Tabla de contenidos para September 2024 en Jazzwise

1 Both Sides Now by Joni Mitchell (2000) “Both Sides Now is my absolute favorite of all time! Joni Mitchell's voice paired with Vince Mendoza's beautiful arrangements is simply magical. Whenever I return to listen to this album, I discover new charms in the orchestration, and Joni's personal and warm sound never fails to melt my heart.” 2 Concert in the Garden by Maria Schneider Orchestra (2004) “This album ignited my love for jazz orchestra. It transports me to the alleys near Berklee College of Music, where I am enraptured by its enchanting sound. The colourful counterpoint lines dance with each other, and when the big full ensemble swells, it brings tears to my eyes.” 3 Lickety Split: Music of Jim McNeely by The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra (1997) “I moved…

Up-and-coming trumpeter Charlotte Keeffe has been confirmed as Lancaster Jazz Festival’s Artist in Residence and will be leading a ‘Creative Freedom For All Workshop’ on 14 September. Her RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW Quartet will also perform at the festival on 15 September. This is part of a hectic autumn for the trumpeter, who also heads back to the studio with the band to record their second album this autumn – the line-up featuring bassist Ashley John Long, drummer Ben Handysides and guitarist Moss Freed. Keeffe is also working on releasing the band’s live recordings from their recent Cafe OTO gigs and a duo project with bassist Long. She keeps up the pace in November, playing in Austria in Graz and Vienna as part of the Wien Contemporary Music Festival before…

Swiss pianist-composer-activist Irene Schweizer, who has died at the age of 83 following a long illness, was an inspirational figure on the European jazz scene. Hugely admired for her excellent musicianship, she was also a dynamic agent of change who co-founded the leading independent record label Intakt, which champions experimental, adventurous artists from around the world. Her life long commitment to musical freedom stood in parallel to her strong advocacy of the rights of women and LGBT communities. Schweizer’s sense of humanity chimed with her virtuosity. And at the keyboard she was an absolutely formidable presence. Part of the generation of post-Cecil Taylor players Schweizer had an ear for the most rhapsodic and eeriest of phrases, as well as a startlingly strong rhythmic drive, full of joyous dance implications, that…

There’s probably a better time to be a Netherlands-native living in London than when I speak to the young saxophonist-composer Kasper Rietkerk. It’s the eve of his home nation facing England in the Euro semis and as a football fan, Rietkerk says, he’s thinking about avoiding any problems by wearing something other than his usual orange colours while watching the game in the local pub. But we’re here today to speak about another passion of his that’s also marked by its cohesive teamwork: the art of jazz. It’s the reason he moved to London in the first place, having joined the postgraduate course at the Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in 2022. “I think it was more for the scene than the course, and the city was appealing to me,”…

Big band energy with bespoke London edge. Orchestral string arrangements vying and blending with bebop, soul, grime and R&B. The upright bass, this composer’s instrument of choice, addressing both harmony and rhythm, supporting and interacting while determining direction, grounding then elevating the music. A cinematic soundscape that celebrates the diversity of the UK jazz scene while taking it to exciting new places, this is Balance - the second album by the award-winning Daniel Casimir. “I wanted to pay homage to the traditions of big band composition and its historical significance, but I also wanted it to have a contemporary vibe,” says Casimir, 34, of an album featuring some 26 musicians and released on the Jazz re:freshed label. “I personally find [the category] ‘UK jazz’ really liberating – because it’s so…

Matthew Ottignon Volant Earshift EAR090 (CD, DL) Matthew Ottignon (as, ts, bs), Lauren Tsamouras (p), Hannah James (b) and Holly Conner (d). Rec. 13 July 2023 Open Thread Open Thread Earshift EAR094 (CD, DL) Peggy Lee (clo), Julien Wilson (ts), Theo Carbo (g) and Dylan van der Schyff (d, bells, bowls). Rec. September 2023 Koi Kingdom A Tale of Transformation and Resilience Earshift EAR091 (CD, DL) Cheryl Durongpisitkul (as, v), Stephen Hornby (b, v) and Marcos Villalta (g, v). Rec. August 2023 If, at times, the Earshift label has (on some titles at least) erred towards the weird, the occasionally wonderful and the exotic in its desire to establish Oz jazz as 'different', a more settled aesthetic has descended in the last 18 months. Barely discernible at first, I grant…

