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EFG London Jazz Festival 2013, Part Three.

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by Ian Mann

December 07, 2013

Ian Mann on the final two days of the 2013 EFG London Jazz Festival including performances by Troykestra, John Hollenbeck, Claudia Quintet, Dan Messore, Archie Shepp, Pigfoot and Tim Whitehead.

SATURDAY 23rd NOVEMBER


CHRIS BATCHELOR’S PIGFOOT


Saturday afternoon at the Clore Ballroom was given over to a special edition of Jez Nelson’s Jazz In The Round, an event that normally takes place on a monthly basis at the Cockpit Theatre in Marlylebone. This LJF edition featured four acts, Chris Batchelor’s Pigfoot, Carleen Anderson, Claudia Quintet and the Kenny Wheeler Quintet. The edition of Jazz On 3 due to be broadcast at 11.00 pm on Monday 9th December 2014 will be given over to this event and will feature music from all four acts.

I shall be listening to the radio programme but on the day I could only catch the first set which featured trumpeter Chris Batchelor’s new band Pigfoot. It’s a quartet that takes classic early jazz tunes from pioneers such as Louis Armstrong , Earl Hines, Fats Waller and others and casts fresh light upon them in a contemporary context. On his website Batchelor refers to this hybrid as “acid trad”, interestingly I’d already scribbled down the words “punk trad” in my notebook before referencing Batchelor’s site. Joining the former (and soon to be again) Loose Tubes trumpeter were four of the UK’s most respected jazz musicians, pianist Liam Noble, tuba player Oren Marshall and drummer/percussionist Paul Clarvis.

Batchelor’s brand of updated New Orleans began with Kid Ory’s “Muskrat Ramble” which Batchelor had retitled “Muskrat Crumble”, a good metaphor for the quartet’s artful deconstruction with intelligent solos from all four protagonists. Not that there was anything po faced about Pigfoot’s music, this was good rumbustious fun with the band maintaining a genuine affection for their source material despite the liberties they were taking with it. It’s an approach similar to that taken by the iconoclastic New York based band Mostly Other People Do The Killing who have subverted the music of several jazz eras ( including the 1920’s on their latest offering “Red Hot”).
Pigfoot are perhaps less knowingly irreverent than MOPDTK but I was reminded of the similarities nevertheless.
As if by way of illustration Pigfoot’s arrangement of “Basin Street Blues” featured Noble’s interior piano scrapings , Batchelor’s exaggerated vocalised trumpet squalls and a series of drum barrages from Clarvis that were reminiscent of MOPDTK’s Kevin Shea. Added to this were Marshall’s parping and rasping tuba and a Noble solo piano feature that saw him living up to the title “Professor” in every sense of the word. My note book also reveals the scribbled phrase “post modern trad” at this point.

Armstrong’s “!3th Street Rag” included tuba vocalisations from the extraordinary Marshall and deliberately accentuated ragged piano from Noble . All good subversive fun, but the quartet’s version of Duke Ellington’s “Mood Indigo” included moments of genuine pathos.

Batchelor described Fats Waller’s “Jitterbug Waltz” as “the first jazz waltz” and shoehorned a little Wilson Pickett into the coda following excellent solos from all four band members.

The closing St. Louis Blues began with a typically astonishing Marshall tuba feature and also included parting salvos from Noble and Batchelor. Rowdy but intelligent this was a great way to start the afternoon and I’ll be interested to hear this set again when it’s transmitted to the nation.


TROYKESTRA

At this point I transferred to the Purcell Room to witness a ticketed performance by Troykestra, the project that brings together the three members of Troyka with the Royal Academy of Music Big Band to play large scale arrangements of exclusively Troyka material. I was at Troykestra’s gig at the 2013 Cheltenham Jazz Festival, a triumphant performance that has been documented on a recently released live album on the Impossible Ark record label. The Cheltenham show was later transmitted by the BBC on Jez Nelson’s Jazz on 3 programme and sounded just as good second time around. I’m pleased that the band have been able to licence the tapes from the Beeb to produce a permanent record of that memorable performance, it really was that good.

