Table of contents for December 2021 - January 2022 in Jazzwise

For the latest breaking news visit www.jazzwise.com Jazzwise magazine is set to mark its quartercentury anniversary with a week-long festival at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, London from 21 to 27 March 2022. The week will kick off with an exclusive collaboration between Grammy-winning pianist Bill Laurance (above, right) and the Royal Academy Big Band, who will perform two shows of new arrangements of Laurance’s music on Monday 21 March 2022. Following this is acclaimed vocalist Claire Martin (above left) and her European Quartet (22 March); the Mercury Prize-nominated SEED Ensemble, led by saxophonist Cassie Kinoshi (24 March, right) and internationally-renowned saxophonist Courtney Pine (above centre) who will be performing a special show Journey to the Urge Within and Beyond… revisiting his celebrated 1986 Island Records album and other music from…

On sale from 6 January, Jazzwise presents The 100 Jazz Albums That Shook the World, an exclusive, premium quality 100-page definitive ‘book-style’ guide to the most important and influential jazz albums that have gone on to change and shape the course of the music from the 1920s to the present day. Edited and conceived by Jazzwise’s editor-in-chief Jon Newey, this limited edition, print-only publication is the first time a fully annotated top 100 jazz album countdown from 100 to No.1 has been published in book form. It features newly commissioned, authoritative editorial on each album from Jazzwise’s award-winning team of writers, in-depth features on the making of the top three albums, a look at the albums that almost made the cut and a guide to buying the featured titles, whether…

Four-time Grammy Award-winning vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant is set to make her debut on the Nonesuch label, with new album Ghost Song on 4 March 2022. It’s her first new recording since 2018’s The Window, on Mack Avenue. Receiving much acclaim for her invigorating virtuosic readings of traditional early jazz songs, Salvant steps beyond conventional jazz instrumentation, sonically and stylistically, with a haunting mix of originals and interpretations on the themes of ghosts, nostalgia, and yearning. Early listens confirm the vocalist exploring a wide range of styles, from soulful Americana evoked via guitar, banjo and mandolin, and quirkier, playful moments, as well as songs such as Kate Bush’s ‘Wuthering Heights’ and a slow-burning take on Gregory Porter’s ‘No Love Dying’. Commenting on the music on the new album, Salvant said:…

Phil Woods Warm Woods Epic 1973 Alto sax great Phil Woods doesn’t do warm. Phil does mean and moody. But not in that cool photogenic sense for which jazz musicians, such as Miles Davis, were renowned. Something has really pissed Phil off in this image from a 1957 release (was it something the photographer said?) to the point at which he is threatening to strangle his cute puppy. Animal Rights activists need not be alarmed though, as jazz musicians seem to have also got right on his tits, as the quick changes in personnel on these 1957 sessions from quartet, septet to sextet might just demonstrate. Or perhaps this sour-faced shot – like a Christmas LP cover gone wrong – is due to his Eggnog curdling. It’s positively tasteless either…

Trumpeter Chris Hodgkins’ Band sets out on a nationwide tour with ‘Salute to Humphrey Lyttelton’, their tribute to the legendary trumpeter, bandleader and broadcaster who would have been 100 this year. The all-star UK/US band features Henry Lowther (trumpet), Charlotte Glasson (baritone sax/clarinet), Diane McLaughlin (alto/soprano sax), Ales Clarke (tenor sax/clarinet); Mark Bassey (trombone), Wayne Wilkinson (guitar), Jinjoo Yoo (piano), Alison Rayner (bass), Buster Birch (drums) while an exhibition of Lyttelton’s life and work will accompany each show. In addition Hodgkins will also present a four part series about Lyttelton on Jazz London Radio on Wednesdays in November. Tour dates are: The Queens Hall, Narberth, Pembrokeshire (19 Nov); Arts Centre, The Black Swan, Newcastle (20 Nov); PizzaExpress Jazz Club, Soho, London (21 Nov); Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff (22 Nov); St.…

