Press
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| Dave Stapleton ‘Catching Sunlight’ Review – Irish Times
“Dave Stapleton’s writing, which is so well conceived that it’s sometimes difficult to separate the written from the improvised. Often working from little motifs shifted through the changes, or from piano vamps, Stapleton builds a surprising variety of moods and sound pictures, using himself, Neil Yates (trumpet), Paula Gardiner (bass) and Elliot Bennett (drums), and the Lunar Saxophone Quartet, for whom he writes superbly. The voicings, so delicately seasoned with disquieting dissonance, and his use of counterpoint are beautifully crafted. And, despite the skill and imagination evident in the deft use of contrast and tempo changes, the music has a consistency of vision and execution to go with the compatibility of all the musicians involved”.
| Dave Kane’s Rabbit Project ‘The Eye of the Duck’ Review – The Jazz Mann****
“Bright, intelligent music full of surprises. An excellent example of British contemporary jazz”.
| Dave Kane’s Rabbit Project ‘The Eye of the Duck’ Review – Jazzwise ****
‘It’s, quite simply, first-rate, intelligent, 21st century jazz”.
| Dave Kane’s Rabbit Project ‘The Eye of the Duck’ Review – Vortex Reviews
“His compositions derive inspiration from a refreshingly wide variety of sources, ranging from Maghrebi music (’The Gorman’), a powerfully affecting, almost Led Bib-like, blend of free jazz and funk (the opener ‘Biff’ and others), and multi-textured electronica exploiting the various textures available from Bourne’s Fender Rhodes. Yet anotherindication of the extraordinary variety and strength of contemporary
UK-based jazz”.
| Geoff Eales ‘Master of the Game’ Review – Irish Times
“…this CD with Chris Laurence (bass) and Martin France (drums) will be a revelation to some. The trio’s democratic approach references Bill Evans, and Evans’ impressionism is reflected in several of Eales’ originals, but his influences are wider than that… he’s a natural improviser concerned with details of colour, mood and developing the overall arc of a performance”.
| Geoff Eales ‘Master of the Game’ Review – The List
“…He could scarcely have chosen more resourceful collaborators in the effort than bassist Chris Laurence and drummer Martin France. They are responsive to every twist and turn of the music and make powerful contributions to the evolving musical conversation”.
| Geoff Eales ‘Master of the Game’ Review – The Jazzbreakfast Blog
“Eales brings a lot of life and experience to a hook-filled, piano trio album which has its fair share of drive and quiet swing-funk…and the recording and presentation is elegant indeed”.
| Geoff Eales ‘Master of the Game’ Review – Guardian
“The ballads are sumptuously couched in lustrous chords and seductive melodic turns, built around the intertwined voicings of piano and bass. And the faster pieces exhibit a surging freshness… sounds here like a master of an old game who is hunting for a new one”. Guardian (John Fordham)
| Geoff Eales ‘Master of the Game’ Review – Yorkshire Post
“There are shades of Esbjorn Svensson and Brad Mehldau in the approach to some of these tracks, while others nod to Bill Evans or Keith Jarrett, but Eales is firmly his own man and what emerges over the course of the album is a highly original player who tends to make his point quietly but forcefull”. Yorkshire Post
| Geoff Eales ‘Master of the Game’ Review – The Jazz Mann
“A highly distinctive album in an overcrowded field. It deserves to propel Eales into the piano premier league”. The Jazz Mann *****
| Geoff Eales ‘Master of the Game’ Review – Jazzwise
“…the overriding sense on Master of the Game is of a famously ‘eclectic’ pianist who’s become a master of his influences and begun to speak in a voice that is distinctively and unmistakably his own”. Jazzwise – 4 Stars ****
| Geoff Eales ‘Master of the Game’ Review – Vortex Jazz
“…this is very much Eales’s album, his compositions ranging easily between an affecting threnody (’Lachrymosa’) dedicated to Esbjorrn Svensson to anthemic themes in which Laurence complements his power and lucidity perfectly, his playing by turns rumbustious, delicate, playful and grave, as demanded by the various moods of his pieces. Recommended”. Vortex Jazz Review
| Dave Stapleton Quintet – Midem live review – JazzUK
“…superb showcase gig from the impressively on-form Dave Stapleton Quintet”. Jazz UK
| Dave Stapleton – Catching Sunlight – Independent on Sunday album review
“…pieces rank among the best performances I’ve heard all year”. Independent on Sunday
| Kevin Figes Quartet – Circular Motion – JazzUK CD review
“Treat this as a calling card for Figes’s skills as a soloist and composer”. JazzUK
| Dave Stapleton – Catching Sunlight – Vortex Jazz Album review Album review
“Rich, colourful, compelling and vibrant”.
