Ahead of this weekend’s Brad Mehldau European première of his extended work Highway Rider on Saturday Jazzwise can exclusively reveal that Nonesuch Records, the US pianist’s recording home for many years, has now confirmed that solo performance album Live in Marciac, a 2-CD and DVD set, will be released on 10 January.
Just days to go now to the beginning of the London Jazz Festival, the UK’s biggest jazz festival, a monster of epic proportions this year which spreads out all over the capital from Friday until Sunday week.
Jason Yarde will be performing with the Music for Youth alumni ensemble at the Royal Albert Hall this Wednesday to mark the 40th anniversary celebrations of the Music For Youth organisation.
It would have been Pran Nath’s 92nd birthday on Wednesday and, to celebrate the music of the singer, the great minimalist composer Terry Riley made a very rare appearance in London as part of a short tour with saxophonist George Brooks and Asian Underground innovator Talvin Singh, during the London International Festival of Exploratory Music at Kings Place.
This weekend sees Frank Zappa’s musical and personal legacy take over London’s iconic Roundhouse venue over three nights of music, art, discussion and perhaps mostly aptly, comedy to mark what would have been his 70th birthday next month.
Earlier this week it was announced that 21-year-old Glaswegian Alan Benzie is this year’s recipient of the Billboard Magazine Endowed Scholarship, a prize which is awarded to current students with strong academic records and who show promise in their future career as a recording artist and performer.
The Beat Generation and the Energy of Life, a personal journey by bassist Peter Ind takes place at the Cockpit Theatre in Marylebone tonight with the support of actors Peter Marinker and Michael Howarth, jazz guitarist Dave Cliff, drummer Rod Youngs and guitarist Dave Preston together with Bill Troop, the son of Wilhelm Reich’s senior colleague.
Just two years ago an important new presence on the alto saxophone emerged for the first time.
Now in its seventh incarnation, Take Five – the professional mentoring and development scheme for emerging jazz talent – celebrates the official launch of its latest edition with a jazz love-in two weeks on Thursday at the Southbank Centre on Thursday 18 November in an evening of live music, the screening of a film narrating the story of the Take Five project to date and the introduction of this year’s participants.
In a showcase of up-and-coming jazz talent, the students of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama jazz department are getting in on the act at this year’s London Jazz Festival when they perform in two exclusive concerts with special guests Jean Toussaint and Jacqui Dankworth at Guildhall’s Music Hall on Silk Street near the Barbican centre.
