data-original-title=”” title=””>Randy Brecker on trumpet. Michael Brecker (March 29, 1949—January 13, 2007) was one of the most acclaimed jazz musicians of the late 20th and early 21st Centuries. He was a force of nature on the tenor sax. He could lay down gentle lines with the relaxed fluidity of a summer breeze only to roar … Read more
LJN provides the most extensive review coverage of the EFG London Jazz Festival. By far. This year we will have done over thirty of them. We have also asked our writers and other friends to comment in brief on gigs for which we have not done full reviews and/or to send us photographs: Laura Misch … Read more
data-original-title=”” title=””>Martin Leighton on bass and data-original-title=”” title=””>Michael Olivera on drums, in the comfortable setting of Barcelona’s Milano Jazz Club. A pair of nearly identical, back-to-back concerts honored the late, renowned French pianist Michael Petrucciani piano1962 – 1999 data-original-title=”” title=””>Michael Petrucciani, who died at age 36 in 1999, just before a new millennium in which … Read more
Live Review Courtesy Mark Allan/Barbican By Chris May November 23, 2022 Sign in to view read count An elegant yet gritty exposition of Kavuma’s lyrical modern-day hard bop, tonight’s performance, which was sold out, must surely have been one of the 2022 London Jazz Festival’s most enthusiastically received events. Mark KavumaMilton Court Concert HallLondonNovember 18, … Read more
Mark Smallpays tribute to the massively influential guitarist and educator Mick Goodrick . Mick Goodrick (+) On November 16, 2022, American jazz guitaristMick Goodrick , a sought-after performer and educator who deeply impacted three generations of guitarists around the world, departed this life. He passed away peacefully at his home in Boston, Massachusetts, surrounded by … Read more
The Big Swing featuring Emma Smith, Georgina Jackson & Vula Malinga (Cadogan Hall, London SW3, 18 November 2022. Review by Len Weinreich) Emma Smith. Photo copyright Monika S. Jakubowska The evening started with a bundle of promises as the singer Emma Smithvibrant in shocking pink and singer/trumpeter Georgina Jackson in electric blue, bounded onto a … Read more
Artonov Brussels, Belgium October 12-15, 2022 Artonov is a Belgian festival that’s committed to the commingling of creative strategies. Performances will always display at least two artistic forms, picking from a treasure trove that includes music, dance, film, poetry, painting, storytelling, video and even olfactory and culinary creations. Its other key predilection is a love … Read more
There are certain works of art with which I wish I could have a conversation, so that I might express my gratitude for them. I would say, “Thank you for existing, and doing what you do. You’ve enriched my life.” I wouldn’t downplay the venerated “usual suspects”—A Love Supreme, Sgt. Pepper, Citizen Kane—but I’d give … Read more
‘Gerry Mulligan Concert Jazz Band In Concert’(SteepleChase SCCD 36502. Album review by Len Weinreich) Sometime during the late 1940s, jazz hipsters first clocked in Gerry Mulligan as a fledgling composer and arranger slyly inserting bebop flavoring into charts for the Elliot Lawrence, Claude Thornhill and Gene Krupa big bands. In 1949, his reputation increased through … Read more
Nardis Jazz Club pop-up (24, Exmouth Market, 19 November, Reviewed by Rachel Coombes) Ozan Musluoğlu Quartet. Photo by Rachel Coombes As LJF celebrated its thirtieth birthday with a sold-out show of electronic jazz (or ‘jazz-dance’) at the 6000-capacity venue Printworks on Saturday (REVIEWED HERE), another jazz milestone was being celebrated in more intimate fashion in … Read more