The sound of ‘Mercury’ begins the album, the ‘Love supreme’ riff is played on bass and Emma-Jean urges us to ‘Say Something’. The old and new – trumpet (played by Emma-Jean) and electronic keyboards sound as if made for one another, potent jazz fusion is being created. The word ‘mercury’ is repeated and Emma-Jean narrates- ‘to listen is to know and know is to love’; there’s something distinctly spiritual going on here; a solitary Rhodes electric piano with an exhortation to o

“Musician and producer Daniel Vincent announces the release of his latest studio album, “Means of Escape”, a captivating journey through soundscapes that blend ambient textures, progressive structures, and deeply personal lyrics. Transcending the post-progressive psychedelia of his earlier work, Means of Escape weaves the disparate elements of a rich 22-year back catalogue into a cohesive, sonically adventurous, and emotionally profound journey.” The incisive guitar on ‘Far B

♫♫ALICE COLTRANE : Alice McLeod studied classical music and had piano lessons with Bud Powell.  She also occupies the position of one of Jazz’s best-known harpists and also imports the rippling glissando and arpeggiated stylisations into her piano playing, called ‘waterfalls’ by some. She was a member of vibraphonist Terry Gibbs ’ band before replacing McCoy Tyner  in husband John’s quartet. Coltrane’s deeply spiritual music, inspired by a pilgrimage to India in 1970 is an ac

SUN RA’s LEGACY Sun Ra has been an influence on a myriad of musical artists and luminaries. These include pianist Lonnie Liston   Smith  but not just jazz artists alone: George Clinton ( Parliament, Funkadelic  et al), Afrika Bambaataa, Flying Lotus   and Sonic Youth  are just a few cited examples for whom Sun Ra’s music resonated, but Frank Zappa  also seems an obvious connecting point, consciously or not. John Sinclair , manager of the MC5  was a fan and brought the Arkestr

Born Edward Kennedy ‘Duke’ Ellington, Ellington’s mother and father had a piano each and studied James P Johnson’s piano rolls when he was young. He worked his way up in the Washington dance band scene and eventually settled in Harlem, NewYork in the spring of 1923where he became leader of The Washingtonians. The recruitment of trumpeter James ‘Bubber’ Miley (his plunger mute would define what was called the ‘jungle sound’ in the Cotton Club days) helped to define the Duke’s

*****ALBUMS: 8) MILES DAVIS: MILES IN THE SKY (1967) “A brilliant transitional album.” MILES IN THE SKY was recorded in four sessions on 16 th  January, 1968 and 15th-17 th May, 1968 at Columbia Studio B, New York. MUSICIANS: Miles Davis, trumpet, cornet (on tracks 1 and 4), Wayne Shorter, tenor sax, Herbie Hancock, acoustic and electric piano (on 1), Ron Carter, upright bass and electric bass (on 1) and Tony Williams, drums with George Benson, electric guitar guesting on 2.

*****ALBUMS: 7) MILES DAVIS: MILES SMILES (1967) “A classic post bop album that pushes the boundaries of hard bop and flirts with the avant-garde.”   MILES SMILES was recorded in two sessions on 24 th  and 25 th  October 1966 at the Columbia 30 th  Street Studio, New York   TRACKS: Orbits, Circle, Footprints, Dolores, Freedom Jazz Dance, Ginger Bread Boy .   MUSICIANS: Miles Davis, trumpet, Wayne Shorter, tenor sax, Herbie Hancock, acoustic and electric piano, Ron Carter, bas

*****ALBUMS: 5) WORKIN’ WITH THE MILES DAVIS QUINTET “Part of a series of four compilations of recordings released years later and, arguably the best.” Miles Davis’ ‘Workin’ was recorded in 1956 (There were two sessions on 11 th  May (the majority of the album) and 26 th  October (the piece entitled Half Nelson as part of a contractual obligation to Prestige Records before Davis departed for Columbia Records that produced Workin’ and three other albums, Relaxin’, Steamin’ and

*****ALBUMS: 4) KIND OF BLUE “Has come to be regarded as a go-to jazz album” MILES DAVIS: Based on modality rather than Hard Bop, KIND OF BLUE (1959) (Columbia) (Sextet) (New York) was recorded over two sessions on 2 nd  and 22 nd  April?, 1959 and released on 17 th August, 1959. TRACKS: So What, All Blues, Freddie Freeloader, Blue in Green, Flamenco Sketches MUSICIANS: Miles Davis, trumpet; John Coltrane, tenor sax; Julian ‘Cannonball’ Adderley, alto sax; Bill Evans/ Wynton

*****ALBUMS: 3) PORGY AND BESS “An orchestral jazz masterpiece.” MILES DAVIS: PORGY AND BESS (1959) (Columbia) (Sextet) (New York) was recorded over three four sessions on 22 nd and 29 th  July, 1958 and 4 th  and 18 th  August, 1958, rather rushed perhaps for a work of such eloquence- nevertheless, it turned out as a whole a magnificent achievement. TRACKS: The Buzzard Song, Bess, You Is My Woman Now, Gone; Gone, Gone, Gone; Summertime; Oh Bess, Oh Where's My Bess, Prayer (

