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Feature

London Jazz Festival 2010

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by Ian Mann

November 23, 2010

Ian Mann reports on events at the 2010 London Jazz Festival.

LONDON JAZZ FESTIVAL 2010

I’ve just returned from a wonderful few days at the 2010 London Jazz Festival. I’ve taken in the occasional one off performance in previous years but this was my first opportunity to enjoy a prolonged visit to the festival. 

Before I start talking about the music I’d like to thank the people that made this possible. Firstly to Paul and Richard for putting me up (or putting up with me); I could never even have contemplated doing this if I’d been faced with the prospect of six nights of hotel bills!
Also my heartfelt thanks go to John Lyons of AIR MTM who organised the majority of my tickets and helped to ensure that I saw some great gigs.
For the one night on which John wasn’t able to accommodate me my thanks are due to bassist Michael Janisch who very kindly put me on the guest list for guitarist Mike Moreno’s brilliant show at the Pizza Express.
Finally I’d also like to thank David Mossman and Oliver Weindling of The Vortex for making me so welcome when I visited their club for the Zed U/Oddjob double bill on my last night in London.

I had a brilliant week, thanks to you all, and also to the many jazz fans from so many different countries that I chatted to during the course of the week. The friendly atmosphere of the festival was great and to be honest a little surprising, friendliness isn’t a quality that “out of towners”, such as myself, always associate with London.

Musically I took in a ticketed show every night, mainly organised via John but I also attended a number of the many free events on the festival programme. The freebies encompassed both live musical performances and a series of talks, many of the latter due for subsequent broadcast on Radio 3’s “Jazz Library” series. All these events were rewarding in themselves and I’ll touch on these later, once I’ve dealt with the more formal concert events.

CHRISTIAN SCOTT, ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL, 15/11/2010

My week kicked off with this performance by the acclaimed New Orleans born trumpeter at the Royal Festival Hall. Scott’s most recent album “Yesterday You Said Tomorrow” received a four star review in these pages and rather more significantly a Grammy nomination.

Before the show commenced the MC name-checked three schools whose members made up part of the audience. It was a timely reminder of the festival’s education and outreach functions, especially as Scott was supporting that great populariser of the music, Courtney Pine.

However it was Scott that I was specifically there to see. An excellent technician he also exudes attitude and his music has a strong political undercurrent as emphasised by the title of his band’s closing number “Ku Klux Police Department”.

Scott had brought the majority of the album line up with him with Matthew Stevens on guitar,  Kristopher Keith Funn on bass and Jamire Williams at the drums with newcomer Laurence Fields replacing Milton Fletcher Jr. at the piano. Scott himself played   trumpets with the bells tilted upwards a la Dizzy Gillespie, but with a tone owing more to the sound of Miles Davis. He prowled the stage like Miles too in a performance that combined natural presence with a low key theatricality.

Much has been made of Scott’s “whispering technique” on the trumpet, a vocalised sound that also draws on the techniques of Europeans such as Arve Henriksen and Nils Petter Molvaer. However some of the subtlety apparent on the record was lost in the cavernous RFH with the group often resorting to volume and rock rhythms to get their point across.

Nevertheless there were still fine solos from Scott and Stevens in the opening (unannounced) number with Fields coming more into his own as the set progressed. Williams was at his best when the group slipped into piano trio mode on the third tune, utilising orthodox jazz rhythms alongside Funn’s busy bass. On other occasions he-and the band as a whole- sometimes favoured power over subtlety, a reflection perhaps both on the size of the hall and the fact that they were opening for Pine.

Having said that the ballad “Isadora”, Scott’s tribute to his lady, demonstrated admirable tenderness and restraint. But there was no denying the elemental power of the closing “KKPD” , apparently based on a genuine incident that happened to Scott in his home town of New Orleans. Scott’s trumpet cut like a clarion call through the dark meshings of Steven’s doomy guitar and Williams’ thunderous drums, a powerful wordless rebuke of the racism still inherent in certain sections and institutions of American society.

It was an all too brief set from the Scott quintet and one which left me a little underwhelmed. None of the group had really had enough time to exert their musical personalities with Fields particularly short changed. I’d like to have heard more of him as he was obviously good. Scott and his right hand man Stevens emerged with rather more dignity and I still rate the “Yesterday…” album very highly. I’d like to take the opportunity to see the band again some time, preferably playing a full set in a smaller and more sympathetic location. Despite my misgivings they went down a storm with the RFH crowd and we’re clearly going to be hearing a lot more from the fiery and eloquent young Mr. Scott.

YARON HERMAN TRIO, PURCELL ROOM, 15/11/2010

I’ve seen Courtney Pine several times before and have already comprehensively covered his live act as part of my feature on the 2010 Mostly Jazz Festival in Birmingham.

Thanks to John Lyons I therefore changed venues at half time, moving next door to the Purcell Room to watch pianist Yaron Herman and his trio. I’ve visited the RFH and QEH before but this was my first visit to the Purcell Room, the South Bank Centre’s smallest performance space. I was hugely impressed, I found it comfortable and intimate and with its excellent acoustics perfectly suited to the type of small group jazz exemplified by Herman and the trio.

Yaron Herman is an Israeli born pianist now based in France and his most recent album, his first for the prestigious ACT label is arguably his best yet.  “Follow The White Rabbit” is an impressive piece of work and recently received a four star review on this site. It’s Herman’s most disciplined and focussed work to date with a high degree of musical interaction between Herman and his two new trio colleagues the Canadians Chris Tordini (bass) and Tommy Crane (drums). The chemistry between the three members of the group was immediately apparent with drummer Crane turning in a particularly impressive performance.

