Monthly Archives: October 2015
Album Review: Christian McBride Trio’s Live At The Village Vanguard
When we think of ‘groove’, we probably think of funk or soul music. But jazz can groove too, and the new Christian McBride Trio live album grooves like a mother. 43-year-old bassist McBride is of course something of a prodigy, already a world-renowned bandleader and collaborator with Dr Billy Taylor, Sting, Pat Metheny, Wynton Marsalis, Chick […]
The New Miles Movie: First Impressions
So we finally get a sneak preview of the new Miles Davis movie ‘Miles Ahead’, which wrapped in August 2014 and gets a worldwide release in January. It has also just closed the New York Film Festival and the reviews are in. First, the positives – Don Cheadle, who also directed, co-wrote and co-produced, has […]
An Interview With Leo Sidran
You could count on one hand the number of jazz writers who also happen to be great players, and you’d probably have several fingers left over. Let’s face it, it’s not an easy gig. But a few months ago I came across a podcast called The Third Story that immediately intrigued me. For a start, […]
Working Week: Does Jazz Go Into Pop?
Excerpts taken from my liner notes for the new Working Week live album: Does jazz go into pop? Judging by the current music scene, the answer would appear to be an unequivocal ‘no’, but, for a golden period in the early-to-mid ’80s, it seemed as if the two styles could happily co-exist. Artists like David […]
Wayne Shorter’s Atlantis: 30 Years Old Today
It’s not easy to write about an album that’s so much part of your musical DNA that it haunts you in the middle of the night and yet reveals fresh nuances each time you listen to it. Wayne is one of my all-time musical heroes and has been since I was a teenager when his […]
Sounds Of Surprise 