Rob Adams Journalist

Saxophonist Laura Macdonald has been appointed Head of Jazz at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow. Ayrshire-born Macdonald, who had been filling the role on an interim basis over the past few months, brings experience in education and as an international bandleader, composer and recording artist.

From a musical family, she took up the alto saxophone at the age of sixteen and became a regular member of Strathclyde Youth Jazz Orchestra before moving to Boston, Massachusetts to study at Berklee College of Music.

She recorded her first album, Laura, with drummer Jeff “Tain” Watts, bassist James Genus and pianist David Budway and later led a sextet which included saxophonist Donny McCaslin and drummer Antonio Sánchez. McCaslin would go on to work with David Bowie during his final recordings and Sánchez became the regular drummer with guitarist Pat Metheny.

Back in Scotland, Macdonald featured in the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra, led her own band and co-led a group with Swedish drummer Martina Almgren. She has also recorded with New York-based pianist David Berkman and worked in duos and small groups with guitarist Kevin Mackenzie. She won the Instrumentalist of the Year title at the Scottish Jazz Awards in 2021.

Professor Aaron Shorr, Director of Music at the RCS, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have secured such a wonderful artist and teacher as Laura to lead the Jazz Programme. Laura has a distinguished international performance and recording career and has also been a highly valued member of teaching faculty here at RCS since 2022. We look forward very much to the development of the Jazz programme under her leadership.”

Saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist Oscar Lavën releases Elegant Calamity, the follow-up to his internationally admired debut, Questions in Red, on Thick Records on Friday 16th January 2026.

An effervescent presence on New Zealand’s currently vital jazz scene, Lavën (pronounced Lah-venn) is a double graduate from the New Zealand School of Music and brings his degrees in jazz and classical music to bear on both the music and the personnel featured on Elegant Calamity.

“I wrote Elegant Calamity in pursuit of a sound that allows the personalities of the eclectic mix of musicians to shine through,” he says. “These players represent different corners of the vibrant New Zealand art music scene and I hope listeners around the globe will be able to appreciate this through this album.”

Bringing together string players alongside woodwinds, brass and a five-piece rhythm section, Lavën has produced what he describes as “music that blends forward-facing boldness with a certain shade of cinematic nostalgia”.

Influences including trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie’s Afro-Cuban experiments, Ennio Morricone’s atmospheric film soundtracks and bandoneon master Astor Piazzolla’s nuevo tango can be detected, as can the sophistication of Duke Ellington’s jazz orchestra and bassist Charles Mingus’ mighty gospel-infused excitement.

The compositions were made possible through trumpeter Michael Costeloe’s groundbreaking Jazz Orchestra Composer Series, which offers musicians both freedom to create imaginatively and a platform to perform. Elegant Calamity was recorded live at the intimate Bedlam & Squalor venue in Wellington with the audience needing little encouragement to become involved. It was engineered and mastered by Alistair Isdale.

“This was a very spirited, joyful process from beginning to end,” says Lavën. “I hope people will enjoy listening to Elegant Calamity as much as we enjoyed playing it."

Following a successful run of four sextet recordings, Cork-born, Hertfordshire-based pianist John Donegan changes direction with a return to the jazz piano trio tradition on his latest album, Interfuse.

“I loved working with the sextet – I still do – but I wanted to shake things up a bit and revisit the trio format,” says Donegan whose piano influences include Bill Evans, Wynton Kelly, Hampton Hawes, Bud Powell, Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, and Kenny Barron.

The trio recordings of Bill Evans are particular favourites of Donegan’s and they inspired him to explore the tradition again. He had also been struck by saxophonist Richie Buckley’s lyrical side and improvising strengths while leading the Irish Sextet that has made three enthusiastically received albums. So the trio becomes a quartet on tracks including the energetic opener, Blues Jive, which also pays homage to Thelonious Monk with its edgy attack.

Blues Jive is one of two new compositions – the other being the heartfelt ballad A Resolute Rose dedicated to Donegan’s young grand-daughter – on the album. A prolific composer, Donegan also likes to reinterpret previous work, finding new meaning and new inspiration when taking a different approach.

The album’s title track, Interfuse, which originally appeared on the sextet album A Kite for Kate, returns as a quartet piece here and the idiosyncratic Funny Isn’t It, which Donegan first recorded as a solo piano piece, is updated in the trio format.

Donegan is joined in the trio by two longstanding colleagues. Drummer John Daly has provided the swing, drive and detail on Donegan’s three Irish Sextet albums and bassist Bernard O’Neill, who has acted as producer on eight of Donegan’s nine previous albums, takes up a dual role as producer and Daly’s rhythm section partner.

Alongside the trio and quartet tracks there is a solo piano performance of A Song for Ciara, a tender dedication to Donegan’s eldest daughter which first appeared on the pianist’s 1997 album of the same name.

A musician of huge experience – he has played with jazz luminaries Art Blakey, Art Farmer, Barney Kessel and Greg Abate as well as the world class Irish guitarist Louis Stewart – Donegan is constantly driven by the desire to explore music, both his own and other musicians’.

“I love to listen almost as much as I love to play,” he says. “Above all, though, what I want to do is keep my own music interesting, for me and for the listener. I feel we’ve done that with these nine tracks and I couldn’t have asked for better recording partners than John, Bernard and Richie.”

Interfuse was recorded at Camden Studios, Dublin on 28^th and 29^th May 2025 and 28^th August 2025. It's released on Jayde Records.