Features Archives - Jazz Journal

Tracking the mystery woman of jazz: Mama X Plus

Randy L. Smith — Mon, 05 May 2025 18:39:42 +0000

I first met Gale Madden at a record shop in Bellingham, Washington in the late 80s. As we stood digging a CD of vintage Roy Eldridge, Gale (1) regaled me with fantastic stories of her life with the modern jazz greats in the two main jazz centers of the 40s and 50s, New York City […]

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Emily Saunders: ‘For me, technique is freedom’

Trevor Hodgett — Tue, 25 Mar 2025 13:51:14 +0000

“The essence of me is writing songs and expressing experiences or what I see around me and just trying to spread some happiness,” declares London singer Emily Saunders. Certainly songs like Blue Skies Forever and All As One on her current CD Moon Shifts Oceans are wonderfully uplifting. The album is a resounding creative triumph, but […]

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Art Themen: ‘I wouldn’t be interested in being a backing musician for Adele’

Trevor Hodgett — Thu, 13 Mar 2025 20:09:26 +0000

“I don’t rate myself,” asserts saxophonist Art Themen. “I’m just a jobbing musician who’s been very, very lucky.” It’s an astounding statement, for Themen, whose career began in the early 60s, is a luminary of British jazz. Live In Soho, his current CD with the Art Themen Organ Trio, which also features Pete Whittaker (organ) […]

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Caroline Davis: ‘I think it’s important to build an altar for people we’ve lost’

Matty Bannond — Sat, 14 Dec 2024 19:55:52 +0000

Milky smoke from an incense stick is pirouetting around a dozen porcelain cats and one bowl of dry-roasted peanuts. Alto saxophonist Caroline Davis lights a candle. Then she opens a copy of Before The Trees Turn Gray. It’s a collection of poetry written by her English grandmother, Joan Anson-Weber, who passed away in 2010. “I […]

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Sean Khan: ‘Jazz is full of little cliques, and musicians are not the nicest people’

Trevor Hodgett — Wed, 11 Dec 2024 11:49:31 +0000

London saxophonist and flautist Sean Khan has been much acclaimed for albums such as Palmares Fantasy, a 2018 collaboration with Hermeto Pascoal, 2021’s Supreme Love: A Journey Through Coltrane and this year’s Sean Khan Presents The Modern Jazz And Folk Ensemble Volume 1, on which he reinvents tracks originally recorded by British folk artists of […]

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Ursula Harrison: ‘I usually avoid labelling myself as a jazz musician’

Nigel Jarrett — Wed, 11 Dec 2024 10:16:23 +0000

Bassist and composer Ursula Harrison, winner of BBC Young Jazz Musician 2024, didn’t have to cast widely for an influential exemplar: her mum, bassist Paula Gardiner, founder of the jazz course at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, was on hand. But where the mother might cherish a definition of jazz with sturdy […]

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Christopher Riddle: a tribute

Jazz Journal — Thu, 28 Nov 2024 19:50:36 +0000

Many people cross our paths, and if we are lucky, meaningful relationships develop with those who touch us in the most inspiring way. One such person who graced my orbit and became one of my most valued and cherished friends was Christopher Riddle, the son of arranger and composer, Nelson Riddle. Over the past few […]

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Lauren Bush: from interior design to the stage

Leon Nock — Sat, 23 Nov 2024 11:52:48 +0000

Despite reviewing all three albums which singer Lauren Bush has released so far, I knew next to nothing about her, and so in early November, ahead of her London Jazz Festival appearance, I set about learning about her life and career. “One of the few things I know about you”, I said, as we sat […]

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The Good Vibe – an interview with Sérgio Mendes

Jazz Journal — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 13:59:15 +0000

Not only did he showcase bossa nova to the world, Sérgio Mendes personifies how you don’t have to be a shark to succeed in the global music business. The Brazilian music legend here reminisces on an amazing music career and muses on the importance of gratitude. In Brazil, there’s a saying “tudo bem” (everything’s cool) […]

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Mike Paul-Smith: ‘We all loved those swing bands of the 40s’

Leon Nock — Wed, 30 Oct 2024 18:14:04 +0000

There’s a rumour going around that the life of a music reviewer is only a tad less rewarding than that of Tom Cruise, Andrew Lloyd Webber or your privileged celebrity of choice – all those free tickets – “Cor, you don’t know you’re born, mate.” And yes, when the outfit on the other end of […]

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