The Tories introduced the 50% strike ballot threshold to make industrial action harder. MATT WRACK argues that a Labour government has no justification for leaving it on the statute book
Terence Blanchard and the E Collective
Breathless
(Blue Note)
THE century-long and continuing campaign of jazz against racism has its most recent recorded expression in the new album by the seasoned New Orleans trumpeter (born 1962) Terence Blanchard, called simply and evocatively, Breathless.
Blanchard is a veteran of composing film scores, such as those of Spike Lee and the biopic of Malcolm X, but he has also recorded music that is a pungent criticism of official policy towards those whose lives were shattered in his home city by Hurricane Katrina.
CHRIS SEARLE urges you to listen to two new albums by the US Indian pianist VIJAY IYER
CHRIS SEARLE recommends a work of love and deep admiration for a great musician
CHRIS SEARLE recommends a new album featuring Pat Thomas and Ahmed, and marvels at the tempestuous power of a live performance
TONY BURKE revels in the publication of previously unreleased tracks by the great US folksinger


