Radio Banska, Black Mountain Jazz, Melville Centre, Abergavenny, 28/10/2019.

Dave Spencer – electric guitar, Tony Barby – electric guitar, charango, Sol Ahmed – double bass,
Tim Robinson – drums

Tonight’s performance represented a welcome return to Abergavenny for the Bath based ensemble Radio Banska, who had first visited the town in 2015 when they appeared at BMJ’s annual Wall2Wall Jazz Festival, held that year at the Kings Arms hotel.

At the time I was totally unfamiliar with the band’s music, but I remember being very impressed by Radio Banska’s performance and also with the quality of their 2011 début album “The Balkan Courtesan”. My coverage of the band’s 2015 show can be read as part of my Wall2Wall Festival coverage here;
http://www.thejazzmann.com/features/article/friday-and-saturday-at-wall2wall-jazz-festival-abergavenny-4th-and-5th-sept/

Radio Banska was formed in 2009 by guitarist Dave Spencer and violinist and accordionist Nina Trott, who had fronted the band at their 2015 performance. Disillusioned with constantly playing standards or gypsy jazz sets the pair set out to do something different, exploring a variety of musical genres within an instrumental context, among them the sounds of the Middle East, the Balkans and Latin America. However rather than drawing on traditional folk music the band decided to focus on writing its own music in these various styles, the majority of the compositions coming from the pen of the prolific and highly inventive Spencer.

Finding a category for Radio Banska’s music has proved to be a difficult task. The band’s website describes them as “an instrumental jazz/world quartet fusing Levantine mystery, Balkan passion and Latin rhythms into powerful original compositions”, which sums things up pretty nicely. The band have also described their output as “music from around the world”, while “world jazz” represents a neat catch all term for their distinctive sound.

The sad and untimely death of Nina Trott, aged 66, from breast cancer in 2017 inevitably resulted in the band going into a period of hiatus. Eventually it was decided that the remaining members should continue, with Spencer still needing an outlet for his numerous compositions.

The current edition of Radio Banska is a quartet, now led by Spencer on lead guitar and featuring fellow founder Tony Barby on second guitar and charango, long serving member Sol Ahmed on double bass, and for tonight only drummer Tim Robinson, who was deputising for regular incumbent Jon Clark. A number of rhythm players have passed through the Banska ranks over the years. “The Balkan Courtesan” recording features the pairing of bassist Roshan ‘Tosh’ Wijetunge and drummer Mark Whitlam.

The ill fated Radio Banska were due to play at BMJ in January 2018 but were forced to cancel due to illness. Other events that year saw them experimenting with a new line up featuring Spencer, Ahmed and Clark plus guitarist Phil Dawson and saxophonist Craig Cofton. It would seem that this combination didn’t quite work out and the group have now reverted to the quartet of Spencer, Ahmed, Clark and a returning Tony Barby.

Radio Banska had obviously made a good impression on the Abergavenny public with their Festival appearance back in 2015 and there was a pleasingly substantial turnout at the Melville Theatre on a cold, clear October night that followed a period of prolonged heavy rain – if it had been scheduled a night earlier the gig probably wouldn’t have gone ahead. Another pleasing aspect was the presence of a few new faces, evidence perhaps that Radio Banska have something of a cult following, or maybe that BMJ’s increasingly targeted publicity campaigns are becoming increasingly successful. Either way it was good to see.

Under Spencer’s guidance Radio Banska delivered two substantial sets of “95% original material”, including new arrangements of several pieces from the “Balkan Courtesan” album.

First up were two pieces that Spencer described as “Latin tunes”, commencing with the lively “She’s All Mayan”, which featured the sophisticated guitar interplay of Spencer and Barby, plus the solid rhythmic support of Ahmed and Robinson. I’m loath to describe Barby as a ‘rhythm guitarist’, as he did far more than just strum chords and keep time, so the title ‘second guitarist’ is probably more apt. Nevertheless it’s undeniable that all the soloing was undertaken by Spencer, a fluent and versatile guitarist with an exhaustive knowledge of global musical styles. His richly inventive compositions embraced a wide variety of rhythms and time signatures, and certainly kept his bandmates on their toes. Robinson, who was sight reading throughout, was the very model of concentration and acquitted himself well in the face of some very complex material.

“Get Over” was a slower Latin piece that embraced a variety of elements ranging from Brazilian to flamenco to a hint of the blues.

Spencer described much of his output as being “Middle Eastern and a bit weird”, adding that others have described it as being “genre defying”. To Illustrate the point we heard the Levantine styled sounds of “La Mezquita” (translating as “The Mosque”), the opening track from the band’s 2011 album. This saw the leader making judicious use of his various effects pedals.

From the same recording came “Chat Pitre”, a tune written by the French accordionist Richard Galliano. In Banska’s hands the piece was transformed into a patented brand of “Moroccan Reggae”, a beguiling blend of North African inspired melody and syncopated dub groove.

“Suleiman’s Dance” continued the Middle Eastern theme with its sophisticated guitar interplay and clipped rhythms, the sound further enriched by brief, but distinctive and melodic, arco bass flourishes from Ahmed.

Introducing his composition “Spice Caravan” Spencer described his group’s aim as being to “create original music that sounds like traditional tunes of other cultures”, which again seemed to sum up their approach very succinctly.

However the following “Lucid Dreamer” represented something of a contrast as the group edged closer to conventional jazz with both Spencer and Barby deploying a relatively orthodox ‘jazz guitar’ sound, with chord choices to match.

“Perfect Pitch” explored the possibilities of the “flattened fifth” or “blue note” and saw Spencer adopting a harder edged electric guitar sound as Ahmed enjoyed a brief cameo at the bass.

