'Don't Forget Your Music' - never forget your music

If you are an American jazz musician, coming over to the UK, you can probably safely say you've made it when our own musical royalty Dame Cleo Laine and Sir Van Morrison say nice things on film about you.

In <i>Don't Forget Your Music</i>, the new documentary by Alfred George Bailey, Gregory Porter comes across as a thoroughly good egg. What's more, he's clearly an accomplished musician. He can inform and inspire members of his band to give his songs the right feel, if he can't actually do it himself. He makes no attempt to drum, play bass or piano on film but he doesn't need to.

The documentary shows something of the creative process Porter goes through and the studio moments give a real insight into his musicianship. This man knows his stuff.

So, when Cleo Laine says "You're a young cat. I'm an old cat." and Van Morrison is a little lost for words when describing you, take it as a compliment. These people know their jazz.

Comments

Big Wade - 'Piano Man' out now

Big Wade and Black Swan Theory collectively blends funk, soul, jazz and everything that fills the cracks between those genres: his new album - Piano Man - on all major streaming platforms ahead of the Piano Man Tour 2024 , which has dates across the US. Piano Man brings a selection of original and covers, including a stunning version of Autumn Leaves , which reinvents the song as the funky, electronic Autumn . Big Wade's voice takes the song's melody and improvises around and around, with backing vocals and a deliberately sparse arrangement underpinning the song. Similarly, on Children of the Ghetto , the lead and backing vocals blend in with the soulful musicians of Black Swan Theory. Electronics are used with dexterity, often expanding the vocal lines, as in the ethereal and ghostly opening of Don't Let Me Go . However, the tools never dominate - simply adding depth and layers to the funk. Never more than when Big Wade enters a new world in Interludes , including vocals...

Playtime: 'Morse Code Through The Lights'

Every once in a while, an album drops into your inbox and isn't going anywhere. Morse Code Through The Lights is just such an album. Incontrovertibly controversial, this won't be everyone's cup of tea, but this one has absolutely, instantly, made it onto my list of top albums of 2024. Drummer Tom Bancroft and his band Playtime, which began in Edinburgh as Adventures in New Music ten years ago as a weekly session, have produced something delightfully experimental and brilliantly creative. Four of Scotland's most-established jazz musicians - Martin Kershaw (sax), Graeme Stephen (guitar), Mario Caribe (bass) and Tom Bancroft (drums) - tried out new music and new ideas together. Once lockdown struck in 2020, they decided to explore the possibilities of improvising music together online, partly for something to do, and partly because it was something they could do for their audience. Most of us discovered - or thought we had - that improvising online was difficult or impossi...

Remembering season 20 of Harmonious World

In June 2020, I released the first episode of my podcast - Harmonious World - and I had no idea how much delight it would bring me to share conversations with musicians from around the world. Whether you're a guest, a listener or one of the collaborators who have helped me find my guests, thank you! I now have listeners in 2, 475 cities across 129 countries, so wherever you are, welcome to our collective musical attempts to make the world more harmonious. Season 20 guests were: Chris Gall Sultan Stevenson Fotina Naumenko Quinn Sternberg Tara Minton for International Jazz Day Nicole Zuraitis Dave Keech Ute Lemper Vonn Vanier Iain Farrington Cecilie Strange Becca Wilkins Dave Handler

Hilary Seabrook - writer, podcaster, musician

Search This Blog