Jazz

Nah Youn Sun: Lento ACT Records, April 2013 Nah Youn Sun’s collaboration with Swedish guitarist Ulf Wakenius continues to bear fruit. This is her third album with Wakenius on the ACT label (and her 8th studio album overall), and like her previous ACT releases they are supported by Lars Danielsson on bass and Xavier Desandre-Navarre [...]

{ 0 comments }

Nah Youn Sun on reducing an audience to tears

by Philip Gowman 12 March 2013
Thumbnail image for Nah Youn Sun on reducing an audience to tears

LKL’s favourite jazz singer, Nah Youn Sun, fresh from singing at Park Geun-hye’s inauguration talks to the JoongAng Daily about her career, about her new album, Lento, which will be released in the UK in April, and about singing Arirang to foreign audiences: To my surprise, audiences, regardless of their nationality, shed tears while listening [...]

Read the full article →

_Complete: a collaborative arts project at The Forge, Camden

by Philip Gowman 15 January 2013
Thumbnail image for _Complete: a collaborative arts project at The Forge, Camden

News of a live music and video art event in Camden: _Complete A Collaborative arts project organised by Alpha Art Association Jazz Performance by KO Heean 고희안 Video Art Screening by SHIN Kiwoun 신기운 Date: Sunday 27 January 2013, 3pm (Doors open at 3pm and the performance starts at 3.30pm) Venue: The Forge | 3-7 [...]

Read the full article →

Tim Garland’s Korean collaboration: Sinawi and the Blues

by Philip Gowman 17 December 2012
Thumbnail image for Tim Garland’s Korean collaboration: Sinawi and the Blues

The combination of Korean traditional instruments with modern western ones gives rise to complex performance issues. Incompatibilities of style, volume, timbre and tuning are challenges to be overcome, not always with success. With the improvisatory nature of jazz, where instruments get their chance for solos and where amplification is a customary feature of the mix, [...]

Read the full article →

Korea Moves – with Tim Garland at the London Jazz Festival

by Philip Gowman 15 October 2012
Thumbnail image for Korea Moves – with Tim Garland at the London Jazz Festival

Last year at the KCC we had an interesting jazz / gugak fusion concert. Coming soon as part of the London Jazz Festival, a concert in which the emphasis is more likely to be on the jazz, but with participation from the Tori Ensemble‘s Heo Yoon-jeong (whom we saw at the KCC last February) and [...]

Read the full article →

Yeahwon nominated for a Grammy

by Philip Gowman 16 September 2011
Thumbnail image for Yeahwon nominated for a Grammy

Nice to see Yeahwon Shin nominated for a Grammy for her 2010 self-titled jazz / latin album “Yeahwon” bit.ly/nVyCnL

Read the full article →

Concert notes: Scattered Rhythms

by Philip Gowman 3 May 2011
Thumbnail image for Concert notes: Scattered Rhythms

I’m not quite sure what I was expecting from the Jazz / Gugak collaboration involving Australian jazz drummer Simon Barker on 11 April 2011, but I certainly wasn’t expecting a long drum solo. Companions was probably the virtuoso highlight of the evening, a drum solo in which Simon Barker managed to convey the sounds of [...]

Read the full article →

German Jazz award for Nah Youn-sun

by Philip Gowman 16 April 2011
Thumbnail image for German Jazz award for Nah Youn-sun

Nice to see Nah Youn-sun getting more recognition: Best International Female Singer in German Echo Jazz Awards http://bit.ly/fXSiv2 #. “I’m surprised but thrilled,” she says.

Read the full article →

Scattering Rhythms: Korean Traditional Music and Jazz at the KCC

by Philip Gowman 26 March 2011
Thumbnail image for Scattering Rhythms: Korean Traditional Music and Jazz at the KCC

Keith Howard has returned to SOAS from Sydney and brings with him a fusion of jazz with sanjo. Sounds interesting: Scattering Rhythms: Korean Traditional Music and Jazz at the Korean Cultural Centre UK Monday 11 April 2011 at 19:00 ‘Scattering Rhythms: Korean traditional music and Jazz’ is the creative collaboration of Korean traditional music by [...]

Read the full article →

Gig review: Nah Youn Sun and Ulf Wakenius at Pizza Express Soho

by Philip Gowman 11 March 2011
Thumbnail image for Gig review: Nah Youn Sun and Ulf Wakenius at Pizza Express Soho

March 1st this year at Pizza Express Soho was Nah Youn Sun’s first headline gig in Central London. Her actual London debut was in the Vortex in Hackney in May 2009, and in March 2010 she supported the Swedish band Tonbrucket in a much bigger venue, the Queen Elizabeth Hall. LKL wondered whether Nah’s style [...]

Read the full article →

Nah Youn Sun at Pizza Express Jazz, Soho

by Philip Gowman 24 February 2011
Thumbnail image for Nah Youn Sun at Pizza Express Jazz, Soho

March the First, a big date in the Korean calendar. And for LKL, it’s a date we’ve had in our diary for a while: our favourite jazz singer, Nah Youn Sun, is at one of London’s premier jazz venues, Pizza Express Soho, along with guitarist Ulf Wakenius. Here’s a sample of a track from their [...]

