A force of nature he may be – whether embarking on back-to-back tours or hooking up with an ever expanding cast of international musicians – the US bassist Michael Janisch, long since resident in the UK, was hiding his light under a bushel last night at the Pizza Express Jazz Club in London’s West End.
‘Happy for You’ is now confirmed as the opener for Polar Bear’s new album Peepers, its first for Leeds label Leaf, previously best known in jazz circles for championing Swedish duo Wildbirds & Peacedrums.
While the independent jazz record business has been under the cosh this year, one rare ray of light has been the continuing development of the artist roster and release schedule at Cardiff-based Edition records.
Trumpeter Abram Wilson (left) launches his latest album Life Paintings on Saturday at the Purcell Room as part of an autumn tour.
Rare gigs featuring drummer Tony Buck (left), best known for his work with cult improvising trio The Necks, are coming on to the horizon at the end of the month when Buck teams up on a Jazz Services-supported tour with the spirited free jazz-inclined saxophonist Tony Bevan, himself a member of free jazz legend Sunny Murray’s European trio.
While Brad Mehldau’s live album recorded at the French Marciac festival has been delayed for the foreseeable future, the latest leg in his Wigmore Hall jazz series takes place tonight, when he plays a rare duet with saxophonist Joshua Redman who is currently enjoying a purple patch following the release of his latest album Compass earlier in the year.
Freedom Rhythm and Sound, a new book compiled by Gilles Peterson and Stuart Baker and published by an offshoot of record label Soul Jazz, charts jazz cover art from 1965 to 1983 focusing on the independent and radical music culture of the period, “an untold journey” according to Stuart Baker in the book’s introduction, charting a musical universe light years away from the output of most commercial jazz labels of the time.
The gargantuan drug habit of drummer Phil Seamen, who died in 1972 aged just 46, often overshadowed the Burton-on-Trent-born man’s glorious playing.
The Pizza Express Jazz Club this week hosts a F-IRE Collective four-day festival with double bills each night at the Soho club in London.
The long-running Marsden Jazz Festival begins later today and runs until Sunday at various venues around the small Yorkshire town.
