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"OUR MUSIC IS primarily intended to stimulate thought, to get people to make new rationales," said Art Ensemble of Chicago trumpeter Lester Bowie. "We're expanding ...

Defunkt: The Venue, London

Live Review by Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, 20 June 1981

PRESENTING upwardly mobile uptown jazz/funk from New York, Defunkt are a sharp six-piece fronted by the ever-cool Joe Bowie, who plays trombone, conducts the band ...

8-Eyed Spy, Albert Ayler, James Chance & the Contortions, Miles Davis: Free Jazz/Punk Rock

Essay by Lester Bangs, Musician, April 1980

IN A New York City nightclub, a skinny little Caucasian whose waterfall hairstyle and set of snout and lips make him look like a sullen ...

Defunkt: Albany Empire, London

Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 15 July 1983

DEFUNKT ARE in the anomalous position of being an American band playing in a singularly American style who find themselves prophets without honour — or ...

Defunkt: Trax, New York

Live Review by Roy Trakin, Melody Maker, 9 February 1980

EVEN THE decidedly old-wave, uptown industry water-hole Trax has caught the Funk Flu that's hit this borough like an epidemic. People are dancing to progressive, ...

Esperanza Spalding, Snarky Puppy: Esperanza Spalding: Emily's D+Evolution; Snarky Puppy: Family Dinner Volume 2; Jeff Buckley: You and I

Review by Will Hermes, Rolling Stone, 10 March 2016

NOT SINCE Herbie Hancock robo-rocked the Grammys in 1984 have jazz and pop felt as closely intertwined as they do this year. ...

Art Ensemble of Chicago: The Roundhouse, London

Live Review by Brian Case, Melody Maker, 31 March 1979

PROBABLY THE only unanswered question by now for most of their followers on this side of The Big Moist, is how they look when they ...

Art Ensemble of Chicago: The Art Ensemble of Chicago: The Roundhouse, London

Live Review by Brian Case, Melody Maker, 31 March 1979

PROBABLY THE only unanswered question by now for most of their followers on this side of The Big Moist, is how they look when they ...

Art Ensemble of Chicago: The Art Ensemble of Chicago: Like Hi Man, I's Yo New Neighbour

Report and Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 11 January 1975

Yep, it's a tough town and the music fits like a glove. BRIAN CASE meets The Art Ensemble of Chicago on their home patch. ...

Art Ensemble of Chicago: Roundhouse, London

Live Review by Richard Williams, The Times, 17 March 1982

IT MAY BE impossible for the outsider to decode the arcane rituals which accompany a performance by the Art Ensemble of Chicago, and which the ...

James Blood Ulmer: Tales Of Captain Black (Artists House)

Review by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 26 January 1980

IT WON'T be long, I guess, before someone describes James "Blood" Ulmer as "the new Hendrix", so you might as well be forewarned. ...

Art Ensemble Of Chicago: Urban Bushmen (ECM)

Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 29 May 1982

BURNING BUSHMEN ...

Miles Davis, Jack DeJohnette: Jack DeJohnette: More Than One Way

Interview by Don Snowden, L.A. Weekly, 1 May 1980

"PEOPLE ARE beginning to take notice that I'm not just a drummer who plays piano or a piano player who plays drums," says Jack DeJohnette. ...

David Bowie, Elvis Costello, Working Week: Absolute Beginners

Special Feature by Adam Sweeting, Brian Case, Melody Maker, 22 March 1986

AT LONG last, it's almost here. Poor old JULIEN TEMPLE has been working on his movie of Colin MacInnes' novel Absolute Beginners apparently since the ...

Thundercat: Gorilla, Manchester

Live Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 26 March 2017

The gifted bassist and Kendrick Lamar sidekick twists fusion, soul and hip-hop into magical shapes. ...

Art Ensemble of Chicago, Joseph Jarman: Joseph Jarman: dreaming of the masters

Interview by Brian Case, Melody Maker, 28 April 1979

For many people, Joseph Jarman was the revelation of the Chicago Art Ensemble's London debut. Afterwards he talked to BRIAN CASE. ...

Art Ensemble of Chicago: The Art Ensemble of Chicago: Dressing Up To Play

Interview by Brian Case, Melody Maker, 30 August 1980

The Art Ensemble's percussionist, Famoudou Don Moye, levels, bevels and revels in costume. BRIAN CASE sits and watches ...

Wynton Marsalis: Shock of the New

Profile and Interview by John Lewis, The Guardian, 2 March 2007

Wynton Marsalis almost explodes with rage when he talks about hip-hop. So why has the jazz stalwart recorded a track on which he breaks into ...