Albums that influenced me: Symphony No 5 by Ralph Vaughan Williams

The third in this series of albums that influenced me. My local library - so prosaic, yet such a glittering palace of knowledge and experience when I was growing up - facilitated my introduction proper to classical music. Just as with jazz, I started fairly randomly, sifting through the stacks of records available to hire …

Albums that influenced me: Salisbury Suite by the Stan Tracey Octet

The second in this series of albums that influenced me. I spent my late teens and early twenties completely immersing myself in jazz. My friends thought I had lost my mind! My guide to navigating this new musical landscape was found in the local public library - my oasis of calm, and a place of …

Albums that influenced me: Trilogy by Emerson, Lake and Palmer

I was challenged to select 10 albums that had an influence on me. This is the first. Emerson, Lake & Palmer's Trilogy still stands up today as a remarkable album. It's breadth of imagination and level of musicianship are astonishing. It holds a special place in my heart because I can clearly remember the powerful …

Interviews For Herts Jazz Film Festival 2018

For this year's Herts Jazz Festival I was able to bring back the Herts Jazz Film Festival. We only had space for two films, but they were rather special. My interviews with Gareth Williams (about accompanying a Buster Keaton masterpiece) and director Gary Barber (about his documentary on legendary tenor player Bobby Wellins) are reporduced …

Interview with Bill Morrison – Cambridge Film Festival – 26 October 2017

Mike O'Brien and Bill Morrison. Photo credit: Jean-Luc Benazet and Cambridge Film Festival This interview was first published in Take One. Dawson City: Frozen Time, the latest film from renowned American director Bill Morrison, is a complex, poetic, multi-stranded tale featuring the fortuitous discovery of buried nitrate film stock. The telling of this story reveals …

Cambridge Film Festival 2017: Kékszakállú

Below is a slightly edited review of the one published in Take One, both in a festival print magazine  and online. An outdoor swimming pool and some children take turns to launch themselves from the diving board. One girl hesitates at the edge, frightened, uncertain. Cut. In Kékszakállú - the enthralling latest film from Argentinian …

Interview: Mornington Lockett to front special Herts Jazz Festival concert in celebration of Bobby Wellins

My interview with Mornington Lockett was originally published in London Jazz News.   One of the highlights of this year’s Herts Jazz Festival is a concert put together by one of the UK’s most accomplished jazz saxophonists, Mornington Lockett, in celebration of the music of one of his heroes, the late great Scottish saxophonist, Bobby …

Bobby

Tonight, it feels like the world is nervously holding its breath. As the presidential election votes are being counted, I find I can't sleep. A thought has popped into my head - "at least Bobby doesn't have to worry about all this..." As well as bringing back the terrible sadness of his sudden passing, just a …

Herts Jazz FILM Festival 2016: Buster and the Jazzer

This is the fourth in a series of posts about films being screened in the first ever Herts Jazz FILM Festival (HJFF), which takes place on 16-18 September and 2 October in Welwyn Garden City. The festival showcases compelling films that all have a distinctly jazz flavour. Timed to complement the Herts Jazz Club’s well-established and prestigious annual Herts …

Herts Jazz FILM Festival 2016: John Akomfrah on Stan Tracey

This is the third in a series of posts about films being screened in the first ever Herts Jazz FILM Festival (HJFF), which takes place on 16-18 September and 2 October in Welwyn Garden City. The festival showcases compelling films that all have a distinctly jazz flavour. Timed to complement the Herts Jazz Club’s well-established and prestigious annual Herts …