Alex Wilson – Salsa Con Soul
On his sixth solo album, the award-winning Wilson looks more towards commercial influences than previous work. It would be easy for a man of Alex Wilson’s pianistic talent to cruise along comfortably, picking up sideman or session gigs here and there and continuing to operate in the time-honoured medium of standard small jazz groups. But...
Omara Portuondo: 77 Not Out
At 77, Omara Portuondo is an elder stateswoman of world music. Here she tells Frederick Bernas about her new album, Gracias, and reflects on a long life of innovation, cultural enterprise and funny stories. With a musical career spanning 60 years and counting, Omara Portuondo is far from finished. “It is never enough, there is...
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...
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...
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...
Richard Bona – Jazz Cafe, 30/3/08
It’s an incredible story. Born in a small village in Cameroon, Richard Bona was raised by a musical household and developed a talent for building instruments. As a teenager he was inspired to take up bass guitar after hearing Jaco Pastorius. In 1995 he moved to New York and has flourished into an international star....