The trio began with “Airlines”, a track from the recent album introduced here by a lengthy passage for solo piano. Crane immediately impressed with the range of sounds he was able to conjure from a comparatively minimalist kit, splashy cymbals combining with the intelligent use of sticks on rims and so on. Bassist Tordini also made an immediate impression by taking the first solo of the night, his tone resonant, his fingers dextrous. As the piece grew in intensity Herman began to assert himself, soloing feverishly, sometimes standing up at the keyboard, at others uttering Jarrett like vocal exhortations. 

The groove based “Saturn Returns” followed next. With its E.S.T. style melodic hooks and grooves it represents one of the most attention grabbing tracks on the album and is an obvious live favourite incorporating memorable solos from Herman and Tordini.

The third (unannounced) item began with Crane’s solo drum intro, delicately deploying brushes to start with before moving on to sticks. There then followed an inspired dialogue between drums and piano making good use of dynamics with Herman adding a playful element by deploying a bell like device on the top of his piano (a bit like a child’s glockenspiel) as well as scraping the instrument’s innards. Tordini then weighed in with his third solo of the night as if to emphasise the democratic nature of the group.

The trio’s version of Nirvana’s “Heart Shaped Box” was another guaranteed crowd pleaser but Herman and his colleagues skilfully blended a good deal of subtlety with the hooks and grooves and Herman added an unexpectedly exuberant and expansive piano solo.

The following ballad was a total contrast, beautifully demonstrating the delicate side of the trio. If memory serves it was “Ein Gedi” from the latest album, the song a tender acknowledgement of Herman’s Israeli roots.

The final tune was unannounced but the heavy grooves suggested that it was “The Mountain In G Minor” from “White Rabbit”. Besides Herman’s characteristically fluent soloing there were also features for Tordini and Crane, the latter being particularly impressive. Crane was superb all night, his playing crisp, intelligent and propulsive and with a fine eye for detail as he utilised every part of his modest kit to the best effect. He’s a player the jazz world is surely destined to hear a lot more of.

The trio justifiably received a great reception from the London crowd and returned for an upbeat encore heavy on grooves, dampened strings and a quote from “You And The Night And The Music”. Herman, clearly enjoying himself, was on his feet almost throughout, Crane was at his most energetic and the solid Tordini somehow kept it all together.

I was hugely impressed by the “Follow The White Rabbit” album and this live performance confirmed that the Yaron Herman Trio is one of the most exciting, dynamic and inventive piano trios around. Herman, Tordini and Crane make a great team.

TIM LAPTHORN TRIO/CEDAR WALTON QUARTET, RONNIE SCOTT’S 16/11/2010

Incredibly Tuesday represented my first ever visit to Ronnie Scott’s. I’d visited the Birmingham branch several times before its unfortunate demise but this was my d?but as far as London was concerned.

Frith Street is certainly a marvellous place to see and hear jazz. Perched at the bar I had a great view of the players and the acoustics were excellent. Also this was pretty much a listening crowd, people were here for the jazz and not on some noisy corporate jolly as I have heard sometimes happens. The drinks prices might still be frightening but for me tonight was all about the music.

The evening opened with an attractive set from British pianist and his regular trio of bassist Arne Somogyi and drummer Stephen Keogh. It’s an experienced line up, one I’d seen and enjoyed once before at St. Cyprian’s Church a few years earlier. The trio also released an enjoyable album, “Seventh Sense”, in 2006 on Basho Records.

Tonight’s performance featured some of Lapthorn’s more recent material including the opening “Leap”, loosely based on the famous chord progression of John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps”. Next came the enjoyable slow blues “Transport Caf?” with enjoyable solos from all three members of the group with Lapthorn and Somogyi followed by Keogh’s brushed drum breaks.

The wide ranging “Wondering” began with a gently impressionistic solo piano intro before building to an easily swinging mid section incorporating a resonant bass solo from Somogyi. As the tempo increased yet further there was another drum feature for Keogh above Lapthorn’s insistent piano vamp.

Dating back to 1944 (as the self effacing Lapthorn informed us) “I Should Care” marked the trio’s only visit to the standards repertoire with Lapthorn again introducing the piece unaccompanied. As the piece gathered momentum he soloed expansively, now exhibiting a greater physicality as he became more and more involved. As in all the other items thus far Somogyi and Keogh also enjoyed brief solo features too.

To close their support set the trio breezed through Lapthorn’s “Moma Is”, a thinly disguised rewrite of guitarist George Benson’s “Mimosa” with Lapthorn taking the instrumental honours with an exuberant solo.

This was an enjoyable set, always tasteful, with some excellent playing from all three members of the group. They didn’t steal Walton’s thunder but still managed to impress in their own right and “Seventh Sense”, which mixes Lapthorn’s originals with an intriguing selection of standards, is well worth a listen.

Impressive as Lapthorn and his colleagues had been the arrival of Walton and his group immediately moved things to another level. On the second night of their residency the Walton quartet quickly hit their stride with the Walton original “Hindsight”, an angular blues tinged piece that featured wonderfully percussive piano from the leader and incisive tenor sax from Piero Odorici. Bassist Darryl Hall and drummer Willie Jones III were like a well oiled machine with their “in the pocket” grooves and effortless swing. The second number (unannounced) revealed Hall’s exemplary skills as a double bass soloist, fast, supple and highly dexterous as he vied for the instrumental honours with Odorici and Walton.

