Vienne 2016

[Ian Thumwood]

Tom

Thanks for the tip about the Beth Hart album which I have now ordered. She was absolutely amazing - always nice to encounter someone new:-

[Ian Thumwood]

Randy Weston is one of those musicians you read about but whose music is a bit under the radar. When I say him in Vienne in 2016 with Billy Harper and TK Blue, the gig was pretty memorable. The addition of the African musicians later didn't really add a great deal. It was the unknown bassist Alex Blake who impressed me.

It is funny just how much this music owes to Duke Ellington. I have always been a bit sceptical of he African influence or element in jazz and for all his African credentials pinning Weston to the 1960's, I have always felt that his music had more in common with the earlier decade. I love his composition "Hi-fly."