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