tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5884309739567721632024-03-13T03:04:15.680-07:00Jazzy thoughts (and more!)Edge of Jazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11406674568653657659noreply@blogger.comBlogger75125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-588430973956772163.post-62602422374719834312023-12-15T06:00:00.000-08:002023-12-15T06:00:07.142-08:00<h3 style="text-align: left;">Five to one - The Edge of Jazz Top 10 albums on 2023 - Part 2</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;">5. Duncan Eagles: Narrations.</h3><div style="text-align: left;">This has nagged away at my listening ears during the course of the year. Released on the Ropeadope label it's a basic quartet format that steps beyond the ordinary because of the strength of the compositions, the tightness of the unit, and some outstanding playing from Tomasz Bura on piano and synth and Duncan Eagles on Saxophone, who steps out of his former role as excellent British musician to move towards new highs of performance.The two tracks that really drew me in are 'Surbiton' (it manages to draw up some completely erroneous ideas about what it's like as a place!) and 'Grove Park'. I'm already loooking forward to the next stage in his growth.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">4. Alfredo Rodriguez: Coral Way.</h3><div>Long term listeners to the show will know that I've been playing a lot of Latin/Caribbean/ Dominican type music this year. This is probably the best of a wide field. It's a quintet/sextet format with lots of percussion, several different vocalists and Rodriguez leading from the front on piano. Above all, in these rather bleak times it's joyous. There is a mix of composers, with Rodriguez himself responsible for the majority, though I fancy that Ludwig Van Beethoven might have been suprised by his contribution. Mack Avenue has produced some belting output this year, and this is amongst the best.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">3. Veronica Swift; Veronica Swift.</h3><div>The difficult third album? I think not. Another Mack Avenue release, Swift is backed by a wonderfully tight octet. However, what is most amazing to me (especially given the previous two albums on the same label) is the choice of material. It's almost as if she sat down, wrote a number of different styles that she'd like to attempt, chose the songs, went into the studio and produced something entirely to her own satisfaction. The selection is eclectic, bizarre and wide ranging, from Duke Ellington to Antonio Carlos Jobim and Brian May. Did I use the word 'joyous' talking about Rodriguez (above), can't really think of a better word for this, either.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">2. Jacob Young: Eventually.</h3><div>ECM have several guitar players on their roster, they're usually skilled technicians, who appear in various formats. Jacob Young is amongst the most consistent, and as I noted earlier in the years review is not given to embellishment for the sake of it. This is in the trio format with Mats Eilertson on Bass and Audun Klieve on drums - but the real star is Young and his laid-back, contemplative playing. The other two are unostentatious in their support, and are never overwhelming. As I also observed earlier this is a 'sit down of an evening with a glass of wine (or other beverage of your choice)' kind of album, which has yielded more very time that I've listened to it. I've drunk a lot of wine.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">1. Billy Valentine: and the Universal truth.</h3><div>Completely out of the blue Acid Jazz released this earlier in the year. It's pretty much been on rotation ever since in the house (and on-air). It's a joyous, robust reworking of songs from a wide and ecelectic range of sources, from Prince and Curtis Mayfield to Pharoah Saunders and Stevie Wonder. The backing is from many different sizes of combo from trio to octet, but the reworkings whilst reminding you of the originals adds something in the luxurious smoky vocals. My own two favourites are Stevie Wonders 'You haven't done nothin'' and another take on War's 'The World is a ghetto'. If you haven't caught up with it yet you're in for a treat, ut for me, having played every track on it at least twice on the show it remains the best example of 2023 from The Edge of Jazz.</div><div><br /></div><div>That's it for 2023. You'll note that there are no 'nearly made it's ' this year. Jazz, well my jazz anyway, continues to expand and mutate in several new directions at once as more and more influences get added to the pot-pourri. I'm really looking forward to jazz in 2024, and I hope to see you there.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>Edge of Jazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11406674568653657659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-588430973956772163.post-64889267515033627732023-12-10T06:44:00.000-08:002023-12-10T06:44:52.840-08:00<h3 style="text-align: left;">Late as usual!</h3><div style="text-align: left;">Despite promising that my Ten to Six of this years favourite Edge of Jazz would appear on Friday, I apologise for it being delayed by current favourite excuse 'things'. Nonetheless, here are those vital (!) first five.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">10. Bebel Gilberto: Joao</h3><div>In lots of ways its basic simplicity is its charm. It's Bebel Gilberto backed by a really empathetic small group playing a group of Portuguese /Brazilian tunes that are hand picked. A couple of teh trtacks are self written, but the range is wide with Antonio Carlos Jobim co writing 3 and the rest from an array of well know (and not so well known) writeers in the genre like Gilberto Gil and Newton Ferreira de Mendonca. It really is one of those albums that it's bett to play than to try and write about.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">9. Wolgang Muthspiel: Dance of the Elders.</h3><div>Long time listeners to the show will know my liking for Wolfgang Muthspiel as a guitar player.. This album has the same line up as his 2020 album 'Angular Blues' with Scott Coley on Double bass and Brian Blade on drums, The main difference is that this is much more, ahem. laid back, with Muthspiel playing nylon stringed guitar on several tracks. It might be possible to say that it's so laid back that it almost falls over, but letting it wash over you lets you realise how complex the playing is, and how empathetic the other players are about wat's going on. Not one to rave to, but a considerable achievement.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">8. Gretchen Parlato & Lionel Loeke: Lean in.</h3><div style="background-color: white; color: #666666;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> Still finding things in this album that I like. Loueke seems to range across a whole gamut of material, and Gretchen Parlato initially seemed like an odd choice for duo material - but a duo fleshed out in places with sparse bass and percussion and featuring a wide spectrum of material, mainly self written either alone or together, but also including the Dave Grohl song 'Walking after you'. Louke really is an impressive player in so many styles, and the combination of voice, guitar and some sparse support made this really enjoyable.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #666666;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><h3 style="background-color: white; color: #666666; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">7. Jonathan Blake: Passage.</span></h3><div><span style="font-family: arial;">I think the output from Blue Note this year has been very variable, but thought this album was an excelent example of what the label does best, which is putting its emergent talent together on each others albums. Thus Blake, the drummer is given strong support from Joel Ross on vibes, and Immanuel Wilkins on Alto sax., together with David Virelles on keyboards and Dezron Douglas on acoustic bass. The majority of the tunes are Blakes, but it contains other strong material,one of which is my favourite on the album, Virelle's 'Tiempos'. It's a great place to start on an excellent album.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">6. Billy Childs: Winds of change.</h3><div><br /></div><div>Half of the backing group on this album appear in my ninth choice. Thus Scott Coley and Brian Blad e are joined by Ambrose Akinmusere on Trumpet and completed by Billy Childs on Piano. Recorded in California it emerged on the excellent Mack Avenue label (from which there is more to come on this list!) It's possible to describe it as a piano led jazz album, but it's far more than that its a series of really dtrong tunes, all written By Childs, but filled out in a totally unbusy way by the other performers. If you're looking for a track to start with, try 'The Great Western Loop' which gives an excellent sample of what follows.</div><div><br /></div><div>Five to ten will follow next week - honest. I'd be grateful for any feedback (use info@edgeofjazz.com) and if you haven't guessed this was put together in three different locations ,on three different machines, which possibly accounts for the different typefaces. Overall I'd say its been a good year for jazz, and the diversity of what you can call jazz continues to explode in a multitude of different forms.</div>Edge of Jazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11406674568653657659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-588430973956772163.post-3495564776171710142023-11-25T08:49:00.000-08:002023-11-25T08:49:05.841-08:00<h3 style="text-align: left;"> The final contenders!</h3><div>Just before I choose the Top 10 choice of albums for 2023 here are a few more (six to be exact) that are likely to be in contention for the (un)coveted slot in the Edge of Jazz end of year awards.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Alfredo Rodriguez: Coral Way </h3><div>A listener suggested that I might like this, and I do. It's vaguely based around music from the Caribbean, especially the Dominican Republic. Played with gusto by a basic unit of 6 players it's a mixture of vocal and instrumental outings, mainly in native tongues that somehow defies further description. Rodriguez is a piano player, and feature prominently, but it's a real group effort, and almost family like in its intensity. It's on Mack Avenue Records whose rleases this year have been consistently good.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Jonathan Suazo: Ricano</h3><div style="text-align: left;">Same sort of provenance as the above, but different! A much wider sweep of musicians, with a lot of Costa Rican perccussion and a not-easy-to categorise set of tunes. Suazo is a sax player and from the Dominican U.S. diaspora. However, the album features a wide range of styles, including not only instrumental tracks, bit chants and incantations as well as vocals. It's a wonderful pot-pourri of styles, cleverly put together, and hopefully the precursor of another album in the same styles.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Bebel Gilberto: Joao</h3><div style="text-align: left;">Some self written material and some familiar (Antonio Carlos Jobim, Gilberto Gil Newton Mendoga) sungs to simple accompanyment of mainly guitar based backing. Uncluttered, well produced with vocals mixed well forward this is the antidote to some of the heavily orchestrated album that have been released this year. Her singing is (sorry!) ethereal and it's the sort of album you can sit down and play through and then play again.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Joey Alexander: Continuance</h3><div style="text-align: left;">An Indonesian wonder kid. He's only 20 and this is (at least) his seventh album. I played the previous one 'Origin' for most of last year, and this, with the same trio and the added trumpet of Theo Croker is, as the name sggestes, more of the same, though it has two 'cover versions - the first 'Great is thy faithfulness' is a traditional one, but there's a wonderful trio version of 'I can't make you love me' which I alwys associate with Bonnie Raitt, but this is an equal. It leads me to wonder 'what next?'.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Rob Luft: Dahab days</h3><div>Luft has appeared on several albums during the course of this year, but few have the simplicity of this one. With a basic quartet behind him , and with added contributions from people like Byron Wallen , Alice Zawadski and Steve Buckley, it reflects a time and a place. It suggests isolation, together with reflection and a sense of place. So far I've made it sound like a hippy dream, but it's far from that and seems like another direction from which he can launch the next project.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Veronica Swift: Veronica Swift</h3><div>Looking at what I wrote above about the Bebel Gilberto album this could so easily have fallen into the 'heavily orchestrated' that I mention - but it doesn't. It's almost as if, after two previous albums for Mack Avenue she told them " I have abuch of songs that I want ro record my way". The repetoire is wide, at times suprising and throughout utterly joyous (almost despite the content of some of the songs).