Posts Tagged Jazz
Archive
October 25, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Poem: The Quality Known As Immediacy
jazz is a private conversation made public, a dirty word that rolls around so nicely in the mouth, you taste jazz – and if you don’t you have never truly met music – jazz is only off-putting if you won’t allow it, or rather – it’s as off-putting as you allow it; with jazz in […]Archive
October 25, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Joe Farnsworth: Time To Swing
Joe Farnsworth Time To Swing Smoke Sessions Records Joe Farnsworth is a classy, understated drummer; master of straight-ahead jazz. Bop, balladry and all points between. He’s your guy. And he’s been on the scene for years now – as mostly a sideman. He has this great story too of having his head blown – didn’t […]Archive
October 22, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Shit That’s Good! Crap Albums I Love # 38 – Keith Jarrett, “Restoration Ruin”
Keith Jarrett, Restoration Ruin, 1968 Somewhere in my quest to collect a whole heap of things by Keith Jarrett (not everything – because how could you?) I found out about this album. The Oddity In His Catalogue. Recorded and released in 1968 it is his second album. It is unlike anything else he’s made. Jarrett […]Archive
October 20, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Billie Holiday: The Last Interview and Other Conversations
Billie Holiday: The Last Interview and Other Conversations Billie Holiday (w/ introduction by Khanya Mtshali) Melville House I’m a big fan of The Last Interview series (there’s more being added every time I check in – including, I see, a Ruth Bader Ginsburg one is being readied).Archive
October 14, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Charles Rumback: June Holiday (w/ Jim Baker & John Tate)
Charles Rumback June Holiday (w/ Jim Baker & John Tate) Monofonus-Press/Astral Spirits Charles Rumback divides his time between the jazz world and buddying up with folk/indie artists where he swirls colours and daubs at canvases with all of his jazz training and instincts. He’s regularly working with guitarist Ryley Walker, most recently they put out […]Archive
October 14, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Look At This Photograph of Geri Allen Just Doing Her Job at The Piano With A Fucking Baby On Her Back!
I keep looking at this photo. Until a few weeks ago I had never seen it. I still don’t know how I arrived at it. I believe – after a bit of searching – that it was taken in 1997 by a photographer called Mark Miller. I assume it’s a festival gig. I do know […]Archive
October 12, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Ulf Wakenius: Taste of Honey
Ulf Wakenius Taste of Honey ACT Music Ulf Wakenius is a Swedish jazz guitarist that worked with both Ray Brown and Oscar Peterson later in their careers as part of trios and quartets. He’s released well over a dozen albums as a leader (going back to 1984) and has collaborated and cameoed with many artists […]Archive
October 4, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Diana Krall: This Dream of You
Diana Krall This Dream of You Verve I was never that big on Diana Krall albums – they were good, all of them, but I didn’t care which one I heard. I just heard them – in shops where I worked, in preparation for reviewing her shows (saw her twice, very good both times) and […]Archive
September 21, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
R.I.P. Stanley Crouch
The jazz critic and writer Stanley Crouch has died. He was 74. He published widely, including essays, novels, plays and poetry – but he is best known for his music criticism. And within that jazz. He was a rigid purist. He hated hip-hop, he was in vocal opposition to rap and its tendencies to lead […]Archive
September 11, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Poem: Those John Coltrane CDs Blew My Fucking Mind
When my brother returned from university with a John Coltrane CD it was like a special gift – he was out there discovering new worlds, the hunter-gatherer bringing the very best music back to Hawke’s Bay. That’s how it seemed. There was no other way to explain it at all. He was doing this very […]Archive
September 9, 2020 by Simon Sweetman