Rob Adams Journalist

Epiphany, the 1999 album by composer and arranger Vince Mendoza, is released on vinyl for the first time on Friday March 29.

 

Featuring one of Mendoza’s favourite orchestras, the London Symphony Orchestra (he dissuaded Joni Mitchell from making Both Sides Now with a jazz big band after working with the LSO, Joni’s eventual “band” on that recording), the album boasts a line-up of seven top jazz musicians playing eight Mendoza compositions.

 

Of the seven jazz luminaries - John Abercrombie: guitar, Michael Brecker: tenor saxophone, Peter Erskine: drums, Marc Johnson: bass, Joe Lovano: tenor saxophone, John Taylor: piano and
Kenny Wheeler: trumpet and flugelhorn – only Peter Erskine and Marc Johnson are still with us.

 

This never-to-be-repeated gathering has been mastered on 180-gram vinyl for the first time by Bernie Grundman and is released on Ronnie Scott’s Records.

New Focus, featuring leading jazz musicians, pianist Euan Stevenson and saxophonist Konrad Wiszniewski, are among the artists lined up to appear at Perth Festival of the Arts, which runs from May 22 to June 1.

 

Stevenson and Wiszniewski will be presenting The Classical Connection, in which they highlight traits shared by classical composers and jazz musicians, at St John’s Church on Monday May 27. It’s an entertaining and informative show that includes plenty of illustrations of the duo’s superb jazz chops.

 

The festival’s music programme also features the internationally acclaimed Czech National Symphony Orchestra and top European ensembles II Giardino d'Amore, Tenebrae and the Hebrides Ensemble, as well as DJ Craig Charles and the Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers, and there’s a live brass band accompanied screening of Wallace and Gromit’s The Wrong Trousers and an appearance by comedian Rory Bremner.

Jock Duncan, the revered singer of songs from the North-East of Scotland, is the subject of a new book to be published on March 17th.

 

Recognised as a cultural icon and one of Scotland’s greatest traditional singers, Jock Duncan grew up in the Buchan area of Aberdeenshire and was part of the last generation of tradition bearers to inherit his songs from a living oral tradition.

 

He later moved to Pitlochry, where his sons, Ian and Gordon became leading figures on the piping scene. Father and sons had the distinction of all being recipients of the Herald Angel award, which the Scottish newspaper presented for exceptional performances in Edinburgh during the festival season.

 

The book, called Jock Duncan: The Man and his Songs and published by Rymour Books of Perth, includes the words and tunes of the songs Duncan sang together with detailed notes and a biography of the singer, who died aged ninety-six in 2021.

 

A new CD, containing many previously unavailable recordings, is being released by Springthyme Records to coincide with the book's publication. 

 

A book launch and concert are being held at the Cowdray Hall in Aberdeen on Sunday, March 17 from 1:30pm to 3:30pm.

Jazz in Britain have released the two albums that the great tenor saxophonist Bobby Wellins recorded for the Vortex label in the late 1970s.

 

Packaged as What Was Happening in a 2-CD set with previously unreleased live tracks, Jubilation and Dreams Are Free capture the classic Bobby Wellins Quartet at its imperious best.

 

Joined by Peter Jacobsen (piano, electric piano and organ), Adrian Kendon (bass) and Spike Wells (drums), Wellins was announcing that one of the most distinctive saxophonists anywhere was back after a period of inactivity, playing with his trademark sound and magisterial eloquence and fronting a great band.

 

Long unavailable, Jubilation and particularly Dreams Are Free will be welcome additions to any serious observer of the British jazz scene’s collection.  Although not exactly over-recorded, Wellins made a number of albums in the wake of the Vortex releases, notably Making Light Work, which was produced in 1983 exclusively for staff at the Ercol Lighting Company in Germany and was finally made generally available by the Scottish label Hep Records.

 

Wellins also recorded with trombonist Jimmy Knepper and baritone saxophonist Joe Temperley, as well as – most famously – with pianist Stan Tracey, whose Under Milk Wood includes Wellins’ best known solo, on Starless & Bible Black. His Culloden Moor Suite, which lay almost forgotten for many years, was reactivated, toured and recorded by the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra, with Wellins as featured soloist, two years before the saxophonist died, aged eighty, in 2016.

