Monthly Archives: July 2015
Sir George Shearing 1919-2011
George Shearing, piano master, composer of ‘Lullaby of Birdland‘ and hero to a whole generation of jazz fans and musicians has died at the age of 91. His quintet became world-famous in the ’40s and ’50s for its cool, sophisticated sound, and Shearing patented a much-imitated ‘locked hands’ piano style. Shearing’s life was an incredible […]
Paul Motian 1931-2011
Paul Motian, the drummer, composer and bandleader who has died aged 80, was one of jazz’s great listeners. He reacted to the most subtle changes in a soloist’s phrasing and altered his playing accordingly. Sometimes a simple backbeat was the first casualty of this approach, making him a very popular drummer in the free jazz/avant-garde […]
Book Review: Peter King’s Flying High
The swing kings Duke Ellington and Count Basie had The Cotton Club, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk and the legendary US beboppers had The Five Spot, Birdland and The Three Deuces. But a certain generation of UK jazz greats learnt their chops in the likes of The White Hart in Acton and The Bun Shop in […]
Steinway Piano Festival @ Pizza Express Soho, 26 March 2011
Judging by the first night of the Steinway Piano Festival, British jazz piano is in good hands. This was the third annual celebration of the world-famous family of manufacturers, and although jazz piano duets have never particularly been in vogue (apart from some much-heralded ‘70s collaborations featuring various permutations of Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea and Keith Jarrett), the […]
Jim Mullen @ 606 Club, November 2011
Glaswegian guitarist Jim Mullen is a hero to a generation of Brit jazz/funk fans mainly thanks to his work with late great saxophonist Dick Morrissey. Morrissey Mullen had some success in the late ‘70s and mid-80s, giving The Crusaders, Ronnie Laws and Don Blackman (not to mention Shakatak) a run for their money. Since then, Mullen has […]
Book Review: Nile Rodgers’ Le Freak
Nile Rodgers has spent his musical life on both sides of the studio glass, recording and writing hits with Chic and producing the likes of Diana Ross, Madonna, David Bowie, Sister Sledge, Johnny Mathis and Al Jarreau. Chic were to disco what Steely Dan were to rock – they brought jazz chords, complex arrangements and […]
Janek Gwizdala/Gary Husband @ Hideaway, 14 November 2011
Old-school fusion is alive and well and coming to a venue near you during this week’s London Jazz Festival. In the vacuum left after Tribal Tech‘s extended sabbatical in 2000, a number of units have emerged to take on the Miles Davis/Weather Report/Herbie Hancock template and run with it. The latest is this powerful group led by London-born, […]
Dr Billy Taylor 1921-2010
Dr Billy Taylor was one of the last in a generation of classic jazz musicians who thrived in the bebop era. A distinguished ambassador for our music, he was a recording artist for six decades and probably most famous for his stirring composition ‘I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free‘. Written […]
Robert Mitchell @ Ray’s Jazz, 10 February 2011
Robert Mitchell is one of the most original pianists on the UK scene. Mainly known for his Panacea group, he has also worked with US saxophonists Greg Osby and Steve Coleman and in a duo format with violinist Omar Puente. But this solo gig was the first in a new series at Ray’s Jazz Cafe in Foyles bookshop on London’s Charing Cross Road, a delightful place […]
Kenny Wheeler @ Pizza Express, 18 February 2011
Kenny Wheeler is one of the most inspirational and treasured players on the world jazz scene. The Canadian-born, England-based trumpet and flugelhorn player has enjoyed a long and varied career playing in quintets, quartets, big bands and with strings. He’s probably best known for his classic solo albums Gnu High (which featured Keith Jarrett on piano) and Deer […]
Little Axe @ The Star Of Kings, September 2011
The death of Sylvia Robinson this week brought to an end the era of Sugar Hill Records, the groundbreaking label that showcased some of the key rappers and one of the hottest rhythm sections of the last 30 years. Ohio-born guitarist and vocalist Skip McDonald was part of that unit and has since forged a formidable career playing with […]
James Moody 1925-2010
Saxophonist, flautist and bandleader James Moody died on Thursday 9 December, 2010, in San Diego, California. The cause of death was pancreatic cancer. He was 85. One of the last living masters of the bebop era, Moody was perhaps best known for ‘Moody’s Mood For Love‘, his masterful 1949 improvisation over the chord changes of […]
Abbey Lincoln 1930-2010
Abbey Lincoln, who has died aged 80, was known for her earthy, passionate vocal style and glamorous image. She was sometimes called ‘the black Marilyn Monroe’, but in the latter stages of her career presented an dignified, earnest, almost sombre performance style inspired by her heroine Billie Holiday. She was born Anna Marie Wooldridge in […]
Brecon Jazz Festival 2010
Taking place in the intimate, rural atmosphere of Mid-Wales near Hay-on-Wye, the Brecon festival crams an amazing amount of world-class artists into such a small area. And this year the variety didn’t just apply to the music on offer (or, unfortunately, the weather) – it was also a treat to see such a wide range […]
Stevie Wonder @ Hyde Park, 26 June 2010
I parked the car behind the Albert Hall and set out across Hyde Park, almost bumping into Kate Middleton in dazzling red dress (yes, really…). What kind of omen was that for Stevie’s gig? The general consensus was that his last shows in London at the O2 a few years ago had been a bit long on […]
