The Newbridge festival in March books one of Ireland's biggest jazz stars for its annual Kildare jazz gathering. Highlights include an appearance by said icon of the scene Michael Buckley and his Quartet, Origin Story and the quintet of Venezuelan guitarist Orlando Molina. Buckley delivered one of his best albums in years recently, the formidable Ebb and Flow.
Recorded at the Gateway studio in Kingston, south west London, Kenny Wheeler biographer Nick Smart pins the 1995 What Was session down to taking place a short time before Wheeler's classic Angel Song. "On What Was," Smart says, "we hear Kenny at 65 years old and still at the height of his musical powers."
The Grammys continue to neglect the sheer quality of jazz issued beyond America. releases that often eclipse the homegrown product for quality and imagination.
Fed up with annoying radio chit chat in English from the more smashy and nicey type smoothie voices on the BBC and Jazz FM between songs? Now you can blot all that out by listening to Germans cue up the records. In German! More seriously what a great new sounding station from Berlin just started that seems very much in the mould of London’s breakfast and drive time loving Jazz FM.
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