In a well programmed first set Duke Ellington’s “In A Sentimental Mood” became a ballad feature for the excellent Italian tenor specialist Odorici, his tone a good balance between tenderness and toughness. Odorici then sat out as Walton jazzed up “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” in piano trio mode with Jones’ colourful drum breaks making a considerable impression.

Born in Dallas, Texas in 1934 Walton is one of the music’s most respected elder statesmen. Still a formidable pianist he is equally lauded for his abilities as a composer having penned many modern jazz classics, among them the much covered “Bolivia” and “Ugetsu”. It was one of Walton’s most famous pieces that closed an excellent first half, the boppish “Firm Roots” which featured sparkling solos from both Walton and Odorici before ending with a brilliant extended drum feature from the remarkable Jones, his playing throughout a marvellous blend of dynamism and precision.

The second set began with the swingingly seductive tones of “Cedar’s Blues” which included features for all four musicians, the highlight being another jaw dropping solo from the brilliant Philadelphia musician Darryl Hall.

Freddie Hubbard’s popular “Little Sunflower” was introduced by a passage of solo piano and subsequently given a breezy Latin twist with a playful solo from Walton.

The beautiful original composition “Martha’s Prize”, dedicated to Walton’s wife, was this set’s ballad offering with the composer’s thoughtful piano and Odorici’s soulful tenor sax the featured solo instruments.

The quartet ended the evening on a high note with a spirited romp through Stevie Wonder’s “Little Star” with lengthy solos from tenor sax and piano. Walton is the consummate professional, an urbane and witty interlocutor between songs, an excellent composer and still a highly accomplished soloist. He leads an excellent, well drilled quartet who all took the chance to shine at various points during the evening but who all have the discipline to support impressively and to swing formidably.

This was probably the most “straightahead” performance that I saw all week but the “old
fashioned” virtues of the Walton group made for two sets of immaculately played, sometimes fiery music. Walton shows no signs of frailty and this is one veteran campaigner who should be gracing jazz stages for some time yet.

I had thoroughly enjoyed my first visit to the London Ronnie’s. My thanks to my companions at the bar, among them Tory and Doug, plus a lady I later deduced to be Mrs Keogh, for their friendship and conversation before the show and during the various intervals.

AN EVENING WITH GARY BURTON, QUEEN ELIZABETH HALL, 17/11/2010

I cut my jazz teeth on Gary Burton’s music and have been a fan of his playing for over thirty years. In 2007 I saw him give a remarkable performance at the Barbican in the company of his long term musical partner Chick Corea. The duo held a capacity audience spellbound with the ethereal combination of just vibraphone and piano. You could have heard the proverbial pin drop, it was a quite magical evening.

A year later I was in Poole when Burton revisited his substantial ECM back catalogue in the company of Pat Metheny, Steve Swallow and Antonio Sanchez, another excellent performance.

All this had substantially whetted my appetite for this evening which saw the hard working Burton in conversation with Alyn Shipton for an hour in the QEH’s “Front Room” before taking to the main stage to perform two sets, the first with his new quartet, the second with the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra in an exploration of the music of Wayne Shorter.

Burton’s conversation with Shipton was subsequently broadcast on Radio 3’s “Jazz Library” series on 20th November so many of you reading this may already have heard it. Anyway Shipton skilfully steered Burton through his back catalogue reflecting on his ground breaking four mallet technique, his use of rock rhythms and country music elements plus his hothousing of talented young players including Metheny, pianist Makoto Ozone and saxophonist Tommy Smith. The latter is now leader of the SNJO and was to appear with Burton later that evening.

Punctuated by musical illustrations selected by Shipton this was a highly comprehensive overview of Burton’s career beginning with his early country influenced albums featuring guitarist Larry Coryell and his later collaborations with pianists Paul Bley and Keith Jarrett. Shipton also reflected on Burton’s fondness for the writing of Carla Bley with “Dreams So Real”, Burton’s 1974 ECM album of Carla tunes still being one of the vibist’s favourites.

Burton’s experimentations with tango including his collaboration with the great Astor Piazzolla were touched upon as was Burton’s homage to his jazz vibes antecedents on the album for “For Hamp, Red ,Bags and Cal”.

Finally Shipton turned to Burton’s longest running musical partnerships, firstly with Japanese pianist Makoto Ozone, once one of Burton’s students in his role as an educator at Berklee College of Music in Boston. He left the special relationship with Corea until the end, talking about the lightning recording of the classic “Crystal Silence” which was completed in just three hours and comprised almost entirely of first takes, such was the musical chemistry between the pair.

I’ve been listening to this music for so long that it was a pleasure to hear Burton talking about it and putting some “flesh on the bones” as it were. He was an informative and lucid interviewee and the smoothly professional Shipton brought the best out of him. And of course the musical illustrations were absolutely terrific.

I missed the subsequent broadcast as I was travelling home that day but hopefully the BBC will see fit to repeat it. At least I was there in real time, what a wonderful way to start the evening.

Around half an hour later Burton took to the stage in the Queen Elizabeth Hall with his new quartet consisting of rising star guitarist Julian Lage, experienced double bassist Scott Colley and Pat Metheny Group drummer Antonio Sanchez. This is clearly a band with a huge amount of potential but even so I was slightly disappointed with the group’s overall performance. This combination is obviously very new and as yet lacks the tightness and focus of Burton’s classic quartets with Coryell, Metheny et al. Nevertheless there was still much to enjoy in a set that included a smattering of original material from the band members plus an interesting selection of outside compositions. Never a prolific composer himself Burton nonetheless has a good eye and supreme taste in his choices of material to cover, hence his close links to the music of Mike Gibbs and Carla Bley over the years.

