As you may be aware, I’ve posted my personal ‘best of the year’ lists ever since I started writing here in 2016, and each time I’ve felt moved to mention the parlous state both of the UK and of the world in general. This last year saw no improvement on either front, which means that … Continue reading My best movies, music, books, etc, of 2023
It's already December again. For some years I've posted recommendations for recent BluRay/DVD releases and CDs that might prove useful for anyone wondering what to buy as gifts for Christmas. Since they seem to have been fairly popular posts, I'm doing so again – and I’ve added a couple of books, too. (Please note that … Continue reading Movies and Music for Christmas… and Beyond
In December 2021 I was moved to write expressing my enthusiasm for a new album by Graham Collier (pictured above) – new only in terms of the disc’s release, since the British bassist-composer had died a decade previously; the music – a jazz suite in five parts – had actually been recorded (for the first … Continue reading But Is It Jazz? (Three recent releases…)
In the spring of last year, the very welcome appearance of two albums featuring previously unreleased performances of music by Mike Westbrook and Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra prompted me to blog about them; I also ended up recommending them as possible Christmas gifts in a blog posted in December. The Westbrook album, released by … Continue reading Just in time for Christmas: great new (and old) jazz.
notes and observations by Geoff Andrew 