British jazz is arguably enjoying its most vigorous bout of health since the 1980s, when Courtney Pine's Jazz Warriors, the hard bop of Tommy Chase and the club-led acid jazz movement held sway. Since the turn of the century a remarkable new generation of musicians has taken up residence, picking and mixing influences and styles from as broad a range as hip-hop, metal, dance, electronica, classic, world music, rock and pop. The resulting experience is rather like careering through a record store with all the category labels removed.
It's to this effervescent scene - largely centred on London - that the third instalment of Dubai's Jazz Garden festival turns its attention later this month. Over the next week, audiences will find London's thriving live scene transported to the Gulf, with the Neil Cowley trio, Get the Blessing, Soweto Kinch, British-Asian clarinettist Arun Ghosh with his album debut, Northern Namaste, and top-rank singers Ian Shaw and Cleveland Watkiss demonstrating what British jazz is and can be in the 21st century.
Though record labels have found their fortunes falling through the floor with the rise of the mp3 and file-sharing, live music - the original crucible where great jazz has always been heated and transformed into something new - once again dominates the agenda. Ronnie Scott's remains at the centre of Soho's live club scene - and will be hosting a Ronnie Scott's jam session on Wednesday night - while the likes of north London's Vortex, Chelsea's 606 Club and Soho's Pizza Express host a range of music, spanning ear-bending free improvisation to singers steeped in the Great American Songbook.
Both Cowley and Kinch are bringing trios to the Jazz Garden, an ensemble format that is a staple of the contemporary scene. For many its template is drawn no longer from the classic American jazz of the 1940s, 1950s or 1960s, but from Sweden's mighty EST, who weren't afraid to employ arena-style lighting, rock dynamics and heavy electronics in their performances.
Even young American stars such as Blue Note artist Christian Scott sound like they have been listening more to EST and the European scene than anything in New York. Likewise, it is from Europe, and the rock, urban and electronica subcultures of the past few decades, that the new British jazz draws much of its inspiration.
Get the Blessing formed in Bristol in 2000, and comprise Portishead rhythm section Clive Deamer and bassist Jim Barr, with the overpowering brass attack of Pete Judge on trumpet and Jake McMurchie on sax. They fuse the powerful dynamics of rock with the tiered subtleties of jazz. Their latest album, Bugs in Amber, kicks off with a siren and a brass riff that sounds like it's ripping the air in two.
While Cowley and Get the Blessing deliver deeply contrasting styles of instrumental music, saxophonist Kinch's latest album, The New Emancipation, takes on wage slavery, recession, bonus bonanzas and the increasingly narrow vents of escape in 21st-century culture, and combines sharp, intelligent rap with enthralling alto sax playing. Kinch's multilayered musical mosaics are driven by a strong sense of historical context built into its architecture.
"I do feel part of a movement," he says of his own journey into the music, "exploring and appropriating the tradition and finding what's relevant about being British or being black or urban, and telling that story today."
Live with his trio and a rack of loops and effects, he promises freestyle invention and audience engagement to make every performance unique. "I love to freestyle a lot and play it by ear," he says. "Every show's organic, but what will run through it is the message - economic emancipation, political awareness and personal freedom."
Alongside what Cowley calls "this exuberant, youthful new wave of contemporary instrumental music", the dramatic return of vocals is represented in the Garden by Cleveland Watkiss and Ian Shaw, both at the front rank of a distinctive generation of singers winning major awards and devoted audiences.
"I saw Ian Shaw at the BBC Jazz awards a few years ago," says Cowley, "and I found him to be stunning. All you need is people who are passionate about what they do and Ian is certainly that. He'll be great. It'll be a surprise to some people that a Britisher can convey that much emotion."
Squads
Sri Lanka Tharanga (c), Mathews, Dickwella (wk), Gunathilaka, Mendis, Kapugedera, Siriwardana, Pushpakumara, Dananjaya, Sandakan, Perera, Hasaranga, Malinga, Chameera, Fernando.
