The grand piano usually leads a solitary life. It rarely teams up with other instruments, especially electronic ones. So, the intimate connection between Erol Sarp's grand and Lukas Vogel's electric hammers and dampers may be unique. Together, Sarp and Vogel are Grandbrothers. Sarp is a classically-trained jazz pianist; Vogel is an electronics engineer who builds…Read more Grandbrothers
jazz
Breathing Istanbul
This track-of-the-week is just under five minutes of cool jazz, courtesy of my Hubzilla friend, Manuel. How he finds these tunes I can not imagine, but his taste is impeccable. https://youtu.be/u0eBHd_VK00 Breathing Istanbul is from Marco Vezzoso's 2021 album, Travel, whose eight tracks take us from the famous Turkish city with its spectacular mosque, through…Read more Breathing Istanbul
Concert for Ukraine
Newsflash: On Sunday, 13th March, at 7 pm, the Jazz After Hours website will be streaming a Concert for Ukraine. The headline act is Alina Bzhezhinska and the HipHarp Collective. Alina is a Ukrainian-born jazz harpist, and she comes with a 5-star rating from the Crotchety Critics Circle. For further details, click the image above.…Read more Concert for Ukraine
Abrazo
'Abrazo' is a Spanish word meaning 'hug' or 'embrace'. It's also the title of an album by the French musical duo Emile Parisien and Vincent Peirani. Emile blows a soprano saxophone in a style that floats between classical and jazz; Vincent plays an accordion, bringing a folky feel to the ensemble. It's an unusual combination,…Read more Abrazo
Little Big II: Dreams of a Mechanical Man
In 2018 Aaron Parks, an American jazz pianist, released an album called Little Big. As you may have guessed, Little Big II: Dreams of a Mechanical Man is a follow-up, recorded by the same 4-piece band. That much is clear. Things get a little hazy after that. A Bandcamp review, for example, says "Dreams of…Read more Little Big II: Dreams of a Mechanical Man
Lightning Blog
Crotchety Man is spoilt for choice and pushed for time this week, so this will be a lightning blog covering a very mixed bag of musical delights. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/30KeiOLVyhGOxkhIwhxkPd?si=1bff15e7d15b4b0e We start this Spotify playlist with a band I damned with faint praise in this post back in January 2020. But Rick Mitarotonda's Goose has a knack…Read more Lightning Blog
Monument
The al-Shaheed Monument, Baghdad Credit goes to my Spotify-curated Release Radar playlist for this week's topic. Item 28 in the list was a track by Portico Quartet called On the Light. It comes from Monument, the second album released this year by the band. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23Eos6c-MPA Live at the Roundhouse, Chalk Farm, Camden, London. 3 February…Read more Monument
Cheating the Polygraph
Pinocchio was famous for telling porkies†. Porcupine Tree is well known in prog rock circles for marrying pop melodies with metal-tinged prog rock in an ever-evolving mix of styles. Their man on the drum stool is, arguably, the greatest drummer in the business - Gavin Harrison won the best progressive drummer poll in Modern Drummer…Read more Cheating the Polygraph
Burnt Belief
The witch will burn for her beliefs People believe all sorts of strange things. Everyone used to believe in witches - some still do. Unfounded rumours have always spread like wildfire. And, of course, fire was often the preferred way to rid the world of that evil wizardry. But fire never seems to expunge belief.…Read more Burnt Belief
Potter’s Daughter
There's something mesmerising about a potter's wheel. In the 1950s, the BBC used a short film of a potter as an interlude (reputedly during breakdowns and when moving cameras from one studio to another). He didn't seem to be making anything in particular. His blob of clay rose from the turnable to become a tall…Read more Potter’s Daughter
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