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Aaron Parks/Hania Rani | JazzLocal32.com
Aaron Parks ~ Little Big III Aaron Parks' latest album, ‘Little Big III’, is the third in a series titled Little Big and his fourth album featuring a guitarist. The album (and series) also expands the soundscapes and ideas explored on his successful first Blue Note release, Invisible Cinema (2008). It is an album with…
Elementa /Almost Love ~ Reviews | JazzLocal32.com
The two albums reviewed feature musicians from Wellington, Aotearoa/New Zealand. The first is by guitarist Callum Allardice, an award-winning musician with an impressive résumé. The second is an EP by vocalist Ella Dunbar-Wilcox (Ella Sophie), her first release. Elementa ~ Callum Allardice Elementa is a fine album and Allardice’s best to date. With this release…
Upbeat Mood ~ Music Soup | JazzLocal32.com
One of the most pleasing formats in Jazz is the B3 trio. It endures because it has warmth and groove in equal proportions and it makes us happy. To unleash the full potential of the B3 a bass pedalboard must be used, and this difficult-to-master art is increasingly rare. There are hands, knees and feet,…
Tigran ~ The Bird of a Thousand Voices | JazzLocal32.com
The Bird of a Thousand Voices is an astonishing project, and as I listened and wrote, I weighed up the various superlatives. No other term sufficed. And, to describe it as a concept or a themed album would woefully undervalue it too. The depth and breadth of Tigran Hamasyan’s project is breathtaking and evaluating it…
LacLu (Self Titled) | JazzLocal32.com
I was idling my way through the morning when a message from a friend in the UK lit up my phone. ’I’m sitting in a Jazz club in Dublin, and I have a Kiwi couple with me whose daughter is an Auckland-based jazz musician. She plays in a band with guitarist Keith Price, do you…
‘Blue Note In My Suitcase’ and other delights | JazzLocal32.com
Earlier this month ‘Blue Note in My Suitcase’ was released by B3 Master Michel Bénébig. It is his sixth album and his first with a Jazz orchestra. The album hits the groove spot immediately, and as you listen you realise what a perfect pairing Bénébig's B3 and the Le Grande B3 Orchestra is, aided convincingly…
Myele Manzanza/Chai Masters | JazzLocal32.com
The first album reviewed is the latest release by Myele Manzanza, a Wellington-born musician who is now a significant presence on the London scene, the second is another clip of finalists from the recent edition of the 7VJC competition. Crisis And Opportunity Vol.4 - Meditations Those following New Zealand-born drummer/composer Myele Manzanza have been amply…
Mauro Sigura ~ Oud Improviser | JazzLocal32.com
There is something about the oud that awakens the deepest of emotions. Like the sound of an ancient temple gong, it resonates soulfully. It is primarily a modal instrument, using ‘Maqams scales', a system as complex and varied as the modes used by Coltrane. So, when the chance arose to interview a Jazz oud player,…
The Year of Alice | JazzLocal32.com
Shiva Loka ~ Alice Coltrane News that a live recording of Alice Coltrane’s previously unreleased 1971 Carnegie Hall concert was about to drop caused excitement in Jazz circles. 2024, designated by Impulse ‘The Year of Alice’, will see other Alice projects realised, and Shiva Loka is the opener. The quality is great, even though it…
Reviews From The Edge | JazzLocal32.com
Fragile Magic & Tenging ~ Ingi Bjani (Iceland) Before I became aware of the trio albums, I was already familiar with the Ingi Bjarni Quintet through his Tenging album, which I can only describe as extraordinary. Tenging is an album of breathtaking beauty and invention, evoking an ECM aesthetic. I love to hear musicians who…
A Quieter Place in Times of Turmoil | JazzLocal32.com
There are many ways to navigate troubled times. You can deny reality, scream into the void, surf the waves of absurdity, bitterly declaim, or seek quiet while you gather your thoughts. Many prefer the latter, although the other responses are also valid. The last few years have felt particularly untethered as a growing flock of…
The Quantum of Magic | JazzLocal32.com
William Butler Yeats said, 'The world is full of magic things, waiting patiently for our senses to grow sharper’. I believe this absolutely and am reminded of it when my senses connect with a certain kind of music. Music that transcends mere form and engages with the cosmos. That is the domain of improvised music,…
Komeda ~ A Private Life In Jazz | JazzLocal32.com
Komeda is one of the most intriguing characters in the European Jazz Pantheon. A man referred to as the Chopin of modern Polish music. So, who was he and why did a musician who only released one ‘official’ Jazz album have such an outsized influence on European Jazz? The book I review here answers many…
Tomasz Stańko ~ Desperado | JazzLocal32.com
This post is the first of two book reviews. The books I review dovetail as they are part of the same story. Tomasz Stańko and Krzysztof (Komeda) Trzciński were bandmates, but they were more than that. They were innovators and extraordinary musicians, leaving behind them a rich legacy. One that is rightly elevating them to…
Circling the Edge | JazzLocal32.com
It is on the margins that the most interesting discoveries are made. The manifestations are bolder because they are not as beholden to the gravitational centre. Whether freshly minted or previously overlooked, the best of them radiate an eternal essence. Norway and New New Zealand are far from the centre and the musicians performing in…
The Outsider ~ Chris Cody | JazzLocal32.com
The Outsider is the latest release by acclaimed Jazz Pianist Chris Cody, and as with his previous albums, he unflinchingly holds a mirror up to life past and present. Cody has demonstrated an uncanny knack for drawing back the veil on what we wilfully overlook; colonisation, alienation, belonging and dislocation. And he does so while…
Conversations ~ Nacey/Haines | JazzLocal32.com