Everybody on the London jazz scene seemed to know saxophonist Willie Garnett, who has died aged 83, whether as a bandstand companion, long-term big band leader, emergency instrument repairer or quite simply, as an all-round good guy. The outpouring of affectionate tributes, anecdotes, and condolences that has flooded social media says it all. Here’s how baritone saxophonist Pete Lukas put it, “One of the kindest, warmest, funniest, and most generous people I ever had the good fortune to meet.” While words like hilarious, gregarious, companionable, famously bibulous even, easily come to mind when remembering Willie, a bulky, avuncular figure, it’s important to remember his prowess as an exciting bluesy, Texas-style tenor player or an assertive, Dolphy-like altoist, wholly in the moment when he played. Often, he would pair up with…

Jazz evergreen Charles Lloyd's powerful album resonated strongly with our writers this year, making him a deserved poll-topper for 2021. The remainder of the New Releases Top 20 reveals the diversity of UK, US and European albums that helped us out of lockdowns. Another year at home, meanwhile, has given the archivists extra time to dig into the vaults, resulting in an astonishingly strong selection. Not surprisingly, a live recording of Coltrane’s A Love Supreme was a genuine revelation, grabbing top honours, while the long-awaited reissue of the classic Windmill Tilter by Kenny (or 'Ken', as credited on the sleeve) Wheeler, together with other sought-after Brit Jazz reissues and a beautiful Louis Armstrong box head up a knockout archive Top 20. As usual, all writers submit their top 10 choices…

He was last man in, and first man out. When the world began moving into lockdown in March 2020, Pat Metheny was midway through an extensive tour with his From This Place band with Gwilym Simcock, Linda May Han Oh and Antonio Sanchez. They had flown down from Singapore for dates in Australia and New Zealand and had just landed in Argentina. There they were due to be received by President Alberto Fernández, a Metheny fan, and move on to Brazil, Chile, Peru, Mexico and Cuba. Suddenly things changed. President Fernández cancelled and the following day imposed a lockdown. “We had flown to Argentina”, says Metheny. “We were welcomed as heroes after coming back to Argentina after a long time, and we were watching CNN – we’re in early March…

Alex Hitchcock Dream Band Fresh Sound New Talent xxxx (CD) Alex Hitchcock (ts), Cherise Adams-Burnett (v), Chris Cheek (s), David Adewumi (t), Deschanel Gordon (p), Ferg Ireland (b), Jas Kayser (d), Jason Brown (d), Joe Downard (b), Luisito Quintero (perc), Midori Jaegar (v/vc), Noah Stoneman (p). Will Barry (p) and Will Sach (b). Rec. May 2021 Lockdown provided us all with a stream of solipsistic solo records. But Alex Hitchcock looks outside of himself on Dream Band, enlisting a quality cast of players who move slickly around the saxophonist. There’s a lot of them; 15 in total over 12 tracks, and no one collaborator appears on more than half the record. All the chopping and changing disguises a wisely-assembled project. The players fuse interestingly in their little units, and Hitchcock’s…

The Making of Chet Baker Sings Jazz Images 83310 (CD, book) Chet Baker (v, t), Russ Freeman (p, cel), Carson Smith, Joe Mondragon, Jimmy Bond (b), Larance Marable, Bob Neel and Shelly Manne (d). Rec. October 1953-July 1956 It was only in July 2018 that Jazzwise reviewed the same label’s William Claxton Collection of Chet Baker albums, their spines combining to create one of Claxton’s iconic portraits of the musician complete with Cadillac and trumpet, and collectively spelling out ‘C-H-E-T-B-A-K-E-R’. In that set was The Complete Chet Baker Sings Sessions, which included four tracks not present on this new reissue. Given that this has apparently been Baker’s best-selling record for 65 years, is there something special about this new, more slimline, release? That something is the accompanying hardbound book by…

Night Lights New Land 001 (LP) RECOMMENDED Gerry Mulligan (bs, cl), Art Farmer (flg), Bob Brookmeyer (vtb), Jim Hall (g), Pete Jolly (p), Bill Crow, Jimmy Bond (b), Dave Bailey and Hal Blaine (d). Rec. 1963, 1965 Released at the peak of the bossa-nova boom of the early 1960s, on the face of it this album might initially have looked like some sort of cash-in. Its late-night mood of soft tick-tick-tick rhythms and inclusion of Luiz Bonfa’s Brazilian anthem ‘Black Orpheus’, certainly suggest strong links with the contemporary work of Mulligan’s fellow cool school maven Stan Getz, as indeed does the personnel. Yet the baritonist’s musical vision was always one equally driven by composition and arrangement as much as by improvisation making this utterly charming record one full of both…

