Lucidity (Jazzland) Were Lucidity the soundtrack, you wouldn’t want to be the subject of the film. On its 12th album the Norwegian/Swedish Atomic makes an art-form of causing disquiet, so even when the music is elegiac in the way we have come to expect of Scandinavian improvisers it is usually…
Category: Album Reviews
The Essential Recordings (Primo/Planet) Although born in New York Harry Belafonte spent eight childhood years living in Jamaica, and these would prove pivotal in his subsequent career. Long before words like “world” and “roots” had been inanely splattered across musical idioms Belafonte was exploring his Caribbean heritage alongside jazz, gospel,…
Gathering Rains (Kimnara) Simon Barker unveiled this band last year in an unforgettable concert at Campbelltown Arts Centre. While the music is improvised, it is he who “composed” the band, assembling the collective brilliance of these six musicians. Korean Pansori singer Il Dong Bae has previously collaborated extensively with Barker…