EWAN CAMERON picks out two fascinating music shows, fusing the Korean, and the Celtic, with the modern
AT CAFE OTO in Dalston, 82-year-old Floridian multi-instrumentalist Joe McPhee introduced his performance with the Decoy Quartet by saying: “Thank you very much for extending my childhood.”
You could hear the whole century of jazz sound in McPhee’s first excruciating volley of tenor saxophone notes. After two pandemic years it was as if the spirits of Armstrong, Ellington, Parker, Coltrane and Ornette were rising above the darkening skies of Dalston.
With him were three English nonpareils creating a relentless sound of roaring unity: drummer Steve Noble’s rampaging toms and rattling cymbals; John Edwards’s throbbing, cavorting bass coming as if from the Earth’s centre, and the churchlike yet secular glory of Alexander Hawkins’s Hammond B3 organ, like a merry-go-round of now-times musical truth.
CHRIS SEARLE speaks to Argentinian saxophonist CAMILA NEBBIA
CHRIS SEARLE relishes the genius of pianist Alexander Hawkins, his many ensembles, and his new album
CHRIS SEARLE urges you to listen to two new albums by the US Indian pianist VIJAY IYER
CHRIS SEARLE speaks to US saxophonist CAROLINE KRAABEL