MOD Devices DWARF Audio & MIDI Processor The DWARF is the baby brother to MOD’s flagship Duo X, and while it doesn’t have as much processing power as the X, the DWARF is still tiny but mighty with a Quad-core 64-bit ARM CPU running at 1.3GHz, with 8 GB storage, and 1 GB of RAM. With an RRP of £399 it’s sensibly priced too and when you look at what it can do it’s a bit of a bargain. Built like a tank with a brushed black metal exterior, the three metal footswitches feel like they could withstand the rigours of the road. The three endless encoders are also solid and feature a neat push down function that allows for fast adjustments, while turning them without depressing them allows for…

After an enforced Covid break in 2020, Marsden returned this year as a streamlined operation. Rather than sprinkling gigs across a variety of small venues, shows were held either in the hushed environs of St Bartholomew’s Church, or at a considerably more rowdy stage on the village’s main street. Luckily, the weather held all weekend and sounds like the phenomenally energetic West African polyrhythms of London’s Balimaya Project kept the outdoor area a party zone with plenty of local ale flowing. On Saturday afternoon, bassist-organiser Gary Crosby put in an appearance here too, leading a trio with youngsters Alex Ho on piano and Eddie Hick on drums – and joined for a guest appearance on a laid-back, straightahead blues by upcoming young Brummie saxophonist Xhosa Cole. In fact, Cole was…

Write in to us here at Letters Dept, Jazzwise Magazine, St Jude’s Church, Dulwich Road, London SE24 0PB or email letters@jazzwise.com More tales of the pianomen… My article about the blues pianists playing at the 100 Club at the turn of the ‘Sixties (‘Boogie Woogie London Town’, issue 266, Sept 2021), has provided a number of positive responses from friends who were there at the time, among them blues historian John Broven and our own Peter Vacher. I had vivid memories of the South African cast of King Kong listening to the pianists, but struggled to pinpoint when they first turned up in Oxford Street. Peter recalled a group listening to Roosevelt Sykes, and this in turn, brought to mind my social encounters between the openminded Sykes and the South…

Love Supreme Jazz Festival is set to break its two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, when it returns from 1-3 July 2022 to Glynde Place in East Sussex. Having grown in popularity since its first edition in 2013, the festival’s attendance reached over 44,000 people across the weekend in 2019. Multi-Grammy-winning vocalist Erykah Badu will celebrate the 25th anniversary of her hugely influential debut album, Baduizm, in what will be her sole UK performance of 2022, headlining the mainstage on Saturday 2 July. Her tripleplatinum certified debut gained her commercial and critical success for her sophisticated jazz-inflected take on soul and funk. Commenting on the announcement, Festival Director, Ciro Romano said: “We couldn’t be happier to be announcing Erykah, one of the most exciting performers of her generation, as the…

As we reach the end of another tumultuous year here in the UK and around the world, life still feels like it’s changed forever in our new post-pandemic paradigm. With the stress of Covid and global supply chains humming in the background against the truly existential threat of climate change, it’s little wonder we find even more comfort in the music we love: jazz. And so, it’s hugely reassuring to see a living legend such as this month’s cover star, Pat Metheny, once more stepping out on a world tour, new trio in place and musical curiosity undimmed by either age or present-day problems. Reassuring too, is the huge abundance of musical excellence in our Albums of the Year Critics Poll - topped by two iconic saxophonists, Charles Lloyd, and…

The acclaimed conductor and arranger selects the five albums he can’t live without 1 What’s Going On by Marvin Gaye “I listened to it on repeat in around 1997. It’s an amazing combination of rhythm section, production, string arrangement and virtuosic vocals. Loved the message at the time and the message still resonates now.” 2 Kind of Blue by Miles Davis “Picked this up on a so called ‘24 karat Gold CD’ and pretty much wore it out as much as possible. A record that almost has no equal in terms of small band interaction and understanding with Miles in truly inspirational form.” 3 Heavy Weather by Weather Report “Not the greatest title, but without doubt one of the greatest ‘fusion records’ of all time, with an insane band and…

