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Chris Searle
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Jazz / 30 April 2025
30 April 2025

CHRIS SEARLE wallows in an evening of high class improvised jazz, and recommends upcoming highlights in May

Interview / 14 April 2025
14 April 2025
CHRIS SEARLE speaks to drummer Steve Noble
Men’s football / 4 April 2025
4 April 2025
CHRIS SEARLE interviews saxophonist Chris Williams about the extraordinary electro-acoustic album LEDLEY - a bold fusion of Jazz, football, and community spirit
Ineza
Interview / 26 February 2025
26 February 2025
CHRIS SEARLE speaks to Rwanda-born jazz vocalist INEZA
Peter Somuah
Interview / 5 February 2025
5 February 2025
CHRIS SEARLE speaks to Ghanaian trumpeter PETER SOMUAH
Vaughan Hawthorne-Nelson in concert at the Vortex with the T
Jazz / 28 January 2025
28 January 2025
An unlikely venue hosts a memorable concert, and has future treats in store
Roella Oloro, 2021
Interview / 22 January 2025
22 January 2025
CHRIS SEARLE speaks to British Nigerian/Jamaican pianist ROELLA OLORO
Nate Wooley
Interview / 6 January 2025
6 January 2025
CHRIS SEARLE speaks with US trumpeter NATE WOOLEY
Culture / 12 December 2024
12 December 2024
CHRIS SEARLE picks his favourites
Pat Thomas, Steve Noble and Seymour Wright play Cafe Ito
Music review / 22 November 2024
22 November 2024
CHRIS SEARLE translates the fusion of four jazz maestros into a mental image of Hackney Carnival
Danilo Perez
Interview / 14 October 2024
14 October 2024
CHRIS SEARLE speaks to Panamanian pianist Danilo Perez
Album reviews / 14 October 2024
14 October 2024
New releases from Etienne Charles, Jason Anick/Jason Yeager and Elliott Sharp/Sally Gates/Tashi Dorji
Music review / 6 September 2024
6 September 2024
CHRIS SEARLE is transported by a combative fusion of US and UK instrumentalists and landmark evening of jazz
Nduduzo Makhathini performing in Amsterdam on 28 October 202
Interview / 21 August 2024
21 August 2024
CHRIS SEARLE speaks to South African pianist NDUDUZO MAKHATINI 
David Murray & Class Struggle at INNtöne Jazzfestival 2018
Interview / 7 August 2024
7 August 2024
CHRIS SEARLE speaks to renowned US tenor saxophonist DAVID MURRAY
Jim Mullen
Music Review / 6 May 2024
6 May 2024
CHRIS SEARLE pops into his local for some serendipitous jazz goings-on
Music / 22 March 2024
22 March 2024
Reviews of Max Eastley/Terry Day/John Butcher, Trevor Tomkins' Sextant, and Caroline Kraabel and Pat Thomas
Tori Freestone and Alcyona Mick
Interview / 14 February 2024
14 February 2024
CHRIS SEARLE interviews saxophonist and flutist Tori Freestone on the release of her duo album with pianist Alcyona Mick
Sammy Rimington, center, at jazz funeral for Danny Barker, N
Interview / 23 January 2024
23 January 2024
CHRIS SEARLE speaks with clarinetist Sammy Rimington
Culture / 27 December 2023
27 December 2023
CHRIS SEARLE picks his favourites
White-cheeked Starlings perching on power cables
Poetry / 12 December 2023
12 December 2023
CHRIS SEARLE takes wing with Leeds-born poet of mixed Sri Lankan and English heritage, Seni Seneviratne
Phil Hargreaves
Interview / 22 November 2023
22 November 2023
Chris Searle speaks to saxophonist PHIL HARGREAVES about his new album PI, and his long-standing support for the WMA
Wayne Shorter, 2012; Denys Baptiste, 2005
Interview / 6 September 2023
6 September 2023
CHRIS SEARLE speaks to Denys Baptiste, saxophonist, after his tribute session to the great US saxophonist Wayne Shorter
Jazz pianist Alexander Hawkins
Interview / 30 August 2023
30 August 2023
CHRIS SEARLE interviews jazz pianist ALEXANDER HAWKINS
Byron Wallen at INNtone Jazzfestival 2019
Culture / 19 June 2023
19 June 2023
CHRIS SEARLE interviews trumpeter Byron Wallen about his album Portrait
Jacquard lace-making machines, 1968; Julian Siegel, 2018
