REVIEW
“The Thaw” is a very worthy follow up to “Evolution” and a good showcase for Paul Baxter's writing and playing skills.
Eyes Shut Tight
“The Thaw”
This self released album by the bass led piano trio Eyes Shut Tight represents the follow up to their (very good) 2010 album “Evolution” (review elsewhere on this site). The group are led by bassist and composer Paul Baxter and also feature pianist Johnny Tomlinson (also of the band If Destroyed Still True) and drummer Kristoffer Wright, both graduates of the jazz course at Leeds College of Music.
Baxter was also a member of the Leeds based Ariya Astrobeat Arkestra when I saw give an excellent performance at the 2011 Mostly Jazz Festival in Birmingham. However he now appears to have moved to London and although Eyes Shut Tight are still fully operative it may be that he has loosened his ties with regard to other aspects of the Yorkshire jazz scene. For all this “The Thaw” was recorded in Leeds and it’s eight selections again feature the compositions of Baxter exclusively.
With a bassist leading the band it’s perhaps not surprising that the music has a strong rhythmic drive that has evoked comparisons with E.S.T., The Bad Plus, Phronesis, Neil Cowley Trio etc. However “The Thaw” expands on the group’s début by adding other timbres and textures including Baxter’s use of the bow and Tomlinson’s deployment of church organ on the closing tune “Hymn”. However there is still plenty of cut and thrust about the trio’s music and energy levels are generally high with plenty of interaction between the players. Baxter has said that the group’s name is inspired by their “intuitive group dynamic” and once again there’s plenty of that in evidence here. I was disappointed to miss out on seeing the trio on their recent (January 2012) UK tour but wintry conditions dissuaded me from travelling to their date at Dempsey’s in Cardiff. Cardiff jazz stalwart Roger Warburton later informed me that the group had been very impressive with plenty of creative energy allied to an impish musical sense of humour. Wish I’d been there.
In the meantime there’s always this new album to enjoy kicking off with the spirited stop/start grooves of the opening “Mr. C”. This is a wide ranging piece that veers between delicate lyricism and full on grooving. It is an example of contemporary piano jazz at it’s best, constantly evolving and full of surprises. As the group name implies there is a high level of understanding and intuition between the players with Baxter’s closing bass solo a particular highlight.
The title track is similarly kaleidoscopic and intensely rhythmic with Tomlinson and Baxter improvising around urgent, insistent rhythmic configurations, the pianist’s role often alternating between melodic and rhythmic functions.
“Forethought”, introduced by the leader’s deeply resonant bass lowers the temperature with Tomlinson’s Jarrett like piano eventually emerging out of the gloom. Baxter cites Jarrett’s trio with bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Paul Motian as a primary influence alongside the the more contemporary work of E.S.T. and Israeli bassist and composer Avishai Cohen. There’s certainly some evidence of this on yet another winning original Baxter composition.
“Bisbo” begins with a lovely piano/double bass duet before Wright strikes up an insistent brushed groove for his colleagues to improvise around. In true Eyes Shut Tight manner the music doesn’t stay still for long as the group stretch out, varying the dynamics but always maintaining a strong and varied rhythmic pulse and with Baxter’s bass frequently assuming the lead. He’s a monster player with a huge tone, great dexterity and a highly developed melodic sense in his solos.
Despite the jokey title “A Touch Of The Charlies” turns out to be an affecting slow ballad featuring Baxter’s deeply woody bass above Tomlinson’s sparse piano chording and Wright’s delicately detailed drum accompaniment. Tomlinson subsequently expands his contribution with some of his most lyrical playing of the set.
The leader’s bass ushers in “Exit Train”, initially another insistently rhythmic piece as the title might suggest. As ever with this trio’s music things aren’t that straightforward as the piece is punctuated by more impressionistic episodes among bursts of odd meter grooves. There’s a burst of laughter at the end of the take, evidence perhaps of the group’s sense of humour in action. “Afterthought” then slinks insidiously into the listener’s consciousness with it’s gently undulating melody lines and subtle grooves.
The closing “Hymn” features Tomlinson on both piano and church organ, the latter apparently recorded on location, and sounds much as one would expect with the quiet bustle of Wright’s drums underpinning the keyboardist’s work.
The album also offers an untitled bonus track which provides a showcase for Baxter’s arco bass skills. His deeply sonorous bowing is featured alongside the violins of Martin Couzin and Adam Robinson. The result is a delightfully melodic piece that sits somewhere in the hinterland between folk and the classical string quartet with just a hint of jazz in the closing stages as Baxter puts down the bow. It’s a very welcome addition but should perhaps constitute part of the album proper. It would be a shame to think of anyone missing out on this.
“The Thaw” is a very worthy follow up to “Evolution” and a good showcase for Baxter’s writing and playing skills. His constantly evolving compositions sustain the interest of the listener and his playing is superb throughout with Baxter allowing himself plenty of solo space. Having said that his interaction with his two younger colleagues is excellent and Tomlinson and Wright once again give evidence that both are fine musicians in their own right. They need to be given the complexities of Baxter’s compositional output and both acquit themselves admirably.
There are a lot of piano trios around but Eyes Shut Tight deserve to be rated right up there amongst the best of them.
RWCMD Jazz Ensemble with Gethin Liddington, Black Mountain Jazz Kings Arms, Abergavenny, 19/02/2012.
Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama Jazz Ensemble with guest Gethin Liddington.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Reviewed by: Ian Mann
An impressive collective sound in a well chosen set that also included a number of vocal tunes sung by vocalist Jonas Seetoh.
Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama Jazz Ensemble with guest soloist Gethin Liddington, Black Mountain Jazz, Kings Arms, Abergavenny, 19/02/2012.
The jazz course at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (hereafter RWCMD) is one of the most respected jazz courses in the UK. Under the guidance of Head of Jazz Paula Gardiner and an array of distinguished resident and visiting tutors, among them tonight’s guest trumpet soloist Gethin Liddington, the College has produced a number of significant figures on the local and national jazz scenes. Alumni include pianist and founder of Edition records Dave Stapleton, bassist Chris Hyson and saxophonist Martha Skilton, daughter of Black Mountain Jazz promoter Mike Skilton. By coincidence the morning following this concert yielded an email giving news of the impending release on the Babel label of the début album by Indigo Kid, a band featuring the talents of two former RWCMD students now making a name for themselves in London. Indigo Kid is led by guitarist Dan Messore and also includes drummer Gethin Jones and their début recording also features the playing of the great Iain Ballamy, a celebrated nurturer of young British talent. I hope to be taking a look at the Indigo Kid album some time in the near future.
Returning to this evening’s concert the RWCMD band lined up with a classic big band configuration of four trumpets (plus Liddington making five), four trombones (including one bass trombone), two alto saxes, two tenor saxes, baritone sax, piano, double bass and drums. Incredibly this was their first gig of the year but you’d never have known as they made an impressive collective sound in a well chosen set that also included a number of vocal tunes sung by vocalist Jonas Seetoh.
The band kicked off with an arrangement of “When You’re Smiling” by the Los Angeles based big band arranger Tom Kubis. The tune was originally made famous by Louis Armstrong with Liddington taking on the great man’s role here with a fluent and incisive trumpet solo. Of the younger musicians solo honours went to Greg Sterland for his tenor solo.
Next came the punchy and funky “High Maintenance” as arranged by Gordon Goodwin for the Pixar movie “The Incredibles”. Alto saxophonist Ben Treacher led off the solos. Liddington aside this young musician proved to be the outstanding soloist of the evening with his dry, Jackie McLean like tone. Treacher already leads his own quartet and also appears as part of Farmyard Cannibals, a quartet led by tonight’s bassist Huw Williams. Treacher was followed by tonight’s guest Gethin Liddington and drummer Rod Oughton enjoyed a series of flamboyant drum breaks.
Vocalist Jonas Seetoh was now introduced to sing a couple of numbers that featured on Robbie Williams’ hit album “Swing When You’re Winning”. These were delivered straight ,with big band arrangements but with the minimum of instrumental embellishment i.e. no solos. The two items chosen were “Have You Met Miss Jones” and “Ain’t That A Kick”. I’ll admit that this area of jazz isn’t really for me (too close to the mainstream) but nevertheless I felt that Seetoh made a fair fist of it and acquitted himself well.
Every jazz band, big or small, needs a good drummer and in the precocious young Oughton the RWCMD band certainly has one. Oughton drove the band with an obvious relish but his playing was always crisp and accurate and full of detail. In many ways he proved to be the fulcrum of the band. “Cute”, as arranged by Neal Hefti for the Count Basie Band featured Oughton in a series of absorbing brushed drum breaks and also highlighted the talents of his partner in rhythm bassist Huw Williams, another influential presence in the overall ensemble sound.
A second Gordon Goodwin tune, “A Few Good Men”, was as hard hitting and punchy as the earlier “High Maintenance”. Oughton’s drums led things off with solos coming first from the excellent Treacher and then from Daniel Smith on rasping baritone sax. The low end textures as played by Smith and the trombones were excellent all night and added depth and colour to the arrangements.
Liddington sat out for the next vocal tune, Seetoh’s version of George Gershwin’s “A Foggy Day” as inspired by the contemporary interpretation by superstar crooner Michael Buble.
The star trumpeter returned for the final tune of the first set, an effective trumpet led arrangement of American guitarist and composer Pat Metheny’s ballad “Always and Forever” from the 1993 album “Secret Story”. Liddington can be a fiery player but this showed his ballad skills at their best as he exhibited a remarkable control and purity of tone.
A shorter second set commenced with “Count Bubba”, a piece both composed and arranged by Gordon Goodwin. This included some innovative solo section passages (reeds/trombones/trumpets) plus more conventional jazz solos from Treacher and trombonist Tony Lovell.
Next came the standard “Stella By Starlight” in an equally distinctive arrangement by the British saxophonist Paul Booth which he originally wrote for the BBC Big Band. The piece underwent a dramatic tempo change mid tune and included excellent solos from Liddington and Treacher.
“Joy Of Cookin’” kept the pot bubbling in a Quincy Jones/Sammy Nestico arrangement of the Count Basie tune with Liddington blazing on trumpet.
Seetoh’s contribution to the second set came in the form of one of the best known of all jazz standards “All Of Me”, once more based upon the Michael Buble version. Overall however I felt that this was weaker than his first half contribution.
Two rousing instrumentals rounded off the evening. Trumpeter and composer Maynard Ferguson’s “Whisper Not” included solos from both Liddington and the RWCMD’s trumpet section leader Rob Smith who also handled the announcing duties for the evening. It was Smith who initially brought this talented young band together last September and runs their rehearsals at college. We also heard from both tenors, Sterland and Joe Atkin-Reeves.
Finally came “Shiny Stockings” in Frank Foster’s arrangement for the Basie band, here something of a showcase for Liddington and rightly so. As ever this highly versatile trumpeter had been a joy to listen to. I was also very impressed by his young colleagues and I’m sure that many of these young musicians will go on to forge successful careers in the music and be among the stars of the future.
Despite the clamour from a small but appreciative audience the ensemble had run out of arrangements and the evening had come to a close even though Liddington seemed keen to have a go at something else.
Although the attendance was probably less than Mike Skilton would have hoped for the audience reaction was overwhelmingly positive with the suggestion being made that the RWCMD Jazz Ensemble should visit the club on an annual basis. Watch this space.
Empirical, Midlands Arts Centre, Birmingham, 18/02/2012.
Empirical
Monday, February 20, 2012
Reviewed by: Ian Mann
There is an organic, closely knit feel about Empirical's new music that can only come from a regular working group. This is a band on form. Catch them if you can.
Empirical, Midland Arts Centre, Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham, 18/02/2012.
The young British jazz band Empirical created quite a stir with the release of their eponymous début album back in 2007. This first incarnation of the group included alto saxophonist Nathaniel Facey, trumpeter Jay Phelps, pianist Kit Downes, bassist Neil Charles and drummer Shane Forbes. Charles left shortly after the release of the album and Downes and Phelps also subsequently departed to pursue successful solo careers, particularly so in Downes’ case. The first album acquired considerable critical acclaim and the awards that go with it but there was always the sense that the original Empirical was a collection of individuals with too much collective talent for a single band to hold.
Founder members Forbes and Facey regrouped with a very different line up and approach. Charles was replaced by bassist Tom Farmer with vibes wunderkind Lewis Wright rounding out the new four piece Empirical. Wright had previously come to public attention via a stint with drummer Clark Tracey’s band. Tracey’s groups have also included pianists Kit Downes and Zoe Rahman and have acted as a kind of “British Jazz Messengers” in their hothousing of young UK jazz talent.
With Wright in the group the new Empirical set about exploring the musical legacy of the Late, great Eric Dolphy, particularly his seminal 1964 Blue Note album “Out To Lunch!” which featured Bobby Hutcherson on vibes. Empirical’s second album “Out ‘n’ In” (2009) included their versions of two of the tunes from “Out To Lunch!” plus a number of band original in the same vein. The album was both a critical and commercial success as jazz commentators kept faith with the band and the group won a prestigious MOBO award for Best Jazz Act in 2010.
Empirical’s third album, “Elements Of Truth” (2011) is their strongest offering yet, combining the descriptive, episodic writing of their first album with the Dolphy inspired complexities of the second. It is less obviously a “tribute” record than its predecessor and and focusses solely on the group members’ own writing with Farmer emerging as a particularly important compositional voice. Dolphy remains an important influence but there is an organic, closely knit feel about Empirical’s new music that can only come from being a regular working group. “Elements Of Truth” is the sound of a band reaching full maturity and proof of this artistic growth was embodied in tonight’s excellent concert at Birmingham’s newly refurbished MAC Theatre, one of my favourite Midland venues.
Early on in their career Empirical established a very strong visual image with their multi racial line up and razor sharp threads. Tonight they were as immaculately groomed as ever, with Forbes and Facey looking particularly dapper, and as ever the announcements were shared between all four members of the group, a very public statement on the democratic nature of the band. All four were set up very closely together, in the manner of a chamber music group, and indeed there was a chamber quality about the music in the way that all four instruments could be heard equally and often simultaneously with no one player overly dominating. The term “chamber jazz” is sometimes used pejoratively with regard to music that is overly prettified but there’s a complexity and rigour to Empirical’s music that completely undermines that description/accusation.
Despite the complexity of their arrangements Empirical’s music is still strongly rooted in improvisation. Tonight’s concert sounded very different to the records, in part because pianist George Fogel, who guested on the last two albums was missing. At first I was rather disappointed by this as Fogel had become an integral part of “Elements Of Truth” and advance publicity had suggested that he would be making the tour. However as we were to find out the tour to date had been very different to what had originally been envisaged. An injury to Facey, sustained playing football meant that he had missed the first five dates of the tour and his place had been taken by guest artists including pianist Robert Mitchell and saxophonist Julian Siegel (who had guested on bass clarinet on “Out ‘n’ In”. Tonight was the first time the core quartet had performed together for quite some time.
They commenced a little tentatively with “Out But In”, Farmer’s Dolphy inspired piece from the group’s second album. At first the sound of Wright’s vibes was a little indistinct but after the opening number some judicious adjustments at the mixing desk ensured that the sound improved considerably with parity between the instruments being achieved and maintained. Using four mallets, a method pioneered by Gary Burton but now used by virtually all contemporary vibists, Wright adopted a mellow, marimba like tone for his solo with other significant solo contributions coming from Facey on alto and Farmer at the bass.
