New British Jazz

[sidewinder]

'Sons of Kemet' are great. A highlight of the Swanage Fest during the Summer.

Edited September 15, 2013 by sidewinder

[Head Man]

Another interesting one:

From Amazon:

The inspiration for compositions on this studio recording came after a visit he made with his son Clark and grandson Ben to the WW1 battlefields of Loos in northern France, where his father was wounded and captured in 1915 aged 18.

Stan says in the liner notes: "When writing these pieces, while wanting to keep a WW1 theme and not wishing to be too sombre about it, I decided to consult a book I have called "Wipers Times", which contains a compilation of the magazines printed and distributed in the trenches, from which I gleaned the titles for five of these pieces. The pages are full of the British Tommy humour about such as the discomfort of the trenches, the bombardment of the German artillery, the British and German military equipment and much more. To find humour in the midst of a terrifying war speaks volumes about the spirit of the WW1 British Tommy."

By chance there was a drama about 'The Ypres Times' on the TV last week - the start of the deluge of WWI programmes we can expect over the next few years.

.....nice review in today's Observer.

My order's in.....

[jazzscriveyn]

http://otoroku.limitedrun.com/news

Ok this might interesting to certain parties. I thought I'd read that this coming out on NoBusiness.. or maybe that's something else. Looking forward to hearing more from Red.

Thanks for this! I get to be in London only about once a year, so I'm glad to have this, didn't know OTO were doing records/downloads. DLed it this morning and am listening now. I like it very much. DLed the other two recordings on offer too.

.

Edited September 15, 2013 by jazzscriveyn

[A Lark Ascending]

Some interesting new discs heading our way:

The Printmakers are: Nikki Iles (Piano), Norma Winstone (Vocals), Mike Walker (Electric Guitar), Mark Lockheart (saxophones), Steve Watts (Double Bass), James Maddren (Drums). Most of those names mean little outside of Europe but they are top of the heap within this part of the world.

And I'll put in another plug for these recent ones - some of the most enjoyable discs I've heard in the last few months, all with Laura Jurd at the helm...

She's already playing widely around Europe. Expect her to be a major name in the years to come. Not only does she play brilliant trumpet but she composes tunes you want to hear again.

Edited April 25, 2015 by A Lark Ascending

[Head Man]

Bev, which of the Laura Jurd would you recommend to start with?......I'd like to dip my toe in the water.

[A Lark Ascending]

Depends what you are like with vocals. I particularly like the 'Human Spirit' and 'Blue-Eyed' Hawk records but they are vocal-centred with the instruments supporting - plenty of soloing. Quite rocky in an off-centred way (she's described herself as a trumpet player who really wants to be a guitar player).

Landing Ground is lovely but a bit more pastel/ECM. You get more of a sense of her broader compositional interests there.

The Chaos Orchestra is mainly instrumental (has Lauren Kinsella, a very good singer from Ireland, I think on three tracks - same singer as on the others). Very reminiscent of Loose Tubes.

After hearing her quartet on Friday night I'd suggest we've yet to hear her full powers on record and the very young musicians are at that lovely stage of finding their characters and distinguishing features.

A work in progress.

You can hear one of the 'Human Spirit' tracks here:

Should help you decide if the music might be of interest. I find 'Pirates' utterly infectious. I've had it buzzing round my head since I first heart it on JRR a couple of months back.

[Head Man]

Thanks, Bev...."Pirates" isn't really my cup of tea, I'm afraid.

I'll try and catch her live when and if she next plays in the north-east.

[A Lark Ascending]

It's very poppy.

Made a great instrumental track on Friday night - tremendously rhythmic with the drummer really going for it swirling round the reggae-like beat.

[BFrank]

Saw a nice showcase at SXSW last week sponsored by the British Underground / Jazz Re:freshed organizations. There were some very talented young musicians there, including GoGo Penguin, Native Dancer and the Moses Boyd Exodus.