Tag: jazz

  • do Norte album preview – A Bossa Elétrica

    do Norte album preview – A Bossa Elétrica

    Scorching South American sounds from Latin-infused Scandinavians When you think of Latin music, Sweden doesn’t spring to mind — but perhaps it should. A Bossa Elétrica may hail from Stockholm, but their most recent album, do Norte, features the kind of percussive Brazilian rhythms that wouldn’t sound out of place on a sizzling Rio beach. The […]

  • The Robert Glasper Beat Tape by Dela – free music download

    The Robert Glasper Beat Tape by Dela – free music download

    For fans of jazz and hip hop, Montréal beatmaker Dela has produced the best beat tape of 2010… and it’s free Many jazz musicians profess to understand hip hop, but most don’t. That’s what makes Robert Glasper unique. He gets hip hop. The jazz pianist has worked with rappers, such as Q-Tip, Talib Kweli, Common […]

  • Suite For Ma Dukes DVD preview – Carlos Niño and Miguel Atwood-Ferguson

    Suite For Ma Dukes DVD preview – Carlos Niño and Miguel Atwood-Ferguson

    Previewing a strings ‘n’ beats concert DVD boxset commemorating the work of hip hop DJ J Dilla The most overlooked recording of 2009 was undoubtedly Suite For Ma Dukes, an EP by Carlos Niño and Miguel Atwood-Ferguson that commemorated the work of hip hop DJ J Dilla, who died in 2006. Proceeds from the EP […]

  • Shapes 10:02 album review – various artists (Robert Luis)

    Shapes 10:02 album review – various artists (Robert Luis)

    With recession gripping the globe, less music is being released and of the albums that do reach our shelves, most are creatively bankrupt. However one label whose stock is rising is Tru Thoughts. Its valuable assets includes acts like Maddslinky, Quantic and Hidden Orchestra, all of which have attracted positive press. Diversification also contributes to […]

  • Radio Silence album review – Neil Cowley Trio

    Radio Silence album review – Neil Cowley Trio

    Neil Cowley must be getting fed up of critics’ veiled digs. His trio has, for instance, been characterised as an outfit prone to pull “the plug on improvisation” (The Guardian). Really? As if mindful of such gibes, Radio Silence is a more serious affair than 2008’s Loud… Louder… Stop!. Consequently, it has to be spun […]

  • Yesterday You Said Tomorrow album review – Christian Scott

    Yesterday You Said Tomorrow album review – Christian Scott

    Judging from Scott’s scowl on the album cover, you don’t want to mess with this dude. And when you hear his moody opener K.K.P.D. — which, incidentally, stands for “Klu Klux Police Department” — that impression is reinforced. Add to that, tracks entitled Jenacide and American’t, and you sense this 27-year-old New Orleans trumpeter has […]

  • The After Suite album review – Elan Mehler

    The After Suite album review – Elan Mehler

    This New York pianist looks like a jazz man, sounds like a jazz man, and yet makes music non-jazzers will love. The numerous vocal tracks on this album will reassure those who flee at the hint of a sax solo. Adam McBride-Smith’s voice perfectly complements the floaty, melodic ballads of The New Breed and I Want To Leave […]

  • Planet Pimp album review – Soil & “PIMP” Sessions

    Planet Pimp album review – Soil & “PIMP” Sessions

    If you’re not already familiar with this Japanese sextet, they apparently play “death jazz”. The band says the term was coined “in the hope of alienating Japan’s polite, noodling, straight-ahead jazz cognoscenti”. Whatever its origins, never has a more inappropriate moniker been given to a sound. Many words spring to mind while listening to Planet […]

  • Jazz Re:freshed Vol. 1 album review – various artists

    Jazz Re:freshed Vol. 1 album review – various artists

    This compilation by London promoters Adam “Rock” Moses and Justin “TopRock” McKenzie is a studious snapshot of nu jazz and broken beat sounds, genres long snubbed by major labels. Without this album, where else would you hear Femi Temowo’s poetic Wood And Things, the head-nodding broken beats of Kaidi Tatham or the psychedelic soul of […]

  • Loud… Louder… Stop! album review – Neil Cowley Trio

    Loud… Louder… Stop! album review – Neil Cowley Trio

    This album is sandwiched between the proverbial rock and a hard place. Fans of nu jazz, who favour a mains-powered instrument in the mix, will be put off by an acoustic trio. Meanwhile “proper” jazzers — those musos who listen to suites rather than songs — will find Loud… Louder… Stop! too damn catchy for […]