The bulk of tonight’s material was drawn from the latest album including Facey’s “Yin and Yang”, a piece with two distinct moods and lines running through it. Very different from the recorded version the piece began with a stunning solo hand drumming introduction from Forbes which incorporated both melody and rhythm and was far removed from the usual clatter of the by rote drum solo. Here Forbes playing ranged from the deliciously delicate to the powerfully polyrhythmic as he picked up his sticks, but most importantly of all it was innately musical. Facey’s incisive alto solo contrasted well with the shimmer of Wright’s vibes before the saxophonist dropped out to make way for a fragile vibes/bass duet later embellished by Forbes’ sympathetic cymbal work.
Farmer’s “Simple Things” initially lived up to it’s name with its memorable, almost child like melody later giving way to more complex collective improvising. From the same composer “An Ambiguous State Of Mind” embraced a similar range to Facey’s earlier “Yin And Yang” with atmospheric arco bass giving way to an insistent vibes and drum groove that paved the way for outstanding solos from Wright, here espousing a more percussive, metallic tone and Facey on alto, his declamatory tone signalling his most uninhibited and fiery playing of the evening thus far. It had been an excellent first set with tightly focussed, immaculately ensemble sections yet with the individual members given greater soloing freedom than on the record, on reflection the perfect combination for successful live performance.
If anything the second set was even better with both band and audience more relaxed in the face of this often challenging music. Farmer’s “Say What You Mean, Mean What You Say” , the opening piece on the new album, incorporated Facey’s whistling and wordless vocals plus interlocking sax and vibes supported by a highly flexible and adaptable rhythm section.
Another Forbes hand drum introduction presaged Facey’s as yet unrecorded “Milk and Honey” which saw the composer sharing the soloing with bassist Farmer. Facey suggested that the tune would be recorded in the future, possibly as some kind of bonus track. He also suggested that its omission from the new record was evidence that “Elements Of Truth” was their most satisfying record so far. Once again it was hard to disagree.
The group went back to their second album for their version of the Dolphy piece “Gazzelloni”, a tune that also appeared on “Out To Lunch!”. Originally written for flute Facey declared it to be a very tricky piece to play on the alto but he made a fine job of it with Wright fulfilling the Bobby Hutcherson role at the vibes. Farmer was also featured with a further bass solo and Forbes series of enterprising drum breaks were punctuated by the chime of Wright’s vibes, the latter approximating the sound of church bells.
Back to the most recent album for Facey’s “In The Grill”, a boxing term, but a piece also inspired by M Base founder Steve Coleman’s comment about the sport being “the sweet science of spatial awareness”. The music bore this out with each group member seemingly enmeshed within their own space yet simultaneously aware of their position within the whole.
They closed with “The Element Of Truth” itself, Wright’s composing début for the group and the title track of the new record. A virtuoso solo vibes introduction saw Wright layering the sound of his instrument by using the foot pedal to create a series of singing overtones. He uses a Musser vibraphone, the same make endorsed by the great Gary Burton, surely another role model. Elsewhere there were memorable contributions from Facey on unusually breathy sounding alto and Farmer on sonorously bowed bass.
The audience loved them and an encore was inevitable, this being the boppish Farmer composition “Spitting Them Out”, which almost seems a bit throwaway on the album but constitutes a terrific live number with Facey at his most Parker-ish and with a series of scintillating vibes and drum exchanges. Facey, in particular, seemed to enjoy this immensely, he just loves to play-”alto mad” as he puts it-and still plays provincial gigs with local rhythm sections as well as popping up in a Pharaoh headdress in the ranks of Jerry Dammers’ Spatial AKA Orchestra.
Tony Dudley Evans of Birmingham jazz reported a late surge in ticket sales following the group’s appearance on Jamie Cullum’s Radio 2 programme on February 14 with the Birmingham crowd at a pleasingly full MAC giving the group a great reception. Ever the professionals the guys in the band congregated in the foyer to sign albums and it was a tribute to their performance that they were kept very busy with a very impressive amount of albums being sold.
The tour continues with the remaining dates listed at http://www.empiricalmusic.com. This is a band on form. Catch them if you can.
Matthew Bourne; London, Cafe Oto; 15/02/2012
Matthew Bourne
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Reviewed by: Tim Owen
The remarkable thing, putting aside the affront of Bourne’s indelicate treatment of such a venerable and expensive instrument, was the musicality of every gesture.
Matthew Bourne entered the new year with a new record deal secured with the Leaf label, the first fruits of which is the solo showcase Montauk Variations. The album is predominantly comprised of uncharacteristically pastoral piano, although, this being a Bourne album, one can hear the influence of Keith Jarrett and other modernist touches alongside more classical influences, all leavened with the occasional irruption such as the well-titled “Étude Psychotique (for John Zorn)”, and the occasional percussive foray under the instrument’s lid, as on “One For You Keith”. Bourne also plays cello on two tracks, a talent he’s previously retained as a purely private pleasure.
The Café Oto concert was the album’s official launch night. Support was from laptop artists and one-time Leaf label mates Icarus, whose latest album, Fake Fish Distribution, was representative of the music they played at Oto (it can be bought only as digital download in a limited edition of 1000 unique versions). (You can read my review of Icarus’s set, which was characterized by overlapping skeins of electronic sound and eliding percussive strata, on my Dalston Sound blog.)
In a pre-concert Tweet, Matthew Bourne said he was “looking forward to…playing @Cafeoto’s lovely old grand…”. He came to that lovely grand piano with two stubby glass bottles of water, and proceeded to slam them heavily into, and rub them in bold arcs across the piano’s steel strings. The piano’s ribs were also subject to vigorous blows, producing clouds of complex harmonics. The remarkable thing, putting aside the affront of Bourne’s indelicate treatment of such a venerable and expensive instrument, was the musicality of every gesture.
The next piece came only after an uncommonly chatty Bourne regaled us with tales of identity confusion, which he says he’s no longer inclined to clarify; lately he’s inclined to follow up whatever offers of work may come his way. When he does settle to play his touch is sparing, the music he produces is reflective, and enriched by the dappled silence of decaying notes. The contrast with his introductory gambit couldn’t be more stark. (He later explained that this exercise-like rumination on just two chords resulted from “a place of despair”; an unproductive hour in the studio.)
In a particularly aching silence someone rudely straked a chair on the concrete floor. Bourne responded with a discordant thwack at the keyboard before resuming. After the piece, however, he said: “There’s a lot of squeaks and stuff at this venue. I love it”, before demonstrating just how volubly creaky the piano is, and inviting mass participation in a communal scraping and rasping of chairs.
The restlessness engendered by the audience participation was again redirected inside the piano, this time played with rapid finger taps and palm slaps, sometimes extremely rapid and hair-raisingly resonant. The following piece was characterised by the richness of soft, measured sustains. This polarity, between the bucolic and the percussive, was persisted throughout the evening.
The rapid, scampering note clusters and occasional detonations of Bourne’s next improvisation were interrupted when, having grabbed a towel to wipe away sweat, he playfully rubbed the towel along the keyboard for effect, then turned the lost momentum inward in a coda of crepuscular tranquility.
Next Bourne was attacking the block at the far right of the keyboard, repeatedly and aggressively thwacking it to produce a stack of simple multi-phonic reverberations, the effect as galvanizing as the shower stabs in Psycho. Ultimately the block was wrested from the piano and unsuccessfully used as a ‘preparation’ on the piano’s strings.
At one point Bourne commented: “I feel like Jaggers out of Great Expectations; a highfalutin’ literary reference there.” And a cryptic one too. In contrast, the piece dedicated “to a new dad” was so tender, played so straight yet free of cliché, that the truth of the sentiment was evident.
As on Montauk Variations, everything Bourne played before the encore was improvised. And as on the album, that encore was Charlie Chaplin’s “Smile”. Bourne mined beneath the tune’s maudlin exterior for its pathos and humanity.
“Beginnings” is an impressive calling card with the promise of even greater things to come.
Josh Arcoleo
“Beginnings”
(Edition Records EDN1030)
Twenty three year old tenor saxophonist Josh Arcoleo is already beginning to make a big impression on the UK jazz scene. His appropriately titled début album appears on the increasingly influential Edition label and finds him in the company of Phronesis pianist Ivo Neame plus a rhythm section of bassist Calum Gourlay and drummer James Maddren.
The Royal Academy of Music graduate has also studied extensively with former James Brown saxophonist Pee Wee Ellis and toured with Ellis’ Assembly and Still Black,Still Proud bands. 2011 also saw him performing as part of the sextet that pianist Kit Downes took on the road in support of the excellent album “Quiet Tiger”. This ensemble included Gourlay and Maddren, Downes’ partners in his regular trio.
The “Beginnings” album came about as a direct result of Arcoleo’s winning of the inaugural Kenny Wheeler Jazz Prize in 2011, part of the award being the opportunity to make an album with Edition. On the evidence of this recording Arcoleo has grabbed his chance with both hands and the result is an assured, confident and mature musical statement. Other awards have also been forthcoming including a Yamaha Parliamentary Jazz Scholarship and prizes from the EMI Sound Foundation and MBF Young Talent.
The first thing that strikes the listener upon hearing this recording is the size and fullness of Arcoleo’s tone. His sound has a richness that suggests the playing of a much older man and even allowing for the excellent contributions of his colleagues there’s no mistaking just whose album this is. His writing exhibits a similar maturity, it’s arguably a little derivative at times but impresses just the same. “Beginnings” is an impressive calling card with the promise of even greater things to come.
The album’s eight pieces are all Arcoleo originals beginning with “Dean Road”, a good introduction to Arcoleo’s fluent muscularity. The piece hints at hard bop roots but Arcoloeo has absorbed many other influences and the music sounds thoroughly contemporary. The saxophonist takes the first solo but Neame’s contribution is just as fine, and, as his work with Phronesis has already shown, he has developed in to one of the UK’s best and most adventurous piano soloists. Gourlay and Maddren exhibit the same flexibility and attention to detail that they routinely display in Downes’ groups and elsewhere. Maddren, in particular, is an asset to any recording as discs by Neame, Gwilym Simcock, Jonathan Bratoeff and others have demonstrated.
Solo piano introduces the sinuous and episodic “Nomad’s Land”, a remarkably mature piece of writing with a tricky but memorable theme. Neame’s solo is both expansive and lyrical and Arcoleo displays an astonishing facility on his instrument as his solo probes and needles. Maddren’s colourful, neatly energetic drumming is a joy throughout with his cymbal work particularly impressive.
The gentle balladry of “Glade” sees Arcoleo demonstrating his sensitive side and adopting a breathy, lyrical tone. It’s a master-class in elegance and restraint and the maturity of the saxophonist’s playing is matched by his colleagues with Maddren again impressing, this time with the quality of his brush work.
The title track is presaged by the brief “Intro To Beginnings” with an intimate sax/piano duet later embellished by Maddren’s cymbal splashes and mallet rumbles. This appears to be the calm before the storm as squalling tenor introduces “Beginnings” proper but Arcoleo’s subsequent solo is far more searching and intelligent as he explores the wider range of his instrument underpinned by Maddren’s polyrhytmic drumming. Gourlay steps into the foreground with an inventive, deeply resonant solo as Maddren chatters around him before Arcoleo reasserts himself, eventually resolving the piece with a restatement of the attractive theme.
“Harbinger” is a gutsy saxophone/drum duet (shades of Sonny Rollins perhaps) but the following “Phoenix” begins as a feature for the excellent Neame who interacts thoughtfully with Gourlay and Maddren on the tune’s introduction. The trio make maximum use of space, something that continues even after Arcoleo’s arrival but the saxophonist subtly expands his playing to push the piece forward, gradually filling the gaps with his fluent phrasing. The piece seems to develop exponentially, culminating in a feature for Maddren which develops into a further duet with Arcoloeo suggesting that this and the previous piece are thematically linked. “Phoenix” then resolves itself with an unexpectedly lyrical coda.
The concluding “Kite Flight” is as light and airy as it’s title suggests with both Arcoleo and Neame at their most lyrical. The leader’s tenor positively soars and Neame’s solo is suitably rhapsodic. It’s a delightful way to close a stunningly assured début album.
By contemporary standards “Beginnings” is a relatively short album, clocking in between forty five and fifty minutes but Arcoleo’s writing doesn’t waste a moment and the playing from all four members of the quartet is superb throughout. Immaculate recording also ensures that the listener gets to hear and appreciate every detail, nuance and inflection.
Arcoleo has delivered a startlingly mature and accomplished début and the album title speaks of even greater things to come. In the meantime “Beginnings” is a highly satisfying piece of work in its own right.
Centre-Line, Dempsey’s, Cardiff, 14/02/2012.
Centre-Line
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Reviewed by: Ian Mann
Ian Mann enjoys a punchy live performance from contemporary fusion group Centre-Line and also takes a look at their album "A Virtual Joyride".
Centre-Line, Dempsey’s, Cardiff, 14/02/2012.
Centre-Line is a hard hitting contemporary fusion outfit co-led by tenor saxophonist Russell van den Berg and drummer Darren Altman. The line up is completed by Guitarist Jez Franks and electric bassist Jon Harvey both of whom make a substantial contribution to the group’s sound.
I first encountered Altman’s playing when he backed singer Sarah Ellen Hughes at a recent engagement at Black Mountain Jazz in Abergavenny (a show reviewed elsewhere on this site). He subsequently sent me copy of Centre-Line’s latest self released album “A Virtual Joyride”, a highly enjoyable recording that features much of the material that we heard tonight on the latest date of a UK tour in support of the album.
Although van den Berg is the main composer on the record the album was actually recorded nearly two years ago and the other three members have subsequently become more involved in the writing process-as tonight’s set revealed. Centre-Line’s music is a brand of intelligent fusion and the album is given a distinctive feel by van den Berg’s use of the Akai EWI 4000 on four of the ten pieces. I’ve never really been that convinced by the EWI and had largely dismissed as a 70’s/80’s abomination. Even such great players as Wayne Shorter and Michael Brecker failed to truly deliver on what I increasingly came to dismiss as a novelty instrument. However I found myself re-evaluating when hearing van den Berg on this album, maybe the technology has moved on but I found his playing of the instrument both interesting and convincing. There was therefore a certain irony in the fact that tonight his EWI had given him technical problems during the sound check, constantly going out of tune, and he’d therefore resigned himself to doing the whole gig on the tenor. I only found this out after speaking to Altman afterwards (of course we talked football too) and during the set I’d been waiting patiently for the beast to make an appearance and was rather disappointed when it didn’t. Ironic really after what I’ve just written about it, maybe it knew I was coming.
Not that the EWI’s no show was a disaster, van den Berg is a monster tenor player with a huge sound and an astonishing degree of stamina that belies his rather bookish appearance (rather like his protégé Duncan Eagles from Partikel, in fact). Van den Berg’s solos were often stunningly fluent marathon affairs driven by his co-leader’s crisp, rock accented drumming, Harvey’s propulsive electric bass and Franks’ consistently inventive guitar chording.
They began with “Saturday”, van den Berg’s surging album opener which featured the first of several epic tenor solos followed by a strong contribution of his own from Franks and a series of drum breaks from the powerful Altman, here playing in a very different style to that exhibited behind vocalist Hughes. His bass drum is decorated with Tottenham Hotspur’s famous cockerel motif, not much doubt where his footballing loyalties lie!
“Virtual Joyride” itself is a Franks composition full of adventurous harmonic contours based around what sounded like an insistent sly reference to the standard “Fly Me To The Moon”. After a typically lengthy, probing van den Berg tenor solo Franks took over, his soloing here as elsewhere a beguiling mix of jazz agility and intelligence and rock timbres. Franks is a guitarist who uses his rock influences and effects, particularly the sustain pedal, wisely and effectively and his playing, whether as soloist or accompanist was consistently engrossing. His clever chording and comping underpinned many solos including Harvey’s bubbling excursion on his distinctive six string electric bass.
