

ALAWARI Leviathan April Records Danish instrumental collective ALAWARI were founded in 2016, and return here with a brassy spiritual jazz trip that, while slightly less riotous than their eponymous 2022 album, still builds up to an epic wall of sound. Inventive horn parts are stacked in melodic layers while the rhythm section boils away beneath. It’s rousing stuff. (MF) Ross Bellenoit Signals Self-release Guitarist-composer Bellenoit’s seventh album is a collection of seven well-played but notespecially-memorable fusion-y tunes, although the jittery 'The Good Nut' is a standout. (KW) Big Boss Man Bossin' Around Spin Out Nuggets It’s time to loosen your tie, kick off your shoes and fire up the cocktail maker with the very welcome release of Big Boss Man’s first album in a decade. Keyboardist Nasser Bouzida’s group are…

Bill Evans: Evans In England, Morning Glory and Inner Spirit (Resonance 2019 and 2022) The Resonance label has made something of a name for itself recently with its Evans archaeology – digging up old tapes of unreleased classic performances, usually in superb sound quality, as exemplified by this trio of releases. Evans in England (2019) was taped in December 1969 at Ronnie Scott’s. The sleevenotes by Leon Terjanian state, “A Beyerdynamic mic on the floor between the piano and the bass was connected to an Uher tape recorder resting on the knees of the taper and covered by the tablecloth.” The other two releases, both issued in 2022, were recorded in Buenos Aires (in 1973 and 1979 respectively) by the engineer in charge of the house sound, Carlos Melero. He…

BBC RADIO 2 88-91 FM and DAB Jamie Cullum show (Tues, 9pm) BBC RADIO 3 90-93 FM and DAB 'Round Midnight (Mon-Fri 11.30pm) Jazz Record Requests (Sun, 4pm) BBC RADIO 6 MUSIC DAB Gilles Peterson, Sat 3pm JAZZ FM DAB, Sky, Alexa, smartphone, tablet and online at jazzfm.com (Mon – Fri) 6.30am-10am Jazz FM Breakfast with Nigel Williams, 10am-2pm Danielle Perry, 2pm-6pm Afternoon drive with Simon Philips, 6pm-7pm Jazz FM’s Greatest, 7pm-9pm Jazz FM’s Dinner Jazz with Mark Walker. (Mon) 9pm-10pm Future Jazz with Ruth Fisher; 10pm-midnight Late Nite with China Moses. (Tues) 9pm-10pm Jazz Travels with Rouhangeze Baichoo; 10pm-midnight Late Night with China Moses. (Wed) 9pm-10pm Jazztronic with Dom Servini; 10pm-midnight Late Night with China Moses. (Thur) 9pm-10pm The British Jazz Show with Helen Mayhew; 10pm-midnight Late Night with…

NAME: Faye Thompson INSTRUMENT: Saxophone, Bass Clarinet, Electronics EXPERIENCE AND INFLUENCES: Faye was born and raised in the North-East of England, but is now based in London. Since picking up the saxophone at age 12, she has developed a distinctive but versatile voice, born from electronically processing much of her playing while drawing on influences ranging from modern classical, jazz, and folk; to electronica, ambient, and experimental. Faye’s unique approach has led her to perform with artists including Aja Monet, Cassandra Jenkins, Neue Grafik Ensemble, and She’s Got Brass. She also performs solo, creating live experimental ambient music as Efti’s Project. THIS FUTURE MOVER SAYS: “I love improvised music – I think it’s one of the most beautiful ways to connect with the people around you. My favourite experiences of music-making…

Kenton started out in the early 1940s as just another West Coast-based danceband leader, inspired by the likes of Jimmie Lunceford and, when he signed to the young Capitol label in 1943, started a series of hits like ‘Eager Beaver’, ‘Intermission Riff’ and his signature-tune ‘Artistry In Rhythm’. His early soloists played in a swing-era mode, and only post-WW2 did he show any awareness of bop, with the arrival of Kai Winding, Shelly Manne, arranger Pete Rugolo and the return of Art Pepper. Latin-jazz then registered with him, leading to a single named for ‘Machito’ and a far-out version of ‘The Peanut Vendor’, adding Machito’s rhythm-section for the recording. But big bands had a hard time financially in the late 1940s and Kenton disbanded, allegedly in order to study psychiatry.…

