Soul legend Curtis Mayfield may not seem like the most obvious candidate for the jazz tribute album. Though his music occasionally used swinging rhythms and horn sections, his ingenious, self-imposed harmonic strictures (he composed on an electric guitar tuned to an F# chord) didn’t readily embrace jazz and blues songforms, rather leaning on gospel, Latin […]
He’s one of jazz’s most controversial and iconoclastic figures, a thoroughbred trumpet player with chops and opinions for miles; keeper of the pure jazz flame since his emergence as part of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers in 1980, guarding against Fusion, Nu-Jazz, Acid Jazz, Jazz/Funk, Avant-Garde Jazz and all post-1967 developments; an erudite educationalist, a natural, […]
The ECM label has always prided itself on the sonic detail of its recordings, but Lee Konitz’s Live At Birdland may be its most impressive technical achievement yet. Birdland is a very small jazz club in Midtown Manhattan, famous for its dry acoustics and intimate setting, yet a tantalising, almost ethereal gloss lingers around every […]
Soweto Kinch’s The New Emancipation, released on his own Soweto Kinch Recordings label, is a stunning album which fulfills all the promise this Birmingham-based saxophonist, composer and rapper showed early in his career. It distills blues work songs, classical motifs, spoken word, gospel, challenging modern jazz and wonky hip-hop into a thrilling, kaleidoscopic and totally […]
The 1970s were made for such an eclectic and open-eared musician as guitarist John McLaughlin. As blues, rock, free jazz, Eastern scales and psychedelia merged at the end of the previous decade, McLaughlin was perfectly placed to cash in with his distinctive brand of fusion and the world was ready to listen. Cutting his […]
What makes a jazz singer a jazz singer? It surely goes way beyond performing jazzy material and dressing in a suit. It must be about phrasing and ‘instrumental’ ability. Gregory Porter, Jose James and Milton Suggs are hitting their straps and there have been strong recent recordings from octogenarians Mark Murphy and Tony Bennett. But […]
Amy Winehouse will be remembered as the foremost songwriter of her generation, a gifted but troubled singer and composer whose music touched on jazz, soul, R’n’B and hip-hop. She emerged in the early 2000s when jazz was enjoying one of its frequent ‘comebacks’, and was seen by the mainstream media as part of the new […]
The Maltese are very proud of their jazz festival and with good reason; now in its 23rd year, the three-day event features some prime artists in a beautiful setting by the sea where the harbour lights twinkle, yachts are moored close by and kids sit on the cliffs high above. The acoustics are superb, the […]
With minimal bluster from MC and owner Steve Rubie, the treasured London jazz institution kicked off its 25th anniversary week with a real coup – a relatively rare UK visit from influential American guitarist, educator and players’ player Pat Martino. A contemporary of George Benson, John McLaughlin and Larry Coryell and a big influence on […]
Trumpeter, composer and educator Abram Wilson died on Saturday 9 June 2012 at the age of 38 after a short battle with cancer. Just 14 days ago, Abram posted a message on his website saying how much he was enjoying a UK tour with his quartet performing ‘Philippa’, a jazz theatre project based around the […]
An apposite Facebook comment in the run-up to fusion superband Tribal Tech’s first ever London gig suggested that guitarist Scott Henderson had now overtaken Jeff Beck as blues/jazz/rock’s go-to man. Certainly Henderson pushed his claim as one of the greats at Ronnie’s, but what really marks Tribal Tech out is that each of them is […]
It’s a sobering thought that bass master Jaco Pastorius would have turned 64 this December had he not tragically died in 1987. Whilst he has since been rightfully acknowledged as the Charlie Parker of electric bass, his compositions have arguably never really been given enough recognition, partly due to his ‘sideman’ roles with some of […]
Tenorist Patrick Clahar is an important though somewhat unsung figure on the Brit jazz landscape. He’s appeared on some of the key jazz and jazz/funk albums of the last 20 years including Incognito’s Tribes, Vibes and Scribes, Jason Rebello’s Keeping Time and Omar’s Music and he was also involved in incarnations of Bill Bruford’s Earthworks and The Jazz Warriors. Early indications suggested […]
Joe Morello‘s modest, bespectacled demeanour belied his role as the go-to man in the world-famous Dave Brubeck Quartet, the crisp thwack of his snare drum and relentless ride cymbal frequently lighting a fire under that most organised of ensembles. Aided by Teo Macero‘s widescreen production, his famous solo on ‘Take Five‘ was heard around the jazz world, a masterpiece of […]