Also from the album van den Berg’s “Jez’s Birthday”, named in honour of his band mate was a two parter that began atmospherically with a lengthy solo tenor sax intro with Franks later adding guitar sound-washes to Altman’s mallet rumbles. I’d guess that this was more or less freely improvised as the album version comprises entirely of what here formed the second part of the piece. Buoyed by Harvey’s elastic bass groove the mood was suitably celebratory with the birthday boy himself producing a suitably exultant guitar solo.
The next item lowered the temperature a little, a kind of fusion ballad from the pen of Altman (the title of which I didn’t quite catch) with solos from van den Berg, Harvey and Franks who adopted a clean, picked guitar sound.
After this pause for breath Harvey’s high octane funk tune “Gracie’s House” closed the first set on an energetic note with van den Berg’s powerful tenor solo contrasting nicely with Franks’ slyly witty contribution. Composer Harvey also ensured that he got to strut his stuff with an effervescent bass solo.
The second set saw the quartet stretching out even further on four extended work outs including two tunes from the album and two newer pieces. From the record van den Berg’s Latin inflected “Emblissi” included memorable solos from both Franks and the composer. The album version includes van den Berg’s use of the EWI but this live version was equally as effective.
Also from the record the saxophonist’s “Boy With Nails In His Eyes” takes its title from a Tim Burton poem and represents one of the album’s outstanding cuts. After van den Berg had stated theme franks soloed inventively above the martial chatter of Altman’s drums. As on the previous item the recorded version makes use of the EWI but here van den Berg dug in on tenor to deliver his most expansive and powerful solo of the night. Terrific stuff.
Harvey’s “The Ride” was cut from the same funk template as the first set’s “Gracie’s House”. Once again Harvey’s percolating bass grooves set the pace with solos coming from the composer and Franks at the guitar. There was also a drum feature from Altman as Van den berg took something of a back seat, no doubt enjoying a welcome set after his marathon sax excursion on the previous piece.
The evening concluded with an as yet unrecorded van den berg tune entitled “In Pursuit”. Following customarily strong solos from van den Berg and Franks the piece concluded with a stunning sax and drums duet between the co-leaders which seemed to embody the close knit musical relationship between the pair, a partnership that dates back to 1993 when Van den berg and Altman were both studying at Leeds College of Music. The democratic nature of the partnership was also emphasised by the way in which van den Berg acted as announcer for the first set with Altman taking over for the second (perhaps appropriately, he’s also a voiceover artist).
Not that Centre-Line is just about it’s co-leaders, Franks’ contribution is also vital. His intelligent, consistently inventive and highly personalised guitar style is a big factor in the group’s success. With Harvey supplying the funk factor and also emerging as a composer this is a well drilled unit with plenty to recommend it.
With the EWI taking an unscheduled sabbatical tonight’s set was more straight-ahead (relatively) than had been expected but was none the worse for that. The group are still on tour (remaining dates below) and their energetic show is well worth seeing, the playing both punchy and intelligent. The album “A Virtual Joyride” represents a good concert souvenir but is also an eminently satisfying record in its own right. Hopefully it will sell well throughout the current tour. Remaining dates are as follows.
February 16th – Café Jazz, Cardiff.
February 17th – The Bebop Club, Bristol
February 24th – The Meeting House, Illminster
February 26th – 7Arts – Leeds. Lunchtime
March
March 6th – Annies, Leigh on Sea
March 15th – Jazz Steps, Nottingham
March 22nd – Teignmouth Jazz
March 23rd – Torfaen Jazz Society, Pontypool, Wales
March 29th – HX7 Jazz, Hebden Bridge
http://www.centrelinemusic.com
An impressive and sophisticated début recording full of colourful, adventurous writing and top quality playing.
Yuriy Galkin Nonet
“Nine Of A Kind”
(F-ire Presents F-IRE CD 50)
Born in Russia in 1982 bassist and composer Yuriy Galkin is a fascinating figure. Having studied classical piano from the age of seven he took up electric bass at fifteen and quickly achieved a high standard of proficiency on the instrument. A fascination with jazz and the acoustic double bass came a couple of years later.
Galkin studied aeronautical engineering to degree level whilst simultaneously maintaining a professional music career but in 2002 he concentrated on music full time and enrolled on the jazz course at Russia’s Gnessin Musical Academy. He moved to London in 2004 to undertake a postgraduate course at the Royal Academy of Music which brought him into contact with many of Britain’s leading young jazz musicians.
Many of these became members of Galkin’s Symbiosis Jazz Orchestra which was formed in 2008 and subsequently mutated into this current nonet. Galkin cites such seminal jazz figures as Charles Mingus, Miles Davis, Joe Henderson, Dave Holland and Wayne Shorter as influences on his writing and it’s clear from the maturity of his own compositions that Galkin has chosen his role models wisely. “Nine Of A Kind” is an impressive and sophisticated début recording and its seven lengthy, tightly orchestrated compositions are superbly played by a stellar band of emerging jazz musicians.
Joining Galkin on acoustic and electric bass, John Turville on piano and Dave Hamblett at the drums is a six piece horn section featuring Freddie Gavita and Richard Turner (trumpets), Jon Stokes (trombone), Dafydd Williams (alto sax), George Crowley (tenor sax) and the versatile Tamar Osborne (baritone & soprano saxes, bass clarinet). The album is given an unwanted poignancy by the fact that this was one of the last recordings made by Richard Turner whose life was tragically cut short during the summer 2011. Galkin also dedicates the album to his former bass tutor Jeff Clyne, a more senior figure but one who also deserved more time.
Galkin’s nine piece band make an impressively full sound that owes something not only to Miles Davis’ “Birth Of The Cool” nonet but also to more contemporary composers such as Mike Gibbs.
Galkin’s composing skills have been honoured by Tim Garland who awarded him first prize in the 2007 UK Composition Competition and by his winning of the 2010 Dankworth Composition Prize for “Evolvent”, the opening track on this current CD.
At over ten minutes in length “Evolvent” lives up to its name with its unfolding moods and textures. The horn voicings are rich and adventurous with instruments often doubling up. Galkin achieves an admirable breadth of colour from the instruments at his disposal with the “rhythm section” an integral part of the collective process. Although the piece is primarily about the ensemble there also some fine individual moments from Turville at the piano, both trumpeters and Crowley on tenor.
“One For Fred” is more gentle and acts as something of a feature for Gavita on flugelhorn, His velvet tones cushioned by Galkin’s lush but thoughtful arrangement. Williams also features strongly with a quietly incisive alto solo and Galkin also gives a demonstration of his abilities as a fluent double bass soloist.
The leader moves to electric bass for the funky and lively “Terminal X”. Exaltant Tower of Power style horns ride a funky backbeat with solos coming from Crowley on tenor, fiery trumpet (presumably Turner this time although the sleeve notes fail to identify the soloists) and Turville at the piano. Also the leader of his own trio Turville is very much the glue that holds the ensemble together and his work, either as soloist or accompanist, is inspired throughout. The pianist also underpins the closing feature for drummer Dave Hamblett.
“Bass Song” is aptly named with the composer’s unaccompanied double bass opening the piece and setting the mood for what is to follow. One of the album’s gentler pieces the tune also includes some delightful work in the lower registers from Osborn, his bass clarinet offset by the sweetness of the muted trumpets. Galkin again exhibits great fluency and dexterity with a lengthy bass solo mid tune and trombonist Stokes also enjoys a moment in the spotlight. The rich, lush textures of this piece make it one of the album’s quiet delights.
The next two items are thematically linked with the sinuous “Episode II” featuring densely knit horn arrangements and a more extended trombone feature. Turville impresses once more as does rising star George Crowley. The more reflective “Episode III” is modally constructed and deploys longer melodic lines. It’s the least cluttered track on the album and in some ways the most adventurous with the soloists being given more space and room in which to express themselves. Reeds, bass and trombone all feature strongly with a nagging horn motif linking the solos. Hamblett’s gently rolling polyrhythms provide pulse and colour throughout.
“Labyrinth” is a suitably upbeat closer that gives the musicians plenty of room to stretch out with Turville and Galkin featuring alongside the horns.
“Nine Of A Kind” is an ambitious album full of colourful, adventurous writing and top quality playing. Galkin will be taking a version of the nonet on tour and the group’s big but highly textured souns should be well worth hearing in a live context. The experienced Steve Fishwick takes over on trumpet from the sadly departed Turner and Galkin’s compatriot Zhenya Strigalev takes over the alto chair from Dafydd Williams.
NINE OF A KIND TOUR
16 Feb 2012 – Pizza Express Jazz Club – Soho, London – 8pm
19 Feb 2012 – The Stables Theatre – Milton Keynes – 8pm
28 Feb 2012 – The Headgate Theatre – Colchester – 8pm
29 Feb 2012 – Jazz at the Lescar – Sheffield – 9pm
1 March 2012 – Leeds College of Music – Leeds – 8pm
2 March 2012 – Matt & Phred’s Jazz Club – Manchester – 9.30pm
19 March 2012 – Southampton Jazz Club – Southampton – 8.30pm
23 March 2012 – Fairfield Halls & Ashcroft Theatre – Croydon - 8pm
More information at http://www.yuriygalkin.com
Jensen / Ehwald
Henrik Jensen and Peter Ehwald
Monday, February 13, 2012
Reviewed by: Ian Mann
Ian Mann on the debut recording by this intimate double bass / saxophone duo. He also considers their earlier work as part of The North Trio.
Henrik Jensen and Peter Ehwald
“Jensen Ehwald”
(Music Chamber MC0011)
I first encountered the Danish born, London based bassist and composer Henrik Jensen when he performed at nearby Presteigne in April 2011 as part of pianist Will Butterworth’s trio. Since then we have kept in touch and Jensen has recently forwarded me a copy of this intimate duo album recorded with German saxophonist Peter Ehwald. I know of Ehwald through his work with the Anglo-German quartet Paragon also featuring bassist Matthias Nowak and the Brit contingent of pianist Arthur Lea and drummer Jon Scott. Their excellent album “Quarterlife Crisis” is reviewed elsewhere on this site.
Jensen and Ehwald have worked together on and off for some ten years, releasing a very good album, “Songs of Trees” on the 33 Records label in 2008. This was recorded under the name of The North Trio with the pair collaborating with drummer Wolfgang Hohn. “Songs of Trees” is a highly accomplished album comprised entirely of original material with Ehwald contributing six pieces, Jensen four and Hohn the closing “Xilef”. Ehwald remains on tenor sax throughout and the record is a highly melodic and accessible exploration of the art of the saxophone trio with a good level of interaction between the players. Many of the melodies have a folk like feel and this is something that Jensen and Ehwald have carried forward to the more exposed setting of this eponymous duo album.
“Jensen Ehwald” is a collection of German and Danish folk and traditional songs with the two protagonists each contributing one original in a similar vein. By contemporary standards it’s relatively brief album, clocking in at just over thirty eight minutes, but in this sparse and exposed setting the length is just about right. The music was recorded at London’s Union Chapel, an acclaimed concert venue, but this would appear to be an “on location” recording with Jensen and Ehwald taking advantage of the venue’s atmosphere and acoustics. If an audience was present all traces of their presence have been comprehensively edited out.
The mood of the album is largely contemplative and reflective with Jensen’s deeply resonant but flexible and agile bass underpinning Ehwald’s wispy melodicism. Nonetheless there’s plenty of room for Jensen to stretch out and it’s to his credit that the many passages for solo bass are consistently absorbing and inventive.
The duo begin with an appropriately light and airy and joyous of rendition Johann Friedrich Reichart’s “If I Would Be A Bird” before varying the mood with a more sombre reading of the traditional German tune “Farewell To Good Night”. The latter is played at an almost funereal pace but there is a real beauty behind the apparent sadness. The hymn tune “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” was written by no less a luminary than Martin Luther himself and the duo’s treatment of the piece again inspires with its austere beauty.
The Danish folk song that follows almost comes as something of a light relief. Ehwald’s dancing, squiggling soprano on the brief “It Was A Saturday Evening” is sometimes reminiscent of Jan Garbarek’s forays into Nordic folk music with Jensen’s bass providing the perfect counterpoint.
Jensen’s own “Butterfly” is appropriately led by the bass with Ehwald adding tender snatches of tenor melody. Ehwald’s lovely “Highlands” includes moments of richly bowed bass in conjunction with the composer’s gently ruminative tenor sax.
Oluf Ring’s “The Time Is Near” features a gorgeous folk melody which is tenderly and tastefully embellished by the duo. There’s an excellent youtube clip of Jensen and Ehwald performing this tune live at St. Peter’s Church in London on the duo’s website http://www.jensenehwald.com
A lengthier reprise of “It Was A Saturday Evening” offers a more reflective look at the melody with Ehwald again on soprano.
The album concludes with Paul Gerhardt’s “Now All The Woods Are Sleeping” with breathy tenor and deeply woody bass creating an appropriately nocturnal atmosphere. Like the rest of the album the music is unhurried and deeply contemplative. The duo focus on mood building and although the standard of musicianship is astonishingly high throughout there is no grandstanding. Control and discipline are the duo’s watchwords and the music positively benefits from the virtues of their cool, calm restraint.
Immaculately recorded by Les Mommsen “Jensen Ehwald” is an excellent mood piece and a total success on its own terms. The way in which the duo sustain an atmosphere of calm and contemplation throughout the recording is exemplary but the pared down setting may be a little too sparse for some listeners.
For this reason, if pushed, I’d be more eager to press into your hands the North Trio’s album “Songs Of Trees” where the duo’s innate melodicism is augmented by the additional textures, rhythm and punctuation of Hohn’s colourful and inventive drumming. At times the trio’s music with it’s strong melodies and polyrhythmic drumming reminds me of the young British saxophone trio Partikel (saxophonist Duncan Eagles, bassist Max Luthert and drummer Eric Ford), a recommendation in itself but given the 2008 release date of the North Trio album they may have been an influence on Partikel rather than the other way round.
Ian’s star ratings;
Jensen Ehwald 3.5 Stars
The North Trio “Songs Of Trees” 4 Stars
The Jensen Ehwald Duo will be playing at St. Ethelburga’s Church, Bishopsgate, London on Friday February 17th 2012. Details as follows;
JENSEN/EHWALD DUO
Henrik Jensen-double bass
Peter Ehwald-reeds
Friday 17 February 2012 7:30 PM to 10:00 PM
Location
Music at St Ethelburga’s
78 Bishopsgate
London, EC2N 4AG
United Kingdom
Contact
Phone: 07776136609
Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Entry £12, £10 adv.
http://www.jensenehwald.com
http://www.music-chamber.com
All There, Ever Out
Alexander Hawkins Ensemble
Friday, February 10, 2012
Reviewed by: Tim Owen
A mostly exuberantly idiosyncratic set that's far too good to pass over
Alexander Hawkins Ensemble
All There, Ever Out
Babel Label
The instrumentation alone makes me want to hear this ensemble, in which Alex Hawkins (piano, Hammond organ) plays alongside Orphy Robinson on marimba; Otto Fischer, electric guitar; Hannah Marshall, cello; Dominic Lash, double bass; and Javier Carmona, drums and percussion.
In the powerful free music trio ‘Decoy’, Hawkins plays Hammond organ exclusively. Here he plays acoustic piano on all but one track, while guest Kit Downes on Hammond B3 doubles Hawkins’ piano on another.