The title track of “The Balkan Courtesan” followed, introduced by Barby and again featuring the sound of Ahmed with the bow, here approximating the sound of Trott’s accordion on the recorded version. Meanwhile Spencer soloed on guitar with his customary fluency and inventiveness.

“Otono de Amor” marked a return to the group’s Latin side, a gentle piece featuring Spencer’s tasteful guitar soloing and Robinson’s softly brushed drums.

“Levantine Waltz”, described by Spencer as “tricky” took the music back to the Mediterranean prior to a final re-location for the final tune of the first set, the Nina Trott composition “Emo Latino”. A track from the group’s album this featured the distinctive sound of the Peruvian charango, a small, ten stringed instrument originally fashioned from the shell of a dead armadillo, but now made from wood. The interplay between Barby on charango and Spencer on guitar was particularly engaging with the guitarist sketching melody lines above the tautly strummed rhythms of the charango, with additional impetus coming from bass and drums.

The charango was also to feature at the beginning of the second set as the quartet delivered their arrangement of the John Zorn composition “Ravayah”, a piece that Spencer described as “contemporary klezmer”. Here the charango was deployed in more of a lead role and sounded very different. Zorn is a composure of some stature and this was a genuinely impressive performance that sounded distinctive and different.

Spencer’s love of wordplay was reflected in the title of “Budapest Control” with its loping rhythms and agile guitar soloing.

“10,000 Things” saw the group adopting a more contemporary, almost rock, sound on a piece with a title sourced from Buddhist philosophy, but which might also be applicable to the sheer diversity of the group’s music.

Barby introduced the gentle “A Country Mile”. As ‘second guitarist’ he would often create the motif or melody around which Spencer would solo. As befits its title this piece sometimes reminded me of the ‘Jazz Americana’ of Pat Metheny and, particularly, Bill Frisell.

The interplay between Barby and Spencer continued to impress on both “Ashkenazim” and “What a Frozen Waste”, the latter also including a dazzling solo from Spencer, a dizzying blend of sophisticated chording and lithe single note runs.

The Spencer composition “Isfahan”, not to be confused with the Billy Strayhorn tune of the same name, featured some of the most overtly “Middle Eastern” music of the set and featured another stunning solo from Spencer, whose guitar sometimes replicated the sound of an oud.

The breezy “Rio Coca” then took us back to Brazil before “Alkira”, with a title derived from the aboriginal word for “Sunrise”, added Australia to the list of musical destinations with Ahmed’s powerful bass lines helping to drive the piece.

Following all this sonic globe trotting the title of “We’re Not In Kansas Now” almost seemed like an understatement. The closing track on the band’s CD this composition was described by Spencer as being “slightly weird”. Introduced by the twin guitarists, who quickly combined with bass and drums to create a hypnotic groove, this was a piece that seemed to depict a meeting between America and all the other cultures whose music Radio Banska had explored during the course of the evening. The recorded version even features Barby on didgeridoo, a sound replicated here by Ahmed’s arco bass drone.

All in all this an enjoyable and highly accomplished performance from Radio Banska that was well received by the Abergavenny audience. The standard of the musicianship was excellent throughout, with leader Spencer particularly impressive, and with ‘dep’ Robinson navigating the complexities of the material admirably, a tribute to his sight reading skills.

But for all this, hand on heart, I can’t honestly say that I enjoyed this performance as much as I did the one in 2015. The reason for this, of course, was the absence of the irreplaceable Nina Trott.  As well as providing an essential additional instrumental voice Trott also gave the band a vital centre stage presence. Both Spencer and Barby are sit down guitarists and the current edition of the band lacks a strong visual focus.

Speaking to Barby after the show it’s clear that Trott’s band mates still miss her desperately. Besides her talent as a musician she was also a great organiser and music educator, “a force of nature”, as Barby put it, who also hustled for gigs for the band, also effectively acting as their manager. I remember Nina contacting me by email around five years ago looking for help in her search for gigs. I forwarded her email on to Mike Skilton at BMJ who then booked Radio Banska for Wall2Wall in 2015 and then invited them back this evening. I feel honoured and privileged to have played a small role in the life of the band.

It’s a shame that the experiment with Cofton didn’t come to fruition as Radio Banska really do need another front line instrumentalist, be it a saxophonist, or maybe a clarinettist, which I think could be a good fit given the Middle Eastern feel of so much of the band’s music. I suspect that they be wary of employing another violinist, out of deference to Trott and the fact that comparisons would inevitably be made.

However they may have to ‘bite the bullet’ if the band is to continue. Tonight’s show had much to commend it but the absence of an additional instrumental voice meant that it lacked a certain dynamism, both musically and visually. Spencer has written some great tunes, and they deserve to be heard, but having listened back to the “Balkan Courtesan” recording they really do sound at their best in a quintet format.

With regard to tonight’s show it was perhaps focussed too intensely on Spencer. The man is a master guitarist and played with consummate skill, but it would have been nice to have heard a little more from his colleagues. Admittedly Robinson was a ‘dep’, playing with the band for the first time, but it would have been nice to have seen Barby and Ahmed being given more opportunities to express themselves. The occasional use of charango and bowed bass added a welcome variety and splash of colour to music that largely inhabited the same dynamic range, despite the stylistic and cultural diversity of its sources.

Radio Banska is currently a band in transition, finding its feet again after the tragic loss of its co-founder. Once again I stress there was much to enjoy about tonight’s performance and that it’s not my attention for this article to sound overly critical. Let’s hope that the band can find a new front line partner that they can all feel comfortable working with as they continue the Radio Banska story. Spencer’s richly imaginative compositions deserve to be heard at their best, and one senses that this is what Nina Trott would have wanted.

 

blog comments powered by Disqus