This is the Jazz section of Rainlore's World of Music, covering all types of jazz and related music, from trad to contemporary and everything in between.
In order to secure its future as an ongoing project, and indeed resume regular activity such as new reviews, Rainlore's World of Music urgently needs to raise substantial funds through some kind of sponsorship or similar. (Please also see The Future of Rainlore's World of Music on the About page, and the News entry for 2008/11/09 on the Home page.)
It has regrettably become impossible to keep Rainlore's World of Music going on a purely spare-time basis. The amount of work involved is simply too overwhelming. At the rate that for example CDs kept arriving for review and gigs were covered during 2004, there was enough work to keep two people busy on a full-time basis!
Of course, I wish to preserve the non-commercial and not for profit nature of Rainlore's World of Music, but without some kind of sponsorship the site simply cannot continue in any meaningful active way. Despite not having had any updates for about four years until its re-launch in October 2008, Rainlore's World of Music remains a popular site. The reviews and artists' profiles have always achieved excellent visibility in search results, and have also been referenced widely. There are also many new features I would like to add to Rainlore's World of Music, such as a Gig calendar to replace the old one
and a Features section that should have been added during 2004 already, plus more.
Sadly, without some form of sponsorship none of this will be possible and the site will at some point soon become purely archival.
If you think you might be able to help in any way, please get in touch through the sponsorship form. |
News
2010/07/21
Having arrived here hot off the presses in the last couple of weeks from drum and jazz fusion titan Asaf Sirkis, the Asaf Sirkis Trio's long anticipated new album Letting Go, to be released on 23rd September, gets an early review. Advance copies are available now on Sirkis' web site and from Jazz CDs UK. Be sure not to miss the album's launch gig at The Spice of Life on 23rd September. Details are:
The Spice of Life, 6 Moor St, Cambridge Circus, London, W1D 5NA
Telephone: 020-7437-7013 Fax: 020-7437-7013 E-mail: info@spiceoflifesoho.com
Admission is a bargain £10, or £8 for MU members and students.
It's bound to be a very special occasion, and if you go and buy the CD (and whip off the shrink wrap and bring along a permanent marker pen) and ask him nicely, I'm sure Asaf Sirkis will oblige and autograph your copy for you, time permitting - Asaf's really one of the nicest people you could possibly hope to ever meet, and so are Yaron and Tassos. And Tassos Spiliotopoulos' own leader albums will also be available, and I'm sure the same will apply.
And staying with the same line-up, we also have a review of Tassos Spiliotopoulos' recently released trio album, Archipelagos. Two very special guest musicians feature on one track each, veteran trumpet maestro Kenny Wheeler and guitar maestro John Parricelli. (And for eagle-eyed fans of the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing, yes, that's Parricelli on lead in Dave Arch's fabulous house band.) Whether lead by Sirkis or Spiliotopoulos, the trio is one of the finest and tightest of its kind, and combines some of the finest talent anywhere in that Elvin Jones/Tony Williams/Jack DeJohnette rolled into one drum phenomenon, Asaf Sirkis, one of the finest young guitarists, Tassos Spiliotopoulos, and finest young bass master, Yaron Stavi. Every single track of either of these reviewed albums is worth the price of admission by itself.
Also up very shortly will be a review of Spiliotopoulos' earlier, 2006 Tassos Spiliotopoulos Quartet album, Wait For Dusk. The review is ready, but sadly there just wasn't enough time to prepare it in html to make the current site update.
Rainlore's World of Music
© 2010 Rainlore's World of Music/Rainlore. All rights reserved.
2010/07/04
Modern jazz giant Gilad Atzmon, with singer-songwriter Sarah Gillespie and Free Gaza, is organising a massive music festival in support of Free Palestine following the tragic events surrounding the recent marine peace convoy trying to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza. The Jazza Festival for Free Gaza is slated for October in London, with other major artists already lined up.
Atzmon's tenth anniversary album with his Orient House Ensemble is also scheduled to be released this autumn.
Regrettably won't be fully up-and-running again for a while yet.
Rainlore's World of Music
© 2010 Rainlore's World of Music/Rainlore. All rights reserved.
2010/05/02
Of interest here on account of the jazz influences in the form of vocal improvisations are two reviews of outstanding albums by Latin singer (among others) extraordinaire Guillermo Rozenthuler - a kind of modern day João Gilberto and Carlos Gardel in one! If you haven't heard him before you've really been missing something extra special. The albums reviewed are Guillermo's The Blue Hour - Songs From Argentina (La Hora Azul), an outstanding collection of originals and traditional Argentine songs recorded in Buenos Aires and released in 2004 that will simply blow you away, and with his own band, formed ion 2003, Guillermo Rozenthuler & Rioplatenses' A Route To The Roots, their live debut album released in 2008, a superb collection of Argentine and Uruguayan songs (given the inimitable Rioplatenses treatment), a journey of exploration that takes the listener beyond the better known tango and milonga (although a few of these are also included, of course) and introduce him to a variety of less well known regional rhythms and styles. You really don't want to miss these fabulous albums and tanguero maravillosa Rozenthuler.