All There, Ever Out was released last year, but is far too good to pass over for review. The ensembles’ second album in as many years, following Song/Dance (Clean Feed, 2010), it marks them out as one of the most vividly distinctive in contemporary jazz.
The first two tracks, “Ologbo (Double Trio)” and “Tatum Totem III”, make the most of pairings: drums and marimba, and bass and cello respectively. The initial impression is something like Eric Dolphy’s Out to Lunch, if re-arranged by Charles Mingus. The give-and-take between Marshall and Lash is essential. They give the ensemble a rich low end without locking it down, while the percussionists give the music both its drama and its bounce.
The brief track on which Hawkins plays organ, the curiously-titled “AW/LJ (Differently)”, is delicate, but with a reined-in tension, the Hammond’s muggy slithers and whorls unsettled by Carmona’s disruptive percussion and unsettling cymbal-scrapes.
“Ahab” invokes the same stumblebum drunk celebrated (if that’s the right word) in Eric Dolphy’s “Straight Up And Down”. Tom Waits, I think, would just love this. But this drunk is heading home on a stormy night. Hawkins’s piano is buffeted by bass hits and whipped along by tempestuous percussion until Fischer’s guitar cuts in and nudges the ensemble back on course.
“(Untitled Free Improvisation)” is a nice slice of freedom. A whole album like this would be fine, but here it’s just a quirky interlude. It does, however, witness the ensemble settling quickly into a fine equilibrium, and it’s interesting to hear the various ways in which, free of compositional structures, they tug at each other. The performance finds its shape in a wonderfully unpredictable conclusion.
“Marta”, composed by guitarist Fischer, is a slow number that arrives at a curiously stately theme via a series of tense disjunctions. It contrasts nicely with the following “Elmoic”. Titled, I guess, in honour of Elmo Hope, this begins as a solo for Hawkins with a Monkish bebop swagger (indeed, Hawkins quotes Monk’s “Hackensack”, though the ensemble development of the melody suggests the Bill Frisell Band version rather than Monk’s own). Fischer’s clean guitar and Robinson’s dry-bones marimba over Lash’s bass thump add to the alt-vintage feel.
Set-closer “So Very, Know”, is a somber meditation, with electric guitar harmonics radiating from Kit Downes’ introductory Hammond lour. Hawkins’ piano, when it enters, lifts the baleful mood they’ve established into something more expressively introspective and elegiac. The track is a curiously downtempo and affecting conclusion to an otherwise exuberantly idiosyncratic set.
Breach's updating of the classic organ trio works remarkably well, applying rock power and contemporary jazz sophistication in roughly equal measure.
Breach
“On The Walk”
(BREACHCD01)
Breach is an organ trio featuring three of Scotland’s leading contemporary jazz musicians. The group’s organist, Paul Harrison, is also an exceptional pianist who has worked in this capacity with many of Scotland’s key jazz figures, among them saxophonists Martin Kershaw and Paul Towndrow. Harrison and Kershaw have also worked together in the electro jazz outfit Trianglehead and Harrison’s love of electronic experimentation has also manifested itself via his “Phenoplastic” persona.
Guitarist Graeme Stephen has guested with Trianglehead and also performs as one half of a duo with folk/jazz crossover artist Fraser Fifield (saxophones, pipes, whistles). As well as leading his own sextet Stephen is also a key member of the acclaimed experimental trio NeWt alongside drummer Chris Wallace and trombonist Chris Greive.
Besides his involvement with NeWt Canadian born drummer Wallace also leads the quartet Loose Grip and albums by both these bands are reviewed elsewhere on this site.
As the experimental credentials of its participants might suggest 2011’s self released “On The Walk” is a long way removed from your standard hard grooving, meat ‘n’ potatoes organ trio album. This group is far more adventurous and the nine compositions, spread relatively evenly between the members of the band, cover a range of moods and styles whilst exploring a variety of rhythms, colours and textures. The trio’s harmonic adventurous has been compared to Tony Williams’ Lifetime but a more suitable contemporary British parallel might be Troyka (guitarist Chris Montague, organist Kit Downes and drummer Josh Blackmore) albeit without quite as many vintage prog rock trappings.
The album begins with Wallace’s title track, an odd meter delight full of gently needling guitar lines and inventive, exotic drumming. Harrison’s Hammond adds a more traditional warmth to an intriguing, multi faceted opener that includes a freer, more impressionistic central section featuring Stephen’s guitar.
Stephen’s own “There It Is” continues the reflective mood, a slowly unfolding ballad that opens like a flower and features a deeply soulful solo from Harrison and exquisitely precise cymbal work from Wallace.
Introduced by Wallace at the drums Stephen’s “Blink” adds a rock element as guitar and organ bounce staccato phrases off each other above a vigorous percussive backdrop. Stephen’s guitar sound is heavily rock influenced and Harrison’s feverish solo also owes something to rock keyboard players. It’s perhaps the piece that comes closest to Troyka’s approach and is none the worse for that. Impressive stuff.
Harrison’s “The City From The Window” is a highly descriptive piece of writing that builds slowly from a gentle solo guitar introduction through lush,church inspired organ to an edgier effects laden guitar solo. Behind the drums Wallace reacts to these developments with empathy and aplomb, almost assuming the lead in the tunes closing stages as he roams around his kit underpinned by the swell of the Hammond.
Also by Harrison the spiky “The Subject” edges closer to vintage fusion with Stephen again adopting a rock influenced sound as organ and guitar trade sparky solos with Wallace again finishing strongly.
The drummer’s “Horizons” lowers the temperature initially with a near ballad that features expansive solos for guitar and organ plus his own receptive support before gaining momentum to include the now customary closing drum feature.
Wallace’s “Light/Tunnel” begins impressionistically before quickly evolving into an odd meter groover with Stephen adopting a choked, rock influenced sound on an urgent but remarkably fluent solo. The more rounded tones of Harrison’s Hammond offer a good counterpoint and Wallace himself again features strongly, particularly in the closing stages.
The ten minute “Thirst”, also written by Wallace is something an epic and owes something to the structure of prog rock. Tricky, gutsy unison passages alternate with fiery solos and more impressionistic, sci fi interludes.
Stephen takes up the compositional reins again for the closing “Roon Toon”, a futuristic tour of a city that I assume represents the group’s Edinburgh base. It’s a spiky, edgy depiction of a city after dark with sheets of rock influenced guitar noise, monstrously Gothic organ and suitably powerful drumming.
In the main Breach’s updating of the classic organ trio works remarkably well, applying rock power
and contemporary jazz sophistication in roughly equal measure. By and large the group avoid all the old organ trio clichés to come up with something fresh and dynamic. There’s a high degree of interaction between the three musicians and the writing is colourful, full of interesting and intelligent ideas and is often highly descriptive. Breach’s sense of adventure is to be applauded and I would imagine that they make a pretty exciting live proposition.
A bold statement of intent. Portico Quartet remain one of the most forward looking groups around -in any genre.
Portico Quartet
“Portico Quartet”
(Real World)
It has been a momentous last twelve months for Portico Quartet. Almost a year ago I saw them perform as part of a double bill with Penguin Café at Warwick Arts Centre (see review elsewhere on this site). At this time it seemed to be pretty much business as usual albeit with the group experimenting more openly with electronica than usual, a development that began with their second album (and their first for Peter Gabriel’s Real World label) “Isla” produced by the great John Leckie of Stone Roses fame.
Leckie’s sonic mastery was obviously a huge influence on the band. “Isla” was a much more darkly hued record than their sunny 2007 début “Knee Deep In The North Sea (Babel Records). It not only introduced the group’s first experiments with live looping, sampling and other electronic gizmos but was also more improvisatory in nature. The group’s trademark use of the hang drum, mainly played by founder and unofficial leader Nick Mulvey had become less central to their sound and by early May 2011 when I saw the group again at Cheltenham Jazz Festival Mulvey had decided to quit the band to concentrate on his parallel solo career as a singer songwriter (he is also a talented vocalist and guitarist). Cheltenham turned out to be Mulvey’s last Portico appearance and the group played much of the show as a trio. Mulvey appears to have left the group on good terms and long term Portico fans will no doubt wish him well in his new career.
Later that same month I saw the group again at Hay Festival by which time Mulvey’s replacement Keir Vine was settling into the group contributing hang and keyboards to a group sound making even greater use of electronics. If Cheltenham was vastly different to Warwick then Hay was something else again as the group pushed even deeper into the world of electronica with drummer Duncan Bellamy, bassist Milo Fitzpatrick and saxophonist Jack Wyllie all augmenting their set ups with various electronic devices. Bellamy, now the chief spokesman of the band was deploying a console and a battery of electronic percussion very much in the manner of Food’s Thomas Stronen.
With so many stylistic changes having occurred within the space of a few short months PQ’s new album must be one of the most keenly anticipated releases of the year. The eponymous title seems to be a bold statement of intent; “this is what we are now” and while it may not represent a denial of the band’s past it certainly seems to be a manifesto for the future. They have also taken the brave step of dispensing with Leckie’s services and producing the album themselves.
“Portico Quartet” reveals the band diving deeper into the shaping and treatment of sound itself and edging even further away from jazz-but in a good way. One famous definition of jazz is “the sound of surprise” but sadly much of it is anything but. However PQ fit the criteria to a T- ever evolving, always subtly different this is a young band who have retained their spirit of adventure. PQ have embraced their new electronic gadgets in the manner of kids let loose in a toyshop. Despite the grainy patina of much of this music there’s still the feeling that the band are enjoying it all immensely as they re-invent themselves. This is just the next stage in a remarkable musical journey.
The ten tracks on “Portico Quartet” are sonic adventures that blend melody, colour, nuance and texture into a coherent whole that remains eminently accessible but without any hint of compromise in the band’s methods. Conventional jazz soloing has been pretty much discontinued and the sound of the hang is less central to the band’s sound than ever. In Vine’s hands the instrument is often sampled making it closer in timbre to the electronic sounds generated by his colleagues. Vine also adds the sound of the Prophet synthesiser to the band’s sonic palette and the result is music that veers ever closer to the worlds of ambient, electronic and even dance music. Not that the group have lost their knack for a melodic hook, there are smatterings of infectious melody circulating throughout the ten relatively short tracks that make up the album. As on previous releases all the compositions are credited collectively, the implication being that improvisation remains central to PQ’s creative process.
The new album begins with the atmospherics of the quietly pulsating “Window Seat” with Fitzpatrick’s eerily bowed bass floating above a bed of sequenced electronica and other effects .It’s a long way removed from anything on either of their first two albums.
“Ruins” sounds a little more like the Portico of old with its catchy sax melodies and interlocking rhythms featuring Bellamy’s drum grooves and the percolations of Vine’s hang. But that familiarity is tempered by elements of the new, Wyllie’s sax sound is heavily treated and elements of electronica again snake their way throughout the track.
“Spinner” pits Wyllie’s long sax lines against Fitzpatrick’s powerful bass groove and the clatter of Bellamy’s electronic percussion. Like the preceding “Ruins” it’s a good bridge between Portico past and present.
At eight minutes plus “Rubidium” represents one of the album’s longer pieces and develops gradually from Vine’s hang introduction as the band carefully layers the music. From the dream like intro Vine’s needling synthesiser leads into and provides the backdrop for a powerful Bellamy drum feature, this before eventually subsiding back into an ethereal electronic soundscape.
“Export for Hot Climates” is a charming miniature that sees saxophonist Wyllie switching to acoustic upright piano. This is followed by “Lacker Boo”, one of the album’s stand out tracks with the rich sound of Fitzpatrick’s arco bass wrapped up in chattering synths and programmed drum beats. And that’s only in the first section, the second half of the tune represents Portico’s most futuristic music yet, a soundtrack for an updated “Blade Runner”.
Swedish vocalist Cornelia (Dahlgren) joins the group for the song “Steepless” adding her child like Bjork-ish voice to the proceedings. She receives a writing credit too, the haunting lyrics are presumably hers, and the piece is a superb juxtaposition of the human and the mechanical with Cornelia’s voice sounding fragile and vulnerable amongst the electro-clatter of the band’s music.
“4096 Colours” was inspired by a band visit to Cologne Cathedral. The colours of the title represent the patterns formed by the light shining through Gerhard Richter’s stained glass windows. The group summon up the echoing vastness of the Cathedral with their music, layers of multi tracked saxophone and electronics combine to express an epic grandeur. Interestingly the purity of the sound somehow reminds me of Miles Davis’ bell like trumpet tone.
The title of “City of Glass” may represent an oblique reference to the Philip Glass (and Steve Reich) comparisons that have been made throughout the band’s career – or perhaps not. In any event it’s another stand out item and is positively cinematic in its scope. Infectious bass and drum grooves contrast with brooding, heavily treated sax lines and swirling, unsettling electronic effects. It’s utterly compelling and as good as anything they’ve ever done. The squeaks and drones of the brief “Trace” represent a brief, and not particularly pertinent coda-unless it’s to hint that the group’s journey into the world of experimental music is only just beginning.
“Portico Quartet” has garnered almost unanimously favourable reviews and rightly so. The band’s willingness to experiment allied to their flair for melody is a winning combination that sees them continue to gather new fans. Like rock bands from The Beatles to Husker Du and REM to Radiohead PQ have done their musical growing up in public and managed to take their existing audience with them whilst winning many new admirers in the process. In contemporary jazz E.S.T. managed such a journey. Whether Portico Quartet can sustain such a level of development remains to be seen but this latest album represents a huge step forward with its melange of styles and blend of acoustic and electronic elements. PQ remain one of the most forward looking groups around-in any genre.
Portico Quartet will be touring the UK in February and March 2012. Dates are as follows;
UK Dates
Wed 29 Feb - York Hall, Bethnal Green LONDON
7.30pm / £12.50 / 0845 120 7550 / http://www.barbican.org.uk
Thur 1 March - Komedia BRIGHTON
7.45pm / £12.50 / 0845 293 8480 / http://komediabrighton.ticketsolve.com/
Mon 5 March - Sage GATESHEAD 2 *
8pm / £13-£15 / 0191 443 4661 / http://thesagegateshead.org/
Tues 6 March - The Duchess YORK
7.30pm / £15 / 08444 77 1000 / http://theduchessyork.co.uk/
Wed 7 March - Town Hall BIRMINGHAM *
8pm / £15 / 0121 345 0600 / http://www.thsh.co.uk/
Thurs 8 March - Queens Social Club SHEFFIELD
7.30pm / £12 / http://www.harleylive.co.uk/ticket-shop/ #ShefMusic
Friday 9 March - Arts Centre NORWICH
8pm / £15 / 01603 660352 / http://www.ueaticketbookings.co.uk
Sat 10 March - RNCM MANCHESTER *
7.30pm / £15 / 0161 907 5555 / http://www.rncm.ac.uk/
* Support in Gateshead, Birmingham and Manchester comes from Manchester based DJ/Trumpeter Matthew Halsall, unveiling his new trio with keyboardist Taz Modi (Submotion Orchestra) and drummer Luke Flowers (Cinematic Orchestra).
Winter Garden
Eraldo Bernocchi, Harold Budd, Robin Guthrie.
Monday, February 06, 2012
Reviewed by: Ian Mann
There is a shimmering, lustrous quality to the music that one would expect from such skilled soundscapers. The atmosphere is often glacial but simultaneously hauntingly beautiful.