 

What Was Happening is available from Jazz in Britain's Bandcamp page

 

 

Ten new recordings of Gaelic songs have been added to the Fuaran project, established by Fèisean nan Gàidheal to encourage a new generation of Gaelic speakers and singers to actively engage in the research and collection of Gaelic songs in their local area.

 

Published to coincide with Seachdain na Gàidhlig (World Gaelic Week), the recordings feature six young people aged between 16 and 25 who took part in the fourth series of Fuaran in 2023.  

 

The six participants were Shannon MacLean (Mull), Mirren Ward (Glasgow), Iris MacLeod (Edinburgh), Caitlin Yule (Cumbernauld), Aileas MacLeod (Isle of Skye), and Eilidh MacPhee (Inverness). Their new recordings, with each song captured on video, have been added to the Fuaran archive which now consists of more than 100 songs, a valuable resource for local Fèisean and anyone interested in Gaelic song. 

 

Fèisean nan Gàidheal's Development Officer, Abi Reid, who managed the project said: "It was a pleasure to work on the Fuaran project with such a lovely group.  I was enjoyable to see their research come together over the months and we had a great, creative weekend in Cromarty last August.   I'm really happy the videos are now online and hope the singers are feeling extremely proud of their achievements."

Leading European jazz label ECM Records adds three titles to its Luminessence series of reissued classics on March 1st.

 

Norwegian saxophone hero Jan Garbarek’s 1970 recording, Afric Pepperbird features Garbarek with the other three members of Norway’s big four of the time – guitarist Terje Rypdal, double bass master Arild Andersen and the late, much-missed Jon Christensen on drums.

 

Garbarek is also the featured soloist on Keith Jarrett’s Luminessence, the orchestrated work from 1974 that Jarrett wrote with the saxophonist in mind at a time when the pianist was leading his Scandi quartet with Garbarek, bassist Palle Danielsson and Jon Christensen, again, on drums.

 

The third album, Azimuth’s self-titled debut finds the great British vocalist Norma Winstone with the equally great pianist John Taylor and trumpeter Kenny Wheeler defining a sound that would serve them beautifully over the next decade or more. The track that opens side two of the vinyl edition of the album, The Tunnel has more recently seen Norma Winstone, the sole surviving member of the trio, reaching an enormous audience through its sampling by Canadian rapper Drake.

Trailblazing blues label Alligator Records is releasing a deluxe 20th Anniversary 2-LP vinyl version of soul and gospel legend Mavis Staples' landmark 2004 release, Have a Little Faith, on Record Store Day, April 20th.

 

Have a Little Faith is the album that sparked Mavis Stapes' solo career and launched her into the musical mainstream.

 

An inspirational force in modern popular culture and music, Mavis Staples faced an uncertain future when her father – family patriarch and leader of the Staple Singers, Pops Staples – died.

 

She self-financed and recorded her own solo album, and after being turned down by major labels unable to see the commercial appeal of this legend's fresh, genre-busting approach to spiritual music, it was picked up by Alligator Records. The label's enthusiasm in working the album to press, radio and the public helped Mavis Staples fulfil her dream of a successful solo career.

 

"I was a Staple Singer," she remembers in the album's new liner notes. "I wasn't no Mavis Staples, the solo artist. But all of a sudden, I was so busy with interviews and television shows and radio stations and concerts. That was a shock to me, because I started asking myself, 'Now how long can this last?' Because they were playing that record everywhere, and the record sounded pretty good!"

 

Since the release of Have a Little Faith, Mavis Staples has been embraced by new generations of fans through her collaborations with artists including Ry Cooder, Levon Helm, Jeff Tweedy, and Neko Case. Her 85th Birthday Concert in Los Angeles on April 18 will endorse this with appearances by a cast including Taj Mahal, Jackson Browne, Norah Jones, Michael McDonald, and Keb' Mo'.