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Partisans at The Vortex, London, March 30th, 2007

Jazz-Rock group the Partisans are celebrating ten years together with a monthly residency at the Vortex and their opening March performance featured special guest Jim Watson on Hammond Organ. This group has led the way for the new generation of jazz artists in the UK with their combination of the energy of a rock band with the subtlety and improvisational brilliance of world-class jazz musicians.

Drummer Gene Calderazzo and bassist Thaddeus Kelly responded to every impulse from the soloists while remaining locked in perfect sync, alternating between rock, latin and hard bop mode without flinching, while Phil Robson and Jim Watson created a dense but never muddy texture allowing for some sombre, some mysterious and some flat out raucous playing, including some mean hard-bop playing from Julian Siegel. What comes across from the group is a great sense of enjoyment and energy in the music, with were many smiles exchanged between the players as they played their hearts out. The enjoyment was reflected in the audience’s appreciation and the inevitable call for an encore, by which time the band was on white hot, blistering form.

Report: Mark Trounson

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Partisans at The Vortex, London, March 30th, 2007

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Neil Cowley Trio – Cargo, London 2/4/08

Last night The Neil Cowley Trio launched their new album Loud…Louder…Stop! at trendy Shoreditch club Cargo, not usually the kind of venue you’d expect to find a piano trio playing. But then they aren’t your typical piano trio. As the audience files in there’s a building sense of excitement and by the time Cowley and Co. take to the stage the room is jammed full. “Aren’t you going to cheer us on?” Cowley quips wryly. This sets the tone for the evening to follow, music matching Cowley’s playful, fun and excitable personality.

Portico Quartet plus Basquiat Strings - Union Chapel, London Friday 22 February

Basquiat Strings take the starkness of modern classical music and wrap it around a subtly pervading jazz beat. But while they maintain the haunting quality of classical string music, they generate an atmosphere which is constantly disconcerting and pleasantly surprising.

Dave Liebman/Phil Robson Quartet, RNCM, 31 January 2008

With the raw expressionism of John Coltrane, the punchy ballistics of Michael Brecker, the harmonic invention of Wayne Shorter: saxophonist Dave Liebman tells the story of the modern jazz saxophone. Particularly memorable was his meditative rendition of Coltrane’s ‘India’. As engaging as any solo was his magnanimous stage presence; the hunched shoulders, the facial contortions and the limp. You could feel the blood and sweat of an artist truly committed to what he really believes is important.