Author Archives: Matt P (movingtheriver.com, soundsofsurprise.com)
Tribal Tech’s ‘Illicit’: the ‘Heavy Weather’ of the 1990s?
Many 1980s and 1990s jazz/rock bands tried and failed to match Weather Report’s killer combination of catchy melodies, elegant group interplay and cutting-edge improvisation, exemplified by their 1977 masterpiece Heavy Weather. But surely the most successful of the lot was guitarist Scott Henderson and bassist Gary Willis’s Tribal Tech. The LA-based group released four albums […]
Rahsaan Roland Kirk: Vibrations In The Village & Live At The Penthouse
Rahsaan Roland Kirk fans – this is the winter for you. He’s one of the most extraordinary musical figures of the last 70 years, a gifted multi-instrumentalist and political animal, a blind man who detested the word ‘jazz’, became one of Charlie Mingus’s most trusted collaborators and yet arguably achieved his greatest fame for playing […]
Essential 1980s Jazz/Rock Albums (Part 2)
Continuing our look at some of the finest jazz/rock albums of the 1980s. You can find part 1 here. Jaco Pastorius: Twins (1982) A classic double album (an edited version was released as Invitation) recorded live in Japan just after the bass pioneer left Weather Report. Jaco’s brand of fusion took in jazz, Cuban, soul […]
Essential 1980s Jazz/Rock Albums (Part 1)
1980s jazz/rock generally gets the side-eye these days. But it wasn’t all the Chick Corea Elektric Band prancing around the stage in tracksuits or pitiful WAVE-style smooth jazz. The 1970s fusion pioneers were mostly going strong and, if some were too tempted by synths and drum machines, the best music was made by sticking pretty […]
Kurt Elling/Yellowjackets Celebrate The Music Of Weather Report @ Cadogan Hall, 15 November 2025
It seems such a logical fit for Yellowjackets (purveyors of quality fusion since 1979 who once counted Felix Pastorius – Jaco’s son – amongst their ranks) to celebrate the music of Weather Report. But throw Kurt Elling into the mix too? Then you remember that he has become legendary for vocalising seemingly impossible tunes in […]
Anthony Jackson (1952-2025)
The brilliant Anthony Jackson, who has died aged 73, was a vital part of the early-1970s electric bass revolution, but arguably never got the same attention as contemporaries Stanley Clarke, Jaco Pastorius, Bootsy Collins, Louis Johnson and Alphonso Johnson (Chuck Rainey, Steve Swallow and Larry Graham are a bit older). In a music world beset […]
Mel Gaynor @ 606 Club, 25 September 2025
Mel Gaynor spent almost 30 years playing superb drums with Simple Minds in studios, stadiums and sports halls across the globe. But it’s also oft-forgotten that he was also one of the key British session drummers of the 1980s, and, in a 1992 Sunday Times poll, was named the world’s best rock drummer by Stewart […]
Anthony Braxton: Quartet (England) 1985
Anthony Braxton has one of the largest discographies in music history, encompassing a huge variety of styles and formats: operas, pieces for two pianos, orchestras, solo saxophone, 100 tubas, jazz quartets, ‘found’ objects and many more. The saxophonist/composer/teacher turned 80 in June, and has also just been inducted into the illustrious DownBeat Hall of Fame. […]
Wayne Shorter’s ‘Harlequin’: a tale of three piano players
Wayne Shorter’s memorable but oft-forgotten ballad first appeared as a relatively ‘minor’ track on Heavy Weather, sandwiched between the more famous ‘Teen Town’ and ‘Palladium’. But, like most Wayne tunes of that era, the power of ‘Harlequin’ has only increased over the years – not surprising considering its stunning chord changes, spine-tingling harmony and arresting […]
Oz Noy Trio @ Ronnie Scott’s, 7 July 2025
It’s always interesting when a ‘fusion’ guitarist downsizes from a quartet or quintet to a trio. Suddenly he/she is in charge of harmony and melody, and if the format offers more freedom there’s also the potential for stasis in the dynamics department. Steve Khan was a pioneer in the 1980s, Robben Ford in the 1990s […]
Dave Liebman/Billy Hart/Adam Rudolph: Beingness
The tributaries from Miles’s fabled 1970s period spread ever further. NEA Jazz Masters drummer Billy Hart and soprano saxophonist Dave Liebman met during the recording of Davis’s On The Corner (1972) and have played together many times since, most notably in Quest. Now they’ve teamed up with percussionist/keyboardist Adam Rudolph for the powerful, semi-improvised album […]
The John Scofield Interview: Sco in the 1980s, from Miles to Blue Matter
