contemporary jazz Archives

Album Review: Bellbird – ‘The Call’: From free jazz to post rock, a quartet that find their own trajectory.

Constellation Records have long provided a portal for the extraordinary experimental music which orbits around their Montreal home base, but here we have them opening the apertures and focusing in…

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Album Review: Alex Ventling – ‘Wavemakers’: New Nordic jazz which soothes and fulfils.

Need some cerebral soothing and sustenance then maybe take some time to engage with Trondheim-based jazz musician Alex Ventling’s new album ‘Wavemakers’. Ventling is something of a creative polymath. Besides…

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Album Review: Emma Rawicz –‘Inkyra’: Bold, widescreen, dynamic jazz from the irrepressible saxophonist and her explosive band.

You could say prestigious young saxophonist Emma Rawicz is on a roll right now. Just a few months ago she was turning jazz-heads with her exquisite and sumptuous ‘Big Visit’,…

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Album Review: Cecilie Strange – ‘Beech’: Compelling Nordic Jazz with a subtle strength and singular sound.

When an artist settles into their groove, over time the spark in their music can dim. Listening to ‘Beech’ the new album by Danish saxophonist Cecilie Strange it’s more than…

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Album Review: Emma Rawicz & Gwilym Simcock – ‘Big Visit’: A sax/piano jazz connection that sets new standards.

The similarities in the musical pathways between saxophonist Emma Rawicz and pianist Gwilym Simcock are a bit uncanny. Both studied at Chethams School Of Music and The Royal Academy, both…

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Album Review: Red Gazelle Trio – ‘On A Human Level’: naturally soulful and melodically warm, a new Nordic jazz gem.

Perceptions and pronouncements about Nordic Jazz can often return to parts of the classic ECM catalogue with its sophisticated coolness, ambient leanings and breathtaking spaciousness. But naturally, the Scandinavian scene…

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Album Review: Lophae – ‘Perfect Strangers’: thrilling, fine-tuned jazz with subtle powers.

There’s a playful irony in both the band and album names chosen by this new London jazz quartet led by guitarist/composer Greg Sanders. For a start this lush, intricately woven…

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Album Review: Raffy Bushman – ‘Here Today Gone Tomorrow’: More thrilling post-bop nu jazz from the London pianist and composer.

For a musician who puts out an annual album release, pianist, cellist and composer Raffy Bushman manages to keep surprisingly under the muso-radar but you sense that’s just how he…

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Album Review: Bill Laurance/The Untold Orchestra-‘Bloom’: Gently moving, deceptively powerful orchestral jazz from the Snarky Puppy mainstay.

It’s tricky to summarise the range and significance of pianist and composer Bill Laurance’s musical CV to date. The chance hook-up as a student in Leeds, backing a young Michael…

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Album Review: Benjamin Samuels – ‘Dissensation’: New name, nu jazz, new thrills – an album set to make an impact.

Straight after any hugs or handshakes the first thing musicians ask each other when they meet up is ‘Are you busy’? For sax-player, clarinettist and composer Benjamin Samuels the answer…

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