Vega Trails | Tremors in the Static
Bassist and composer Milo Fitzpatrick (Portico Quartet) launches new collaborative project with saxophonist Jordan Smart (Mammal Hands). Vega Trails is a new project from double-bassist and composer Milo Fitzpatrick, a founder member of Portico Quartet, who has also performed with the likes of Nick Mulvey and Jono McCleary and features saxophonist Jordan Smart (Mammal Hands, Sunda […]
Jazz Is Dead 011
With “Jazz Is Dead” Series 2, Younge and Muhammad, along with a host of world-renowned legends, Crate Digger protégés and an exciting vanguard of young talent, have delivered another unassailable collection of fresh and compelling recordings inspired by the past, present and future of jazz. There are names that may already be familiar to some, such […]
Ebi Soda | Honk If You’re Sad
Born from ten-hour jam sessions in peeling Brighton bedsits, the technical parameters of a bootstrap recording process and the osmotic, multi-genre influence of internet music archives, quintet Ebi Soda have been steady-cultivating a unique sound amidst the exploding UK jazz scene. ‘Honk If You’re Sad’, their sophomore full-length album, stays true to these foundations, while […]
WaJazz: Japanese Jazz Spectacle Vol.I
From blazing hard bop to free jazz, through to introspective saxophone solos and massive big band sounds, renowned Japanese jazz expert Yusuke Ogawa presents the best of the Wajazz sound! Universounds, HMV Record Shop and 180g team up for an exceptional release: from blazing hard bop to free jazz, to introspective saxophone solos and massive big […]
Anteloper | Pink Dolphins
Jaimie Branch and Jason Nazary are Anteloper. When prompted about their name, branch comes back rhyming: “An Anteloper, is an antelope, interloper,” adding in a jovial manner, “an antelope walks up to a party, but you know, people don’t want him around.” Turns out, she had the name before the band was formed, and once […]
Tom Sochas | The Sorcerer
Building on the success of a solo EP released in early 2021, Franco-American jazz pianist Tom Sochas, previously known for his work with London staple Phoenician Blinds, is back with his debut album The Sorcerer, on Khumbu Records. The album, set to be released on April 18th 2022 introduces Tom’s new trio with greek bassist […]
Binker and Moses | Feeding The Machine
After some years spent roaming the Valley of the Ultrablacks and exploring the Mountain of Forever, (where they narrowly avoided the lethal traps of The Voice of Besbunu), Binker and Moses are back with a new offering. ‘Feeding The Machine’ is their first studio album in five years, due for release on February 25th on […]
Neue Grafik | Foulden Road Part Two
South London based producer and multi-instrumentalist Neue Grafik announces his new EP ‘Foulden Road Part II’ from his Neue Grafik Ensemble band, released 25th March on Total Refreshment Centre. The sequel to their impressive 2019 release ‘Foulden Road’, Neue Grafik continues to incorporate 100% live takes with the ensemble, as well as solo productions that […]
Culross Close | Pressure
“Pressure” is the third album by Culross Close. “The album opens with the sound of PRESSURE! a world where synths blend with keys and the visceral expressions of city life. Things then move from minimalist expressions to beat-driven fusion. With searing string and trumpet arrangement courtesy of Yelfris Valdes, To Belong straddles beat-driven fusion and jazz […]
Kahil El’Zabar Quartet | A Time For Healing
Kahil El’Zabar delivers yet another epic double LP’s worth of ancient/future music for the mind, body and soul. From swinging jazz that sings of his Chicago pedigree, to talking drums and soothing spiritual grooves that reconnect Black Classical Music with its African roots. Multi-percussionist, band-leader, vocalist, composer, conductor and educator, Kahil El’Zabar has been at […]
Unknown To Known | Live at the Crypt
Unknown to Known offers an intimate dialogue of meandering melodies and textural grooves over resounding harmonic landscapes. At times euphoric and often dynamic, this music is always interactive, honest and raw. Following the release of their first EP “Portico” which found support from music lovers and DJs worldwide including the likes of Gilles Peterson, “Live […]
Shay Hazan | Reclusive Rituals
The multi-talented Shay Hazan fuses rubbery North African Gnawa grooves, with haunting jazz horns and hip hop inflected beats on ‘Reclusive Rituals’. His first project for international groove artisans, Batov Records. Tel-Aviv based musician Shay Hazan is a composer, producer, bassist & bandleader. His versatile bass is frequently heard on national radio, providing the hits […]
Jeff Parker | Forfolks
Jeff Parker’s Forfolks – a new album of solo guitar tracks – released via International Anthem and Nonesuch Records. The album features interpretations of Thelonious Monk’s “Ugly Beauty” and the standard “My Ideal,” as well as six original compositions, including “Four Folks” (a piece Parker first wrote and recorded in 1995) and “La Jetée” (a […]
Wadada Leo Smith & Henry Kaiser | Pacifica Koral Reef
“I’m supposed to be writing about Pacifica Koral Reef, this record that I’ve made with my friend Henry Kaiser and his friend Wadada Leo Smith. And while the music it contains is, for me, a miraculous late-career achievement after 50 years of mostly playing in alternative rock bands, writing about it is a downright odd […]
Nick Walters | Singularity
Nick Walters returns to his D.O.T. Records imprint with a suite of forward thinking, cosmic, electronic-jazz experiments, inspired by NASA & the concept of gravitational singularity. Each track on “Singularity”, his first home studio produced album, is built around an audio sample recorded by NASA in space, then expertly transported back to earth by Walters […]
Scrimshire | Nothing Feels Like Everything
Adam Scrimshire’s latest full-lenbth excursion – the Albert’s Favourites founder’s third in as many years, is an expansive, adventurous and entertaining affair, with a string of guest vocalists and musicians swinging by to lend a hand. After opening with a touch of Rotary Connection-inspired brilliance featuring Cleveland Watkiss (‘The Pile’), Scrimshsire sashays between soft-focus, semi-acoustic […]
Embryo | Auf Auf
The late Christian Burchard, who founded the Embryo ensemble in 1969, loved the slogan “Auf Auf,” German for “Up, Up,” or “Keep On Going.” Anyone with anything more than a passing interest in the German Krautock scene of the 1970s and 1980s knows that Burchard followed that intent all around the world, tirelessly seeking out […]
Unknown To Known | Portico
Improvised extracts from our first encounter in July 2021. Portico Gallery, South London. This group is a culmination of four musicians each active in some of the most prominent musical forces around today including Sting, Van Morrison, Anoushka Shankar, Wild Flower, Ill Considered, Collocutor, Akram Khan, Dele Sosimi, Sarathy Korwar, Joy Crookes and more. On […]