It is not the first time Kevin Haines and Dixon Nacey have recorded together and I hope it won’t be the last. There is a symmetry binding these musicians, one born of respectful dialogue between generations. Both are well-established and neither has anything to prove. When the stars align in this way, the conditions are…
Swings & Roundabouts ~ Mark Lockett | JazzLocal32.com
Mark Lockett has released his seventh album Swings & Roundabouts, arguably his finest. The project had been in gestation for a while but like many projects, it was delayed by the pandemic. Still, once the travel restrictions were lifted he headed for New York, engaged some of New York's finest Jazz musicians and set up…
Goldsmith/Baynes ~ E Rere Rā | JazzLocal32.com
This lovely album by Allana Goldsmith and Mark Baynes is timely because it arrives at a crucial historical juncture. For a long time after the period of colonisation the beautiful indigenous language, Te Reo Maori, was suppressed in Aotearoa/New Zealand. After determined efforts by indigenous speakers, the decline was reversed, but there is a long…
Volume One ~ Darren Pickering Small Worlds | JazzLocal32.com
New Zealand’s Rattle records contain a cornucopia of wonders and the recent release of ‘Small Worlds Vol One’ by Darren Pickering is the latest. Pickering is a Christchurch-based musician and this marks an important milestone on his musical journey. He has recorded in his own right, been a runner-up in national jazz awards and appeared…
Jaimie Branch Obituary | JazzLocal32.com
Acknowledgment to International Anthem Label for the picture I have all too often sat down at my computer to note the passing of a creative musical spirit. Mostly they have been musicians with a significant body of work to their credit and although there is always sadness, it is comforting to reflect on the…
Dave Lisik Interview | JazzLocal32.com
This interview took place while jazz trumpeter Dave Lisik was in London on study leave. It had been teed up for some time but our plans were interrupted by the chaos that trailed on the heels of Covid. Dave has many strings to bow and not least his role as Senior Lecturer, Coordinator of Jazz…
Part Two: Ukraine ~ A Jazz Story | JazzLocal32.com
It took me a minute to recognise what I was looking at. It was a picture of a burnt piano after a missile attack. No musician should ever need to post a photo of a bombed piano but Lyudmila Shekera did. It is now her Facebook banner. A symbol of defiance, loss, and perhaps of…
Alex Ventling ~ Nurturing the Creative Spirit | JazzLocal32.com
Interview January 2022 Alex Ventling is a musician worth keeping an eye on. His learning pathway is intriguing and his music is vibrant. He is an improviser in the true sense, avoiding inertia as he gathers information without and within. His method is to locate a point of equanimity and in doing so, honouring both…
Another Dance: Nock/Stuart/Wilson/Zwartz | JazzLocal32.com
This is an ensemble of seasoned observers operating from their shared vantage point of empathy and humanism. Jazz at its best reflects the world about it and it never shirks from truth-telling. To achieve this, primal emotions must be invoked. Something to cut through the memes, words, pretty tunes or familiar licks that inhabit our…
The Inflatable Ram ~ ShekBand Ukraine | JazzLocal32.com
Some stories play out quietly while others are thrown into sharp relief against a tapestry of upheaval. ShekBand is from Ukraine, and as missiles fly about them, it is tempting to place their project solely within the context of the unprovoked invasion. That would be a mistake. While the horror is inescapable, there is a…
The Painter / Far Star | JazzLocal32.com
During recent months, a number of jazz projects have occupied my time and in particular the 7VirtualJazzClub competition. I am one of the judges. Both albums came to my attention via that platform, as the Tobias Meinhart band had an entry last year and Gilad Hekselman won four years earlier. Both albums reflect our interesting…
Meditations ~ Mutations ~ Julien Wilson | JazzLocal32.com
A famous conductor of classical music once stated that a good composition would please almost everyone, but that a truly great composition should divide an audience. With improvised music, it is hopefully different, as early experimentalists like Sun Ra, Terry Riley, John Zorn, Jon Hassell and Miles opened our ears to limitless sonic possibilities.…
Inside Outside ~ a listeners lament | JazzLocal32.com
The term inside outside has a specific meaning in Jazz theory. There are well-delineated subcategories like side-stepping or side-slipping and in the hands of jazz writers, it can simply imply the comfort with which a player moves between playing the changes and free improvisation within a tune. Then there is the where. The joy of…
Jim Langabeer Remembered | JazzLocal32.com
Jim left us in January, and the shock of his unexpected passing robbed me of the right words. In the following weeks, I mulled over my inaction, wanting to do justice to his story? Then I caught covid and more time passed. While it is usual to post an obituary within days of someone passing,…
The Invasion of Ukraine ~ A Jazz Story | JazzLocal32.com
‘John I am in bomb shelter and have received advice to leave as soon as can. I want you to have these photos and my story to tell the world - one teacher can grow a new generation’. The teacher who the writer alludes to is Alexey Proshenkov and as I write this his exact…
Dan Costa ~ Pianist & Composer | JazzLocal32.com
. Dan Costa was born in London to Portuguese and Italian parents. He has lived in eight countries. I mention this, because Dan is somewhat of a troubadour, frequently travelling from country to country and always absorbing the musical influences. He listens carefully, interprets, and then takes it to a new level entirely, and this …
Tyler Cooney ~ Modern Ideal | JazzLocal32.com
Since emerging from the shadows in the 50s, the Jazz guitar has become one of the most popular instruments with Jazz audiences. And, despite the plethora of styles appearing since then, most modern jazz guitarists defy stylistic pigeonholing. 'Modern Ideal' by Brisbane’s Tyler Cooney is a case in point as it is forward-looking and yet…