Recent cultural highlights

[Ahmed] play Monk, Dexys Midnight Runners release a new single and a chance to be part of something special

(Pat Thomas of أحمد [Ahmed] at Cafe OTO, London on 9 May. Photo: John Earls)

أحمد [Ahmed] play Monk

أحمد [Ahmed] are a band like no other. A four piece featuring Pat Thomas (piano), Antonin Gerbal (drums), Joel Grip (bass) and Seymour Wright (alto saxophone), they “make music about the music of the late musician Ahmed Abdul-Malik”. Their improvised pieces (not cover versions) are not ‘free jazz’ in that they work in the context of being influenced by, and paying respect to, the music. Often characterised by strong rhythm, repetition and accentuation, they are imaginative, captivating and unique.

Their latest album sees them take another turn. After six albums reshaping the work of Ahmed Abdul-Malik, Play Monk considers the material of Malik’s bandmate Thelonious Monk and consists of two hours of six amazing, gnarly re-imaginings of Monk tunes. It’s stirring stuff.

I saw them play a blistering set on 9 May at London’s Cafe OTO in a launch show for the album where they combined compellingly in a single piece improvisation. The show also launched the book Writing which collects a number of the [Ahmed] ‘paper’ texts from the last decade including liner-notes, covers of the releases (their artwork and use of photographs is wonderful) and writing by the band (including two fresh pieces by Gerbal and Grip). It provides another fascinating insight into this incomparable outfit.

• Play Monk by أحمد [Ahmed] is released by OTOROKU

• حمد [Ahmed] Writing is available from Cafe OTO

• أحمد [Ahmed] play a four-day residency at Cafe OTO on 9-12 December 2026

Kevin Rowland’s life in England Part 1

A new Dexys Midnight Runners single is always special, so I was excited to see the video for My Life In England Pt 1 from their forthcoming, and “possibly last ever”, album LOVE (to be released on 4 September 2026). It is also their first album under the Dexys Midnight Runners name since 1985’s Don’t Stand Me Down (subsequent releases went under the name Dexys). The songs on the album are said to be all drawn from Kevin Rowland’s life with their themes recognisable to those familiar with his memoir Bless Me Father which was published last year.

I instantly jumped on the line “for accents like mine, in Harrow they were few” in the song and the fleeting image of my local Harrow & Wealdstone train station in the video. You can read my review of Rowland’s memoir and our Harrow connection here.

Be part of something special about Danny Thompson

“It’s all music of the heart” says Danny Thompson in a fabulous trailer for a forthcoming documentary from Mono Media films about this remarkable musician. It includes a terrific snippet of him playing with John Martyn who was just one of the many and varied artists he shared his bass playing skills with. Danny died in September last year while the film was in production. To complete the film the makers need to pay for archive material (music, film footage and photographs) which will help tell the story more completely. This fabulous team have a proven track record (you can read about Pauline Boty: I am the Sixties here) and there is a crowdfunding page to help them finish the job. Please consider supporting this terrific project by making a donation here and spreading the word. You really could be part of something special.

Lucian Freud: Drawing into Painting

I’m so glad I managed to catch the Lucian Freud: Drawing into Painting exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery before it closed early this month. It had some pretty mixed reviews (Jonathan Jones was particularly scathing in The Guardian) but I was absolutely enthralled and fascinated following the whole creative evolution of the artist that is central to the whole exhibition.

(Lucian Freud, Portrait of a Young Man (1944))

Romería

I loved Romería, the latest film by Catalan director Carla Simón. It’s an enthralling account of an 18-year-old girl’s quest to discover more about her biological father who died of Aids and the reactions of his extended family, weaved with her Mum’s diary. Llúcia Garcia is excellent in the lead as Marina. It also features a great if somewhat disconcerting Spanish punk dance scene.

The Carice Singers remember Steve Martland

The Carice Singers gave a fabulous concert at London’s Kings Place on 14 May remembering and celebrating the English composer Steve Martland, who died in 2013 at the age of 58. The programme featured Martland’s Street Songs, Skywalk and two pieces from Sea Songs as well works by Steve Reich, Julia Wolfe and the premiere of a Luke Lewis’s Rent Songs. The occasional short audio clips of Marland being interviewed were poignant. Percussionist George Barton was excellent on xylophone.

(The Carice Singers with conductor George Parris (far right) and percussionist George Barton (next to him) at Kings Place. Photo: John Earls)

Abstract Alchemies

I also saw some quite amazing stage percussion by Beibei Wang who provided the musical accompaniment for the premiere of Quantum Souls, the last piece in choreographer Wayne McGregor’s Alchemies at the Royal Ballet. Playing a huge assortment of drums, gongs, marimba and more besides, she was as captivating as the dancers around her. The other pieces, Untitled, 2023 (orchestral score by Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir) and Yugen (set to Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms) completed a fascinating triple bill of very different abstract dance pieces.

(William Bracewell and Melissa Hamilton in Quantum Souls with Beibei Wang in background. Photo: Andrej Uspenski)

And finally…

I was delighted to have my recent picture of the ceiling at the recently refurbished Upstairs at Ronnie Scott’s selected in a recent Guardian gallery of readers’ best photographs. You can see the full edition of that particular gallery here.

(Look up! The ceiling of the recently refurbished “Upstairs at Ronnie’s” jazz club in Soho. Photo: John Earls)