The quartet opened with Mongo Santamaria’s tune “Afro Blue”, famously covered by John Coltrane amongst others. Burton introduced the piece solo on the vibes eventually going on to solo in his trademark dazzling but lyrical fashion as the rest of the quartet joined in. Burton’s pioneering four mallet technique allows him to play chords on the vibraphone and no matter how fast he plays there is always an underlying romantic lyricism apparent in his playing. Burton has remarked that he plays the vibes “pianistically”, drawing as much inspiration from Bill Evans as from the aforementioned Hamp, Red, Bags and Cal.  Burton was followed by Julian Lage on guitar. Lage has been described as “the new Pat Metheny” and his rounded, syrupy tone is certainly very similar, perhaps too much so, to Metheny’s. Like Metheny he also possesses a flawless technique and a keen ear for melody and like the others in the audience I was highly impressed with his playing. However at times I found him just a little too tasteful and a rather too much like his illustrious predecessor. I’d like to see him adopt a more individual style as the group develops.

“Last Snow” (by a Russian Jazz composer whose name I couldn’t decipher)  was a ballad with features for all four members of the group but in some ways this summed up my misgivings about the performance. Despite the vibes/guitar intro there didn’t seem to be the intimacy, intricacy and interplay over the concert as a whole that one normally finds between Burton and his guitar partners. Despite the awesome technical abilities of all four musicians the tunes too often fell into the head/solos/head format with little genuine group interaction. Obviously this is something that will develop as the group evolves, come back in a year’s time and this just might be the formidable unit that the names on paper suggest.

Sanchez’s “Did You Get It” was good fun, lively and playful, swinging and bluesy with a particularly dazzling solo from Burton. Lang weighed in with more Metheny-ish guitar and there were lengthy features for both bass and drums.

A rare Thelonious Monk tune written in the latter stages of the pianist’s life proved to be an inspired choice with more fine soloing from vibes and guitar. But best of all was a sumptuous version of “My Funny Valentine” which built from an inspired Lage guitar intro, through a vibes and guitar duet, orthodox solos for vibes, guitar and bass to an almost rhapsodic finale. With Sanchez the epitome of taste at the drums this, more than anything, showed just what this quartet is capable of and was undoubtedly the highlight of the set.

It was left to Colley’s “Never The Same Way” to close the set with Burton sitting out as the others kicked off the tune in guitar trio mode. The leader then delivered his final sparkling solo of the set followed by Lage, the guitarist indulging in some low key showmanship on this final number.

Despite my reservations this was a perfectly good set with some inspired moments from all four players. However it couldn’t quite compare to the Burton/Corea and Quartet Revisited performances described earlier, but then both these shows would take a lot of living up to. This present quartet is clearly a work in progress but their version of “My Funny Valentine” spoke of greater things to come.

The second half of the QEH show saw Burton as featured soloist in the company of the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra led by one time Burton protege saxophonist Tommy Smith. The SNJO make a habit of working with famous soloists and had toured this project with Burton previously. There has also been a tour with Norwegian bass virtuoso Arild Andersen and the 2010 LJF had also seen the orchestra perform with guitarist John Scofield at the QEH just a couple of nights earlier.

It’s the SNJO’s policy to commission arrangements and tonight’s performance consisted entirely of arrangements of Wayne Shorter material by the likes of Geoff Keezer, Joe Locke, Mike Gibbs and others.

The SNJO consists of the finest players on the Scottish scene and beyond, many of them bandleaders in their own right. For the record the line up was Tommy Smith, Konrad Wisniewski (tenor saxes), Paul Towndrow, Martin Kershaw (alto saxes),Bill Fleming (baritone sax), Ryan Quigley, Cameron Jay, Richard Iles, Tom MacNiven (trumpets), Chris Greive, Phil O’Malley, Michael Owens (trombones), Lorna MacDonald (bass trombone/tuba), Steve Hamilton (piano), Calum Gourlay (double bass) and Alyn Cosker (drums). There was also some doubling on flutes by the saxophonists.

Essentially though the role of the SNJO here was all about crisp ensemble playing under the direction of the excellent Smith. This was, if you will, a “concerto” situation with Burton the featured soloist and pretty much always in the limelight. There were few solos from within the ranks of the SNJO with only Smith on tenor (TS on Ts as my notes say) and Quigley on trumpet stepping forward from the ranks to solo. There were also brief windows when the piano playing of Hamilton and the explosive drumming of the powerful Cosker came into focus.

The tunes played included “Speak No Evil” arranged by Pino Jodice, “Virgo Rising” by Keezer and “This Is For Albert” arranged by Christian Jacob, the latter notable for featuring Smith alongside Burton. Michael Abene’s arrangement of the ballad “Infant Eyes” was particularly impressive with some rich orchestral voicings which saw the trumpeters and trombonists varying their sounds using a selection of mutes.

A well deserved encore of “Footprints”, possibly Shorter’s most famous composition, saw Smith and Quigley stepping up to solo alongside Burton with Cosker enjoying a dynamic drum feature above Hamilton’s insistent piano figure. Smith’s solo was particularly impressive as he demonstrated his mastery across the whole range of the tenor saxophone.

