Neil Cowley Trio – Koko, 20/7/08
Neil Cowley Trio + Portico Quartet Koko, Camden Sunday, 20/7/08 Two of our jazz scene’s rising names graced the stage at Koko, a venue normally reserved for the very latest disposable indie bands. Kudos must go to the iTunes festival programmers: even though the total number of acts performing at the month-long free event 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...
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...
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...
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...
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....
John Scofield – Jazz Cafe, 29/3/08
How to begin a review of a concert at which one’s musical outlook has been picked up, shaken about, flung around haphazardly and finally set back down in a completely different state? John Scofield has enjoyed a rich and varied career, the nature of which is aptly mirrored in his guitar playing. Material from his...
Acoustic Ladyland – Vortex, 28/3/08
As the act which opened the new Vortex in 2005, Acoustic Ladyland hold a special place in the hearts of many club regulars. The band returned on March 28 to a full house of over 100 people, with the usual table layout abandoned to create an entirely different atmosphere. It is a standing audience which...