Ray Bryant, the gifted gospel-tinged pianist whose work straddled many different jazz styles from Dixieland and hard bop to blues and R’n’B and enjoyed some chart success, has died aged 79. Whilst working as house pianist at the Blue Note club in his native Philadelphia in the ’50s, he played with an astonishing lineup of […]
Michael Garrick, the English pianist, composer, arranger and educator who has died aged 78, was an inspirational figure on the UK jazz scene. His big band work garnered comparisons with Duke Ellington and his piano playing featured in most of the major British jazz units of the ‘50s and ‘60s. He was a key member […]
George Benson has managed to sustain a hugely successful career for over 50 years. His guitar playing has married Charlie Christian and Wes Montgomery’s styles to spectacular effect while his vocals continue to combine the best of Stevie Wonder and Donny Hathaway. Almost critic-proof, he’s equally at home in the soundworlds of Miles Davis and […]
Hal Willner has become a sort of ‘Zelig’ figure in the music world over the last 30 years, an unassuming but important arranger, producer and musicologist who assembles wildly diverse groups of artists to appear on his Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus and Kurt Weill tribute albums. In Willner’s world, there’s nothing strange about Sun Ra, Cecil Taylor or Chuck D […]
Bass legend and mainman of pop/funk/fusion titans Level 42 for the last 30 years, Mark King has flirted with the J word intermittently throughout his career. Early on in their tenure, the band were seen as a kind of English Weather Report, marrying funky, rock-solid basslines and jazz/soul keyboards with danceable rhythms. But then King almost jumped ship […]
Once heard, the voice of Gil Scott-Heron was never forgotten. His rich baritone could break your heart with its tenderness on ‘Your Daddy Loves You’ or ‘Did You Hear What They Said’ or seduce with power and passion on ‘Lady Day and John Coltrane’ or ‘When You Are Who You Are’. His words also had huge range, […]
In the funk, soul or jazz world, reunions are a far less risky business than in the world of rock and pop. Generally the standard of musicianship is higher (the old saying that jazzers get better as they get older), the body of work less likely to date and the musical chops more willing. And […]
For a jazz player growing up in the 1970s, fusion, funk and rock were pretty unavoidable musical companions. A generation of British jazzers including drummer Jeremy Stacey looked to Herbie Hancock, Billy Cobham, The Crusaders, Weather Report, Return To Forever and even Parliament/Funkadelic for their jazz ‘standards’ almost as much as they did Miles, Mingus and Coltrane. Although in […]
It’s been said before, but you wait years for a great male jazz vocalist and then several come along all at once. Gregory Porter stands out, though – not just because of his strong, deceptively-simple singing style via Donny Hathaway and Nat King Cole, but also because of his insistence on writing his own quality […]
Here’s one out of left field. Despite his occasional flirtations with fusion, Nicholas Payton has hitherto been known as somewhat of a traditionalist, one of New Orleans’ best young straight-ahead trumpet players of the last 20 years or so. But now he’s produced the uncompromising Bitches, essentially a one-man-band concept album with special guest vocalists […]
Jazz has a long history of protest, from Max Roach‘s Dr King-inspired We Insist! Freedom Now Suite, through Charles Mingus‘s ‘Fables of Faubus‘, via the civil-right-affirming music of the Free Jazz movement. In 1969, legendary bassist (and major player on the Free scene with Ornette Coleman) Charlie Haden formed The Liberation Music Orchestra as a direct response to […]
The sturdy saxophonist plays a rapid, angular five-note motif and then takes the soprano out of his mouth as if immediately reflecting on what’s just transpired. It wasn’t a blues lick or a ‘jazz’ lick. It sounded possibly Eastern or African. Japanese? It’s probably best to classify it as a Wayne lick. As the bass player […]
The pupils of St Saviour’s C of E Primary in Little Venice, West London, were treated to an amazing 30-minute show at the local St Saviour’s Church by the legendary vibraphone player, singer and songwriter Roy Ayers. St Saviour’s Head Lindsey Woodford has long championed the importance of music in young people’s lives. She said before the show, ‘We […]
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, 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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 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 […]
Sounds Of Surprise 