Having enjoyed the Troykestra at Cheltenham experience so much I just knew that I had to see the band again and once more they didn’t disappoint. Based around the musicianship and writing of Troyka’s Chris Montague (guitars), Kit Downes (keyboards) and Josh Blackmore (drums) and conducted by the RAM’s Head of Jazz Nick Smart Troykestra is a veritable juggernaut, one that puts considerable flesh on the bones of Troyka’s compositions and transforms the trio’s music into something unique. The mix of rock rhythms, electronica and large ensemble textures is truly innovative and to tell the truth I prefer listening to Troykestra rather than the core trio. Having said that Troyka’s second album “Moxxy” was a clear progression from their eponymous d?but suggesting that there’s still plenty of potential for further development within the confines of the core threesome.

Today’s set followed a similar pattern to the Cheltenham show opening with Montague’s “Rarebit”, which began in trio format before exploding into life through a complex but rousing big band arrangement. As I commented at the time of the Cheltenham performance the RAM Big Band are a vital and integral part of the Troykestra sound, their contribution sounds thoroughly organic and natural and far more than just an “add on”.

The first item was essentially an ensemble piece but on Montague’s “Dropsy” the personalities of a variety of soloists began to emerge. Although the triumvirate of Montague, Downes and Montague remained at the core of the music a variety of horn players were given their head, this piece featuring solos from alto saxophonist Mike Chillingworth and trumpeter Reuben Fowler alongside Downes’ keyboards and Montague’s turbo charged guitar. 

Montague’s “Noonian Soon”, the title a Star Trek reference, featured a spacey keyboard/trumpet (Freddie Gavita) intro, intriguing contrapuntal interplay between guitar and drums and solos from James Allsopp on tenor sax, Mike Chillingworth on squalling alto in dialogue with Downes’ sci fi style keyboards, and finally Ralph Wilde on vibes cresting an underlying rock back-beat. Exhilarating stuff.

Montague and Downes shared both announcing duties and compositional credits. Downes’ “The General” again began with the keyboard/trumpet opening gambit before Montague’s guitar took over for a virtuoso display including slide guitar techniques and an arsenal of pedal generated effects prior to a final Blackmore drum flourish.

The drummer joined the composer’s ranks with “Zebra”, a rousing 6/8 chart incorporating the inventive use of rock rhythms and dynamic contrasts, the spirit of Loose Tubes was definitely stalking the room with Downes’ keyboards at the heart of the music as he fulfilled the Django Bates role. However it was Montague who emerged as the principal soloist with a powerful statement drawing on both rock and blues.

Also by Blackmore “Coley” gave greater opportunity for the horn players of the RAM to display their abilities with solos from Gavita on trumpet, Nadim Teimoori on alto, Kieran Stickle McLeod on trombone and Sam Miles on tenor sax alongside Downes at the keyboards, these mainly on organ/synth settings.

Downes moved to the Purcell’s acoustic piano for Montague’s atmospheric “Chaplin”, duetting with the composer on the intro before the introduction of Blackmore’s almost subliminal mallet rumbles and Sam Rapley’s woody bass clarinet.

Finally came “One Forty/Game Show” a joint Montague/Downes composition with James Allsopp on tenor the featured soloist. 

Once again Troyka had delivered in spades, their music consistently thrilling but also packed with rich rhythmic and harmonic subtleties. Inspired soloing, particularly by core members Montague and Downes combined with imaginative and innovative arrangements resulted in something very special. This is a “one off” project (the Troykestra alliance was initially convened at the Pizza Express to celebrate Jazzwise Magazine’s fifteenth anniversary) that has developed “legs” and a life of its own. The new live album is a terrific listen and it is to be hoped that Troykestra will continue to develop alongside the core trio. Live appearances are likely to be restricted to major festivals but each is destined to be a major “event”.

