Jazz
10 May 2012
Little Broken Hearts,
Norah Jones, Blue Note/EMI
Norah Jones releases her latest record,
Little Broken Hearts a decade after she politely yet surely burst onto the scene with her ‘nice-as-pie’ debut,
Come Away With Me. Her swoony pop-jazz style that followed has been a hit with the masses and she has sold millions of copies, but her repertoire has often been relegated to background music and she has not always been taken seriously as an artist. Now however, Jones moves away from her previous, somewhat boring label and presents a credible and noteworthy collection of originals.
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31 Mar 2012
Photographed by Jayne Yong for the girls are.
Ayanna @ The Barbican, London 26 March 2012
Ayanna is a singular talent and a rising star in UK jazz. Vocalist, cellist and composer she is a talented pioneer of black folk music. The first and only non-American to win the legendary Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, tonight Ayanna plays to a packed out Barbican, supporting Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca. She is invited on stage and a hush descends on the audience as Ayanna walks on cello in hand, barefoot and beautiful.
Opening with ‘Aint I A Woman’, she captivates the audience in seconds with her powerful all consuming voice and innate musicality. She delivers an authentic performance of Sojourner Truth’s famous speech of 1851, handling the subject matter with the greatest of respect and sensitivity - immortalising these important words through her soulful vocals.
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29 Mar 2012
Durga Rising: An Indo-Jazz Adventure |
Barb Jungr, Kuljit Bhamra & Russell Churney | 27 Feb 2012
This album was originally recorded in 1996 by vocalist
Barb Jungr, percussionist Kuljit Bhamra (composer of
Bend It Like Beckham soundtrack), and pianist Russell Churney (who sadly passed away in 2007). Previously only available via mail order, this new version of
Durga Rising is now widely available. Durga is the name of a powerful Hindu goddess and this is indeed a powerful album.
Barb Jungr is a British vocalist renowned for her unique vocal style, interpretation of song and radical approach to arrangements, a position, which she firmly states within the opening seconds of the album. ‘Watch Me As I Fall’ begins with a hypnotic recitative, rhythmic vocal style that sets the mood of the album through Jungr’s immediately recognisable vocals. Throughout the record the music alludes to all the genres of which the album is billed; indo-jazz, european, asian, jazz, blues, bhangra and RnB, but none are overtly stated over the other. The result of this is an elegantly crafted genre-defying sound.
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28 Mar 2012
Radio Music Society |
Esperanza Spalding | 2 Apr 2012
Radio Music Society follows
Esperanza Spalding’s
Chamber Music Society, which grabbed the jazz world’s attention back in 2010. Spalding then gained the wider world’s attention after her 2011 Grammy win for Best New Artist – the first time a jazz musician has won the award – let alone a female jazz musician. Needless to say all eyes and ears have been eagerly awaiting this follow up/companion album.
Of course, Spalding does not disappoint. The immensely talented bassist, vocalist and composer has already worked with an impressive array of musicians. For
Radio Music Society she has collaborated with the likes of hip-hop legend Q-Tip, jazzers Joe Lovano, Jack DeJohnette and Billy Hart, guitar heroes Jef Lee Johnson and Lionel Loueke, and vocalists Lalah Hathaway and Gretchen Parlato. Spalding’s musicality and engaging mix of jazz, pop, funk and soul stand out, even above these musical luminaries.
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21 Mar 2012
Jazz singer-songwriter
Juliet Kelly hits the road this weekend and takes her acclaimed ‘Celebrating the Divas of Jazz’ tour to rural venues in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The tour is Juliet’s tribute to the jazz singers that have inspired her.
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19 Mar 2012
American double bassist and singer
Esperanza Spalding releases new single ‘Black Gold’ from her forthcoming album
Radio Music Society today.
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15 Mar 2012
Balladeer
Katie Melua releases single 'Better Than a Dream' from her new classical-inspired album,
Secret Symphony. Melua made her name some years ago with songs such as ‘The Closest Thing to Crazy’, from her first album
Call off the Search, which reached number 1 in the UK charts back in 2003. Billed as Melua’s comeback album,
Secret Symphony follows her 2010 album,
The House.
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15 Mar 2012
Zoe Rahman @ New Forest Arts, New Milton – Hampshire,
10 March
Zoe Rahman piano
Gene Calderazzo drums
Davide Mantovani bass
Idris Rahman clarinet
Pianist
Zoe Rahman ventures to New Forest Arts Centre in New Milton tonight to showcase tracks from her recently released album,
Kindred Spirits for a superb night of elegant and exciting jazz in rural England.
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2 Mar 2012
Jazz star
Norah Jones will be releasing her long-anticipated collaborative LP with
Danger Mouse on April 30.
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15 Feb 2012
When I was 9 I interviewed my first jazz musician and ever since, I’ve been obsessed – even making it my livelihood. Through personal experience and standard jazz education I started to notice that I was often the only girl in a band or even in the audience at gigs. I decided to explore why. I have been studying gender issues in jazz for years now and was recently commissioned by
Jazz Services to produce a report on the subject. It is an important issue that needs addressing...
The leading discourses of jazz history are full of anecdotes of ‘great jazz men’. It is as if women are almost entirely written out of the jazz annals. Jazz is filled with iconic masculine images and ideologies but nowhere can such memorable depictions of women be found. Women were, of course, always involved in jazz. So where are their accounts? They do exist – but they are hidden.
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