The Antarctic Biennale
CNN / VICE / MONOCLE 24: A pioneering expedition to the seventh continent sought to break down boundaries between art and science.
Latin Funk Spectacular to hit Jazz Café
Tuesday 29 July will see two acclaimed Latin funk collectives take to the Jazz Café stage in a special gig to showcase new albums on Aire Sol Records. Hailed as one of the hardest-working and most exciting bands to emerge from the States in the last decade, Grupo Fantasma draws on a wide variety of...
New wave of UK groups shine at Europe’s biggest jazz festival
North Sea Jazz Festival 11-13 July 2008 Ahoy, Rotterdam A veritable Who’s Who of contemporary jazz was on the bill at the 33rd North Sea Jazz Festival, with titanic names like Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter alongside an exciting selection of newcomers. Empirical, Led Bib, Finn Peters, Acoustic Ladyland and others represented the vibrant new...
Blink – Blink
Blink: Blink LOOP Records The latest offering from London’s infamous LOOP Collective, this eponymous debut features an unconventional bass-less trio of pianist Alcyona Mick, Robin Fincker on tenor sax and clarinet and drummer Paul Clarvis. All demonstrate considerable capabilities in the field of loose, open jazz which is experimental yet accessible. Mick’s command of the...
Kenny Garrett – Ronnie Scott’s, 2/7/08
Hackneyed cliché it may be, but Kenny Garrett really has done it all. Work with names such as Duke Ellington, Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock provides a mere glimpse of his glittering CV, augmented by recording dates for labels including Atlantic, Warner and Nonesuch. At Ronnie’s he was joined by Lennie Stalworth on bass, Jeff...
The Heliocentrics / Flying Lotus – Thekla, 7/6/08
Bristol’s ambitious Venn Festival came to the end of its fifth year in spectacular fashion with a showpiece evening at Thekla on Sunday 7/6/08. Californian DJ/producer Flying Lotus, a.k.a. Steven Ellison, warmed the crowd up with a frenzied sequence of myriad beats – drum&bass, hip-hop, techno and more – and frequent lightning embellishments from a...
Ponto de Equilíbrio – Abre a Janela
Formed in a Rio de Janeiro hippy refuge in 1999, Ponto de Equilíbrio blend traditional aspects of roots reggae with musical flavours from across Brazil into an utterly distinctive and highly refreshing individual sound. The group’s second album, Abre a Janela, conveys a similarly diverse selection of moods and emotions, from deep, mellow grooves such...
James Carter – Present Tense
James Carter may not yet be forty, but he possesses a degree of instrumental mastery which could easily be a lifetime’s work. At different stages of this record, the versatile multi-instrumentalist plays tenor, soprano and baritone saxophones as well as flute and bass clarinet, all with equal power and precision. This diverse approach to instrumental...
These Acoustics Can Electrify
Pete Wareham is on a musical crusade: Acoustic Ladyland‘s frontman abandoned the traditional jazz direction to discover his real identity. Frederick Bernas heard all about it.
Antibalas / The Budos Band – Jazz Cafe, 19/4/08
A perfect warm-up for what was to come, The Budos Band took to the stage with well-synchronised, driving compositions and sharp melodies, matching the flawless studio sound of their two releases on Daptone Records. Definitely worth a headline slot in future, it surely will not be long before this materialises. The 11-man force that is...
Afrobeat: Tony Allen and Antibalas – Jazz Cafe
Within the space of one month, London’s Jazz Cafe plays host for two singular names in the Afrobeat genre: representing the old guard is Tony Allen, one of the foremost figures in the music’s inception. Representing the new generation is the Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, a wild collection of New Yorkers with its own niche on...
Polar Bear – Ronnie Scott’s, 8/4/08
London’s famous jazz club has been going through troubled times. In December 2007 its artistic director resigned amidst criticism that the venue’s booking policy was veering away from the mainstream, hard jazz it is known for. Considering such complaints, it was surprising to see Polar Bear in the listings. Led by drummer Sebastian Rochford, the...
Robert Mitchell & Omar Puente – St Cyprian’s, 1/4/08
This unlikely duo of acoustic piano and electric violin allows Robert Mitchell and Omar Puente to stretch their considerable abilities beyond the confines of a conventional jazz group. Perhaps more unconventional was the venue, literally a Church of Jazz, tucked away near Baker Street in central London. This was the perfect acoustic for such a...