You could put forward a pretty good case that John Scofield was THE guitarist of the 1980s. Probably best known for his incendiary playing in Miles Davis’s band between 1982 and 1985, he also enjoyed a distinguished solo career. Whilst focusing on straightahead jazz during the early part of the decade, his stellar ‘fusion’ period […]
Nanami Haruta: The Vibe
Nanami Haruta was born in Sapporo, Japan, and started playing piano at just three years old. By the age of eight, she’d moved over to trombone and quickly became somewhat of a child star on the instrument, winning local competitions and giving concerts. Moving to Tokyo in 2020, she continued her meteoric rise, contributing to […]
Steve Hunt/Tim Miller: Changes
Arguably no guitarist has stepped into Allan Holdsworth’s shoes since the Yorkshireman’s sad death in 2017 – hardly surprising since he was one of the greatest, most original voices on the instrument. But if anyone can get close to recapturing Holdsworth’s compositional magic, it’s keyboard player Steve Hunt who toured/recorded with the guitarist between 1988 […]
Ethan Iverson @ 606, 13 March 2025
Befitting such a jazz polymath with a formidable reputation as both pianist and writer (via his Substack, blog and excellent column for JazzTimes), Ethan Iverson’s latest project takes on musical themes inspired by noir movies and fantasy TV shows. In a surprisingly poorly-attended show at the always welcoming 606, Iverson began his debut UK solo […]
Rescued From The Vaults: Phil Upchurch’s Companions (1984)
There’s a good case that 1984 was Last Call for classic jazz/funk (soon to morph into the dreaded smooth jazz) just before the machines took over and albums like David Sanborn’s A Change Of Heart became de rigeur (but only for a few years – there was an ‘acoustic’ revival in the late 1980s…). Phil […]
Sun Ra Arkestra (Under The Direction of Marshall Allen): Lights on a satellite
One of the unexpected treats of last year was a new – and excellent – album from the Sun Ra Arkestra: Lights On A Satellite. If you’re looking for an antidote to musical torpor, this could well be it. It draws on free jazz, classic big-band swing, spiritual jazz, gospel, New Orleans and light funk […]
Lyle Mays: Street Dreams
I was a fan of most things jazz/rock as a teenager, scuttling off to HMV or Virgin in central London to buy the latest John McLaughlin, Mike Stern, Steps Ahead, John Scofield, Bireli Lagrene or Miles. Whilst Pat Metheny was never a favourite, I dug American Garage and 80/81, and always had a soft spot for […]
The Pete Roth Trio featuring Bill Bruford @ 606, 27 November 2024
Rock and pop musicians make comebacks all the time – in jazz, it’s almost unheard of. Reading drum legend Bill Bruford’s fine autobiography, there was no doubt he’d had his fill of the music business when he officially retired from performance on 1 January 2009 (his last Earthworks gig took place the previous July). Away […]
Bill Frisell @ Cadogan Hall, 25 October 2024
Frisell’s fascinating late-career boom continues abound. The American guitarist is a regular visitor to the Big Smoke but, revelling in his newfound freedom at Blue Note Records, this Cadogan Hall gig felt like his most ‘jazz’ outing for years. Of course that’s chiefly due to the presence of his A-list collaborators, in concert and on […]
Book Review: American Drummers (1959-1988) by Val Wilmer
Val Wilmer has arguably been Britain’s leading jazz photographer (and writer of classic jazz book ‘As Serious As Your Life’) since she started taking pictures of musicians over 60 years ago. And now Café Royal Books have issued a lovely budget paperback of Wilmer’s photos entitled ‘American Drummers 1959-1988’, which does exactly what it says […]
Book Review: Steely Dan (Every Album, Every Song) by Jez Rowden
The Steely Dan bibliography is relatively small – ‘Quantum Criminals’, Donald Fagen’s fine ‘Eminent Hipsters’ memoir, Don Breithaupt’s excellent study of Aja and ‘Steely Dan FAQ’ loom large, plus of course the rather good Expanding Dan site on Substack. But Jez Rowden’s ‘Steely Dan: Every Album, Every Song’ is a worthy addition, and completely different […]
Hejira @ The Exchange, 13 June 2024
Joni Mitchell’s complex compositions – utilising unique guitar tunings and dramatic melodic leaps – have at times posed problems for musicians and critics alike, especially during the period when she flirted with the ‘J’ word between 1974 and 1982, roughly from Court And Spark to Wild Things Run Fast. As such she may be the […]
Jason Rebello Quartet @ 606, 6 June 2024
