John Shand Posts

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…

March 21, 2017 / Concert Reviews - Archive

Django Bar, February 26 7.5/10 All improvisation involves letting some air breathe through holes in the music’s fabric and cross-stitching over others. In Hindustani music there are not just holes between beats in the rhythm, but between pitches in the scale or raga. So it’s no wonder the modern strain…

March 20, 2017 / Concert Reviews - Archive

The Basement, February 19 9/10 There’s music that skims surfaces and music that excavates the very ground on which we walk. In the 11 years since Omar Sosa was last here I’ve heard precious little to rate with this performance. It was so brimming with magic and mystery that it…