Eraldo Bernocchi/ Harold Budd/ Robin Guthrie
“Winter Garden”
(Rare Noise Records RNRP013)
My recent review of the Birmingham concert of Time Being, the touring double bill featuring Harold Budd and The Necks caught the attention of Oliver Carr of the Rare Noise record label (home to jazz/prog supergroup Naked Truth whose “Shizaru” is reviewed elsewhere on this site) who kindly sent me a review copy of Budd’s latest release, a collaboration with the Italian guitarist, composer and sound artist Eraldo Bernocchi and Budd’s regular sparring partner guitarist Robin Guthrie, formerly of the Cocteau Twins. Budd has also worked with Bernocchi before on the album “Fragments From The Inside” but “Winter Garden” marks the first “simultaneous collaboration” between all three musicians.
I first encountered Budd back in the 1980’s when he collaborated with the Cocteau Twins on the album “The Moon and The Melodies”. One of my friends (Shane Roberts) was a big Cocteaus fan at the time and lent me a copy of the album (vinyl in those days) and although I quite liked it it didn’t register that strongly and both Budd and the Cocteaus subsequently dropped off my radar again, pretty much until Budd’s Birmingham show last year. Not that Budd and Guthrie, who continued as a solo artist following the demise of the Cocteaus, have been exactly idle in the meantime, both have recorded prolifically and have established extensive discographies.
Pianist and composer Budd broadly fits into the avant garde/minimalist/ambient categories. Born in 1936 he was raised in the Mojave Desert and began composing in 1962. An influence on, and collaborator with, the Cocteau Twins he also famously worked with Brian Eno.
“Winter Garden” comprises ten short, frequently beautiful pieces. There is a shimmering, lustrous quality about the music that one would expect from such skilled soundscapers as Budd and Guthrie and a cinematic quality that perhaps has its roots in Bernocchi’s work as a film composer. Born in 1963 the Italian is involved in a wide range of experimental projects including the long running group Sigillum S and collaborations with the American bassist and producer Bill Laswell. He is also a co-founder (with Giacomo Bruzzo) of the Rare Noise record label.
Opener “Don’t Go Where I Can’t Find You” features Budd’s slowly unfolding minimalist piano (not dissimilar to the style he played in at Birmingham) above a shimmering backwash of ambient guitars. “Losing My Breath” has a darker, film noirish feel with eerily twanging guitar, glacial piano and a ghostly, glitch punctuated, ambient backdrop.
The title track veers between the lush and the chilling with sparse piano chording and a layered guitar backdrop. “Entangled” varies the approach with an insistent bass pulse which acts as the fulcrum for the densely layered guitars and keyboards that congregate around it.
“Harmony And The Play Of Light” takes wisps of piano melody and wraps them in an all embracing sonic backdrop. I’m writing this a couple of days after the heaviest snowfall of the winter thus far and this track conjures up images of swirling snow flakes and the way the light dances around them. “Heavy Heart Some More” is darker and more sinister in texture with Bernocchi’s judicious use of electronica complementing Guthrie’s guitar atmospherics. Continuing the winter analogy it seems to summon up the austere, isolated, vaguely threatening beauty of a polar landscape.
The clangorous open guitar chords of the echoing “White Ceramic” conjure up equally chilly visions, perhaps this time of deep space. “Stay With Me” initially sustains the mood with it’s sepulchral drones but hope eventually emerges in uplifting snatches of piano and guitar melody followed by a synthesised rhythm as the album embraces an almost conventional pop/rock sensibility for the first time.
The ambient drones of “South Of Heaven” return us to more familiar territory and the album concludes with the lovely “Dream On”, which adds spectral layered voices to the sonic palette to create an appropriately ethereal effect.
“Winter Garden” is impressive in the way that it builds and sustains a mood throughout each individual track and throughout the album as a whole. It’s an apt title, the atmosphere is often glacial but simultaneously hauntingly beautiful. All three musicians are experts in this difficult to define area of sculpting sound, nuance, colour and texture. My review copy came with the minimum of information but I suspect that each of these seemingly carefully sculpted vignettes are in fact largely improvised. It may, however, also be that a substantial degree of editing has gone into the final production process.
Despite the element of improvisation this is emphatically not jazz. Listeners looking for anything resembling conventional swing are best directed elsewhere. For myself I have to say I liked it, much of the music is rather lovely and there’s considerably more going on than the superficially calm surface might suggest. “Winter Garden” won’t be for everyone but readers of The Wire, listeners to Late Junction, and curious rock fans who have followed Guthrie since his Cocteau days should find much to enjoy. Likewise anybody reared on Eno, David Sylvian or vintage Krautrock plus all card carrying fans of contemporary ambient/minimal/experimental music.
Recommended, but only for certain listeners.
The Face Of Mount Molehill
Neil Cowley Trio
Friday, February 03, 2012
Reviewed by: Ian Mann
With its increasingly diverse writing and consistently intriguing arrangements “Mount Molehill” represents Cowley's most adventurous and mature work to date.
Neil Cowley Trio
“The Face Of Mount Molehill”
(Naim Jazz Naimcd171)
The Cowley Trio’s fourth release and their second for Naim (after moving from Candid’s Cake imprint) represents a further departure for the band. Pianist and composer Neil Cowley has widened his sonic palette with the addition of guest guitarist Leo Abrahams (a former Brian Eno alumnus) plus a string quartet, The Mount Molehill Strings. The album is the direct descendant of the Cowley Trio’s acclaimed “with strings” experiments at the 2010 London and 2011 Cheltenham jazz festivals and the additional elements represent a welcome extension of the Trio’s now familiar core sound.
The thirty nine year old Cowley was a fairly late comer to jazz arriving via a circuitous route that took in childhood classical training (something of a prodigy Cowley was playing Shostakovich at London’s QEH at the age of ten), soul covers bands and marginal pop stardom as a member of the bands Brand New Heavies and Zero 7. Also an in demand session player he played on the soundtrack of the Ian Dury biopic “Sex and Drugs ‘n’ Rock ‘n’ Roll” and also appears on Adele’s phenomenally successful album “21” along with Polar Bear drummer Sebastian Rochford.
Cowley formed his piano trio with drummer Evan Jenkins and bassist Richard Sadler in 2006 and the self released début “Displaced” was, in jazz terms at least, a runaway success winning the band a cross genre following and scooping best album at the BBC Jazz Awards. “Displaced” was inspired by contemporary piano trios such as E.S.T. and The Bad Plus and Cowley’s catchy, hook driven, song like instrumentals plus the trio’s energetic and often humorous live performances ensured their “across the board” appeal. Evan Jenkins gave up his contemporaneous membership of blues guitarist Matt Schofield’s band to concentrate on the trio full time.
Some jazz purists were rather sniffy about the trio’s success citing a lack of improvisational content in the band’s music. They were partially vindicated when the follow up, “Loud, Louder, Stop”, a title lifted from one of those critical put downs, offered more of the same. Although the trio’s live shows saw them stretching out it seemed that Cowley preferred to keep things much tighter on record.
“Radio Silence”, the trio’s third album and their first for Naim offered greater improvisational content, particularly on the freely structured “French Lesson” but some of the group’s trademark energy was dissipated by this process. “Mount Molehill” seems to steer a path between the two extremes, Cowley has reverted to short, lean compositions but his treatment of them is significantly different to that of the first two albums with Abrahams and the Strings adding nuance and texture to the trio’s music. It’s a clear progression and one that arguably makes this their most satisfying release yet.
Another significant factor is the departure of founder member Richard Sadler and his replacement by the Australian born bassist Rex Horan, leader of the funk/soul outfit Mama’s Gun and a prolific session musician. Horan has given an added rhythmic impetus to an already hard driving band and his work throughout the album is commendably tight and propulsive.
The twelve relatively short tracks begin with “Lament”, a surprisingly tender and lyrical item embellished with strings and Abrahams’ ambient guitar textures.
If the opener was somewhat uncharacteristic then “Rooster was A Witness” combines the best of both worlds. A typically catchy Cowley hook and groove is enhanced by the counterpoint of the pizzicato strings with the quartet later picking up their bows to provide additional melodic content. Densely composed and arranged there’s a lot going on in this piece, the blend of energy and sophistication ensures that it’s one of the best things Cowley has ever done.
At a shade under three minutes “Fable” is archetypal hard driving Cowley. If he ever decides to release another single this should probably be it. Having said that Cake released “His Nibs” from “Louder” as a vinyl 7 inch and it failed to take off despite being featured on a TV ad for Guinness Red. Cowley was still giving them away at gigs some two years later and there was me buying one for a fiver back in 2007 thinking it was going to be a collector’s item!
“Meyer” takes a typically persuasive Cowley hook and drenches it in strings, but in a good way. There’s an anthemic quality to this that should make it another live staple. “The greatest stadium filling anthems that Coldplay never wrote” claims the publicity for the trio’s coming tour. This is a
good example of what Uncut Magazine were talking about.
“Skies Are Rare” is another representation of Cowley’s more lyrical side, a song like construction containing a fine Horan bass solo, some of Cowley’s most expansive piano work and some more lucid writing for strings.
As the title suggests “Mini Ha Ha” with its sampled laughter represents the more playful side of the trio’s output. Cowley possesses a surreal, very English sense of humour which manifests itself in both his song titles and his between tunes banter at gigs. At first “Mini Ha Ha” sounds like a novelty item but it also features a surprisingly tender and lyrical coda featuring a deeply resonant bass solo from Horan.
The “songs without words” analogy is routinely applied to Cowley’s music and “Slims” represents a sublime case in point. Strings swirl around an insistent piano phrase in another of those “stadium filling anthems”. Cowley and Horan allow themselves a little space but overall this is a highly disciplined performance.
“Distance By Clockwork” is an evocative piece of writing with lush strings Abrahams’ guitar atmospherics augmenting the trio sound. Behind the song like structure there’s something of a film noir ambience.
The title track represents a typically Cowley-esque reflection on life’s little trivias. It’s a suitably irreverent romp which initially sounds as if it might have been at home on either of the trio’s first two albums. However in keeping with the ethos of this latest project Cowley’s trademark keyboard hammering is augmented by clattering electronic effects, spiky strings and Jenkins’ hip hop style groove. It’s great fun.
At six minutes plus “Hope Machine” represents the album’s lengthiest track. It’s refreshingly upbeat and pits a monster groove against soaring strings before a more reflective central section punctuated by Jenkins’ drum explosions.
“La Porte” alternates gentle, lyrical passages with sharp,stabbing phrases and some commendably full on trio playing with Jenkins again making his presence felt. The brief “Siren’s Last Look Back” represents an appropriately impressionistic and reflective finale.
With its increasingly diverse writing and consistently intriguing arrangements “Mount Molehill” represents Cowley’s most adventurous and mature work to date. I’m not always a fan of strings on jazz recordings but they work brilliantly here, really adding depth and colour to the music. The trio will be touring in March 2012 and it would seem that Abrahams and the Mount Molehill Strings will be joining them on the road making this series of gigs a “must see”.
Tour dates are;
On tour in 2012
with the Mount Molehill Strings
15th March, LONDON, Queen Elizabeth Hall
21st March CARDIFF, RWCMD
22nd March LIVERPOOL, Capstone Theatre
23rd March GATESHEAD, The Sage Gateshead
24th March LEEDS, The Venue
13th April BIRMINGHAM, CBSO
14th April SOUTHAMPTON, Turner Sims
26th April BRISTOL, St Georges
Damon Brown Quintet featuring Tammy Weis, Black Mountain Jazz, Kings Arms, Abergavenny, 29/01/2012.
Damon Brown Quintet featuring Tammy Weis.
Wednesday, February 01, 2012
Reviewed by: Ian Mann
A highly enjoyable evening of unpretentious, swinging jazz played and sung by a very classy band.
Damon Brown Quintet featuring Tammy Weis, Black Mountain Jazz, Kings Arms, Abergavenny, 29/01/2012.
The first BMJ event of 2012 got the year off to a swinging start with London based trumpeter Damon Brown bringing a star studded quintet to the Kings Arms. Brown and vocalist Tammy Weis travelled up from London and were joined by a West Country based rhythm section featuring British jazz stalwart Dave Newton on piano ( he now lives in Bath) and the Bristolians Will Harris (bass) and Scott Hammond (drums). This proved to be a very classy ensemble who delivered a set of well chosen standards plus an original from singer Tammy Weis. Already inclement weather allied to an unfavourable forecast kept numbers down but those who attended were treated to a highly enjoyable evening of unpretentious swinging jazz.
Damon Brown has been a respected figure on the UK jazz scene for a number of years and his original music strikes a good balance between the jazz tradition and more contemporary sounds as evidenced by the band Killer Shrimp which he co-leads with saxophonist Ed Jones. Although rooted in the hard bop tradition Brown also brings elements of funk, soul and reggae to his music and Killer Shrimp have also experimented with electronica. Tonight however the focus was firmly on traditional jazz virtues with Brown proving himself to be a supremely fluent soloist, choosing to stay on flugel horn all night (shades of Art Farmer perhaps) but producing an astonishing variety of sounds and styles from the instrument.
Any band that contains the peerless Dave Newton is sure to have plenty to offer and the pianist was his usual tasteful and imaginative self despite playing an electric version of the instrument. His inventive solos often made reference to other tunes-Newton is very fond of quotes-and always retained the interest. I was also very impressed by Harris and Hammond, two musicians that I previously knew little about but who accompany Newton on a regular basis on engagements in the West Country. Harris, who gave up medicine to concentrate on music full time, had an impressively full tone and proved to be a dexterous and imaginative soloist. Hammond played with just the right combination of restraint and propulsion and drove things tastefully from the back, his cymbal choices particularly impressive.
Vocalist Tammy Weis was born in Alberta,Canada and made her mark on the Vancouver jazz scene before moving to London. Originally steeped in country music she turned to jazz after hearing Sarah Vaughan. Her Canadian début “Legacy” (2000), a dedication to her late mother, covered a number of genres and established a fanbase in her native land. “Where I Need To Be”, recorded in the UK in 2010 was more adventurous and jazz orientated and featured a number of original songs written with pianist Tom Cawley. Tonight’s performance left no doubt as to Weis’ jazz credentials as she tackled a variety of jazz classics with poise and gusto.
The evening began with a couple of instrumentals with Brown and his colleagues tackling “My Ideal” and Clifford Brown’s “Joyspring”. The former was notable for Hammond’s exquisite brush work plus eloquent solos from Brown, Newton and Harris. Clifford Brown is obviously a long term hero of his contemporary namesake and the quartet’s reading included more fluent statements from Brown, Newton and Harris plus a series of colourful drum breaks and a beautiful solo flugelhorn cadenza.
Brown welcomed Tammy Weis to the stage to sing “Come Rain or Come Shine”. After a slightly tentative start she soon hit her stride on a piece that included further solos from Brown and Newton.
A joyous version of Irving Berlin’s “Blue Skies” with Newton taking the instrumental honours was followed by Sammy Fain and Irving Kahal’s ballad “I’ll Be Seeing You”. Made famous by Billie Holiday tonight’s version was movingly sung by Weis who squeezed every drop of emotion out of the lyric. Brown’s elegant and poignant flugel solo was the perfect accompaniment.
Weis altered the gender of the lyrics for a sassy version of Ray Charles’ “Hallelujah I Love Her So”, a tune included on her “Legacy” album. Newton and Brown matched the celebratory mood with suitably effervescent instrumental solos. The singer then left the stage as the quartet rounded off the first set with an instrumental version of the standard “I’ll Close My Eyes”, something of a feature for the excellent Hammond whose solo drum passages opened and closed the piece.