India Kohli (c), Dhawan, Rohit, Rahul, Pandey, Rahane, Jadhav, Dhoni (wk), Pandya, Axar, Kuldeep, Chahal, Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar, Thakur.
Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
Wonka
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TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
Top goalscorers in Europe
34 goals - Robert Lewandowski (68 points)
34 - Ciro Immobile (68)
31 - Cristiano Ronaldo (62)
28 - Timo Werner (56)
25 - Lionel Messi (50)
*29 - Erling Haaland (50)
23 - Romelu Lukaku (46)
23 - Jamie Vardy (46)
*NOTE: Haaland's goals for Salzburg count for 1.5 points per goal. Goals for Dortmund count for two points per goal.
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The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
On sale: Now
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How does ToTok work?
The calling app is available to download on Google Play and Apple App Store
To successfully install ToTok, users are asked to enter their phone number and then create a nickname.
The app then gives users the option add their existing phone contacts, allowing them to immediately contact people also using the application by video or voice call or via message.
Users can also invite other contacts to download ToTok to allow them to make contact through the app.
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Top financial tips for graduates
Araminta Robertson, of the Financially Mint blog, shares her financial advice for university leavers:
1. Build digital or technical skills: After graduation, people can find it extremely hard to find jobs. From programming to digital marketing, your early twenties are for building skills. Future employers will want people with tech skills.
2. Side hustle: At 16, I lived in a village and started teaching online, as well as doing work as a virtual assistant and marketer. There are six skills you can use online: translation; teaching; programming; digital marketing; design and writing. If you master two, you’ll always be able to make money.
3. Networking: Knowing how to make connections is extremely useful. Use LinkedIn to find people who have the job you want, connect and ask to meet for coffee. Ask how they did it and if they know anyone who can help you. I secured quite a few clients this way.
4. Pay yourself first: The minute you receive any income, put about 15 per cent aside into a savings account you won’t touch, to go towards your emergency fund or to start investing. I do 20 per cent. It helped me start saving immediately.
What is graphene?
Graphene is extracted from graphite and is made up of pure carbon.
It is 200 times more resistant than steel and five times lighter than aluminum.
It conducts electricity better than any other material at room temperature.
It is thought that graphene could boost the useful life of batteries by 10 per cent.
Graphene can also detect cancer cells in the early stages of the disease.
The material was first discovered when Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov were 'playing' with graphite at the University of Manchester in 2004.
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SPECS
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DMZ facts
- The DMZ was created as a buffer after the 1950-53 Korean War.
- It runs 248 kilometers across the Korean Peninsula and is 4km wide.
- The zone is jointly overseen by the US-led United Nations Command and North Korea.
- It is littered with an estimated 2 million mines, tank traps, razor wire fences and guard posts.
- Donald Trump and Kim Jong-Un met at a building in Panmunjom, where an armistice was signed to stop the Korean War.
- Panmunjom is 52km north of the Korean capital Seoul and 147km south of Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital.
- Former US president Bill Clinton visited Panmunjom in 1993, while Ronald Reagan visited the DMZ in 1983, George W. Bush in 2002 and Barack Obama visited a nearby military camp in 2012.
- Mr Trump planned to visit in November 2017, but heavy fog that prevented his helicopter from landing.
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TEST SQUADS
Bangladesh: Mushfiqur Rahim (captain), Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Imrul Kayes, Liton Das, Shakib Al Hasan, Mominul Haque, Nasir Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Mehedi Hasan, Shafiul Islam, Taijul Islam, Mustafizur Rahman and Taskin Ahmed.
Australia: Steve Smith (captain), David Warner, Ashton Agar, Hilton Cartwright, Pat Cummins, Peter Handscomb, Matthew Wade, Josh Hazlewood, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Matt Renshaw, Mitchell Swepson and Jackson Bird.
Hales' batting career
Tests 11; Runs 573; 100s 0; 50s 5; Avg 27.38; Best 94
ODIs 58; Runs 1,957; 100s 5; 50s 11; Avg 36.24; Best 171
T20s 52; Runs 1,456; 100s 1; 50s 7; Avg 31.65; Best 116 not out
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