Kenny Mathieson

Steve Reich - album review

Steve Reich

27 Nov 2006

CONTEMPORARY Steve Reich’s Different Trains is one of the classic compositions of the late 20th century. The original Kronos Quartet recording remains the benchmark in terms of sheer energy and visceral punch, but this new recording by the Duke…

Junction Pool - album review

Junction Pool

27 Nov 2006

FOLK This young Borders ensemble was inspired by the example of The Unusual Suspects, and their own attempt at creating a folk big band packs plenty of energy and punch. The 13-strong ensemble of young musicians is led by pianist Harris Playfair, and…

Randy Crawford and Joe Sample

Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, Tue 5 Dec; Usher Hall

21 Nov 2006

JAZZ If they had never done anything else together, singer Randy Crawford’s association with Joe Sample and the Crusaders would have gained immortality for their 1979 classic Street Life alone. As it turned out, though, they went on to work quite a…

Colin Towns

Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, Sat 18 Nov

11 Nov 2006

JAZZ Colin Towns has an impressive track record as a film composer, but to jazz fans he is the man behind the excellent contemporary jazz big band, the Mask Orchestra, and Provocateur Records, an independent label that fostered an impressive roster…

Don Byron - album review

Don Byron

11 Nov 2006

JAZZ Don Byron has a reputation for embarking on eclectic and occasionally rather eccentric musical projects. This latest outing is a tribute to the music of the Motown sax star Junior Walker, a choice that also provided the perfect excuse for the…

Ingrid Laubrock & Liam Noble - album review

Ingrid Laubrock & Liam Noble

11 Nov 2006

JAZZ Saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock and pianist Liam Noble convene for an duet session that mixes entirely improvised material with freely-treated interpretations of standards and classic jazz tunes like Monk’s ‘We See’ and ‘Let’s Call This’, Mingus…

Bob Pegg - album review

Bob Pegg

11 Nov 2006

FOLK Yorkshire-born Bob Pegg lives in the Scottish Highlands these days, and is still active in music and storytelling, but the material on this two CD set dates from the aftermath of Mr Fox, the band he co-led with his then wife, Carole. The band…

Count Basie Orchestra

Usher Hall, Edinburgh, Mon 6 Nov; Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, Tue 7 Nov

26 Oct 2006

JAZZ Ken Ramage pulled off something of a coup when he secured an exclusive date for the Count Basie Orchestra at the Nairn Jazz Festival last year, but fans in the central belt now get their chance to catch up with one of the most famous groups in…

George Burt-Raymond Macdonald Sextet - CD review

George Burt-Raymond Macdonald Sextet

12 Oct 2006

JAZZ Boohoo Fever (Leo Records) This disc comes out of the same performance-plus-recording project at An Tobar in Mull as last year’s A Day for a Reason, centred on the Tobermory clock and the two women closely associated with it, the…

Martin Carthy & Dave Swarbrick - CD review

Straws in the Wind (Topic Records)

12 Oct 2006

A return to a famous collaboration featuring two doyens of the English folk scene that began in the 60s and has recurred all too occasionally in the intervening decades. The songs chosen for this set are largely drawn from AL Lloyd’s seminal collection…

Zoe Rahman

Ramshorn Theatre, Glasgow, Fri 27 Oct; The Lot, Ed

11 Oct 2006

JAZZ Pianist Zoë Rahman was philosophical about being this year’s jazz representative in the Mercury Prize short list. Like all previous contenders from the jazz sector, her album Melting Pot didn’t scoop the prize, but she not only refused to moan…

Aly Bain & Phil Cunningham - album review

Aly Bain & Phil Cunningham

2 Oct 2006

FOLK Fiddler Aly Bain and accordionist Phil Cunningham are Scotland’s most celebrated folk duo, and serve up another set of impeccably performed tunes on this new studio disc, their first in four years. They play with a matchless level of…

Jason Moran - album review

Jason Moran

2 Oct 2006

JAZZ Pianist Jason Moran has rarely settled for the obvious, but his seventh disc for Blue Note pushes into even more eclectic and unconventional territory than usual. The music on the record draws on segments from three separate commissions, two of…

Mike Stern - album review

Mike Stern

2 Oct 2006

JAZZ A strong outing from the jazz-fusion guitarist, mixing funk, blues and rock with a straight-ahead jazz feel in very effective fashion. Stern himself is in fine form, and the assembled cats that he lets loose crank up a satisfying energy and…

Omar Sosa-Dhafer Youssef Trio

28 Sep 2006

The Scottish Arts Council’s Tune Up touring scheme has thrown up some very intriguing collaborations in its short but influential history, many of them emanating from Big Big World promoter Billy Kelly in Glasgow. His latest offering brings together not…

Colin Towns & NDR Big Band - album review

Colin Towns & NDR Big Band

18 Sep 2006

JAZZ Recorded live at the Moers Jazz Festival and released simultaneously with Lend Me Your Ears, a fine studio album of Towns’ own compositions also featuring the NDR Big Band, this exuberant disc celebrates Zappa’s idiosyncratic music while…

Finn Peters - album review

Finn Peters

18 Sep 2006

JAZZ Like Neil Cowley, the London-based alto saxophonist and flautist has been working across a variety of genres for over a decade, from contemporary classical to dance music, but makes his jazz recording debut as a leader with this disc. His…

Islay Jazz Festival

Various venues, Islay, Fri 15-Sun 17 Sep

4 Sep 2006

JAZZ Nine years ago, the announcement that a jazz festival was to be launched on the outwardly unlikely location of the island of Islay in the Inner Hebrides raised a few eyebrows. Many felt it would be a one-year wonder, or might manage to roll on…

Tim Reis - CD review

Tim Reis

4 Sep 2006

JAZZ New York jazzman Tim Reis has been playing saxophone with The Rolling Stones since 1999, and has used that experience as the launching point for jazz arrangements of ten Jagger/Richards tunes, recorded in different times and places with a galaxy…

OM - CD review

OM

4 Sep 2006

JAZZ OM were one of the more interesting groups to come out of the jazz-rock explorations of the early 70s, and remained together for a decade before disbanding in 1982. Saxophonist Urs Leimgruber, guitarist Christy Doran, bassist Bobby Burri and…