Tag Archives: dennischambers
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Steve Khan on producing Biréli Lagrène’s Inferno and Foreign Affairs
Blue Note’s mid-’80s resurgence was driven by shrewd management of its established stars and also a willingness to expand into various fusions. Some projects of the era have dated well, others not so well, but Biréli Lagrène’s debut Inferno (1987) and follow-up Foreign Affairs (1988) were successes. It’s fair to say that many excellent jazz […]
John McLaughlin & The 4th Dimension @ Barbican, 23 April 2019
If this was John’s final London gig, what a way to go out. Though the audience’s response was at times reverential and/or strangely undemonstrative, the outpouring of emotion at the conclusion was heartfelt and seemed to come as quite a shock to the performers too. It’s hard to think of another ‘jazz’ band which has […]
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, […]
Sounds Of Surprise 