News

Conceived in Calcutta, bred in Bolton, matured in Manchester, Arun Ghosh has taken the clarinet into brand new territory since breaking through with his striking Indo-jazz debut album Northern Namaste. Now with a new band and ideas honed from composing music for the theatre as well as material stretching back to his early career Ghosh talks to Stuart Nicholson about going to work on his new album Primal Odyssey, which is just about to be released.

For me, the thing that turns me off about jazz is when I feel it just isn’t communicating, that’s the ultimate thing – communication,” says clarinettist and composer Arun Ghosh. Few in jazz are better qualified to make the point. Catch his band on any night of the week and you’ll see what communication in jazz really means. Halfway through their first number he’s already won the audience over. Within seconds everyone is moving and swaying in time to the music while Ghosh, a charismatic figure on stage, throws himself headlong into the music, his wiry frame bending and contorting to every melodic twist and turn of his beguiling, hypnotic compositions.

Of course, it helps that his music is unique, that with Shabaka Hutchings on bass clarinet, Idris Rahman on tenor sax and Liran Donin on bass, it is one of the most exciting bands in jazz today and that Ghosh has made the clarinet – the most undervalued instrument in jazz today – suddenly fashionable. But that is only part of the story. This is a band with a mission. They have got something to say and believe passionately in the power of music to uplift the human spirit. “The ultimate thing we can do with music is to communicate with people, communicate emotions, feelings, express what is in our hearts, without using words,” says Ghosh. “Transcending language, ultimately, and trying to express those things you can’t express in words.”

Taken from Jazzwise Magazine

From 'M' PRS for Music Members Magazine Original Article includes video clips

Errol Linton has developed his style of blues over a two decades of busking on London Underground. Fusing the sound of New Orleans with influences from his Caribbean heritage, Errol was spotted by an amazed Abram Wilson and was asked to join the trumpeter’s touring band.

Busking at Oxford Circus tube station also funded Linton’s third album, Mama Said.

Errol Linton will be performing at festivals over the summer, including The London Blues festival, Ronnie Scott’s, Blues On The Farm, The Barbican Blaze festival and The Weyfest festival with more tour dates to be announced.

Find out more by watching M‘s exclusive video with the Brixton blues-buster Errol Linton. If you want more, and we’re sure you will, watch Errol perform his version of Jimmy Rogers’ You’re The One.

Promoters Shades of Soul have announced that the inaugural London Blues Festival (LBF) will take place this year from 15-22 May.

The festival takes place over a number of venues in the capital and will spotlight the wealth of exciting blues talent here in the UK as well as featuring special performances by international artists.

The LBF has had support from John Mayall, Blues in Britain and Blues Matters and the event seeks to support the renaissance of the blues and develop further its profile and popularity in the UK.

Headline artists performing at the festival include PP Arnold, Ian Siegal, Liane Carroll, Charles Shaar Murray & Buffalo Bill Smith with Crosstown Lightnin’ performing at top-quality venues such as Ronnie Scott’s, Bush Hall, Ain’t Nothin But… and Pizza Express Jazz Club.

As well as live shows the Festival will also host a number of seminars with the Institute of Contemporary Music.

For a full list of performers and venues, visit the London Blues Festival website.

Taken from http://www.m-magazine.co.uk/news/general-news/london-blues-festival/

L-R:Ed Poston (BMI); Aram Walstra (Universal Publishing Group); Ron McCreight (Radio & TV Promotion); Simon Aldridge (BMI); Randy Edelman;Brandon Bakshi (BMI); Adam Velasco (MD, Cherry Red Records).

Acclaimed singer/songwriter & composer Randy Edelman will be performing two exclusive live dates at The Pheasantry in London's King's Road on April 19/20th 2011. These will be his only live dates in the UK, in support of his upcoming new album, "The Pacific Flow To Abbey Road" (Cherry Red Records UK / Varese Sarabande USA). The BMI-honoured musician has appeared has written scores for many films, the latest of which is for "The Greening of Whitney Brown" starring Sammi Hanratty, Brooke Shields, Aidan Quinn and Kris Kristofferson, due later this year.