MARK Edition Records EDNCD/LP1245 (LP, CD, DL) Mark Guiliana (d, cym, perc, p, vb, mar, celeste, pump org, mellophone, syn, elec, drum prog, spoken word). Rec. date not stated You can’t get much more contemporary than the singular drummer-composer Mark Guiliana. Yet he often seems contrary in his musical choices over the past decade, seesawing between religiously ‘live’ classic acoustic jazz-settings – albeit with sonic sensibilities centred on studio-music – and the improv-meets-electronic art-pop of his BEAT Music project. The new album titled MARK is a kind of DIY home-studio version of the latter, a release that adds to Guiliana’s fast-growing discography on the UK’s Edition label. This time though, as the title seems to imply, he’s doing it all on his own using a small armoury of keyboards and…

No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin Blue Note 6521505 (CD, 2 LP, DL) EDITOR’S CHOICE Meshell Ndegeocello (el b, v), Justin Hicks, Kenita Miller, Staceyann Chin, Hilton Als (v), Chris Bruce (g), Jebin Bruni (ky), Julius Rodriguez (org), Jake Sherman (el b), Josh Johnson (s) and Abe Rounds (d). Rec. date not stated Marking the centenary of James Baldwin’s birth, Meshell Ndegeocello’s latest album for Blue Note, following 2023’s stellar Omnichord Real Book, takes the visionary black writer’s oeuvre as her inspiration. Across a sprawling 17 tracks, Ndegeocello draws on everything from Baldwin’s writings on race and the class struggle in America to suicide, sexual identity, Civil Rights and the artist’s responsibility to society. It is an involved and potentially overwhelming range of topics to improvise from, yet…

Gary Burton New Vibe Man in Town/Who Is Gary Burton?/Gary Burton Quartet in Concert BGO Records BGOCD1519 (2 CD) RECOMMENDED Gary Burton (vb) with various groups including Clark Terry (t), Bob Brookmeyer (vtb), Phil Woods (as), Tommy Flanagan (p), Larry Coryell (g), Gene Cherico, John Neves, Steve Swallow (b), Joe Morello and Bob Moses (d). Rec. 1961, 1962, 1968 The first two albums, New Vibe Man and Who Is…? last appeared on CD back in 2014 on the él/Cherry Red Records album compilation Gary Burton/Conception, the label subsequently putting out Gary Burton Quartet In Concert in 2016. So, after a respectful pause, BGO’s compilation arrives, revealing the former child prodigy’s emergence as a virtuoso performer who would successfully bridge the divide between jazz and rock at least three years before…

Bill Evans: Sunday at the Village Vanguard/ Waltz For Debby (Riverside 1961/1962) The ones against which all other trio jazz albums are to be judged. So much has been written about these albums (which should really be taken as a single entity, despite the fact that they were released six months apart), both recorded live at the famous Village Vanguard in New York on 25 June 1961. What’s almost as remarkable as the music Evans, LaFaro and Motian created that day is the quality of the recordings producer Orrin Keepnews and his engineer(s) managed to get in this tiny club. I’ve never been to the Vanguard but I’m reliably informed by those who have, that the club sounds like these records. Get them: Outside of grey market/public domain reissues, it’s…