In the closing weeks of 1926, two significant record sessions took place. The composer-bandleaders would have been barely aware of each other at the time, since New Orleansborn Ferdinand ‘Jelly Roll’ LaMothe (pictured) had settled temporarily in Chicago, whereas Edward ‘Duke’ Ellington had left Washington to make his mark in New York. Ellington was near the start of something big, while Morton was at a peak that would be undermined by the Great Depression, despite a brief comeback before his death in 1941. He’d already been recording for three years when his ‘Red Hot Peppers’ studio group’s September debut had created the classics ‘Black Bottom Stomp’, ‘The Chant’ and a couple of numbers with introductory dialogue (‘Sidewalk Blues’ and the funeral celebration ‘Dead Man Blues’). The same line-up’s follow-up date…

Getting Chelsea Carmichael on the phone requires some determined planning - not due to any reticence on her part, but simply because of the exigencies of her current touring schedule. She’s in the middle of a wide-ranging international tour with Theon Cross, hot on the heels of a summer festival season that, although Covid-truncated, still involved appearances with Joe Armon-Jones and Neue Grafik Ensemble. “It’s kinda strange because I’ve literally had nothing on for 18 months, and now it’s bang! Back in again," she says. Does she feel like a different player as a result of the time off? “At the beginning I had a conflicted relationship with practising: it seemed so insignificant to be playing the sax when some people were grieving the loss of loved ones. But once…

Betamax Vs Clive Bell Betamax Vs Clive Bell Byrd Out Drummer Maxwell Hallett, AKA Betamax, also plays in Soccer96 and The Comet is Coming, and this side project is an appealingly electroacoustic hippy duo with his jazzy woodwind playing father on the hip label Byrd Out, on which cute tunes and dreamy synths conspire. Burak Bedikyan Introspection Steeplechase This experienced New York-based pianist’s solo set is Keith Jarrett-esque in its embrace of a ‘romantic’ classical as well as progressive jazz language, although its harmonically offcentre, melancholic edge also owes something to his native Turkish-Armenian folk roots. Bex Burch & Leafcutter John Boing! Vula Viel Records Fasten your sonic seatbelts for this series of divertingly trippy improv jams recorded online during the first lockdown in 2020 between ex-Polar Bear member Leafcutter…

+FREE DIGITAL ACCESS INCLUDED! With a gift subscription the recipient will receive: ‣ New print editions delivered direct to their door‣ New digital editions available for instant download‣ Unlimited digital archive access to more than 260 classic issues‣ A free 2022 Jazzwise calendar‣ A personalised gift message USE CODE XMAS25 25% OFF Order online at www.magsubscriptions.com/xmas or call 0800 137 201 (UK) | + 44 (0)1722 716997 (Overseas) Six-month and one-year subscription options available. Shipping will be added to orders outside of the UK. Advertised rates include 25% discount.…

For the audiophile, 2021 has been an exceptional year – we’ve had top-notch new releases and reissues from the likes of Craft Recordings, Analogue Productions, Blue Note Tone Poet, Pure Pleasure, Speakers Corner and others, all of them maintaining the high standards that audiophiles look for. And as the year draws to a close, what better time to look at some of the records that might make ideal presents for audiophilerelatives and friends (or yourself)? Interestingly, it’s not just the specialist labels that have been flying the flag for those who appreciate good sound and attention to detail. One of Jazzwise’s New Releases of the Year, the Nigel Price Organ Trio’s Wes Reimagined (Ubuntu Music) has just been released on double vinyl. This great-sounding album was made for the LP…

Brushes have been around for some time: since 1913, to be exact! And little has changed in both the concept and the design. That is, up until now. The Canadian company Headhunters has, as they say, ‘revolutionised the entire concept of the wire brush’. Not completely perhaps, but the new concept comes in the form of a hoop that extends from the brush handle down to over the wires. With the hoop in the ‘up’ position, the hoop presses down on the wires, which we are told aids contact with the head. Conversely, when the hoop is in the ‘down’ position, Headhunters suggest that a pronounced backbeat can be achieved. And by slightly retracting the hoop into the handle, it’s possible to minimise the overall effect. Aptly named the Dreamcatcher…

