Jazz @ the Lit & Phil: Danny Lowndes Hot Club - Sept. 18

© Sylvia/Patti

Danny Lowndes, Shez Sheridan (guitars); Chris Lloyd (accordion); Emlyn Vaughan (bass)

Over the years I've seen many Django inspired groups such as Waso, Nany Swing and the various ensembles fronted by Emma Fisk and Mick Shoulder. It was with the latter's Swing Manouche that I'd previously heard Danny Lowndes and here he was with his own group - Danny Lowndes Hot Club - as part of yet another sold out JATLP Lunchtime Concert Series.

A last minute substitution saw Shez Sheridan stepping in for Lowndes' regular sidekick Bryan Day which meant for a change to the set list in the printed programme. Nobody complained it wasn't as if you'd ordered lobster and been served prawns - quite the opposite in fact.

Miles 100 @ The Globe, Newcastle - Sept. 17

© Sylvia*

Jack 'Banjo' Courtney (trumpet); Sue Ferris (flute, tenor sax); Stuart Davies (guitar); Ben Lawrence (Rhodes73); Deon Krishnan (bass guitar); Jeff Armstrong (drums) 

There were a couple of changes in the anticipated line-up but it didn't detract from the excitement generated. True, there were times when I could detect moments of uncertainty but that's going to apply to any band with a change of personnel. 

It didn't matter, if anything it ensured that the the jazz commandment, the sound of surprise, wasn't broken.

2026 being Miles' 100 year milestone the programme covered many aspects of his controversial musical journey. A notable omission was his 1949 Birth of the Cool band. However, as that band was a nonet that included French horn and tuba it would have been quite an achievement to have made a fist of it.

The  'fists' came later as will be revealed.

Late Night Chicago Radio with Denny Farrell (Sept. 17 - 23)

Lee Morgan: PS I Love You.

Etta James: A Sunday Kind of Love.

Tommy Flanagan: ? .

Ella Fitzgerald: Let's Do It.

Dexter Gordon: I Can't Escape You.

Carmen McRae: When I Fall in Love.

Kenny Burrell: Listen to the Dawn.

Dinah Washington: What a Difference a Day Made.

Sonny Stitt: As Time Goes By.

Sarah Vaughan: Someone to Watch Over me.

Art Pepper: These Foolish Things.

Beegie Adair: Stairway to the Stars.

LISTEN 24/7.

Press release: Elliot Wong announced as winner of The Brubeck Living Legacy Prize

Brubeck Living Legacy, in partnership with the Royal Academy of Music and ECN Music, is delighted to announce saxophonist and composer Elliot Wong as the winner of the second Brubeck Living Legacy Prize.

Originally from Sydney, Australia, Wong moved to London to study at the Royal Academy of Music, where he recently completed his postgraduate studies in jazz. He was unanimously selected by a panel of Darius Brubeck (Brubeck Living Legacy), Nick Smart (Head of Jazz Programmes, Royal Academy of Music) and Emma Perry (Director, ECN Music).

 

Stockport Jazz

This Sunday Stockport Jazz welcomes the Ben Crosland Quartet featuring Rod Mason (saxes), Dean Stockdale (piano), Ben Crosland (bass) and Dave Tyas (drums) celebrating their 20th anniversary and playing material from their latest album ‘Wooltown Reflections’. 

Sunday 20th Sept. 2026

8-10pm, doors open at 7.30pm

£5 entry on the door, all welcome

The Moor Club, 35 Heaton Moor Road, Stockport SK4 4PB

QOW Trio @ Llandudno Jazz Club - September 14

© Richard Morris

Riley Stone-Lonergan (tenor saxophone); Eddie Myer (double bass); Spike Wells (drums); Neil Yates (trumpet)

Making their third visit to Llandudno Jazz Club in two years were the intergenerational QOW Trio. This was the last leg of a short tour which included concerts in Croydon, Scarborough, Coventry, Newcastle and Dublin. Taking the ferry from Dublin to Holyhead, prior to the concert these intrepid musicians soaked up the sunshine in this north west corner of Wales.

