Innehållsförteckning för April 2024 från Jazzwise

This year’s Cheltenham Jazz Festival, which runs from 1 to 6 May, features a programme of contrasting events at the Parabola Arts Centre (PAC) across a wide spectrum of cutting-edge sounds. Running for three days and nights from 3 May, things kick offwith pianist Sultan Stevenson and his Trio who play music from his well-received debut LP, Faithful One (Whirlwind Recordings). This is followed by a collaboration between the players of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra’s 18-piece ensemble who line up with UK pianist Nikki Yeoh on music that integrates an original poem as a central motif. Entitled 'Nucleus' (a new NYJO-commissioned piece) the music is dedicated and inspired by legendary British trumpeter Ian Carr, who was a close friend and mentor of Yeoh’s and whose legacy she celebrates here.…

The courage to seek out the new, and embrace change, is one of the fundamental elements of jazz: there is no fixed point and the work to evolve and develop as a player of this challenging music never stops. It’s why Shabaka Hutchings’ decision to put down the saxophone (for now) is a profound one, with the flute such a contrasting and refined instrument which requires a delicacy of technique that’s a different world from the lung-busting power of high-octane sax playing. It also speaks to an authentic approach to creativity – that’s not about producing ‘content’ or gaining ‘followers’ (who can now easily be bought to inflate an online profile) – and is genuinely risky. The resulting album, Perceive its Beauty, Acknowledge its Grace, will surprise many for its…

Nowadays, 'the Six' refers to Chelsea’s 606 Jazz Club on Lots Road, but in the mid-1960s before the 606 originally started at 606 King’s Road, the prime Chelsea jazz venue/pub was the Six Bells jazz club, also on King’s Road and sometimes called 'the Six'. Promoted each week by Jim Godbolt – a much-missed jazz everyman who started out managing George Webb’s Dixielanders in 1946, working with Humph, managing the unruly Mick Mulligan jazz band, before becoming a writer, electricity meter reader, editor of Jazz at Ronnie Scott’s (aka JARS) magazine and author of A History of Jazz in Britain 1919-1950 and 1950-70 – his booking policy unveiled the modernist trying to escape the bowler hat and waistcoat clutches of the trad scene, as exemplified by this April 1963 Melody…

It’s hardly surprising that, when she emerged in the mid-1940s, the record industry looked on Sarah Vaughan less as a Billie Holiday-like 'interpreter' but more a Lena Horne-style vehicle for selling pop-songs. Despite the promising early singles for small labels, when she was signed to majors like Columbia and then Mercury she was lumbered with all sorts of forgettable rubbish – ‘Broken Hearted Melody’ still comes up when you enter her name online. At Columbia, there were occasional jazz outings, a big-band ‘Perdido’ and a small-group session including Miles, but it wasn’t until Mercury started its specialist jazz label EmArcy that she recorded with just her regular trio. On 2 April 1954 (six days after her 30th birthday) they entered the studio to make Swingin’ Easy, a 10-inch LP of…

Despite a playing style once cruelly described in this magazine as “Adrian Cox’s foghorn clarinet”, the UK’s acclaimed jazz exponent of that instrument has now chosen to go uncharacteristically quiet. His new album is titled Clarinet Fantasy, and features a string quartet. Listening to it is a gorgeous but faintly unsettling experience: the tunes are dark and intimate, with a film noir quality to them, as if written to accompany Fred MacMurray on his way to another illicit rendezvous with Barbara Stanwyck. The impression of restrained power on these recordings, which were made at Gun Hill Studios in Sussex, has a lot to do with the fact that all the musicians were recorded in the same physical space. “When you see old photographs of Louis and Ella recording,” says Cox,…

In the early 1950s the New York jazz scene was in transition. The excitement surrounding the emergence of bebop around 1945 at the hands of its patron saints Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie was giving way to socio-economic reality. Bebop was unselfconsciously aimed at a listening audience, so had lost touch with the dancing public, a void rhythm and blues was filling. Magazines such as DownBeat and Metronome and trade magazines such as Billboard lamented the depressed state of the jazz business. Amid this gloom, East Coast audiences were taken aback by a series of recordings from America’s West Coast that sounded fresh and boldly self-assured. The East Coast jazz press was not happy. They constantly railed against ‘West Coast Jazz’, not for what it was – innovative, original and…

Bruford One of a Kind Winterfold Records/Cherry Red BBWF 004 (LP) Bill Bruford (d), Allan Holdsworth (g), Dave Stewart (ky) and Jeff Berlin (b). Rec. 1979 At what point does Jazz-Rock become Jazz-Rock Fusion or even that word dreaded by all jazz fans, Fusion? This album straddles all three, but in a way that does not imply sell-out, cop-out, or dumbing down. In other words, there comes a point where pigeonholing Bruford is not helpful since the integrity of the product on offer is powerful, accomplished, rock based electronic music that can be comfortably labelled ‘For Enjoyment Only.’ The band emerged in 1979 as a breakaway element of UK, formed in 1977 by bassist John Wetton and Bill Bruford, the former heartbeat of King Crimson. When Holdsworth and Bruford left…