Of course, Rozenthuler is already familiar on this site and on the UK jazz scene through his association with Gilad Atzmon & The Orient House Ensemble through a gig review (at the Pizza, Soho) and a review of outstanding album Musik. Rozenthuler also regularly appears with all the UK's (and beyond) leading tango ensembles, most recently including El Tango Ultimo and the London Tango Orchestra.
Meanwhile, the Asaf Sirkis Trio's forthcoming second album is now in the can and promises to be a real cracker. It will see its official launch on 23rd September at The Spice of Life in London. Be sure not to miss this one!
I expect to likely have to take a break from updating the site for about six to eight weeks due to surgery shortly, but more will follow ASAP.
Rainlore's World of Music
© 2010 Rainlore's World of Music/Rainlore. All rights reserved.
2010/03/07
At long last caught up with long overdue reviews of dazzling piano virtuoso Frank Harrison's first two leader albums. 2006 saw the debut album, the Frank Harrison Trio's First Light, and the following year, Louis Stewart and the Frank Harrison Trio's You've Changed. Absolute crackers both, they are accompanied by a mouthwatering sample track that ought to have you rushing to JazzCDs for your copy. We can really only hope that Harrison won't keep us waiting too much longer for a new trio album, and loads more to come! But give Harrison a chance, he's only just come away from the below.
The seminal Gilad Atzmon & The Orient House Ensemble's tenth anniversary album, slated for release late summer/early autumn, is "in the can" now. It's probably their most "live" album to date.
The 2008/09 version of this page has now been archived.
I may now be able (from about a week's time or so) to accept a limited number of new submissions for album reviews. Please check the Review form, accessible from the Contact page, in about 7-10 days' time.
Finally, it has come to our attention that there appear to be a few minor problems with our web forms, specifically with radio buttons and check boxes, with some browsers. This is continuing to be checked out, but as everything seems to work just fine in Internet Explorer, it seems likely that the problem lies with the other browsers in that they may not have fully implemented this aspect of forms. In which case there appears little that can be done about it other than to suggest you temporarily switch to Internet Explorer in order to use our forms, if you are affected. Flash based forms might be another option longer term.
Rainlore's World of Music
© 2010 Rainlore's World of Music/Rainlore. All rights reserved.
2010/02/28
Three reviews of truly thrilling albums to end the month. As announced last time, another sensational album from Nicholas Meier in his Modern Guitar Orchestra incarnation, 2004's Vivaldi - Four Seasons. An excursion into the world of classical/Baroque music, this album has to be heard to be believed! The fabulous sample track that goes with the review will give you some idea. Guitar genius Meier yet again demonstrates his incredible versatility and virtuosity with this most original arrangement of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons. The album encompasses all four concertos in full, preceded by a brief intro and a closing epilogue that also features special guest, veteran jazz guitar legend John Etheridge, all Meier originals. As fresh as the day it was released, this album is not to be missed!
Another treat for jazz guitar aficionados, and more from the near-ubiquitous modern icon of the traps Asaf Sirkis, comes in the form of last year's Eyal Maoz & Asaf Sirkis release, Elementary Dialogues. Maoz is perhaps better known on the other side of the Atlantic, where he has become a mainstay on the Downtown scene in NYC. A formidable guitar wizard, one would really wish to hear more of him over here, too. A cracking album this, and there's a tasty sample track with the review to tempt you.
Finally, though by no means least, there's Simcock-Goloubev-Sirkis, aka SGS Group, Inc., with their fabulous 2008 release, SGS Group, Inc. presents... It's almost impossible to avoid Asaf Sirkis these days. Over the past year, this most in-demand drumming genius has appeared on no less than nine albums so far. That's an incredible one album every five or so weeks - probably something of a modern-day record! His co-conspirators/joint-leaders here are the Italy-based Russian bassist Yuri Goloubev and rising young UK piano star Gwilym Simcock. An exciting album of 'new standards' from the previous generation of jazz masters such as Allan Holdsworth, Bobby Watson, John Taylor, Buster Williams and others, and there's a tasty sample track as well to tempt you.
More piano trio music soon when we'll at last catch up with some of Britain's brightest young piano star Frank Harrison's recent releases with his Frank Harrison Trio. Of which we really ought to hear much, much more, but it can't be easy finding time when he's always so busy with Gilad Atzmon And The Orient House Ensemble and the Gilad Atzmon Quartet for starters...
Mark Weinstein's latest, hottest-ever album Timbasa, reviewed last time, seems to be creating quite a stirr not only on this site but all round! For a jazz album, it seems to have achieved unprecedented visibility everywhere in an incredibly short time. And it's even available from at least one of the big UK supermarket chains, Tesco, already, albeit at the moment in downloadable form only! Fantastic distribution for a small specialist jazz label like Jazzheads, so kudos to them.
Rainlore's World of Music
© 2010 Rainlore's World of Music/Rainlore. All rights reserved.
