Album review: Lou Marini and The Italian Groovers - Playtime (Azzura Music)

Lou Marini (tenor/soprano sax,  flute); Alessandro Chiappetta (guitar); Gianluno Di Ienno (Hammond B3); Enzo Zirilli (drums)+ Alex “Kid” Gariazzo (guitar, vocals tks 1-3)

Woodwind artist “Blue” Lou Marini is one of the most recognized musicians in the world. From his early days on Saturday Night Live – who could forget his gilded-faced entry on Steve Martin’s King Tut? - to his bravura film performances and world tours with the Blues Brothers. With Playtime, Marini joins forces with a trio of Italian-based musicians plus guest to deliver a dozen superb tracks - all Marini originals, save one. The vibe here ranges from free to funk and to straight-ahead, all superbly performed.

The Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, South Gosforth, Newcastle - May 21

David Gray (trombone, trumpet, vocals); Jim McBriarty (tenor sax, clarinet, vocals); Brian Bennett (banjo); Jamie Wadkins (double bass)  

The Millstone, a stone's throw from South Gosforth roundabout, with the Ouseburn in Jesmond Dene eddying its way past the pub's beer garden, was to renew acquaintance with the local jazz scene. The Vieux Carré Jazzmen were a once familiar fixture, now, as the Hot 4, it would be like old times. 

The Glory of Love. We've been here before. The Vieux Carré playing Billy Hill's timeless number is nothing new, more power to their collective elbow. Bring Me Sunshine, a somewhat less predicable choice, kinda worked, Whenever You're Lonesome (Just Telephone Me) most certainly worked, all in an afternoon's work for the VC Hot 4.

Cheltenham Musings 2

Wandering round the town there seems to be more jazz around than in previous years. You could easily have a day’s entertainment flitting between the free stage in Montpelier Gardens and the new free stage in the Brewery Quarter, (we caught singer Josh Hicks and band sound checking, soulfully) not to mention the occasional busker, such as the bloke on a bench near the bogs running through some pin sharp Metheny-isms whilst we queued for the facilities. It does feel like jazz is all around.

Album review: Duchess: A Marvelous Party (ANZIC Records)

Duchess: Amy Cervini, Hilary Gardner, Melissa Stylianou (vocal trio) + Michael Cabe (piano); Jesse Lewis (guitar); Matt Aronoff (bass); Jared Schonig (drums); Erica von Kleist (alto/soprano sax); Jason Rigby (tenor sax); Owen Broder (baritone sax); Summer Camargo (trumpet); Nick Finzer (trombone); Oded Lev-Ari (piano tk 8)

Think of the Boswell Sisters, the Andrews Sisters, the Keynotes and, more recently, the Puppini Sisters. Girl vocal groups whose harmonies defined the times be it the Wall Street Crash, World War ll or its aftermath.

Duchess have absorbed all of those elements as well as adding a few distinctive harmonic touches of their own on this, their fourth release.

It's a concept album. Once upon a time you had to have a gimmick. These days you have to have a concept. In this case the concept is a party and given credibility by stringing together a dozen loosely related lyrics that form the basis of A Marvelous Party. 

So, let the party begin.

Cheltenham Jazz Festival: Yazz Ahmed @ The Parabola Arts Centre, Cheltenham - May 3

Yazz Ahmed (trumpet, flugelhorn); Ralph Wylde (keys, vibes, marimba); Elizabeth Knott (percussion); Berlinde Deman (serpent) (Yes, you read that right, it does say serpent)

The Cheltenham Festival has previous for commissioning works and, for this one at the Arts Centre, Yazz Ahmed, Anglo/Bahraini trumpeter, has recruited an unusual instrumental line-up. She has revisited some of her previous work and remodelled and ‘remixed’ those pieces for this new group, so, whilst the music may not be new, the treatment of it certainly is.

They open with Wah-Wah Sowahwah with the deep voice of the cello on the original album track being taken by the serpent. Deman’s playing seems to require her to play short passages before she manipulates her serpent’s sound using one of the array of pedals, switches and knobs arranged on the floor in front of her. 

An Interview with composer, author, poet, improviser, producer Mary Moreno by Nick Mondello

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZN2-H3Vizs

This is an interview I did yesterday with Mary Moreno. Mary was married to Blues Brother and trumpet great Alan Rubin.

She also spent time writing jingles and producing jingle sessions in the halcyon days of New York advertising and NY GREATS playing those jingles. She also is a classical composer studying at Juilliard and in Paris (under the Nadia Boulanger method à la Quincy Jones). Nick

Cheltenham Jazz Festival: Emma Rawicz’s INKYRA @ Parabola Arts Centre, Cheltenham - May 3

Emma Rawicz (saxophone); Gareth Lockrane (flutes); David Preston (guitar); Scottie Thompson (piano, Rhodes and prophet); Kevin Glasgow (bass); Jamie Murray (drums)

The Parabola Arts Centre is the space, at Cheltenham, for new, experimental ideas, unusual projects and Festival one-off commissions. It’s also the best opportunity to practice your contortionism as you knot your limbs up so they will fit into the seat rows.

Our second gig in the same seats on Sunday afternoon was for Rawicz’s INKYRA project. Rawicz is on a roll at the moment with three highly regarded albums on the German ACT label and a steady stream of awards. She’s here tonight with her INKYRA project and has been able to keep together the band from the album.

Stockport Jazz

This Sunday Stockport Jazz welcomes the Liam Byrne Quartet to the Moor Club, featuring Liam on tenor saxophone with Richard Wetherall (piano), Gavin Barras (bass) and Eryl Roberts (drums). 

Sunday 24th May 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  (next to the Elizabethan PH)

Mark Williams Trio @ Blaydon Jazz Club - May 18

© Roly Veitch

Mark Williams (guitar); Paul Susans (bass); Rob Walker (drums)

More than a quarter of a century ago guitarist Mark Williams arrived on Tyneside from Belfast to study for a music degree. Our man stayed on and has long since been a mainstay of the regional jazz scene. 

On a mild May evening, Blaydon Jazz Club's faithful duly turned up to welcome Williams' established trio - bassist Paul Susans and drummer Rob Walker. The Black Bull crowd would be treated to an evening of original compositions. A man of few words, copies of his albums - Last Bus to Bensham and Long Way Out - were in his car parked outside the venue, clearly the 'hard sell' isn't Williams' style!

Album review: Terry Waldo & the Gotham City Band - Treasury Volume 3 (Turtle Bay Records)

Terry Waldo (piano,vocals); Mike Davis (trumpet, vocals); Colin Hancock (trumpet); Jim Fryer (trombone, vocals); Evan Arntzen, Ricky Alexander (clarinet); Jerron Paxton (guitar, banjo, vocals) Nick Russo, Arnt Arntzen (banjo); Brian Nalepka (bass); Jay Lepley (drums, vocals).

Treasury Volume 3 is pianist, historian Waldo's third* and final exploration of early jazz and ragtime and, like the previous two, features the best of Gotham City's hot musicians working in and around NYC.

It's a stomping, strutting, shimmying Dixieland clambake that's a potent mix of Chicago, New Orleans, Frisco and Whitley Bay. Yes, Whitley Bay deserves a mention as Fryer, Davis and Hancock are not unknown at the Classic Jazz Party (see right hand column) and it was only last week that Paxton was just up the road at Gosforth Civic Theatre.