Review Corner

Category: Jazz

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    Kate Halsall: Miniaturised Concertos and Maché

    In the paper, we lumped this together with John Metcalfe’s Appearance Of Colour because they seemed similar but they’re not really. Metcalfe’s album is soothe and calming and reflective of nature, Halsall is angular and unsettling, and more based in hardware. Like Metcalfe, Halsall, a pianist, mixes genres; the album stems from a project started…

  • Magnus Öström: Parachute

    Öström was a member of the famous Esbjörn Svensson Trio (no, us neither, but presumably if you like jazz you’re all over them), until Mr Svensson perished in a tragic diving accident. Öström says in the Press release: “During the years after Esbjörn’s death I struggled to find my way back to life. At times…

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    Molotov Jukebox: Tropical Gypsy

      Most albums start off well and then tail off; Molotov Jukebox do the opposite and opener Pineapple Girl (nice snare solo at the start aside) is a little saccharine for us, like the music from a kids’ television show. But it’s not bad, with its horns and energy, and it gets the party started.…

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    Barry Adamson: Know Where To Run

    We’ve been listening to Adamson for many years without realising it: he played with Magazine, and was on their punk classic Shot by Both Sides in 1977. He’s played with bands ever since, most recently Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds on 2013’s Push the Sky Away. He’s a man who’s worked hard at his…

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    Phil Collins: Face Value / Both Sides

    It’s not quite up there with Blackadder going over the top or Del Boy missing the bar and falling over, but one truly great television moment was the opening episode of Miami Vice: Crockett and Tubbs drive down a waterfront road in a Ferrari Daytona Spyder, racing to a show-down. The soundtrack that made it…

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    Lo’Jo: 310 Lunes

    We love Lo’Jo in the Review Corner. We came across them on a compilation we had to review about the new wave of French music (Cuisine Non-Stop: Introduction to the French Nouvelle Generation, 2008, Luaka Bop), which was opened by Lo’Jo’s Baji Larabat. Lo’Jo is a kind of collective, formed in 1982 and blending French…

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    Them: Complete Them 1964-1967

    Stealing their name from now long-forgotten London band, Shorty and Them (“Nobody’s going to hear of us London” figured young Ivan Morrison), Them are the band with which Van the Man first made his name, though not much cash (“It was a weird situation to be famous and broke — it’s one thing being broke…

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    Get The Blessing: Astronautilus

    We always liked punky jazz outfit Get The Blessing, as they played jazz with a beat more based on rock than jazz; by punk we mean that raucous brassy, slightly manic sound made famous by Pigbag. Opener Phaenomena represents this sound down to T — throbbing bassline (it could be a synth), skittish but regular…

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    Matthew Halsall and The Gondwana Orchestra: Into Forever

    This is under the jazz heading but the casual listener might be hard-pushed to describe it as such, the latest album from Manchester trumpeter and composer Matthew Halsall being more ethereal and soulful than your regular jazz. It’s a beautiful and intense, though laid back, album that blends easy listening jazz with soul and a…

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    Sons of Kemet: Lest We Forget What We Came Here To Do

    Winners of the MOBO best jazz award for their debut Burn, Sons of Kemet play jazz that’s not got much to do with the clichéd image of earnest men playing long trumpet solos in a dingy clubs. Possibly apart from the dingy clubs bit. For a start, much of the bass and motion in the…