John Shand Posts

August 5, 2013 / Album Reviews - Archive

  Down Deep (Winter & Winter/Birdland) This extraordinary album is the most thorough integration of jazz, African and classical elements I have heard, with the end result as visceral as flamenco singing or Hound Dog Taylor’s guitar. The trio consists of Ernst Reijseger (cello, voice), Harmen Fraanje (piano) and Mola…

July 18, 2013 / Concert Reviews - Archive

Concert Hall, July 14 She steamed on stage with the sort of feistiness that league players save for Origin games, and dared us to argue that Peace And Understanding Is Hard To Find. Then she throttled I Wanna Be Around with something of the conviction of the old Renee Geyer,…

July 16, 2013 / Concert Reviews - Archive

Blue Beat, July 12 Where George Harrison’s guitar gently wept, Reg Mombassa’s gnashes its teeth. The one he uses for playing slide is bright red: the colour of habanero chillies, war wounds and prostitutes’ lipstick. It howls and shrieks, protests and laments, and yet all the time is slyly celebrating,…