Harmonious World

Happy fourth anniversary to Harmonious World - four years of chatting with musicians and connecting with listeners around the world. For this special episode, Lois Deloatch and I chatted online, but I'm hoping to head across to the United States to meet her and other musicians in person. It was a really inspirational conversation that covered her new album - Love Always - but also life, music...

I sat with pianist and composer Bill Laurance in his studio in South London to discuss his new album with The Untold Orchestra - Bloom . Out now on ACT Music , this is a fascinating work of this classically-trained and virtuoso member of Snarky Puppy . Bill's work combines quasi-classical composition, using the orchestra as a rhythm section in places, and his wonderful improvisation, and our...

I was joined by Greek lyre virtuoso Theodore Koumartzis , who not only plays and creates, but he's also knowledgeable on the music of Ancient Greece. He's the visionary behind the pioneering Museum of Ancient Music Instruments, Seikilo , in Thessaloniki. Theo is a creator and collaborator at heart and he has worked with many musicians around the world, including the marvellous Danae Xant...

Drummer Clark Tracey has a collaborative soul and he has brought his quintet to work with up and coming singer Emily Masser - he explains why in this conversation. Emily's talent as a singer is clear from the opening bars of Introducing Emily Masser , the new album from the Clark Tracey Quintet.  Clark explains how he first became aware of this new voice and how the album was conceived. Thank...

I was excited when I was granted an interview with Darius Brubeck but it rapidly became clear that there was so much more to talk about than his talented father, probably one of the most famous jazz musicians in the world. A new film,  coming to a screen near you soon, Playing the Changes - Tracking Darius Brubeck shows Dave Brubeck's eldest son as he transforms jazz education in South Africa...

For International Jazz Day 2024, I am joined in conversation by harpist Alina Bzezhinska . Her home is wherever she finds herself and she is inspirational in her jazz and in her attitude to life. Altera Vita is out now, and it's a wonderful album featuring Alina's harp with co-musical-conspirator Tony Kofi . Thank you to Alina for allowing me to share tracks from Altera Vita alongside ou...

The latest episode of Harmonious World takes me (virtually) to Croatia. Thanks to an introduction from previous guest William Susman , I chatted with Iva Ljubicic Lukic from the band Glazbene staze . The band's new album is Pierrot Project Op 1 and brings a real introduction to the rare pierrot ensemble. Please take some time to listen to this music from Croatia that crosses all bounds of gen...

It's all about the jazz festivals at the moment - so much great live music around. This week, I chat with Tobie Medland, who has curated the Gypsy Jazz Festival of London . There are some great acts announced for 6-12 May 2024. Thanks to Tobie for providing some excellent tracks to hear alongside our conversation, in case you're unsure what Gypsy jazz sounds like. Get in touch to let me...

If you like jazz, you should get along to Watford Jazz Festival , 12-19 May 2024. If you don't know much about jazz (yet), do the same. I had a chat with founder and festival director Chris Newstead, who ran through all the delights on offer this year, so if you can, you should pop along to see some of the great acts appearing in Watford. The Harmonious World theme tune you can hear at the st...

We start season 16 of Harmonious World with another in-person conversation, This one was with bassist Mark Wade , who first appeared on the podcast in 2020, at the height of the pandemic. It was great to chat with Mark in the wonderful setting of Benslow Music . Thank you to Mark for chatting with me before he started tutoring and performing across Europe, and for allowing me to share tracks from...

Welcome to season 16 of Harmonious World. I hope that 2024 is a happy and healthy year for you all so far. Some of my guests and listeners are in parts of the world where that probably seems impossible, and I really hope that we see some progress in seeing a return to sanity and kindness everywhere. For those of you who don’t know who I am, my name is Hilary Seabrook and I’m a writer, podcaster an...

Welcome to a special Easter episode of Harmonious World with sax player and Chaplain of Girton College , Cambridge, Tim Boniface . Although I set out to discuss Tim's latest composition - jazz suite Psalter: Themes for Peace - we also discussed his Christmas suite The Infant and The Eight Words , an Easter suite that you can hear extracts of alongside our conversation. Thank you to Tim for ch...