Set two opened with a brace of well chosen instrumentals. Lee Morgan is evidently another of Damon’s trumpet heroes and “Ceora”, from the Blue Note album “Cornbread” is one of his best tunes. Here it was given due respect with more fine solos from Brown, Newton and Harris.
Pianist Elmo Hope’s “Bella Rosa” was a more surprising selection and this intriguing tune proved to be a surprise highlight with a quote laden Newton solo and a series of thrilling exchanges between drummer Hammond and his fellow instrumentalists.
Tammy Weis rejoined the group for Rodgers & Hart’s “I Could Write A Book” with solos from Newton and Brown plus an intimate duet for just voice and double bass. “Everyone But Me”, co-authored with pianist Tom Cawley demonstrated her writing skills on a more frankly pop item partly inspired by the actress Audrey Hepburn. A lively solo from Newton was an appropriate comment on the “dancing” metaphors of the lyrics.
Weis was now full of confidence and began to dominate the proceedings as Brown, the nominal leader became more and more diffident. The blues ballad “Ordinary People” was followed by a rousing version of George Shearing’s “Lullaby Of Birdland”. Although less conspicuously involved Brown still allowed himself a degree of solo space and featured himself on both these tunes. “Birdland” also included solo contributions from Newton and Harris plus a brushed solo from Hammond.
“Bye Bye Blackbird” was introduced by another vocal/bass duet and included solos from Brown and Newton. “Route 66” was a delivered as a swashbuckling blues boogie with a rollicking solo from Newton and similarly lively features for Brown and Hammond.
After this high energy set closer an encore was inevitable and the quintet cooled thing down again with Errol Garner’s “Misty”, a tune that has been part of Weis’ repertoire since her Vancouver days. Weis informed us that she used to perform with Garner’s elder brother Linton (1915-2003) and indicated that although uncredited Linton may have had a hand in the writing of his brother’s most famous song. It’s a mighty long way from Vancouver to Abergavenny but nevertheless this was a lovely way to round off an evening of enjoyable, high quality jazz played and sung by a very classy band.
Zoe Rahman Quartet, The Edge Arts Centre, Much Wenlock, Shropshire, 28/01/2012.
Zoe Rahman Quartet
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Reviewed by: Ian Mann
Ian Mann enjoys a sparkling live performance from pianist and composer Zoe Rahman and takes a look at her superb new album "Kindred Spirits".
Zoe Rahman Quartet, The Edge Arts Centre, Much Wenlock, Shropshire, 28/01/2012.
Tonight’s concert represented a welcome return to The Edge for pianist and composer Zoe Rahman who had last performed here with her trio featuring drummer Gene Calderazzo and bassist Oli Hayhurst back in October 2009. No stranger to the venue she’d also appeared here earlier as a member of saxophonist/flautist Finn Peters’ group.
This evening’s event was an official sell out, an indication of Rahman’s enduring popularity. Calderazzo was again present behind the drums but with Hayhurst having left the group bass duties were undertaken by Alec Dankworth, a supremely adaptable and versatile player and one more than capable of dealing with Rahman’s often complex music. This core trio was augmented by Rahman’s brother Idris on clarinet and tenor saxophone.
The quartet were playing music from Zoe’s new album “Kindred Spirits”, released on January 30th 2012 on Zoe’s own Manushi Records imprint. With a trio line up of Zoe, Calderazzo and Hayhurst and with guest appearances from Idris on clarinet and bass clarinet plus Courtney Pine on alto flute it’s arguably Zoe’s most complete CD to date, tying together the strands of her diverse musical heritage in a coherent, highly listenable package. Both the album and tonight’s concert represent a musical journey with Zoe exploring her jazz, Bengali and Irish musical ancestry.
Born in Chichester to an English mother and Bengali father Zoe grew up playing Western classical music before discovering jazz and studying under the tutelage of Joanne Brackeen at the famous Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. Returning to England her début “The Cynic” was released in 2001 and she began to build up a following on the live jazz circuit. Her career received a considerable boost when her second album, 2006’s “Melting Pot” was nominated for that year’s Mercury Music Prize. “Melting Pot” also saw her dipping a tentative toe into the music of her Bengali heritage on the closing track, Hemant Mukherjee’s “Muchhe Jaoa Dinguli”, later to become a staple of her live appearances. This was something more fully explored on 2008’s hugely successful “Where Rivers Meet” (reviewed elsewhere on this site), jointly credited to Zoe and Idris Rahman.
Although “Kindred Spirits” marks something of a return to Zoe’s jazz roots the Bengali side of her heritage is not forgotten and the album includes arrangements of three pieces by the late poet and songwriter Rabindranath Tagore, still a greatly admired figure in his Bengali homeland. The album also includes a traditional Irish tune in acknowledgement of Zoe and Idris’ maternal grandmother, the Irish born Nellie Grogan. This evening’s show also proved to be something of a musical history lesson as Zoe compared the links between Bengali and Irish music and explained that Tagore and W.B. Yeats were close associates, news to me and most of the other audience members I suspect.
The trio of Zoe, Calderazzo and Dankworth began with “Down To Earth”, the rousing opening track of the new album with Zoe’s pianistic virtuosity augmented by the first of several articulate and resonant Dankworth bass solos and some dynamic drumming from Calderazzo with Zoe later citing Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham as yet another influence on her group’s music. That Calderazzo could produce playing of such fire and precision was something of a miracle. The drummer limped on stage still suffering from the effects of a broken ankle incurred just before Christmas. “It was Christmas Eve and I was just goofing around with my kids when something just went. It hurt like hell.” he explained to me later. Gene had to cancel a few gigs, not a good thing in the precarious financial world of contemporary jazz, but had his cast removed just before this current tour. He’s currently playing through the pain barrier but to these ears sounded just as good as ever.
There were more fireworks from Calderazzo in an explosive drum feature that formed part of a hard driving version of Stevie Wonder’s “Contusion”,from “Songs In The Key Life”, and the tune that also closes Zoe’s new CD. The pianist gave a bravura performance on a piece that was also included in the set list back in 2009 and which had tonight been specifically requested by Edge promoter and organiser Alison Vermee.
Zoe welcomed Idris Rahman to the stage to play clarinet on “Maya”, also sourced from the new album and a pretty and moving tribute to their recently born niece. Idris also appeared on clarinet for a sequence of tunes from the new album that included two Tagore pieces, “Forbiddance” and “My Heart Dances, Like A Peacock, It Dances” plus the traditional Irish tune “Butlers Of Glen Avenue”. Continuing the lyrical mood established with “Maya”, “Forbiddance” was a lovely clarinet/piano duet, beautifully played by the brother and sister combination before things took off joyously with “Peacock” with both siblings soloing exuberantly. Calderazzo’s series of drum breaks and subsequent solo provided the bridge into “Butlers”, a piece delivered with all the energy and exuberance associated with Irish music. I remember observing in my review of the 2009 trio performance just how much Zoe and her colleagues seemed to enjoy making music together. There’s a real spark there, particularly between Zoe and the irrepressible Claderazzo. “I like this band, it’s fun” he enthused spontaneously in our now customary post gig chat.
Idris sat out as the trio played a superbly interactive version of “Friday 13th” written by Zoe’s former mentor Joanne Brackeen. This is a piece that has been in the trio’s repertoire for some time and was also played here in 2009. The tune appears on the 2007 album “Zoe Rahman Trio Live”, a spirited collection of tunes by Zoe’s favourite jazz composers, among them Abdullah Ibrahim, recorded live at the Pizza Express Jazz Club in London with Idris guesting. Tonight Brackeen’s catchy, hooky tune provided the jumping off point for some sparky improvisation as Dankworth weighed in with a brilliantly dexterous solo and Calderazzo indulged in a little of his trademark showmanship. Great fun, just as the man said.
The first set concluded with a quartet version of Duke Ellington’s “Blue Pepper” with Idris on tenor saxophone, his gruff playing bringing a Middle Easter/North African inflection to Ellington’s blues. A rapt Edge audience gave them a tremendous half time ovation.
Set two began with the trio exploring the gospel/township sounds of Abdullah Ibrahim’s “Cherry”. Zoe seems to have a particular affinity for Ibrahim’s tunes, as alluded to previously, both “The Stride” and “Tuang Guru” appear on her live album.
Dankworth introduced Zoe’s new original “Red Squirrel” at the bass, adding some flamenco style strumming to his armoury, a reflection perhaps of his own “Spanish Accents” band. The subsequent dialogue between bass and piano was out of the top drawer on yet another winning original composition.
Idris rejoined the trio for a couple of Tagore songs from the “Where Rivers Meet” album, his sinuous clarinet again dovetailing beautifully with the crystalline quality of his sister’s piano playing. Zoe has developed a highly personal style on her instrument combining a classicist’s precision and technique with a jazzer’s sense of fun and adventure. It’s a winning combination that has won her many admirers and whilst she acknowledges the influence of musicians such as Ibrahim and Brackeen she doesn’t sound like anybody other than herself.
A radically re-harmonised version of “These Foolish Things” offered another opportunity for some “serious fun” and this was followed by the grooving trio item “Fly In The Ointment” from the new album. This was the trio at their most exuberant with another brilliant Dankworth bass solo and more ebullient piano/drum dialogue with Calderazzo’s wildly rolling eyes all part of the performance.
A final Tagore piece, “Imagination” closed the performance. Also drawn from “Kindred Spirits” featured Dankworth making effective and atmospheric use of the bow and Idris’ best clarinet solo of the night (he actually uses the larger, deeper bass clarinet on the recorded version) above Zoe’s dense left hand chording. Her own solo was delivered with characteristic panache and when the quartet left the stage to thunderous applause it was clear that an encore was inevitable. This proved to be the new album’s “Conversation with Nellie” with Idris’ clarinet a more than adequate substitute for Courtney Pine’s alto flute.
The “Kindred Spirits” album is highly recommended and the quartet will continue to tour the UK during February and March 2012 with new member Davide Mantovani taking over the bass role from Dankworth.
Zoe and her colleagues got The Edge’s 2012 jazz programme off to a great start. Alison Vermee also informed us of the progress that had been made regarding the fund raising appeal aimed at buying a grand piano for the piano (at present they hire the splendid Kawai used by Zoe this evening). It is intended that a new Yamaha C7 will be purchased from Stuart Jones Pianos at a cost of £25,000. Around a fifth of that has been raised so far. If you’d like to help with the appeal please contact Alison Vermee at http://www.edgeartscentre.co.uk
Forthcoming tour dates for the Zoe Rahman Quartet are as follows;
2 Feb Leeds Seven Arts 0113 2626777. £15/12 concs. Doors 8pm, music 8.30-11pm
3 Feb Sheffield, Sheffield Jazz, Millennium Hall
4 Feb Liverpool The Capstone Theatre 0151 7093789. £12.50. 7.30pm.
6 Feb London Pizza Express 0845 6 027 017. £15, 8.30pm
7 Feb London Pizza Express 0845 6 027 017. £15, 8.30pm
3 Mar Bradford on Avon Wiltshire Music Centre 01225 860100. 8pm. £16 (concs available)
6 Mar St. Ives, St Ives Jazz, Western Hotel 01736 796082. 8pm, £12/£6 members.
7 Mar Barnstaple The Queen’s Theatre 01271 324242. 8pm. £10.
10 Mar Hampshire Forest Arts Theatre 01425 612393
15 Mar Warwick Arts Centre details tbc
25 Mar Gateshead The Sage 0191 443 4661
Further information at http://www.zoerahman.com
Oddarrang's electro acoustic blurring of musical boundaries is an excellent example of contemporary Scandinavian music.
Oddarrang
“Cathedral”
(Texicalli Records TEXCD115)
Oddarrang are a Finnish quintet led by Olavi Louhivuori (born 1981), best known as a drummer but also, as this album shows a more than competent keyboard player. Louhivuori has appeared on the pages of this site before through his work with Norwegian bassist and composer Mats Eilertsen and as a member of Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stanko’s quintet. He has also worked with influential Americans such as pianist Marilyn Crispell and multi reeds player Anthony Braxton plus a host of Finland’s leading jazz musicians among them trumpeter Verneri Pohjola and pianist Alexi Tuomarila. In 2008 he released the entirely solo album “Inhale, Exhale”. Full details of Louhivuori’s extensive discography can be found at http://www.olavilouhivuori.com
“Cathedral”, released on the Finnish Texicalli label is the long awaited follow up to the group’s award winning début “Music Illustrated” (2007). This garnered the annual Finnish Emma-prize for best jazz album and secured the group an international following as they played a series of major European jazz festivals including Paris, Glasgow, the 12 Points Festival in Dublin and Jazzahead in Bremen. They have also accrued a considerable following in Japan where they have toured extensively.
Oddarrang’s music fits very loosely into the jazz framework. Their cinematic sound (“Music Illustrated” was an apt and perceptive title) takes in elements of folk, modern classical and some of the more adventurous strands of rock from old time prog to the serious post-modern. There is little conventional jazz soloing, Oddarrang are more concerned with colour, texture and nuance, their pieces are brooding but often beautiful Nordic soundscapes, a Finnish variation on the sounds pioneered by Norwegians such as trumpeters Nils Petter Molvaer and Arve Henriksen, guitarist Terje Rypdal and the father of it all saxophonist Jan Garbarek.
Joining Louhivuori on this sonic adventure are Osmo Ikonen (cello, voice, church organ), Ilmari Pohjola (trombone, noise, voice), Lasse Sakara (acoustic and electric guitars) and Lasse Lindgren (acoustic and electric bass plus synthesisers). With Louhivuori also playing synths there is a subtle electronic element permeating through the group’s work leading to their music sometimes being compared to the Icelandic post rock band Sigur Ros. The press release also makes the obligatory reference to Bjork but the resemblance is less obvious.
Given the presence of low register instruments such as cello and trombone in the line up it is perhaps not so surprising that the music often has a sense of melancholy beauty. Opener “Prayer” develops from flashes of Morse code via Louhivuori’s sombre, almost glacial piano and Sakara’s acoustic guitar, at times almost sounding like the Finnish folk instrument the kantele. Pohjola’s long trombone lines fulfil the role Molvaer’s trumpet might take elsewhere. With subtle electronics and wordless voices also carefully stitched into the fabric of the piece this is a highly atmospheric beginning, the emphasis on the overall sound rather than individual virtuosity and with a superb blend of the electronic and human elements.
“Third Life” sees Louhivuori move to the drum kit, his broken beats the foil to Pohjola’s breathy, long lined trombone-again very trumpet like. Ikomen’s cello weaves in and out around an insistent acoustic guitar vamp and once again there’s a subtle electronic undertow. The overall impression is of a kind of highly sophisticated chill out music.
“Canon” opens with an exquisite acoustic guitar and bass duet with trombonist Pohjola subsequently joining Sakara and Lindgren. The fragile mood is thus continued with Louhivuori’s drumming here, as elsewhere, completely egoless. He serves his material selflessly and it would probably be fair to say (in a good way) that it’s his composing and arranging skills that catch the ear rather than his drumming, indeed on two tracks there are no drums at all.
The shimmering “Arcane Light” is particularly atmospheric with it’s icy electric guitar glissandos
and the almost impossibly deep booming of Pohjola’s trombone allied to the melancholy tones of Ikonen’s cello. I’ve never been to Finland but this conjures up all the old clichés of tundras and forests-but again in a good way.
