Skip to main content

‘Memory in Motion’ with The Jazz Defenders

A packed Pizza Express in London’s Soho was blasted by The Jazz Defenders as they unleashed their new album on the world - celebrating International Jazz Day 2024 in style.

The Jazz Defenders


Memory in Motion is a great album, out now on Haggis Records, with touches of Horace Silver and tinges of Herbie Hancock.

There was something slightly disconcerting about an electronic keyboard sitting on top of the wonderful Dean Street Steinway and George Cooper handled them both with a dexterity and panache that made it all make sense.

A talented bunch, The Jazz Defenders take their influences from wherever they choose, including some of the other ensembles in which they strut their stuff. 

Horns are courtesy of Jake McMurchie (tenor sax) and Nick Malcolm (trumpet) and they are as much at ease on stabbing and intricate lines as they are on solos through the tracks.

A solid rhythm and added excitement comes from Ian Matthews (drums) and Will Harris (double bass and bass guitar). Matthews in particular wowed the crowd with his energetic and frankly explosive solos.

Alongside the obvious influences, there's a modernity about this group, particularly when they were joined for one number by actor, rapper, singer and overall performer Doc Brown. Defying genres and the boxes that jazz sometimes is forced into, this was a night of musical surprises and an energy that only comes with talent and a deep musical understanding.
Labels:
Location: Dean St, London W1D, UK

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Maria Schneider: Live at The Barbican

Tonight’s performance in the main hall at London’s Barbican Centre confirmed Maria Schneider ’s position as one of the finest composers of our generation. Working with the sublime Oslo Jazz Ensemble (formerly Denada), Schneider presented a selection of tunes from her ‘Data Lords’ double album from 2020 and the result was simply extraordinary. Photo credit @Hilary Seabrook With a host of Grammy awards and a Pulitzer Prize nomination for Data Lords , Schneider has proved her right to stand on the Barbican stage in front of one of the finest ensembles in the world. Her music allows every member to shine, individually and collectively. Sax players who double on clarinet, bass clarinet, flute and alto flute, trumpets and flugelhorns, an accordion and multiple percussion pieces wielded by the drummer collectively provide a range of timbres, textures and dynamics that thrilled this audience. The Data Lords  compositions celebrate everything that is wonderful about nature, as well as all ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Darius Brubeck Quartet: Live at Jazz Cafe Posk

My first visit to Jazz Cafe Posk in London's Hammersmith coincided with the 60th anniversary of Posk - The Polish Social and Cultural Association - and the first performance in the club by pianist and composer Darius Brubeck. Photo credit @ Hilary Seabrook Darius was 10 when he joined his father on a historic tour of Poland. The Dave Brubeck Quartet toured Poland from 6 to 18 March 1958, just three years after the communist regime's ban on jazz was lifted. Without a doubt, this was the biggest jazz event in post-war Poland, with the archetypal and hugely successful outfit of Dave Brubeck (piano), Paul Desmond (alto sax), Eugene Wright (bass) and Joe Morello (drums). Sixty years later, in  2018, Darius took his own quartet - the same one he brought to Posk in May 2024 - to Poland for a significant tour, recorded and released as the Live in Poland album. Several of the tracks from this album were in the set at Posk and this quartet displayed in depth the benefits of playing to...
Post a Comment
Read more

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...
Post a Comment
Read more