Maurice El Médioni has died

Le Monde and Libération report the death on Monday of the Algeria born composer Maurice El Médioni who has died in Israel aged 95, Known for an Arab-Andalusian-swing-latin hybrid style first developed as a Jewish teen growing up in the Algerian …

Published: 28 Mar 2024. Updated: 29 days.

Le Monde and Libération report the death on Monday of the Algeria born composer Maurice El Médioni who has died in Israel aged 95, Known for an Arab-Andalusian-swing-latin hybrid style first developed as a Jewish teen growing up in the Algerian city of Oran he was influenced by a wide range of music.

El Médioni was part of a soul of Algiers story told in the documentary El Gusto about an orchestra of Muslim and Jewish musicians torn apart by war 50 years ago who reunited for a special concert to play their beloved Chaabi music.

Creator of a style known as ''PianOriental'' there were elements of boogie-woogie, rumba, raï and Jewish Andalusian music in the unique blend.

El Médioni also featured as a guest on raï icon Khaled's Don Was produced Yah-Rayi on tracks such as 'Mani Hani'. El Médioni influenced musicians beyond Algeria and France where he lived for many years including English pianist Nikki Yeoh whose Cafe Oran themed project gigged in London last year. Legendary Late Junction broadcaster Max Reinhardt was among many paying tribute online writing on X formerly Twitter ''#RestinPianoriental Ya Muallem play me a song. Thanks for the joy.''

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Lovabye for the spring: saxist Gregory Groover Jr's starry sextet shapes up just fine

Looking ahead to further into the spring Lovabye is a must: A sextet on fire recording shortly next up from the Boston tenor saxophonist Gregory Groover Jr recorded on the American player's 30th birthday last summer. To be issued some two years …

Published: 28 Mar 2024. Updated: 23 hours.

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Looking ahead to further into the spring Lovabye is a must:

A sextet on fire recording shortly next up from the Boston tenor saxophonist Gregory Groover Jr recorded on the American player's 30th birthday last summer.

To be issued some two years on from Groover's Negro Spiritual Songbook, Vol. 2 (The Message), the hard bop saxophonist is inspired by fellow saxist Walter Smith III going back quite a bit and whose Return to Casual last year was certainly tasty.

Groover, like Smith, teaches at Berklee in Boston - the title track of Lovabye is the fifth of 11 tracks and is later reprised as a theme. The issuing label is the Dutch jazz indie Criss Cross and the album is released in late-April.

Lovabye was produced by Smith and laid down in the studio last August. The recording has a Mike Marciano mix and mastered sonics - Groover recorded with Blue Note vibes star Joel Ross in his studio sextet - Ross in the wake of Nublues plays Dalston's Vortex with his band in a fortnight's time. Also on the recording - there's pianist Aaron Parks (touring with Tom Ollendorff who played Magy's Farm fairly recently), the Glasperian bassist Vicente Archer whose Short Stories we liked last year, guitarist Matthew Stevens who recorded with Smith on In Common III and the ex-Vijay Iyer drum icon of his generation Marcus Gilmore (grandson of Roy Haynes) at the kit and excellent on Refract with Jason Moran and Blank For.ms last year.

In the video on another release that's around and also featuring the saxist with fine trumpeter Nadje Noordhuis - check out a flavour of the saxist's playing drawn from pianist Domas Žeromskas' Meditations on Providence and Perseverance, Vol. 1. Gregory Groover, photo: via Berklee

Album added on 26 April 2024