🇫🇷 “Jim Funnell’s Word Out mixe tradition et modernité dans un néo-bop mélodieux et enjoué.”
🇬🇧/🇺🇸 “Jim Funnell’s Word Out’s melodious and playful neo-bop blends tradition with modernity.”
Bob Hatteau, Jazz à bâbord
Tomek’s Ear Condition 598 – 2022.12.23, complete playlist:
1. THE SOUND THAT ENDS CREATION – Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer — Merry Christmas You Filthy Animal DL
2. ADAM NEELY – God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen 17TET — Christmas Microtonal Lo-Fi Hip Hop DL
3. JIM FUNNELL’S WORD OUT – Bitcorn Soup (Alternate) — Bitcorn Soup DL
4. JIM FUNNELL’S WORD OUT – Lesser Vice — Lesser Vice DL
5. BJÖRK – Atopos — Fossora 2LP
6. MASS OF AMARA – Army Of Me — Army Of Me DL
7. VOIVOD – Ultraman — Ultraman EP
8. SIGH – Heresy I: Oblivium — Heir To Despair DL
9. ANCHOR AND BURDEN – Cerebral Transfixation — Kosmonautik Pilgrimage DL
10. PANZERBALLETT – Let It Snow — X-Mas Death Jazz 2LP
11. MICHAEL JEFRY STEVENS – Email — The Slope DL
12. ร็อกคงคย (ROCK KONG KOI) – รักมีพิษ (Rak Mi Pit) — เสียวโว๊ย (Sieow Woi) MC
🇺🇸/🇬🇧 “Word Out … takes its name from Rainer Maria Rilke’s observation that “most experiences are unsayable.” Even so, it’s a heck of a lot of fun when they can be played instead.”
🇫🇷 “Word Out … tire son nom de l’observation de Rainer Maria Rilke selon laquelle “la plupart des expériences sont inexprimables”. Néanmoins, quelle joie de pouvoir les entendre jouées à la place !”
Geno Thackara, All About Jazz
The track “Oleleko” from AfuriKo’s album Tao was featured on SoundCellar 2013, a Spotify playlist put together by the South West England venue for their 10-year anniversary. SoundCellar is “a haven for fans of non mainstream music in the atmospheric setting of the Blue Boar cellar bar in Poole, Dorset.” The playlist highlights bands and artists that have visited the venue during the year 2013.
Tracks from two AfuriKo concerts (both recorded in early 2020) were featured on The Jazz Hole Live with Linus, a show offering live sets by different artists each month and aired on BTRtoday.
Jazz a la Calle is an international cultural movement that culminates in a festival held each year in Mercedes, Uruguay, and boasts artists from all over South America and beyond.
Jazz At The Lescar is a weekly jazz night in Sheffield, England, ran by Jez Matthews and his team (Jazz Promoter of the Year in the 2018 Parliamentary Jazz Awards).
BTRtoday‘s mission is to inform and impact their audience in a positive way by identifying artists and cultural trends on the rise and contextualizing them alongside those that may be more established.
The Jazz Hole, hosted by sought-after New York City clarinetist and saxophonist Linus Wyrsch, presents the music of new talents from inside and outside of the New York circuit, and every once in a while, Linus is able to sneak in a major jazz artist, sometimes accompanied with a short interview (John Clayton, Lew Tabackin, Fred Hersch, Sue Mingus, Steve Gadd, Jojo Mayer, Gerald Clayton, Javon Jackson, the President of Resonance Records George Klabin, Sofia Rei, Sharel Cassity, Mark Sherman, Harvie S, Jean-Michel Pilc, Dafnis Prieto, Randy Johnston, Helen Sung, Gregorio Uribe and many others).
(For access to all BTRtoday shows that feature AfuriKo, click here to view AfuriKo’s artist page on their website.)
Six tracks from Jim Funnell’s Word Out latest album Spirit of the Snail (2015) were aired on Radio Robert on April 30, 2020. The Parisian station, created during the COVID-19 pandemic and operated by the team at 59 Rivoli (a venue known for its exhibitions, performances, and artists-in-residence programs) notably offers playlists and podcasts. Their daily jazz show “Jazz non scientifiquement prouvé, la playlist du Pr Raoult” airs at 7PM GMT+2.
Six tracks from AfuriKo’s latest album Tao (2019) were aired on Radio Robert on April 27, 2020. The Parisian station, created during the COVID-19 pandemic and operated by the team at 59 Rivoli (a venue known for its exhibitions, performances, and artists-in-residence programs) notably offers playlists and podcasts. Their daily jazz show “Jazz non scientifiquement prouvé, la playlist du Pr Raoult” airs at 7PM GMT+2.
One of the four public radio stations (and the youngest one) belonging to Radiodifusión Nacional del Uruguay, Babel broadcasts instrumental music 24/7 in the whole country (97.1 FM in Montevideo and 100.9 FM in Maldonado) and worldwide through its website. Focusing on jazz, fusion, and world music, its motto is “Quality music to drop prejudice.”
During the festival held in Mercedes in January 2020, their program “Jazz a la Calle especiales” covered the live shows with music and artist interviews. AfuriKo was featured on 14 January 2020, alongside two Argentinian bands: Ingrid and the Córdoba Jazz Orchestra.
The arrangement of Tom Bahler’s hit song “She’s Out of My Life” that Jim Funnell contributed on saxophonist Philippe Lopes de Sa‘s debut album Woandering has been featured in a monthly playlist curated by the editorial board at Jazz Magazine, France’s foremost publication entirely dedicated to jazz.
2017-07
Philippe Lopes de Sa / Jim Funnell
She’s Out of My Life
“Not only are the eleven original compositions by this saxophone and piano duo remarkable, but this arrangement of Michael Jackson’s hyper-emotional ballad (“Off the Wall”, 1979) will not possibly leave you indifferent.”
Where? “Woandering” (philippe-lopes-de-sa.com / cdbaby.com)
Review (in French) of Jim Funnell’s Word Out’s second studio album Spirit of the Snail on jazz critic Guillaume Lagrée’s blog Le jars jase jazz (also available on paperblog.fr).
Jim Funnell’s Word Out
“Spirit of the Snail”
Produced by Jim Funnell
Released on Tuesday, 22 September 2015
CD release concert at the Sunside in Paris at 7.30pm on Tuesday, 22 September 2015.
Jim Funnell: piano and compositions
Oliver Degabriele: acoustic bass
Thibault Perriard: drums
Isabelle Oliver: harp
“Dear cosmopolitan and xenophile readers,
As you know, the EU motto is “United in diversity.” As far as politics are concerned, it remains to be proved. On the subject of music however, British pianist Jim Funnell, Maltese bassist Oliver Degabriele, and French drummer Thibault Perriard illustrate it perfectly every time they play together. I have already praised their music in concert and in the studio. On this album, the triad is augmented with the presence of harpist Isabelle Olivier. She is nor a feminine alibi for a masculine trio, neither a classical one for a jazz trio. Her harp sounds like the kora of a Mandinka master.”
“[ Jim Funnell’s ] music is the singular result of a thorough reflection on rhythms, sounds, and colors.”
“Whether you want to stimulate your ears, your brain, or get your limbs in motion, enter the Spirit of the Snail with Jim Funnell and his band!”
– Guillaume Lagrée
