Alexander Hawkins

To change tack, various things by the Blue Notes - Mongezi Feza, Dudu Pukwana, Chris McGregor, Johnny Dyani, Louis Moholo - may be of interest. But to stick more to the bop/post-bop rubric, check out the wonderful, wonderful record 'Yakhal'Inkomo' by Winston 'Mankunku' Ngozi...a stone classic in South Africa.

Thank you so much Bev - I really appreciate it!

Love that clip...Pheeroan is absolutely blazing there.......

I get the sense they've been updating the site a bit this week, so this may well have been the case! MUST check out that Matana Roberts...

- yeah...it seems I'm on a few things out in the next couple of months! I should just mention - Dominic's album is also available 'physically' too. I haven't got any myself yet, but spoke to him the other day, and they definitely exist!

An incredible player... A few faves, though I love almost everything I have heard: Salutes Bessie Smith, the duets with Muhal, Bowie's The Fifth Power...

Damn, playing in Rome the week before that! Sounds like a fantastic trip. For Barcelona - all of the Gaudi buildings are wonderful; and also the Fundacio Joan Miro.

Wow - thank you. You're one step ahead of me - I wasn't expecting it quite yet! Great though!

Will it be on Babel Label as well? Yes indeed!

No solos in the book at the moment, but next year I hope! New Ensemble cd is at the pressing plant - hopefully back in a matter if days rather than weeks!

If anyone's interested, I just noticed that my first solo piano effort, Song Singular, is now up for preorder at the label's website...you can also stream it there, to see whether (or not) it's any good...

I love this live footage of Try Some Ammonia too!

Ah yes - I just saw that! I really like Richard Williams' writing...very much enjoyed his 'Kind of Blue' book... I know...I've been a really infrequent visitor to Sheffield, Nottingham, etc...I think Leeds and Derby are really as close as I've been recently...so very much look to righting things. It'll be great to catch up at the Moholo show!

p.s. a few people have kindly pointed out that I've had some website troubles...please find the 'new improved' version here: www.alexanderhawkinsmusic.com...if anyone were able to link/share, I'd of course really appreciate it!

That'd be great! Yeah, let's catch up after the show. I think before will be tricky - our travel looks like we'll have to go straight to soundcheck...but always good to hang after

I've got a few nice shows coming up, so just wanted to share some details in case anyone finds themselves in the locale, and fancying some music..! In just a few weeks, The Convergence Quartet rides again. This is Taylor Ho Bynum, Harris Eisenstadt, Dominic Lash, and myself...something of a release tour for 'Slow and Steady'...and I'm sure we'll have some copies in tow The dates: Oct 4 - Sibiu, Romania - Jazz and More Festival Oct 5 - Ulrichsberg, Austria - Jazzatelier Oct 6 - Zurich, Switzerland - Rote Fabrik Oct 8 - London, UK - Vortex Jazz Club Then later in October, and into November, I'll be playing with Louis Moholo-Moholo...here's the sort of thing we get up to. In duo, we play Oct 18 - Leicester, UK - Embrace Arts Nov 2 - Brighton, UK - Unitarian Church (Safehouse) Nov 18 - London, UK - Vortex Jazz Club (London Jazz Festival) ...and in a quartet with Jason Yarde (saxophones) and John Edwards (double bass): Oct 20 - London, UK - Cafe Oto Oct 25 - Sheffield, UK - Millennium Hall (Sheffield Jazz) Also in the London Jazz Festival, I'm excited to be playing at The Forge, Camden, with my trio (Neil Charles, bass, and Tom Skinner, drums) on November 19. This performance will also contain a premiere of a new commission for the trio... Later that week in the festival, I'll also be curating some late night sessions at the Vortex - that's Thursday 21 - Saturday 23 November... I'm also on the road a bit with Mulatu Astatke in the next couple of months. We're at: Oct 10 - Paris, France - Trianon Oct 24 - Rome, Italy - Roma Jazz Festival Nov 28 - Amsterdam, Netherlands - Bimhuis Nov 29 - Rotterdam, Netherlands - Lantaren Venster ...finally, I'm at the Vortex on October 29th with Nick Malcolm's fantastic quartet, where we'll be recording live for BBC Radio 3's Jazz on 3...and at the start of December, I'll be on the road in the UK on an album release tour with Dominic Lash's similarly fantastic quartet...that one is Nov 30 - Falmouth; Dec 3 - Cambridge; Dec 5 - Sheffield; Dec 6 - Cheltenham; Dec 7 - Bristol; Dec 9 - Vortex... ...phew... ...at any rate, please do say hello if you fancy any of these (and of course PM me for any further details...)

Cafe Oto is a *great* place to hang out! Lots of amazing Turkish food around that part of town too... Toby Delius at the Vortex during that period too... Would have been great to host your parents at the Convergence Quartet gig, but I'm afraid we're a couple of weeks after that

Featuring Paul Dunmall, no less, on tenor.

Not sure about the Charing Cross Road one, not being a Londoner, but there are still Waterstones around (e.g. here in Oxford)!

Oh wow - Paul on bagpipes is really magical. He's doing a duo in London this evening with Tony Bianco - a 'Trane tribute - that I'd have loved to get to...Paul's one of the few guys around I'm interested in hearing do that sort of thing!

For anyone who hasn't seen it, this is priceless, with a great deal of footage of the Lyons/Silva/Cyrille band too...

Wow - that's too long! So did the tour as Mujician minus Keith?

Barry and Paul are pretty infrequent visitors to these shores unfortunately...but John is very much a regular. By the way - I concur - John in an absolute monster. A real master.

Don't worry...they're safe...strictly for show Thanks so much for the kind comments about the Convergence Quartet! I love that band...looking forward to a short tour later in the year! I'm afraid the Babel releases are going to be CD only. But I completely agree with you about their vinyl, which I think is really nicely produced...maybe I'll have to discuss the next thing with them Thanks Bev!

Hans Reichl's work as a font designer was pretty fantastic...this website is well worth a look.