Stan Sulzmann stepped in for an indisposed Bobby Wellins on Saturday night at the Vortex, with a quartet comprising players from different generations: more familiar names Ross Stanley (piano) and Tim Giles (drums) were joined by rising star Connor Chaplin on bass.
The two evenings that we visited the Palatia Jazz Festival this year were spent at Limburg Abbey – a 9th Century ruined abbey near Bad Dürkheim which is on the edge of the Palatinate Forest in western Germany located roughly half way between Strasbourg and Frankfurt.
As Fletch’s Brew steamed through two sets at the Vortex, the appropriateness of the allusion in the name to Miles Davis’ electric period Bitches Brew became increasingly evident.
As the audience waits for the Robert Glasper Trio to take the stage, J Dilla’s instrumental hip-hop classic ‘Donuts’ plays through the P.
I’m tempted to paraphrase the old musician’s joke about not knowing that there were two 12 o’clocks in the same day when contemplating the Cadogan Hall’s summer-long Out to Lunch series.
Such is the quite breathtaking beauty of one of Italy’s most picturesque and charismatic cities, a place of winding narrow streets, sloping piazzas and architecture with history etched into every brick and door handle, it is easy to forget that this is also the location for an intensive and inspiring jazz course.
Umbria Jazz is a brand and like all brands it’s judged by its success – in this instance success is measured by the size of the audience and the number of tickets purchased.
One of the biggest French summer Festivals enjoyed the hottest weather for many years and as a result massive crowds enjoyed the predominantly outdoor venues from lunchtime to the early hours of the morning.
Guitarist and educator Brad Shepik’s compositions have attracted sufficient attention in the US for a transcription of a solo from one of his pieces, ‘Carbonic’, from his Human Activity Suite (aimed to increase awareness of manmade climate change), to be printed and analysed in the January 2010 issue of Downbeat magazine.
Singer and composer Zara McFarlane played to sold-out crowds at Pizza Express Jazz Club in London’s Soho on 18-19 July, presenting a well-crafted set of originals from her second album, If You Knew Her, in a performance that became more gripping over the course of the two nights.