The Lengthy “Frames” adds a rock element to the group’s atmospherics courtesy of Sakara’s sustain heavy electric guitar- he sounds a little like Andreas Hourdakis from ex E.S.T. drummer Magnus Ostrom’s group. In fact this whole piece has something of the “updated prog” feel that both Ostrom and his former E.S.T. colleague Dan Berglund bring to their solo projects. In the context of “Cathedral” the piece offers a welcome injection of pace with Louhivuori driving things powerfully from the back. Sure there are plenty of atmospherics too in a more studied second half with Pohjola once more to the fore but overall the context is refreshingly different.
“Psalm No. 3” is a charming miniature featuring the unusual combination of cello and trombone above Sakara’s gentle acoustic guitar chording and with Louhivuori in a supporting role at the piano. Again, egoless.
Although Louhivuori has written all the music thus far he leaves the next two pieces to other members of the band. “Funeral”, by Ikonen opens with suitably solemn church organ played by the composer. This becomes more grandiose before eventually fading away to be replaced by the deeply resonant sound of the cello. Abrasive guitar and crashing drums bring things to a climax before a gentle, almost pretty trombone coda.
Bassist Lindgren’s “Holy Mountain” also features the composer on synthesisers. It’s a curious piece, almost minimalistic, but one that builds incrementally towards a kind of epic grandeur, sometimes gradually falling away before climbing once more.
Ikonen’s classical sounding solo cello introduces the closing piece “In Oamok”, later joined by guitar and bass and then the rest of the group in a rousing central section before falling away to a long wispy coda interlaced with electronica.
“Cathedral” (presumably as in “Cathedral of Sound”) is a far cry from being an orthodox jazz record and those reared on swing will probably reject it instantly. I rather liked it, Oddarrang’s carefully sculpted music touches many bases and should appeal to fans of the ECM record label in particular. The focus is on sound and atmosphere and the music should also find an audience with fans of Radio 3’s “Late Junction” programme. I notice that Fiona Talkington played “Prayer” as part of the programme transmitted on 19th January 2012.
With artists such as Louhivuori, Tuomarila, Verneri Pohjola and pianist Iiro Rantala coming to international attention Finnish jazz seems to be entering into something of a golden age as Finnish jazz musicians start to win the kind of respect regularly accorded to Swedes, Danes and particularly Norwegians. Oddarrang’s electro acoustic blurring of the boundaries is an excellent example of contemporary Scandinavian music.
“Cohesion” consolidates Partikel's progress and is a worthy follow up to its eponymous predecessor.
Partikel
“Cohesion”
(Whirlwind Recordings WR4618)
Here at The Jazzmann we were rather proud of being among the first to pick up on the potential of Partikel, the exciting young trio led by saxophonist Duncan Eagles. The group’s eponymous 2010 début (reviewed elsewhere on this site) appeared on the F-ire presents imprint and updated the classic sound of the Sonny Rollins saxophone trio for contemporary ears in an adventurous but intrinsically melodic manner. This was music that was both challenging AND accessible and something of a buzz began to build around the band, something that their exciting and personable live performances have encouraged. I saw them produce an often blistering performance at the 2011 Brecon Jazz Festival, quickly captivating the crowd in what had initially seemed an unpromising lunchtime slot.
Since then Partikel have continued to hone their skills with further touring (plus an acclaimed Monday night residency at The Hideaway at Streatham) and the title of their keenly awaited second album “Cohesion” seems particularly appropriate as bassist Max Luthert and drummer Eric Ford become even more central to the Partikel group sound. Duncan Eagles still contributes the majority of the group’s material but this time round his two colleagues also add to the writing process with Luthert contributing the original tune “Assam” and Ford bringing an arrangement of the traditional “El Schmeckl”. Duncan’s brother Sam Eagles adds the brief “Intro” and “Outro” snippets that effectively bookend the album.
Much of the music heard at Brecon appears on the new album and it all sounds fully “played in” as the group confirm their rapid progress. The album appears on the Whirlwind record label run by expatriate American bassist Michael Janisch, an early champion of the group. Despite the change of label Partikel have very wisely kept the rest of their back-room team together with Alban Low’s distinctive artwork once again gracing the cover of an album engineered by Derek Nash and Tyler McDiarmid.
The album commences with Sam Eagles’ brief “Intro”, a joyous opening with Duncan Eagles’ sax dancing above Ford’s rich mix of shakers and other percussion. Duncan’s “The Restless Child” represents the first full composition and is a good example of the trio’s strengths. A strong melodic theme provides the basis for improvisation with Eagles’ powerful tenor sax gaining momentum in conjunction with Luthert’s virile bass lines and Ford’s inventive, energetic drumming. It’s rooted in Rollins but has a post bop, contemporary sensibility with Ford’s drumming also adding a Latin element to the mix.
Next comes “Follow Diversion” which opened their set at Brecon, another Rollins like theme that allows Eric Ford plenty of room to show his skills, the drums almost taking the lead at times. Eagles later takes flight, soaring above Luthert’s rock solid bass lines and Ford’s dynamic drumming.
Luthert’s “Assam”, although commencing with Ford’s drums is slightly more reflective with Eagles featuring on soprano. Initially light and airy his tone becomes more astringent as he probes more deeply. Luthert’s deeply resonant bass lines again form the backbone of the piece with Ford skilfully colouring in any gaps.
“The Blood of the Pharoah”, a dedication to London based drummer Pharoah Russell, has Ford at his most colourful, he regularly augments the sound of his kit with shakers, woodblocks, cowbells etc. Eagles’ long, brooding sax lines give the music an often melancholy quality reminiscent of Polar Bear (whose own “Drunken Pharoah” from their “Peepers” album is also a dedication to Russell).
As at the Brecon live performance Luthert’s unaccompanied “Bass Solo” provides a bridge into the folk tinged “Market Place” with Eagles’ soprano sax dancing lightly around Ford’s lithe polyrhytmic
drumming as Luthert’s solid bass lines provide a powerful rhythmic pulse.
“Room” blends passages of long lined tenor with bursts of a type of cerebral funk in a compelling and convincing manner. The beginning of “The Cove” is as atmospheric as it’s title suggests with wispy tenor shadowed by Ford’s quietly exotic drumming. However there’s a sudden sea change part way through as Luthert dramatically increases the pace. Eagles and Ford respond instantly and the mood instantly swings from sombre to joyous without sounding in any way incongruous, a tribute both to the quality of the writing and the close empathy between the three young musicians.
“The Optimist” closed the trio’s Brecon set and is as upbeat as it’s title suggests with some of Eagles’ best playing of the album. He has an impressively large and rounded tone but is also a highly expressive soloist. Ford also gets yet another chance to impress with a lengthy drum feature that has become a significant element of the trio’s live shows.
Sam Eagle’s “Outro”, a brief free wheeling snippet of improvisation closes the album with Ford’s arrangement of “El Schmeckl” appearing as a bonus track. It’s a very tasty bonus too, an exuberant item featuring the arranger’s restless and colourful drumming prominently and with Eagles and Luthert making characteristically powerful contributions. It’s a piece that I can see making an appearance on the trio’s forthcoming tour, possibly as an encore. Partikel will be touring the UK in February and March 2012 and I’ll be covering their gig in Much Wenlock. The full list of dates appears below.
In the meantime “Cohesion” consolidates Partikel’s progress and is a worthy follow up to its eponymous predecessor. In the world of these three highly skilled musicians the lack of a chordal instrument hardly seems to matter. Eagles’ consistently strong melodic themes give the trio plenty to get their teeth into but without losing the interest or patience of the listener. North African, Latin and Caribbean elements all add to an impressively varied sound palette. I’ve no doubt that the coming live shows will win them many more friends.
PARTIKEL TOUR DATES;
1st Feb – The Lescar – Sheffield – 8.30pm
3rd Feb – Bradford Jazz – Yorkshire – 8.30pm
9th Feb – Welsh Jazz Society @ Café Jazz – Cardiff – 8.30pm
15th Feb – 606 Club – ALBUM LAUNCH – London – 10pm
16th Feb – Teignmouth Jazz Club – 8.30pm
3rd March – The Edge Arts Centre, Much Wenlock, Shropshire – 8.30pm
14th April – The Kings Place, Hall 2 – London – 7.30pm
The duo's treatment of their chosen material is innovative and fascinating and it's clear that this partnership also has enormous future potential.
Steve Tromans / JJ Wheeler
“Blue Room”
(Mongrel Records)
This fascinating duo recording features two of the most significant figures on Birmingham’s thriving jazz and improvised music scene. Pianist Steve Tromans is a comparative veteran, at home in a variety of jazz contexts and a highly accomplished player of both the acoustic and electric versions of his instrument. Tromans possesses an inquisitive musical mind and is a great theorist and experimenter, his back catalogue includes world and electronic music and settings of beat poetry (Allan Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac etc) as well as more conventional jazz recordings including a number of sets for solo piano. Recently Tromans has been exploring his love of the music of John Coltrane with his De-Bop Band featuring bassist Chris Mapp and drummer Miles Levin, reworking the classic “A Love Supreme” album for the 2011 Mostly Jazz Festival. Later in the year Tromans delved into the music of Thelonious Monk, Wayne Shorter and Charles Mingus in a more successful quartet performance at the 2011 London Jazz Festival (Tromans, Mapp and Levin plus saxophonist Mike Fletcher).
Tromans’ experiments with the music of the great jazz composers informs this latest release which sees him teaming up with the young drummer JJ Wheeler in an unusual piano/drums configuration. Wheeler is a recent graduate of the Jazz Course at Birmingham Conservatoire but is fast making a name for himself as one of the music’s movers and shakers. Besides his playing abilities he is also an accomplished jazz journalist and has written for Peter Bacon’s Jazz Breakfast and Sebastian Scotney’s London Jazz Blog. More importantly, since relocating to London, he has established his own Mongrel record label with “Blue Room” representing the initial release. “Unconventional” by Wheeler’s young quintet will follow in March 2012.
The duo’s stated aim with regard to the music on “Blue Room” is to “manipulate well trodden standards in an unfamiliar light, stretching the boundaries of form, harmony and rhythm to create open landscapes on which the intricacies of composition can be exposed and expanded upon”. It’s an extension of the “theme/open changes” methodology that Tromans applies to his quartet and indeed the duo stretch a number of pieces so far out of shape that they practically comprise new compositions. Although they had worked together previously in other contexts and enjoyed the musical dialogue that had developed between them this recording was the first time that Tromans and Wheeler had played as a duo and they entered the studio “with no preconceptions other than to create new music out of the seeds of the standard repertoire”. On these terms the record succeeds brilliantly with the youthful Wheeler very much an equal partner as his drums bring a richness of colour, comment and punctuation to the music.
The duo begin with a surprisingly pensive and lyrical exploration of Coltrane’s “Central Park West” as Wheeler shadows Tromans’ piano ruminations with an impressive maturity and consummate good taste. This is a genuine musical dialogue, a meeting of equals with the younger man making a vital contribution to the success of the music. The duo also find plenty of fresh things to say on the much played “Giant Steps”, one of Coltrane’s most famous compositions. Their approach is almost minimalistic with Wheeler’s subtle, quietly colourful drumming filling in the spaces between Tromans’ hypnotic piano arpeggios.
The duo take a rather more forceful approach to Carla Bley’s “Ida Lupino” as Tromans adopts a more percussive piano style and Wheeler keeps a steady hi hat pulse going almost throughout. Elsewhere his work around the kit is restlessly colourful and inventive in a thrilling exchange of musical ideas.
Next the pair perform a segue of the jazz standard “Just Friends” (Klemmer/Lewis) and Thelonious Monk’s “Bemsha Swing”, the latter a great favourite for improvisers. Tromans again adopts a percussive , Monkish piano sound and there are even moments where Wheeler’s drums take over the lead as the duo continue to trade ideas productively.
Rodger & Hart’s title track features Troman’s pellucid piano and the delicate shimmer of Wheeler’s cymbals (significantly the album credits specify “J J Wheeler drums and cymbals”) in a piece that takes the tune into the realm of ECM style spaciousness.
The duo’s treatment of George Gershwin’s “A Foggy Day” brings out the full beauty of the melody but also pushes gently at the boundaries before seguing into the closing “Blues In J”, the only totally original piece on the record. Given the duo’s method of working I’d take a guess that this is in fact entirely improvised with Wheeler’s colourful, polyrhythmic drumming dancing above Troman’s insistent, powerful piano vamps with the balance of power gradually shifting as the piece progresses and the duo lock into a groove. It’s hypnotic and compelling and represents the “powerful and explosive” side of the duo as mentioned in their press release. Much of the rest of the album dwells on the “subtle and beautiful” but Tromans and Wheeler can make the sparks fly too.
Piano and drum duets are rare in jazz (offhand I can only really think of Will Butterworth and Dylan Howe’s very different but equally satisfying Stravinsky Duo project) but the Tromans/Wheeler partnership works very well and “Blue Room” is absorbing and convincing throughout, holding the listener’s attention despite the pared down instrumentation- I was pleasantly surprised at just how much I enjoyed this album. The duo’s treatment of their chosen material is innovative and fascinating and it’s clear that this partnership also has enormous future potential. Wheeler has it within him to become a major figure in British jazz. He already leads a number of projects and is a sideman with a dozen others. Shades of Sebastian Rochford’s versatility but with something of Michael Janisch’s organisational and promoting skills- an impressive combination that bodes well for the future.
Tromans and Wheeler are currently continuing their musical explorations at a residency at Stray’s Jazz, Newark, Notts. (http://www.straysjazz.co.uk). They’d also be naturals for the 2012 Harmonic Festival in Birmingham where Tromans gave an incredible marathon solo performance last year (reviewed elsewhere on this site). Let’s just hope, eh?
Meanwhile the duo’s performance at Dempsey’s in Cardiff will be broadcast on Rhys Phillips “Jazz Special” programme for Radio Cardiff on Sunday 22 January, between 9-10pm on 98.7FM across Cardiff and online at http://www.radiocardiff.org.
An intelligent, musicianly album with some first rate original tunes and some ingenious interpretations of jazz and folk standards.
Frank Harrison Trio
“Sideways”
(Linus Records LDCD01)
One of the first album reviews I ever wrote was of pianist Frank Harrison’s excellent trio recording “First Light” released on Basho Records way back in 2006. The follow up has been a long time coming, mainly due to Harrison’s commitments with the phenomenally hard working Gilad Atzmon but it has been well worth the wait.
“Sideways”, released on what I assume to be Harrison’s own Linus imprint, exhibits many of the same virtues as its predecessor in a mix of memorable and melodic original tunes and artful deconstructions of a handful of jazz standards. The interplay between Harrison on piano, Irish born drummer Stephen Keogh (who also appeared on “First Light”) and new bassist Davide Petrocca is consistently excellent and the whole album exudes intelligence and good taste.
Listeners who only know of Harrison through his work with Israeli saxophonist Gilad Atzmon may be surprised to hear just how good an acoustic pianist he is, readily able to combine a classical lightness of touch with a thorough understanding of the jazz tradition. Although I’ve mainly seen him with Atzmon I’ve also witnessed Harrison performing with Italian saxophonist Tommaso Starace and Irish guitarist Louis Stewart, his work with the latter featuring his most straight ahead playing to date. Having enjoyed both his trio recordings I’m now looking forward to seeing Harrison, Keogh and Petrocca on their forthcoming UK tour (dates listed below).
In the meantime there’s always this album to enjoy with Harrison and his colleagues commencing with “Autumn Leaves”, one of the most familiar jazz standards of them all. It’s to the trio’s credit that they find something fresh to say about this old chestnut with Harrison’s sparkling piano lines shadowed by Keogh’s colourful, neatly energetic drumming and with Petrocca initially filling an anchoring role. Petrocca then comes into his own with a fluid and imaginative bass solo before Harrison really stretches the boundaries of the tune in conjunction with Keogh as the piece draws to a close. I mentioned in my review of “First Light” that Harrison’s playing of standards is “like a more restrained Brad Mehldau” and that’s something that I feel still applies. Harrison uses less notes than Mehldau but he’s a highly lyrical and melodic player and makes every one of them count.
