Monthly Archives: January 2016
DVD Review: Jaco
It’s somewhat of a surprise that it’s taken this long for a movie about Jaco Pastorius to be released. There have been major biographies of the bass master before – Charles Shaar Murray presented a spirited two-part tribute on BBC Radio, while Bill Milkowski’s book was exhaustive and well-researched but controversial in its unflinching detail. Then, around […]
Rescued From The Vaults: John Patitucci’s One More Angel
1997’s One More Angel was a stunning album in which Patitucci finally left behind the influences of his mentor Chick Corea and found a composing style all his own. A period of great upheaval and tragedy in Patitucci’s private life, outlined in detail in the CD’s liner notes, was transformed into some absolutely beautiful music. Featuring […]
Sue And Other Stories: David Bowie’s Jazz Legacy
A cursory scan through David’s career confirms that he was a big jazz fan. His first instrument was the sax (he had some lessons from Ronnie Ross, later employed by David to play the famous solo on Lou Reed’s ‘Walk On The Wild Side’) and he loved Mingus, Parker and Coltrane. Check out this interview […]
Phil Gould/Mike Lindup/Wally Badarou @ 606 Club, 11th January 2016
‘Pocket’ is hard to define but you know it when you hear it. Something akin to a drummer’s ‘feel’, musicians often say that you’re either in the pocket or you ain’t, and as such the expression is mostly used in association with great US groovemasters like Richie Hayward, James Gadson, Bernard Purdie and Andy Newmark. […]
Dennis Chambers: Five Of The Best
The November 2015 issue of JazzTimes magazine featured a long-overdue interview with master-drummer Dennis Chambers. I’ll never forget first hearing his playing on the title track of John Scofield’s brilliant Blue Matter album as a highly-impressionable 15-year-old. I had never heard anyone play a kick drum like that. His grooves were tasty, funky and solid, […]
New Year’s Eve Jazz @ Coq D’Argent
Like a lot of people, I must confess to an ambivalent attitude towards the whole New Year’s Eve thang. But all that changed around five years ago when, at the behest of good friend/good pianist James Hayes, I began doing a yearly NYE gig at Coq D’Argent, a beautiful restaurant sitting atop 1 Poultry, one of […]
Sounds Of Surprise 