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EFG London Jazz Festival 2015, first Sunday, 15/11/2015.

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by Ian Mann

November 26, 2015

Ian Mann on the third day of the Festival including performances by Mimika Orchestra, Helen Sung Quartet and the Marcin Wasilewski Trio with guest saxophonist Joakim Milder.

Photo montage of Marcin Wasilewski and Helen Sung sourced from the EFG London Jazz Festival website http://www.efglondonjazzfestival.org.uk


EFG London Jazz Festival 2015, first Sunday, 15/11/2015.


MIMIKA ORCHESTRA, SPICE OF LIFE, SOHO.

Mimika Orchestra is the brainchild of the Croatian born composer Mak Murtic, now based in London. The personnel includes some of London’s leading young jazz musicians, some of whom were to materialise at other gigs later in the week.

Murtic directs and writes the majority of the material for the band, music that is heavily influenced by the Afro-futurist jazz of Sun Ra as well as by the Slavic folk music tradition. Albums such as “From Scratch To Structure” (2012) and “A Place Glowing A Brilliant Red” (2015) are conceptual affairs which Murtic has described as “sonic dramas”, the latter being a satire about a Martian civilisation in economic decline. Murtic has also collaborated with the Croatian Radio Television Jazz Orchestra on the album “Antarctica And Other Destinations” (2015).

Today’s programme included selected items from “A Place…” plus excerpts from the Orchestra’s current ongoing project “Divinities of the Earth and the Waters” which draws its inspiration from South Slavic folk traditions and the writings of the Russian futurist poet Khlebnikov and his epic poem “Zangezi” which envisions the languages of the Gods, Birds and Humans fusing to form a kind of global onomatopoeia.

There were also two pieces written by other members of the ensemble, saxophonist Seb Silas and trumpeter Andy Hall, in commemoration of former band member David Turay (saxophone) who died at the tragically young age of nineteen in 2014, a little over a year before today’s performance.

Murtic’s visions were given voice by singer Maja Rivic, a captivating performer with a powerful and flexible vocal style and a strong stage presence. The second set also included contributions from guest vocalists Sylvia Schmidt and Aliksandr Ilyukevich, but more on that later.

For the record the band lined up;

Mak Murtic – director

Maja Rivic, Sylvia Schmidt, Aliksandr Ilyukevich – vocals

Andrew Linham (clarinet), Guido Spannochi (alto sax, flute), Rob Milne (tenor sax, bass clarinet, flute), John MacNaughton (alto sax, clarinet), Nubya Garcia (tenor sax), Seb Silas (baritone sax)

Andy Hall, Sam Warner (trumpet & flugelhorn)

Rosie Turton, Hannah Dilkes (trombone)

Tom Kelly (tuba)

Leon Rosten (piano, electric guitar)

James Benzies (six string electric bass)

Oberon King (drums)

Paul Love (percussion)

Tile Gichgi Lipere (live electronics)

Daniel Woodfield (non playing joint musical director)

With twenty one band members and a large and supportive audience the basement bar of the Spice of Life was absolutely rammed, no doubt to the delight of Paul Pace who introduced the band before handing over to Murtic who said a few words of introduction with a particular emphasis on the memory of David Turay.

The first set began with a sequence of pieces from the “A place..” album with the charismatic Rivic acting as both narrator and singer, sometimes assisted by the massed voices of her fellow band members. Audibly influenced by Sun Ra the music included rousing big band passages punctuated along the way by excellent individual solos from MacNaughton (clarinet), Garcia (tenor sax) and Spannochi (alto sax) Turton (trombone) and Milne (bass clarinet).

This was highly theatrical music with spoken word passages linking the individual movements, curiously the spoken episodes evoked memories for me of Hawkwind’s “Sonic Attack” from way back when. The “songs” in this sequence were “Here Is Everywhere”, “Fractal Forests”, “A Place Glowing A Brilliant Red” and the bitingly satirical and laugh out loud funny “The World of Steady Supply”.