For the record today’s line up was;   

Chris Montague Guitar
Kit Downes Keys
Joshua Blackmore Drums
Nick Smart Director
Reuben Fowler Trumpet
Freddie Gavita Trumpet
Noel Langley Trumpet
Imogen Hancock Trumpet
Kieran Stickle Mcleod Trombone
Patrick Hayes Trombone
Tom Green Trombone
Courtney Brown Bass trombone
Mike Chillingworth Alto
Nadim Teimoori Alto
Sam Miles Tenor
James Allsop Tenor
Sam Rapley Bass clarinet, baritone sax
Louis Van Der Westhuizen Bass
Ralph Wyld Vibes
 

TIM WHITEHEAD QUARTET : TURNER AND THE THAMES

Following the Troykestra gig it was time for something to eat, a necessary procedure that led to me missing the conclusion of the Jazz In The Round event. Still at least I can experience the music on the airwaves.

I did manage to catch the last knockings of a performance in the Clore Ballroom by reeds player Tim Whitehead and his regular quartet featuring pianist Jonathan Gee, bassist Oli Hayhurst and drummer Winston Clifford, a very classy British line up. They were performing music written for Whitehead’s “Turner and the Thames” series, compositions inspired by the paintings and working methods of the artist J M W Turner.

Whitehead’s fascination with Turner’s work saw him becoming an Artist in Residence at the Tate Gallery and produced the 2011 album “Colour Beginnings”, a critically acclaimed work inspired by Turner’s art and featuring solo saxophone sketches alongside more fully realised quartet pieces featuring Liam Noble on piano.

The writing for the new project focusses specifically on Turner’s work depicting London scenes and on the evidence of what I managed to catch this evening a second Turner album should be well worth hearing. I only caught the conclusion of one piece which featured Whitehead on bass clarinet and included a brilliant solo from pianist Gee.

The final number of a set I very much wish I’d heard more of saw Whitehead switching to soprano sax for a lively piece entitled “Old Billingsgate” with highly accomplished solos coming from Whitehead, Hayhurst and Gee. Depictions of Turner’s works and other visuals were projected onto a screen behind the musicians but due to my late arrival I couldn’t see these too clearly. Nevertheless the music was terrific even if I never did get the chance to hear Whitehead play his trademark tenor sax.

Hopefully Whitehead will deliver a second Turner inspired album and will also get the opportunity to take this music out on tour. This was a tantalising but enjoyable glimpse of Whitehead’s latest work.     


JOHN HOLLENBECK with CLAUDIA QUINTET and the ROYAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC BIG BAND

Saturday evening at the Purcell Room was given over to the music of New York based drummer, composer and educator John Hollenbeck. Hollenbeck’s main creative outlets are the long running and prolific Claudia Quintet and his more occasional Large Ensemble with both projects featuring some of New York’s leading creative musicians.

I’ve been fortunate enough to see Claudia Quintet on a couple of occasions, “discovering” them at the 2007 Cheltenham Jazz Festival and catching up with them again in 2010 at the Harmonic Festival in Birmingham. Both performances were outstanding and I’ve also enjoyed exploring the band’s recorded output on Cuneiform Records.     

The music of Hollenbeck’s Large Ensemble is equally intriguing and consistently inventive. Economically it wouldn’t be viable to fly the whole ensemble to London for a festival appearance so instead Hollenbeck turned to the young musicians of the Royal Academy of Music Big Band to bring his large scale works to life. Also an acclaimed educator Hollenbeck was a visiting professor at the Academy during 2013 and had spent two days rehearsing and woodshedding with his young colleagues just prior to tonight’s performance which saw Hollenbeck and the RAMBB playing the first half on the concert.

The first set began with Hollenbeck directing the RAMBB with JJ Wheeler at the drum stool. The opening piece was “Guarana”, drawn from the Large Ensemble album “Eternal Interlude” (2009). This was a Brazilian flavoured tune named after a Brazilian herb with Viagra like properties (or so Hollenbeck informed us) and was inspired by a trip made by the Claudia Quintet to that country. The influence of Hermeto Pascoal could be heard on the music with Ralph Wyld’s vibes a distinctive element and with Oliver Martin on trombone the featured soloist.

