AJ Brown to record Live EP at Dean Clough

Singer AJ Brown has been busy recently, embarking on a 30 date UK tour supporting Collabro. Now that he's back, he isn't resting on his laurels and has issued an invite to attend two very special gigs in May at Dean Clough in Halifax.

These gigs will be recorded and will form the material for his new EP, In The Moment Live. Audiences who attend either night will also be given a copy of the release.

The gigs take place on May 17th. one at 6pm and one at 8pm. Tickets cost £20 (inc. a copy of the EP) and can be booked through the AJ Brown website.

Good singers don’t always make good entertainers; those who do become stars and, having seen AJ on stage in London recently, he is headed for the top -  Sheila Tracy, Radio presenter & music journalist

New Releases from Discus Records

Sheffield-based label Discus Records, run by musician and composer Martin Archer, has announced the release of three new albums this week.

Third Opening is the 5th album for trio Inclusion Principle. Featuring Martin Archer, Herve Perez and Peter Fairclough, the group is described as being in a space between electronics, nu-jazz, contemporary electroacoustic music and free improvisation tending towards a minimalist approach. Their new release is a double album.

Bad Tidings from Slackwater Drag is the second album from the AACM-inspired large ensemble, Engine Room Favourites. The band gigged across the North in 2014 with support from Jazz North's Northern Line scheme and the material for this new album was developed during those performances. 

Personnel: Martin Archer, Mick Beck, Laura Cole, Corey Mwamba, Graham Clark, Seth Bennett, Walt Shaw, Johnny Hunter & Steve Dinsdale.

Vestigium is the fourth release from Julie Tippetts & Martin Archer duo. The line-up is a mixture of musicians from both jazz and rock backgrounds (reflecting Tippetts own varied musical career from Brian Auger to Keith Tippet) and is decribed as a homage to the heady days of musical collison and exploration...

Personnel: Julie Tippetts, Martin Archer, Peter Fairclough, Seth Bennett, Gary Houghton, Michael Somerset-Ward, Kim Macari, Lee Hallam, Chris Bywater, James Archer, Michael McMillan, Heather Cordwell, Aby Vuillamy & Mick Bardon.

CDs and Recordings Wanted for Reviews

We are inviting musicians and ensembles to get in touch with their latest recordings and releases to be reviewed by Northern Jazz News.

The team at NJN are focused on providing news and articles on the Northern Jazz scene but as yet, we haven't done many album reviews and we'd like to hear more of the music going on here and further afield.

If you'd like to get in touch with links to recordings, press packs or CDs, please use our contact form to tell us more about your music.

Live In Rotterdam - Roller Trio

Roller Trio have released a new recording, Live In Rotterdam, documenting their appearance in the 2014 finals of the European Jazz Competition earlier this month.

One week prior to the competition, saxophonist James Mainwaring broke his right hand. Instead of forfeiting the competition, the band spent four days writing an entirely new set of material that would allow James to play with one hand.

These five tracks are now available for free or pay-what-you-want on the group's Bandcamp page.

Personnel -

James Mainwaring - one handed saxophone/electronics
Luke Wynters - guitar
Luke Reddin-Williams - drums
Jakub Hader - CD artwork

The group aptly added this quote to their Bandcamp page -

"...the imagination is unleashed by constraints. You break out of the box by stepping into shackles."
― Jonah Lehrer, Imagine: How Creativity Works

Wildflower Sextet Crowdfunding Campaign

The Wild Flower Sextet have launched a crowdfunding campaign to support the making of their debut album, which they are recording on February 22nd and 23rd in the Leeds College of Music recital room after receiving a place on the Jazz Services Recording Support scheme.