This second half had been hugely enjoyable with the Scottish contingent more than holding their own in the company of their distinguished American guest. As for Burton, misgivings about the quartet aside, you simply have to admire the man’s work ethic and sheer stamina. A lengthy interview followed by two gigs in which he was in the spotlight most of the time is a pretty impressive feat for a man of sixty seven. Burton clearly still has a youthful enthusiasm for this music and his technique is as flawless as ever. The current quartet will become a great band I’m sure although I must confess I enjoyed the talk more than the gig! For all this Burton’s status as one of my personal musical heroes remains undimmed.

MIKE MORENO QUARTET, PIZZA EXPRESS JAZZ CLUB, 18/11/2010

For the past year or so the enterprising US born, London based bass player Michael Janisch has been presenting his monthly “Michael Janisch Presents” events at the Pizza Express. These have proved to be hugely successful with Janisch bringing an impressive range of American and European musicians to perform in London, often going on to tour the rest of the UK.

Janisch is frequent visitor to Dempsey’s in Cardiff which is where I usually get to see him. The presence of Janisch in a band is usually a guarantee of quality and over the course of the past year or so I’ve seen great gigs from Janisch’s own groups The Purpose Built Band, Transatlantic Collective and Saxophone Summit plus Slovenian saxophonist Jure Pukl’s Slavic Soul Trio and Irish drummer David Lyttle’s “Dark Tales” Quartet.

However it has to be said that tonight’s show featuring guitarist Mike Moreno was probably the best yet and my personal LJF highlight. This was only Moreno’s second UK gig of the year (the other was the previous night at Dempsey’s) and the Pizza was crammed to the rafters with fans eager to see this latest American guitar sensation.

Born in Houston but now based in New York Moreno has acquired a growing reputation through his work on two solo albums “Between The Lines” and “Third Wish”, for his contribution to many others including Janisch’s own “Purpose Built” and pianist Aaron Parks’ “Invisible Cinema”, and on this evidence also for his storming live performances.

For this MJ Presents/LJF date Moreno was joined by Janisch on double bass plus two members of the Transatlantic Collective, Estonian pianist Kristjan Randalu and Luxembourg born drummer Paul Wiltgen. Although not a regular working unit the quartet quickly gelled together, the empathy forged by the three rhythm players as members of Transatlantic Collective saw them immediately latching on to the mercurial Moreno’s coat tails as the brilliant guitarist immediately took flight on Herbie Hancock’s “I Have A Dream”.

Moreno’s exceptional abilities were evident right from the start. He has already developed a highly personalised guitar style favouring a pure, clear sound on the electric guitar, at times rock influenced but always informed with the spirit and intelligence of jazz. Moreno switches effortlessly between finger picking and plectrum usage often during the course of a single song and his extensive but not exclusive use of the thumb allows him to layer and vary his melodic and rhythmic attack. In other words he’s a virtuoso but one that uses his gifts in exciting and intelligent ways. Occasionally he used a slide to add a blues/country influence to his clean picked lines but his use of foot pedals and other rock effects was minimal. Moreno prefers a fast, hard, clear sound that is very much his own. He’s less obviously a Metheny disciple than Lage and at times his playing reminded me of another American, Mike Stern, who co-incidentally has also released an album entitled “Between The Lines” (1995).

Moreno’s own compositions are often complex affairs and all four members of the group were reading music throughout. However despite the obvious challenges to the players the music was fresh, exciting and accessible to the listener, the musicians responding to the music brilliantly. In a packed house there was a white hot excitement about the playing, despite the presence of the manuscripts there was no sense that the players were merely “reading the notes”, the sense of a group fully fired up and “going for it” totally transcended the mechanics of the process. In fact the interplay between the musicians was brilliant, especially the dovetailing of guitar and piano with Randalu also delivering a series of dazzling solos throughout the set as well as linking up brilliantly with Moreno. Behind the bass Janisch showed all the qualities we’ve come to expect from him, the huge tone, propulsive drive, rhythmic flexibility, dexterous soloing and so on. Topping things off was the crisp, intelligent drumming of Wiltgen, always keeping things moving but never getting in the way of the soloists. Subtly propulsive but eminently tasteful and with a keen ear for detail his playing was excellent throughout.

Over the course of two well programmed sets Moreno showed the full range of his abilities across material ranging from the intricate and reflective to the full on and blistering. His solos were consistently inventive and his interplay with Randalu a constant delight. The material included selections from both his solo albums plus a generous selection of newer material. Not everything was announced, as a speaker Moreno was strangely reticent (unusual for an American) and maybe a little nervous, he was clearly the kind of guy who preferred to let his guitar do the talking, which it did eloquently. My notes reveal that we heard “Forward And Back” and “Old Wise Tale” from “Between The Lines” and Joe Henderson’s “Isotope” and Billy Strayhorn’s “Lush Life” from “Third Wish”. Other material included the originals “Element”, “Mirror,Mirror” and “One And A Half”  plus a beautiful ballad version of the standard “But Beautiful” featuring Wiltgen’s exquisite brush work. The closing “Another Way” (from “Third Wish”) saw Moreno pulling out all the stops with effects and slide added to his arsenal. The tune also featured a bravura solo from the excellent Randalu and a long awaited drum feature for the patient Wiltgen. 

This was a superb group performance with Moreno, as was proper, subtly dominating proceedings. There’s no doubt that he’s a major new presence on the guitar and although the bulk of his recordings thus far have been as a sideman performances like this will ensure that his reputation as a leader will continue to grow. Janisch and others are right, the guy’s just a monster musician.

