Winner of the Parliamentary Jazz Award for Best Media, 2019

Feature

EFG London Jazz Festival 2016, Day Seven, Thursday 17th November 2016.

image

by Ian Mann

December 04, 2016

Ian Mann on a day of words of music featuring contributions from Professor Mark Smith, the Mike Fletcher Trio, Nerija, Chico Freeman Quartet and The Cookers.

Photograph of Cassie Kinoshi and Nubya Garcia of Nerija by Tim Dickeson


EFG London Jazz Festival 2016

Day Seven, Thursday November 17th 2016

PROFESSOR MARK SMITH / MIKE FLETCHER TRIO, UNIVERSITY OF WESTMINSTER

It had initially been my intention to visit yet another of the free lunchtime shows at the Pizza Express Jazz Club where the BBC Young Jazz Musician of the Year, Alexandra Ridout had been due to appear with her quintet. However this performance was cancelled and Ridout appeared at a ticketed event on a different day at Iklectik Art Lab instead.

Casting around for a suitable alternative my eyes alighted on the unusual combination of a lecture and a musical performance featuring the academic Professor Mark Smith and the saxophone trio led by the Birmingham based musician Mike Fletcher featuring the exceptional rhythm pairing of Olie Brice (double bass) and Jeff Williams (drums).

The event, which had the strapline “Jazz and Everday Aesthetics”, had been due to take place in the Regent Street Cinema but was moved next door to the board room in the University of Westminster. 

I had been expecting Prof. Smith to talk and the Fletcher trio to illustrate his precepts musically. Instead the Professor spoke first with his lecture being titled “Learning to Listen; Lessons From The American Past”.

Smith is a Professor of History at the University of South Carolina and describes himself as a “sound historian”. Despite his close links with jazz critic and fellow academic Stanley Crouch Smith is, by his own admission, not particularly conversant with jazz, a fact the probably disappointed some members of his audience.

Instead he addressed the subject of “historians and sound” and the concept of the “Sensory Turn” with the use of the phrase “seeing is believing but faith cometh through hearing”.

Of course there is no way of replicating historical sounds and the sound historian has to be able to imagine and project, often using written documents as an aid in the attempt to recapture what historical characters must have heard.

Professor Smith cited the works of fellow academics such as Richard Roth and his book “How Early America Sounded”. Roth speaks of “sonic architecture”, noting that early Episcopalian churches deployed sounding boards to ensure that the wealthy and well off could hear the preacher clearly, while the peasantry at the rear of the church could not. However contemporaneous Quaker churches with their hexagonal design emphasised a greater democracy with the Word of God being made audible for all. Sound can therefore be used as a political tool and a form of auditory control, with church bells often being used for this purpose as explored by Alain Corbin in his 1998 work “Village Bells; The Culture Of The Senses In The 19th Century French Countryside”.

Another specifically American work that the professor referred to was Sarah Keyes’ “Like A Roaring Lion; The Overland Trail As a Sonic Conquest” which imagines the sounds heard by the American pioneers in their wagon trains on the Oregon Trail. The proliferation of place names derived from sounds such as “Echo Valley” and “Steamboat Springs” serves to emphasise the importance of sound to these early pioneers. As a sound historian Prof Smith seemed less than impressed with the usual hierarchy of senses that rates sight as the most important.

The origins of jazz got a mention when the Professor discussed the 2005 work “The Sounds Of Slavery” by Shane and Graham White which emphasises the importance of music in everyday Afro-American culture and the collision and fusion of African and European musical elements in the shaping of jazz and blues. The book also references the famous recordings collected by Alan Lomax in the American Deep South in the 1920s and 30s. Arguably Lomax, and in the UK Cecil Sharp, were among the first ‘sound historians’.

Other subjects raised were the veracity – or otherwise- of sounds used in conjunction with the heritage industry at sites such as colonial Williamsburg in Virginia, a huge tourist attraction in the US where, as here, the past is big business. In this context the sense of smell was also evoked,Prof Smith opining that historic battle re-enactments such as Gettysburg and Vicksburg are always doomed to failure in terms of authenticity as the smell of death can never be artificially recreated.

When the Professor asked for questions and opened up the debate some members of the audience tried to steer the conversation more firmly in the direction of jazz with the subject of recording techniques a popular topic, but the music really wasn’t Prof Smith’s forte as he readily admitted.

The points that I managed to scribble down were only a small part of a lecture that although not specifically about jazz was interesting and thought provoking, if occasionally a little too dry and academic at times. A rewarding way to spend an afternoon nevertheless.