Write in to us here at Letters Dept, Jazzwise Magazine, St Jude’s Church, Dulwich Road, London SE24 0PB or email letters@jazzwise.com Thanks from a jazz newbie! Possibly it’s settling into my fifties that has brought about certain new interests, like single malt whiskies, decent shoes and jazz (I mean, I’ve had a copy of Kind of Blue for over 20 years, but that hardly counts, does it?) So, earnestly clutching a Spotify subscription and copy of The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings I dived right in… But, my word, there’s a lot to go at, isn’t there? So, thank you, Jazzwise, for your monthly guiding hand. Another new, or rather renewed, interest is buying music on vinyl (although last time I was buying LPs they cost about a fiver!) I…

With the airwaves currently filled with the news of certain elderly political leaders are stepping aside to let a younger candidate take their place, by sharp contrast the number of years served at the coalface of jazz are celebrated, rather than scorned. This year has seen numerous anniversaries coming around, be it Blue Note’s 85th, or Billy Cobham’s ninth decade; these milestones instil hope rather than hopelessness – and serve as a reminder that for all its high and lows, music is a remarkably consistent tonic for the soul regardless of one’s age. Thus John Surman’s 80th on 30 August is a chance to reflect on his profoundly productive career to date, which began when, as a schoolboy in 1962 in his birthplace of Tavistock, Devon, he joined a band…

Grammy Award winning singer Kurt Elling will join forces with the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra (SNJO) for a series of concerts across Scotland from 26 to 29 September. A longtime friend and collaborator with the SNJO, Chicago-born Elling has chosen music by some of the greatest and most popular songwriters and composers of the past 70 years for his latest visit to Scotland. The repertoire will feature classics by Duke Ellington, Count Basie and John Coltrane; show tunes by Rogers & Hart are represented, alongside songs by The Police and Joe Jackson, whose 1982 transatlantic hit, ‘Steppin’ Out’ gives these concerts their name. Commenting on their latest project with Elling, SNJO artistic director Tommy Smith says: “Kurt is a phenomenon. Since 2012 he has collaborated with us on a series…

The Rye International Jazz & Blues Festival returns to the historic town of Rye, East Sussex and presents its 12th edition across the Bank Holiday weekend from Thursday 22 to Monday 26 August. Afternoon and evening concerts take place at St Mary’s church and include a Friday night headline show from celebrated American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter Eric Bibb and his full band (23 August). The following day features an afternoon show from saxophonist/composer Camilla George and band, followed by an evening headline show with Tunde Baiyewu, the vocalist/songwriter and former lead singer of the Lighthouse Family (24 Aug). Sunday 25 Aug offers a rare chance to hear Jamaican jazz piano legend Monty Alexander when he performs with his trio, and there’s an evening show from Jazz FM Award…

Sam Braysher That’s Him: The Music of Kurt Weill Self-release/Bandcamp (CD, DL) Sam Braysher (as), Matyas Gayer (p), Dario Di Lecce (b), Steve Brown (d) and Sara Dowling (v). Rec. 10-11 May 2023 This third album from London-based alto saxist Sam Braysher pays tribute to Kurt Weill by deftly navigating the composer’s lesser-known works. From swinging jazz interpretations to contemplative pieces, Braysher showcases Weill’s range, from his earlier European classical influences to his later Broadway successes. The album opens with ‘Here I’ll Stay’ from Weill’s penultimate stage work, Love Life, often hailed as the first concept musical. Braysher’s imaginative take on this classic ballad sets the tone, his warm playing emphasising Weill’s melodic genius. Featuring the supremely gifted vocalist Sara Dowling, the album includes three songs, beginning with ‘What Good…

Alone Smoke Session Records SSR-2405 (CD, LP, DL) EDITOR’S CHOICE Wayne Escoffery (ts), Gerald Clayton (p), Ron Carter (b) and Carl Allen (d). Rec. date not stated The 49-year-old Jackie McLean-mentored tenor saxophonist Wayne Escoffery has high-pedigree recordings and live work under his belt, including lengthy stints with the veteran trumpeter Tom Harrell and Mingus Big Band. Escoffery was born in London, but moved to East Coast America when only 11 years old, and since 2001 has recorded his own albums as leader in the modernist mainstream vein. He is a deceptively inventive horn man of depth and intensity despite the genial, unhurried surface sound of his playing. Even when in full flow, his succinct, incisive phrasing is laid out logically and eloquently. There’s never an intention of showing off…

