All Things Considered

The Neil Cowley Trio
Posted by Simon Lewin

When setting up All Things Considered we had to put together a list of categories for the posts that appear.

‘Music’ was right at the top of my list, and yet I’m feeling fairly nervous as I write this first post to be tagged with the category. Perhaps it's the fear of coming across a bit too seriously - like a character from Nick Hornby's excellent "High Fidelity".

Over the life of this blog I’ll no doubt slip in a number of ‘admissions’ about my musical past - most of which I’m genuinely very proud of (...and if you’re really lucky one day I might just tell you all a story about Tony the Tiger - maybe).

So, jazz. I’m the first to admit that I’m still a relative beginner when it comes to enjoying jazz. I first started listening properly maybe 10 years ago, bullied into it by our old friend Andy. Still, it’s paid off.

Jazz is one of those genres that covers so many styles and sub-genres that you simply can’t say you don’t like ‘it’. Out there, somewhere, will be a jazz artist/record that you’ll find yourself listening to again and again.

A firm favourite for the last year or so must be The Neil Cowley Trio. On their corner of MySpace they describe themselves as “jazz-trance-neo-classical-funk-soul for shoegazers”. And who am I to argue.

Having trained at the Royal College of Music and then working with artists such at the Brand New Heavies, Cowley and his trio draw on range of musical styles - from classical to jazz to dance - creating an enticing hybrid - and one that’s even better live than it is on record.

‘Displaced’ is a record I’ll be playing for years to come. Rehearsed over a couple of weeks and then recorded in 2 days at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios, the album has been nominated for this year’s BBC Jazz Awards.

So, there you go, ‘modern British’ jazz at its best. Visit The Neil Cowley Trio website.

Posted by Simon Lewin on April 24th, 2007