MARCH 2025 ISSUE
A sneaky peek of just some of what is in the March 2025 issue – OUT NOW!
EBBA ÅSMAN
If, like me, you’re addicted to so-called scandi noir mystery-murder-thrillers – think The Bridge, Borgen, Bordertown, Deadwind, The Valhalla Murders and The Chestnut Man – then you’ll be familiar with glimpses of bodies in the snow, bodies under the ice, bodies in the forest and the lakes, possibly to the extent that you now think the people of Sweden, Denmark, and Norway spend most of their time not in their saunas just killing one another. Happily, this turns out not to be the case.
Twenty-six-year-old Ebba Åsman – it’s pronounced ‘Orsman’, by the way – has from the age of seven lived a much more productive and musical life, learning and becoming a virtuoso on the jazz trombone before, on her third and latest album, When You Know, also adding soulful vocalist to her list of achievements. There simply hasn’t been time to squeeze in even a bit of below-zero serial killing…
JOE ARMON-JONES
As the word democracy gains less democracy by the day in America, it is comforting to know that in the worldwide United States of Groove citizens still believe in democracy. Joe Armon-Jones sees Ezra Collective, the success story of British jazz – of which he is of course a member – as a place that is free of fools and kings. Or dictators and presidents.
“It’s a band with five members, and every single one of those five members’ opinions are included in the music,” says Armon-Jones. “So, there are certain situations where I’ll think of something, but then the other four members of the band are like, ‘No we don’t agree with that’. Well, that’s fine, that’s how it runs,… so, sort of inbetween all our gigs and recording sessions, I do my thing. I just end up using pretty much all of my time on music. It’s kind of like a total fulfilment thing.”
KAREEM BURRELL
It’s not easy following in the footsteps of a famous father, or “filling their shoes,” as some would say. It has to be daunting, and even more so if the parent in question died at a relatively young age. That’s what happened to Kareem Burrell, otherwise known as Reemus. He was left with an important musical legacy to administer whilst still grieving the loss of his father, Jamaican record producer Philip “Fatis” Burrell, who passed away suddenly in late 2011.
Just to recap, Fatis’ Xterminator label largely defined the island’s roots and culture movement throughout the nineties and early 2000s, thanks to classic songs by the likes of Luciano, Sizzla, Capleton, Beres Hammond and Cocoa Tea…
STONE FOUNDATION
Mr. Neil Jones, co-founder with Mr. Neil Sheasby of Stone Foundation, is widely reputed to be a sound and friendly fellow. In the interests of science and on behalf of all reading, I decided to put this allegation to the ultimate test by turning up for our interview – in a somewhat exclusive, media-biased Soho members club – wearing a Leeds United training top underneath my overcoat. Whatever would a staunch Manchester United fan such as Jones do once he sees fellow Leeds supporter Sheasby offer a grin and a bear-hug as greeting to this underhand member of the press corps? I’ll tell you what: he bursts out laughing and follows suit with an embrace of his own. Case proven and closed.
Of course, whilst being down-to-earth good guys is always desirable in any walk of life, it won’t by itself ensure that your band endures for over a quarter century unless you’re also taking care of business on the musical end too.