Hollenbeck has had a long running creative partnership with the American avant vocalist Theo Bleckmann. Bleckmann’s role was filled here by young singer and multi-instrumentalist Jacob Collier, the subject of the “Taking Off” feature in the December 2013 edition of Jazzwise Magazine.
Hollennbeck’s recent output has placed a greater emphasis on the role of the human voice with Bleckmann’s vocals an increasingly important component in Hollenbeck’s recordings. The recent “Songs I Like A Lot” recorded with vocalists Bleckmann and Kate McGarry plus the Frankfurt Radio Big Band” puts Hollenbeck’s unique stamp on an eclectic range of material that includes Jimmy Webb’s “Wichita Lineman”. For this Hollenbeck moved to the drum kit with a suited Nick Smart taking over the conductor’s role. Collier made a good job of filling Bleckmann’s shoes with guitarist Rob Luft also making a significant contribution.

Hollenbeck remained at the kit for the rest of the set, beginning with his arrangement of Thelonious Monk’s “Four In One”, a deconstruction that Hollenbeck has re-branded as “Foreign One” and which also appears on “Eternal Interlude”. Embracing startling dynamic contrasts and hard driving rhythms the piece featured a rousing tenor solo from Sam Rapley, one of several band members who had also lined up with Troykestra earlier in the day.

“Constant Conversation” featured both non verbal vocalising and spoken word passages alongside avant jazz passages featuring bowed bass and Hollenbeck’s cymbal scrapes. The drummer/composer has an abiding love of contemporary classical music as well as jazz and this is often reflected in his writing.

“Abstinence”, which originally appeared on the 2005 Large Ensemble album “A Blessing” is a piece that Hollenbeck has returned to often. “It’s really about abstinence and the about the absence of abstinence” explained Hollenbeck, and basically it’s a second line tune cloaked in contemporary and avant garde trappings. With rousing ensemble passages including soaring wordless vocals, FX laden guitar and plenty of instrument swappage between the reeds this was actually great fun and it was easy to see why this piece has become something of a favourite in the Hollenbeck repertoire.

An intriguing first half ended with Hollenbeck’s adaptations of Kraftwerk’s “The Model” which included dramatic contrapuntal horn arrangements and the use of electric keyboards by pianist Nathan Morson. And should anybody be in any doubt Hollenbeck reminded us that it was his show with a closing drum feature.

This was an interesting first half with the RAMBB acquitting themselves well on some very challenging material. For the record the full line up was;

Composer/drums; John Hollenbeck

Conductor; Nick Smart

Vocals; Jacob Collier

Reeds; Alex Hitchcock, Matthew Sulzmann, Greg Barker, Ronan Perrett, Sam Rapley

Trumpets; Louis Dowdeswell, James Copus, Ben Rodney, Dan Walton

Trombones; Owen Dawson, Oliver Martin, Quinn Parker, Courtney Brown

Piano/keyboards; Nathan Morson

Guitar; Rob Luft

Vibes/percussion; Ralph Wylde

Bass; Fergus Ireland, Misha Mullov-Abbado

Drums; JJ Wheeler


The second half of the concert featured Hollenbeck at the helm of his most acclaimed and most prolific outlet Claudia Quintet. Formed in 2001 the personnel includes original members Chris Speed (tenor sax, clarinet), Matt Moran (vibraphone) and Drew Gress (double bass ) plus newcomer Red Wierenga on accordion who replaced original member Ted Reichman in 2011.

This combination of instruments is almost unique in jazz and driven by Hollenbeck’s artistic vision the group’s music is richly textured and rhythmically complex, full of ingeniously interlocking melodic, harmonic and rhythmic patterns that draw on jazz and folk forms plus the influences of contemporary classical composers, particularly minimalists such as Philip Glass and Steve Reich.

The distinctive but continuously developing Claudia sound has been documented across a series of excellent albums, most of them recorded for the Cuneiform label. Their latest offering is the recently released “September”, from which the majority of tonight’s material was sourced, a semi conceptual affair named for the time of year when Hollenbeck does most of his composing.

Of course it’s a loaded title, the name of the month forever associated with the events of 9/11/2001 (or 11/09 as we Brits would have put it). Indeed tonight’s opener “Coping Song” was written at that time, a response to the horrific events of that never to be forgotten day. Hollenbeck himself was safely ensconced in the Adirondack Mountains at the time but there can’t be an American, or any other citizen of a western democracy for that matter, who hasn’t in some way not been touched emotionally by what happened. The song itself was full of the other worldly beauty that so often distinguishes the Claudia sound.

