Bit of a splurge!

I've heard lots of jazz fans of a certain age (i.e. older than me) talk about the heady days of Ray's Jazz Shop, when Ray still owned it. I only found out about and visited the old Ray's, in its Shaftesbury Avenue location, a couple of times before it was bought out by Foyles bookshop. I vaguely remember punters hunched over racks packed with vinyl, but it doesn't hold a nostalgic place in my heart, because I never really spent much time there.

Since its relocation to Charing Cross Road, new Rays  does seem to have been relocated, remodeled and reduced - in fact it seems to get a little smaller each time I go there - and now primarily stocks CDs. Not being a vinyl devotee like Jazzy G (I don't have the space or spousal agreement to store it) that last bit doesn't stress me too much, and the shop's still worth a browse. There's a wide selection of new releases and older stuff, plus a fair-sized chunk of second hand CDs, many of which seem to be very recent promo copies. 

Whenever I'm 'up west' with a bit of time on my hands I head in there and have a rummage in the second-hand section. Sometimes it doesn't turn up much, but yesterday's trawl uncovered some rich pickings:







Some recent and recent-ish releases here, plus some older stuff - just things that caught my fancy. 


I can't believe I hadn't already got the Alice Coltrane or EST in my collection! 


I got a bit carried away and splashed out on the new Sons of Kemet release while I was there.

Life gets in the way...

... or, to be precise, the need to earn a crust is getting in the way. 

I was planning to catch Kristian Borring, a guitarist who's been intriguing me for a while, at the lovely Colchester Arts Centre Jazz Club this coming Sunday. I'd bought tickets upfront, too.

Alas, as one who languishes in the gig economy (now there's an irony) I'm forced to take some work on next week, under pain of not being offered any more by this particular exploitative... ahem, entirely reasonable and ethical organisation - not to mention my partner's heavy hints about my contribution to the household budget. Double alas, the parlous state of our public transport means I need to travel down to Maidstone on Sunday night, suffering the usual weekend engineering works that can turn the simplest journey into a homeric epic, if I'm going to get there on time.  

Looks like Jazzy G will have to go it alone. At least I've got tomorrow night's Eyolf Dale album launch gig to console myself with - of which, more later.

Meanwhile, here's a taste of Kristian Borring to be getting on with:

Been there etc.

I'm a sucker for a good cause, so yeah, I splashed-out.


Besides, this is the old design, no longer available!

Quiet Thunder

Whoa, check this out:

The Wonder Trail album launch gig is 3 May at Kings Place. 

I'm probably going to have to completely mash-up my diary, and take endless grief from my partner, but I'm planning on getting there. 

It'll be worth it.

Return to Mind album launch

Eyolf Dale, Kings Place, 4 April.

According to his label, Edition Records: 

'the poetic and expressive... Norwegian pianist Eyolf Dale has confirmed his promise and reputation as a strong band leader, creative composer and an expressive soloist with a taste for melodies and interplay that summon powerful musical imaginations. With the launch of his new album Return to Mind, Eyolf has developed his elegant and warm sound into a divine and powerfully emotive sound... Eyolf Dale is vital rising star of the highly creative European Jazz scene.'



The usual label promo hyperbole notwithstanding (Edition Records do produce some consistently high-quality music) this should be a great gig. 

Tickets are still on sale.


And here's a youtube preview:

Circuits Bent

Elliot Galvin: The Influencing Machine album launch, 21 February 2018, the Vortex.

I first came across the phenomenon that is Elliot Galvin live at Dinosaur’s Together As One album launch, and in this trio form warming up for jazz supergroup Aziza at the Cadogan Hall. I was duly impressed on both occasions. 

Add in the social media build up and the pre-release promotion on bandcamp for The Influencing Machine, and I’d whipped myself up into a something of an anticipatory lather ahead of this opener to the trio's promo tour. 

I’m happy to report that I wasn’t disappointed. 

These three startling young musicians delivered a blistering, interval-free set, showcasing the whole album. As I often find myself saying, if you haven’t heard it yet, put it on your shopping list.

The Vortex’s intimacy as a venue provided the perfect setting, allowing Galvin to interact with a rapt audience, explaining some of the inspiration behind his compositions, and expounding the virtues of circuit bending by way of a Dora the Explorer keyboard – wow!

At times Elliot appeared like a youthful mad scientist; yet his toys-atop-the-Steinway approach never felt forced, or gimmicky, or obscured his formidable piano technique. Mixed in with the quirky sound effects, tempo changes and bursts of sonic craziness was some stunningly beautiful playing. Indeed, this is a band chock-full of youthful virtuosity. Corrie Dick, introduced by Elliot with the prefix “amazing”, responded to his bandleader’s spikey improvisations with mesmerising technique behind the drumkit, while Tom McCreddie spun basslines threading through the space between - I love those percussive breaks he delivers – and electric guitar excursions.  

The InfluencingMachine is out now on vinyl, CD and download, and there are still a few dates of the tour left. 

Catch them if you can. Your circuits will be bent for ever more. 

Spellbound

If all the column inches allotted to Yazz Ahmed’s second release on Naim records were laid end to end, they’d reach from here to her Bahrain birth place and back. Okay, so I just made that up, but La Saboteuse does seem to have caught the interest of professional and amateur critics alike, occupying acres of print and megabytes of cyberspace.

Considering this, finding something new to say about it is no easy task, but I feel compelled to write about it anyhow. Prior to hearing it, reviews I’d read universally piled on the acclaim. Despite my scepticism of extravagant praise, I have to say that it’s all fully deserved. If you haven’t heard this album, you really, really need to get hold of a copy.

On the strength of reviews, Yazz’s previous Finding My Way Home album and, of course Jazzy G’s recommendation, I caught her King’s Place septet gig last November. It became my highlight of a day crammed with stand-out London Jazz Festival performances. I joined the back of a long queue for signed copies of the album afterwards, and it’s been a frequent flyer on my Hi-Fi since.

The recording gets about as close to capturing the live vibe as a studio album can, but these aren’t brash, in-your-face tunes; they’re quietly seductive. I defy anyone to hear the beautiful Bloom, and not be beguiled. Yazz’s Bahraini-British influences shine through melodically and rhythmically with electronica adding additional atmospherics.  An unusual line-up (piano/keyboards, vibraphone, guitar, percussion, bass, drums, trumpet/flugel horn) leaves a surprising amount of space for improvisation, thanks to some inspired arrangements. The addition of Shabaka Hutchings’ bass clarinet provides the perfect counter to Yazz’s long, exquisite horn lines, and Martin France’s frenetic drumming somehow emphasises the subtlety of the overall sound.

This is an exotic, heady mix that insistently, inexorably reels you in. I put on La Saboteuse while working, only to find myself listening intently to its complex layers without realising I’d forgotten what I was supposed to be doing.

La Saboteuse casts a spell, and you’ll be glad you were caught in it. Highly recommended.