There aren’t many British jazz pianists you can identify within two bars, but Jason Rebello is one. His bright touch and sparkling melodic sense are unmistakable. But which is your favourite Jason? As leader or co-leader, he’s recorded fusion, funky acid-jazz, straight-ish solo piano and Latin-tinged material, while as a sideman he’s worked with everyone […]
Billy Cobham @ 80: Best of the 1980s
Many happy returns to Mr Cobham who turned 80 this week. His drum mastery continues to be an inspiration. Soundsofsurprise pretty much learnt to play the drums by listening to Mr Cobham’s Spectrum, David Sanborn’s (RIP) Hideaway, Steely Dan’s Aja and a few more. His playing was sheer class, something to aim for. There was […]
Scott Henderson @ Ronnie Scott’s, 4 March 2024
Has there ever been a greater guitar soloist over one chord than Scott Henderson (with stiff competition John Scofield, Frank Gambale, Frank Zappa, John McLaughlin and a few more)? Give him 32 bars of G-minor and he’ll find any manner of exciting, propulsive, envelope-pushing angles, without ever resorting to jazz, blues or fusion clichés – […]
Rescued From The Vaults: Greg Osby’s Season Of Renewal (1989)
Of all the musical scenes that emerged during the 1980s, M-BASE – a Brooklyn-originated fusion of jazz and funk with many other influences thrown in – may be the least understood/remembered. The term was co-authored by saxophonists Greg Osby and Steve Coleman. The M stands for ‘Macro’, BASE is an acronym for ‘Basic Array of […]
Book Review: Ain’t But A Few Of Us (Black Music Writers Tell Their Story) edited by Willard Jenkins
In all my years as a jazz writer, web editor and record company executive, I’ve only had three Black colleagues. A lamentable state of affairs, but very common in the jazz world. The music’s innovators and performers have been African-American but the overwhelming majority of journalists, photographers and record executives continue to be white men. […]
Ron Carter @ Cadogan Hall, 17 November 2023
Ron Carter is reportedly the most-recorded acoustic bassist in music history and has a rich 65-year career as both sideman and bandleader, probably most famous for his key role in Miles Davis’s Second Great Quintet. But he has also recorded over 60 albums as a solo artist, and this rare London Jazz Festival concert showcased […]
Book Review: The Extraordinary Journey Of Jason Miles
Surprisingly few musical memoirs take the reader right into the recording studios of the 1980s and 1990s, documenting what actually went down during the making of some classic albums. In his enjoyable new book, Jason Miles – synth player/programmer for Miles Davis, Whitney Houston, Luther Vandross, Roberta Flack, David Sanborn, Diana Ross, George Benson, Will […]
Book Launch: John McLaughlin (From Miles and Mahavishnu to The 4th Dimension)
Matt’s new book ‘John McLaughlin: From Miles & Mahavishnu to The 4th Dimension’ is available now via the links below. Drawing on hundreds of sources and interviews with key collaborators, ‘From Miles and Mahavishnu to The 4th Dimension’ is the first major book about John McLaughlin since 2014 and the first ever to illuminate his […]
Rewind & Play: Thelonious Monk
It’s a great era for jazz documentaries. The latest exhibit is Alain Gomis’s ‘Rewind & Play: Thelonious Monk’, based around some long-lost footage of the jazz piano giant filming a French TV special at the end of his 1969 European tour. Some of the edited footage was shown on French TV as ‘Jazz Portraits: Thelonious […]
John McLaughlin/Shakti @ Hammersmith Odeon, 28 June 2023
Late July 1976: if you were a British jazz/rock fan, all roads led to the legendary Hammersmith Odeon in West London. The Billy Cobham/George Duke Band opened three nights of music, followed by John McLaughlin’s Shakti and then the headliners Weather Report. The encores often featured members of all three fusion supergroups. So how apt […]
Book Review: Formation (Building A Personal Canon Part One) by Brad Mehldau
There’s a history of controversial jazz autobiographies that would have to include Mezz Mezzrow’s ‘Really The Blues’, Charles Mingus’s ‘Beneath The Underdog’, Sidney Bechet’s ‘Treat It Gentle’, Billie Holiday’s ‘Lady Sings The Blues’, Dizzy Gillespie’s ‘Dizzy’ and Art Pepper’s ‘Straight Life’. It may be somewhat of a surprise to report that the apparently mild-mannered, urbane […]
Dan Wilson: Things Eternal
These days, jazz/rock generally dials up the ‘rock’ and dials down the ‘jazz’. But, on Ohio-based guitarist Dan Wilson’s fourth solo album Things Eternal, the balance is redressed. Harmony is king, promoted by the repertoire touching on Stevie Wonder (‘Smile Please’), Freddie Hubbard (‘Birdlike’), Herbie Hancock (‘Tell Me A Bedtime Story’), Michael Brecker (‘Pilgrimage’), McCoy […]
Sounds Of Surprise 