GEOFF BOTTOMS relishes a profoundly human portrait of a family as it evolves across 55 years in Sheffield
Harpist Bzhezhinska takes inspiration from Coltranes to another level
PAUL DONOVAN applauds an excellently crafted new musical that explores the life and death of Ruth Ellis
PAUL DONOVAN is tickled by the excruciating take-downs of one of the funniest, wittiest, political writers around.
RON JACOBS points out, via a transcription of Kissinger’s secret recordings, that Trump could never have existed without Nixon and Kissinger
ELLIS RAE is persuaded that the advantages of the ‘talking cure’ are superior to the treatment of mental illness with drugs
JOHN GREEN, MICHAL BONCZA and BELLA KATZ review The Good Boy, Broken English, and Don't Be Prey
Alina Bzhezhinska
Inspiration
(Ubuntu)
LAST year was the 50th anniversary of John Coltrane's death and the 10th of his startling jazz-harpist wife Alice. They were an inspiration for London-based harpist Alina Bzhezhinska — hence the title of an album moved by her love for the couple's music.
She's accompanied on this album by three of Britain's top contemporary jazz musicians — saxophonist Tony Kofi, bassist Larry Bartley and drummer Joel Prime — and the opening track, Alice Coltrane's Wisdom Eye, begins with some serene solo work from Bzhezhinska, with only Bartley's delving bass alongside her, with her strings vibrating and singing poignantly.
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