Bridge The Gap
Track: Rising UK jazzers MATTERS UNKNOWN preview new EP with the sweeping ‘I Am The Birds’.
Brass player, multi-instrumentalist and composer, Jonathan Enser’s most recent project MATTERS UNKNOWN highlights the irrepressible fluidity of contemporary UK Jazz. Well known as a key member of pioneering global beat collective that is Nubiyan Twist, his own music travels along a similar afrobeat, soul, funk orbit of that band but also diverts elsewhere. The rated …
Album Review: Raffy Bushman – ‘Here Today Gone Tomorrow’: More thrilling post-bop nu jazz from the London pianist and composer.
For a musician who puts out an annual album release, pianist, cellist and composer Raffy Bushman manages to keep surprisingly under the muso-radar but you sense that’s just how he likes it. His music is part, yes a significant part, of what he recognises as his whole life. Watching any of the documentary shorts, which …
Album Review: TC & The Groove Family – ‘We Have Each Other’ : UK Nu-jazz collective forge ahead with a powerful, passionate EP.
It’s been a while since we’ve heard from TC & The Groove Family but you can’t keep a good collective down. Led by drummer Tim Cook (TC) and based around players who originally crossed paths in Leeds, the band’s 2022 debut ‘First Home’ (reviewed in BSM HERE ) made a sizeable dent in the listening …
Album Review: Benjamin Samuels – ‘Dissensation’: New name, nu jazz, new thrills – an album set to make an impact.
Straight after any hugs or handshakes the first thing musicians ask each other when they meet up is ‘Are you busy’? For sax-player, clarinettist and composer Benjamin Samuels the answer for some time now has been a ‘yes’. He’s worked with Californian fusionist Balkan Bump and Brighton’s own global beat pioneer Seb Taylor (aka Kaya …
Album Review: Parisian fusion combo Monsieur MÂLÂ deliver a self-titled debut brim-full with energy and ambition.
World Jazz/Jazz Fusion/World Fusion…you sometimes wonder if the genre game is really worth playing. Yes useful for shorthand and signposts but not to be depended on to for the full picture. Enter Parisian five-piece Monsieur MÂLÂ and their self -titled debut LP out now via Bridge The Gap. Looking way beyond any label conventions the …
Track/Video: In-demand saxophonist Benjamin Samuels takes to the spotlight with ‘Ambitious Antithesis’ from upcoming debut album.
Sax-player, clarinettist and composer Benjamin Samuels is stepping out from the back line. A musician who’s worked with Californian fusionist Balkan Bump and Brighton’s own global beat pioneer Seb Taylor (aka Kaya Project), plus toured the world in the irrepressible Grouch in Dub’s band, Samuels has recently made time to pause. Except that hasn’t meant …
Album Review : Arthur Hnatek Trio – ‘Apnea’ EP : bringing new energy to the Jazz/IDM intersection.
To introduce Arthur Hnatek as a jazz drummer only skits across the surface of the soundscape he works within. Sure he has drummed in units led by Tigran Hamasayan and Eric Truffaz but primarily Hnatek’s own musical explorations lead him closer to destinations where electronica and acoustic generated rhythms cross paths. He’s been releasing music …
Album Review : Raffy Bushman – Silver Lines : a reviving reminder of the beauty of bop told with a new dynamic.
London based jazz pianist, composer and music educator Raffy Bushman has resumed his annual message to the listening public with the ‘Silver Lines’ EP, available through Bridge The Gap, and looks set to add more credit to his burgeoning reputation. Following two sharp focused piano trio albums, 2020’s ‘Look Up’ and ‘Beginner’s Mind’ from 2021 …