The next section of the concert featured the premiers of the two tributes to David Turay. Silas’ “Turay” featured a freely structured horn chorale exclusively for the band’s saxophonists and eventually merged into Hall’s more formal song “The Sun In The Night” with Rivic singing the composer’s words and with Rosten adding a lyrical piano solo. The piece concluded by returning to a more avant garde position as MacNaughton blew solo alto saxophone above the rumble of Rosten’s interior piano scrapings. In view of the sickening events in Paris at the start of the weekend Murtic also dedicated these two pieces to the memory of the victims of terrorism.

Set one concluded with “Sick Rose”, another composition by Hall that featured a highly theatrical performance from Rivic that deployed a series of extended avant garde vocal techniques. Instrumental solos came from Garcia on tenor sax, Linham on clarinet and Warner on flugelhorn.

The second set began with the première of Murtic’s “Divinities of the Earth and the Waters” and featured the three vocalists playing with the concept of language before Benzies’ electric bass groove took over paving the way for solos from Rosten on piano and Warner on trumpet. The singers then returned for a further series of vocal exchanges before MacNaughton delivered a barnstorming alto sax solo towards the conclusion of the piece.

Sylvia Schmidt took over the lead vocals for “Panteon”, one of a series of tunes influenced by South Slavic ritual music, the others being “Zorya’s Possession” and Enter the Yardhe”. This being a suite the tunes segued into each other and it was difficult to delineate exactly where one piece ended another began. Along the way we witnessed a totally bonkers vocal performance from Ilyukevich whose crazed rantings, sometimes doctored by Lipere’s real time electronics, were reminiscent of a Slavonic Captain Beefheart.

Meanwhile Benzies’ electric bass grooves kept things bubbling as the singers encouraged the audience to clap along with some pretty tricky complicated Balkan rhythms. Along the way we heard solos from Love on percussion (including musical saw!), Milne on bass clarinet and Rosten on guitar. Schmidt’s already high pitched vocals were taken to another level by Lipere’s electronic enhancements. For all the wackiness and avant garde trappings this was great fun and bodes well for future performances, and hopefully documentation on disc.

The deserved encore was “The Earthlings”, the final movement of the “A Place…” album with Rivic again fronting the band and with Benzies’ grooves fuelling a memorable solo from clarinettist Andrew Linham who was due to return to the Spice in the evening leading his own large ensemble the Andrew Linham Jazz Orchestra performing new compositions under the generic title “The Theme Music of Anarchic Animals”.

Although not totally convinced by some of the concepts behind the music I still enjoyed this performance from the Mimika Orchestra. Rivic was a compelling focal point and the ensemble playing and individual instrumental solos were of a commendably high standard. I acquired a copy of “A Place…” at the gig and have to say that the both the music and the overall concept stand up very well in the home listening environment. I gather that the band sometimes wear costumes for their performances, although they were pretty much in mufti today, but “A Place..” still works on record even without any form of visual stimulus.

All in all an interesting and entertaining, if decidedly oddball, beginning to the second day of the Festival.

MISHA MULLOV-ABBADO QUINTET, BARBICAN FREESTAGE

My next ticketed event was in the evening at Milton Court so during the interim I made my way over to the Barbican hoping to witness some of the music being performed on the venue’s Freestage. I was particularly keen to catch something of the 4.00 pm set by the young bassist and composer Misha Mullov-Abbado whose highly promising début album “New Ansonia” was recently reviewed on The Jazzmann.

As it was I managed to catch around the last twenty minutes of the performance by a quintet featuring album personnel Matthew Herd (alto sax), Tom Green (trombone) and Scott Chapman (drums) with Liam Dunachie coming in on piano in place of the ridiculously in demand Jacob Collier.

Dunachie acquitted himself very well on the three numbers that I managed to catch, the new tunes “Wallace and Gromit’s Day Out” and “Shantyville” plus the title track from “New Ansonia”.