Charlie Wood @ 606, 13 June 2010
There’s nothing quite like the 606 on a Monday night. Things are a bit more sedate, you can unwind at the bar, find your favourite perch, take the weight off. And when an artist of the calibre of Charlie Wood is providing the entertainment, you know everything’s going to be awright. Wood is a Memphis-born singer, songwriter and pianist who […]
Album Review: Courtney Pine’s Europa
Gifted saxophonist Courtney Pine‘s career is one of the great success stories in British jazz. Starting out in the early ‘80s as a sideman with reggae double act Clint Eastwood and General Saint and in various Britfunk bands, he became disillusioned with the outlawing of jazz as a respected, popular music in the climate of […]
Soweto Kinch: Tribute To Joe Harriott @ QEH, 29 July 2011
Jamaican-born Joe Harriott died in 1973 at the age of just 44. Though he shook up the UK jazz scene in his lifetime, garnered comparisons to Ornette Coleman and Charlie Parker, pioneered Indo-jazz fusions and, in Kinch’s words, ‘scared the hell out of people’ with his prodigious technique, he died almost penniless. And due to the BBC’s policy […]
Tomorrow’s Warriors/Steve Williamson @ Purcell Room, 28 July 2011
Three generations of great British jazz were celebrated this week at the Southbank Centre in a series of concerts marking the 60th anniversary of the Festival of Britain. One of the recent homegrown heroes is Steve Williamson, the mercurial saxophone talent who burst onto the scene in the late 1980s in bassist Gary Crosby OBE’s enormously influential […]
Jack Parnell 1923-2010
Jack Parnell, the drummer, bandleader and entertainer, has died at his home in Suffolk aged 87 following a year-long battle with cancer. Parnell’s musical career lasted almost seven decades. He was named Best Drummer in the annual Melody Maker awards for seven years in succession and enjoyed a long and distinguished stint in the renowned Ted Heath Band. […]
Lena Horne 1917-2010
Pioneering singer, actress and dancer Lena Horne is credited as helping black actresses to gain more acceptance in Hollywood and was an important contributor to the Civil Rights Movement. She was born in Brooklyn in 1917 and at the age of 16 became a dancer at the famous Cotton Club. But her singing was soon gaining attention […]
Harry Beckett 1935-2010
The Brit jazz legend Harry Beckett was one of the most instantly recognisable trumpeters in all of music. He played with some key artists in the British jazz pantheon and was a huge inspiration on players such as Courtney Pine and Gary Crosby. Beckett was born in Saint Michael parish in Barbados and started off playing the cornet in […]
Herman Leonard 1923-2010
Herman Leonard was arguably the photographer who defined jazz as the epitome of cool. His images of Miles Davis, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk contributed to all becoming iconic jazz figures. His rendering of the post-war New York club scene brought the musicians to life and seemed to capture […]
Richie Hayward 1946-2010
The drummer and composer Richie Hayward, who has died aged 64 after treatment for liver cancer, will be best remembered for his 40 years with Little Feat, the band he co-founded. His swinging, sure-footed and funky playing was the heart and soul of their music, and his subtle but always solid grooves powered along their enticing blend […]
John McLaughlin @ Barbican, 23 April 2010
What is the role of the electric guitar in jazz music? Since Charlie Christian‘s revolutionary bebop permutations in the ’30s and ’40s, the guitar has undeniably held a fascination for jazz fans specifically and music fans in general. And when volume levels were increasing and minds expanding in the mid-to-late 1960s, in some ways John McLaughlin […]
George Duke @ Ronnie Scott’s, 12 May 2010
Fusion is no longer a dirty word – it’s everywhere on the jazz scene in many different guises, from Led Bib to Jamie Cullum. But George Duke was one of the genre’s originals and part of a generation of musicians – including Tony Williams, Stanley Clarke and Airto, for example – for whom mixing styles was completely natural. A quick glance at Duke’s sideman gigs […]
Pamela Rose: Wild Women Of Song
Pamela Rose‘s new album Wild Women of Song: Great Gal Composers Of The Jazz Era makes a compelling case for the enduring contributions of women to America’s treasure trove of popular music. It features the music of women songwriters – particularly those of the Tin Pan Alley and Blues eras – whose contributions Rose was […]
Dominic Miller @ 606 Club, 21 April 2010
Guitarist Dominic Miller dropped in to the 606 last night for a rare London gig. Famously Sting‘s right-hand-man since 1990, Miller was also the original guitarist in Level 42 after hooking up with keyboardist Mike Lindup and drummer Phil Gould during his time at the Guildhall School Of Music. He joined Lindup again here to […]
Soweto Kinch @ Ealing Jazz Festival, 31 July 2003
Soweto saunters into West London on something of a roll – his highly-rated debut album Conversations With The Unseen has been nominated for the Mercury Music Prize, and he has also just received a Best Jazz Artist nomination for the MOBO awards. In short, Soweto’s presence is quite a coup for this free festival in […]
Corea, Clarke & White: Forever
Return To Forever were one of the most popular bands to emerge from the post-Bitches Brew jazz/rock scene in the early-’70s, featuring two Miles sidemen in keyboardist Chick Corea and drummer Lenny White as well as bass innovator Stanley Clarke and guitarists Bill Connors and Al Di Meola. A successful reunion tour in 2008 featuring […]
Sounds Of Surprise 