Category: Jazz
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BartolomeyBittmann: Dynamo
Out on jazz label ACT, this new album is prog in the same way that Gordon Giltrap could be prog, in his better moments (which is why Heartsong is so famous and his duller stuff not). Opener Elefant lays down the pattern: superfast playing of guitar (it’s actually a mondola according to the sleeve notes)…
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Vula Viel: Do Not Be Afraid
One of those albums that’s hard to review, its mix of world music and jazz being possibly unique. You can’t compare it to anyone else and the best comparison we can make is a rainbow: it’s sweeping and colourful, though possibly lacking a pot of gold at the end for the performers. Some history: Vula…
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Cæcilie Norby: Sisters in Jazz
Jazz is all a bit male; the BBC Radio Three jazz podcast from Geoffrey Smith is overwhelmingly about blokes, with Jelly Roll Morton, Erroll Garner, Jim Hall, George Russell and 10 other males in recent weeks, only jazz singer and pianist Shirley Horn flying the flag for the sisters. Jazz label ACT is trying to…
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Wandering Monster: Wandering Monster
This impressive modern jazz debut comes from bassist Sam Quintana, who leads the Wandering Monster quintet, and the CD opens with his confident double bass to the fore. Wandering Monster were winners of the 2016/17 Jazz North Introduces Award and have supported bands including Trio HLK and Mammal Hands. The sound is clearly jazz but…
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Javier Girotto Trio: Tango Nuevo Revisited
First of all what this isn’t: it’s not the kind of tango that’s evocative of svelte couples dancing in sensual fashion across a dance floor to music suggestive of a dodgy nightclub in Buenos Aries. This is more dance music as an art form. It’s a remake of an album, Summit, by Argentinean bandoneonist…
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Michael Bublé: Love
This starts off with a sentimental cover, When I Fall In Love, which is peak Bublé, as slow and luscious as you like and his voice shown off to its best. A perky I Only Have Eyes For You follows, just total class; you’d have to be Scrooge not to love it. Love You Anymore…
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Rainer Böhm: Hýdor (piano works XII)
It’s taken some time to review this very pleasant CD. Though it’s on jazz label ACT, it’s only nominally jazz and the only instrument is the piano. Opener Bass Study (Part I) is one of the more jazz-like tracks before Böhm goes more classical but, like the rest of the album, it’s gentle and relaxed…
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Ida Sand: My Soul Kitchen
The PR for this says Sand loves “sweet soul music”, and the emphasis is on the sweet for this collection of covers and originals. She’s got a honeyed voice and the band is tight but — in the best possible sense — it most reminds us of a live band you’d get in a classy…
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Lorraine Baker: Eden
This came a while back amid a pile of country albums — were we wrong to assume “Lorraine Baker” was a C&W singer? Much to our dismay, playing it reveals she’s a drummer and does jazz, and this is a very cool album. Baker is our kind of drummer, with plenty of skills on display…
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Julian and Roman Wasserfuhr: Relaxin’in Ireland
The emphasis here is on the relaxin’ not the Ireland, so expect no fiddles or jigs. It’s the Irish attitude that inspires the Wasserfuhr, and it’s a nice album for those who like chilled jazz. We often complain about ill-judged covers of popular songs but the Wasserfuhrs manage cool covers of songs that shouldn’t work…
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