</div><div>Listen to her version of 'Do nothing 'til you hear from me' and she makes it her own. My other two favourites are 'Closer' and'Severed heads' but you ought to check out what she does to Antonio Carlos Jobim, and brian May. Highly recommended.</div><div><br /></div><div>So all I have to do now is consider which I choose for the final list. It'll appear before mid December!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><br /></h3>Edge of Jazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11406674568653657659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-588430973956772163.post-24156542413597034942023-11-11T08:10:00.001-08:002023-11-11T08:10:19.952-08:00<div style="text-align: left;">The erratic blog has become even more erratic over the last few months. Here's why!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Firstly we had a hiatus around late May/early June whilst we updated studio 1. So major did the refit become that instead of two or three days of work it took longer, and even after extra time it didn't get finished. We were due for another set of 'finishing off' days when the engineer cracked two ribs and was unable to continue working on it - and it wasn't until October that he was fit enough to return - and even now it isn't finished, and we're waitng for him to return . To be fair to Tim (for it was he!) he was replacing wiring and a system that not only had been in place since 2008, but was created with no helpful wiring diagrams to aid anyone who worked on it subsequently. We have, however, bought a similar desk to update our laughingly named Studio 2. However, there's a lot of woodwork to be undertaken before that can be done, and we have to rely on our usual build up of funds before that gets done, and Studio 1 is finished.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Secondly: The Board were asked, by our partners in Exedab, whether we were interested in becoming a partner in the Plymouth DAB+ application. We were. The application went forward and it was awarded earlier this year - so now we're shareholders in Plymdab. At the same time some of our partners joined with South Devon Radio to apply for the Torbay licence, which they subsequently won. At that time, we couldn't afford to get involved, but subsequently have been asked if we'd like to broadcast on the new multiplex. We would!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">So the last couple of weeks have seem frantic preparations to get ready to launch. This also required us to get a DSP licence to allow us to broadcast in other areas. Filling in forms for Ofcom (the regulator) is always a challenge, and this proved to be as challenging as any other, but was finally granted at the start of October.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Today, as I write this we've just gone on air in Plymouth with the Torbay sevice due to start on Monday. The estimated size of the two areas considerably improved our 'reach' with Torbay at about 280,000 15+ and Plymouth a whopping 400,000. There will have to be some adjustments, but the members meeting in October confirmed that we will continue to be 'Exeter's Sound Alternative', rather than changing nomenclature.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I'll update my Jazz picks next week ahead of the annual challenge of picking my Top Ten releases of 2023.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Bear with me!</div>Edge of Jazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11406674568653657659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-588430973956772163.post-61976499071881878902023-07-03T09:07:00.000-07:002023-07-03T09:07:09.865-07:00<p> Normally by this time of the year I've curated a list of albums that I've really liked so far during the course of that year. This year, so far, I haven't got around to it - and I blame being busy - and I do mean busy.</p><p>So ahead of that list, here are my excuses, in no particular order:</p><p>The weather was too hot in June</p><p>I've been on holiday</p><p>The studio has been refurbished and it took a lot of time</p><p>My book got published.</p><p>Fundamental laziness.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Jacob Young: Eventually. </h3><span></span><div>Jacob Young is not a guitar slinger. If you like reflective and introspective guitar playing then he ought to suit. The band Mats Eilertson on bass and Audun Klieve on drums are never anything except empathetic to the material, which is all written by Young himself. If this all sounds rather under-whelming, it's not. It's an end of day with a glass of wine sort of album, which I really like.</div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Keiko Matsui: Euphoria.</h3><div>Having moved to a new label (Shanachie) pianist Matsui pursues a new direction with a newly formed more electronic feel to it. She's also recruited a cross section of class guests, some from her 'smooth jazz period' like Kirk Whalum, but pushes on with new sounds including Randy Brecker and Joel Ross, who's also truning up across a slew of other people's album.This is a highly recommened choice and change of direction.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Duncan Eagles: Narration.</h3><div>Saw him when he played Ashburton Arts a couple of years ago, and he now turns up on the US based Ropeadope label, with a new band. Tomasz Bura who plays keyboard and synths adds a new dimension, but the real strength is in the self written material. I especially like 'Surbiton' (the tune not the town - I had an unfortunate happening there some years ago!), but there are some extended workouts which extend the range of his work. Sleeve notes are mimimalist though.</div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Gretchen Parlato & Lionel Loeke: Lean in.</h3><div>Wasn't certain that I'd like this, but I do. Like Joel Ross, Loueke seems to crop up all over the place, but this album with mainly duo songs - fleshed out in places with sparse bass and percussion features a wide spectrum of material, mainly self written either alone or together, but also including the Dave Grohl song 'Walking after you'. He is a magnificent guitar player, and her voice is ideally suited to the material.</div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Eliane Elias: Quietude.</h3><div>Now on Candido Records this places Elias back in her best form, and singing mainly in Portuguese a range of songs from a range of artists from A.C. Jobim to Vinicius de Moraes and beyond. She also plays some very tasty piano, mainly with just bass and drums, but in places, lots of added percussion. It actually sounds like an album she enjoyed making. Recommended.</div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Billy Childs: Winds of change.</h3><div>I really rate the ability of Mack Avenue Records to pick up on emerging talent, and though Childs has been part of the labels house band for some time, his ability to write tunes and play them really well is fullly demonsrated on this album. Unusually he's used Ambrose Akinmusere on trumpet to complete the quartet, and it really works well. He's also ably supported by Scott Coley on bass, and Brian Blade on drums. Be interesting to see which direction he goes in next.</div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Billy Valentine: And the Universal truth.</h3><div>This from the re-energised Acid Jazz label is a magnificent album. The choice of material is eclectic to say the least, from Price to Curtis Mayfield and Pharoah Sanders to Gil Scott Heron it's beautifully underplayed - empathetic to the originals but his voice brings something new to each of them. he's also helped along by luminary guests like Larry Goldings on keyboards and (yes!) Joel Ross on vibes. The guitar playing by Jeff Walker is pretty special through out. It's also got my favourite vocal track of the year (so far) a version of Stevie Wonder's 'You haven't done nothin'. Check this out. Very special.</div><div><br /></div><div>More soon - perhaps (unless the weather gets hot again!)</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Edge of Jazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11406674568653657659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-588430973956772163.post-14671213718275326122023-04-19T02:52:00.003-07:002023-04-19T02:52:35.308-07:00<h3 style="text-align: left;"> Playlist 18th April 2023 </h3><div>The saga of the website continues (though back in some form next week!), so here's the playlist for Tuesday 18th April 2023.</div><div><br /></div><div>1. Cruise control George Benson Standing together</div><div>2. Bossallegro Toni Kofi & the Organisation Point blank</div><div>3.Imagination Lizz Wright Fellowship</div><div>4.Clarion calls Donald Byrd Byrd in hand</div><div>5. Master of the game Billy Childs The winds of change</div><div>6. D'un feu secret Cecile McLoren Salvant Melusine</div><div>7. Don't mess with me Richard 'Groove' Holmes Comin'on home</div><div>8. Things are getting better Cannonball Adderely & Milt</div><div> Jackson Things are getting better</div><div>9. Passage to Marseille Rippingtons Cote D'Azur</div><div>10. Blues for Pablo Miles Davis Miles ahead</div><div>11. Days Emily Saunders Cotton skies</div><div>12 Un dia es un dia The Heavey Hitters The Heavy Hitters</div><div>13. Farafina Lionel Loueke Heritage</div><div>14. Sign of the times Billy Valentine and the Universal Truth</div><div>15. Ebony Samba Stan Getz & Luis Bonfa Jazz Samba encore</div><div>16. Woke up in the desert Marcin Wasilewski Trio Faithful</div><div>17. Samba de Stacey Blue Mitchell Down with it</div><div>18.So worn out Gwyneth Herbert Clangers & Mash</div><div>19. Talkin' all that jazz Stetasonic The re-birth of cool</div><div>20. Midnite soul Freddie Hubbard A soul experiment.</div>Edge of Jazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11406674568653657659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-588430973956772163.post-40318082440204024342023-04-11T09:42:00.000-07:002023-04-11T09:42:05.455-07:00<h3 style="text-align: left;"> Playlist 11th April 2023 </h3><div>For a couple of weeks the website will be in a state of limbo as I prepare for changes to it. So for at least this week and next week the playlist will be here. Apologies!</div><div><br /></div><div><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>From the pulpit Jack McDuff Write on Cap'n</li><li>Season for change Ronny Jordan The quiet revolution</li><li>Le temps est asassin Cecile McLoren Salvant Melusine</li><li>Walk on Horace Silver A prescription for the blues</li><li>Nemesis Kendrick Scott Oracle A wall becomes a bridge</li><li>Just like a woman Nina Simone Released</li><li>Jasper Bobby Hutcherson Dialogue</li><li>Hackensack Thelonious Monk Criss cross</li><li>Did we have any fun? Nicki Leighton- Thomas One good scandal</li><li>Requien for Hertford Avenue James Carter Layin' in the cut</li><li>Terminal James Carter Layin' in the cut</li><li>Brigas nunch mais Eliane Elias Quietude</li><li>Three o'clock blues Jimmy Smith Dor com blues</li><li>New day Heavy Hitters Heavy Hitters</li><li>West Coast blues Claire Martin & Jim Mullen Bumpin'</li><li>Mignon und die sonne geht Mikkel Ploug Group Nocturnes (out 28th April) unter</li><li>Standing tall Crusaders Standing tall</li><li>What is hip? The Juju Orchestra Bossa Nova is not a crime</li><li>The world is a ghetto Billy Valentine andf the Universal Truth</li><li>Amelia Erhart ghosted me Walter Smith III Return to casual</li></ol><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div>Edge of Jazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11406674568653657659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-588430973956772163.post-74004279683341813612022-12-17T09:08:00.003-08:002022-12-17T09:08:23.250-08:00<h3 style="text-align: left;"> Top Ten Albums 2022 - Five to One (and a few more that should've made it) </h3><div>I'll try an make a few less blunders in the spelling and grammar in this one. Rushing to post 10 to 6, I seem to have omitted words and made random spelling mistakes - for which I apologise!</div><div> To reiterate, this list has nothing to do with sales, chart positions or indeed any other considerations that might affect or be affected by other people. It's what I have enjoyed the most from this years releases, and I'm already suprised that at least one of the albums in the previous post has appeared in a couple of other favourite albums list compiled elsewhere.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">5. Claudia Acuna: Duo.</h3><div>Simplicity itself, but done beuatifully. The clue is the title, a series of guests performing with Acuna, but not just a random set of guests,each bringing a different facet of performance to the voice, which is absolutely peerless. There are even a couple of solo tracks, but the ones that stand out are duets with Russel Malone, Regina Carter and Kenny Barron, but the other guests all complement both her style and her choice of material. A good starting point for listening might be her version of Chick Corea's "Crystal Silence"</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">4. Julian Lage: View with a room.