For me tonight’s show was probably the pick of a very busy week. Bumping into an old school friend, purely by chance, helped to put the icing on the cake. Now resident in North London Mark Albini is an aspiring musician himself and his self released album has been reviewed on these pages. He’s also a serious guitar fan (Metheny is his all time favourite) and first got into Moreno after reading of his contribution to Aaron Parks’ “Invisible Cinema” album in my review! Mark also came to the Pizza to see Parks and his trio earlier in the year but he felt tonight’s show topped even that. Anyway thanks to Mark and his mate Pascal for letting me share their table, otherwise I’d have been hanging round the bar again (in my natural habitat some might say).

ZED U/ODDJOB, THE VORTEX, 19/11/2010

My final night at the festival was very different to anything I’d experienced thus far. The English trio Zed U and the Swedish quintet Oddjob both make extensive use of electronics in their music and are less obviously rooted in the jazz tradition than anything else I’d seen at the festival. The use of beats and electronica ensured that the audience for this double header was on average comfortably the youngest I’d been part of during the week.

This was my first visit to The Vortex for about five years and I’d almost forgotten just how tiny it is. The capacity is only around a hundred and the place was absolutely rammed with fans and their was a palpable air of expectation concerning the music that was to follow.

The Vortex is achingly cool and I was pleased to see it so full and obviously thriving. David Mossman and Oliver Weindling put on cutting edge jazz virtually every night of the week despite zero Arts Council support. They and their army of volunteers are to be congratulated for the great job they’re doing in these difficult economic times. But jazz and its fans are resilient, The Vortex has acquired an almost legendary status and it’s clearly going to be around for a long while yet- for as long as founder and proprietor David Mossman is prepared to man the door I guess. 

I was also pleased for both bands that they’d drawn a full house. When I first saw Zed U at The Drum in Birmingham a couple of years ago the audience barely numbered twenty but since the release of the trio’s album “Night Time On The Middle Passage” on Babel in 2009 their reputation has continued to grow and here they were playing to an enthusiastic capacity crowd. Oddjob had also had their problems, they were due to visit The Vortex in the spring but were famously thwarted by the volcanic ash cloud. Now they’d finally made it and on a Friday night and under the LJF banner they probably played to a bigger crowd than they would have done if they’d appeared as originally scheduled.

And so to the music; perched on the back of the settee at the rear of the club I still had a good view of the bands. Zed U opened the proceedings with Neil Charles on bass guitar, Tom Skinner on drums and the recently appointed Radio 3 New Generation Artist Shabaka Hutchings on tenor sax and clarinet. Both Charles and Skinner also made use of various electronic devices to expand and layer the group sound with Hutchings providing a more human presence on his various reeds.

The trio played three lengthy instrumental episodes that blurred the boundaries between composition and improvisation. The first piece “Burn”, began with a solo bass intro from Charles before moving into a more song based structure featuring some impassioned tenor sax improvising from Hutchings. The interplay between Charles and Skinner was also impressive with Charles using his thumb to give his bass lines an implied funkiness. Skinner’s drumming combined both power and detail and his use of loops provided the segue into the companion piece “Underground” which saw Hutchings switch to clarinet and demonstrate his considerable abilities on that instrument with an impressive solo.

Tom Skinner’s tune “Real Estate” began in a relaxedly funky manner becoming more freeform as Hutchings blasted away on tenor. Drums,bass and a slap tonguing Hutchings then hit a powerful groove with Hutchings’ tenor eventually taking flight for another powerful solo. All around the club heads were nodding as people got more and more into this highly distinctive music.

The closing “Three Day Beach” was the most wide ranging tune of the set beginning with Hutchings’ shady clarinet probings, building through Charles’ stop/start, slyly funky bass solo to eventually hit a mighty groove courtesy of Charles and Skinner. Hutchings now switched to tenor to deliver a towering solo, honking and fluttering above bludgeoning bass and drums in a passage that recalled Acoustic Ladyland at their most intense. You could see why Sebastian Rochford sometimes chooses Hutchings as a sax dep for Polar Bear.

With their blend of deep grooves, electronica and powerful jazz rooted improvisation Zed U went down well with the predominately youngish Vortex crowd. Their music is both adventurous and accessible with the versatile Hutchings the lynchpin of the group. Skinner also impressed with his powerful yet detailed drumming but Charles sometimes felt like a bit of a weak link. Nonetheless this was impressive stuff overall and the fact that none of the material was from “Night Time..” suggests that a follow up album may be due. Let’s hope so as the band is still clearly developing and any new recorded document should be well worth hearing. 

After their scheduled visit to the Vortex was thwarted earlier in the year Swedish quintet Oddjob were clearly raring to go and keen to make up for lost time. Introduced by Oliver Weindling they were clearly “up for it” and delivered a hugely enjoyable set heavy on grooves, electronica and a distinctive Nordic noirishness. There was much doubling up of instruments but the core instrumentation was Goran Kajfes on trumpet and electronics, Per “Rusktrask” Johansson on reeds, Daniel Karlsson on keyboards, Peter Forss on bass and Janne Robertson on drums and percussion.  The group have recorded four albums, the last two for ACT and they have built up something of a cult following in their native Sweden. A number of their compatriots, some of them presumably living in London, had turned out to see them alongside the numerous curious first timers.

Oddjob’s music is more formally structured than Zed U’s and their records are not always 100% convincing, their electronic soundscapes can sometimes sound rather bland and even a bit naff. However on this evidence they’re a great live band and in this context the grooves become heavier and the dark, jagged edges of their electronica more pronounced. 

