Tigran Hamasyan - Shadow Theatre

Tigran Hamasyan is one of those young music geniuses, and rubs our nose in it once more with his last album Shadow Theater. His style is a smart mix of Armenian folk tradition, experimental music and jazz of course, giving us something genuinely original and well worth listening to.

Hamasyan has got many prizes in the world of jazz music, like for instance the first seat at the ”Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz”, under the direction of influential jazz figure Herbie Hancock; he has also been noticed by Avishai Cohen Trio, Chick Corea and Brad Mehldau, to give a few names.

This album is a quality modern jazz work, starting effectively with ‘The Poet’, a track introducing perfectly the versatility of the album. The drums’ irregular accompaniment, its variation, the superposition of voices and the Middle-Eastern influences all contribute to an impression of blurred imaginary landscape, both unsettling and attractive. The second and fifth tracks, ‘Erishta’ and ‘The Year Is Gone’, follow the same vibe.

Other pieces are very serene and sobre, such as ‘The Lament’, number three, ‘Pagan Lullaby’, number eight, or ‘Holy’, number eleven, which give dreamy and ‘Ave Maria’-like atmospheres, the cello being more present on these ones. The tenth – ‘Alternative Universe’ – is notable for the piano part: here Hamasyan is put on the foreground with a long ad-lib and gives us an insight of his great talent.

From this category, one of the key tracks of the album is by far the sixth one: ‘Seafarer’. It has a simple arrangement and melody, with a background of bass lines from the strings alternating with a wavy pattern by the tenor saxophone and piano, making us easily feel like a sailor in the middle of a restless sea thinking of home. This piece sounds very noble and solemn; it just shows how all the great things in life are simple.

But for the most fiery of you, there are also a few devilish tracks with jerky rhythms such as ‘The Drip’, number four, and ‘The Collapse’, number nine; interesting dark pieces, with oriental touches here and there as well.

The album leaves us with another great piece, ‘Road Song’, again with original rhythms and sometimes almost Japanese tones, on a background of restless wavy piano. A very positive energy emerges from this one track; something fresh, like a re-start in one’s life. It then ends quietly, leaving us with a feeling of curiosity for new things…this is what this album does to you.

This article appeared on AAAmusic.co.uk.

Kaz Simmons - For the Love of the Big L

Get to know ‘For the Love of the Big L’, by jazz singer and songwriter Kaz Simmons. It is part of her fourth album Signs, released on Sunday 28th October.

The atmosphere is very much her own, a wavy, dreamy world with a slight ’70s overall feel, and an interesting thread from beginning to end of Brazilian music influence – which she loves – through the percussions’ accompaniment. She also manages to smartly introduce wittiness in the song by high-lighting the well-known outside robot-like attitude of Londoners when she sings “They won’t look at me” or “Move to the right” juxtaposed with “We’re friendly people here, honestly”.

This is about a love story with its ups and downs, but a special one indeed since it is a love story with London. Kaz, with her pure and laser-precise voice, tells how the Big L “seduced” her, but she also sings about how the capital can be too pushy at times, making her want to leave. A “dark” break in the song appears, with just a doublebass and touches of electric piano on the background, and Kaz singing a cappella “Don’t take me for granted; I’m good to you”.

But don’t worry, all’s well that ends well, when she finally admits that she “really love(s) it here”.

And if you want more, you will be able to hear Kaz Simmons on the opening night of the EFG London Jazz Festival on the 15th of November, at the Green Note in Camden Town.

 This article appeared on AAAmusic.co.uk.

Robert Glasper Experiment - Black Radio 2

Robert Glasper Experiment’s new record Black Radio 2 (out October 28th) is highly anticipated, as is to be expected of the sequel of his 2013 Grammy Award-winning (Best R’n’B Album) Black Radio.

The album features collaborations with well-asserted artists such as Snoop Dogg, Common, Lalah Hathaway, Brandy, Emeli Sandé and more… another treat is the presence of Jill Scott (in ‘Calls’) and Lupe Fiasco (in ‘Persevere’ with Snoop Dogg), who together made an absolutely wonderful version of ‘Daydreamin’ in 2006.

So this “experiment” is not to be listened to as a Robert Glasper‘s record, but more as a collective work of talented artists from various music backgrounds. Glasper is indeed a talented and inventive jazz pianist, but here he remains more in the shadows, giving nevertheless a strong background throughout this jazz/pop/R’n’B album.

Technically speaking, all the pieces more or less follow the same range of chords, but always revitalising them in a new way, with new arrangements and singers, and therefore new styles. It follows the spirit of what is explained to us at the end of the introductory track, in a speech addressing the war between mainstream and innovation in music, and which tells the audience that the force and appeal of African music is to use repetitive music, though adding a new element at every turn.

Track two, ‘I Stand Alone’, is a nice punchy song ever-rising in intensity, starting with rapper Common followed in the chorus by Fall Out Boy singer Patrick Stump. It carries a soul and hip hop vibe; and on the thematic perspective, it gives a good introduction to this album where there is a great sense of vulnerability portrayed throughout, as artists share their life experiences dealing with issues like trust, love and the quest of finding one self.