</h3><div>It's his second outing on Blue Note, and in my view much more rounded than "Squint" his first. Perhaps this is because on several tracks the trio is enlarged to a quartet by the guest appearance of Bill Frisell, who seems to encourage Lage to sit back and expand. The othe two members of the trio are no less impressive Dave King on drums and Jorge Roeder on bass. . Nearly all the tracks are self written, except "Echo" where he shares the credits with the bass player. Overall its a fluid display of virtuosity and it'll be interesting to see him live when he plays the Cheltenham Jazz Festival in 2023.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">3. Emmet Cohen: Uptown in orbit.</h3><div>Can't help but feel that this might be the final appearance on the Mack Avenue label for Cohen, who like I opined about Samara Joy two years ago, must surely be in line for a big label deal. This album displays all the qualities that made his first album so good, and extends his writing credits across a dazzling display of piano playing, helped out by the trio that seems to have taken to the road during 2022 - and is due to visit Europe in 2023. His choice of other peoples material is equally splendid ranging from Willie 'The Lion' Smith , Gerry Mulligan and the track that you might like to start with by Duke Ellington " Braggin' in brass"</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">2. Nimbus Sextet: Forward Thinker.</h3><div>Wouldn't have found this for myself. Thanks to the grapevine of people who correspond with each other and make suggestions about jazz nuggets they may have missed, I got turned on to this. The band work out of Glaasgow and are a brass heavy set of jazzers who put this album together over a number of sessions that stretched across Glasgow, London and Amsterdam. The album appears on the Acid Jazz label which seem to have resurrected itself and produced some stunning, if unlikely, albums that belied its name. This is an album that I have sat down and listened to in its entierity, and I'd recommend "Search for Solace" and "From the shadows" as a starting point. I sincerely hope there's going to be another album next year.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">1. Camilla George: Ibio-Ibio.</h3><div>If you thought 'concept' albums were a mirage from the 70's here's one that brings together all the disparate facets of jazz in Britain today. The album is dedicated to the Ibibio people of soutj east Nigeria, and is an exploration of their beliefs and customs. The fact is that George's sax playing is at the top of her game, and she's gathered around her a luminary group of ,mainly London based, jazz players who are empathetic and lend depth to her compositions. The basis of the band is a quartet, with a special mention for Sarah Tandy's piano playing throughout. It's got great depth and is an album that I'm sure I'll return to again and again. </div><div><br /></div><div>and then were three (that nearly made it)</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">O'Higgins and Luft: Pluto.</h3><div>A follow up to last year's belting "Play Monk and Trane" , which contains only one eaach of compositions by the above. The rest are 5 compositions by Dave O'Higgins and two by Rob Luft. The band are really tight, and it's good to hear Ross Stanley playing only piano. Possibly, if it had arrived earlier, it would have tipped into the ten - highly recommended.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Soul Revivers: On the groove.</h3><div>Another unexpected release on the revived Acid Jazz label. About the group/remixers/provenance I know nothing. It contains a number of reworked reggae tracks , including two Ernest Ranglin tracks and two attributed to 'Ms Maurice' of Kokoroko ( and also Camilla Goerge see #1 above). I'd like to think that there'll a follow up, but even as a stand alone project this is pretty fine.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Could we be more: Kokoroko</h3><div>They are peerless live. I was eagerly anticipating this album (Abusey Junction by the band is the most played track on the show over nearly 15 years - recently overtaking 'Idle Moments' by Grant Green.)</div><div>There are some belting track on this album, but it doesn't really sustain the quality throughout and its to be hoped that for the follow up they create an album's worth of really strong material, because even on disc, when they burn, it's hot. Still a great album.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Edge of Jazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11406674568653657659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-588430973956772163.post-76449555698087529232022-12-08T07:34:00.001-08:002022-12-08T07:34:46.164-08:00<h3 style="text-align: left;">Edge of Jazz Top 10 releases 2022 - Ten to Six.</h3><div><br /></div><div>It's been a strange year. A lot of delayed releases, some still to appear, and a lot of material written during the lockdown(s) and only now coming to the market. In some cases albums compiled without the musicians ever being together by electronic means. That probably means that there are esoteric items that will barely trouble other compilers, but that I've really enjoyed. As ever, therefore, this top ten has nothing to do with sales, chart placings, other peoples opinions, just my own music that I've enjoyed during the course of the year. As has been the case in the past there are a few albums (four at the time of compilation) that didn't make it into the list and I've added as 'spares' to be listened to if you have the time and/or the inclination;</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">10: Here and there; Kibrom Bihane.</h3><div>None more esoteric than this release from an Ethiopian keyboard player on a small US label that, as far as I know hasn't has a UK release. It's fusion at its very best with influences from right across what I would describe as 'The middle east'. Sitting on top of most of the compositions is a horn section that varies in size and contribution but drives it along quite wonderfully. Whether there will ever be a follow up is unknown, but the more I've listened to this album subsequent to obtaining it, the more I've enjoyed it.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">9: Last Decade: Benjamin Lackner.</h3><div>There has been a flurry of piano led recordings on ECM this year, amongst them Julia Hulsmann with an album that narrowly avoided the cut. Lackner works out of New York, but the album recorded in France and engineered by Gerard de Haro has all the hallmark attention to detail with a perfectly captured timbre and a sound that Manfred Eicher seems to capture so easily. All the tracks, but one are Lackner compositions (Jerome Regard the bass player wrote Emile) but the band complement Lackner's piano playing beautifully with some equisite trumpet playing from Mathias Eick, the unexpected drum fills by Manu Latche and Regard who locks it all together. I've really enjoyed this album a lot and there's more being revealed with every listen.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">8. Linger awhile: Samara Joy.</h3><div>Look at last years list. Having made #2 I hoped that her follow up album would move her a little further forward. Moving forward in this case means moving to a larger label (Verve) and having a budget that allowed the employment of a wider range of musicians, although, in the main, still sticking with the standards that made her first album so successful, and allowing her voice to be mixed well forward.</div><div>Her phrasing is amazing, and listening to "Guess who I saw today" ( I remember a Julie London version and a great one by Laura Lee) she makes it her own. Mostly it's slower standards - but she seems equally at home with a more uptempo 'Social Call'. Really enjoyable, but I'll repeat my wish that for the next album they allow her to stretch out across a few more 'contemporary' songs.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">7. King Phoenix: Jazz Defenders.</h3><div>What continues to shine throuhout this album is joyousness. There's an exuberance that certainly manifested itself in their gig here in Exeter earlier in 2022, and the creative juices are evident throughout this their second album. George Cooper's tunes are redolent of a certain Blue Note period of jazz, and the horn arrangements certainly enhance that suggestion. New on this second album are a couple of vocal tracks. It's a delight to be able to recommend an album by a band that can recreate live what they put down in a studio, and I look forward to another release in 2023.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">6. Hearts full of grace: Al Swaingers Pointless Beauty.</h3><div>"An album about states of mind, written in strange and unusual times" writes Al Swainger in the sleeve notes of the album that he brought out in 2022. He's Bass Player, with strong local connections to Exeter through his work as part of the House Band at the Blue Vanguard Jazz Club. This is so much more than an album by a good bass player, and he assembled an excelllent band to support him including one George Cooper (See #7 above). Ant Law on guitar, Jon Clarke on drums, an, ethereally</div><div>throughout some stunning trumpet/flugel by Gary Alesbrook. Swainger further describes this as " an oveture to nothing". It's so much more!</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>..and those that didn't quite make it (but that I thoroughly recommend). Just one here, and three to come next time;</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Only a Year: Alex Clarke Quartet.</h3><div>Had this arrived earlier in the year it might well have figured in the 10. As has so often been the case this year (see also #10 above) this was recommended by one of the small coterie of people that I correspond with who seek out jazz that think deserves a wider audience. This album has a luminary [a word I overuse] band; David Newton on piano, Dave Green on Double Bass and Clarke Tracey on drums. It belong the Alex about whom I know little (she hasn't yet answered my e mail to her website) but she plays beautifully on alto and tenor sax on an album of mainly standards, with two of her own compositions, the title track, and the wonderfully titled "Betroots Burn". The label in Stray Horn Records and it well worth seeeking out.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><br /></h3><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div>Edge of Jazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11406674568653657659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-588430973956772163.post-13935539022141945992022-10-31T10:14:00.002-07:002022-10-31T10:14:55.266-07:00<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Very briefly, if all goes well (why should it?) <span style="font-weight: normal;">Phonic FM will be on the Small Scale DAB+multiplex from next week. It's been a long jouney. There have been complications and delays galore. Having won the licence the Company were then forced to revise the original plans, whihc would have used two transmitters, because concerns were expressed about the siting of aerials and transmitters. We're going to end up with three, which has increased the amount of coverage, but increased the expense.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> We've also been amazed at the poor coverage of good quality internet provision in and around Exeter. Once you get out of the City centre the coverage is, in places barely 3G (which is supposed to be phased out soon), and as we discovered, getting fibre optic cable to sites is not as easy as it sounds. Devon County Council require three months notice of any potential road closures, or other works which require potential traffic lights or closure. The getting the service providers to adhere to any proposed plan, is not a given.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> The sites we've used have been helpful in not objecting overmuch to constantly changing deadlines, though having to ensure enhanced enclosure for anybody working on the sites has at times mean a huge juggling of available personnel.All that is needed now is to tweak the system, get Ofcom, our regulator arond all the three sites (somehow they seem to equate Devon with the size of London Boroughs, and dscover that without a tube system to get around, Cranbrook is at least a 25 minute drive from any of the other sites -especially with road closures as a hazard).</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Oh yeah! The DAB+ is important. You need to note the plus sign, if you're hoping to tune in and retune your radio in the area. Fuller details to follow, as the start will be a 'soft launch' without much publicity. That will come later when all the gremlins have been sorted out. What could possibly go wrong - hopefully, not much.