The soaring Gothic rotunda and hushed reverence amongst the creaking pews of Islington’s working church, The Union Chapel, make an inspiring pulpit for jazz-electro proselytizers, Hidden Orchestra, and their disciples: solo pianist, Poppy Ackroyd, and borrowed sounds trio, Origamibiro, at tonight’s thunder and light show.
Even with a slightly reduced festival (four days instead of the usual five) Skopje 2014 was a resounding success providing an excellently varied programme ranging from free improv to mainstream latin jazz.
Taking his texts from the diary of Anne Frank, interviews with Nelson Mandela and Charles Darwin, speeches from Aung San Suu Kyi and Malala Yousafzai, and suchlike sources, and then turning them into coherent vocal music was going to be a challenge for trumpeter Percy Pursglove, but these texts were the inspiration and the heart of this jazz suite.
Were it not for a smattering of concert-goers on the front row and a handful more who slunk in midway through the first number, ducking their heads beneath the bank of high-spec video cameras at the back of the room, the Forge in Camden would have felt like the meeting place of an exclusive club.
Fresh back from guesting with the BBC Big Band at the Lockerbie Jazz Festival on 26 September, Wigan-born jazz singer and trumpet player, Georgina Jackson, exuded a warm, down-to-earth stage presence as she spoke of her obsession with the Great American Songbook, from whence she’d selected the majority of the numbers for this Sunday lunchtime set.
Although Bournemouth Arts By The Sea Festival is bringing many charming open-air events to the historic seaside town over the next fortnight [until October12], the interior space of St.
There were a few sharp suits on stage at the Wiltshire Music Centre on Saturday.
Devoid of McDonalds, billboards, militarized police and security cameras, the social tranquility that breezes through the ancient town of Ruvo di Puglia in southern Italy proved an idyllic setting to present a mostly free festival celebrating both the regions boisterous Banda brass & wind orchestras, and a bounty of beautiful jazz and improvised music making.
For all the hype surrounding Gregory Porter, there’s a lot that's concerning about his band.
When American saxophonist Joshua Redman, British pianist Gwilym Simcock and Austrian guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel took the stage in front of a packed Wigmore Hall on Thursday night, they had never played together as a trio, save at a rehearsal the day before the concert.