“W & G” was surprisingly hard hitting bop with a sense of humour while “Shantyville” was more reflective, both offering good examples of the breadth of Mullov-Abbado’s compositional range.  “New Ansonia” added a guest percussionist whose name I didn’t catch and included excellent solos from Dunachie at the piano and Mullov-Abbado himself on big toned but dexterous and flexible double bass. Elsewhere Herd and Green had provided punchy solos of their own and the whole performance seemed much more dynamic than the album. The audience were certainly well impressed and gave the group a terrific reception. Mullov-Abbado was certainly a busy boy after the gig as he sold and signed albums and chatted to fans. Freestage gigs may seem low profile but bands get to play to large audiences and a strong performance such as this can do much to enhance an artist’s career. This gig was something of a triumph for the young bassist and composer and his band.

LAURENT COULONDRE TRIO, BARBICAN FREESTAGE

Following Mullov-Abbado on the Freestage was the French pianist and composer Laurent Coulondre and his trio. Coulondre has supported such rock and jazz luminaries as Sting, Marcus Miller, Avishai Cohen, Chucho Valdes and Dee Dee Bridgewater and appeared here with what I assumed to be his regular working trio featuring bassist Jeremy Bruyere and drummer Pierre-Alain Tocanier.

The threesome were playing music from their latest album “Schizophrenia”, released in September 2015. It could be argued that the title was highly appropriate as the trio delivered a set that borrowed from various jazz genres and featured Coulondre on multiple keyboards (grand piano, organ, synthesiser) while Bruyere played both acoustic and electric bass.

Tune titles were not always easy to decipher but I believe that the first piece was “Sunny Road Trip”, an energetic opener that featured the fusion style sounds of electric keyboards and electric bass and culminated in a drum solo from Tocanier.

The second number was performed acoustically with Coulondre displaying a lyrical touch on the piano as Bruyere moved to double bass. This was followed by a piece that saw Coulondre soloing on both organ and acoustic piano while Tocanier was again featured at the drums.

I was able to pick up the titles of the last two tunes beginning with the appropriately energetic “Bouncing Peanuts” which featured Coulondre on both piano and synthesiser while including a feature for Bruyere on acoustic bass.

The trio closed their set with the title track from “Schizophrenia”, a heavy organ driven piece that also included features for electric bass and drums. Stylistically it reminded me of Medeski, Martin and Wood and the energy of the piece ensured that it was well received by the large crowd surrounding the Freestage.

While there was much to enjoy about this set I still wasn’t totally convinced. Coulondre’s constant switching of keyboards was unsettling and this was busy “butterfly” music that never seemed to settle in one place long enough for me to get a handle on it. Like the 70s prog and fusion that Coulondre clearly loves there seemed to be a lot of technique but a lack of real feeling or substance.
Overall the effect was a little frustrating and I couldn’t help wishing that the time slots allocated to Coulondre and Mullov-Abbado had been reversed.


THEO CROKER, BARBICAN FREESTAGE

The main house at the Barbican had been due to stage a concert by the legendary New Orleans musician Allen Toussaint and his band. However the sudden and tragic death of Toussaint just a few days earlier on November 9th following his show in Madrid engendered an inevitable cancellation.

Toussaint had been due to be supported by the dynamic young American trumpeter Theo Croker and his band. It was decided that Croker should still get to play to a London audience and he closed out the programme on the Freestage.

Croker is the grandson of the late, great trumpeter Doc Cheatham and has also worked with singer Dee Dee Bridgewater’s band. Born to parents who were active in the Civil Rights movement Croker brings a very contemporary, politically informed approach to his music allied to a formidable technical ability.

His hard hitting quintet featuring Anthony Ware (tenor sax), Sullivan Fortner (keyboards), Eric Wheeler (electric bass) and Kassa Overall (drums)  hit the ground running with “The Right Time” and the infectious deep groove of “Dark Funk”.

Unfortunately I was only able to catch the first two numbers from the Croker band as I was due at my next ticketed event just down the road at Milton Court. However what I saw convinced me that this was an artist worth watching. Croker’s phenomenal ‘chops’ combined with a sense of showmanship and a streetwise, politically savvy attitude suggested that he is a musician whose star will continue to rise as he accrues a strong following. I know of at least one fan who chose to forego the support act at Milton Court and stick with Croker declaring that the young trumpeter’s performance had been ‘brilliant’. Keep an eye open for Theo Croker. 