Each tune on the album has a date as well as a title. September 9th is represented by “Wayne Phases”, Hollenbeck’s tribute to Wayne Shorter. This was a good example of the tightly knit, finely meshed ensemble playing that is so representative of the group’s work. Claudia don’t do “jazz” solos as such but pass the baton around in more organic fashion. Nevertheless there were strong showings here from Wierenga on accordion, a worthy successor to the excellent Reichman, Moran on vibes, who attacked the bars with a surprising level of intensity, and finally Speed on tenor whose playing also became more impassioned as his solo progressed.

“Somber Blanket (25th September)” was more reflective in tone with Wierenga on accordion and Speed on clarinet exchanging melody and counter melody above a bed of gently shifting polyrhythms.

“Interval Dig (24th September)” began with an extended solo feature from the excellent Gress, the backbone of this quintet and of so many other adventurous jazz ensembles. Moran’s dazzling vibes solo upped the pace with Wierenga on accordion and Speed on tenor making similarly spirited contributions before Gress stepped into limelight once more. This was Claudia at their most exuberant and joyous.

Hollenbeck’s continued fascination with the human voice was expressed in this context by the use of samples of a Franklin D Roosevelt’s “New Deal” speech of 24th September 1936. Subtitled “Let Me Warn You” Roosevelt’s repeated phrases were a constant throughout the piece, mantra like incantations that meshed effectively with the quintet’s playing, Speed providing the only instrumental solo on tenor. Reviewing the piece for Jazz Journal Simon Adams compared the piece with Steve Reich’s “It’s Gonna Rain”, a perceptive insight as to just where Hollenbeck was coming from here.

The vocal theme carried over into the following “The Rapidity Of Silences” sourced from the previous Claudia album “What Is The Beautiful?” recorded with vocalists Theo Bleckmann and Kurt Elling. Inspired by the words of American poet Kenneth Patchen the piece saw Hollenbeck move to the piano for a piece of atmospheric and ethereal chamber jazz that began with a solo piano introduction and weaved the ghostly whisperings of Speed and Moran into the fabric of a tune that featured the gentle accordion drones of Wierenga alongside Speed’s clarinet. This was a highly effective exploration of the interface between sound, space and silence.

The group returned to the new album for “Lemons (September 18th)”,  which Hollenbeck dedicated to pianist Jason Moran. This was a hugely successful set closer with its hypnotic bass and drum grooves fuelling solos from Wierenga, Moran and Speed. The vibraphonist made use of extended vibes techniques including the use of bows on the bars as the tune adopted a freer structure in mid tune. Moran has been a considerable influence on young contemporary vibes players such as the UK’s Jim Hart and the American was at his most exploratory and adventurous here. When Gress picked up the groove again it was Speed’s turn to shine with an increasingly impassioned tenor solo.

For the deserved encore Hollenbeck chose to calm things down again by moving to the piano for “Flock”, an effective aural depiction of the behaviour of a flock of geese featuring Gress on grainy arco bass and with Speed making appropriately goose like noises on his clarinet. The addition of vibes and accordion took the music into area where the focus was on beauty rather than humour and the final result was a delightful minimalist miniature that perhaps drew its genesis from Messiaen and his use of birdsong as a source of inspiration.

On leaving the stage Hollenbeck thanked the RAM Big Band again as well as acknowledging the skills of his Claudia Quintet colleagues. Listening back to recordings by both Claudia Quintet and the Large Ensemble again post event it’s even more clear what a distinctive compositional personality Hollenbeck is as he mixes genres with skill and daring. A true musical visionary. 


SUNDAY 24th NOVEMBER 2014


DAN MESSORE’S VIEW FROM THE TOWER

Sunday lunchtime saw us taking our hosts out for a meal, a sincere thank you for allowing us to stay with them for a week. With other family members living in the capital also joining us it turned into a very enjoyable reunion.

Not that it stopped me from getting my jazz fix. I couldn’t make it down to the Southbank for LJF’s 21st Birthday celebrations but I did manage to make my annual pilgrimage to the Vortex. No visit to London would be complete without a visit to one of my favourite venues and so a brisk post lunch walk transported me to a performance co-ordinated by guitarist Dan Messore.

