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Chris Laurence
Gareth Williams: Short Stories
by Peter Jones
If you have never heard of Gareth Williams, he is a quiet piano master who enjoys a bigger reputation with fellow musicians than with the public. A founder member and MD of the Nineties jazz-hiphop band Us3, and a former accompanist for the singer Claire Martin, he has worked at the highest level for 30 years, mainly in London. But London is a city blessed with many international quality jazz pianists, and Williams has faced formidable competition during his career. ...
read moreJohn Taylor Sextet: Fragment
by Chris May
The not-for-profit Jazz In Britain label is one of the unsung heroes of British jazz. And if it is being sung, apologies, it deserves to be sung louder. While it is fitting that the musicians who make up London's new alternative jazz scene receive a massive shout out, the players who came before them, who paved the way for British jazz's current explosion, tend to get overlooked. Slowly, this is changing, and Jazz In Britain is in ...
read moreChris Laurence: Ken Wheeler - Some Gnu Ones
by Chris May
The Jazz in Britain label has made its reputation with a niche catalogue of previously unavailable archive albums, mostly recorded live back in the day by jazz greats such as the saxophonists Tubby Hayes and Joe Harriott. With the lovely Ken Wheeler: Some Gnu Ones, the label ventures more or less into the present day with three pieces written by the late trumpeter Kenny Wheeler and recorded in 2020 and 2021 by the bassist Chris Laurence, for whom they were ...
read moreJohn Surman at Seventy
by Duncan Heining
John Surman, Chris Laurence & Trans4mation Quartet Kings Place London Jazz Festival November 14, 2014 The first Friday of this year's London Jazz festival saw John Surman celebrating his seventieth birthday at Kings Place near King's Cross Station. The venue is about as far as it could get from anyone's idea of the smoky dives so readily associated with jazz. It's calm and relaxed, comfortable and, well, polite--in a good way--and most definitely smoke-free. ...
read moreChris Laurence Quartet: New View
by John Kelman
Bassist Chris Laurence, nearing sixty, has been a fixture on the British scene for many years, working regularly in the jazz sphere with artists including reedman John Surman, trumpeter Kenny Wheeler and pianist John Taylor. He's recorded pop sessions with the likes of Elvis Costello, Sting and David Gilmour, and remains active in the classical community, playing on orchestral film soundtracks including The Constant Gardener and The Man in the Iron Mask.
New View is Laurence's long-overdue debut as a ...
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