How I’m influenced

"Shinin' down like water" (John Fogerty)

It’s the work, not the label

Thoughts on how you get your new music out there when there are so many possibilities.…

In the marlbank mix – the latest podcast and a playlist

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It’s pushing at an open door to discover Irish jazz.

There’s plenty of talent out there but precious little coverage to reflect and represent this flowering.

A critique of critiques

A few thoughts on the way I have changed as a listener and reviewer since Covid:…

Composition is a way out of the cul-de-sac, an exit from the grind, futureproofed for the long game

"It's the work, dear boy, it's the work"

Kind of Keith

At last amid the gloom a renewed sense of Belonging emerges plus an Irish jazz resurgence…

Marking your own homework

Let's not stifle genuine reaction or smother it in schmooze. You can make decent points even…

Tributes To Some

Never regret thy fall, / O Icarus of the fearless flight / For the greatest tragedy…

Poor year for the art of the piano trio

A few thoughts on a select few piano trios that prove exceptions to the idea that…

Why jazz?

Well. What, jazzer, jazz lover. Fellow shuffler in the anorakerie, gets you up in the morning?…

Jazz In Trump’s America Is Under Attack

Trump is no friend of jazz and more to the point the music is under attack…

What makes for great jazz club programming?

The wrong place for the right people - in the words of the great Barney Josephson…

Friday column: How does a member of the public perceive jazz?

''Recognisability'' in the general unengaged public's eyes is completely at odds with what the reality of…

The Friday jazz letter – a popular recipe of a messenger

The start of a New Friday column. Look out for the next one on the 27th.…