Julian Siegel teams up with top American musicians Joey Baron and Greg Cohen for a new CD release following successful tours together and ahead of their latest live dates. One of the busiest saxophonists around, Siegel talks to Andy Robson about the genesis of the group, the different approach of the Americans and his own new perceptions.
Kenny Garrett releases the first live album of his career this month, a quite remarkable addition to his discography stretching back to the 1980s. With free jazz legend Pharoah Sanders joining him, Garrett makes an intriguing sidestep with this project away from his recent Far Eastern and Coltrane preoccupations. Interview: Kevin Le Gendre
Pianist Vijay Iyer cuts a singular presence on the American jazz scene. With a cerebral, but accessible post-modern style, he has made his presence felt with a run of albums featuring his own cast of collaborators. Best known for his work with altoist Rudresh Mahanthappa and Mike Ladd he won Jazzwise album of the year in 2004 with In What Language? and since then has continued to craft a singular style that makes him stand out on the sometimes hidebound American scene. Kevin Le Gendre talks to...
Bobo Stenson is one of the most revered European pianists with a track record that includes key recordings with Jan Garbarek, Charles Lloyd and Tomasz Stanko. As his latest solo disc Cantando is released he talks to Stuart Nicholson about his early days in Sweden, the distinctly European nature of his approach to jazz and the way the music has developed over the course of his career.
Saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock has within a short period of time become part of the progressive adventurous stream of jazz coming out of the London scene centred around the F-IRE Collective. With her new group she this month debuts new album Sleepthief in the company of forward-thinking American drummer Tom Rainey and pianist Liam Noble. Duncan Heining talks to Ingrid about her fast-developing career and how she sees the direction of her music in a rapidly changing musical landscape.
The tragic death of Esbjörn Svensson, at the age of just 44, in June robbed jazz of one of its most progressive and influential musicians. In just over a decade with EST he changed the face of the piano trio stretching and challenging the format and in turn directly influencing a whole new generation of jazz musicians. At the same time he introduced both a postmodern European sensibility to the band and the innovations and new sounds of rock and electronica channelled through the unique prism of...
A historic reunion this year has seen the coming together once again of one of the most seminal and influential jazz-rock bands of the 1970s, Return To Forever. Bringing the line-up of Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Al Di Meola and Lenny White together to tour has been a long time in the planning with the tour also coinciding with an anthology that cherry picks the best tracks from the line-up’s heyday in the 70s. Andy Robson hears from Chick Corea and Stanley Clarke about the band’s day in the...
Tipped as one of the new rising stars on the European jazz circuit Belgian pianist Jef Neve returns this month with a follow-up to his critically acclaimed trio outing from last year. On the new record, Soul in a Picture, he manages to mould jazz, rock and classical influences into a flexible improvising vehicle along with drummer Teun Verbruggen and bassist Piet Verbist. Stuart Nicholson talks to Neve about his inspirations, his classical and jazz influences, and how he manages to develop his...
There’s no one quite like Django Bates. Once the enfant terrible of the 1980s jazz scene, the focal point of Loose Tubes, the ramshackle and influential big band that became a launching pad for a host of significant jazz musicians, Django’s solo career as a keyboardist and composer has developed in fits and starts since. He has gained devotion, bafflement and international recognition in equal measure, as his inexorable retreat from the surburbia of his youth towards a global hybrid of...
Joe Lovano and Dave Liebman are joined by Ravi Coltrane in the new line-up of Saxophone Summit. Following the death of Michael Brecker, Ravi stepped into the breach with his tenor-playing colleagues to find a way to remember both Brecker and Ravi’s father John Coltrane on the breathtaking new album Seraphic Light. Recorded with the intent of reflecting both the integrity and spirituality of both Brecker and Coltrane, dwelling particularly on the late underappreciated period of Trane’s...
