Posts in tag

nu jazz


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 …

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 …

Operating out of Zurich the brothers Kiss, Georg and Christoph (a.k.a Okvsho) are on some kind of a mission to shake up the music scene in their city. Unlike say Geneva that throbs to pulse of a vibrant underground art network, Zurich may lack some impetus but the producer/ instrumentalist brothers are looking to pick …

Sax-player, clarinettist and composer Benjamin Samuels is stepping out from the back line. A musician who’s worked with Californian fusionist Balkan Bump and Brighton’s own global beat pioneer Seb Taylor (aka Kaya Project), plus toured the world in the irrepressible Grouch in Dub’s band, Samuels has recently made time to pause. Except that hasn’t meant …

Let’s move forwards with Leeds/London global beats collective Nubiyan Twist as they look into 2024 with a spotlight on their new music to come. Led by guitarist/producer Tom Excell, the big band who forge afrobeat, jazz, soul, hip-hop and latin while staying way ahead of the fusion cliché, have been defining their own space for …

To introduce Arthur Hnatek as a jazz drummer only skits across the surface of the soundscape he works within. Sure he has drummed in units led by Tigran Hamasayan and Eric Truffaz but primarily Hnatek’s own musical explorations lead him closer to destinations where electronica and acoustic generated rhythms cross paths. He’s been releasing music …

A transitional album or an album about transitions, well ‘Like A River’ by Muito Kaballa is both. It marks the Cologne based collective’s move from Belgian label Rebel Up to the equally dynamic but maybe higher profile Batov Records and meets the rising levels of expectation surrounding the band within the global beat world. Led …

Maybe vocalist, song writer, dancer and visual artist, Andrea Isabelle Phillips (aka And Is Phi) has finally found the creative anchorage that she has been looking for. On a journey that has taken her from tropical buzz of the Philippines and Norway’s deep chill, it’s the nu-jazz community in London that’s provided a period of …

The nu-soul universe can seem dense at times, packed with talented starlets who often shine for the briefest spell. Standing out takes extra energy and individuality, a spark of distinction. The signs are that London based singer, songwriter and keyboardist MADELEINE has such chemistry and an astute creativity that warrants continued attention. Her debut solo …

Now here are two musicians stepping out from the world of sessions and band membership to spotlight their own soundscape. Basile Petite’s past associations include Earl Thomas and Todd Sharpville while Drew Wynen currently plays with Crystal Fighters and Ellie Goulding, but it’s their music made as a partnership that is beginning to rustle up …