2010/02/15
A sad loss to not just the jazz but the whole music world is the death of altoist Sir John Dankworth on 6th February at the age of 82 following an illness of several months. The finest British jazzman of his era, Johnny Dankworth introduced bebop onto the British scene, having played with Bird. He also first brought one of the finest jazz singers of all time, later his wife, Dame Cleo Laine, to public attention. Sir John was often said to have selflessly held back on his own career in order to promote and support Dame Cleo's. They have two children following in their footsteps, bassist Alec Dankworth and singer Jacqui Dankworth. Sir John also formed The Dankworth Generation Band with son Alec in the 1990s. Not only a great musician but also a great human being, Sir John lives on in his music and in the legend that he became long ago.
At this sad time, our thoughts are with his wife and family.
Rest in piece, Sir John.
Three outstanding new jazz releases out this month are reviewed. Released on 9th February is jazz flute and Latin jazz / Afro-cuban jazz giant Mark Weinstein's sensational new album, Timbasa. His hottest yet, Timbasa will incinerate your stereo! This is Latin jazz / Afro-Cuban jazz at its very finest, with an incredible percussion ensemble led by the percussion warlock Pedrito Martinez, and a sensational new rising star of Latin jazz piano in Axel Tosca Laugart who has to be heard to be believed. Indeed, Weinstein's album Timbasa just has to be heard to be believed - it's incredible! To help you, there's a fabulous sample track with the review, the Miles Davis classic Milestones. A killer of an album!
Weinstein's one-time employer in his mambo and salsa band days, the great Larry Harlow, used to be called "El Judio Maravilloso" by his Latin music peers back in the 1960s. Perhaps Weinstein himself ought to acquire the nickname of "El Judio Fantástico", on account of the fantastical and near super-natural nature of his understanding of and insight into Afro-Cuban music?
Already, the next album from Mark Weinstein is scheduled for the autumn. Jazz Brazil will be a return to Brazilian jazz and will be most eagerly - impatiently! - awaited. Two more albums are in the pipeline already; originally planned as a combined album of Cuban danzones and Argentine tangos, it was felt necessary to give each a full album in the end. Hooray for that! Both should be absolutely sensational. The tangos are with Argentine bassist and leading jazz-tango exponent Pablo Aslan, with a provisional title of Todo Corazon. The selections for this - without wishing to give anything away - are stunning!
The other two albums reviewed are two eagerly awaited releases from jazz guitar wizard Nicolas Meier, also out this month. The Nicolas Meier Trios' Breeze features two trios, one acoustic, the other electric. Providing a superb showcase for Meier's guitars, this 'unplugged' album is almost outrageously thrilling and addictive. The Electric Trio in addition to Meier features drum genius Asaf Sirkis, who needs no introduction, and also bassist and harmonica player extraordinaire Pat Bettison, both also members of the Meier Group. The Acoustic Trio features the percussion of Spanish born Demi Garcia (of among others The Alec Dankworth Quintet) and from the world of soul, bassist Paolo Minervini. If you plan on buying only one jazz guitar album this year, Breeze should be the one! To help you decide, the title track provides a gobsmackin'ly delicious sample track on the review page.
The second Meier album is the Meier Group's Journey, a fantastical journey through a soundscape created by Nicolas Meier's very personal brand of Turkish-informed and flamenco and Latin influenced fusion, is likewise not to be missed. Meier as ever is bursting with ideas and his great strengths as writer and leader, in addition to player, shine. Meier Group co-conspirators are legendary reed supremo Gilad Atzmon, here on clarinet, soprano and alto sax, and supreme maestro of the traps Asaf Sirkis, along with Patrick Bettison on bass and his surperb harmonica and classsy Uruguyan pianist Jose Reinoso. A 'supergroup' indeed, with three leaders of such calibre as Meier, Atzmon and Sirkis coming together. Journey is a dream of an album full of strong, imaginative themes and inventive improvising. To make your mouth drool, there's a taster sample track in the form of the title track of Journey with the review.
Another review of a further sensational Nicolas Meier album will follow next time.
Modern jazz legend Gilad Atzmon has been experimenting with "enlargement pills" - on his clarinet! That's his story, anyway. You can hear him tell the whole sordid story on the Gilad Atzmon A/V Page. The results certainly are spectacular. (I've asked, but he wouldn't tell me exactly where he got those pills!)
Atzmon is also currently on a UK mini tour with his Orient House Ensemble, trying out some new material and some old, in preparation for the recording of their tenth anniversary album scheduled for around the end of February. Expected release date - probably late summer/early autumn, with a national tour to follow. Atzmon assures me that his new 'big beast' (speak bass clarinet) will feature prominently.
Last but by no means least, drum and fusion genius Asaf Sirkis is also due to start recording a new album with his Asaf Sirkis Trio in March, slated for release around end of September with a national (UK) tour also under preparation for October onwards. That's two more albums I can't wait for!
Rainlore's World of Music
© 2010 Rainlore's World of Music/Rainlore. All rights reserved.
|
. All rights reserved.