BBC RADIO 2 88-91 FM Big Band Special (Mon, 11pm), Jamie Cullum show (Tues, 7pm) BBC RADIO 3 90-93 FM J to Z (Sat 5pm) Ravi Coltrane in concert, Femi Koleoso’s inspirations (4 December) Brad Mehldau Trio live from the London Jazz Festival (11 December) Charles Lloyd live from the London Jazz Festival (18 December) Christmas Special (25 December) The best in jazz – past present and future (8 January) Preservation Hall Jazz Band (15 January) The best in jazz – past present and future (22 January) The best in jazz – past present and future (29 January) Jazz Record Requests (Sun 4pm) Freeness with Corey Mwamba (Sat, Midnight) BBC RADIO 6 MUSIC DAB Gilles Peterson, Sat 3pm JAZZ FM DAB, Sky, Alexa, smartphone, tablet and online at jazzfm.com (Mon…

The 2021 Jazz FM Awards, with PPL and PRS for Music, made a full live return last month with a star-studded ceremony at Under the Bridge in London, honouring some of the biggest artists from across the jazz, soul and blues spectrum as well as recognising new and emerging talents. Among the evening’s highlights were iconic 95-year-old jazz vocalist Tony Bennett performing a specially recorded version of ‘The Way You Look Tonight’ from his home in New York, in recognition of receiving this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Courtney Pine CBE was in attendance to collect The Gold Award, and the hugely influential UK education and artist development organisation Tomorrow’s Warriors, who celebrate their 30th anniversary this year, picked up The Impact Award. Streamed live via Jazz FM’s website, the evening…

Guitar icon and musical guru John McLaughlin will celebrate his 80th birthday on 4 January 2022 and head out on a string of UK dates in the spring following a run of European shows in March. His latest release, Liberation Time, found him in ferocious form as he revisited his jazz roots and that bodes well for these live appearances with his powerful 4th Dimension band of Gary Husband (keyboards, drums), Étienne M’Bappé (bass guitar) and Ranjit Barot (drums) who integrate McLaughlin’s deep jazz rock roots with Indian rhythms, funk and blues. Dates are: Barbican, London (28 May); Bridgewater Hall, Manchester (30 May); Usher Hall, Edinburgh (31 May). For more info visit www.johnmclaughlin.com…

As 1968 draws to a close, Melody Maker’s 21 December issue is awash with season’s greetings advertisements from across the music business – a tidy little earner for them at this time of year when record company staff were spending more time in Soho hostelries and bistros than promoting new talent. Of course the intrepid team at Dobell’s legendary jazz emporium, including Doug, Don Sollash and the blues counter’s Ray Bolden, hardly needed the excuse of Christmas for a jolly good drink as witnessed by the pint glasses, wine and sherry bottles piled-up under the counter every time your writer ventured in. The later Xmas opening hours proved a bonus in more ways than one for them, hic! (JN)…

Vocalist Kurt Elling, tenor saxophone master Tommy Smith and the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra are joining forces for the new Apparition Bridge concert project. This will see them perform freshly-conceived arrangements of the works of composers including Norma Winstone, Maggi Olin, Anne Mette Iversen, Kenny Wheeler, Jan Garbarek, Joe Zawinul, Michel Legrand, Anne Paceo and the late Esbjörn Svennson. Dates are: The Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh (18 November); Concert Hall, Perth (19 Nov); Royal Concert Hall Glasgow (20 Nov) and Music Hall, Aberdeen (21 Nov). These concerts come hot on the heels of the release of the SNJO’s latest album Where Rivers Meet through Bandcamp last month. A celebration of the free-spirited, blues and gospel-influenced jazz that reflected the turbulent times in America during the 1960s, the concert series was staged…

Allan Wilmot, who has died aged 96, was a member of the Southlanders close harmony vocal group and a Jamaican settler, predating those on the Empire Windrush. Born into a family of choristers in Kingston, Jamaica, he performed with them for civic affairs before joining the Royal Navy in 1941, aged 14. He served on a minesweeper in the Second World War, arriving in England in 1944 after transferring to the Air/Sea section of the RAF. He formed a vocal group to entertain service personnel and while on leave in London, met Rudy Evans, his countryman and a show business veteran who inspired his future choice of career. Following his demob in Jamaica, he returned to Britain in 1947 on board the m/v Almanzora in the company of saxophonist Ken…

