Jazz London Radio interviewed bass player Anne Mette Iversen to discuss her excellent CD called Racing a Butterfly. October 2020
Category: Interviews
Jazz London Radio’s collection of with leading figures in the jazz industry
JLR Interview Series: Alan Nimmo of King King
Laurie Burnette interviewed Alan Nimmo, frontman of Blues Rock band King King to discuss their new album called Maverick.
JLR Interview Series: Ahmed Abdullah
Kevin Davy interviewed Trumpet player and ex Sun Ra sideman Ahmed Abdullah to discuss his CD “A Music of the Spirit / Out of Sistas’ Place” Spring 2020
JLR Interview Series: Linley Hamilton
Kevin Davy interviewed Trumpet player Linley Hamilton to discuss his latest CD “For The Record” released spring 2020.
JLR Interview Series: Mark Egan and Danny Gottlieb
Laurie Burnette had the opportunity to interview the great rhythm section Mark Egan and Danny Gottlieb, who brought out their new CD called Electric Blue on Wavetone records.
JLR Interview Series: Clark Tracey
Chris Hodgkins interviewed drummer Clark Tracey to discuss his book “The Godfather of British Jazz The Life and Music of Stan Tracey”. Interview in three parts.
JLR Interview Series: Darius Brubeck
Andrea Vicari interviewed pianist Darius Brubeck to discuss the 60th anniversary of Dave Brubeck’s legendary Time Out album, and to discuss Darius’ CD Live in Poland. December 2019
JLR Interview Series: Josh Feldstein
Jazz London Radio interviewed Josh Feldstein, drummer and leader of the Verve Jazz Ensemble, who recently released a CD called Night Mode.
JLR Interview Series: Stanley Nelson
Kevin Davy interviewed movie director Stanley Nelson, to discuss his new movie on the life of Miles Davis. October 2019.
JLR Review: Rebecca Nash & Atlas at the Seabright Arms, November 2019
The British jazz scene is going through an extremely vibrant period right now. As 2019 draws to a close, there have been more new releases by British acts than for some time, facilitated by record labels like Whirlwind and Ubuntu who have contributed significantly to this trend over the last few years.
One artist to come to the fore is pianist / keyboardist Rebecca Nash and her group Atlas who released her debut CD in July entitled Peaceful King on Whirlwind records. Peaceful King straddles many musical forms focusing mainly on jazz with a sprinkling of new age and electronica; an extremely mature and ethereal offering for a debut. Rebecca recently embarked on a UK wide tour to promote Peaceful King and I was fortunate to catch her album launch at the Seabright Arms in East London in the tail end of November.
The Seabright Arms is an interesting venue; although a pub upstairs there is a vibrant music venue downstairs in the basement, with a layout that can only be described as a mini version of the 02 Academy in Islington, not what you would expect hidden below a typical looking pub! There is no seating, well there wasn’t for this gig, so you have to stand the whole way through, or dance if that is your wont. This layout is In keeping with a venue perhaps more suited to rock and other forms of popular music. And similar to a rock venue, there was a support act first up called the Nick Walters quartet, led by trumpet player Nick Walters, who also joined Atlas and played in the main performance of the night.

The gig featured tracks from Rebecca’s album, starting off with the title track which has an “ECM” feel, combining jazz with electronics, Sarah Colman provided vocals on Hotwired and Grace, whilst Dreamer contained a haunting trumpet solo by Nick Walters. There was a vibrant and attentive audience including many big figures on the scene, which indicates the esteem in which Rebecca Nash is held. The only downside was the gig was too short! The band was on stage for exactly one hour but the more important thing to note is how much talent is coming out of Britain right now, and definitely these artists deserve as much airplay as possible.
Atlas comprises:
Rebecca Nash: Piano / Keyboards
Thomas Seminar Ford: Guitar
Chris Mapp: Bass
Matt Fisher: Drums
Sara Coleman: Keyboards
Nick Walters: Trumpet
Nicholas Malcolm: Trumpet