Interview / 30 May 2023
30 May 2023
CHRIS SEARLE speaks to saxophonist, composer and orchestrator JULIAN SIEGEL 
Charlotte Keeffe
Culture / 19 December 2022
19 December 2022
CHRIS SEARLE speaks with trumpeter Charlotte Keeffe
Jazz / 27 November 2022
27 November 2022
New releases from Ches Smith, Brandon Lopez/Ingrid Laubrock/Tom Rainey and John Taylor Sextet
Music Review / 21 November 2022
21 November 2022
Luis Perdomo
Jazz Interview / 15 November 2022
15 November 2022
Chris Searle speaks with Venezuelan pianist LUIS PERDOMO
Music review / 28 October 2022
28 October 2022
Tony Haynes
Jazz Interview / 5 October 2022
5 October 2022
Chris Searle speaks with the Grand Union Orchestra founder TONY HAYNES
Jazz Review / 5 October 2022
5 October 2022
Members of the legendary Blue Notes sextet, trumpeter and fl
Searle interview / 14 September 2022
14 September 2022
CHRIS SEARLE speaks with Hazel Miller, founder of Ogun Records
Abraham Burton
Jazz Interview / 30 August 2022
30 August 2022
Chris Searle speaks with saxophonist ABRAHAM BURTON
Harrison Smith
Jazz / 10 August 2022
10 August 2022
Chris Searle speaks with saxophonist HARRISON SMITH
Xhosa Cole
Jazz Interview / 29 June 2022
29 June 2022
Chris Searle speaks to saxophonist XHOSA COLE
Arun Ghosh
Jazz / 20 June 2022
20 June 2022
CHRIS SEARLE speaks to clarinettist Arun Ghosh, on the release of his album Seclused In Light
DRUM WIZARDRY: Chris Corsano
Music review / 10 June 2022
10 June 2022
(L to R) Joe Mcphee, Kahil El'zabar
Live Music Review / 18 May 2022
18 May 2022
Music / 16 May 2022
16 May 2022
VISIONARY: Charles Mingus, Lower Manhattan July 4 1976
Music History / 9 May 2022
9 May 2022
CHRIS SEARLE signals the continued importance of Charles Mingus who infused contemporary jazz’s with uncompromising political comment
Culture / 11 April 2022
11 April 2022
Chris Searle speaks with saxophonist CAROLINE KRAABEL about her album LAST 1 LAST 2 and the contribution of Robert Wyatt
(L to R) Rudy Royston, Rudresh Mahanthappa and François Mou
Live Music Review / 27 March 2022
27 March 2022
Barry Altschul
Culture / 8 March 2022
8 March 2022
CHRIS SEARLE talks to Barry Altschul, drummer of the OGJB Quartet on the release of their album Ode To O
Trevor Watts at Vortex
Jazz / 7 February 2022
7 February 2022
CHRIS SEARLE speaks with York native and revolutionary improviser alto saxophonist Trevor Watts
Javon Jackson
Jazz / 17 January 2022
17 January 2022
Chris Searle speaks to saxophonist JAVON JACKSON on the release of his new album: The Gospel According to Nikki Giovanni
SUPPORT FOR PALESTINE: Lena Bloch
Jazz / 7 January 2022
7 January 2022
CHRIS SEARLE talks with the Moscow-born Israeli saxophonist Lena Bloch about the release of and inspirations behind her album Rose of Lifta
Culture / 13 December 2021
13 December 2021
Classic jazz immortals set the tone
Albert Nicholas
Culture / 29 November 2021
29 November 2021
Chris Searle speaks to VAL WILMER about veteran virtuoso New Orleans clarinettist Albert Nicholas
SEMINAL MOMENT: Sogat picket, Wapping, 1986
BOOKS / 11 August 2021
11 August 2021
Nuanced and frank narrative of dedicated union activist
MUSIC / 9 July 2021
9 July 2021
Latest releases from Nate Wooley, Derek Bailey and Mototeru Takagi and Michael Formanek
INTERVIEW / 14 June 2021
14 June 2021
Jazz saxophonist CECILIE STRANGE talks to Chris Searle about the guiding principles behind her music
ENVIRONMENTALLY CONCERNED: Piers Faccini
INTERVIEW / 30 May 2021
30 May 2021
Guitarist and singer-songwriter PIERS FACCINI talks to Chris Searle about the environmental concerns inspiring his new album Shapes of the Fall
Culture / 11 April 2021
11 April 2021
An accomplished classical musician, JIM RATTIGAN talks to Chris Searle about making the transition to a very different musical genre
