John Shand | Music & Other Spheres Posts

July 22, 2017 / Concert Reviews - Archive

Foundry 616, July 8 9/10 Where usually the piano would have stood naked and alone, now it was encroached upon by labyrinths of leads, plugs, pedals, knobs, faders and a synthesizer – like some sci-fi movie where a human metamorphoses into a robot. But then in an earlier life in…

July 19, 2017 / Album Reviews - Archive

ARGENTINOSAURUS (Newvelle) 8.5/10 Few albums contains such diverse music from a piano/bass/ drums trio. But then this diversity is partly a reflection of the players involved. Leo Genovese, the brilliant Argentinean pianist, thinks wildly different sorts of thoughts when composing and playing, from the tightest song formats to the loosest…

July 17, 2017 / Album Reviews - Archive

EAST WEST MOON (Rattle/Birdland) 9/10 This is the second time that New Zealand pianist Jonathan Crayford has teamed up with the stellar New York rhythm section of bassist Ben Street and drummer Dan Weiss. But Crayford is well clear of the mentality of using Big Apple musicians as a proving…