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div>Edge of Jazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11406674568653657659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-588430973956772163.post-50271940682756636252022-07-11T09:47:00.003-07:002022-07-11T09:47:57.996-07:00<p> Can't think that I've left my first resume of the years new releases that I've enjoyed so late before. However, here it goes; with the following proviso. Like the last couple of years new releases have been subject to all sorts of delays to release, albums recorded by various artist forced to record in seperate locations because of the covid restrictions which have taken a long time to put together, and, I susspect, unavailability due to problems with gigging to support sales. (on this subject one of the bands recently promoted by Phonic FM admitted to us that they expected to make at least as much from 'merch' as they did from their fees at venues)</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Jazz Defenders - King Phoenix.</h3><div>The defenders launched their second album with a series of gigs including one at the Phoenix. The influence is obvious - The Blue Note label c 1964-5, but the material is very much their own, with the majority written by George Cooper (sometime of Exeter). It's a a joyous keyboard led romp, with prominent horns courtesy of Nick Malcolm and Nicholas Dover. There are two 'vocal' tracks and is a building block from the first album, also available on Haggis Records - highly recommended.</div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Ethan Iverson - Every note is true.</h3><div>All self written(except for 'Blue' written by Jack DeJohnette) sees Iverson join the Blue Note label with a rather fine, mainly, trio album. His sidesmen are immensely supportive with Larry Grenadier on Bass, and the aformentioned DeJonette on drums. The material is strong and very varied, with 'The more it changes' being a song sung by 44 friends into their cell phones.. Persoanla favourites are 'At the bells and motley' and the Jason Moran inspired 'Goodness knows'</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Jonathan Blake - Homeward bound.</h3><div>Drummer Blake sits back and works his way through a largely self written set of tunes. He's joined by a spectrum of 'new' Blue Note artists like Joel Ross on Vibraphone, Immanuel Wilkins on Alto Sax and David Virelles on keyboards. It all gels together into really satisfactory album (that's not damning it with faint praise!) with Blakes 'Rivers and Parks', Deacon Douglas' 'Shake the biscuits' and a wondeful version of Joe Jackson's 'Steppin' out' being my favourites.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Goldstein, Bernstein, Stewart: Peerpetual pendulum.</h3><div>The ultimate chilled trio? This album is an apparently effortless cruise through a mixture of tunes written by members of the group, with some outstanding re-works of 'classics' like Wayne Shorters 'United', Gary Bartz's 'Libra' and a couple other unexpected tunes from MJQ and George Gershwin. </div><div>They have the ability to make it sound so effortless and yet its complicated and only unravels its secrets slowly.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Kibrom Bihane: Here and there.</h3><div>New to me, and recommended by a friend in the USA. Out on the (tiny?) Flying Carpet label. He's an Ethiopian keyboard player supported by a 7 piece band with a killer horn section. It's fusion, but there are lots of influences that flow through. There are two vocal tracks(Etsegenate Tadesse) and the whole album runs fluently through a gamut of influences and styles. At the time of wring, apparently no British release)</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Joey Alexander: Origin.</h3><div>18 years old at the time of recording this is not his debut. His keyboard playing is an instantly recognisable one, and it helps that the quret that accompany him on most of the tracks is made up of Larry Grenadier on Bass, kendrick Scott on drums and Gilad Hekselman on guitar. He wrote and arranged all the material and there's not a duff track on the album.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Charles Lloyd Trio: Chapel</h3><div>Now over 80 this is the first of what is going to be a three set collection of trio pieces, all with different trio members. This one has Bill Frissell on gitar and Thomas Morgan on drums. As the name suggests it was recorded in a chapel, and it appears to have been a laid-back session giving each of the three musicians, ample space to stretch out and develop the emerging themes in an unhurried and dllightful way. This is one for a quite cotemplative evening, and will more than satisfy until Volume 2 in the series is issued later in 2022.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Al Swainger's Pointless Beauty: Hearts full of grace.</h3><div>Yes I did an extended interview with him on 'Exeter Talking' which gave us time to play several tracks and contemplate where this came from. That it's been picked up by a wider audence is testament to his writing, and also to the excellent quartet that support his compositions. I'd be hard put to categorise what this music is (do I have to/ do I need to?) but it fits beautifully into 'The Edge of Jazz'. My two favourute tracks are 'Remember the sky' and 'Existential blues'. Did I mention yet that George Cooper - see the top of this list plays keyboards. Ask for this by name at one of Al's gigs.</div><div><br /></div><div> </div><p><br /></p>Edge of Jazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11406674568653657659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-588430973956772163.post-34755868479094050142022-05-04T02:48:00.000-07:002022-05-04T02:48:41.009-07:00<h3 style="text-align: left;">Playlist 3rd May 2022:</h3><div style="text-align: left;">Should be back to normal next week, and thanks for your patience over this! Here's what I played;</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Sombrero Sam Charles Lloyd Dream Weaver</li><li>Jungle fiction John Scofield Uberjam</li><li>What's new? Jimmy Smith Cool blues</li><li>La vida es un carnaval Angelique Kidjo Celia</li><li>She wont forget me Ethan Iverson Everey note is true</li><li>Get happy Milt Jackson & Coleman Hawkins Bean bags</li><li>That's all I want from you Nina Simone Baltimore</li><li>Bright Mississippi Fred Wesley New friends</li><li>Heavy vibes Montana Orchestra 12" single</li><li>Imik si mik Hindi Zahra Handmade</li><li>Summer Breeze Ole Matthiessen Social distancing blues</li><li>Blue Train (alt take) John Coltrane Blue Train</li><li>Honeybone Russell Malone Triple play</li><li>Police & thieves Zara McFarlane If you knew her</li><li>Billie's bounce Django Bates Beloved Bird</li><li>Circling Tord Gustavsen The Well</li><li>Dance of denial Ray Barretto Contact!</li><li>Looking for the heart of Saturday night Gwyneth Herbert Bittersweet & Blue</li><li>Three to get ready Dave Brubeck Quartet Time out</li><li>Hub's nub Freddie Hubbard Open sesame</li></ol><div><br /></div></div>Edge of Jazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11406674568653657659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-588430973956772163.post-82126697528785635382022-04-26T08:48:00.003-07:002022-04-26T08:48:56.338-07:00<h3 style="text-align: left;">It's been a while....</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Been meaning to catch up (and will!), but, for now, whilst the website is undergoing some atttention here's the playlist for Tuesday 26th April.</span></h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><ol style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-weight: normal;">Blue Bossa Joe Henderson Page one</span></li><li><span style="font-weight: normal;">Live alone and like it Cyrille Aimee Let's get lost</span></li><li><span style="font-weight: normal;">Abusey Junction Kokoroko We out there</span></li><li><span style="font-weight: normal;">Mambo Inn Ronny Jordan A brighter day</span></li><li><span style="font-weight: normal;">Back home blues Charles Mingus Mingus three</span></li><li><span style="font-weight: normal;">Love me or leave me Nina Simone Mood Indigo</span></li><li><span style="font-weight: normal;">Two steps Al Swainger Hearts full of grace ( out 1st June)</span></li><li><span style="font-weight: normal;">Dry danse Chick Corea My Spanish heart</span></li><li><span style="font-weight: normal;">There is a crack in everything Alison Rayner Short stories</span></li><li><span style="font-weight: normal;">Senor blues Carmen Souza The Silver messengers</span></li><li><span style="font-weight: normal;">Brother Yusef Ole Mattheison Social distance blues (out 13th May</span></li><li><span style="font-weight: normal;">On Staddon heights John Surman Saltash Bells</span></li><li><span style="font-weight: normal;">20% body fat Robert Walter There goes the neighbourhood</span></li><li><span style="font-weight: normal;">Canteloupe Island Herbie Hancock Empyrean Isles</span></li><li><span style="font-weight: normal;">Ever since I stole the blues Mose Allison My backyard</span></li><li><span style="font-weight: normal;">Swift Nejira Blume</span></li><li><span style="font-weight: normal;">Douglas Jorge Rossy Beyond Sunday</span></li><li><span style="font-weight: normal;">Essa Cancao Sabrina Malheiros New Morning</span></li><li><span style="font-weight: normal;">Harder Soul Revivers On the groove</span></li><li><span style="font-weight: normal;">Biere la gazelle New Kora Band New cities</span></li><li><span style="font-weight: normal;">The Village blues walk Kofi- Barnes Aggregation Kofi Barnes aggregation</span></li></ol><div><span style="font-weight: 400;">It'll be like this next week as well for reasons you can hear on the show which should be up on mixcloud soon!</span></div></h3>Edge of Jazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11406674568653657659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-588430973956772163.post-32726711099346014762021-12-20T08:09:00.000-08:002021-12-20T08:09:24.782-08:00<h3 style="text-align: left;">Edge of Jazz Top Ten releases 2021: Five to One.</h3><div style="text-align: left;">As I stress every year, this list is a series of personal choices. It's about albums tht I've enjoyed playing on the show, rather than thinking about the choices that have been made by other writers/bloggers and reviewers about what they have liked. Every year I can think of several albums that have been released to critical acclaim, but which, for one reason or another I have felt less than enthusiastic about. This year is no different!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">5. "En attendant " - Marcin Wasilewski Trio.</h3><div>There can be few trios that have been playing together as Marcin Wasilewski's. This album dras on a huge range of sources from Carla Bley to The Doors, from J.S. Bach to trio compositions and just one Wasilewski piece, "Glimmer of Hope". The result is a gloriously balanced programme from a trio who meld together to play a (largely) beautifully understated performance. There's a trio of tunes, spread out across the album entitled "In Motion"[1,2,& 3]. My favourite remains the Doors "Riders on the Storm" which dispenses with the urgency and drive of the original to produce something wonderfully 'other-wordly'. It helps that the whole set is so beautifully recorded by Manfred Eicher, in a French recording studio. </div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">4. "Wes reimagined" - Nigel Price Organ Trio.</h3><div>Nigel Price has been a guest on the show. That's not the reason that this makes number 4 - that's because it's his best presented and most coherent album to date. It also contains a list of guests that lift it above the 'organ trio format'. Not that the other two members of the trio, Ross Stanley and Joel Barford aren't excellent - they are a great foil for Price's great guitar playing, but add Snowboy, Vasili Xenopoulos, and especially Tony Kofi into the mix and the sound created lifts the opportunities to expand, especially as there's also a 'smidge' of strings arranged by Callum Au. The versions of the Wes Montgomery tunes (and Monk, his brother) are lifted way beyond any crticisms of clones to a new height. </div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">3. "Close your eyes" - Lionel Loueke.</h3><div>A very late arrival, and one that I'm not sure has much to do with 2021 - I read a review by Mike Hobart in the 'Financial Times' earlier this year which led me on a hunt for it. I eventually found it had been released by Sounderscore Records from New York, and the copyright is from 2021 - even though the album appears to have been recorded in 2018. I sent off to the address I was given and about four months afterwards it came through the post. This too is a trio guitar album, but the other contributors Reuben Rogers on Accoustic Bass and Eric Harland on drums are in complete sympathy with what Loueke does - namely revisit a set of 'standards' bothshow tunes and jazz classics. From Johnny Mercer and Hoagy Carmichael and on to Wayne Shorter, via two Thelonious Monk tracks and two John Coltrane tracks the playing is flawless, each of them adding something to the versions that I was previously familiar with. Try and find it, and listen to what I mean.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">2. "Samara Joy" - Samara Joy.