Makes practice perfect

The Yamaha Silent Brass™ system is available for Cornet, Piccolo Trumpet,

Trumpet, Flugelhorn, Trombone, Bass Trombone, Alto Trombone, French Horn, Euphonium and Tuba.

On the road or at home, Yamaha’s revolutionary Silent Brass™ system lets you practice wherever and whenever you want.

The lightweight, active muting system is hardly noticeable in use, and with the newly-designed,

pocket-sized Personal Studio, you can mix in audio accompaniments from CD and MP3 players. Built-in digital effects allow reverb to be added to re-create the ambience of a live performance

through headphones.

For perfection in practice, the new Yamaha Silent Brass™ system is unrivalled.

Visit us at yamaha-music.co.uk to hear more. Or maybe less. Contents April2009 Page 26

Jazzwise Regulars 4-8 News Complete Cheltenham line-up… farewell to Ian Carr… Bath unveils line-up… Led Bib return with new album… and all the latest gossip from the world of jazz 10 View from the Tower All the track listing info and background to this month’s covermount CD from Babel records 14 The Way It Is Jazz is marginalised in the media, says Stuart Nicholson. It wasn’t always so. 16 European festival guide All you need to know for this year’s Eurojazz festivals 20-21 Taking off Drummer John Randall and singer Andrew Plummer are the latest names to drop down the pub 28 Turning Point Saxophonist Stan Sulzmann on the album that changed his life 38-52 CD reviews 54 Books and DVDs 56 The Player Roy Babbington on his favourite instruments and instrument reviews 58-59 Live reviews 60-62 Gig guide 64 Subscriptions Save money and grab a free Harmonia Mundi jazz CD 66 Letters Write in, have your say

www.jazzwisemagazine.com

22Andy Sheppard The long awaited ECM debut as a leader by saxophonist Andy Sheppard surfaces at last. He’s assembled a top-notch international quintet for the outing featuring bass legend Arild Andersen and cutting edge Norwegian guitarist Eivind Aarset with intriguing, melodic results 26Branford Marsalis Ten years on the Branford Marsalis quartet is one of the key bands on the international scene. Branford talks to Stuart Nicholson in one of his most forthright interviews to date 30Zed-U Daniel Spicer introduces the band everyone is talking about on the London scene as Zed-U prepares for the release of its debut album

32Bill Bruford The influential jazz and rock drummer has just announced his retirement from active playing. Andy Robson is curious 36Liam Noble A homage to Dave Brubeck from progressive pianist Liam Noble