The musical performance that followed was essentially totally unconnected to the subject of the lecture. Nevertheless Fletcher maintained the air of academia by discussing his trio’s music between tunes and inviting questions from the audience.

Musically the material was sourced from the trio’s album “Vuelta” which was recorded in 2014 for the Birmingham based Stoney Lane record label. Fletcher plays the rarely heard C melody saxophone and deliberately keeps his writing open and his themes simple, positively seeking group interaction and encouraging his colleagues to engage in the improvisation process. The trio is not a regular working group so when they do meet up to play they always find something fresh and interesting to explore within Fletcher’s compositions.

In Brice and Williams he has the perfect partners for this, both musicians are at their best operating in the mystical musical hinterland where composition and improvisation meet. Williams has developed his own unique style of drumming, a trademark “polyrhytmic flow” that shapes and guides the music but never sounds cluttered or overly busy.

The trio opened with the evocative “Aire”, inspired by the light on the Spanish coast, a country where the well travelled Fletcher has sent a lot of time. Introduced by Brice at the bass and featuring Williams’ distinctive cymbal work the tune’s wispy melody positively encouraged the tightly focussed but agreeably open trio interplay that is this group’s hallmark as they swung in a joyous but decidedly odd meter way. A comment from the floor suggested that naming a tune after a specific location was, in its way, a kind of sound history, which tied in with the earlier lecture and raised an interesting point in its own right.

“Her Grace” honoured Alice Coltrane with its solo sax intro later augmented by Williams’ mallet rumbles and hand drumming and Brice’s dark grainy arco bass. Williams’ subsequent drum solo incorporating his ringing cymbal work was the first time that a drum feature had formed part of a performance of this piece. Evidence again of the trio’s commitment to the art of improvisation.

“Fletcher’s Walk”, named for a location in Birmingham was more overtly boppish and featured Fletcher’s inventive sax soloing accompanied by busy bass and volcanic drums.

“Perhaps Sing a Song” was introduced by a passage of unaccompanied bass that saw Brice striking the strings, strumming the instrument flamenco style and deploying various extended techniques. Eventually he set up a motif that formed the backbone of the piece, anchoring it as Fletcher and Williams enjoyed their own features. Fletcher revealed that the tune was inspired by the pace of London life and extolled the healing power of music. This gave Williams the opportunity to quote fellow drummer Art Blakey’s much loved remark “Music washes away the dust of everyday life”.

The set ended with a performance of “In Memoriam”, a piece inspired by the work of the Scottish poet Norman MacCaig (1910-96) and featuring Fletcher’s playing at its most Coltrane-like plus a final Williams drum feature.

My thanks to Mike, Jeff and Olie for speaking with me afterwards and to Olie for the review copy of his latest album “Of Tides”, a live improvised duo recording captured at The Vortex featuring the German pianist Achim Kaufmann. I intend to take a fuller look at this shortly.

Interestingly Fletcher informed me that one of his favourite saxophonists is the American tenor player and composer Billy Harper. Like me Fletcher was due at Cadogan Hall later that evening to witness Harper performing with the all star septet The Cookers, but more on that later.


NERIJA, RAY’S JAZZ AT FOYLE’S

There is currently a bit of a buzz about Nerija, the young all female band that emerged out of the Jazz Warriors programme. I recall seeing some members of the septet at the Front Room at the Queen Elizabeth Hall at the 2013 EFG LJF as part of a Tomorrow’s Warriors showcase.

Since then the group have come on in leaps and bounds and at the 2015 Festival I covered their excellent performance at The Green Note in Camden. I was then to see them again when they played at the 2016 Brecon Jazz Weekend supporting Dennis Rollins’ Velocity Trio at Theatr Brycheinog.

Tonight at Foyle’s a sell out crowd turned out for a performance that also represented the official launch of group’s début EP, an excellent recording five compositions by five different members of the band. Like their male counterparts Ezra Collective they have clearly accrued something of a cult following and a highly supportive crowd gave them a great reception.

The mature Nerija are a force to be reckoned with and tonight’s show featured the first choice line-up with the full EP personnel all present and correct. An impressive and powerful four horn front line featured trumpeter Sheila Maurice-Grey, saxophonists Cassie Kinoshi (alto) and Nubya Garcia (tenor) and trombonist Rosie Turton. Guitarist Shirley Tetteh played a key role as did the rhythm team of bassist Inga Eichler and drummer Lizy Exell. Tonight was my first sighting of the impressive Exell, the previous shows that I’ve seen have featured male ‘deps’.

