Tuesday, 23 December 2025
Kalia Vandever - We Fell in Turn, album review
Beautiful Improvisation
I've just come across the work of Kalia Vandever, enjoying a listen to her latest release Another View today.
Moving on to her 2023 release We Fell in Turn (check out Bandcamp link below this review), I have been warmed by the beautiful tonal layers of her trombone playing, this full of melody and reverberated by echo throughout most: there are subtle and complementary effects. There is also a 'classic' horn clarity at times, as in second track Imagine Being Told which is bold and clear, this too echoed through loops.
Vandever fills a musical space with calm and dreaming for the listener. Here and there you hear her breaths in the refreshing real life of this album.
Thursday, 7 August 2025
Monday, 19 May 2025
Milena Casado - Reflection of Another Self, album review
Identity
The album title is not quite a misnomer - rather it is a plural reflection: this seems an assured jazz identity from a young trumpeter but it is informed by jazz influences from the past, some of it sampled and in the works on this album. It's a rich mix, with opener THIS IS MY HAIR (!) a playful discussion/performance about personal identity, and I hear Herb Albert in some of the early tones - yes I do - and it then gets much more punchy and the hip hop moves it to a present. Gentle solo playing is found on Introspection I - I, where elewhere on the album it becomes wonderfully wild. Lidia y los Libros is a beautiful light orchestral piece with Brandee Younger on harp and Nicole Mitchell on flute. Unconditional Love swoons in its Latin roots. A lovely album.
Tuesday, 13 May 2025
Weight of the Rapids by Willow Maddocks
A subtle and serene song with a glorious vocal:
https://open.spotify.com/album/266yO9WVtj0K8fxxOtrmMc
Monday, 7 April 2025
Tuesday, 18 March 2025
Patrick Shiroishi & Piotr Kurek - Greyhound Days, album review
Collaborative Calm and Curiosity
Certainly a calming experience listening, and the 'curiosity' is an alliterative title trick but prompted by a genuine sense that the two players are exploring with their soundscapes as we do as listeners. The players and their instruments are
Patrick Shiroishi - tenor saxophone
Piotr Kurek - digital piano, keyboards, electric bass guitar
and their music is an ambient rolling wave, repeating. The saxophone is sonorous rather than ever loud and rasping, and this is a calming sound with the keyboard delicately layering in and out of this musical breathing.
All is mostly deeply soothing, and on Breath, Held there is some playful sound effects to smile amonsgt this restfulness.
I am at a peaceful ease after this first listen.
More details and to order, go here.
Monday, 17 March 2025
Takuya Kuroda - Everyday, album review
Funk & Melody
This is quite a throbbing/percussive set of funky, melodic tunes – various instruments working in clever collaborations: Curiosity a great example of this, and clarinet (not my favourite) holding its own in the mix. There is a general cool groove rather than busy fusion across all the tracks. Talented lead continuously showcases the horn in solo runs across the fellow layers, and here and there, vocals/random voice recordings join in. Most enjoyable.


















