Back in the 1990s/2000s, a British musician was one of the most visible jazz faces in the USA. For 15 years, saxophonist Ralph Moore, a Londoner, was seen nightly on television in the house band on Jay Leno’s Tonight Show. With a list of credits including Horace Silver, Roy Haynes, Dizzy Gillespie and Freddie Hubbard, Moore was a seasoned professional, but his career began in a very different setting. Moore grew up in Brixton, South London, with his mother, Josie Woods – a black Eastender, and one of Britain’s first jitterbug dancers. His first instrument was the trumpet but when he switched to saxophone, his Guyanese teacher, Allan Briggs, introduced him to Caribbean community events. At 14, he joined the band of Jamaican guitarist Roy ‘Chubby’ Mullings, a popular local…

In 2009, the documentary 1959: The Year That Changed Jazz was first screened on BBC Four. The film focused on four major jazz recordings – Kind of Blue, Time Out, Mingus Ah Um, and The Shape of Jazz to Come – which the producers considered were head and shoulders above everything else released at the time. Portrayed as a watershed moment, for many viewers the unspoken subtext was that it’s been downhill ever since. These recordings continue to be hugely influential and are regarded in jazz education – along with John Coltrane’s Giant Steps, also recorded in 1959 – as the foundation of contemporary jazz studies. But for some, there’s been a creeping realisation that other jazz recordings from a more recent past have also become classics – and without…

Xhosa Cole isn’t interested in following the mainstream. The 27-year-old saxophonist is a deep thinker. He doesn’t take shortcuts or give simple answers. Recently, he’s been teaching at Trinity College of Music, where he once studied. He enjoys asking students “naughty” questions like “is jazz dead?” When I ask why he plays jazz (a big question, I admit) he starts by considering what the genre is before puzzling to a conclusion. “It’s the improvisation and the innovation,” he decides. “The freedom the music offers, to those playing it and hopefully to those listening to it, is something I identify heavily with. And I love that [jazz] has this great history of study. It’s important to me to be part of that community that has very deeply studied the music and…

Misha Mullov-Abbado Effra Ubuntu Music UBU0185 (CD, DL, LP) Misha Mullov-Abbado (b), James Davison (t, flhn), Matthew Herd (as, ts), Sam Rapley (ts, bcl), Liam Dunachie (p) and Scott Chapman (d). Rec. date not stated After his well-received excursions into the rarefied classical/folk crossovers of his recent ECM-released trios, it’s a pleasure to welcome Misha Mullov-Abbado back into the relatively more rumbustious environment of the London jazz scene - specifically, the Brixton neighbourhood from which the album title derives. Much like contemporary Brixton, this music has a lot of excitement and energy while showing distinct traces of refinement (let’s not say ‘gentrification’). Opener ‘Traintracker’ opens with a fanfare and blasts into a backbeat-driven romp for the outstanding horn section – Matthew Herd sounds particularly fiery on alto. This band have…

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The 100 Jazz Albums That Shook The World is an exclusive 100-page definitive guide to the most important and influential jazz albums that have gone on to change and shape the course of the music from the 1920s to the present day. ■ Print-only, premium quality, publication edited and conceived by Jazzwise’s editor-in-chief Jon Newey ■ The first time a fully annotated top 100 jazz album countdown from 100 to No.1 has been published in book form ■ Includes new in-depth editorial on each album from Jazzwise’s acclaimed team of writers, plus in-depth features on the making of the top three albums, a look at the albums that almost made the cut and a guide to buying the featured titles on LP and CD “This superbly written assemblage is an…

The cult of Kenney I was interested and pleased to read your short feature (Jazzwise 302) on the great Beverly Kenney, who I don’t recall ever having even been mentioned in your magazine before. Beverley is indeed a very big cult figure here in Japan; there are a number of associations and labels dedicated to keeping her memory alive, as well as releasing every single note and session she ever recorded, via labels such as SSJ, Fresh Sounds, Music-Box and Cellar Door. Information on Beverly has always been sketchy, but I can recommend interested readers visit writer Tony Guerrero’s excellent website (www.beverlykenney.com), which has plenty of great press cuttings, audio and video clips, photos (Beverly famously hated having her picture taken, so photos of her are a rarity – but…