Category: Album Reviews

April 11, 2017 / Album Reviews - Archive

STRENGTH AND SANITY (Newvelle) 8.5/10 For some of us Booker Little was as great a jazz trumpeter as any. That this sentiment is not more widely shared is down to the fact that Little was dead in 1961 at just 23. He didn’t have much time, but with what he…

April 6, 2017 / Album Reviews - Archive

NITTY GRITTY (Mixed-Up Music) 7.5/10 Tim Rollinson has rare control over the aesthetics of his guitar sound. When he applies distortion it doesn’t so much dirty up the sound as give it an edge and make it glint. When the sound is cleaner it’s never antiseptic, but has a warmth…

March 22, 2017 / Album Reviews - Archive

VICISSITUDES (Rattle) 8.5/10 This is how it can work. For all the attempts to combine jazz and classical elements in a piece of music, few have even begun to succeed. The most common fault is that the classical dimension is static and subservient to the fluid improvising one. Of course…