Westbrook, Jazz’s Renaissance Man Just a quick letter to let you know how much I enjoyed Mike Westbrook’s beautiful tribute to Duke Ellington in your February issue. I’m too young to have seen the Duke’s orchestra in the flesh but Mike’s piece gave a flavour of what it was like to have done so – and his love for Ellington’s music shone through. A career as a writer of prose, as well as of great music, beckons perhaps? Gabriella Vincenza, Vienna, via email Twilight of the gods beckons? I really enjoyed reading Stuart Nicholson’s interview with Charles Lloyd (and the contributions from Dorothy Darr were very interesting, and most welcome) in Jazzwise 293. I’ve seen Charles live many times over the years, and his energy for a man in his…

The Jazz in Britain label has announced the first two releases on its new music imprint, Jazz Now. These come in the form of improv sax veteran Trevor Watts’ acclaimed Eternal Triangle trio (which also features percussionist Jamie Harris and pianist Veryan Weston) whose album Gravity is released on 29 March. This is followed by Kevin Figes’ new sextet’s debut release, You Are Here, which is issued on 12 April. The set features Figes’ new arrangements of five pieces by Keith Tippett, plus compositions by Elton Dean, Harry Miller, Dudu Pukwana and others, in “a loving tribute to friends, mentors and collaborators no longer with us”. www.jazznow.bandcamp.com…

NAME: Olivia Cuttill INSTRUMENT: Trumpet EXPERIENCE AND INFLUENCES: Raised in East London, Olivia Cuttill started playing music at a very young age, getting drum lessons from her father. At 10 she started playing trumpet, by 16 she was exploring jazz music and from that moment on, that was it… Today Olivia can be heard playing across the UK with her own Quintet, as well as being a member of Mangorata, Ferg’s Imaginary Big Band and Sunkissed Child. She’s also opened for Nubya Garcia, Theon Cross, corto.alto and Roberto Fonseca, and recently released her new album The Whole Damn Plan. THIS FUTURE MOVER SAYS: “I’ve always felt like playing music was never a choice for me, it was just something I’ve always loved and always knew I wanted to do, no…

The guitarist explains how he selected the albums he can’t live without: “I want to preface this by saying there are so many more albums, but I picked five that have kind of orbited everything I've loved musically and creatively for so long that I'd be remiss if I didn't start with these!” 1. Undercurrent (1962) by Jim Hall and Bill Evans “Undercurrent is a duo record with Jim and Bill and was probably the most played record in our household when I was starting out as a guitar player at eight or nine years old. The record is just completely sublime. They're playing originals, some standards, and it’s not a terribly long record. But one of the many stunning attributes of Undercurrent is really the interaction. It feels like…

A large, chameleonic country stretching out across 3.5 million square miles, Brazil has a dizzying array of music drawn from African, Amerindian and European ancestries. As one might expect, there is an abundance of instruments to bring to life the countless rhythms and melodies that have been created over centuries. The North East state of Pernambuco, which Shabaka Hutchings is currently visiting, is a case in point. He has travelled to its capital city Recife for good reason. He is on a mission to listen. “In this region, there’s a lot of flute being played,” says Hutchings, appearing on an iPhone screen with his short dreads, round glasses and green t-shirt bathed in the kind of light rarely seen in Britain in early February. “So it’s important for me, in…

Dave Brubeck Quartet Jazz At Oberlin OJC/Craft Recordings CR00612 (LP, DL) Dave Brubeck (p), Paul Desmond (as), Ron Crotty (b) and Lloyd David (d). Rec. 2 March 1953 Bill Evans Trio Sunday At The Village Vanguard OJC/Craft Recordings CR00609 (LP, DL) Bill Evans (p), Scott LaFaro (b) and Paul Motian (d). Rec. 25 June 1961 Tommy Flanagan The Cats OJC/Craft Recordings CR00614 (LP, DL) Tommy Flanagan (p), John Coltrane (ts), Idrees Sulieman (t), Kenny Burrell (g), Doug Atkins (b) and Louis Hayes (d). Rec. 18 April 1957 Three more releases in Craft’s ongoing OJC reissue series, all presented in stunning stereo sound and cut in an all-analogue chain by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and all worthy of consideration (hi-res downloads are also available for those without turntables).…

When I was about 16, I heard John Coltrane for the first time,” says Riley, “and it really grabbed me instantly, and I completely fell in love with the freedom of jazz and improvised music.” Riley Stone-Lonergan grew up in Galway, Ireland into a family steeped in traditional Irish music: “My sister and a lot of my Lonergan cousins are wonderful traditional Irish musicians. We get together once a year in Tipperary, and it’s always a great time. My dad played guitar and wrote and sang his own songs, while my mum also sings and has recently joined a choir.” Riley remembers his early introduction to the world of music: “My first instrument was guitar. My dad used to take me to lessons when I was very young, maybe age…

