News, reviews, features and comment from the London jazz scene and beyond

I have just discovered Meetup, thanks to lobbyist and communications whizz Rob Mallows. Rob has set up Londons Premier Jazz Meetup group with over 450 members and his group is growing. I […]

EMI are in the final stages of moving out from the building (in the picture above) across the road from me. LondonJazz goes into lamentation mode…. There are no longer any taxis […]

“Are you a Londoner now?” , I asked Cricklewood resident Gilad Atzmon. He paused for thought. And for a very brief moment, I imagined I had achieved the impossible and caught him […]

The greats of the tenor saxophone inhabit the very walls of London’s premier jazz venue. A picture of the late Ronnie Scott himself looks down from above the bandstand, occupying the “0” […]

To the victor, the spoils. Or in Latin: victori spolia….* I have heard Zem Audu play twice now. And he’s winning me over a bit more, set by set. The first time […]

My thanks to omniscient Simon Purcell for pointing out the following site with some great resources for musicians to download It’s called CASA VALDEZ STUDIOS. It does indeed look like a treasure […]

The Sunday Times has taken up the story of the disappearing BBC Awards. The journalist asks an interesting, not to say pointed rhetorical question: “When will the BBC’s radio controllers accept that […]

Gareth Lockrane The endings of Gareth Lockrane’s big band charts often build into moments of total fulfilment and completeness. It’s something you have to hear, and much harder to put it into […]

I strolled down the road to my local gig tonight. I wanted to catch the mood of celebration at the second anniversary of Jazz Cafe Posk. And what a great evening it […]

BBC Radio 3’s withdrawal from its Awards for World Music merits coverage on the editorials page of today’s Guardian,no less. A post by Peter Bacon, adoptive Brummie from South Africa….in his thejazzbreakfast […]

John Taylor and Gwilym Simcock played at the Wigmore Hall in 2006 in the London Jazz Festival. It’s a particularly vivid memory.The gig had been overpriced and didn’t sell properly. For the […]

Nikki Iles (above)is in big demand as a performer. And that is an understatement. On the biography page of her well-maintained website, I tot up no fewer than eleven projects/partnerships/bands. The people […]

Here are four ways to experience the magical duo of Paul Clarvis and Liam Noble. 1) LIVE MUSIC. In the end there is nothing, NOTHING like the experience of hearing music live. […]

I was talking yesterday to Frank Griffith about his new Mel Torme/ Marty Paich project for his nonet of top-drawer London players. Marty Paich‘s arrangements for small group in the 1950’s, that […]

Thank you to that old wise man of the advertising industry and jazz nut Len Weinreich, for bringing to my attention an exhibition in Paris of jazz and art, reviewed by Lionel […]