| Paula Gardiner Trio – Hot Lament – Cardiff Jazz CD Review
“It’s a sheer masterpiece”.
| Dave Stapleton / Ben Waghorn Duo - Sound Festival, Aberdeen – Live review
“This appealing recital managed to draw a large audience of attentive and appreciative listeners who clearly enjoyed the performance every bit as much as I did”.
| Dave Stapleton – Catching Sunlight – The Jazz Mann – Album review
“Rich and colourful music from one of the UK’s most talented and ambitious young jazz composers”.
| Dave Stapleton – Catching Sunlight – Cardiff Jazz Society album review
“Here is some of the best new jazz around, both in conception and writing and its performance is exquisite. It really is brilliant”.
| Dave Stapleton Quintet – Live Review from Lincoln Drill Hall on 4th Oct
“…you will be hooked from the first note”.
| Dave Stapleton – Catching Sunlight – 4 star jazzwise review
“Stapleton’s writing mostly revolves around propulsive piano vamps with nods to Gil/Miles circa Sketches of Spain”.
| Dave Stapleton – Catching Sunlight – Piano Magazine review
“His compositional building blocks, repeated ostinati, short motifs that shift through registers and keys, and choppy phrasing alternated with smoother melodic or freely improvised sections”.
| Paula Gardiner Trio – The Jazz Mann Album Review
“Hot Lament deserves to bring Paula Gardiner to the attention of the national jazz audience”.
| Paula Gardiner Trio - Vortex Jazz Album Review
“Sonorous, intensely melodic”.
| Dave Stapleton & Matthew Bourne – French CD review on www.pinkushion.com (In French)
“glorious…”.
| Kevin Figes Quartet – CD Review Cardiff Jazz Society
“buoyant and nimble, making it entirely accessible”.
| Bourne Davis Kane - Album review in the Guardian
“Lost Something is a set that should help confirm this trio’s world-class status to a wider audience – it’s modern music in the most meaningful sense”.
| Bourne Davis Kane – Vortex Jazz Album Review
“…a compelling and original album, and a great calling card for their exhilarating live act”.
| Paula Gardiner Trio – The Jazz Mann – Live review of Brecon Jazz Festival
“…a beautiful album of original compositions”.
| Kevin Figes / Bourne Davis Kane – Touching Extremes Review (Massimo Ricci)
“A lovely experience throughout, an album that accentuates level-headedness in your chance transits through mild unhappiness”.
| Bourne Davis Kane – ‘Lost Something’ album review – Indepentent on Sunday
“…originals such as Davis’s “Melt” and “De Selby’s Earth” have both point and swing”.
| Stapleton/Bourne & Paula Gardiner Trio – Album reviews on www.bagatellen.com
| Kevin Figes – Jazzwise ‘Taking Off’ feature
“…ideal oppurtunity to demonstrate his ability to play changes”.
| Kevin Figes – Jazzwise album review
“bodly eclectic introduction to his skills as both writer and playing”.
| DSQ - Jazz Services news story (Jazzwise)
| Bourne Davis Kane - album review – The Fife Free Press
| Kevin Figes Quartet – ‘Circular Motion’ Independent on Sunday review
“Figes has an inclination to hard, rhythmical swing, and a contrasting gift for composing memorable, sensitive tunes”.
| Dave Stapleton and Matthew Bourne - CD review by Cardiff Jazz Society
“Dismantling the Waterfall is colossal, complex and labyrinthine: full of harmony and melodic improvisation, it is narrated explosively with articulate and passionate phrasing”.
| Dave Stapleton and Matthew Bourne – Independent on Sunday review
“This impressive experimental duo set by tyro pianists Dave Stapleton and Matthew Bourne consists of 17 shortish, continually diverting pieces titled after lines of a 17-line poem by Julie Tippetts”.
| Dave Stapleton and Matthew Bourne - ‘Dismantling the Waterfall’ Guardain review
“Wales-based pianist Dave Stapleton has produced one of the success stories of UK jazz over the past year…a lyrical lilt reminiscent of Keith Jarrett”.
| Kevin Figes Quartet – Vortex Jazz album review
“lively, absorbing and attractively varied set from a fine band that should, given the evidence provided by this album, really deliver the goods live”.
| Dave Stapleton and Matthew Bourne – Jazzwise Review
“…fine collaboration between two of the UK’s most exciting young pianists…restless imagination”.
