jazz fusion
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 for some time now has been a ‘yes’. He’s worked with Californian fusionist Balkan Bump and Brighton’s own global beat pioneer Seb Taylor (aka Kaya …
Track/Video: Jazz/afrobeat fusionists TC & The Groove Family announce new EP with the dynamic ‘Stand Strong’.
It’s been a while since we’ve heard from TC & The Groove Family but you can’t keep a good collective down. Led by drummer Tim Cook (TC) and based around players who originally crossed paths in Leeds, the band’s 2022 debut ‘First Home’ (reviewed in BSM HERE) made a sizeable dent in the listening schedules. …
Album Review: Parisian fusion combo Monsieur MÂLÂ deliver a self-titled debut brim-full with energy and ambition.
World Jazz/Jazz Fusion/World Fusion…you sometimes wonder if the genre game is really worth playing. Yes useful for shorthand and signposts but not to be depended on to for the full picture. Enter Parisian five-piece Monsieur MÂLÂ and their self -titled debut LP out now via Bridge The Gap. Looking way beyond any label conventions the …
Track/Video: Dynamic prog-jazzers Emily Francis Trio preview new EP with the drama of ‘After The Rain’.
For many the jazz piano trio is an edifice that shouldn’t be tampered with, the classic enactment of pure jazz, a rhythm section suddenly given license to express itself but with a heritage that binds them together. So any messing with the tradition needs to be done well, with a purpose and conviction. Plucking at …
Album Review : John Garner – ‘Movie Night’ : Re-imagining the soundtrack through an improviser’s lens.
That most singular of labels, Lewes based Difficult Art And Music consistently end the year with a flourish. They capped 2022 with their three volume cassette release ‘Bivouac Of the Avant Garde’, a fulsome resume of the experimental, leftfield scene from those on the inside. Now to round off 2023, the final release from the …
Album Review : Júlio Resende Fado Jazz – Sons Of Revolution : immaculate and moving fusion from the Portuguese quartet.
Portuguese jazz pianist and composer Júlio Resende has just released a fourth Fado jazz journey, ‘Sons Of Revolution’ through the indispensable ACT label and it’s another intriguing excursion. Resende first explored the alchemic potential of blending Fado music with the free spirit of jazz sensibilities on his 2013 album, ‘Amália por Júlio Resende’. A deep …
Premiere: Brooklyn band FORAGER are fed up with city life on expressive new single ‘Hello to the Kiddies’
Well, doing each other’s hair in a press photo is definitely different, but that’s just FORAGER‘s thing. The Brooklyn trio put themselves on our radar back in May with the absolutely essential ‘Fuji or a Trek’, the lead single from their debut album, and we were starting to think we wouldn’t get another pre-release single, …
Album Review : The Circling Sun – Spirits: The esteemed NZ jazz collective’s long-awaited debut more than delivers.
New Zealand spiritual jazz collective The Circling Sun have taken the long and winding road to releasing their first album ‘Spirits’ (available now on the ever-reliable Soundway Records). Drawn from the confluence of various Auckland/ Tamaki Makarau bands, this fluid congregation of jazzers, record collectors, producers and DJs have been converging for near two decades …
Album Review: Caixa Cubo -‘Agôra’ : Fresh, hot-stepping jazz fusion from the Säo Paulo trio.
There’s seems to be something going on here. The steady flow of fine soul – jazz oozing from Brazil to pep up our mainstream menus shows no sign of drying up. In the last few months new albums from Joao Selva, Tagua Tagua and the ever-dependable Lucas Santanna have brought an individual verve to the …
News/Track/Video : Jazz-funk fusionists Caixa Cubo preview new album ‘Agôra’ with hot-stepping single ‘Sábado’.
Need pepping up then Sao Paulo trio Caixa Cubo may help with the sharp grooved energetic funk of their new single Sábado. Channeling the racy pace and dynamism of their home city, Henrique Gomide (keys), João Fideles (drums) and Noa Stroeter (bass) never look back as they switch and swerve through this bustling jazz fusion/samba …