***** ALBUMS: 2) MILESTONES “Of the Present and the Future” MILES DAVIS: MILESTONES (1958) (Columbia) (Sextet) (New York) was recorded over three sessions. TRACKS: Dr. Jackle, Sid’s Ahead, Two Bass Hit, Milestone, Billy Boy, Straight, No Chaser. MUSICIANS: Miles Davis , trumpet, piano; John Coltrane , tenor saxophone; Cannonball Adderley , alto saxophone; Red Garland , piano; Paul Chambers : bass, Philly Joe Jones , drums. NOTES: MILESTONES’ opening piece, Jackie McLean ’s Dr

*****ALBUMS: 1) THE BIRTH OF THE COOL   INTRODUCTION: Te Birth of the Cool was much more than an album of music. It was the start of a movement as depicted in Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool, the title of a movie by award winning Director, Stanley Nelson. Reviews were mostly positive but at times mixed, criticism coming from those who lament the ‘talking head’ style of documentary that predominates, unfortunately in my opinion, the structure of modern documentaries. It is amaz

William ‘Count’ Basie’s role in The Blue Devils under the musical directorship of heavyweight string bassist Walter Page , a pioneer of the walking bass line, is documented in his autobiography ‘Good Morning Blues’. It was when sleeping off a hangover in a Tulsa hotel room that Basie was awakened by a jazz band playing on the back of a truck in the street below. The talent recruited to The Blue Devils were gradually assimilated by the Bennie Moten Band. Moten was a Kansas Cit

Produced, performed, recorded, mixed, and arranged in her South London flat, Weirdo  was originally conceived as a strategy to speak about her struggles with mental health—Thackray is autistic and has ADHD. Emma-Jean insists ‘weirdo’ can be positive, suggesting something different like Byony Gordon’s Book “There is No Such Thing as Normal.” Her 2021 LP ‘Yellow’ was a great success. This album surpasses even ‘Yellow’ as Emma-Jean exposes her inner torments. The opening vignett

This is one of my favourite albums, period. While there is no more keyboard dualling (Graham Field has left to form Fields. Mark Ashton has also gone to be replaced by Fred Kelly on drums), there is plenty of guitar interplay to make up for it. It’s hard for me to spot a weakness on Rare Bird’s first of three albums for Polydor and the single, an EP really,  that is included is the icing on the cake; outstanding songwriting, singing and playing throughout. Personal relationsh

Rare Bird was increasingly sounding like an American band on a rather lightweight album, far from their more progressive roots. Nothing wrong with that and they do it rather well. Taken for what it is, the desultory reviews were a bit unfair. Rare Bird remain great song writers. ‘Diamonds’ is a good funky example; the music is easy on the ear. This song and ‘Last Tango in Beluah’ (over long perhaps?) made it into their live act. (Also ‘Lonely Street’ and ‘All That I Needed’ –

An alternative sleeve, no longer gatefold, 200g vinyl. The ‘Cirkus’ track sounds very different to the original and was produced and mixed from the original tapes by David Singleton and Alex ‘Stormy’ Mundy. In extremis ‘Happy Family’, the track that inspired the name of a Japanese prog rock band, is presented as an instrumental. A lot of liberties are taken with the drums and percussion as well basically to demote them to either not being there at all or much reduced in volum

DUKE ELLINGTON-Extract from unfinished book “A Jazz Supreme.” Duke Ellington ’s Hot Five  band was put together to record in a makeshift recording studio, OKeh in Chicago. The Hot Five had a classic line-up : Lil Hardin  on piano; Johnny Dodds  on clarinet; Kid Ory  on trombone; Johnny St.Cyr  on banjo and history was about to be made. As Ted Gioia describes, Armstrong’s playing just got better and better as 1926 went on as he displayed “increasing fluency in the upper regist

The best introduction to Armstrong’s music came out in 2020: Satchmo: The Decca and Verve Years 1924-1967 . It begins with Shanghai Shuffle with the Fletcher Henderson  Band- even though it has not transferred well from its crackly ‘78’ manifestation, it remains essential, a joyous romp with sublime syncopation. Solos follow solos on New Orleans Stomp while Black Bottom Stomp has some fast-paced tooting and may well be the ‘rave’ music of the day- although you’d need more spa

RARE BIRD – BEAUTIFUL SCARLET: THE RECORDINGS (1969-1975) EPIC FOREST (Esoteric Recordings) (CD boxset) (the third album) This is one of my favourite albums, period. While there is no more keyboard dualling (Graham Field has left to form Fields. Mark Ashton has also gone to be replaced by Fred Kelly on drums), there is plenty of guitar interplay to make up for it. It’s hard for me to spot a weakness on Rare Bird’s first of three albums for Polydor and the single, an EP really