The late guitarist had an extraordinary career, divided in half by a potentially fatal aneurysm in 1980 and an emergency brain operation that deprived him of his factual and muscle memory. That his recovery also led to a gradual rebirth of his musical ability was a testament to his remarkable dedication. His approach went through several different phases, but he was noted for the freshness and clarity of his execution, with an ability to be creative at high speed. And there was a distinct soulfulness to his work, whatever the style, which reflected his early work in top rhythm-and-blues bands. As a child, he picked up uninvited the instrument of his father, singer-guitarist Carmen Azzara (aka Mickey Martino), who had briefly studied with the famous Eddie Lang. By early teens,…

I find Sean Gibbs in a reflective mood. It’s perhaps unsurprising; the past 18 months has left gigging musicians with more time than they know what to do with, and most have filled the gaps with thought – self-reflection, re-evaluation, and detailed looks at where we’ve come from, where we’re at, and what might happen next. We’re now at that next stage; venues re-open, gigs return, and people are back being busy. But faced with the prospect of returning to old habits, the trumpeter seems quietly determined to return to an environment different from before. “A lot of people in the straight-ahead world don’t always help themselves, by actually thinking about how to connect with audiences, and how to encourage new people to check out their music. Maybe we get…

★★★★★Landmark Recording ★★★★ Excellent ★★★Good ★★Average ★Disappointing Adam Baldych Quintet with Paolo Fresu Poetry ACT 9939-2 (CD) EDITOR’S CHOICE Adam Baldych (vn), Paolo Fresu (t, flhn), Marek Konarski (ts), Krzysztof Tys (p), Michal Barański (b) and Dawid Fortuna (d). Rec. 18 and 19 June 2021 With this album, Poland’s most striking violin player since Michal Urbaniak has arrived at the discovery many jazz virtuosi have made, that virtuosity as a-thing-in-itself can overwhelm expression, or as he puts it on the publicity notes, 'I want to tell a story, and to shape and balance simplicity'. It could well be that he arrived at that point during his album Sacrum Profanum in 2019 with his rhythm section of Dys, Baralski and Fortuna, who also appear here to excellent effect. It was an…

★★★★★Landmark Recording ★★★★Excellent ★★★Good ★★Average ★Disappointing Emmanuel Abdul-Rahim Harlem Acid Jazz AJXLP599 (CD, LP) Emmanuel Abdul-Rahim, Jacob Andersen, Jamil Westergaard (perc), Hugo Rasmussen (b), Christian Sievert (g), Ed Epstein (as, ts, ss, bs), Steve Berrios (d, perc), Hasse Poulsen (el g), Karsten Sorensen (p) and Abdul Khaliq-Hassan (el b). Rec. 1988 When he was known as Juan Amalbert and led the Latin Jazz quintet in the 1960s, Emmanuel Abdul-Rahim worked with such giants as Pharoah Sanders and Eric Dolphy before moving to Denmark in the 1980s, continuing the trend of African-American artists who traded a lack of freedom in America for a piece of respect in Europe. This set, pooling both his compatriots and local players, notably a young Hasse Poulsen on guitar, is as good as one would expect…

Trombones For Two – The Classic Collaborations 1953-56 Acrobat ACQCD159 (4 CD) RECOMMENDED JJ Johnson, Kai Winding, Willie Dennis, Bennie Green, Bob Alexander, Eddie Bert, Urbie Green, Jimmy Cleveland (tb), Tom Mitchell, Bart Varsalona (b-tb), Lucky Thompson (ts), Danny Bank (b-sax), John Lewis, Dick Katz, Jimmy Jones, Hank Jones (p), Billy Bauer, Wally Cirillo (g), Charles Mingus, Peck Morrison, Paul Chambers, Milt Hinton, Bill Brown (b), Art Taylor, Kenny Clarke, Al Harewood, Joe Harris, Osie Johnson, Shadow Wilson, Rudy Collins (d), Candido Camero (cga, bgo) Jon Hendricks, Eddie Jefferson, The Three Riffs (v) and Quincy Jones & The All Stars. Rec. 18 September 1953 – 18 July 1956 Seeing Johnson and Winding side by side on their sole UK appearance together in September 1958, as part of the Jazz From…