Oddjob’s latest recording “Clint” sees them applying their distinctive approach to tunes and movie themes associated with Clint Eastwood, it’s perhaps not such a surprising move given the filmic quality of much of the music on their ACT d?but “Sumo” (2008). Most of tonight’s material was unannounced and certainly wasn’t drawn entirely from the Eastwood album. Oddjob are all about layers, textures and treatments allied to interlocking grooves and rhythms. For a quintet they make a surprisingly full sound and even though they’re not jazz soloists per se there were still plenty of excellent, sometimes highly impassioned, moments from the electronically hooked trumpet of Kajfes and the tenor sax and bass clarinet of Johansson. When he wasn’t soloing Kajfes spent a good deal of time out of my eyeline, crouched on the stage and manipulating the group sound through an array of floor mounted gizmos. He also doubled up on funky Fender Rhodes, augmenting the already wide ranging keyboard sounds of Karlsson who appeared on synthesiser, Rhodes, grand piano and of course the Hammond organ the Vortex had rented for a week (see also Tim Owen’s review of the “Hatful of Hammond” night the Vortex hosted the following evening). Even bassist Peter Forss doubled up on synthesiser in a group that both looked and sounded like a scaled down version of Norwegian prog jazzers Jaga Jazzist. Meanwhile drummer Janne Robertson deployed a massive percussive set up that incorporated an impressive array of suspended cymbals and small gongs in addition to his conventional drum kit.

Oddjob’s music ranges between the playful and funky and the dark and unsettling, the combination of electronics and bass clarinet was sometimes downright spooky. Besides their obvious cinematic influences there are also hints of electric era Miles Davis, particularly in Kajfes’ trumpet sound, and Hancock’s Headhunters plus echoes of sixties soul and other retro trappings. And yet it all sounds very clubby and contemporary and the group’s exciting performance was enjoyed hugely by the young Vortex crowd, one or two even found room to dance and everywhere the heads were nodding again. 

Among the Eastwood associated pieces subjected to Oddjob’s soundscaping were Lennie Niehaus’ “Pale Rider” theme, here both brooding and lyrical with Karlsson featuring on grand piano and Johansson on tenor with the saxophonist also entering an arresting dialogue with trumpeter Kajfes. The unmistakable strains of Ennio Morricone’s “Ecstasy Of Gold” from the movie “The Good, The Bad And The Ugly” saw similar dialogue between the horns and an unsettling synthesiser/percussion interlude before the familiar theme re-emerged. The group left their trump card till last, a bone shaking version of Lalo Schifrin’s “Scorpio’s Theme” (from “Dirty Harry”) incorporating shuddering bass grooves, low down and dirty Rhodes piano, reverberating Hammond and echoing, screaming trumpet. Sandwiched between all this was a remarkable and dramatic drum feature from Robertson in which he utilised every part of his extensive percussion set up. 

Overall this was a gig that exceeded my expectations Oddjob were far better than I’d anticipated they would be and the improvisational content of their set seemed to be higher than on their studio sets. There was a palpable sense of excitement amongst the crowd and band and audience were visibly building off one another’s energies to produce something magical. Maybe it’s like this at The Vortex every night but for me the atmosphere was really special. Thanks again to David and Oliver for their warm welcome and also to the numerous fans from near and far that I chatted to over the course of the evening. What a great way to wrap up a hugely enjoyable few days at the 2010 London Jazz Festival.

OTHER EVENTS and FESTIVAL OVERVIEW

Besides the various ticketed events I also enjoyed a number of the free events and performances that the festival had to offer. It was eminently possible to see some really interesting music without paying any entrance fees at all.

The first free event I saw was on Monday evening at the QEH’s “Front Room” when journalist and presenter Kevin Le Gendre (Jazzwise, Jazz on 3) talked to Tommy Smith and Guy Barker about the history and mechanics of big band jazz. The discussion will be broadcast on Radio 3’s Jazz Line Up on Boxing day 2010. Barker talked about the Jazz Voice event which opened the Barbican’s LJF programme on November 12th and of how the event took six months in the planning from idea to performance. Smith spoke of his work with the SNJO who were to appear at the festival with guitarist John Scofield and of course with Gary Burton. He mentioned the sheer tediousness of writing out scores whist Barker described the way in which his own trumpet playing was often sidelined by his arranging responsibilities. The talk also touched on the history of big band jazz and the bands of Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Woody Herman. Unfortunately time constraints prevented any discussion of more contemporary figures like Mike Gibbs or Carla Bley. It was fascinating stuff though and will be well worth hearing again over Christmas.

On Tuesday a large crowd crammed into the Caf? at Ray’s Jazz at Foyle’s to hear an acoustic set by pianist Sam Crowe, saxophonist Adam Waldmann and bassist Jasper Hoiby. Each musician contributed compositions, these being drawn from the repertoires of their own bands, Waldmann’s Kairos 4tet, Hoiby’s Phronesis and the Sam Crowe Group. The appearance of guest singer Emilia Martensson on the Kairos tune “Unresolved” was a particular highlight. The crowd were characteristically attentive but unfortunately kitchen noises and the roar of the traffic outside on the Charing Cross Road rather detracted from some exquisite acoustic jazz. Perhaps a more sympathetic venue would have been appropriate for this supremely talented trio. 

Wednesday and Thursday lunchtimes found me at the Royal Albert Hall for two free performances in the Caf? Consort. Events took place here throughout the festival but I managed to catch a solo guitar performance from John Etheridge plus an enchanting quartet performance from percussionist Adriano Adewale and his group.

