New Journal of the Plague Year As lockdown was imposed, Welsh writer Nigel Jarrett began, at his home in Abergavenny,…
Tommaso Starace Quartet at Black Mountain Jazz, Abergavenny
November 26, 2019Anglo-Italian saxophonist Tommaso Starace has long been standard-bearer for Julian ‘Cannonball’ Adderley, who himself has long been resident in…
L’heure Espagnole, Mid Wales Opera, Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, Cardiff
November 17, 2018One might be uncharitable and say that Mid Wales Opera’s production of Ravel’s musical comedy L’heure Espagnole has serious faults and…
European Union Chamber Orchestra, Borough Theatre, Abergavenny
October 22, 2018The arrangements by which the EUCO puts itself about across Europe takes in both grand and modest venues, which accounts…
Brecon Baroque Festival, Brecon Cathedral
October 20, 2018Concepts in the performance of music – Mozart by Candlelight, Vivaldi Out of Doors: that sort of thing – can…
Tristan, Black Mountain Jazz, Abergavenny
October 2, 2018A healthy musical culture is one that never leaves its historical achievements behind as though they counted for nothing. At…
Wall2Wall Jazz Festival, Abergavenny
September 6, 2018There’s a sense in which the current Brecon Jazz Festival and Black Mountain Jazz’s Wall2Wall festival at Abergavenny are remnants…
Vale of Glamorgan Festival review
May 16, 2018One of the frustrating things for fans of contemporary music of the sort on offer at the 50th Vale of…
Wendy Kirkland Quartet: Black Mountain Jazz Club
May 1, 2018Chris Byars, the New York saxophonist, composer and band leader, was displaying the jazz musician’s hard-nosed realism when he opined…
Chop Idols at Black Mountain Jazz
March 27, 2018Miles Kington famously remarked that he travelled from Wales to London for jazz, only to discover that jazz had decamped…