MARK TURNER wallows in the virtuosity of Swansea Jazz Festival openers, Simon Spillett and Pete Long

Mario Laginha
Jangada
Edition Records
★★★★
The Portuguese pianist Mario Laginha, born in Lisbon in 1960, describes his new album which he calls Jangada (or Raft) as the result of a creative process of “picking up pieces of driftwood and binding them together to form a whole.”
With bassist Bernardo Moreira and drummer Alexandre Frazao, he does just that with his pianism, forging a record of delights from fragments of sound, with a touch that reminds me of the great American pianist Ran Blake, who once made an album called Driftwoods.

CHRIS SEARLE encourages you to go hear a landmark performance, and introduces some of the musicians

CHRIS SEARLE hears the ordeal of the Palestinian people in the improvised musicianship of a UK jazz trio

Reviews of the Neil Charles Quartet, the Freddie Hubbard Quintet, and the Olie Brice Quartet

CHRIS SEARLE speaks to Chris Laurence, bassist and bandmate of saxophonist TONY COE