</h3><div>Rumour has it that this album was originally self-funded, but picked up by Whirlwind Records in Britain. Whatever the truth behind the story she has an amazing voice, and was the winner of the 2019 Sarah Vaughan vocal competition. Producar Matt Pierson has assembled a really empathetic trio of musicians, the highlight of which is the equisite guitar playing of Pasquale Grasso, who lends a really vital contributon to the overall sound of the album. The tunes are mainly 'statndards', but each given a unique treatment. It's to be hoped that for a follow up album she might get to extend the range of song sources, but as a debut this is the best female vocalist album of 2021. In the meantime do have a listen to this great debut.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">1. "Future Stride" - Emmet Cohen.</h3><div>With a nod to tunes by Duke Ellington and Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart, and one in public domain, seven of the tracks on this album are self-writtten. Add the undoubted virtuousity of Cohen and this has been the album that I've played the most during the course of this difficult year. It's full of great playing and unusual and unexpected turns. Backed by a trio of Russell Hall on bass and Kyle Poole on drums, but added to by Maquis Hall on trumpet and Melissa Aldana on sax, the emphasis is on Cohens tunes and playing. If you play "You already know" you'll get a taste of what the whole album is about, and you'll undoubtedly want to listen to the whole set. Mack Avenue Records from whence this came expect to release a follow up during 2022 - and I can't wait!</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Two that could have/should have:</h3><div>There are always several albums that stay in contention until the final decision has to be made, and these two, far from being 'the best of the rest' are an indication of how far "The Edge of Jazz" looks to find tracks/albums that haven't received much/any mainstream air time.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">"Stepping up" - Simply this Quintet.</h3><div>A first. A listener recommendation led me to this! Recorded by a group of students from the University of Illinois, a double sax led band that play their way through a set of self-written material. Eventually tracked down through Bandcamp, it came highly recommended from a listener in Chacago (who I'm certain had nothing to do with the band.). It really is a joyful listen, and I'm keeping an eye of their media channels to hope that it's not simply a one-off. Worth chcking out (and then buying!)</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">"Secret Night Gang" - Secret Night Gang.</h3><div>Kate Gamm, who does a show that precedes mine on the first Tuesday of the month", and I exchanged ideas about who this Manchester based band sounded like. We traded names like 'Earth Wind & Fire' , 'The Ohio Players' and early Kool and the Gang, and then decided that they sounded particularly British!</div><div>It's a splendid example of how far the Edge of Jazz stretches, as it's undoubtedly funky, but with a sound that stretches into jazz territory. If you have't heard them yet, do try to. All things being equal (why should they be?) I'll catch up with them in Manchester in the early months of 2022.</div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><br /></h3><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Edge of Jazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11406674568653657659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-588430973956772163.post-30534369363685084952021-12-13T08:36:00.000-08:002021-12-13T08:36:38.604-08:00<h3 style="text-align: left;">Edge of Jazz Top Ten Releases 2021. </h3><div>Eventually this turned out to be just as difficult as in any 'normal' year! 2021 wasn't/hasn't been by any stretch of the imagination ordinary in any way, with release dates being announced, changed and often withdrawn. So there are a couple of releases that probably would have made it onto this list, but in the case of two of them they're pencilled in for February 2022. Watch next years list!</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"> 10. "The News" - Andrew Cyrille Quartet:</h3><div>Andrew Cyrille is the drummer on this set. He's probably one of the least 'showy' drummers working today, and this album showcases what he does best, sitting in with a first class band, recorded, brilliantly by Rick Kwan in New York City. Cyrille contributes three of the tracks, but he's backed by an-star band with Bill Frissell on guitar, David Virelles on piano and synthesizer and Ben Street on Double Bass. Frizzel contributes three songs, Virelles two and the other is the Steve Colson tune 'Leaving East of Java'.</div><div>The result is a beautifully laid back set in which all the participants get to contribute to the sum of the whole. This is not a 'showy' album, but rather beutifully session that demands repeated attention.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">9. "It's all your fault" - Mike LeDonne Big Band & Groover Quartet.</h3><div>Entirely new to me - though not to several people that I spoke to who had been to see him in New York. As far as I can tell his last recording was in 2006, so this came to me out of the blue and highly recommded, and it's a lttle gem. It's split into three Groover Quartet tracks and five Big Band tracks.The Quartet is Eric Alexander on Tenor Sax, Joe Farnsworth on drums & Peter Bernstein on guitar, all of whom play in the Big Band. LeDonne himself on (probably) B3 is the sort or organ player who sits back, rather than sitting in front of the mix. It's an album that I confess I'd never have found myself, but it's really grown on me, and although I started with the quartet tracks, the Big band tracks have a lot to give.</div><div>Give it a listen!</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">8. "Squint" - Julian Lage.</h3><div>You can't go on being a youthful prodigy for ever, and this album sees Lage coming of age with a new label (Blue Note) and a much more defined sound as a leader than some of his previous outings.It's a trio outing, and fairly laid back for the most part. Dave King plays drums and Jorge Roeder plays bass, but it's Lage who is the front man, having written all the tracks bar one - "Emily". It's the sort of album that requires several listens before it starts to reveal its layered depths. Don't expect guitar histrionics - because Lage isn't that sort of guitarist, but it's really satisfying and has been late night listening since its release.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">7. "Night Owl" - Nick Hempton Quartet.</h3><div>I feel slightly guilty about this, and a couple of the other albums that appear on this years list, in the same way as I used to feel bad about playing white label pre-releases sent to me by companies during the 70's and 80's, however that's all the apology you'll get, because like those this album deserves wider recognition. You can get a copy from www.nickhemptonband.com He's a hard blowing tenor sax player from New York, sometime habituee of "Small's Jazz Club" who has released a slew of albums over the last few years - all self promoted - but this is the best. It's a Hammond based quartet with the advantage of Peter Bernstein on guitar, and a mixture of standard and self written material. If you doubt that the word "groove" still applies to jazz today - this is the antidote.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">6. "Friends with Monsters" - Nishla Smith.</h3><div>Part of a thriving Manchester based scene, that also brought me Emma Johnson's Gravy Boat and Silent Night Gang. this album is as left field a vocal album as I've come across this year, and was a late arrival from Whirlwind Records. The songs are all self -writtenn, apart from "It might as well be Spring" and the band, also mostly Manchester based are suitably esoteric in their backing of her songs. Perhaps seeing her live might allow her to unravel some of the content of the songs, but they are marvellously diverse in approach and subject. Watch out for some of the trumpet playing of Aaron Wood, but mostly revel in a performer and songwiter who isn't copying anybody elses style and providing some wonderfully diverting listening. </div><div><br /></div><div>The top five and two that nearly made it will appear next week!</div>Edge of Jazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11406674568653657659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-588430973956772163.post-49787263360294609842021-12-10T09:05:00.003-08:002021-12-10T09:05:57.930-08:00<h3 style="text-align: left;">2021 - A new category!</h3><div style="text-align: left;">This year has been extraordinary for re-releases, and having received (or purchased) quite a lot of material that hasn't been available for a long time, either on CD or vinyl I thought it only appropriate to start new category. Given the enormous out-pouring of revived material from Blue Note Records in particular I've though long an hard about how many to choose, and I decided, because this is a new category that this year I'd limit it to three. This made it very difficult - and in the end excluded some of the recordings that, perhaps, in another year would have made it. The Blue Note material that came closest to inclusion were Dexter Gordan's "One flight up" which originally came out in 1964 and McCoy Tyner's "Expansions" from 1968, but in the end neither made it - though some of the releases promised for 2022 must be in line to make the cut at the end of the year.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> Incidentally I've wondered along the way how much some of the material they've re-released was ever bought in the UK - probably, I guess, only by collectors and avid Blue Note philes!</div><div style="text-align: left;"> Finally, before I list the chosen three a word for "John Coltrane - Live in Seattle", which I found extremely disappointing, badly mixed and with ambient crowd noise, with McCoy Tyner on top form, but too little Coltrane - go back to the original!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">3. "Merci Miles-live at Vienne" - Miles Davis.</h3><div>A good indication of where Miles Davis was heading in 1991. Some extended tracks especially 'Hannibal', written by Marcus Miller, and a couple of Prince written tracks, all driven along by a two bass player band with Kenny Garrett on sax and Deron Johnson on keyboards, fluently led by some wonderful improvisation by Miles Davis. Yes, it's rough round the edges on some tracks, but for the most part it swaggers, and it picks up where the Warner studio albums might have been headed if the band had been given the space to expand into the space they find here. I guess, it's a 'marmite' album, and not what early and middle period Miles fans will want to hear, but for me a really great re-release (if any of it was ever released by a major label before!).</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">2. "Groovin' at Small's Paradise" - Jimmy Smith.</h3><div>My original (second hand) copy of Volume 2 on vinyl has just about expired as a useful album to play, and I never owned Volume 1. How wonderful, therefore to find almost all of both volumes on CD - it actually omits "Imagination" because of the limitations of the single CD format. Nonetheless it's really rewarding to sit down nad hear and soak up the atmosphere that was created by the trio. Eddie McFadden on guitar and Donald Bailey on drums, are an integral part of the overall ambience, but it's Smith and his B3 who burn throughout this 1957 session. Congraulations to Jazz Image Records (Spanish based, I think) for the repackaging and the information provided by the packaging. It's an album that I've say down and listened to in its entireity several times and the only word I can use to describe it is 'burning'.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">1. "The Montreux Years" - Nina Simone.</h3><div>Given what I've written elsewhere not, I would imagine, a great surprise! Parts of this have been released on the French Barclay label, but nothing as much as this wonderful BMG compilation two CD set. CD 2 is given over to a fairly seamless concert, one in which Simone built the audience from relative apathy to a heightened climax - there are even tracks omitted from this 1968 recording that appear on CD1. CD 1 also has tracks from her appearances at the 1976, 1981,1987 and 1990 performances. Probably the 1976 tracks are the finest, but given the relative poverty of some of the recent Nina Simine re-releases, this one eclipses them all. The set is copiously annotated and together they give a great impression of an artist working hard with an audeince, and in places with versions that somehow exceed the best of other studio based recordings.</div><div>Essential listening!</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>For details of what has made my Top 10 albums of 2021, come back here soon - they'll be revealed 5 at a time!</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>Edge of Jazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11406674568653657659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-588430973956772163.post-46179024759637136872021-11-22T08:42:00.000-08:002021-11-22T08:42:44.325-08:00<p> It's coming up that time of the year where I start to think about compiling my Top 10 albums of the year. This year I may have to alter the format. Yes, there are 10 albums that currently fulfil the loosely based criteria that I use each year (strange that my Top 10 seldom co-incides with anybody elses!). However, as well as those new releases it's also been a rather splendid year for re-releases, or releases of material that has either never, or seldom befoe been in the public domain.