rescuing musical virtue in distress.
Any album which comes bundling into earshot with such a blast of euphoria and energy, such passion and joy is going to grab your attention right from the world go. No tricks, no gimmicks, just getting right on with the job at hand. The job at hand in this case being to make sassy blends... Continue Reading →
Seeing Felton Pilate’s name associated with anything is always a badge of quality, a seal of approval and this time out he is on board with Edward W. Sealey for this smooth yet groovesome, R&B meets slick, contemporary jazz instrumental. And Brighter Than This is a well chosen name, warmth and sunshine vibes ooze out... Continue Reading →
This record blends a very young urban sound with a very mature jazz delivery. As a whole it reminds me of all the good European things that we in Britain have begun to distance ourselves from. Multilingual vocals carry this record across the continent with a gentle ease. I can see this record being appreciated... Continue Reading →
If the term “concept album” conjures up images of keyboard players dressed as wizards and ten-minute drum solos then perhaps it is best to think of In The Hills of California as an album of interlinked ideas, an instrumental narrative or a series of scenes and scenarios told through music. Based around the idea of... Continue Reading →
If the term “world music” has always been something that you have never really understood…don’t worry it is pretty meaningless…then Liar’s Notebook is exactly for you. Not that there is any one easy and catch all definition which works for such a broad term but a Neo-soul outfit drawn from musicians from both Southern India... Continue Reading →
As musicians you seem to be a perfect match, what brought you together and can you tell me a bit about the individual journeys which got you to this point? Nicolaas- I originally came to Sarasota to attend Ringling School of Art and Design as an illustration major. Ari was 8 years old at the time. While there I... Continue Reading →
Husband and wife duo, The Jorgensens, have always been good at finding their inspirations in some long passed, classic sounds and then adding their own polish and poise, integrity and originality so that the end result is modern music for nostalgic hearts. They wander through the early days of contemporary music, gathering jazz vibes and... Continue Reading →
It is often said that the best approach to making music is knowing that it isn’t about the amount of notes that you play but more about which ones you chose to leave out, that understatement is often a more powerful tool than throwing too many ideas into a song. And if editing and underplay... Continue Reading →
Blending tasteful, not to mention soulful, touches of jazz with driving, funk-infused grooves, seamless changes of pace, violins playing the part usually reserved for the guitar and mellifluous melodicism, Breeze is a gorgeous and unique song. One which goes out of its way to remind us that jazz isn’t a dirty word, that funk can... Continue Reading →
The term “smooth jazz” often comes with all sorts of expectant sonic baggage, conjuring pictures of cliched lounge acts and ambient lift music, at least to those who haven’t explored the genre enough or discovered where its real charms lie. Exploring any new genre is about finding the artist and the music which best typifies... Continue Reading →
In a world always looking for the next new creative path, it is wonderful to come across a group of musicians happy to celebrate the past. Jazz has always been okay with that though, revelling in its own standards, classics and popular tunes and then re-exploring them and keeping them fresh through reinterpretation and fine-tuning... Continue Reading →
It isn’t so much the case that Sebastian Reynolds hops genres or even attempts to merge them like some sort of sonic alchemist, it is more that he floats without concern above them. And whilst you could make a good argument for elements of avant-garde classical, trip-hop, free jazz and ambient experimentation all finding their... Continue Reading →
I’m not one to venture into the territory of smooth jazz all that often, but as the sunlight streams through into the office dappling the keyboard and my view through the window is one of green trees, blue skies and the slight haze as the heat hits the tarmac, Smooth It Out feels like the... Continue Reading →
They say you should write about what you know. The same is true in music. If you are looking for something honest and heartfelt, authentic and meaningful, then what better to write about than your own life. And whilst you could argue that most artists do this to a degree, most do it to a... Continue Reading →
Germany had a huge, life shattering, impact on the world during the last century, obviously some good and some bad (putting it mildly), from the impact of Bauhaus and the Dada art movement to the post-war involvement in electronic music and the fall of the Berlin Wall in the 1990’s. It’s safe to say Germany... Continue Reading →