Messore is a graduate of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff but is now based in London. View From The Tower is the name given to the regular Sunday afternoon sessions curated by Messore at the Vortex, the generic name presumably coming from his links with the Babel label who released his acclaimed album “Indigo Kid” featuring saxophonist Iain Ballamy in 2012 and a second album “Talk On The Step” by his other band, Lacuna, in 2013. Label owner Ollie Weindling was present at today’s performance, a celebration of the work of British jazz composers by a septet led by Messore and featuring Joe Wright (tenor sax), Freddie Gavita (trumpet & flugel), Gareth Lockrane (flutes & piccolo), Elliot Galvin (piano), Tom Farmer (double bass) and Gethin Jones (drums).

The walk from Angel took slightly longer than I’d anticipated and I arrived in the middle of the first number, an arrangement of the Huw Warren tune “Sheep” (from Warren’s Babel album “Hundreds Of Things A Boy Can Make”) with Lockrane’s flute and piccolo giving the piece a township jazz feel. I also caught solos by Galvin on piano and Gavita on trumpet plus a closing drum feature from the consistently impressive Gethin Jones.

“Shortcomings” from the Lacuna album represented Messore’s tribute to Wayne Shorter and featured the composer’s guitar alongside Wright’s tenor sax with Jones’ drums wrapping up procedures once again.

Julian Arguelles “Bath Time” (from Julian’s splendid 1997 octet release “Skull View, on Babel, natch) featured the atmospheric sounds of Lockrane’s flute blending delightfully with trumpet and tenor above Jones’ brushed grooves. Solos came from piano, flute and trumpet as the musicians stretched out on Arguelles’ mellifluous theme.

Next up was “Nowhere To Go”, a tune written by Messore’s Lacuna bandmate trumpeter Steve Waterman. The tune comes from the repertoire of Heads South, the Latin based band led by pianist John Harriman with whom Waterman also plays. In today’s version Jones’ Latin rhythms provided the spring board for solos from Wright on tenor, Lockrane on flute and Messore on guitar with the drummer rounding things off once more.

Guitarist Phil Robson’s “Eskaton” was my favourite piece of the afternoon. The tune is drawn from the ranks of the Partisans’ repertoire, the jazz/rock powerhouse that Robson co-leads with reeds man Julian Siegel. From the third Partisans album “Max” (Babel, of course) this really hit the spot in an arrangement featuring some excellent exchanges between the horns and solos from Gavita on trumpet, Lockrane on flute and Wright on tenor sax.

It was perhaps inevitable that the writing of Messore’s mentor Iain Ballamy would be featured. Ballamy’s tune “Hermetology” was in turn a homage to Hermeto Pascoal, a quirky ballad drawn from the repertoire of Ballamy’s Anorak group that included features for Messore on guitar, Lockrane on flute and Empirical member Tom Farmer on double bass.

The programme concluded with Messore’s own “Bioluminescence” from the “Indigo Kid” album, introduced by Farmer at the bass and featuring Lockrane on alto flute on a strong ensemble piece with true hymnal/anthemic qualities.

The Vortex wasn’t as crowded as I’ve sometimes seen it but a laid back Sunday afternoon crowd still responded to an enjoyable set by these talented young British musicians. The choice of material honoured some of the most respected figures in UK jazz and also acted as a good advertisement for the quality of Messore’s own composing skills. Compared to some of the other events at LJF this was a relatively low key affair but no less enjoyable for that. For me a trip to the Vortex is always a pleasure.

Finally, thanks to Dan for running through the set list with me after the show. One likes to get one’s facts right. 


ARCHIE SHEPP: ATTICA BLUES ORCHESTRA

I’ll level with you all here, this gig wasn’t my first choice for the final evening of the festival. My preferred option was for the Carla Bley Trio at Wigmore Hall, particularly in the light of Carla’s splendid new album for ECM simply entitled “Trios”. The Bley show was the first festival event to sell out and was already fully subscribed before I even applied for press tickets.

