Darts & Arrows
On Altamira Darts & Arrows have a unique sound, it’s something like Frank Zappa playing with Fairport Convention. It is prog with a post punk edge. There is a touch of John Scofield here and there and a bit of a Santana, but it always sounds fresh and original. Even if the atmosphere is murky […]
Faces
This attractively presented five disc box set gathers the entire studio output of the band created when the Small Faces’s Ronnie Lane, Ian McLagan and Kenney Jones joined forces with Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood (ex Jeff Beck Band) in 1969 to form one of the greatest rock and roll bands of its era. Released […]
Takuya Kuroda
Born in Kobe, Japan trumpet player and leader Takuya Kuroda picked an ensemble of brilliant musicians to make Rising Son. Kuroda is the Trumpeter Medeski, Martin and Woods should have included in their line up. Blue Note’s Rising Son is the fourth he has been Kuroda involved in. It comprises a sophisticated and refined set […]
Kenny Burrell
Burrell’s heyday was in the fifties and sixties when he played with John Coltrane, Billie Holiday, Jimmy Smith and Oscar Peterson among many others, but his only release for CTI proved that he still had it in 1971. That it is two things, tone and groove, yet what strikes you with the opener ‘Be Yourself’ […]
Lionel Hampton
Big band, with my reputation! It’s not usually my bag but this 1967 recording is something else, for a start it’s fabulously energetic and large scale and brass never sounds as good as it does on top notch vinyl. Something that Pure Pleasure knows all about. Lionel Hampton had a pretty stellar career, he popularised […]
Go Go Penguin
This album owes much to dear old Bach yet is funky, rocking, indy and many things besides. It is the most delightful album I have heard this year. And I have heard some notable and unique releases. Another compelling reason to love this album is that it has some of the meatiest, tightest bass lines […]
Hamilton de Holanda
Hamilton de Holanda has written a 52 minute love poem. The pen he used was his mandolin, the object of his admiration is Alfredo da Rocha Viana Jr., better known as Pixinguinha. A composer, arranger, flautist and saxophonist born in Rio de Janeiro before the turn of the 19th Century Pixinguinha lived in Rio de […]
Grasscut
I have to start by saying that Grasscut’s 2012 album Unearth is truly a thing of joy and wonder and Everyone was a Bird only increases their standing IMHO. This band has the ability to transport the listener into the English landscape and with this new selection of eight tracks we are cast into a […]
Jack Rose
I have long been a major fan of the late American guitarist John Fahey, a musician so unappreciated in his own lifetime that he died virtually penniless. I saw him only once and to be honest it was too late. So when I came across another musician who could play as well as Fahey, in […]
Simone Sou, Guilherme Kastrup, Benjamin Taubkin
Sounds Of Life is charged with energy and innovative rhythms, but not in commonplace way. On it a very special cast of highly talented musicians create percussive haunting and beautiful music, but there is a caveat, the listener has to be patient (and this listener was not patient enough for one track) because it is […]
Benny Sharoni
Let’s get one thing straight from the start, this album is fabulous. It is filled with talent and verve and amazing music on top. It’s one of a kind, a bebop tour de force of the highest calibre. It doesn’t just be and bop, it shuffles it goes Caribbean and does some of the most […]
Richard Galliano & Sylvain Luc
The French must be music connoisseurs, this album proves as much if nothing else. Frenchmen Richard Galliano (accordions) and his very able partner Sylvain Luc (acoustic guitars) play a nostalgic tribute to a unique style of music. The album is a marriage of Gallic passion, verve and virtuosity, it is an intimate musical romp through […]
Kouyaté-Neerman
The balaphone is a type of wooden xylophone that one rarely gets to hear, let alone see. Its inclusion in this album is just one of the unusual factors which makes Skyscrapers & Deities a very delightful encounter. Lansiné Kouyate (balaphone) and David Neerman (electric and acoustic vibraphones) have been able to put together an […]
Jeff Beck
I’ve seen Jeff Beck a couple of times over the last 15 years but on neither ocassion did he play as well as he does here. He says he likes Tokyo because they listen, well he certainly gave them something to listen to in April, 2014. A spectacular set with a mix of his own […]
various artists
Iiro Rantala String Trio Anyone With A Heart ACT This is musical magic encapsulated and way beyond classification. It has all the chutzpah, creativity, wit and cheerful essence with which one can transform a gray day into a colourful one. It is jazz, blues and central European folk music interwoven with sheer inspiration. A unique […]
Donald Fagen
Some of us have been listening to ‘the Dan’s’ music for nearly four decades, yet the noise is as compelling as it was way back when. It’s safe to say that the sound for which Donald Fagen is so well known was established somewhere in the late 70s and, for better or worse, has been […]