Nic Jones, Author at Jazz Journal

Reviewed: Gato Barbieri | Fred Frith, Shelley Burgon | Jacqueline Kerrod, Joe Morris

Nic Jones — Sun, 25 May 2025 17:20:45 +0000

Gato Barbieri: Standards 2 (Red Records RRCD 1233482) By the time this album was recorded in Rome in the spring of 1968 the Argentinian Barbieri had already made something of a case for the idea of jazz as an international language, not least through his contributions to Don Cherry’s Blue Note album Complete Communion. At that […]

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Reviewed: George Cables | Josephine Davies | Anita Ellis, Carol Lawrence

Nic Jones — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 10:15:26 +0000

George Cables: I Hear Echoes (High Note HCD 7356) Having over the years recorded with Art Pepper, and among other things put out a number of albums under his own name on both the SteepleChase and High Note labels, pianist George Cables now qualifies as a seasoned veteran with more than a little know-how at […]

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Reviewed: Sara Serpa | Sun Ra | Savina Yannatou, Floros Floridis, Barry Guy, Ramón López

Nic Jones — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 18:51:30 +0000

Sara Serpa: Encounters & Collisions (Biophilia Records) Sara Serpa is a singer of a different order who loosely embodies a strand of “the tradition” in which the taking of risks is not only welcome but in some measure expected. This album is the most autobiographical she’s ever produced, and the relating of her experiences of […]

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Reviewed: Karen Borca & Paul Murphy | Tania Grubbs Quintet | Toms Rudzinkis Quartet

Nic Jones — Tue, 25 Feb 2025 11:52:13 +0000

Karen Borca & Paul Murphy: Entwined (Relative Pitch RPR1198) As if there weren’t already enough bassoon and drums duos in the world (IRONY ALERT) this one consisting of Borca on the former and Murphy on the latter offers up a programme of music rich in detail and pointillistic nuance. Both musicians are loosely informed by […]

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Sonny Clark, Fragile Virtuoso

Nic Jones — Sun, 15 Dec 2024 09:45:48 +0000

Pianist Sonny Clark, given the regularity with which he – in common with quite a few others – recorded for Blue Note either as a sideman or under their own name, might be described as the label’s house pianist. His hard-bop style was quite in keeping with what the label’s predominantly known for, despite the […]

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Reviewed: Paul Dunmall, Kevin Figes, Julie Tippetts | Pinky Winters | Nano Brothers | Anna Webber | Hubbub | Miguel Zenón | Wayne Escoffery

Nic Jones — Mon, 09 Dec 2024 18:18:53 +0000

The arguably embattled “jazz community” continues on a path which, in keeping with the rest of the so-called music industry, seems intent on the denial of reality and from the marketing point of view at least utilising a form of excited puffing over talents the like of which are being touted on such a regular […]

Reviewed: David Haney | Scarla O’Horror | Anna Marie | Marilyn Maye

Nic Jones — Thu, 21 Nov 2024 14:16:27 +0000

David Haney: four albums on Cadence and New York Jazz Stories Pianist David Haney’s put out a number of albums this time round, including appearances by musicians including Marty Ehrlich, Kirk Knuffke and, implausibly in Haney’s generally avant-garde milieu, funk-drum maestro Bernard Purdie. His musical approach might be described as post-Cecil Taylor, although more helpful […]

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Yours Truly, John

Nic Jones — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 11:44:53 +0000

John Stubblefield was of a jazz generation that was thoroughly grounded in the music’s values yet open to new developments, in his case with particular reference to what was once known as the avant-garde. This book has been written and compiled by his sister and is in every sense a labour of love, though not […]

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Reviewed: Steve Baczkowski | Niklas Fite & Gunter Christmann | Sentient Beings | Keir Cooper + Eleanor Westbrook | Kuba

Nic Jones — Tue, 15 Oct 2024 11:54:15 +0000

As what passed for summer in the UK turns distinctly to autumn / the downpour season, the tide of jazz-related “product” proves impervious to climate change. In musical terms, the present day 24/7 availability of something not unlike everything has the curious effect of marginalising even further those forms that were marginalised by dint of […]

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Petra van Nuis: singing beyond the words

Nic Jones — Thu, 03 Oct 2024 12:33:15 +0000

Petra van Nuis is a Chicago-based jazz vocalist whom Bruce Crowther described as “an exceptionally gifted singer with a light yet subtly textured sound” who “is always delightfully melodic.” Born in Cincinnati, she was first exposed to music through her father Pieter van Nuis, a Dutch classical pianist and piano technician and inventor for Baldwin […]

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