Music, Previews and Kenny Mathieson

Jazz musician Zoe Rahman's exploration of Bengali music

Mercury Prize nominated pianist set for St Andrews and Dunfermline shows

8 Feb 2011

Zoe Rahman is classically-trained and has explored the music of her father’s Bengali culture, although her own upbringing in Chichester was very English. Despite her wide-ranging musical interests, she has no doubt where her primary loyalty…

Stan Tracey

1 Jun 2010

Back in 1997, the Glasgow Jazz Festival staged a special concert celebrating Stan Tracey’s 70th birthday. We wondered then how much longer the pianist would continue to perform. The answer is that he is beginning to look indestructible. Regularly…

The World of Gods

23 Mar 2010

Tommy Smith is never short of imaginative ideas when it comes to cooking up repertoire for the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra, but this pushes even that estimable band’s envelope – and then some. I can’t be absolutely sure, but I’d guess that this is…

David Patrick Trio with Bobby Wellins

10 Mar 2010

Bobby Wellins was a unanimously popular choice when he received a Lifetime Recognition award at the Scottish Jazz Awards last year. The Glasgow-born saxophonist has been a major figure on the UK jazz scene since the 60s, and is still going…

SNJO with John Scofield dates for Edinburgh, Glasgow and Stirling

23 Feb 2010

Conventional wisdom insists that the jazz big band had its heyday in the Swing Era before the advent of bebop, but it has remained popular with both jazz fans and musicians. Two home-based projects this month also demonstrate that the big band has been…

Christine Tobin & Liam Noble revisit Carole King’s Tapestry

3 Feb 2010

Carole King’s 1971 album Tapestry is one of the most successful singer-songwriter albums ever made. It stayed on the US charts for six years after its release, and has sold over 15 million copies. Almost every track is regarded as a classic, whether in…

Paul Booth Quintet and Ingrid Jensen

4 Dec 2009

Neither English saxophonist Paul Booth nor Canadian trumpeter Ingrid Jensen is a newcomer to these parts, but this will be the first time they have featured together. Booth was last here in the summer to work with trumpeter Ryan Quigley’s big band at…

Brass Jaw

13 Nov 2009

The saxophone quartet is not exactly a common beast in jazz circles, but it is a well-enough established combination to be recognised as a regular format in the music. Brass Jaw began life in that guise, with Martin Kershaw alongside Paul Towndrow…

Mark McKnight Quartet with Will Vinson

Jazz in the City Halls

15 Oct 2009

Irish guitarist Mark McKnight teams up with New York-based English saxophonist Will Vinson for this gig in Todd Gordon’s Jazz International series, with organist Ross Stanley and the new drummer of the moment on the London jazz scene, James Maddren…

Burt-MacDonald Group with Marilyn Crispell

Melodic saxophone styles

1 Oct 2009

The imaginative Burt-MacDonald Group, co-led by guitarist George Burt and saxophonist Raymond MacDonald, follow up earlier collaborations with pianist Keith Tippett and Satoko Fujii with this mouth-watering meeting with the great Marilyn Crispell. It…

SNJO plays Wayne Shorter

3 Sep 2009

The music of saxophonist Wayne Shorter is the latest to come under the radar of Tommy Smith and the excellent Scottish National Jazz Orchestra, and promises to be one of their most memorable incursions. ‘Wayne is a superlative composer of memorable…

Malinky

Facing up to change

20 Aug 2009

Malinky have been around on the Scottish folk scene for over a decade now, and went through a scenario that many young bands face – the loss of a particularly prominent member to a solo career. The band initially got together to allow singer Karine…

Preston Reed

Under the hammer

20 Aug 2009

Guitarist Preston Reed is a dazzling exponent of the guitar technique broadly known as ‘hammering-on’, a percussive method of playing on the neck that looks as impressive as it sounds. You can get a flavour from his CDs, but there is no substitute for…

Tam White and the Sermon Orchestra

Preaching a funky lesson

20 Aug 2009

Tam White is Scotland’s best-known blues voice, but he has a lot more than a 12-bar in his locker. His baptism as a pop singer in the 60s eventually led to the jazz-tinged blues of The Dexters, and on to settings that ranged from a celebrated duo with…

Valery Ponomarev Quintet

Sharing A Global Language

13 Aug 2009

JAZZ It’s late August, it’s The Jazz Bar, so it must be time for Valery Ponomarev. The hard-hitting Russian has been coming to Scotland on a regular basis since the early 90s, and this Fringe residence for Bill Kyle has become something of a staple…

Eric Bogle & John Munro

Bidding a Fond Farewell

13 Aug 2009

FOLK In this Year of Homecoming, Scots-born singer and songwriter Eric Bogle is in the midst of a farewell to his homeland, having announced his intention to give up the touring game after this current excursion with fellow expat John Munro. Bogle…

Blazin' Fiddles

New face among the fiddles

6 Aug 2009

Blazin’ Fiddles first appeared on the Scottish folk scene for a series of concerts at the old Highland Festival a decade ago. They were supposedly only getting together as a one-off project, but proved such a success that they became a fixture. Duncan…

Barbara Morrison

Ebullient and expressive jazz singer

29 Jul 2009

Los Angeles-based singer Barbara Morrison has been a popular visitor to Scotland in recent years, and settles in to a Fringe residency via a couple of outings within the Jazz Festival programme. Raised in Michigan, she has an ebullient, wise-cracking…

Shooglenifty at the Fringe - Keep on Shooglin’

29 Jul 2009

When Shooglenifty burst onto the Scottish folk scene in the early 90s playing their radical new take on traditional music-meets-club culture (quickly dubbed ‘acid croft’), their impact was enormous. According to co-founder Garry Finlayson, there was no…

Edinburgh Jazz Festival Orchestra

Burns meets big band jazz

29 Jul 2009

The second of the Edinburgh Jazz Festival Orchestra’s two concerts turns from familiar ground with Duke Ellington into rather more uncharted waters. Robert Burns has been even more ubiquitous than usual in the course of this 250th anniversary year, but…

National Youth Jazz Orchestra of Scotland

9 Jul 2009

Guitarist Mike Walker will join the National Youth Jazz Orchestra of Scotland on this three-date tour, which will feature a full performance of his long-awaited debut album, Madhouse & The Whole Thing Here, released earlier this year. It will be a…

Chick Corea

25 Jun 2009

Chick Corea has been a fairly regular visitor to Scotland over the years, but I can’t recall him playing a solo concert here before now. It is a format that he has returned to periodically over the years, both live and in recordings, including an early…

Lionel Loueke

25 Jun 2009

Guitarist Lionel Loueke came to jazz via an early immersion in African music in his homeland of Benin, a grounding that has contributed to the distinctive style that caught the ears of Herbie Hancock and Terence Blanchard, both of whom have called on…

Homegrown

25 Jun 2009

The Homegrown showcase at the Glasgow Jazz Festival is now in its fifth year and offers an opportunity to both the public and a number of invited promoters and agents to catch up with the latest work of a range of Scotland’s best musicians. More…

Led Bib

28 May 2009

Led Bib hit Scotland for a couple of small venue gigs this month on the back of their latest studio CD, Sensible Shoes, newly released on a new (American) label, Steven Feigenbaum’s Cuneiform Records. The London-based quartet has been attracting a lot…