James Brandon Lewis
Jazz Interview / 13 December 2020
13 December 2020
JAMES BRANDON LEWIS talks to Chris Searle about the the state he's seeking on his new album Molecular
Book review / 27 November 2020
27 November 2020
Interview / 28 October 2020
28 October 2020
CHRIS SEARLE in conversation with jazz guitar maestro Rob Luft
MUSIC / 11 August 2020
11 August 2020
Latest releases from Niels Lan Doky, The Mark Harvey Group and Tomeka Reid and Alexander Hawkins
MUSIC / 14 July 2020
14 July 2020
Latest releases from Dominic Ingham, Gordon Grdina Septet and James Brandon Lewis/Chad Taylor
BOOKS / 28 June 2020
28 June 2020
Riposte to an inspection that closed a Gloucestershire school
'AS MANY UNISONS AS STARS IN THE SKY’: Ornette Coleman
MUSIC / 24 March 2020
24 March 2020
CHRIS SEARLE recommends a book on Ornette Coleman, one of the great musical innovators of the 20th century
EVER INVENTIVE: Makiko Hirabayashi
Interview / 9 February 2020
9 February 2020
MAKIKO HIRABAYASHI talks to Chris Searle about her elegiac reflection on the Fukushima tsunami
Live Jazz / 27 January 2020
27 January 2020
Sets from Anthony Braxton, Omar Puente Cuban Sextet and Jean-Marc Foussat in London
CHANNELLING COLTRANE: Paul Dunmall
Album Review / 26 January 2020
26 January 2020
Coltrane lives on in scintillating quartet's live set
HOLDING ON TO OPTIMISM: Sloth Racket
Album Review / 20 January 2020
20 January 2020
Inventive northern souls embrace free spirit of improvisation
ECLECTIC TASTE: Grassy Noel
Interview / 8 January 2020
8 January 2020
Vocalist and 'oral provocateur' GRASSY NOEL tells Chris Searle what inspires his extraordinary new album
TELEPATHIC: Binker Golding
Live Jazz / 6 January 2020
6 January 2020
CHRIS SEARLE reviews Eddie Gomez, Binker Golding, Elliot Galvin, Gunter Baby Sommer and Raymond MacDonald
Year round-up / 6 December 2019
6 December 2019
Album review / 24 November 2019
24 November 2019
Bracing big band sound from quality quintet
Interview / 7 November 2019
7 November 2019
Brazilian singer LUCAS SANTTANA'S latest record is a call for resistance to the Bolsonaro dictatorship, he tells Chris Searle
Irresistible: Mingus Big Band
Live Music Review / 1 November 2019
1 November 2019
Marvellous Mingus tribute
Ever inventive: Makiko Hirabayashi
Musical Review / 27 October 2019
27 October 2019
Melodic treat from Copennhagen trio
Free spirit: Alan Wilkinson
Interview / 30 September 2019
30 September 2019
Saxophonist ALAN WILKINSON talks to Chris Searle about the liberating power of jazz improvisation
Insurgent: Paul Dunmall
Music review / 29 September 2019
29 September 2019
Exhilarating set from band of jazz brothers
Blowing up a storm: Trevor Watts
Live Music Review / 23 September 2019
23 September 2019
Veteran saxophonist defies the years with a fiery performance
Innovator: Theon Cross
Interview / 18 September 2019
18 September 2019
Jazz tubist THEON CROSS talks to Chris Searle about ‘the vibrations of human connection’ inspiring his latest album
Alan Skidmore
Interview / 9 September 2019
9 September 2019
Veteran tenor saxophonist ALAN SKIDMORE talks to Chris Searle about his tribute album to John Coltrane
Sloth Racket
Live Jazz Review / 8 September 2019
8 September 2019
Quintet create a startlingly good racket
Mr Versatility: Liam Noble
Jazz Interview / 5 September 2019
5 September 2019
LIAM NOBLE talks to Chris Searle about his new album The Long Game
Ever-subtle: Louis Moholo-Moholo
Music review / 1 September 2019
1 September 2019
In tune with the anthemic exhortations of liberation
Internationalist: Frode Gjerstad in 2008
Interview / 29 August 2019
29 August 2019
FRODE GJERSTAD talks to Chris Searle about the outcome of his collaboration with two jazz greats
Culture / 13 August 2019
13 August 2019