This is my second episode with Paul Edis ( the first is here ), and this time he's joined by sax player Vasilis Xenopoulos to discuss their forthcoming quartet album Feels Like Home . This album reminds me of the ethos behind Harmonious World itself, in that it's about all of us working to try to make the world a better place - no matter where we call home. I hope you enjoy our conversat...

Discussing jazz composition and performance with drummer Gustavo Cortinas proved so much of why I love recording episodes of Harmonious World. Gustavo is from Mexico City, living in Chicago and influenced by jazz and classical music from around the world. Live in Chicago is a stunning album that Gustavo describes as a snapshot of his musical journey. Thank you to Gustavo for spending time with me,...

This, the 200th episode of Harmonious World, is somewhat self-indulgent, as it features a conversation with Dan Jennings, broadcaster and host of the podcast Desperately Seeking Paul, who interviewed me back in lockdown. You'll hear in our conversation why it's self-indulgent and why it appears on the 40th anniversary of the release of The Style Council album Cafe Bleu . You can read the...

Welcome to my special International Women's Day 2024 episode, featuring a coffee-shop conversation with singer songwriter and radio presenter China Moses . China kindly allowed me to feature a couple of the tracks from her China Moses & The Vibe Tribe EP from 2021, which I hope give you a taste of her amazing vocal talents. Listen to her show on JazzFM to hear more of her own great taste...

For the latest episode of Harmonious World, I am joined by sax player, composer and educator David Bixler to discuss his latest album,  The Langston Hughes Project Volume 1 . As part of the conversation, David introduces the Langston Hughes poem Mother to Son , which is simply stunning and probably an inspiration for us all. Get in touch to let me know what you think! Thank you for listening to Ha...

My conversation with composer Didier Recloux was in a noisy coffee bar, but I hope you can hear our chat clearly - it was fascinating. Didier's latest album is Monsieur Linh and his Child and the first single - First Walk - is out today (28 February 2024). We also discuss Didier's links with Zeinab Badawi and her BBC World series The History of Africa Part 1 and 2, for which he composed...

It was a great pleasure to have a conversation with classical pianist Burkard Schliessmann : his album Live & Encores is out now. If you love classical solo piano, this is the album for you. If you haven't explored the music of Bach, Chopin, Mendelssohn and Schumann, then this is a fabulous starting point. Not only is this great music, performed brilliantly, the recording quality is outst...

I really enjoy these live chats and the background noise adds some atmosphere - this time it's a chat with sax player, composer and band leader Mark Lockheart in London's Barbican Centre. Mark's latest album - Smiling - is out on Edition Records at the end of March and you can hear a couple of tracks from it. Thanks to Mark for joining me in conversation and for sharing tracks from...

Pianist Jim Clayton has unleashed his vocals on the latest album Look Out!   and in this conversation he explains why. This conversation was a joy and - once again - I was reminded why I decided to start this podcast nearly four years ago - there's a sense of people like Jim in this episode simply sharing why they do what they do. And it helps us all understand music a little better. Thanks t...

Pianist and composer Joey Alexander has recently released his seventh album - Continuance - and he joined me to discuss it. We chatted just hours after he finished a five show run at New York's Birdland to officially launch the album. He's an interesting young man and a truly phenomenal pianist and composer. Thanks to Joey for joining me in conversation and for sharing tracks from Contin...

I met arranger, orchestrator and composer Jeff Atmajian at Abbey Road studios in November, while visiting past guests on the show Michael Shapiro and Danae Zanthe Vlasse. He kindly agreed to be interviewed by me in person, so we met in Islington when he was finishing a recording for the TV show 'Call the Midwife'. Jeff is intensely interesting and finding questions to ask him was a breez...

Pianist and composer David Lopato has interesting stories to tell together with his diverse, fascinating collection of tracks on Short Stories . Thanks to David for sparing time to join me in the conversation and discussing the tracks alongside our chat. Get in touch to let me know what you think! Thank you for listening to Harmonious World. Please rate, review and share: click on the link and sub...

This was a delightful conversation and I'm glad to be able to share it with you at the very start of 2024 and season 15 of Harmonious World. Singer Lucy-Anne Daniels is very much one to watch and I can highly recommend you search for a gig where you can hear her sing and watch her own the stage. Although it's a great honour for me to be able to interview some titans of music, I'm re...