Edelman's more recent work has landed him in the charts with Nelly's "My Place" which was No. 1 on Billboard's Rap and Hip Hop charts. After working in pop for years, Edelman found the film work liberating and decided to devote his full time to pursuing composing music for motion pictures. He has now composed over 100 scores for film and television. His scores have been performed by such symphony orchestras as the Boston Pops, Charleston Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, and the London Symphony Orchestra, to name a few. Recently his symphonic piece "Transcontinental" was introduced for the first time by Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops. His score from "The Last Of The Mohicans" was nominated for both the British Academy Award and the Golden Globe. He recently scored Disney's live action "Underdog", Focus Features' "Balls Of Fury", Fox's "27 Dresses", and Universal's "Mummy 3, Tomb of the Dragon Emperor". Randy's hit song, "Weekend in New England", was recently featured in the smash hit film "Paul Blart, Mall Cop". He is pictured at a recent dinner hosted in his honour by BMI London.

www.randyedelman.com

www.bmi.com

Taken from site - http://www.songlink.com/20110414-bmi-writer-randy-edelman-back-in-uk.html

Jazz breaking news: Courtney Pine Completes Soho Jazz Club Run

By Stephen Graham- 28 July 2010

It was third time lucky for Courtney Pine last night at the Pizza Express Jazz Club in London as he completed the second night of a short residency having played the club for the first time in 2007 during the Jazzwise To The Power of Ten festival.

But the man’s commanding presence is felt in other ways, as that famous Pizza Express artwork on the wall behind pianist Zoe Rahman to the left of the bandstand was inspired, he told the capacity audience someone had told him, by the image adorning Pine’s debut album, Journey To The Urge Within, just reissued.

Opening with ‘Haiti’ from the latest album Transition In Tradition and spending most of the set on bass clarinet, also playing soprano saxophone, and flute, increasingly as the set progressed, Pine was joined by the Joanne Brackeen-influenced Rahman, stalwart guitarist Cameron Pierre, violin star Omar Puente, a highly rhythmic Darren Taylor on bass, and Courtney Pine Band mainstay Robert Fordjour on drums.

One feature of the evening was a joyous tribute to Sir John Dankworth, beginning with a reclaimed death march variant and then free wheeling to almost warp speed. Another highlight was ‘The Tale of Joe Harriott’ a tender narrative with nuanced sections, carefully arranged.

A masterclass in blowing and communication (with great bass clarinet tone and control, and musical personality throughout), the band at times had no alternative but to just watch Courtney soar, as he approached lift-off a few times, when the above- register harmonics and backing piano and guitar vamps combined to form a kind of organic loop. It’s as if he wants to break through the barrier to create a new music with almost every solo. Ostensibly a tribute to Sidney Bechet, the evening had much to offer and was at its most meditative when there was an acoustic flute-led “folk mass” feel.

Word has it that Courtney is working on a new studio album. For the time being there’s a new download-only album Courtney Pine Band Live recorded at the Albany Empire; and the reissued Journey To The Urge Within with extra tracks is a must.

– Stephen Graham

Jazz breaking news: Arun Ghosh Brings Indo-Jazz Fusion To Pizza Express

By Peter Horsfall - 28 April 2010

London’s Pizza Express Jazz Club presented clarinet maestro Arun Ghosh’s sextet on Monday, the first of two nights of Indo-Jazz fusion featured at the venue. Ghosh is clearly proud of his background growing up in both Bolton and Manchester, the crowd warming well to his northern charm in the heart of Soho. And it’s easy to see why his star has been rising swiftly over the past few years, his compositions a unique blend of Indian rhythmic drive and memorable melodic turns, all stated with an impassioned authority. It’s also not often we see a musician with such powerful stage presence, constantly on the move, urging his fellow musicians on with every last drop of energy.

Finding his perfect sparring-partner in Idris Rahman a tenor saxophonist who seems equally at home shaping one of the leader’s twisting Bengali-folk influenced melodies or firing on all cylinders with a dark and cutting tone in the lower register. Pat Illingworth’s deft touch at the drums, in conjunction with virtuosic tabla player Nilesh Gulhane's flying polyrhythmic finger-work was also something to behold, their propulsive groove a defining feature of this group’s developing sound.

Relocating to London shortly before his 2008 debut release Northern Namaste, Ghosh is now looking to the future, showcasing some exciting new material here from his new album Primal Odyssey, which he informed us is scheduled for release later this year. But it is live that this music really comes alive and in a time of renewed buzz surrounding live music Arun Ghosh is proving to be a hot ticket.

– Peter Horsfall