Artform Revisited Savant SCD 2218 (CD, DL) Louis Hayes (d), Abraham Burton (ts), Steve Nelson (vb), David Hazeltine (p) and Dezron Douglas (b). Rec. 25 January 2024 This group’s earlier Savant release was reviewed favourably in Jazzwise 286 and rightly so. This time, as the album title implies, it’s a case of looking afresh at some bebop anthems or ‘revisiting my influences’ in veteran drummer Hayes’ words. Opening with Gillespie’s ‘Tour De Force’ works a treat, the tenor and vibes voicing crisp and pertinent, Hayes driving without ever over-playing, each man on the lookout for good things to say. ‘Milestones’ and ‘My Little Suede Shoes’ offer no hazards, Hazeltine in boppish mode, the group handling these clever structures with compelling ease. Parker’s ’Cheryl’ is similarly intricate, Nelson relishing the changes,…

Tarbaby You Think This America Giant Step Arts (DL) EDITOR’S CHOICE Nasheet Waits (d), Orrin Evans (p), Eric Revis (b). Rec. August 2022 Nasheet Waits New York Love Letter (Bitter Sweet) Giant Step Arts (DL) Nasheet Waits (d), Mark Turner (ts), Steve Nelson (vib) and Rashaan Carter (b). Rec. May 2021, March 2022 The 53 year-old New York drummer Nasheet Waits (raised by a famous percussionist father, Freddie Waits, and mentored by Max Roach) has been making himself an indispensable presence at the cutting-edge of American jazz since the turn of the millennium. He has led his own Tarbaby trio since the 1990s (the name comes from the 19th century Uncle Remus collection of African-American folktales), and contributed to a raft of classy recordings by high-calibre leaders of many persuasions,…

Unissued Session: Copenhagen 1977 Steeplechase SCCD 31960 (CD) Stan Getz (ts), JoAnne Brackeen (p, el p), Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (b) and Billy Hart (d). Rec. January 1977 While Stan Getz was in Denmark at the start of 1977, he recorded two live albums’ worth of material at the Club Montmartre, with the line-up included here (in which NHØP replaced the touring quartet’s regular bassist Mike Richmond). But while the band was in town, Steeplechase producer Nils Winther also took them into a studio to make a rather different set of recordings. There was not quite enough for an album, so the material has lain unissued for the best part of half a century. But now it’s finally available, with alternate takes (and some pieces from Montmartre) making up the numbers,…

Santos Martinez Raymond Burley Signature Santos Martinez has teamed up with the highly respected classical guitarist Raymond Burley for its latest offering. Modelled on the traditional instrument, it features a class A German spruce soundboard, with Indian rosewood back and sides lined with maple and rosewood binding. The neck is mahogany, while the rosewood fretboard with its 19 well finished frets is topped with a 52mm bone nut. Beyond is a finely carved headstock bearing the SM insignia with a maple inlay and fitted with gold plated machines and white buttons. Down at the sharp end beyond the attractive multi-coloured rosette is a standard rosewood (we believe) tie bridge carrying a bone saddle. Inexplicably (from our point of view), there are two strap buttons, one to the Spanish heel and…

