Ben Crosland has a new album, Songs of Solace and Reflection, showing his essence as “an unaffectedly lyrical composer of direct and evocative melodies that draw in the uninitiated and the jazz […]
Nicki Leighton-Thomas (Playground Theatre. 18 October – One Good Scandal launch. Review by Lavender Sutton) Vocalist Nicki Leighton-Thomas has released a follow up album of songs by the well-known poet and lyricist […]
“‘There’s an honesty and integrity to Fran Landesman’s songs,” says vocalist Nicki Leighton-Thomas. “Straight from knowledge and from the heart – and she wasn’t afraid to deal with the dark side.” Leighton-Thomas […]
After the pandemic twice scuppered the unveiling of some of the most idiomatically diverse new music of his versatile career, trumpeter /composer Chris Batchelor, with the quintet Zoetic, is now finally touring […]
Pianist, bandleader, composer and educator Nikki Iles is a central figure in British jazz. At LJN we are pleased start off this year’s series of International Women’s Day features, now in their […]
Bassist Ruth Goller completely defied expectations in July 2021 with her first album as leader, Skylla. Her trio with Lauren Kinsella and Alice Grant (with Nell Greco on two concerts) will be […]
Bristol-based multi-instrumentalist, composer and educator Kevin Figes’ new album, Wallpaper Music, with eight original compositions written during lockdown is released this Friday 3 December, with a launch gig at the Vortex in […]
Acoustic Triangle (the trio of bassist Malcolm Creese, saxophonist/bass clarinettist Tim Garland and pianist Gwilym Simcock) is about to embark on a 20th Anniversary tour. Feature by John Fordham. In June 2001, […]
An hour of unrehearsed live interaction on a festival stage back in 2007 provides John Fordham with ‘a rejuvenating late-career bonus at the end of a sombre year for performing artists’. He […]
“I can’t sing like anyone else but me” says Samara Joy. The New York-born singer, who won the 2019 Sarah Vaughan Competition, is a rising star in jazz. Feature by John Fordham. […]
Since moving to Berlin more than a decade ago, Manchester-born pianist Julie Sassoon has forged a substantial career in Germany. She appears as solo pianist, with her quartet, and in duos such […]
The sense of a special relationship slowly evolving has been unmistakeable whenever the gifted and versatile British/Italian singer-songwriter Georgia Mancio reflects on her now eight year-old partnership with the Grammy-winning former Woody […]
Climbing In Circles (Ubuntu Music) is the “culmination of a slow-burning three-year project” by Nottinghamshire-born drummer Will Glaser in his trio with Matthew Herd and Liam Noble. He explained the background to […]
John Fordham pays tribute to Tony Allen. Of all the popular sounds of the 20th century fired up by the spontaneity and rhythmic creativity of jazz, Afrobeat’s morphing of that music into […]
British-Bahraini trumpeter, flugelhornist and composer Yazz Ahmed is a musician who has carved out an inimitable musical path for herself. John Fordham speaks to her ahead of International Women’s Day about her […]
