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

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

The strength of this album lies in its arrangement and orchestrations. I loved the quirky piano break on ‘Tomorrow Tomorrow’. ‘Sunday’ brought Nick Drake to mind. These 16 interpretations of songs by Elliott Smith are very cleverly done.

Back Door seemed to excel more as a live band than a studio band; their numbers tended to be fairly short, Ron Aspery’s flurry of sax...

Emma-Jean Thackray gets right to the heart of the matter with her direct lyrics and hooks and use of vignettes as bridges like ‘Something...

Sonny Rollins first heard Monk on the B-side of Coleman Hawkins’ ‘Drifting on a Reed’ b/w Monk’s ‘Flyin’ Hawk’ – “staccato accents to...

A voluminous book, 770 pages in all, and meticulously detailed and written in an accessible and erudite way, comprehensive and detail...

I first heard Yaatri at Peggy’s Skylight and was entranced by them, eagerly snapping up an autographed LP; I saw their subsequent EP...

Maja Babyszka, British woodwind virtuoso Gilad Atzmon and Greek drummer Nikos Sidirokastritis have joined forces to create what the press...

Mancunians Fairhall and Hunter get back to basics with an upright piano and a snare drum. The origins of this recording are unusual in...

Julee Cruise (1956 – 2022): WIRE magazine said that Julee fitted into “the David Lynch world with her peroxide shock and rockette...

A heads up to a new release from Kamasi Washington who is already well known for his soundtracks: “Becoming” (Netlix) and “Shinichirð”...

The title track is a 4-part suite and an accomplished and impressive start to the album with Mazyar Younes (piano), Ehsan Sadich...

Prepare for some free range jazz from Phil Hargreaves and his trio, impressionistic music with sounds varying from squawking gulls,...

Freddie Hubbard looks so young in the photograph at the start of this month’s JAZZWISE article on the legendary trumpeter. Hubbard played...

Described as innovative and as “constructing a new sound world”, Hawkins has been making albums since 2009 both as a pianist and Hammond...

When writing about the Moon June 2009 release of a live performance on Radio Bremen in January, 1975 by the line-up that had released...

Irène’s Hot Four are: Irène Schweizer: Piano; Rüdiger Carl: Saxophones, Clarinet, Accordion; Johnny Dyani: Bass, Vocal; Han Bennink:...

I have previously reviewed the Patrick Forgas Phenomenon for Acid Dragon, but this is a reissue of Patrick’s very first album, recorded...