</p><div style="text-align: left;"> One example will suffice. </div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Nina Smone: The Montreux Years.</h3><div>Recent Nina Simone re-releases have often (in my opinion) beeen rather sub-standard example of what she was about. The album "Fodder on my wings" has always felt rather laboured, as if compiled from material that happened to have remained unreleased fom her less productive periods of work, or one of her periods of crisis.This had come out previously on the French 'Carrere' label, and had not improved with age, particularly as notes for it were sketchy and incomplete.</div><div>It therefore came as a huge and delightful suprise to find a double album of material I'd mostly never heard before, played at her consumate best, and with one performance albeit edited) almost in its entirity.</div><div>So should I include it in a Top 10 best of the year? As I've got at least 15 albums that are vying for a space in the Top 10 I've decided that year I'm going to add a new category - "Significant re-releases' which as this is the first year will comprise of three albums which will get chosen from the current list of seven.</div><div> In previous years I made the mistake of starting to comile the Top ten at the start of December, but a couple of years running that premise has been shattered by having late releases that disturb my carefully manicured lists. This year I've set aside a date and a time to lock myself into my study and produce the Top 10 and the Top 3 re-releases in one sitting. As ever (and mentioned elsewhere in this short blog) I doubt that my lists will have much to do with the choice of other critics, but it's also fascinating (to me at any rate) to see where there is some overlap.</div><div> Finally, I ought to mention that I have contemplated a short section in 'the awards' for albums that I've dug out of the crates to play, and recognised how good they are. As examples, this year I'd be including albums by Joe Henderson, McCoy Tyner and Eddie Harris. Jazz always seems to have something to give!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>Edge of Jazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11406674568653657659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-588430973956772163.post-12284963011533762492021-08-24T03:56:00.001-07:002021-08-24T03:56:54.721-07:00<h3 style="text-align: left;">Amongst all the excitement about new (and old) releases;</h3><div style="text-align: left;">..I somehow forgot to mention that Phonic FM is part of a group that applied for (and has now been granted) a licence to broadcast on SSBAB+ (small scale digital audio broadcasting plus). Our partners are Radio Exe, Riviera FM ( who broadcast to Torbay), Ashley Jeary (currently the main anchor on Radio Exe) and Lisa England who works out of Liverpool. It's early days, and we're still at the stage of finalising the exact area that we're going to broadcast to, though it should raise the potential audience to somewhere in excess of 300,000. It's an exciting prospect, but that means a lot of hard work by the Board (of which I'm Chair), and lots of decisions to make, as well as fundamental thinks like getting Ofcom (our regulator) to finally agree the fine detail of the area that we're going to cover.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> The stations will be broadcast from a multiplex that should be able to accommodate 25 stations. It's evident from the level of interest that we're already had that not all the stations are going to be broadcasting out of Exeter, but there are three other slots for holders of C-DSP licenses (basically small scale broadcasters which/who fulfil certain criteria) that will provide uniquely local services. The main question that I've had to try and answer so far is "When will you be on-air?". It's probably the most uncertain thing about the whole undertaking, and it may be dangerous to write here a potential launch date, however I'll boldly suggest the start of March 2022 - whilst reserving the write to follow up this blog with an list of excuses as to why we're no longer going to adhere to that date!</div><div style="text-align: left;"> Questions already raised by Phonic listeners include:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">1.<b>Will you continue to broadcast on FM?</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Put simply the answer is 'yes'. We're aware that a large number of people still listen on FM frequencies, and although all new cars now have DAB radios fitted as standard ( and most have DAB+) we still have a lot of listeners who use FM (and prefer the sound to that of DAB)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>2. Will you continue to be a 'no adverts - no playlist staion?'</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Again the answer is 'yes'. We will be incurring higher charges broadcasting on DAB+, but we're hoping to offset this by running more events that raise money for the station, and although nothing has been set in stone we shall be looking for possible sponsors for individual shows. More news on this as we move towards 'on-air' time.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>3. I live in Thorverton, will I be able to pick up your DAB+ signal?</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;">We're still in discussion with Ofcom, and our chosen installers about aerial sites, so the area we aim to cover isn't set in stone. How far we reach with the signals will be completely dependent on a range of issues that at the moment we're still resolving. Expect a press release from the station as soon as issues like this have been resolved.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">In the meantime, and awsre that there will be other questions I'd suggest that you direct them at me at info@edgeofjazz.com and I'll try to answer them as soon as possible.</div>Edge of Jazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11406674568653657659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-588430973956772163.post-84902166233910418822021-08-02T05:35:00.001-07:002021-08-02T05:35:44.839-07:00<h3 style="text-align: left;">It's still a strange year!</h3><div style="text-align: left;">Until a couple of weeks ago I was complaining to myself about the lack of new releases that were becoming available. Understandable in as much as most artists rely on working in close proximity to other performers as well as having sessions supervised by a producer, and that hasn't been possible, except in exceptional circumstances. To counter balance this a lot of the large companies have been digging in the crates to find "unreleased material" and that's where I'll start this review of what's been released, before then moving on to some of the new stuff that seems to have appeared in abundance during the last couple of months.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Miles Davis: Merci Miles! Live at Vienne.</h3><div>NOT the Miles you might expect from his classic period(s)- this is Miles stretching out with a completely new band, that includes Kenny Garrett on Sax and Deron Johnson on keyboards. There are a series of very long tracks ('Human nature' clocks in at 18:02) and a couple of Prince penned songs . Overall on the double CD set there are just 8 tracks. It's a fascinating insight into the ideas that were driving him on in this relatively late period of his career. Whether you like it or not, I guess, depends on the realtionship that you have with his recording with his two classic bands. Overall, after a lot of listening I like this.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Nina Simone: The Montreux Years.</h3><div>Collected from the private collection of Claude Nobs, the organiser of the festival this 2 CD set contains in CD2 a single performance in full from 1976. It's essential listening, if only to hear a consumate performer win-over an audience that, at the outset seems indifferent. It needs to be listened to in whole, not just parts. CD1 contains a mixture of material from other years (including another couple of tracks from 1976) in which she mixes her 'hits' with some items from across the rest of her catalogue. . It's a set that anyone vaguely interested in her artistry ought to own, if only to banish any lingering doubts about her ability as a live performer.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Jimmy Smith: Groovin' at Smalls Paradise (Volumes 1&2)</h3><div>Somewhere along the way I lost both my vinyl copies of these albums, and doubted that they'd ever return. The Spanish label Jazz Images has re-released them (all but 'Imagination' which wouldn't fit onto a CD that runs out at 79 minutes of recorded sound) and it's been worth the wait. It's Smith stretching out in a late night club setting with some amazing support from Eddy Mcfadden on guitar and Donald Bailey on drums. If forced to pick my favourite tracks I'd go for the opener 'After hours' and 'Slightly Monkish'. . The Penguin Guide to jazz rates this as probably the best ever Smith album - some claim for someone so prolific - but it must be up there because of its sheer vitality and drive.</div><div><br /></div><div>Then there are the new releases!</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Julian Lage: Squint.</h3><div>Prior to this album, I've always thought that Lage has never really fulfilled his undoubted talent on records. A move to Blue Note seems to have rectified that situation. All but two of the tracks are self written and mostly the tracks are in trio settings or Lage playing solo. The result is a wonderully laid back album that has given up more with repeated listenings. Dave King on Drums and Jorge Roeder on bass are unobtrusive but meld well with (largely laid back ) approach that Lage has demonstarted on this album.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Dave McMurray: Grateful Deadication.</h3><div>Who'd have thought that the Grateful Dead would provide such fertile ground for a jazz album? This rifle through the extensive catalogue of Dead music led me back to the original albums, and to discover that McMurray has realised a whole gamut of sound that was lurking within.My favourite tracks are "Dark Star" - not just because bettye LaVette has added vocals, but also because Bob Weir appears on the track - "Franklin's Tower" has McMurray on baritone, and the longest track "Touch of Grey" is a great reminder of how great composer Jerry Garcia could be. If you're unfamiliar with " The Dead" this ought to lead you back to the originals!</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Samara Joy: Samara Joy.</h3><div>Just once in a while a set of "standards" rises above the average and this is just such an album. Winner of the 2019 Sarah Vaughan vocal prize, Sanara Joy has the kind of voice that stands out from the rest of a very crowded field. The album orginally appears to have been crowd funded, and if that is the case then full marks to the producer (Matt Pierson) for putting together such an empathetic backing group, and especially for commissioning Pasquale Grasso to undertake the guitar work. The album is a mixture of 'obvious' stadards but also a couple that mark out a nod to Sarah Vaughan, but also a memory of the nat King Cole Trio. Not normally my kind of stuff, but I realy like this.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Edge of Jazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11406674568653657659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-588430973956772163.post-83593045638822105492021-05-17T10:14:00.000-07:002021-05-17T10:14:26.822-07:00Notes from a wet May<div style="text-align: left;"> It's about this time of year that I start noting the albums that have been released during the current year that I've particularly enjoyed. 2021 being what it is it's not been a normal year for releases. Not only has it been a period of lock down, but here in south-west England the weather has been, to say the least haphazard with a very dry April and (so far ) an incredibly wet May. If you look at the release schedules for albums you'll notice that record companies keep on changing the dates of new releases on a regular basis. I've also been playing tracks that were (supposedly) been released during 2020, but have only now reached me. Rather confusing! However these are the starting five, all of which have definitely been released during 2021, and present as diverse an approach to 'jazz' as it would be possible to find.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Emmet Cohen - Future stride.</h3><div>It's based around a basic trio of drums (Kyle Poole), Bass ( Russel Hall) and Cohen himself on piano. Several of the tracks have trumpet Marquis Hill) and Melissa Aldana (Tenor sax). The tunes are a mixture of old (one from 1919 ) Rogers and hart and Duke Ellington and other are self composed. Stride is a piano style that requires a specific left hand technique, and Cohen finds many ways of adapting the style to the range of music that he's chosen. The album is full of variation and an enormous sense of fun, and his piano playing isn't the only time he occurs on this brief list. Highly recommended.