Now aged 80, legendary drummer Spike Wells was in very good form. As well as a very long career as a musician he also spent over 20 years both as a solicitor and as a priest. yet still finding time to play with many of the greats in the jazz industry including Ronnie Scott, Tubby Hayes, Bobby Wellins and Stan Getz. The second oldest member of the trio, Eddie Myer, is a renowned bass player in jazz and other genres. Since 1999 he's been a member of Turin Brakes. UK based Irishman Riley Stone-Lonergan is the youngest member of the trio and is considered to be one of the UK’s leading jazz saxophonists.

Album review: Sharp Little Bones -Step up! Get Down! (Full Beam Music)

Tony Kofi (tenor sax); Paul Deats (Rhodes, Moog); Simon Paterson (electric/acoustic bass, composer); Andrew Wood(drums)

Eleven originals by Paterson reflecting Sharp Little Bones' quest for a unique identity. I'm not sure they've quite got there yet. Nevertheless, it's a work in progress that is getting there - drawing inspiration from Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter and latter-day Miles along the way.

Difficult to single out any one player - everybody's spicing up the stew but...Tony Kofi is extra special. I've heard him many times on alto and once on baritone but this is the first time I can recall hearing him on tenor. In a year where the tenor sax has been dominant thanks to celebrations of the life and death of John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins, Kofi can hold his head high alongside such illustrious company. Fast and furious, tender and emotional or just somewhere in between, Kofi and his worthy constituents of Sharp Little Bones deliver the goods.

Angela O’Neill and the Outrageous8 A Live Musical Tribute to Peggy Lee (Outrageous8 Records)

Angela O’Neill (leader. vocals); Al Timss (vocals); Sam Morgan (M.D., tenor sax); Dennis Mitcheltree  (alto sax); Richard Walker (baritone sax, flute); Paul Litteral (trumpet, flugelhorn); Harry Smallenburg (trombone, arranger); Rocky Davis (piano, arranger); Bill Bodine (bass guitar); Tony Pia (drums)

Outrageous A Train: An instrumental to kick off the gig at LA's Velvet Martini Lounge at Vitello's Restaurant in Studio City*. Solos by tenor, alto, trombone, bass. piano, drums and trumpet No need to tell you about this tune!

I'm a Woman: The material may be Peggy's but that's where the story ends and, in Angela's case begins.

Hallelujah, I Just Love Him So: The voice may be less silky than Peg's, its earthier, but she has the same power to connect with the drinkers and the diners.

Album review: Eddie Parker’s Airborn Featuring Rob Luft (Pig Records)

Eddie Parker (flutes, keys, piano); Rob Luft (guitars); Dave Manington (bass); Jay Davis (drums)

Some albums reveal themselves almost immediately. Others keep moving just as you think you have them worked out. Eddie Parker’s Airborn belongs firmly to the latter.

There is an extraordinary amount going on here. Odd metres, recurring melodies, shifting ensembles, baroque flute, electric and 12-string guitars, passages of genuine beauty rubbing shoulders with jazz-rock muscle and moments that seem deliberately designed to wrong-foot you. 

Yet remarkably little of it feels like hard work.

That may be Airborn’s greatest achievement: this is complicated music that doesn’t feel complicated.

Album review: Ally Fiola & The Next Quest - Exit 10

Ally Fiola (alto/tenor sax - track 7); Donald MacLennan (violin - tracks 1, 3, 5, 6); Simon Oakey (trombone);  Addison Sowery-Quinn (sousaphone, trombone - track 6); Tom Richards (keys, trombone - track 6); Lowell Whitty drums); Larry Bjornson (electric Bass - tracks 4, 5, 6, 7);  Michele King (tap dancing - tracks 2, 3, 6);  Mary Beth Carty (accordion - tracks 3, 5);  Evan Mahaney (tenor sax - track 1); Clare Macdonald (drums - track 7); Jah’Mila (vocals - track 7).

This won't be my album of the year - not by a long chalk. Yet, paradoxically, it could be the one I play most - particularly at a party where the booze is flowing and inhibitions have long gone down the pan.

Despite the detailed listing above I soon lost track of who played what on what (instrument). It didn't matter I was having too much fun listening.