Aug 26, 2025 1:53 PM
Blindfold Test: Buster Williams
Buster Williams, who at the age of 83 has been on the scene for 65 years, had never done a Blindfold Test. The first…
Nubya Garcia
(Photo: Adama Jollah)
Moses Boyd
(Photo: Olivier Lestoquoit)Part of what’s remarkable about the contemporary London jazz scene is how the genre’s breadth is on display, filtered through disparate styles and cultural backgrounds.
“There’s so much in the word ‘jazz’ that it’s hard to define,” drummer Moses Boyd says in We Out Here: A LDN Jazz Story, a short documentary that details the city’s jazz scene, now available for streaming. It’s a story that tracks a number of British performers—including Boyd, Shabaka Hutchings, Joe Armon-Jones and scores of others—who have made significant inroads.
“There’s a constant pushing and desire to say something new, but also fully appreciate and take in what has been said before,” says Nubya Garcia amid the frank discussion of London’s music ecosystem, its longtail development, influences and how the music’s been perpetuated. The sheer number of people interviewed for the We Out Here movie—as well as the folks who recorded a companion compilation of the same name—should give viewers pause; there seems to be enough talent in London to propel the music for decades.
For more information about the documentary, as well as the compilation, visit the We Out Here website. DB
“What I got from Percy was the dignity of playing the bass,” Buster Williams said of Percy Heath.
Aug 26, 2025 1:53 PM
Buster Williams, who at the age of 83 has been on the scene for 65 years, had never done a Blindfold Test. The first…
Don and Maureen Sickler serve as the keepers of engineer Rudy Van Gelder’s flame at Van Gelder Studio, perhaps the most famous recording studio in jazz history.
Sep 3, 2025 12:02 PM
On the last Sunday of 2024, in the control room of Van Gelder Studio, Don and Maureen Sickler, co-owners since Rudy Van…
The Free Slave, Cosmos Nucleus and Sunset To Dawn: three classic Muse albums being reissued this fall by Timer Traveler Recordings.
Aug 26, 2025 1:32 PM
Record producer and “Jazz Detective” Zev Feldman has launched his next endeavor, the archival label Time Traveler…
This year’s Jazz em Agosto set by the Darius Jones Trio captured the titular alto saxophonist at his most ferocious.
Aug 26, 2025 1:31 PM
The organizers of Lisbon, Portugal’s Jazz em Agosto Festival assume its audience is thoughtful and independent. Over…
Trio aRT with its avalanche of instrumentation: from left, Pheeroan akLaff, Scott Robinson and Julian Thayer.
Sep 3, 2025 12:03 PM
Trio aRT, a working unit since 1988, shockingly released its very first studio recording this summer. Recorded in…