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Nubiyan Twist - Freedom Fables.</h3><div>A nine or ten pice band that have taken elelments of the jazz styles of the emergent London jazz scene and harnessed it a more afro centric kind of style, with a punchy horn section. They're going to be doing a huge tour later in the year, as well as playing at WOMAD. The album displays a range of facets of their playing from a track with Soweto Kinch together with a wide range of (guest?) vocalists. Actually it's really hard to pigeon hole their style, which is probably why it fits so well into 'The Edge of Jazz'</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Shai Maestro - Human.</h3><div>An Israeli pianist with a distinctive style, and a strong and cohesive Trio. There are a range of styles in his largely self composed album for ECM. The one cover is Duke Ellington's 'In a sentimental mood'. There are a range of tempo's and the recording quality is superb. What makes it even more impressive is the trumpet playing of Philip Dizack. His controlled tone suits the album superbly, and this is certainly the best recording of his work that I've heard. It's not an album to sit down and get into right away, but after many listens it's still giving me an increasing sense of satifaction and enjoyment.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Veronica Swift - This bitter earth.</h3><div>Her fifth album - although she's only 24, and the second for Mack Avenue. The selection of songs are representative of a feminist view of the world through songs. . There's a basic trio backing her (Emmet Cohen makes his second appearance of this list) with a string quartet on some of the ttracks and a rather wonderful version of cCarole King's " He hit me (and it felt like a kiss)" which has a guitar accompanyment by Armand Hirsch. The choice is, to say the least, eclectic, but her voice is wonderful throughout.Worth seeking out.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Vijay Iyer - Uneasy.</h3><div>I think this is the third Vijay Iyer album on ECM. I very much liked the lat one 'Far from over' but the trio on this new album is the strongest that he's recorded with. The very much in demand bass player Linda May Han Oh gives the set a very much fulller sound and the drummer Tyshawn Sorey uses the whole of what must be a very large kit to great effect. All but two of the tracks are Iyer originals, with a Cole Porter tune and one by Geri Allen to complete the set. Like the maestro album mentioned above the recording quality is amazing, and if you can afford it, think about splashing out on the vinyl version. Again, not an immediate album, but one that I've been playing more and more.</div>Edge of Jazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11406674568653657659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-588430973956772163.post-91188300387453860902021-03-19T07:19:00.000-07:002021-03-19T07:19:14.518-07:00More jazzy thoughts - from a strange year.<p> As everybody else is likely to have said "it's been a strange old year", not that, at the time of writing, we're by any means clear of the restrictions that we've endured for the last year. Nonetheless, after staying at home, and catching up on all the things that 'you always meant to do' (most of mine are still unfinished - though at the time of writing, two of them have been completed, whether to my complete satisfaction remains to be seen!)</p><p>Luckily, after several 'home recorded' shows I've finally got back into the studio and it's been a real relief to discover that it's all still working. Actually for my colleagues, when they back to work (hopefully around 29th March) they're going to find that they're on a learning curve because during the lockdown an entirely updated playout system has been installed. Any certainty that they might have had about finding cherished drop-ins or 'tuneage' on the system are going to need review because although a lot of what was on the old system is till there it's all been moved during the change-over. Thus I've been finding favourite things that I use during the shows have been scattered to odd corners of the system. In the most extreme case 11,645 places away from where it used to be. We will, of course be able to give instruction, although in the first place, and probably until late May, it'll have to be on a one-to-one basis. At this point I ought to thank Ian and Tom who worked through the lock-down (remotely!) to make the switch.</p><p>So far then, not a lot of jazz! For jazz musicians, and particularly at a local level it's been a really difficult year. One player who made a living from jazz and lives locally told me that his last 'live' gig was March 10th 2020. It's also evident that many tours have had to be re-arranged, often not just once or twice, but up to three times. Let's hope that when those tours take place they are well supported. This also had a strange effect on CD releases which have also in many cases had their release dates moved several times. At the time of writing I'm still waiting for four albums that should have appeared during February - but haven't! There also appears to have been problems with CD manufacture, which for the largest labels is now done, more likely than not, somewhere in Europe. I don't thank the UK's status change has helped with distribution!</p><p>Next time I'll write more specifically about some of the albums (old and new) that I've enjoyed, or in some cases rediscovered during 2021.</p><p>Stay safe!</p><p><br /></p>Edge of Jazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11406674568653657659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-588430973956772163.post-63979632718622061492020-12-18T04:47:00.000-08:002020-12-18T04:47:16.731-08:00<h3 style="text-align: left;"> Top 10 of 2020 - five to one ( and one that nearly made it!)</h3><div>To repeat the preface to ten to six, this list is about what I've enjoyed this year. It's got nothing to do with chart placings, other people's opinions, money paid over in bribes or, indeed to please other people. It clearly doesn't do that, since comments about part one have been about what I had not included, although there was occasional agreement with at least one of my choices. You'll also discover that I've cheated in order to hide my indecision. Now read on....Never mind - here's the Top 5!</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">5. Donald Byrd and the Blackbyrds: The Jazz Funk Collection.</h3><div>Robinsongs ( a part of the Cherry Red Organisation) don't release too many albums - but they tend to be crackers when they do. They only released two albums in 2020. This was one of them. It brought together tracks from a whole host of record companies that which charts the changes that took place when Donald Byrd moved from straight ahead jazz to jazz-funk fusion and then onto all the collaborations with the Blackbyrds. Not only are the choices well made, but the compilers also made sure to annotate properly what was happening thanks to an informative and well written set of notes by Charles Waring. It's a three CD set that repays repeated plays and to my ears does exactly what it set out to do. I haven't enjoyed a box set so much since the Hugh Masekela triple set. For 18 quid it's amazing value.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">4. Alison Neale: Quietly there.</h3><div><br /></div><div>It's quite possible that choices 4 and 3 could appear here in different order - it was hard to choose between the two. Alison Neale plays beautifully on Alto sax, and the repertoire is incredibly diverse from Horace Silver through Rogers and Hart and on to Cole Porter and on to the title track written by Johnny Mandel. What makes it extra special is the backing band, Dave Green on Bass and Steve Brown on drums, but especially Peter Bernstein on guitar who is both restrained and melodic, but above all bounces off Neale's sax playing in a most empathetic way. Credit too to Ubuntu Records who have maintained a steady stream of diverse and contrast in styles of music through this most difficult year.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">3. Nubya Garcia: Source.</h3><div>It sounds as though quite a lot of thought was put into the production of this album, and it appeared on a 'major' label, Concord. Garcia herself has been all over the media this year, but she can certainly cut it as a saxophone player, and is supported by a band that contains several of the top players in the emergent (or should that be 'emerged'' London jazz scene). Joe Armon- Jones is a great piano player in his own right, but his playing here is really empathetic throughout. However she's also made extensive used of Sheila Maurice (or Ms Maurice as she appears here) borrowed from Kokoroko, who avid listeners will know are a long time favourite of the presenter. She brings a trumpet/flugelhorn support on several tracks as well as adding vocals. All of this shouldn't detract from the fact that the compositions are excellent, the playing superb and you should certainly take time to listen to the extended title track - which we've played a couple of times on the show in its entirety.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">2. Orlando Le Fleming: Romantic Funk; The unfamiliar.</h3><div>Ignoring the fact that Orlando probably doesn't want to be reminded that he grew up in Exeter, went to school here and played cricket for Devon -or that one of the presenters on Phonic taught him! -this is a belting album. I've seen it described as 'high intensity fusion" but that barely begins to cover what emerges. Firstly he's a great Bass player, and secondly he has gathered around him and empathetic band, which includes Philip Dizak on trumpet and Will Vinson on Alto Sax. It's one of the very few albums that, on receipt, I played right the way through, and then played it again. Since then I've played it numerous times and have come to realise that if this is 'fusion', it has more too with the joining of two traditions, being British and living in America, and also not in the tradition as I saw in another review that it's like Weather Report. No, it's much more than that, and the title says it all. Hope there's another album soon.</div><div><br /></div><div>Now the indecision that I mentioned in the preface.....</div><div>I've chosen two number ones. They are two albums that illustrate how far apart you can be in style and still call it jazz. So no apologies- here they are;</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">1=. Lionel Loueke: HH.</h3><div>Don't know how Dave Stapleton of Edition Records managed to pick up on the album, but however it was this is high octane guitar playing in a unique style. All the tracks except two are Herbie Hancock tunes - Loueke currently plays in the Herbie Hancock band- but as an improviser Loueke does magical things on all the tracks. Forget the preconceptions that you may have about guitar albums, because these are virtuoso renditions of songs you might already know from the HH back catalogue. It sounds as though he had fun making it, which in lots of ways is credit enough, but included are noises made by the player, hums and times when it sounds more than just one guitar - I'd like to know more about the production methods. </div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">1.=. Kandace Springs: The women who raised me.</h3><div>I've seen some criticism of this album which suggested that it was all too easy to hear the originals of the songs she performs on the album - but this misses the point that she's interpreting them in the way that she heard them, rather than a copy of them. It's also striking for having a luminary backing band that seldom ever gets to 'stretch out ' Springs piano playing is often featured but it's only Chris Potter, the Sax player. who gets anything like solo time, although David Sanborn plays a lovely Alto Sax break on "I put a spell on you". The songs are from a plethora of sources, from Sade to Billie Holiday, through Duke Ellington to Roberta Flack. The breadth of what is being attempted here augurs well for whatever is to follow but it's an album that's been played constantly since I first received it. It also illustrates my stated dilemma. How can you separate two albums that are sonically far apart but linked by an enduring tradition of jazz? </div><div><br /></div><div>The one that got away;</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Spanish Harlem Orchestra: The Latin Jazz project.</h3><div>I was alerted to this by a review in the Financial Times by Mike Hobart. It's not available in shops and is part of the Artist Share label that brought me the latest Patricia Barber album last year. I applaud the endeavour, since the Artists are not seeing their money dissipated by the paying of agents, promoters and record companies. If you go on line and look up Artist Share you can find out more about how it works and how you can support a wide range of schemes. The album is a joyous rampage through big band arrangements by top session musicians or a range of various Latin tunes, and is highly recommended for both the music and the concept.