Rosie Hanley previews the must-see gigs and concerts. Send future listings to roseanne.hanley@gmail.com Listings are free, but due to space restrictions cannot be guaranteed to appear – expanded gig listings can be found at www.jazzwise.com/gig-guide. To advertise your event, contact Ros McRae on ros@jazzwise.com SUNDAY 1 Simon Paterson, Thom Whitworth, Paul Deats and Stevie Smith Peggy’s Skylight, 3 George Street, Nottingham 1 Binker Golding, John Edwards and Steve Noble Cafe OTO, 18-22 Ashwin Street, London E8 1 The Simon Spillett Big Band Pizza Express Jazz Club, 10 Dean Street, London W1 1 Smokin’ Spitfires Cluny, Lime Street, Newcastle upon Tyne 1 Modern Vikings Globe, Railway Street, Newcastle upon Tyne 1 Charlie Wood and Robin Aspland (evening), Pisco Sour (lunchtime) 606 Club, 90 Lots Road, London SW10 MONDAY 2 Sophie Alloway…

Nala Sinephro, the Caribbean-Belgian harp player and composer now based in London, has announced that her much-anticipated new album, Endlessness, will be released on 6 September by Warp Records digitally, as well as on vinyl and CD. Described as "a deep dive into the cycle of existence", the 45-minute album spans 10 tracks with a continuous arpeggio playing throughout. Following Sinephro’s critically-acclaimed 2021 debut album Space 1.8, Endlessness combines jazz, orchestral, and electronic music. Very much a one-woman show, Endlessness was composed, produced, arranged, and engineered by Sinephro. However, a 'who's who' of contemporary UK jazz figures also perform on the album: Sheila Maurice-Grey, Morgan Simpson, James Mollison, Lyle Barton, Nubya Garcia, Natcyet Wakili, and Dwayne Kilvington all feature. They are joined by Orchestrate’s 21 string players. Sinephro will perform…

NAME: Dan Coulthurst INSTRUMENT: Trumpet and Spoken Word EXPERIENCE AND INFLUENCES: "I started playing the trumpet aged seven. I had a lot of restless energy as a child so I guess my mum thought it would be a good idea to channel that energy somewhere! Musical highlights so far include playing with China Moses, Blue Lab Beats, Hermeto Pascoal and Jean Toussaint. I also released my debut album Babyteeth in April of this year on Ubuntu Music label, and am currently working towards my second album What Is To Be Done? which is scheduled for release in June 2025." THIS FUTURE MOVER SAYS: “There is immense power in music and I can honestly say that jazz has saved my life on multiple occasions, and so before any performance I am…

June saw the Royal Academy of Music’s Jazz Department collaborate with the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music for a special recording of late jazz trumpet legend Kenny Wheeler’s Lost Scores. performing rarely-heard works from Wheeler’s formative years and then recording them at Abbey Road Studios in London. Initiated as part of a research endeavour by trumpeter Nick Smart, the Academy’s Head of Jazz, the project has seen the resurrection of many of Wheeler’s lesser-known works that were broadcast as BBC sessions in the 1970s. The original manuscripts were obtained by the Academy in 2012, and the process of archiving and cataloguing them was undertaken by Smart and Adam Taylor, the Academy’s Librarian. Much of this music was not released on Wheeler’s later albums and has seldom been heard…

Phoenix Reimagined (Live) Ropeadope RMBT 750.2 (CD, DL) EDITOR’S CHOICE Lakecia Benjamin (as), Zaccai Curtis (p), Elias Bailey (b), EJ Strickland (d) with guests John Scofield, Kat Dyson (el g), Randy Brecker (t), Jeff 'Tain' Watts (d), Richie Goods (b), Ray Angry (p) and Melodie Ray (v). Rec. date not stated I’ve always enjoyed Lakecia Benjamin’s studio recordings (2020’s remarkable Pursuance especially), but for me it’s in the live setting where she really shines, be it at a big festival or the more intimate spaces of Ronnie Scott's or the Jazz Café. So the idea of recording the maestra live in the studio (at New York’s Bunker, a superb space of which Brad Mehldau is an alumnus), in front of a small but enthusiastic audience and with a bunch of…