It’s difficult to pitch an album such as this. It’s an accumulation of lots of parts, when you consider the album is essentially a live recording of a jazz band being supported by a big band (Ricky-Tick Big Band Brass), oh and the main pull is a sax player from Finland, you’ll be forgiven for... Continue Reading →
The world is fashioned as much by the millions of seemingly small decisions that individuals make every day as it is by national policy and global movements. It is fair to say that Gary Palmer’s decision to wrap up his career in law enforcement to return to his early passion of making music was one... Continue Reading →
The neat trick that Harry Stafford seems to pull off is that whilst he sounds slightly like a few other artists, the artists that he sounds like sound like nobody else. Not even him! I’m not even sure that’s possible but its the only way that I can describe it. I could list the most... Continue Reading →
London-based The Heliocentrics have long stirred a bewitching brew of funk, jazz, psych and library influences. Labelled by Pitchfork as “a live-band culmination of every obsessive hip-hop-era producer's drive to fall deeper into a rabbit hole of the previously unheard”, the band’s far-reaching influence meant a natural knock-on in being cited by hip-hop royalty: namely,... Continue Reading →
You shouldn’t judge books by covers but occasionally it is okay to judge a band by their name. Rio Trio immediately suggests something latin, something with a jazz vibe, something subtle and sensuous, something cool and charming. And Footprints is exactly all of those. A sweet blend of flute, guitar, saxophone and percussion, Rio Trio... Continue Reading →
The world turning around us is becoming an ever more opinionated, polarized and divided place. Amidst the cacophony of 24/7 news coverage designed more to entertain than to inform, political correctness has taken center stage. In this maelstrom stirred up by unscrupulous politicians more concerned with maintaining the status quo than the welfare of their... Continue Reading →
I like a band to have a name that gives the audience a clue to what genre they play, and unless you’ve never heard of the great bandleader Count Basie (and you’re in some way hoping for music based around the popular Sesame Street character) the album title gives a further clue that you’re going... Continue Reading →
If the soft and smokey, soulful rootsy blends seem familiar then you might be interested to know that you find none other than Ranzel X Kendrick front and centre on this cover. And like all covers it ain't what you do, it’s the way that you do it…that is, there is no point just faithfully... Continue Reading →
If you think that there are no knew ways to fuse different musical genres, that the cross-pollination of sounds has nothing new to offer, that genre-hopping has no more fences to leap or styles to merge, then a quick listen to I Am The Sun, Brooke Benson’s single from the EP of the same name,... Continue Reading →
The story of The Jorgensens is a story of love, both of a shared love of music and a growing emotional connection which blossomed as that music was explored and created together. I’m not saying that music this sleek, this wonderfully emotive, this seemingly effortless, can only be made by people who know each other... Continue Reading →
Not many people make albums that are right for every occasion. Albums that fit a range of moods as they flit across the dynamic range, hop the generic fences and offer a fluid journey through emotion and feelings. Albums like that really defy easy pigeon-holing and it is albums like this that I love. Why... Continue Reading →
If there is one musical genre that refuses to play by the rules, it’s jazz. From Louis Armstrong rewriting what the humble trumpet is capable of, to Charlie Parker inventing a new form of music in be-bop, right through the civil rights era where the outpouring of emotion ran high through the music of John... Continue Reading →
With a band name and song title that both suggest something out of the ordinary, all you can do is hit the play button with thoughts of such bands as Hawkwind and their many spin-offs running through your head and brace for impact. And the impact is perhaps not quite the jolt that you might... Continue Reading →
Whilst we seem to have half the music community happy to bury their heads in past nostalgia and overtly plagiarised sounds, the other so desperate to be ahead of the curve that their mad musical machinations leave most people scratching their heads, it is good to know that looseleaf is a band that gets it.... Continue Reading →
Jazz, as a genre, has always lent itself to other genres easily because jazz, in its essence, has never really been just one thing. What allows jazz to work is removing the boundaries of more conventional styles to allow other influences to come in, it’s an ever shifting, moving style that still refuses to be... Continue Reading →