</div><div><br /></div><div>Finally 2020 has been an awful year for jazz musicians, especially in the area where I live, where gigs have been sparse, and cancellations the most notable feature for much of the year. It seems imperative that wherever you live supporting live jazz in 2021 is an imperative.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Edge of Jazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11406674568653657659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-588430973956772163.post-74768765393557389252020-12-11T04:41:00.000-08:002020-12-11T04:41:07.000-08:00<h3 style="text-align: left;">2020 Top 10 - ten to six.</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Firstly, the annual reminder. These albums have got nothing at all to do with sales, other chart placing or money received as payola. They're the albums that have given me the most pleasure during the course of this very strange year, so it's an esoteric mix, for which I make no apology. It's (if you like) the equivalent of being asked to pick your "Desert Island Discs" on an annual basis. Anyway, there aren't any rules apart from the ones that I make up, so this year it includes an album that was recorded a long time ago, but appeared in public for the first time this year. Five to One will follow!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div></h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"> 10. Michel Benita: Looking at sounds.</h3><div><span style="font-weight: normal;">As with many ECM releases you get very little information from the sleeve notes. Benita himself is Algerian, and he's based in Paris, so I would guess that the other musicians are French. He's featured in several other albums that I've liked, and recorded with Erik Truffaz and Nguyen Le, whose album I lauded last year. This album is for the main part very reflective, and the Flugelhorn Player Matthieu Michel adds his own style to the whole album. This is not an album which will allow you dance (except perhaps very slowly) but it's a wonderful example of reflective European Jazz in 2020.</span></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">9. Various Artists: Blue Note Re-imagined.</h3><div><span style="font-weight: normal;">Tricky one this! Several of the tracks were pre-released and indeed several of the tracks are essential listening, but over 16 tracks there are only four or five that fall into that category. In the main they (for me) tend to be the artists who have had wider recognition in the proto jazz scene, and there are a couple of tracks that are very pale versions of the originals - for they are all tracks that have been recorded by other Blue Note artists. It's probably best for you to sort out for yourselves the tracks that </span><i>you</i><span style="font-weight: normal;"> like, and then work out which ones I liked! My other disappointment was that there was so little information included within the package about the original tracks. When Blue Note re-released their re-mastered CD's in the late 90's they had an informative look at the original album and then added a more considered view. Pity they didn't do that for this package.</span></div><div><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">8. Thelonious Monk: Palo Alto.</h3><div><span style="font-weight: normal;">I only got to see Thelonious Monk play once (yeah, I'm that old!) and it seemed at the time that the Quartet playing live suited Monk much better than in a more formal setting. That's why this album, recorded October 27th 1968 is such a delight because the band stretches out as they did and seldom were allowed to do in the recording studio. Quite why the Janitor recorded the session beggars belief, but the quality, apart from one or two blurs is amazing - and the band and Monk sound as though they really enjoyed it. The story behind the album is worth checking out, but so is the album. Incidentally I got my copies before the Monk Estate threatened legal action which delayed it's eventual release. By then I'd played most of the tracks on the show!</span></div><div><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">7. Benjamin Boone and the Ghana Jazz Collective: Joy</h3><div><span style="font-weight: normal;">Can't remember who suggested this to me - but thanks! Strangely, Benjamin Boone was known to me because of his Classical music releases. he's a Professor at UC Fresno, but also went to Ghana as a Fulbright Scholar 2017 to 2018. It's there that he recorded this rather joyous slice of Afro- American jazz. At a guess they went into the studio with only the vaguest idea of what they wanted to produce and spent the time bouncing ideas off the 5 musicians and vocalist that were involved. Boone plays alto and soprano sax, and the rest of the band is tenor sax, keyboards, bass and drums. The titles vary from an excellent version of Herbie Hancock's 'Maiden voyage' through more cerebral stuff to '233 jazz bar' which is a joyous free for all vamp. Highly recommended.</span></div><div><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">6. Django Bates: Tenacity.</h3><div>Recorded with his own trio, and the Norbotten Big Band. It's a mixture of self composed material and Charlie Parker tunes. It took me quite a long time to really get into the music that's on the CD, which Bates himself admits in the sleeve notes requires 'Tenacity' hence the title of the album. The Parker tunes present a different sound to the original sound of Parker himself so listeners might like to start with 'Confirmation' which to me is about as far away from the original as its possible to get. There are two commissioned tracks on the album with "We are not lost we are simply finding our way' being for Radio 3 and the Cheltenham Jazz Festival. As ever, Bates is pushing forward the boundaries of what can be described as 'jazz'</div><div><br /></div><div>Part Two to follow, with choices from five to one, and a couple of tracks that nearly made the cut (but eventually didn't!)</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span>Edge of Jazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11406674568653657659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-588430973956772163.post-56187087993010321512020-10-10T06:22:00.000-07:002020-10-10T06:22:50.033-07:00A shift in the calendar!<h3 style="text-align: left;">These are still strange times!</h3><div style="text-align: left;">The show has been back on the air since June. What has been really strange has been record companies trying to adjust their releases to tie in with an upturn in sales, perhaps also hoping to to catch the dreaded Christmas market (while I think of it I ought to add that the first 'Christmas' release came out the last week in September - great if what you want to hear is Warren Wolf playing Christmas standards!) So the 'new' Thelonious Monk album which I had at the start of August from the record company, finally got released during the third week of September, The same thing has happened with several other major label releases.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> It hasn't however stopped me thinking about preparing for my annual top 10 albums of the year, which consistently fail to coincide with what other critics have chosen. What is going to make this year particularly difficult however is the sheer diversity of what has been released. It's always been difficult to categorize jazz genres, but in lots of ways it now almost impossible (hence I guess the Edge of Jazz!). Anyway the pile of 'possibles' is, as usual large and it's going to be difficult, as ever, to choose just ten.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">D.A.B+ the preparations.</h3><div>When we had research done last Academic Year by The Business School at Exeter University (undertaken by a cohort of 177 students, so quite a lot to wade through) several outcomes became clear. One of the most glaring was the ways in which radio listening was (or wasn't) consumed by under 35's was clearly different to those over 35. A large proportion of the student population (which in Exeter is over 25,000) didn't listen to the radio at all. They streamed and downloaded on a regular basis, but consumption of radio wasn't done by listening to 'a radio'. Even in the age range immediately above the student group consumption was mainly confined to listening in a car or by means of a smart speaker. It also became clear that new cars had radio which were DAB based, and although they had the provision for FM radio it was seldom used, mainly because of the ease of switching between channels.</div><div> When Ofcom announced that they were going to extend their pilot scheme for localised DAB+ broadcasting, and Exeter was named as one of the initial 30 towns/cities to be chosen it became obvious that Phonic FM had to be involved. We're lucky in that unlike in other places we had a good relationship with our local 'large' provider, and after talking to them and other interested parties we decided that would put together a consortium which would apply for the license. Hence was born www.exedab.com which aims to win the local Exeter output. The deadline for application is 29th November this year, and if we're successful we'll start to have a signal which will significantly increase the area we cover. I'd only add that, as ever with Ofcom. the process is not as straightforward as writing an application ,it also requires the fulfillment of a host of other requirements. If we win it, we'll have the license for a 7 year period.</div><div> There's a lot of hard work to be done, and a lot of connections to be made, but we consider that the outcome would be well worth the effort.</div><div> So watch this space!</div>Edge of Jazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11406674568653657659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-588430973956772163.post-29333392138022474182020-06-06T08:10:00.001-07:002020-06-06T08:10:17.833-07:00Pre broadcast apprehensionsBriefly! I'm really quite apprehensive about getting back into the studio to get under way with The Edge of Jazz. Several things pertain;<br />
1. The building we broadcast from is, apart from us, in total lockdown. Most of the things that we tend to take for granted will not be there. So there'll no going for a cup of coffee or a drink after the show is ended. The other occupants of the basement we inhabit will not be there. We'll be turning on the lights and the air conditioning and having to remember to turn them off again at the end of the day. We'll have to forego (for the moment) the joyous banter that you can have both during and after your show because we'll be socially distancing. Perhaps most peculiarly will be;<br />
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2. We're responsible for our own health and well-being. It's us who will have to wipe the surfaces, microphones, keyboards and mouses that we share (thought, is the multiple of mouse in this sense mouses?). We'll need to wear gloves through out the process. We'll also have to be responsible for general cleaning of the studio space, though quite how we're going to do that has still to be sorted out. It'll be interesting to see how other presenters go about adhering to the quite strict rules that have been imposed. It's been interesting to see how anxious several presenters have been about getting back to live broadcasting, and also the lengths that some are going to, to ensure that co-presenters are able to get to air though the use of skype as well as the ever reliable medium of telephone.<br />
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3. Where do I start with the backlog of material that has accumulated since March? In total I have about 100+ records, CD's and downloads that have arrived since lockdown. I pondered on the viability of simply doing a couple of new to you shows, but have abandoned that idea and what was new in April and May will have to wait its turn with the older material as I return to the normal cycle of including some classic material. What will be innovative is that at least for a while I'll be playing a lot more jazz-funk, that peculiar jazz fusion that suffered such a backlash from fans who though that their heroes were 'selling out'. I remember that artists like Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard and Donald Byrd were all accused of the ;'crime'. In lockdown I've been digging out some of the best of it, aided and abetted by a sudden slew of re- releases that complete the picture and in several cases move across several different labels to complete the picture.<br />
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4. What will make it all worthwhile is the fact that it will allow me to sit and listen to two hours of the music that has sustained me through this extraordinary period. This is the longest break I've had since in broadcasting since 1984 and my appetite for playing jazz, in all its various forms, remains undiminished. It's all the more exciting for the changes that we move towards in 2021, about which more in a future set of posts.Edge of Jazzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11406674568653657659noreply@blogger.com0