HELEN SUNG QUARTET / MARCIN WASILEWSKI TRIO with JOAKIM MILDER, MILTON COURT

Tonight was my first visit to Milton Court, the newly built performance venue constructed for the Guildhall School of Music and administered by the Barbican. I was very impressed with this stylish, modern, purpose built, six hundred seater concert venue. With raked seating the sight lines were excellent and the acoustics superb, it was a space perfectly suited to this performance by the Polish trio led by pianist and composer Marcin Wasilewski and their guest, Swedish saxophonist Joakim Milder.

First however we enjoyed something of a bonus. The Texan born pianist and composer Helen Sung was something of a late addition to the programme and she delivered an excellent support set accompanied by a stellar American band featuring bassist Josh Ginsburg, alto saxophonist Logan Richardson and drummer E.J. Strickland, the latter once a member of saxophonist Ravi Coltrane’s band.

Sung studied classical piano before coming relatively late to jazz but she seems to have quickly made up for any lost time by studying with such giants of the music as Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Wayne Shorter. Much of the music played tonight was sourced from her latest album “Anthem For A New Day” released in 2014 on Concord Records.

The quartet began with the title track from the album which developed from an atmospheric introduction featuring Richardson’s breathy alto sax, Ginsburg’s bowed bass and Strickland’s mallet rumbles and cymbal shimmers. However the tune soon changed piece, becoming more urgent and vibrant and featured some razor sharp ensemble playing plus an incisive alto solo from Richardson. The recorded version features Sung on Fender Rhodes so tonight’s performance with the leader on acoustic piano was significantly different.

“Brother Thelonious”, the opening track on the album not only doffs its hat to Monk but is also the name of a beer brewed in honour of the pianist by the North Coast Brewing Co. of Fort Bragg, California. Some of the proceeds from the sale of the beer and associated merchandise are donated to the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz where Sung studied under the tutelage of Ron Carter.
The tune itself proved to be a rousing piece of Monk inspired hard bop with Sung delivering a particularly dazzling solo alongside features for Richardson and Ginsburg.

Sung’s composition “Hope Springs Eternally” was written in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and was tonight dedicated to the victims of the events in Paris on the night of November 13th 2015. Following a lyrical solo piano intro the uplifting theme inspired solos from Sung, Richardson and Ginsburg.

Sung and Ginsburg performed Chick Corea’s “Armando’s Rhumba” as a duo with Sung introducing a series of classical flourishes that hinted at her musical past as Ginsburg deployed both pizzicato and arco techniques on his bass. Corea may be an obvious influence for Sung but she confessed that she was first turned on to jazz by witnessing a live performance by Harry Connick Jr. in Austin Texas.

Richardson and Strickland returned to the stage for a segue of a Wayne Shorter tune (missed the title, sorry) and Percy Mayfield’s “Please Send Me Someone To Love”. The sequence began with a dialogue between Sung on piano and Richardson on delicate, almost flute like alto. Richardson subsequently dropped out leaving the group in piano trio mode with Sung’s playing displaying a subtle blues influence as she soloed to the accompaniment of double bass and brushed drums.

The Sung original “Into The Unknown” closed this impressive support set, the tune’s muscular hard bop stylings fuelling excellent solos from Richardson and Sung (including a passage of unaccompanied piano) plus a final drum feature from the excellent Strickland.

Every festival throws up an unexpected discovery and for me this year it was Helen Sung. I have to confess that I’d not encountered this lady or her music before. However I can now confirm that “Anthem For A New Day” is an excellent album that features a stellar line up including saxophonist Seamus Blake, trumpeter Ingrid Jensen and bassist Reuben Rogers. A visit to Sung’s website reveals that she has released a number of other albums over the years, all of them featuring some of America’s leading contemporary jazz musicians. As she chatted to fans and signed albums after the show she seemed to be a genuinely charming person too.