All listings are run free but due to space restrictions cannot be guaranteed to appear – expanded gig listings can be found at www.jazzwise.com/gig-guide MONDAY 1-3 Scott Hamilton Quartet Pizza Express Jazz Club, 10 Dean Street, London W1 1-4 The Necks Cafe OTO, 18-22 Ashwin Street, London E8 1 Adrian Cox Ronnie Scott's, 47 Frith Street, London W1 1 Sophie Alloway 606 Club, 90 Lots Road, London SW10 TUESDAY 2 James Taylor Quartet with Orchestra Barbican, Silk Street, London EC2 2 Leon Greening Trio Watermill Jazz, Betchworth Park Golf Club, Dorking 2 Big Band Metheny Ronnie Scott's, 47 Frith Street, London W1 2 Ray Butcher 606 Club, 90 Lots Road, London SW10 2 Calum Gourlay Quintet East Side Jazz Club, 2 Harvey Road, Leytonstone, London E11 WEDNESDAY 3 Liam Noble…

Camden’s historic Roundhouse has announced the full line-up for this year’s In the Round festival, which runs from 18 to 27 April. The Songs of Joni Mitchell show featuring Emeli Sandé, Eska, Kate Stables, Lail Arad, Sam Amidon, Vashti Bunyan, and hosted by Cerys Matthews opens the series of events on 18 April. Several key jazz names are among the varied lineup, with Ezra Collective’s keyboardist Joe Armon-Jones playing tunes from his album, Turn to Clear View (21 April). Also appearing will be US saxophonist/Matana Roberts in a collaboration with writer/performance artist Lonnie Holley (26 April). And, as previously revealed in Jazzwise, triple Grammy Award winning singer Samara Joy closes out the festival with an in-the-round show on 27 April. Further artists appearing are: Tirzah (19 Apr); Vashti Bunyan (20…

It’s a cold, dismal and rainy day in February. As I trudge from the railway station towards my destination, I have little idea just how interesting this day is about to get. Sheela Berry (pictured right, with a Blue Note classic) answers the door of the large, rambling house and I enter. As she makes me a welcome cup of tea in the kitchen, she explains this is where she grew up, and where her widowed mother still lives. In order that her mum can downsize to somewhere a little smaller, Sheela has to sell her late father’s record collection. However, this is no ordinary collection – for starters, it’s vast (we’ll come to that in a moment); and is a huge treasure trove, whose historical value is incalculable. This…

Melissa Aldana Echoes of the Inner Prophet Blue Note BLUN 143678 (CD, LP, DL) EDITOR’S CHOICE Melissa Aldana (ts), Lage Lund (g, effects), Fabian Almazan (p, effects), Pablo Menares (b) and Kush Abadey (d). Rec. date not stated The Manhattan-based Chile-born tenor saxophonist-composer Melissa Aldana’s star has been in the ascendant for about a decade now. In 2013 she won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone award; more recently she’s hit a career high with last year’s Grammy-nominated Blue Note debut 12 Stars. Her engagingly probing, reflective brand of sax-jazz and thoughtfully crafted compositions have been evolving since the very promising Visions in 2019. So too her quintet formed in 2017 that seems to have a close chemistry and firm grasp of the material on her sophomore Blue Note release…

John McLaughlin: From Miles and Mahavishnu to The 4th Dimension Matt Phillips Rowman & Littlefield HB £30 The giveaway’s in the title. Phillips very much explores the guitar hero’s career from his arrival in the States and his catapulting into Miles’ break-through, rock-centric albums. Of course, there are references, if cursory, about his upbringing. And many would like to know more about his time on the blues and R&B scene in Britain through the 1960s. But there’s nothing that give us a sense of the excitement of that scene or why the likes of Tony Williams and Miles wanted to a get a slice of their own of that explosive sound. For that you’d have to go to Colin Harper’s Bathed in Lightning. So, the book, worthily so, is essentially…

BBC RADIO 2 88-91 FM and DAB Jamie Cullum show (Tues, 9pm) BBC RADIO 3 90-93 FM and DAB 'Round Midnight (Mon-Fri 11.30pm) Jazz Record Requests (Sun, 4pm) BBC RADIO 6 MUSIC DAB Gilles Peterson, Sat 3pm JAZZ FM DAB, Sky, Alexa, smartphone, tablet and online at jazzfm.com (Mon – Fri) 6am-6.30am Business Breakfast, 6.30am-10am Jazz FM Breakfast with Nigel Williams, 10am-2pm Midmornings with Danielle Perry, 2pm-6pm Afternoon drive with Simon Philips, 6pm-7pm Jazz FM’s Greatest with Mark Walker, 7pm-9pm Dinner Jazz with Mark Walker. (Mon) 9pm-10pm The Performance Series with Ruth Fisher, 10pm-Midnight Late Night China Moses. (Tues) 9pm-10pm Jazz Travels with Sarah Ward, 10pm-Midnight Late Night China Moses. (Weds). 9pm-10pm The Big Easy with Lil’ Koko. 10pm-Midnight Late Night China Moses. (Thurs) 9pm-10pm True Brit with Helen Mayhew.…