One of the more mystifyingly undersung UK saxophonists Martin Speake is set to tour next month in the stellar company of Swedish pianist Bobo Stenson, bassist Steve Watts and ex-Lee Konitz drummer Jeff Williams.
The Loop collective – an informal grouping of some of the leading members of the new generation of jazz musicians on the London scene – is holding a festival next month at the Vortex in London.
The city of dreaming spires is set to launch its first-ever jazz festival later this year.
Alto saxophonist and producer Jason Yarde is special guest of new trio-about-town Zed-U next week on 21 January at the Concrete Bar, next to the Hayward Gallery on the South Bank.
The new wave of European jazz groups is featured next month at Dublin’s innovative 12 Points festival from 11-14 February.
It’s that time of year again when you get the chance to nominate your favourite jazz artists from the past year in the annual Parliamentary Jazz Awards.
Ronnie Scott’s club in London celebrates its fiftieth anniversary in October so expect a raft of top class names in the autumn.
Miles Davis - Forever Blue - 2009 marks the 50th anniversary of the recording of an album frequently cited as the greatest jazz album of all time, Kind of Blue. To mark the anniversary a special anniversary box set has been released and in keeping with the importance of the album in this special feature Stuart Nicholson tells the story of the album, detailing a tale of surprising confusion along the way which affected the titling of two of the songs on the album ‘All Blues’. Read...
Esbjörn Svensson - Reminiscence of a Soul - 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...
Vijay Iyer - Post-modern Meltdown - 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...