The five tunes on the band’s EP have been in their set list for some time and have been thoroughly played in. Playing “in the round” and buoyed by the support of the crowd Nerija hit the ground running with “Pinkham V”, the Tetteh tune that kicks off the EP. Grounded by Eicher’s sturdy bass and propelled by Exell’s dynamic drumming this rousing opener included fluent, fiery solos from Maurice-Grey and Kinoshi plus the composer on guitar.

Nerija’s music combines jazz with other musical influences from Africa and the Caribbean. Eicher’s “Valleys” introduced an element of South African ‘Township Jazz’ with its infectious horn chorales, African guitar cadences and a joyously barnstorming solo from Turton on trombone.

Kinoshi’s “Redamancy” was more reflective but still innately powerful with solos coming from Tetteh on guitar, Eichler on double bass and the hitherto little heard Garcia with an excellent outing on tenor.

Festival scheduling meant that I missed the beginning of Nerija’s show at Brecon. Here I had to leave before the end, exiting to the sounds of Garcia’s composition “For You”. I was extremely sorry to have to leave as the band were in terrific form, both individually and collectively, playing with skill, verve and confidence. Writing for London Jazz News Geoff Winston, who presumably saw the whole show, was particularly fulsome in his praise for the group.

From Geoff’s review I gather that the group also performed Turton’s “The Fisherman”, thus playing every piece on the EP. It was essentially the same set that I saw at the Green Note last year but with writing and playing of this quality nobody was complaining. The Brecon appearance also revealed that the group also have a number of newer tunes in their locker. Later in the week they were due to support the trio of David Murray, Geri Allen and Terri Lyne Carrington at Cadogan Hall, another triumph for the band I suspect.

Nerija are clearly a band on the crest of a wave and whose star can only continue to rise. Their début EP represents highly recommended listening.


CHICO FREEMAN QUARTET / THE COOKERS, CADOGAN HALL

On the face of it this was an intriguing double bill at Cadogan Hall with the Chicago born saxophonist Chico Freeman making a rare British appearance leading his latest group, the Chico Freeman Plus + tet.

Freeman was opposite The Cookers, a stellar line up of hard bop veterans who have recently attracted considerable acclaim for their fifth album together, “The Call of the Wild and Peaceful Heart”.

Freeman, now sixty seven, has played both avant garde and more straight ahead jazz. I recall seeing him at an early edition of Cheltenham Jazz Festival, probably some time in the late 1990s so it was good to catch up with him again after all this time.

Journalist and broadcaster Kevin Le Gendre introduced the quartet which featured Freeman specialising on tenor saxophone alongside pianist Luke Carlos O’Reilly, bassist Kenny Davis and the impressive young drummer Michael Baker.

Now a comparative elder statesman Freeman epitomised gravitas on the lengthy Coltrane-esque opener, a Freeman original simply titled “Elvin” in honour of Coltrane’s drummer Elvin Jones, with whom Freeman himself also worked . An opening horn chorale led immediately to a drum feature as the dynamic Baker immediately imposed himself upon the proceedings. Freeman’s own solo probed deeply but it was noticeable that he took a seat when his colleagues were soloing, his bearing initially composed and regal but then becoming more animated as he got deeper into O’Reilly’s expansive and imaginative piano explorations.

“Erica’s Reverie”, a dedication to one of Freeman’s five daughters introduced a more lyrical and reflective atmosphere and featured some engaging interplay between Freeman and Davis and a melodic solo from O’Reilly at the piano. Unfortunately Freeman suffered from a coughing fit during his own solo, turning it into part of the performance as the band laughed. Unfortunately it did somewhat puncture the mood he had created.

The cough didn’t entirely go away during the latin tinged item that followed but Freeman wisely handed over the reins to Davis and O’Reilly with the experienced bassist turning in a delightful solo, one of the highlights of the set.

Freeman recovered his poise on his ballad “To Hear A Teardrop In The Rain” which also included a flowingly lyrical, gospel tinged solo from O’Reilly plus the leader’s anthemic tenor in the closing stages. A word, too, for Baker’s performance, his assured brushwork revealing that he can be delicate as well as dramatic.

The set closed as it began in Coltrane-esque territory with Freeman’s tenor probing incisively in a modal context with Davis again also impressing as a soloist.

There was enough here to suggest that Freeman is a still a presence to be reckoned with and I was highly impressed with all three of his sidemen, names to watch out for in the future. 