Read the full article →

LKL Critics’ Choice 2010: Philip

by Philip Gowman 20 December 2010
Thumbnail image for LKL Critics’ Choice 2010: Philip

This is the year that Korean music has really started to appear on iTunes, making it a lot more accessible. It’s also a year which has seen a continued emphasis on girl bands, with the Wonder Girls keeping a foothold in the US and Girls Generation and Kara slugging it out in Japan. Some of [...]

Read the full article →

KoME interviews Nah Youn Sun

by Philip Gowman 13 December 2010
Thumbnail image for KoME interviews Nah Youn Sun

KoME had a chance to interview Nah Youn Sun after a performance at the Ramada Hotel in Aalen, Germany, on 6 November. http://is.gd/iRwV1 “I hope that the Metallica fans won’t kill me!” she says, of her Enter Sandman cover. It’s a nice write-up.

Read the full article →

CD review: Nah Youn Sun – Same Girl

by Philip Gowman 25 September 2010
Thumbnail image for CD review: Nah Youn Sun – Same Girl

Nah Youn Sun: Same Girl ACT, September 2010 Nah Youn Sun returns with her second Western album. Her first, Voyage, was LKL’s editor’s choice for album of the year 2008 and so this follow-up release comes hotly anticipated. It does not disappoint. The opening track of the album, My Favourite Things, is often one of [...]

Read the full article →

Winterplay launches UK album with civilised gigs

by Philip Gowman 20 September 2010
Thumbnail image for Winterplay launches UK album with civilised gigs

Last weekend saw Winterplay’s UK debut and launch of their first western album on Universal. Three gigs in two remarkably different settings. Their first performance was in the Cultural Centre on Friday 10 September. Demonstrating the remarkable flexibility of the space, the area next to the reception desk had been converted into a stage, with [...]

Read the full article →

Laid-back jazz from Winterplay at the KCC

by Philip Gowman 6 September 2010
Thumbnail image for Laid-back jazz from Winterplay at the KCC

I tweeted last Saturday (thanks to Anna at Indieful ROK) that Korean acid jazz / jazz-pop band Winterplay were coming to perform at the KCC as part of their trip to London for the Thames Festival. The news was broken by 10Asia, and now the details have been confirmed by the KCC. Winterplay’s agency is [...]

Read the full article →

Nah Youn Sun’s second European release: Same Girl

by Philip Gowman 31 August 2010
Thumbnail image for Nah Youn Sun’s second European release: Same Girl

Here at LKL we’re pretty excited about an upcoming CD release from our favourite female singer, Nah Youn Sun, on the ACT label. If you can’t wait for the European release, you can catch the Korean release at YesAsia. Same Girl Released 27th September 2010 At Youn Sun Nah’s 2009 debut in Munich’s Unterfahrt jazz [...]

Read the full article →

Concert review: The Rock and Jazz sides of Younee

by Philip Gowman 18 April 2010
Thumbnail image for Concert review: The Rock and Jazz sides of Younee

LKL reports from Younee’s two recent London gigs: The Rock Side of Younee a the 100 Club, 7 April; and Younee with Alex Hutton at the Steinway Piano Festival at Pizza Express Jazz Club in Soho, 17 April 2010. Younee is in London to show off the many sides to her musicianship. As a classically [...]

Read the full article →

Concert Review: Nah Youn Sun, Ulf Wakenius with Dan Berglund’s Tonbrucket, at the QEH

by Philip Gowman 17 March 2010
Thumbnail image for Concert Review: Nah Youn Sun, Ulf Wakenius with Dan Berglund’s Tonbrucket, at the QEH

Forty years ago, fellow Swede Bo Hansson released his album of music inspired by Lord of the Rings, and it was that style of composition that was brought to mind by the performance by Dan Berglund’s Tonbrucket at the QEH on Monday, though Berglund’s music has broader horizons and a more sombre colour palette. With [...]

Read the full article →

Nah Youn Sun wins new supporters in London

by Philip Gowman 17 March 2010
Thumbnail image for Nah Youn Sun wins new supporters in London

Nah Youn Sun was such a pleasure to interview – and the gig was rather good as well #. Deservedly, she gets rave review in the Financial Times http://bit.ly/aJYQoD #. LKL’s first review for LondonJazz is now posted. We’re now branching out into Swedish jazz (Dan Berglund’s Tonbruket), thanks to Nah Youn Sun, who opened [...]

Read the full article →

Younee and the British Invasion

by Philip Gowman 17 September 2009
Thumbnail image for Younee and the British Invasion

Younee, the versatile singer-songwriter-pianist from Korea, is in London to launch her new album and play the Pizza Express Jazz Club. She takes a break from her rehearsal schedule to talk to LKL about her musical influences. It was not a good start to the interview. I had selected the Wigmore Hall bar as a [...]

Read the full article →