Tuesday, September 17, 2019 Chapel Art Centre, Bath For those of you who don’t know – and that’s a sizeable number in the UK – Steve Kilbey was the singer-songwriter at the heart of 80s Australian band The Church. The Church was a terrific atmospheric rock band that achieved high profile popularity in Australia and […]

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Chapel Arts Centre, Bath Saturday, June 8, 2019 Zoe Schwarz (https://www.bluecommotion.com) and her band drew a nice crowd of devoted fans to Chapel Arts Centre on this Saturday night. Zoe has been touring the UK for longer than ten years now, starting out as a Billie Holiday inspired jazz singer before shifting to blues territory […]

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Bath Fringe The Bell, Bath Monday, June 3, 2019 One would have thought it was the closing night celebration of this year’s Bath Fringe, or perhaps even the opening night — whatever, it was clearly a Celebration. The venerable Bell was packed more than a half hour before the band was to start. Such is […]

Read More Joan Davis & Band

Bath Fringe Mission Theatre, Bath June 2, 2019 WARNING: SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW! Tulips is a topical play that illuminates core issues of domestic abuse. It is written by Michael Beakhouse, who also plays Alex, the central character in this four-actor cast. It is directed by Adrian Tang of the Exit, Pursued By Pandas Theatre […]

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Bath Fringe at Old Theatre Royal, Bath June 2, 2019 Curtis Eller came onstage by himself, carrying his trusty banjo, wearing enormous trousers held up by braces (suspenders, for you Americans), and then immediately left the stage to join the audience. There, he proceeded to sing; a very intimate start, despite that he was standing […]

Read More Curtis Eller and the American Circus

Bath Fringe at Old Theatre Royal Thursday, May 30, 2019 Six guys with grey, if not white, hair took the stage with two young women at their side in backup singer position — and proceeded to blow the sizeable audience away with their rhythm, drive, soul and perfection. It was a testament to the advantages […]

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Bath Fringe Festival The Bell, Bath Monday, 27 May 2019 Scott Lavene a throwback to something we haven’t seen for quite a while, a story and character based songwriter whose appeal rests almost entirely on his verbal skill and intelligence. He has been compared to Ian Dury and that’s not far off, though he doesn’t […]

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Bath Fringe & Bath Music Festival Komedia Bath, Sunday, May 26, 2019 Apparat is Sascha Ring, an electronic dance, then ambient, music composer prominent since the early 2000s who morphed into all those things as a singer-songwriter.  As it turned out, he is a unique and very good singer in that long line of men, […]

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The Nordanians Widcombe Social Club Bath, UK 30 April, 2019 There was a feeling, not of dread nostalgia, but of the past raising its beautiful head in seeing The Nordanians in Bath promoted by the redoubtable EuroJazz missionary, Nod Knowles. The feeling of the historic days of Nod’s Bath Music Festival Jazz Weekend glimmered for […]

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Bristol Jazz and Blues Festival Winston Theatre, University of Bristol Bristol Saturday, March 23 Yazz Ahmed has become something of a sensation since the Bristol Jazz Festival presented her two years ago. Then, it seemed no one knew who she was; this time the Winston Theatre was packed.  In the course of those two years, […]

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Bristol Jazz and Blues Festival Winston Theatre, University of Bristol Saturday, March 23, 2019 The Julian Siegel Quartet – Julian, saxes and bass clarinet, Liam Noble, piano, Oli Hayhurst, bass, and Gene Calderazzo, drums – is as pure jazz as you’ll find on this earth and probably the best as well. These are four great […]

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Bristol Jazz and Blues Festival Winston Theatre, University of Bristol Bristol Saturday, March 23, 2019 This was a first for the Bristol Jazz Festival, commissioning a work of original music expressly for the festival, and what an auspicious start! Rebecca Nash, from Bristol, is not a big name, but has quietly been building a reputation […]

Read More Rebecca Nash Atlas Ensemble

Kråke: The Clifton Bridge Landscapes Krãke is the project of Pedro Oliveira, multifaceted percussionist/drummer extraordinaire from Portugal. His collaborators on the project are none other than Jim Barr, Jake McMurchie and Pete Judge, all from Bristol’s very original post-jazz institution, Get The Blessing. It would be a big mistake, though, to see this as some […]

Read More KRÅKE: The Clifton Bridge Landscapes