But Glasper does get a little more freedom in his jazz piano play as the album evolves, like for instance in the last part of the sixth calm track ‘Trust’, or in the ninth track with fast drums‘Let It Ride’, featuring Norah Jones. Also on track number five, ‘No Worries’, featuring soul singer Dwele, at 1’42 minutes the song offers a nice modulation which resonates with jazz grids.

The last song, ‘Jesus Children of America’, featuring Lala Hathaway and Malcolm Jamal-Warner, is a clear tribute to Glasper‘s mother, Kim Yvette Glasper, who used to take her son to church where he first took interest in playing the piano, and where he was inspired to combine Jazz and Gospel harmonies. It closes this album rightly, which is indeed a quality homage to Black music and talent.

 This article appeared on AAAmusic.co.uk.

Julie Feeney - Clocks

 Julie Feeney is a talented award-winning Irish artist. Composer, singer, song-writer, orchestrator, comedian, producer… She has a strong curriculum vitae offering a solid base for her third album Clocks, mixed by David Reitzas (who has produced Madonna, Guns N’ Roses and Prince).

It also became No. 1 in the Independent Irish Album Charts, No. 7 in the main Irish charts on its Irish release in late 2012, and Julie has won the praises of chief pop music critic Jon Pareles in The New York Times.

Digitally recorded at Kylemore Abbey Gothic Church, county Galway, the album is airy and fairy, but also somehow tonic and very personal. The singer’s nice mezzo voice, if not loud and exuberant, is nevertheless always perfectly right and neat.

From the first notes of her first song, ‘Dear John’, you are taken away to a dreamy Irish landscape by the river under a full moon. It is indeed a merry and romantic song, both in lyrics and orchestration – with a harpsichord and violins in the background.

It continues on a calm second track, ‘Cold Water’, opening on a binary rhythm which alternates at the chorus with a ternary one, giving a nice movement to the piece. The harp in the background, giving a romantic touch again, is rightly balanced with the presence of a bass guitar. On this one, the Galway-born singer is charmingly pronouncing “pull you through” with a “t” instead of the “th” sound, as any self-respecting western Irish does.

‘If I Lose You Tonight’, number six, will be the album’s favourite song for those Irish music lovers out there. It is a love song strongly traditionally-influenced, on a background of calm fiddle and banjo, and a spectrum of notes echoing all traditional Irish songs. On this one, you can easily picture the pretty windswept green fields of the emerald island.

The seventh track, ‘Moment Out Of The Blue ‘, is a calm anti-war song. On this one Julie uses more her speaking voice, quite emotionally loaded. It can remind one of the way of singing – and even of the voice tone – of Irish singer Sinéad O’Connor.

Like the previous one, the eighth song ‘Happy Ever After’ is more contemporary, with a clearer use of sound effects like artificial brass instruments and organ, and whistling. It is telling the tale of a girl who has got proposed by the king, but who prefers to stay alone in her own wonderland: within her only is her happiness.

Julie Feeney’s Clocks album is an overall very peaceful, subtle pop work presenting a series of elaborate melodies. It is both unpretentious and imaginative, and that’s what makes its originality, charm and quality.

This article appeared on AAAmusic.co.uk.

Conference "Regard sur l'Irlande" : Marie-Louise O'Connell

Marie-Louise O'Donnell

On Friday night a conference about Ireland took place at the Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris, by Irish reporter and senator Marie-Louise O'Donnell. I was expecting something rather standardized about Ireland's contemporary
situation – its economy and political current issues for instance: nothing new under the sun. But I have been given something else entirely.

Instead of listening to a dull explanation of facts and events, Marie-Louise spoke from her heart, from her guts even, about this country that she loves so much and could never be far away from for long. She talked fondly about the proud Irish people, their fundamental artistic character which they have somehow lost and must regain; in brief, she spoke about Irish identity as she saw it, from a cultural, human, sentimental point of view.

Beginning her speech by praising Paris's riches and beauty, she kept the public entertained with humorous notes here and there – mainly jokes about Ireland, and putting in comparison the two together. But those were not malevolent jokes, rather they were gentle pokes as one would do with a longtime, dear friend.

O'Donnell talked with sparkling eyes of her childhood in County Mayo, and when she went to visit her grandmother in a countryside village. It was there, when she was still little, that she became aware of the power of language, of words, of voices. No wonder then that she became an actor and theatre administrator, before becoming a reporter, broadcaster and politician – each of these jobs being closely related to orality.

After the first humorous and nostalgic half of her speech, she went on on a more sensitive subject for Irish people, and a more important issue: the turning point which represented the recent death (30 August of this year) of the Irish poet, senator, lecturer and playwriter Seamus Justin Heaney, who had won a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1995. He was a proud Irish figure, fond of his country – he always emphasized that he was Irish, and not British – and knew that Ireland needed to take back her essence, take back her talent to produce, and stop copying: “The trappings of moderrnity have nothing to do with us.”

