John Shand Posts

July 29, 2015 / Album Reviews - Archive

Souvenance (ECM) In the six tumultuous years since Anouar Brahem’s last album the Tunisian has watched his homeland explode amid the hopes and horrors of the Arab Spring. This double-album for quartet and string orchestra is his response. In no sense programmatic, it is rather the considered musical thoughts of…

July 25, 2015 / Features - Archive
July 22, 2015 / Album Reviews - Archive

Solo (ABC) You sense a depth here from the opening notes. Paul Grabowsky has never recorded a solo piano album before and you hear the resolve to make the opportunity count. His harmonic extrapolations on the delicate Angel are so rich and surprising it is like turning the pages of…