Eliane Elias Time And Again Candid CD/LPCND33421 (CD, LP, DL) EDITOR’S CHOICE Eliane Elias (v, p) plus various personnel including Conrado Goys, Marcus Teixeira, Daniel Santiago, Bill Frisell (g), Djavan (g, v), Mark Kibble (v), Mike Maineri (vb), Marc Johnson (b), Marcelo Mariano (el b), Edu Ribeiro, Peter Erskine, Cuca Teixeira (d), Davi Vieira and Marivaldo Dos Santos (perc). Rec. date not stated If Eliane Elias’ remarkable 2021 album of duets with Chucho Valdés and Chick Corea, Mirror Mirror, focused on her dazzling pianism, and her 2023 album Quietude highlighted her characteristically understated vocal approach where bar lines dissolve away, her latest album Time And Again beautifully showcases her skills as pianist, vocalist, and composer. From the gorgeous changes of album opener ‘At First Sight’ to the deep sense of…

Future Forecast FLOKI Studios 111 (CD, LP, DL) Jakob Magnusson (aka Jack Magnet), Eythor Gunnarsson (ky), Phil Doyle, Joel Palsson (s), Ari Bragi Karason (t, flhn), Gudmundur Petursson (g), Thorleifur Gaukur Davíðsson (hca), Matthew Garrison (b), Peter Erskine (d), Siggi Baldursson, Einar Scheving (d, perc), Ragga Gisla, DISA and Egil Olafssonl (v). Rec. Autumn 2022 You really want to like this album. After all, there are foremost fusioneers on board, like Peter Erskine (Weather Report) and Matthew Garrison (Joe Zawinul’s Syndicate); and it’s mastered by the master Scott Kinsey. The concept’s interesting too, with Magnusson setting up free sessions with Erskine et al alongside a gamut of Icelandic musicians, some recruited from the Sugarcubes (and what a coup it would have been to bring in Bjork herself, but alas, it…

Martin Archer & Walt Shaw Biyartabiyu Discus Music Here Archer plays no fewer than five saxes (alto, sopranino, tenor, baritone and saxello), with Shaw offering support on drums. Jagged, abstract and angular, it's challenging but also exciting. (KW) Matthew Bourne Harpischords Discus Music If you like unusual combinations of instruments, you'll love this: three harpsichords (Bourne plus Glen Leach and Nika Ticciati) meld with Mark Slater and Adam Martin (aka Nightports) on live processing and electronics. It sounds like nothing else you've heard – in the best possible way of course. (KW) Isrea Butler Congo Lament Vegas Records Butler, lead trombonist of the Count Basie Orchestra, pays tribute to his heroes JJ Johnson and Bennie Green on this likeable album, his debut as a leader. He’s joined by fellow Basie…

Wayne Shorter Celebration Vol. 1 Blue Note 6535069 (CD, 2 LP, DL) RECOMMENDED Wayne Shorter (ts, ss), Danilo Pérez (p), John Patitucci (b) and Brian Blade (d). Rec. 2014 It’s something of a cliché that jazz is ‘different every time’, but in the case of this quartet, it was abundantly true. Having heard them live many times in their long life, even when Shorter’s familiar songs emerged, they tended to creep up on the audience unexpectedly, while listeners were being kept spellbound by the inexhaustible well of creativity of these four players improvising together. They weave just such a spell from the very first piece here, where Patitucci and Pérez set up an atmosphere that pervades all of ‘Zero Gravity to the 15th Dimension’, their piano figures and delicate pizzicato…

The Black Chord David Corio with Vivien Goldman Hat & Beard Press HB £40.99 David Corio has long marked himself as one of the world’s foremost music photographers: recently his striking shots have featured in both the V&A’s Divas and the British Library’s Beyond the Bassline: 500 Years of Black British Music exhibitions. Corio prefers to shoot in black and white (both informal portraits and the high drama of concert performance), and he has followed his mentor, fellow photographer Val Wilmer, in focusing largely on black musicians. The Black Chord was originally published in 1999 and this reprint is welcomed, published as it is on very high quality paper and consisting of over two hundred photos. It covers black musicians from across the world – Africa, the Caribbean, Britain and,…