Jazz from Luxembourg - FREE gig at Vortex

It's too easy to dismiss a small country such as Luxembourg as having no jazz worthy of note. But that would be the same as disregarding any provincial city in Britain. Yet Derby has produced the likes of Phil Robson and Josh Blackmore and I can count at least seven from Norwich. (Work it out for yourselves!)

In fact, many of the Luxembourg musicians have, understandably, looked abroad for their inspiration and relocated for periods.

Leading the pack for several years has been Pascal Schumacher, the vibraphonist, who will be back at the vortex during the London Jazz Festival as part of a unmissable night featuring a duo of Philip Catherine and John Etheridge (on 23 November).

Meanwhile, Kevin Le Gendre selected tracks by Schumacher and singer Sofia Ribeiro for a new Now's The Time compilation on Babel.

I myself have been intrigued by who else is developing from there for several years, with tasters from my regular visits to the Gaume Jazz Festival,  just 50 miles away in Belgium.

And so I was delighted to hear, at a Luxembourg Jazz Meeting a year ago, one of the groups of the new generation - the trio of Michel Reis with Marc Demuth and Paul Wiltgen. Michel and Marc both spend part of their time in New York.Reis/Demuth/Wiltgen. Jazz for free from Luxembourg -14 October

It's too easy to dismiss a small country such as Luxembourg as having no jazz worthy of note. But that would be the same as disregarding any provincial city in Britain. Yet Derby has produced the likes of Phil Robson and Josh Blackmore and I can count at least seven from Norwich. (Work it out for yourselves!)

In fact, many of the Luxembourg musicians have, understandably, looked abroad for their inspiration and relocated for periods.

Leading the pack for several years has been Pascal Schumacher, the vibraphonist, who will be back at the vortex during the London Jazz Festival as part of a unmissable night featuring a duo of Philip Catherine and John Etheridge (on 23 November).

Meanwhile, Kevin Le Gendre selected tracks by Schumacher and singer Sofia Ribeiro for a new Now's The Time compilation on Babel.

I myself have been intrigued by who else is developing from there for several years, with tasters from my regular visits to the Gaume Jazz Festival,  just 50 miles away in Belgium.

And so I was delighted to hear, at a Luxembourg Jazz Meeting a year ago, one of the groups of the new generation - the trio of Michel Reis with Marc Demuth and Paul Wiltgen. Michel and Marc both spend part of their time in New York.

Unsurprising therefore that the trio's latest release is on the French Laborie label, which has releases by fantastic pianists such as Shaï Maestro, Benjamin Moussay and Yaron Herman. The trio brings out a strong contemporary style with an awareness of melody which at times is very cinematic.

Completing the double bill in October will be a duo of Luxembourg saxophonist Maxime Bender and Scottish guitarist Graeme Stephen, thus showing another trend amongst Luxembourg musicians: judicious selection of 'foreign' comrades-in-arms.

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