John Shand Posts

August 16, 2015 / Album Reviews - Archive

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…

August 14, 2015 / Concert Reviews - Archive

The Basement, August 6 Improvising should be a high-wire act with no safety net. As the musician creates and responds, micro-decisions are made much faster than normal thinking. Meanwhile instincts for aesthetics and structure are in play, as is experience, technique and character. Put two improvisers together and making music…

August 12, 2015 / Concert Reviews - Archive

City Recital Hall, August 3 It is a sound that will live in the memory: Pandit Kaivalyakumar’s voice splitting the air with a force like nuclear fission. Without being overly loud its power was further magnified by the City Recital Hall’s resonant acoustics when he chose to fully unleash it.…