Taste of The South October 2019

For over 20 years, Echoes of Swing have been an essential go-to band for lovers of classic jazz. They show quite how many sides there are to it, and do so in a way that is always consummately fresh. The quartet of Bernd Lhotzky (piano), Colin T. Dawson (trumpet), Chris Hopkins (alto saxophone) and Oliver Mewes (drums) breathe new life into the canon of the Jazz Age with their skill as players, their fine arrangements – and with a lot of humour. The band play their own compositions too. And each of their albums is built around a theme: after "Blue Pepper", "Dancing", "Travelin'" and the "Tribute to Bix Beiderbecke", their new album "Winter Days at Schloss Elmau" is a winter walk, but with a swing to it. The new album continues in the line of superb recordings that ACT has made in the large concert hall at Schloss Elmau. Indeed, where would one find more inspiration for a winter album than in this unique location with its breathtaking views of the Bavarian Alps?

#KingButch—hashtag proudly attached—is the title of Butcher Brown’s soon-to-be top-trending album, the eighth in the band’s up-from-the-roots legacy, and their first with Concord Records, on the Concord Jazz imprint. The 13 tracks collectively represent a bold step forward for the 5-piece group from Richmond, Virginia. Remaining true to the group’s heady fusion of contemporary hip-hop, ‘70s fusion, ‘60s jazz and funk—even echoes of Southern rock and marching band music show up—#KingButch is a powerfully original statement that reaches across divisions of genre, generation, ethnicity, and geography. Significantly, the new recording also reveals a side of Butcher Brown that’s been developing and is now in full-flower: a song-crafting, studio maturity on a par with their national reputation as an explosive live act.