With this avenue closed off I opted to see another jazz legend, the veteran saxophonist and band leader Archie Shepp. Straight off I’ll admit that I know rather less about Shepp than about Bley but I have heard some of his 1960’s output including “Fire Music”, the album title that gave its name to a whole sub genre of uncompromising, politically aware music forged in the crucible of the Civil Rights movement. A powerful tenor saxophonist Shepp also plays piano and sings and as well as being a redoubtable musician and composer he is also a published playwright, a true renaissance man, if you will. At seventy six Shepp is playing as well as ever as recent collaborations with the German pianist Joachim Kuhn have shown.

Tonight’s performance was a celebration of Shepp’s 1972 album “Attica Blues”, his response to the prison riots that took place in September the previous year at the Attica Correctional Facility in New York State. The saxophonist was fronting his Attica Blues Orchestra, an aggregation of musicians and vocalists from both sides of the Atlantic. Shepp now lives in France and the line up included many of that country’s finest jazz musicians, among them trumpeter Stephane Belmondo and saxophonists Fran?ois Theberge and Raphael Imbert. The American contingent included singer/pianist Amina Claudine Myers, bassist Reggie Washington and Art Ensemble Of Chicago drummer/percussionist Famoudou Don Moye. The Orchestra has recently updated the Attica Blues legacy on the live album “I Hear The Sound” .

The Orchestra played a single uninterrupted set but the evening began with the light dimmed and with a tape of Shepp’s disembodied voice intoning his invocation from the original “Attica Blues” album, thought provoking musings delivered with dignity and gravitas that encouraged shouts of approval from some members of the audience. Updating the message Shepp concluded that nothing much has changed and that the struggle continues. It was an effective introduction, utterly absorbing and both stirring and moving in pretty much equal measure. 

From my point of a view the ensuing music didn’t quite live up to the promise suggested by the dramatic intro. The Orchestra’s music has been described as a “collision” between various black music art forms and we heard elements of jazz, soul, gospel, blues, funk and more during the course of this two hour, thirteen number show. For me it was just too much of a smorgasbord, a kind of review that attempted to blend together too many styles, the personality of the players and arguably even Shepp himself often lost in the sheer density of it all. Maybe it’s just me, other reviewers seemed to think it was terrific and revelled in its joyousness but I felt that the whole was rather less than the sum of the parts and that the political message was ultimately diluted by the style of the presentation. In this regard it rather reminded me of the show by Jerry Dammers Spatial AKA Orchestra at the same venue in 2011.

That’s not to say that there wasn’t plenty to enjoy with Shepp situated centre stage and subtly directing the proceedings. The music began with “Quiet Dawn”, a song written by the late Cal Massey (who played flugel on the original “Attica Blues”) and which featured the big soul voice of Marion Rampal and rousing instrumental solos by Shepp on tenor and Jean Phillipe Scali on baritone.

“Arms” blended elements of gospel,soul and blues and featured the distinctive and emotive voice and piano of Amina Claudine Myers alongside Shepp’s tenor and the guitar of Pierre Durand.

An impassioned “Blues For Brother George Jackson” deployed all three of the Orchestra’s vocalists with Rampal and Myers joined by Denise King. Stylistically the music also encompassed jazz and blues with solos by Theberge on tenor, Durand on guitar and Michael Ballue on trombone.
     
Shepp wrote the song “The Stars Are In Your Eyes” for the voice of Sarah Vaughan. It was sung here by Denise King and was a convincing evocation of the softer side of Shepp, with the leader’s tenor solo a beguiling mix of the tough and the tender.

Cal Massey’s “The Cry Of My People” was an extended feature for trumpeter Stephane Belmondo, his playing an expressive tour de force. We also heard from Shepp on tenor and Tom McClung at the piano.

“Steam” was Shepp’s tribute to his late nephew, the victim of a gangland killing in Philadelphia. The song featured Shepp’s vocalising, he’s a convincing blues style vocalist whose singing here was bolstered by the harmonies of Denise King. We also heard something of Shepp on soprano sax.

Shepp’s version of Duke Ellington’s “Come Sunday” was adapted from an arrangement of the tune for the Count Basie Orchestra. It was a fine showcase for Shepp’s ballad playing, his tenor enveloped in rich horn voicings and with the saxophonist also handling the vocals alongside Rampal and King.

