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Iain Ballamy
Awards
1985 John Dankworth Cup, Best Soloist. 1995 BT British Jazz Award, John Dankworth Award Best Ensemble 2001 BBC Jazz Award for Innovation 2007 Paul Hamlyn Award
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Bill Bruford: The Summerfold Collection 1987-2008
by John Kelman
Intrepid percussionist/composer/bandleader Bill Bruford began his career in the late '60s art-rock arena with Yes and, later, King Crimson, but jazz has always moved underneath, like an eddying current. His early recordings, well documented on the companion Winterfold Collection, may not speak the language of jazz, but they possess its spirit. By 1986, Bruford was looking for a new path. Crimson had again dissolved, the 1981-'84 incarnation having provided him with the opportunity to explore nascent electronic drum ...
read moreIan Shaw, Iain Ballamy, Jamie Safir: What's New
by Chris May
What's new? Not the dozen songs on this enchanting trio album. Most of them have been around for well over fifty years and people will likely still be enjoying them in another fifty. The composers include Duke Ellington, Richard Rodgers, Burt Bacharach, Jimmy Van Heusen, Michel Legrand and Leonard Bernstein. Musically sophisticated and lyrically literate, the allure of their songs seems to grow, not fade, with age. What's New was recorded by vocalist Ian Shaw and tenor ...
read moreBill Bruford's Earthworks: Earthworks Complete
by John Kelman
Since retiring as a professional musician in 2009, progressive/art rock turned jazz drummer Bill Bruford has successfully managed to maintained a place in the public eye. Beyond his engaging, informative and successful Bill Bruford: The Autobiography (Jawbone Press, 2009), the drummer/percussionist has more recently released a second, equally captivating book, Uncharted: Creativity and the Expert Drummer (University of Michigan Press, 2018).Initially stemming from the success of his autobiography but since assuming a life of its own (and no ...
read moreThe Little Radio at The Mermaid County Wicklow Arts Centre
by Ian Patterson
The Little Radio Mermaid County Wicklow Arts Centre Bray, Ireland February 6, 2013 There were hymns, ancient folk tunes, a Gaelic anthem, pop songs and TV themes, all delivered with the joie de vivre of those performing not for an audience , but for their own pleasure--and that was just the Welsh rugby fans from Cardiff who had descended on the pubs of Dublin and its environs in anticipation of the weekend's Ireland-Wales match. ...
read moreJune Tabor / Iain Ballamy / Huw Warren: Quercus
by John Kelman
Awaiting release for more than seven years, Quercus is not the first time ECM has branched into the realm of traditional British music combined with jazz improvisation. Unlike the rawer and more unfettered freedom of producer Steve Lake's inspired pairing of singer Robin Williamson with improvisers including violist Mat Maneri, bassist Barre Phillips and Swedish traditionalist Ale Möller on recordings like The Iron Stone (2007), however, Quercus is a more refined, elegant and dark live recording that pairs renowned British ...
read moreJune Tabor, Huw Warren, Iain Ballamy: Quercus
by John Eyles
June Tabor has been superb for so long that it is easy to take her for granted as England's finest female traditional folk singer. Despite holding that status for many years, she has never seemed to rest on her laurels. Alongside the traditional folk songs on which she built her reputation, Tabor has a repertoire broad enough to include John Lennon's In My Life," Lou Reed's All Tomorrow's Parties," Elvis Costello's Shipbuilding" and Joy Division's Love Will Tear Us Apart," ...
read moreFood: Quiet Inlet
by John Kelman
A reduction in personnel rarely results in a broader musical expanse, but that's just what happened to Food, since trumpeter Arve Henriksen and bassist Mats Eilertsen departed in 2004. Molecular Gastronomy (Rune Grammofon, 2008)--Food's first duo recording, though the use of guests fleshed the group out to a trio--was Food's most accessible album to date, without sacrificing any of its inherent risk and sound of surprise. Quiet Inlet--Food's first for ECM, and featuring Austrian guitarist Christian Fennesz on three tracks ...
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