Indeed the modern bankers and the like have made the emerauld island drift away from its artistic path. Ireland was – but still is, and has to persist in this way – a country of arts, and of sound, and of writing. When Heaney died, there was a great outpour of grief in Ireland, said O'Donnell, herself repressing some tears. But not one that could be seen for a celebrity; it was the grief felt about a void inside every Irish people, that could not be fulfilled after Heaney's death. And in order “to do him justice”, and do justice to Ireland, the people must take back their country and believe in their talent again, before it is too late.

An unexpected music treat in a pub in
Miltown Malbay (Willie Clancy Festival 2012)

She also talked about how the Irish were brute and to-the-point when they spoke, but always in an honest and relevant way; how it was easy to encounter Irish writers in the street and have a chat over a pint with them if you wanted to.

When she told all her anecdotes, this made me feel like I was back there again. The Irish do have a joy of living, and an openness that you would not find in Great-Britain or in France – without either being crude or too extraverted as in the United-States or in Mediterrean countries. And the arts do take an important part of their everyday-life: it is still easy to find pubs in which small bands – traditional or not – are playing for a few hours in exchange of some pints, to the delight of all.

O'Donnell ended her speech on a poetic touch with one of Heaney's poems, "Land", before taking questions from the public.
In the end, instead of heading home with a notebook full of data, I came back with a head full of memories.

This article was written for this blog only.

The Weave

Liverpool’s vibrant city has just given rise to a new talented jazz band, The Weave, who released their debut album of the same name last July.

The band may be recent, but the members know and have played with each other for a long time – up to 20 years for the two trumpeters Martin Smith and Tony Peers. From Latin jazz and New Orleans to modern jazz and Senegalese dance music, they have had a great range of experiences, resulting in a very mature first album.

It opens dynamically with the noteworthy ‘Thou Spak a Mouthful’, on a syncopated rhythm at the piano and drums. It reveals Martin’s potential, playing as easily as if he were talking; Tony Ormesher at the guitar, and Rob Stringer at the piano are not less eloquent.

The album continues with the band having fun on ‘Caresser Caress Her’. This one is a very stirring piece which would sound a bit like a cover song of the well-known ‘Linus and Lucy’ piano tune, also known as ‘Peanuts theme song’. Whoever likes the original will have a little crush on this one, which makes one’s spirits lift instantly.

Track number three ‘Never Better’ is a very atmospheric track, with a more Miles Davis style, offering three fine solos: on double bass (Hugo Harris), muted trumpet (Tony Peers) and on piano (Rob Stringer). Number six ‘As Within’ is in the same spirit, showing a smart trumpet arrangement.

The dynamic seventh track ‘Cold Wet And Sockless’ has already picked up support from Mark Radcliffe on hisRadio 2 Music Box show. It has an interesting wavy chorus with piano and fast drums (Tilo Pirnbaum), and trumpets on a question-answer mode.

Number eight, ‘Abram’s Air’, is a classic, Satchmo-like jazz track, on which you can easily picture yourself sitting in a dark and smokey American jazz club. This is no wonder, since the two trumpeters have played in a New Orleans-style band for some years, The Brasshoppers. The two players are mutually complementary – as Martin puts it himself, they ”breath together”.

The Weave are not resting on their laurels either: to celebrate their album’s release, they have participated in several festivals last August, like at the Manchester International Jazz Festival and at the Congleton Jazz & Blues.

Bottom line, the good symbiosis of this happy crew transpires in The Weave, a strong starting point with a nice overall British jazz feel, that both jazz lovers or discoverers will appreciate.

This article appeared on AAAmusic.co.uk.

Tayo Irvine Hendrix - Crazy Dayze

Tayo Irvine Hendrix has a sound of her own, and it was well expected.

After all, being Jimi Hendrix's daughter, she could only build up a talent for music – and was given a drum at three years old to ensure this. Since then, Tayo became a percussionist, songwriter and composer as well as a singer.

Her percussion influence can be heard in her new single – ‘Crazy Dayze’ – a dynamic, classic blues piece that opens with plain drums. They are immediately followed by the singer’s husky voice telling you things like “take off your shoes” and “take off my bra”. You are then carried away by riffs of electric guitar, and by the singer’s resonant and warm vocals. Tayo alternates all the while between sensual commandments and voluptuously sung choruses, the piano accompanying her continuously with a syncopated, catchy jazzy rhythm.

The overall piece has a slight 90s-punchiness, sprinkled at the end by bits of flute. It is definitely a nice blues track; the kind of blues corresponding to Tayo’s lively, colourful personality.

‘Crazy Dayze’ will be part of her Tayo Irvine Hendrix’s album EXPERIENCE This, which was mixed by Blake Eiseman, the man accountable for Pink’s notoriety, and who has worked with Usher, Janet Jackson and Aretha Franklin. It is to be released on September 23rd, to start autumn on a swinging note.

This article appeared on  AAAmusic.co.uk.