As good as Sung’s group was the Marcin Wasilewski Trio took the art of piano jazz to another level. Originally known as Simple Acoustic Trio the axis of Wasilewski (piano), Slawomir Kurkiewicz (double bass) and Michal Miskiewicz (drums) have been playing together for over twenty years.

They came to wider public attention when they appeared on a trio of albums by the Polish trumpeter and composer Tomasz Stanko (“Soul Of Things”, “Suspended Night” and “Lontano”), all of them released on ECM.  Under the name Marcin Wasilewski Trio they have also released a series of ECM albums of their own including “Trio” (2004), “January” (2007) and “Faithful” (2011), all of them excellent. More recently they have released “Spark Of Life” (ECM, 2014), a recording featuring the saxophone of tonight’s guest Swedish saxophonist Joakim Milder, a musician they met when all were working with Tomasz Stanko on a live performance of the trumpeter’s “Litania” project.

The rapport between the three Polish musicians, who have all been playing together since their teens is instinctive and highly developed, they almost seem to function as a single organism. Yet Milder seemed to fit perfectly into their world and there were moments tonight when I was reminded of pianist Keith Jarrett’s great ‘European Quartet’ featuring saxophonist Jan Garbarek, bassist Palle Danielsson and drummer Jon Christensen, a comparison encouraged by Milder’s vaguely Garbarek like tone on pieces such as Wasilewski’s folk tinged opener “Sudovian Dance”. However the Swedish saxophonist still found plenty to say on his account as he stretched out on his solo and his later contributions were to be even more individual.

The Wasilewski Trio is capable of producing music of great beauty but they have a wilder, more exuberant side too that really comes out in live performance. The trio have always excelled at selecting interesting cover versions drawn from the sources of pop, rock, folk and world music. “Spark Of Life” includes an interpretation of Sting’s “Message In A Bottle” which was performed in trio mode tonight and totally transformed as the trio interpreted it in a lively, hard grooving style sometimes reminiscent of McCoy Tyner, I barely recognised it at first. Along the way Kurkiewicz delivered a stunning bass solo that was audacious in its dexterity and made use of the higher registers of the instrument. Wasilewski’s piano solo was no less dazzling and there was also a drum feature from the consistently creative Miskiewicz.

Tune announcements were scarce but really this was a performance in which to immerse one self in the music, rather than concerning oneself with details such as tune titles. It was an almost spiritual experience.

Milder returned for the next item, a sequence that incorporated reflective balladry complete with arco bass, mallet rumbles and spacious piano chording before moving on via a more freely structured episode to embrace some full blooded tenor sax soloing from Milder. 

Wasilewski’s own playing ranged from the exquisitely delicate to a hard grooving joyousness, he’s an intensely physical pianist whose absorption in his music finds him contorting his body and sometimes standing up at the keyboard as he sings along to his melodic outpourings in the manner of a European Keith Jarrett. Which got me to thinking, here was a European act headlining with an (admittedly very good) American one in support. But ultimately the Wailewski group was superior, maybe Stuart Nicholson was right and jazz really has moved to a new address.

For make no mistake, this was distinctively European music, a cover of Herbie Hancock’s “Actual Proof” notwithstanding; music that drew on jazz, classical and pop and rock sources to create something unique and personal to this group of musicians, whether the style be spacious, lyrical, beautiful balladry or something more primal and ecstatic.

The level of interaction was almost telepathic with both Kurkiewicz and Miskiewicz fully involved in the creative process. Both are superb technicians and their understanding with Wasilewski is almost telepathic, both instinctively making the right choices and with Kukiewicz also proving to be a brilliant and imaginative soloist. For Milder to integrate so seamlessly into their musical world spoke volumes for both himself and the trio.

The luminosity of the quartet’s performance drew a deserved standing ovation from the knowledgeable crowd. This had been a jazz performance on another plane and was, in many ways, the best gig of the festival. Combined with the earlier performance by Helen Sung this was a night of music making at its very best.   

 

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