Next came an excellent version of “Goodbye Sweet Pops”, Massey’s tribute to Louis Armstrong with Shepp featuring on soprano alongside solos from Belmondo on trumpet, Sebastien Llado on trombone and McClung at the piano.

“Ujaama”, the title derived from a Swahili word, was Shepp’s dedication to his daughter. This superb instrumental featured fluent and fiery solos from Shepp on tenor and Imbert on alto, the latter taking time off from his MD and conducting duties to deliver an impassioned solo. Other significant contributions came from trumpeter Romain Morello and pianist Durand.

Shepp’s ballad “Deja Vu” was arranged by Theberge and featured the leader’s warmly soulful tenor alongside the voice of Rampal.

A joyous version of Shepp’s perennial blues “Mama Too Tight” saw the band encouraging the audience to clap along with Shepp’s tenor, now rasping and garrulous, leading off the solos.  There were also features for trombone, alto sax (Olivier Chaussade) and trumpet (Olivier Miconi)with Shepp also adding his vocals to the piece.

Myers returned to the piano to sing “Ballad For A Child”, a song sung by Carl Hall on the original “Attica Blues” album. Myers made it her own with low key but effective backing from Washington, Durand and Moye plus the subtle texturings of the string quartet hidden among the ranks of an enormous band.

Finally came “Attica Blues” itself, taking its cue from Washington’s funky electric bass intro and subsequent groove, the sweeping big band arrangement like the soundtrack of a blaxploitation movie and featuring solos by Llado on muted,vocalised trombone, Miconi on trumpet and Shepp on tenor (he also sang along with the other three vocalists) plus a closing drum salvo from the consistently impressive Moye. The audience were on their feet and were clearly loving it but there was to be no encore, probably fair enough after an intense and lengthy two hour show.

Shepp took his bows, his living legend status assured and I appeared to be in a very small minority in feeling somehow disappointed with it all. The sound didn’t help, the orchestra was enormous and the sound must have been difficult to mix but it was nonetheless rather muddy with little distinction between the instruments. Sebastain Scotney made the same point when writing about the show for London Jazz News but following the events at the ACS concert the previous Sunday, when only three musicians were involved, perhaps I shouldn’t have been too surprised. Also I couldn’t help feeling that Shepp was rather over egging the pudding. He’s always enjoyed writing for and working with large ensembles but this was perhaps too big, string quartet et al. It has to be said that the large ensembles augmenting Troyka and Hollenbeck the previous day at the South Bank actually sounded much better, certainly clearer at any rate. So for me the Shepp show was all a bit of a curate’s egg, but one that ended LJF 2013 on an appropriately celebratory note.

For the record the Attica Blues Orchestra lined up;

Tenor & soprano sax and vocals ? Archie Shepp

Vocals and piano ? Amina Claudine Myers

Vocals ? Marion Rampal, Denise King

Piano ? Tom McClung

Trumpets ? Stephane Belmondo, Izidor Leitinger, Quentin Ghomari, Olivier Miconi

Trombones ? Sebastien Llado, Michael Ballue, Simon Sieger, Romain Morello

Reeds ? Fran?ois Theberge, Virgile Lefebvre, Raphael Imbert, Olivier Chaussade, Jean Phillippe Scali

Acoustic & electric bass ? Reggie Washington

Drums ? Famadou Don Moye

Guitar ? Pierre Durand

Cello ? Louise Rosbach

Viola ? Antoine Carlier

Violins ? Steve Duong, Manon Tenoudji


FESTIVAL OVERVIEW

Once again the London Jazz Festival offered a fantastic musical experience with music ranging across the whole spectrum of jazz. The range of venues was as varied as the music ensuring that there was literally something for everybody in terms of musical style and type of venue. For those on a budget the music on the comprehensive free programme was frequently of the highest quality.

The organisation was exemplary almost throughout and the Festival remains a highlight of London’s cultural calendar with excellent attendances at virtually all of the events. This was my fourth “full on” visit to LJF and November has now become a month to look forward to. To a jazz fanatic like myself it’s Christmas come a month early. Well done to all concerned. 
 

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