The “art of the prompt”
“My arse” - Jim Royle would have responded. But the jig will be well and truly up come that *happy day* when opinion itself can be faked by AI.
Latest Posts
The Shieling wins Jazz FM album of the year
Fergus McCreadie wins big at the Jazz FM awards
16 April 2026
Let Spin, I Am Alien, Discus ****
I have no idea what "post jazz" means, a term sometimes trotted out to describe Let Spin. It trips off the tongue easily enough.
16 April 2026
Advertisement
Alex Ho and Donovan Haffner, Serendipity, No label ****
A meeting of hearts and minds.
13 April 2026
Peter Erskine, Peregrine, Hard Wag Records **** highly recommended
A winning array of Keith Jarrett, Phoebe Snow, Alan Pasqua, Peter Erskine, Brian Wilson and Jimmy Webb material contained within what's crafted as carefully as a choice artisanal blend.
13 April 2026
People in Orbit, Viewpoint, April ***
You won't have just glimpsed the dark side of the moon unlike some other People in Orbit making all the news.
11 April 2026
Julian Joseph, Voyage of the Faithful, Rivetation Records *****
An event release. A giant of British jazz piano returns with a bangingly swinging trio exhibition, on what is blindingly obviously a milestone recording.
10 April 2026
Foy Vance, The Wake, Rounder ****
Amazing stuff, utterly magnetic especially 'Call Me Anytime.'
8 April 2026
Ego Ella May, Good Intentions, Believe UK ***
A loungey listen from much hyped singer Ego Ella May has its moments but there are no knockout songs.
8 April 2026
Some details and thoughts on John Taylor’s The Bauer Session
Italian label Cam Jazz tantalise once more with a John Taylor solo piano recording made not long before the pianist died.
6 April 2026
Ulysses Owens Jr. and Generation Y, Around The World With U, Cellar Music **** recommended
These old and not so old sweet songs in Gen Y's hands conjure so ably dear dead days beyond recall.
6 April 2026
Biréli Lagrène, Elegant People, PeeWee! ****
Swinging French guitar icon Biréli Lagrène does not disappoint with his best album in simply years. Its sentimental insouciance and savoir faire are something of a revelation that may cure any lingering feeling, dear reader, you might possess of jadedness. Listening shakes off such torpor.
6 April 2026
James Kitchman, Floating Sky, No label ***
Pristine pastoralism informs the latest quartet release by English guitarist James Kitchman.
5 April 2026
Stacey Kent, A Time For Love, Naïve Records ****
Quiet and reflective from one of the greatest classic jazz singers of our times. The Jim Tomlinson co-write with Cliff Goldmacher 'What Goodbye Is For' appeals most to me.
3 April 2026
Preview: Blair/Huber to surface at SJQ on the evening of Easter Monday down in Dalston
Not even a case following frequent replay of once smitten twice shy.
2 April 2026
John Beasley with the SWR Big Band, Invisible Piano, O-tone music ****
Currently performing through until Saturday - as a member of Unlimited Miles at the Birdland jazz club in New York along with Sean Jones, Marcus Strickland, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Ben Williams and Terreon Gully - John Beasley on Invisible Piano is here in a big band album incarnation to be released in May which features originals as well as James Taylor and Earth, Wind & Fire material on an album that takes its name from the visual cue of a 1920s Max Ernst proto-surrealist painting.
2 April 2026
Shalosh, What We Are Made Of, ACT ***
Covering Oasis, Muse and Aqua is not only a bit but a lot gimmicky. Otherwise beyond the purist baiting the trio continue doing what they have been accomplishing for a while. That is delivering accessible contemporary piano trio sounds as "invented" back in the late 1990s by the likes of e.s.t, The Bad Plus and Brad Mehldau.
1 April 2026
The Bad Plus, Chris Potter, Craig Taborn, Barbican, City of London ****
Playing the music of the Keith Jarrett American Quartet on their farewell tour, The Bad Plus were on uncompromising kickass form.
31 March 2026