On Wednesday Etheridge played music from right across the jazz spectrum and beyond. He went from Django Reinhardt via jazz and bebop standards to the South African sounds of Abdullah Ibrahim and finally on to the kind of ambient soundscaping associated with Robert Fripp. It was a fascinating tour of the capabilities of the jazz guitar accompanied by Etheridge’s less focussed verbal ramblings. All in all though a very enjoyable way to spend a lunchtime.

The following day I was back for Adewale and his group. The Brazilian percussionist had assembled most of the band from his excellent 2008 album “Sementes” (Portugese for “Seeds”), a record reviewed elsewhere on this site. Joining Adewale were fellow Brazilian Marcelo Andrade on saxophone and flute, Senegalese kora player Kadialy Kouate and Australian double bassist and occasional flautist Nathan Riki Thomson. Despite a delayed start Adewale’s sunny, melodic, exotic music charmed the crowd with an excellent level of interplay between the musicians, who these days are all based in London. The material came both from “Sementes” and from the group’s forthcoming album “Roots” which is due to be released in 2011. The group’s infectious rhythms even brought a few dancers to their feet. Adewale’s life affirming brand of world jazz certainly sent everybody away happy.

Both these events at the Caf? Consort were very well attended and despite food being served the audiences were quiet and attentive throughout. They were obviously serious jazz fans and obviously not just curious passers by grabbing a bite to eat. Well done everybody, your self discipline helped to make these events a pleasure for musicians and listeners alike.

On Thursday evening the South Bank was given over to artists who had been associated with the Take Five scheme, an innovative programme now in it’s eighth year that takes young jazz professionals and teaches them something of the mechanics and practicalities of earning a living in the music business as well as allowing the participants to hot house their musical ideas. Each annual intake embraces eight outstanding young musicians and many of Britain’s brightest young talents of recent years have passed through and benefited from the scheme. I saw a free performance by guitarist Graeme Stephen (of the group NeWt) and saxophonist/whistler/piper Fraser Fifield, sometimes of Salsa Celtica. The duo played a well received set of folk/jazz in the QEH’s “Front Room” with Fifield switching between soprano sax, whistle and the Lowland small pipes. However background noise and a good deal of to-ing and fro-ing detracted from an otherwise enjoyable performance. Former Take Five musicians were later involved in concerts in each of the South Bank’s major halls plus a late night series of free events in the Clore Ballroom. I had to move on following Stephen and Fifield to attend the Mike Moreno gig at Pizza Express.

Friday yielded two free performances. At lunchtime a comparative UK supergroup under the leadership of pianist Simon Purcell entertained a sizeable crowd at the Clore Ballroom. Joining the pianist were saxophonist Julian Siegel and drummer Gene Calderazzo (of Partisans), trumpeter Chris Batchelor and bassist Steve Watts. It was all enjoyable enough but nobody really extended themselves as the quintet cantered through a series of songbook and bebop standards in the head/solos/head format. Still it’s always nice to watch the irrepressible Calderazzo in action and it was good to talk to both him and Julian afterwards and also to meet Chris Batchelor, one of my old Loose Tubes heroes for the first time. These musicians have all done more interesting and challenging work elsewhere but I was pleased to learn from Chris that his Big Air group, an innovative Transatlantic collaboration is scheduled to appear at the 2011 Cheltenham Jazz Festival.

Finally I saw Brass Jaw, the Scottish horn quartet who had spent the week wandering the festival and playing in all sorts of locations including the foyer of St. Pancras Station. Their set in the Clore Ballroom was hugely entertaining and featured compositions from all four members of the group, many of the pieces coming from their impending new release “Branded”. The three saxophones of Paul Towndrow (alto), Konrad Wisniewski (tenor) and Allon Beauvoisin (baritone) joined forces with Ryan Quigley’s trumpet to form surprisingly rich, interlocking patterns topped off with bright ,breezy, brassy soloing. The tunes are all short and snappy, and the tune announcements correspondingly sharp and witty thus maintaining the audience’s attention and enthusiasm for a potentially limiting format. The sheer stamina of Beauvoisin who handles most of the rhythm parts on baritone has to be seen to be believed.

OVERVIEW

I thoroughly enjoyed my first extended visit to the LJF. The organisation was excellent with everything I saw taking place on schedule. Audiences everywhere were large, attentive, friendly and enthusiastic, something which also applied to the many free events. It has been said that the Festival lacks a heart but it seemed to me that the South Bank was a good focal point with a wide variety of events going on, both free and ticketed. It’s good that other venues in the city get brought under the LJF umbrella and on the nights I attended Ronnie’s, Pizza Express and The Vortex all enjoyed bumper crowds. Getting around on foot or by tube in London is pretty simple, even for a hick from the sticks like me, so the sheer geographical spread of the festival isn’t that much of a problem.

The only sour note lay with the festival brochure. There was nothing wrong with the graphics or the artist information but the failure to publish the ticket prices was baffling. Serious were quick enough to trumpet the numerous free events but very coy about the cost of everything else-surely they’re not embarrassed about it. Of course global stars like Sonny Rollins and Brad Mehldau don’t come cheap and clubs like Ronnie’s and the Pizza are on the pricey side but come on! For people on more of a budget there were still venues like The Vortex and Charlie Wright’s offering terrific value. Visitors like the Norwegian and Swiss friends I met during the week found it particularly inconvenient and perplexing. I suspect it may be a ploy to increase web traffic but to me it’s not playing fair with the fans.
 

I don’t want to end with a gripe so I have to say that the music was almost universally excellent with a good balance of overseas stars and home grown talent, and it seemed to me that the festival was positively thriving despite the recession. I’m looking forward to next year already.   



       

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