DOUGLAS FIELD relishes the hard-boiled language, satire and humour of the third and last of the Harlem trilogy
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‘It’s about finding something we didn’t know existed before’
Saxophonist ALAN WILKINSON talks to Chris Searle about the liberating power of jazz improvisation
Free spirit: Alan Wilkinson
STEPHANIE BROWN draws attention to the hidden labour of the female embroiderers, and how a 19th century replica made no such error
MIK SABIERS revels in a band that ploughs an idiosyncratic furrow of expletive laden, guitar-driven alt rock
ANDY HEDGECOCK, MARIA DUARTE and ANGUS REID review Synthetic Sincerity, Our Hero, Balthazar, Heartstopper Forever, and A Year In London
The bard invites readers to a gig, raps for Clacton, and lays out the Burnham-Hurzeler conundrum
RON JACOBS recommends an important book that enhances the oppositional theories put forth by Fanon and, in doing so, remakes psychology itself
“AT THE age of 14 I saw Jimi Hendrix and it changed my life.” Surprising words, perhaps, from a baritone saxophonist steeped in free jazz improvisation.
Not so. He recalls his sailor eldest brother who used to bring home instruments from his travels and that’s when Alan Wilkinson first picked up a guitar.
At Leeds College of Art he “pursued painting with a passion” until he became disillusioned with the idea of producing “objects for the bourgeois market.” Gradually, music took over and he began listening to US jazzmen like Coltrane, Shepp and the Art Ensemble of Chicago. But it was hearing Peter Brotzmann with the Globe Unity Orchestra that had a huge effect.
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