Introducing The Cookers Kevin Le Gendre alluded to the illustrious individual histories of the players whose list of credits included collaborations with such departed jazz legends as trumpeters Freddie Hubbard and Lee Morgan and drummer Max Roach.

But for me The Cookers failed to live up to their billing, although to be fair there were mitigating circumstances. This was my first visit to the Cadogan Hall when it wasn’t sold out (James Farm and the Maria Schneider Orchestra in 2015, The Liberation Music Orchestra in 2016) and both the atmosphere and the sound suffered accordingly in a hall that was maybe 60% full.

The band boasts a stellar line up with David Weiss and Eddie Henderson on trumpets, Billy Harper on tenor sax, Cecil McBee on bass and Billy Hart at the drums. For this performance album personnel George Cables (piano) and Donald Harrison (alto sax) were replaced by Danny Grissett and Craig Handy respectively.

Things didn’t get off to a good start as a problem with McBee’s bass amp held things up for a good five minutes. As the veteran bassist and the Cadogan’s stage crew struggled to fix the problem the rest of the band stood around nervously and chatted amongst themselves. You would have thought that performers with The Cookers’ amount of collective experience would have done something to engage a restless crowd but, other than McBee’s ironic bow, nobody seemed willing to take charge, not even Weiss who handled the tune announcements when the show finally got under way. 

With the problem finally remedied the band opened with the title track of their most recent album, an episodic piece of writing from Harper that featured a marathon solo from the composer in which he impressed with his Coltrane-esque power, stamina and invention. Weiss added a similarly blistering trumpet solo and the young piano ‘dep’ Grisset also impressed. There were also moments featuring the four horns working in unison that were reminiscent of the power of a big band while Hart’s relentless drumming was a rhythmic juggernaut that fuelled the whole group. I’ve been critical of Hart’s playing in the past, his overly loud drumming too often drowned out the talented young pianist Aaron Parks at a trio gig in Bristol in 2015, but his consistently robust approach, remarkable for a man of his age, was just right for a band like The Cookers.

I’ve long admired the playing of the now eighty year old Cecil McBee on classic recordings featuring Charles Lloyd, Keith Jarrett and, indeed Chico Freeman. McBee’s “Peacemaker”, a tune that was one recorded by Freeman, proved to be a set highlight with this enduring composition featuring engaging solos by Henderson on trumpet, Handy on alto and McBee himself on double bass, still playing with remarkable dexterity and fluency allied to a huge, rounded tone.

Harper originally wrote “Croquet Ballet” for a 1971 album by Lee Morgan that turned out to be the trumpeter’s last. After the four horn front line had stated the theme Harper shared the solos with Weiss who seemed to relish playing the Morgan role. A tightly arranged outro for the horns only also grabbed the attention.

The underrated Harper has been a prolific writer over the years and his ballad “If One Can Only See” was arranged here as a feature for trumpeter Eddie Henderson. Introduced by a passage of solo piano from Grissett the piece featured the rich blend of Henderson’s trumpet with the other horns as he played with great control and fluency while remaining incisive enough to get to the heart of the music, even introducing a few avant garde flourishes. Grissett also impressed in a dialogue with McBee as Hart put down his sticks and provided sensitive brushed accompaniment.

The set closed with a rendition of the Freddie Hubbard tune “The Corner”, introduced by McBee’s solo bass before he and Hart laid down a scalding beat that framed solos from Henderson and Harper plus an explosive solo feature from the drummer. After the groove was re-established we heard from Weiss who also took the opportunity of announcing the band members for a final time.

The Cookers returned to play yet another Harper composition as an encore with solos coming from Grissett, Harper and Weiss but many members had left by then, a telling comment on what, in truth had been a rather lacklustre and disappointing set. Too often the compositions had become just a string of solos, impressive at first, as one expect from musicians of this calibre, but ultimately a little too predictable. One began to form the opinion that the band members were rather ‘going through the motions’ as the appeal of the ‘head/solos/head’ format began to pall.

In truth The Cookers never really recovered from that false start and the relatively poor attendance and muddy sound balance didn’t help either. Neither did the fact that the air conditioning was turned on for The Cookers’ set, towards the close it was like sitting in an ice box, not a problem that I’ve encountered at any of my other visits to this venue.

I’m told that the “Call of the Wild and Peaceful Heart” album is far better than tonight’s performance might suggest, but I have to admit that for me The Cookers never quite reached boiling point and in the end left me feeling distinctly lukewarm at best. 

I wonder what Mike Fletcher thought of it all. 

 

 

 

     

 

 

blog comments powered by Disqus