KEITH TIPPETT talks to Chris Searle about his newly re-released momentous album The Unlonely Raindancer and life’s vagaries
Live Music Review / 6 August 2019
6 August 2019
Interview / 21 July 2019
21 July 2019
MIGUEL ZENON tells Chris Searle why his latest album pays tribute to one of the great Puerto Rican singers
Elemental: Alan Wilkinson
Music Review / 21 July 2019
21 July 2019
Interview / 15 July 2019
15 July 2019
Trumpet player and composer LAURA JURD talks to Chris Searle about the exciting prospects embedded in her innovative approach to music-making
Music review / 15 July 2019
15 July 2019
Chilean tribute to Mexican icon
Interview / 7 July 2019
7 July 2019
Drummer MOSES BOYD tells Chris Searle why the album Alive in the East? is an authentic reflection of the direction jazz is taking in this country
Music Review / 5 July 2019
5 July 2019
Weird and wonderful sounds from improvisatory trio
Interview / 1 July 2019
1 July 2019
Jazz saxophonist EVAN PARKER tells Chris Searle what's so special about ground-breaking jazz recording Karyobin
Insurrectionary: Archie Shepp
Music Review / 1 July 2019
1 July 2019
Tenor saxophonist Archie Shepp has lost none of his fiery commitment
True to form: Elliott Sharp
Music review / 18 June 2019
18 June 2019
Avant-garde excellence from the Elliott Sharp trio
Olie Brice
Interview / 16 June 2019
16 June 2019
OLIE BRICE talks to Chris Searle about the liberating impulse of the jazz he plays with Tobias Delius and Mark Sanders
Music Review / 13 June 2019
13 June 2019
Horn of plenty from Wayne Escoffery and trio of virtuosi
Creating sparks: Evan Parker
Music review / 27 May 2019
27 May 2019
Unity is the brilliant strength of an improvisatory jazz trio
Genre-busting: Elaine Mitchener
Interview / 27 May 2019
27 May 2019
ELAINE MITCHENER is a singer who defies all categories — and that’s the way she likes it, she tells Chris Searle
Interview / 20 May 2019
20 May 2019
Jazz musician MARK DRESSER gives the lowdown on his new album Ain't Nothing but a Cyber Coup and You to Chris Searle
Making common cause: Faith Brackenbury and Alfie Bradley in
Interview / 16 May 2019
16 May 2019
Jazz violinist and composer FAITH BRACKENBURY talks to Chris Searle about her new record, a response to the knife-crime epidemic
Man of many parts: Joe McPhee
Music Review / 15 May 2019
15 May 2019
Intoxicating improvisation from a quartet with a global reach
Lung-power: Trish Clowes in action
Interview / 12 May 2019
12 May 2019
Jazz saxophonist TRISH CLOWES tells Chris Searle why she and her band My Iris are so open to experiment
On the move: Barry Green
Culture / 9 May 2019
9 May 2019
The sophisticated swing of a new generation of young British boppers makes itself well and truly heard
John Butcher
Interview / 1 May 2019
1 May 2019
JOHN BUTCHER tells Chris Searle why he and Joe McPhee went into the Texan desert to create one of the most free-form jazz recordings ever
True genius: Duke Ellington in 1971
Music Review / 1 May 2019
1 May 2019
Pat Thomas pays memorable tribute to the ‘Duke’
Interview / 22 April 2019
22 April 2019
LEYLA McCALLA talks to Chris Searle about the power of music in transforming hearts and minds
Live Music Review / 17 April 2019
17 April 2019
Brilliant sense of adventure and invention from jazz veterans
Irrepressible: Nigel Kennedy
Live Music Review / 1 April 2019
1 April 2019
The legendary violinist's interpretation of music by an iconic Polish composer is a match made in heaven
Ever-active: Tony Kofi
Jazz Albums with Chris Searle / 1 April 2019
1 April 2019
Protean saxophonist Tony Kofi delivers another winner
Live Music Review / 25 March 2019
25 March 2019
Jazz meeting of virtuoso minds
Jazz Albums with Chris Searle / 21 March 2019
21 March 2019
Classic recordings from a saxophonist who left an indelible mark on jazz history
Deep roots: Kizzy Crawford
