Neil Cowley Trio
Touch and Flee
The Neil Cowley Trio is made up of musicians who, although they claim to be British, sound distinctly Scandinavian. This is not just an observation but high praise as well. Anybody who has listened to Scandinavian jazz will realise that it means this album will be a treat and a delight to listen to. For […]
Matthew E White is a prolific guy indeed. In addition to releasing a single (One Of These Days), this album and a follow up EP called Outer Face, he fronts an avant-garde jazz band (Fight the Big Bull), and manages to arrange ‘this’ and collaborate with ‘them’ as well. It’s an admirable work ethic from a […]
Marcotulli & Biondini Duo Art
La Strada Invisibile
The editor it appears suffers from a little known disease called accordionophobia, hence this is the third album to feature the instrument that has come my way. His loss my gain! La Strada Invisibile is yet another delightfully mesmerising album from the ACT label. From the first note and with very few exceptions this is […]
Aaron Freeman went by the pseudonym Gene Ween for the 28 years that he fronted the alt rock band of the same name, but he returned to his given name for a solo career that started two years back with an album of Rod McKuen covers. On this second outing he does a pretty good […]
Sun Ra And His Arkestra
In The Orbit Of Ra
When initially asked to review this album I approached it with a mix of trepidation and curiosity. In the event the occasion has been a very merry romp through some very enjoyable performances by very talented musicians. The Sun Ra name has associations with weird and uncompromisingly avant-garde jazz, rest assured this album isn’t either, […]
It’s heart warming to see that the vinyl revival is making an impression on labels like Warner Bros, labels with a back catalogue that’s truly worth plundering. Tres Hombres was the album that put ZZ Top on the map in the US and produced one of their finest songs ever in La Grange. It was […]
It is impossible to sum up the size of this musical tour de force, it is just immense. Be it the talent, the energy or the incredible amount of collaborators who are taking part. This album musically explodes around listeners in the most pleasant fashion. Standing at the helm of this larger than size effort […]
Science Fiction Theatre
Dolly Shot
This is a tremendous bucket of fresh water from Berlin, it really woke me up and made me happy. I have it on heavy rotation in the car, all the time. Not because I’ve never come across anything similar but because so much joy in making music doesn’t appear very often. Those who love music […]
Benjamin Taubkin
Al Qantara/The Bridge
This album, made by a collaboration of Moroccan and Brazilian musicians is unusual. Very. The result is very uncommon but in a very positive and a musically pleasing manner. Al Qantara/The bridge is one of the most gentle albums I have ever heard, it offers a light touch that is as mesmerising as it is […]
InDuologue is a young Greek duo Alexandra Lerta and Vasilis Stefanopoulos’s voice and double bass jazz project. When I heard this music for the very first time it reminded me Sheila Jordan’s projects with her long term bass partners Harvie Swartz and Cameron Brown. Or the one off simply titled Sheila, with Arild Andersen in […]
Dino Saluzzi Group
El Valle de la Infancia
Dino Saluzzi’s group plays music pulls you in slowly without gimmicks, bombastic performance or pomposity. It isn’t old or new, it isn’t styled or filled with any messages. Rather it is a set of tracks filled with dreamy music that veer heavily towards the latin be it Iberic or South American. The group features: Dino […]
Melanie de Biasio is a Belgian singer who seems to be big on the continent but this is her first release in the UK. I must confess that I only became aware of her very recently thanks to the remarkable French radio station FIP. In No Deal Ms de Biasio has produced a gem of […]
Magnus Öström
Searching For Jupiter
Magnus Öström and his band play rock, but not exactly, funky metal, but not exactly, progressive rock, but not exactly, jazz, but, you guessed it. This album is a wonderful musical romp, as entertaining as it is musical. It has a tangential feel to it, with a repetitive tendency and notes that make you feel […]
Joni Mitchell
Woman of Heart & Mind/Painting With Words and Music
This Blu-ray combines two previously released titles for the first time in HD although this treatment really only benefits the live performance Painting With Words and Music which is presented in widescreen for the first time. Woman of Heart & Mind is a biopic of an artist, a musician and painter who grew up in […]
Berlin Philharmonic, Sir Simon Rattle
Holst, The Planets suite
Back in 1982, Herbert von Karajan recorded the Planets with the Berlin Philharmonic for DG – a massive seller in its day; both on LP and CD. By co-incidence, the young Simon Rattle also recorded the work for EMI with the Philharmonia around the same time. His 2006 remake with the Berlin Philharmonic is slightly […]
The Touré-Raichel Collective
The Tel Aviv Session
It is very hard to see how it came to be that Idan Raichel, a big domestic Israeli star who plays very ordinary pop music, and the son of Ali Farka Touré ‘ear-stormed’ their way into such an inspiring musical creation. One that nods to sub Saharan, Ethiopian, Yemenite and Israeli folk music. Be that […]