Interview / 18 March 2019
18 March 2019
The singer-songwriter tells Chris Searle what inspires her great new album Can Yr Adar (Birdsong)
Culture / 14 March 2019
14 March 2019
Creative juices flow as black musicians confer
Chris Searle on Jazz / 10 March 2019
10 March 2019
An abiding love for his native Puerto Rico comes out of every note that Miguel Zenon plays
Interview / 8 March 2019
8 March 2019
Jazz musician and vocalist KATE WESTBROOK talks to Chris Searle about her unique new album, a tribute to those who quarried stone on Dartmoor
Culture / 3 March 2019
3 March 2019
Pianist Lowell Davidson's only recording reveals all the brilliance of his innovatory talent
Album Review / 25 February 2019
25 February 2019
Monumental music: John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchest
Interview / 10 February 2019
10 February 2019
JOHN McLAUGHLIN talks to Chris Searle about the sense of internationalism that's guided his life and music
Reviews / 8 February 2019
8 February 2019
Interview / 4 February 2019
4 February 2019
Innovative presence on the British jazz scene BINKER GOLDING talks to Chris Searle about his new album
Jazz Albums with Chris Searle / 4 February 2019
4 February 2019
Elaine Mitchener
Music Review / 9 January 2019
9 January 2019
CHRIS SEARLE sees an astonishing group of musicians deliver a message of struggle and hope
Jazz albums with Chris Searle / 7 January 2019
7 January 2019
Percussive pioneer: Lorraine Baker
Culture / 3 December 2018
3 December 2018
by CHRIS SEARLE
Jazz albums with Chris Searle / 16 November 2018
16 November 2018
Jazz Albums with Chris Searle / 11 November 2018
11 November 2018
The front sleeve Music is the Most Beautiful Language in the
Interview / 9 November 2018
9 November 2018
ALAN DEIN tells Chris Searle why he's just brought out a unique compilation of East End Yiddisher jazz
Jazz Albums with Chris Searle / 30 October 2018
30 October 2018
Ageless: Louis Moholo-Moholo
Live Music Review / 21 October 2018
21 October 2018
Jazz / 14 October 2018
14 October 2018
Jazz Albums with Chris Searle / 26 September 2018
26 September 2018
Soweto Kinch performs in Manchester in 2012
Jazz / 24 September 2018
24 September 2018
Trouble in mind: John Coltrane in 1963
Jazz Albums with Chris Searle / 21 September 2018
21 September 2018
Jazz albums with Chris Searle / 26 August 2018
26 August 2018
Jazz albums with Chris Searle / 20 August 2018
20 August 2018
Jazz albums with Chris Searle / 15 July 2018
15 July 2018
Jazz Album Reviews With Chris Searle / 6 July 2018
6 July 2018
Book review / 1 July 2018
1 July 2018
Jazz Albums With Chris Searle / 22 June 2018
22 June 2018
Jazz Review / 13 June 2018
13 June 2018
Ingrid Laubrock
Jazz Review / 11 June 2018
11 June 2018
Anthony Braxton
Jazz Review / 5 June 2018
5 June 2018
Tom Harrell
Jazz Review / 28 May 2018
28 May 2018
Jazz Review / 25 May 2018
25 May 2018
CHRIS SEARLE reviews Criss Cross by Alcyona Mick and Tori Freestone
Jazz review / 20 May 2018
20 May 2018
Jazz albums with Chris Searle / 1 May 2018
1 May 2018
Music Review / 24 April 2018
24 April 2018
Chris Searle on Jazz / 23 April 2018
23 April 2018
Don Pullen
Music Review / 16 April 2018
16 April 2018
Chris Searle on Jazz
Jazz Review / 9 April 2018
9 April 2018
Music Review / 2 April 2018
2 April 2018
CHRIS SEARLE on Jazz
Mark Sanders (left), Jon Edwards (centre) and John Butcher (
Album Review / 26 March 2018
26 March 2018
Chris Searle on Jazz
Jazz pianist Stanely Cowell
Album Review / 20 March 2018
20 March 2018
CHRIS SEARLE on Jazz
Jazz drum legend Barry Altschul
Music Review / 12 March 2018
12 March 2018
CHRIS SEARLE reviews Barry Altschul & The 3Dom Factor’s Live in Krakow
Review / 5 March 2018
5 March 2018
Chris Searle on Jazz
Improviser: Steve Swell
Jazz Review / 5 March 2018
5 March 2018