Harrison’s own composition “One” has the kind of melody that sounds timeless and this provides the inspiration for another superb Petrocca solo, the bassist more than adequately filling the shoes of the Scot Aidan O’Donnell who is now living and playing in New York.. Harrison himself plays sparingly and Keogh’s drumming is immaculate as always, subtly colouring the music with sticks, brushes and well chosen accents.
Antonio Carlos Jobim’s bossa nova “Dindi” is played at a slightly faster tempo than is usual with the quiet bustle of Keogh’s drums driving the song forward. Harrison’s solo has a probing, almost feverish quality and there’s another example of Petrocca’s remarkable dexterity before Keogh and Harrison trade ideas in exemplary fashion in a series of captivating drum/piano breaks.
A second Harrison original, “Flowing At Rest” has an ECM style sense of space and beauty with Keogh’s exquisite drum and cymbal work complementing Harrison’s supremely lyrical piano superbly. Keogh’s work throughout the album invites comparisons with the playing of such drum colourists as Jon Christensen and the late Paul Motian.
George Gershwin’s much performed standard “How Long Has This Been Going On” is given the lyrical and spacious Harrison treatment with sumptuous, flowing, languid piano from the leader and delicate brush work from Keogh underscored by the purr of Petrocca’s bass. It’s a masterclass in good taste and quiet restraint.
The theme to Harrison’s final original, “Song For Roo”, almost sounds as if it could be a jazz standard. The interplay between the three instruments in an intense passage mid tune is engrossing with Keogh’s drums sometimes taking over the lead. Harrison then resumes control for a more lyrical restatement of the theme.
Arthur Schwarz’s “You And The Night Of The Music”, a tune often played at a headlong tempo, is initially given a radical, slowed down treatment with the quiet but intense interplay between the instruments now the focus. The theme appears here and there as a snippet of melody that provides the jumping off point for the trio’s improvisations. Harrison’s subsequent solo speeds things up and there are also features for bass and drums. One can imagine that live versions of this piece will be substantially different each evening.
Following the complexities of the Schwarz piece the album ends on a note of unadorned simplicity and beauty with Harrison’s solo piano performance of the folk melody of “The Riddle Song” aka “I gave My Love A Cherry” which later mutated into “The Twelfth Of Never”. It’s a lovely way to finish an often beautiful album- even it does stir memories of the sickly saccharine 70’s version of “Twelfth Of Never” by Donny Osmond.
“Sideways” has been a long time coming but has been well worth the wait. It’s an intelligent, musicianly album with some first rate original tunes and some ingenious interpretations of standards. Recorded in Berlin and London by engineers Rainer Robben and Andrew Tulloch the sound is again immaculate and the playing likewise. Bass player Davide Petrocca, an Italian living in Germany represents an exciting new discovery and is a major factor in the album’s success. Although little known to UK audiences he has accrued a considerable reputation in Europe where he has toured with guitarist Martin Taylor, pianist Monty Alexander and many others.
Harrison and the trio are currently touring Europe before returning to the UK where they will be touring throughout February. Frank’s forthcoming schedule sourced from his website http://www.frankharrison.net is reproduced below and also includes appearances with Gilad Atzmon, Tommaso Starace and vocalist Tina May;
January 2012
20
Frank Harrison Trio + Joo Kraus
Jazztone
Lörrach, Germany
21
Frank Harrison Trio + Joo Kraus
Jazz in der Mitte
Reutlingen, Germany
22
Frank Harrison Trio
Hemingway Lounge
Karlsruhe
24
Frank Harrison Trio
Torino Jazz Club
Torino, Italy
26
Frank Harrison Trio
Le Cantine dell’Arena
Verona, Italy
27
Frank Harrison Trio
Laurin Bar
Bolzano, Italy
February 2012
03
Frank Harrison Trio
Derby Jazz
Derby
04
Frank Harrison Trio
Cheltenham Jazz Club
Cheltenham
05
Tina May (afternoon)
Jagz
Ascot
05
Frank Harrison Trio (evening)
Herts Jazz
Welwyn Garden City
06
Frank Harrison Trio
JazzHastings
Hastings
08
Frank Harrison Trio
Pizza Express Dean St
London
09
Frank Harrison Trio
Watermill Jazz
Dorking
10
Frank Harrison Trio
Fleece Jazz
Leavenheath, Colchester
16
Tommaso Starace
National Theatre foyer
London
17
Frank Harrison Trio
Wakefield Jazz Club
Wakefield
18
Gilad Atzmon
Sherborne Jazz
Sherborne
19
Gilad Atzmon
Ipswich Jazz Club
Ipswich
29
Frank Harrison Trio
St Michael at the North Gate
Oxford
A classy and sophisticated piece of work from a stellar UK line up. The singing and playing is excellent throughout.
Zoe Schwarz
“Blue Commotion”
(33 Records 33 Jazz 222)
Zoe Schwarz is an experienced and highly competent jazz and blues vocalist based in Poole, Dorset. With her husband and guitarist Rob Koral she fronts the all star quintet to be heard on this 2011 33 Records release, an album that concentrates primarily on the couple’s blues leanings with the help
of pianist Gareth Williams, bassist Steve Thompson and drummer Paul Robinson. It’s a stellar UK line up and the singing and playing is excellent throughout.
Although now based well away from the hurly burly of London Schwarz and Koral are musicians with national reputations and perform all over the country at jazz clubs and festivals with the emphasis now on the South West, often as a duo. Gareth Williams is a fiery piano soloist and a band-leader in his own right and Paul Robinson, once of Jeff Clyne’s Turning Point and now of the re-activated Back Door also spent many years as drummer of choice for the great Nina Simone. Bassist Steve Thompson, although perhaps less well known has played with many jazz and blues luminaries making him the ideal choice for this project. He forms a swinging and reliable rhythm section with the excellent Robinson.
In Schwarz’s words “the idea of Blue Commotion was to lean on the blues side of jazz” with the instrumentation and personnel chosen to retain a jazz sensibility and feel as the quintet explore the blues classics of Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, Leroy Carr and others. There are a clutch of original songs in the blues idiom plus Schwarz’s interpretation of “Stormy Blues” by Billie Holiday, the singer who inspired her in the first place.
Leroy Carr’s “Blues Before Sunrise” gets the album off to a fine start with Schwarz’s sultry vocal underscored by Thompson’s deep bass growl and with elegant punctuation from Koral and Williams and an excellent solo from the guitarist.
“No Good Man” (written by Sammy Gallop, Irene Higginbotham and Dan Fisher) was covered by both Billie Holiday and Nina Simone making it a natural choice for this group. Schwarz brings a Holiday like vulnerability to this slow blues with Williams taking the instrumental honours with a tasteful, pithy piano solo.
Ray Charles’ “Ain’t That Fine” ups the tempo with Schwarz playful and Williams ebullient as Thompson and Robinson swing ferociously. Koral emerges mid tune with a scorching guitar solo.
St. Louis Jimmy Oden’s “Going Down Slow” is classic blues and the quintet tear into it with conviction with Schwarz’s vocals both soulful and powerful. Koral’s solo acknowledges an early influence, the great Eric Clapton.
These days it sounds strange to hear Willie Dixon’s “I Can’t Quit You Babe” performed by anybody other than Led Zeppelin but Schwarz and her colleagues make a fair fist of it with Schwarz’s sensual voice combining well with Koral’s soaring guitar and Williams’ authentically bluesy piano.
The album’s three original songs are sequenced together. First comes the Schwarz/Koral composition “If I Didn’t Care”, an unpretentious blues/boogie shuffle extolling the virtues of their relationship. Williams weighs in with a rollicking piano solo.
The slow blues “She Was Just a Name” features music by Schwarz and Koral plus lyrics by their friend Roger Parsons, the words a homage to the singer herself (“a little tribute to Zoe from Roger Parsons”). It may represent a little self indulgence but it’s great fun with a real blues feel and with more strong solos from Koral and Williams plus some memorable drum fills from Robinson.
“Too Darn Rich To Be Happy” is Schwarz’s caustic comment on the idiocies of the rat race (she once had a high powered job in the City and sing part time) and is another playful blues boogie with Williams and Koral again in sparkling form. A song for our times perhaps?
The songs “He’s Funny That Way” (by Charles Daniels and Richard Whiting) and “Stormy Blues” take Schwarz and company back into Billie Holiday territory, the latter tune written by Billie herself. There are a host of Holiday imitators around but Schwarz is one of the best and also manages to bring something of herself to these interpretations, especially on the hard hitting version of “Stormy Blues”.
If it sounded a little odd to hear a woman singing “I Can’t Quit You Babe” then hearing Schwarz tackle Muddy Waters’ ultra macho “I’m Ready” sounds even stranger. Not that I disliked it, it’s still great fun and the Blue Commotion quintet attack it with gusto. The closing slow blues “Sitting On Top Of The World” then ends the album on a suitably Billie-ish note.
“Blue Commotion” is a classy and sophisticated piece of work that benefits from a typically polished 33 Records production. There’s nothing strikingly original here but everybody plays and sings great and every one of these experienced professionals sounds as if they’re having a good time. Blue Commotion is now a band as well as an album and the quintet will be taking to the road later in 2012 (dates below).
Zoe and Rob also sent me a copy of their 2009 duo album “Celebration” (also 33 Records), a recording featuring just voice and guitar. It is also a highly sophisticated recording that displays the kind of closeness and intimacy that you’d expect from this pair of soul mates. In the main the album concentrates on songs from the “Great American Songbook” giving Schwarz the chance to demonstrate both her jazz phrasing abilities and her mature interpretative skills. Koral’s playing is the epitome of good taste and he represents the perfect instrumental foil for his vocalist partner.
The album features one original song by the duo (“Let’s Explain, a moving and heartfelt homage to Billie Holiday) plus a piece by Koral and singer Sue Hawker with whom the guitarist once played in the fondly remembered fusion group Sketch back in the late 70’s/early 80’s (there was even an Old Grey Whistle Test appearance!). Schwarz also tries her hand at “vocalese” by adding two witty verses of her own to the hipster blues “You Don’t Learn That In School” and there’s another version of “sitting On Top Of The World” which again closes the album.
“Celebration” is an enjoyable album in it’s own right, immaculately performed by two musicians still at the top of their game and it represents a good companion to “Blue Commotion” plus an excellent souvenir of the duo’s intimate live shows (I once saw them open for Gary Burton and Pat Metheny in the foyer of the Lighthouse Arts Centre, Poole).
The details and tracklisting for “Celebration” are as follows;
Celebration (2009)
Zoë Schwarz & Rob Koral
Zoë Schwarz - vocals, Rob Koral guitar
Label: 33 JAZZ
Catalogue No. 33JAZZ 201
Tracklisting:
Track
Words & Music by
1
Cry Me A River
Hamilton
2
Don’t Explain
Holiday/Herzog, Jr
3
Let’s Fall In Love
Rogers/Hart
4
My Funny Valentine
Rogers/Hart
5
When I Grow Too Old To Dream
Romberg/Hammerstein II
6
Let’s Explain
Schwarz/Koral
7
Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t My Baby
Jordan
8
Boulevard Of Broken Dreams
Dubin/Warren
9
The Man I Love
Gershwin
10
You Don’t Learn That In School
Alfred/Fisher (verses 3&4 by Schwarz)
11
Until The Real Thing Comes Along
Cahn/Chaplin/Freeman/Holiner/Nichols
12
Careless Love
Handy/Koenig/Williams
13
BabyBaby All The Time
Troup
14
That Old Feeling
Fain/Brown
15
Empty Rooms
Hawker/Koral
16
Sitting On Top Of The World
Vinson/Chapman
Blue Commotion tour dates 2012;
Friday 6th April 2012 8pm Tickets £ 10
Bridport Arts Centre, South Street, West Dorset
Monday 9th April 2012 8:30pm
Clifford Arms, Shaldon, Devon
Friday 13h April – 8:30pm
Jazz at the George, Christchurch Jazz Club, East Dorset
Sunday 15th April 2012 – 8pm
Ipswich Jazz Club, The California Club, Suffolk,
Tuesday 17th April 2012 – 8:30
Worthing Jazz Club, The Hare & Hounds, West Sussex
Wednesday 2nd May 2012 9pm
Jazz at the Lescar, Hunters Bar, Sheffield
Thurs 10th May 2012 -
The Beaverwood, Chislehurst, Kent
Sunday 13th May Sunday lunchtime special
Pizza Express Jazz Club, Dean Street, Soho, London
Tuesday 15th May 9pm
Jazz at Dempsey’s, Cardiff, South Glamorgan, Wales
Thursday 17th May 2012 8pm
Spring Arts Centre, Havant, Hampshire
Friday 18th May 7:30pm
The Regent Centre, Christchurch, Dorset
Tuesday 22nd May – 8:30
Marlow Jazz Club, Marlow, Buckinghamshire
Friday 25th May 12:30 – 2:30 (lunchtime)
The Spice of Life, Cambridge Circus, London
Monday 18th June 8:30pm
Southampton Jazz Club, The Soul Cellar, West Marlands Road, Hampshire
Thursday 21st June 2012 8:30pm
Sound Cellar Jazz at the Blue Boar, Poole, South Dorset
Saturday 14th July 2012
Marlborough Jazz Festival, Wilts
Thursday 19th July 2012 8:30pm
A Boogaloo Promotion, The Maltings, Farnham, Surrey
Further details plus news of numerous other performances from;
An intelligent and stimulating amalgam of jazz and rock elements. For all their jazz sophistication Canniere's tunes often have a song like structure and flair for melody.
Andre Canniere Group
“Forward Space”
(Whirlwind Recordings WR4619)
Trumpeter and composer Andre Canniere is an American musician based in London and it is perhaps therefore appropriate that his latest album should appear on Whirlwind, the record label run by another US import, bassist Michael Janisch. Canniere relocated to the UK in 2008 and “Forward Space” features his London based group and includes some of that city’s finest young players. George Fogel, who guested so effectively on the recent Empirical album “Elements Of Truth”, is on piano and keyboards and the band also includes guitarist Hannes Riepler and bassist Ryan Trebilcock with drumming duties shared between Kairos 4tet’s Jon Scott and yet another expat Yank, Chris Vatalaro.
Canniere is a skilled writer who is able to move easily between musical genres. He has written for cinema and for symphony orchestra and has been commissioned to compose a jazz mass for a fifteen piece ensemble by St. Peters’ in New York City. Canniere describes “Forward Space” as “My first major statement as a composer and bandleader” and the writing, which addresses a variety of jazz styles is both mature and impressive. Much of the music was written at the time of Canniere’s move from New York to London and the music reflects something of the spirit of both cities with many of the pieces drawing inspiration from contemporary political events. For instance the urgent opener “Crunch” was written in reaction to the 2008 financial crisis and the false sense of euphoria that existed prior to that event. Canniere’s music is often complex and embraces rapid changes of mood, style and tempo but remains intrinsically melodic. The blend of trumpet and guitar sometimes reminds me of the work of Ron Horton and Steve Cardenas in bassist Ben Allison’s group. I don’t wish to labour the point but Canniere’s also seems to share something of Allison’s melodic sense and political awareness.
The more optimistic title track features the warm tone of Canniere’s trumpet above Scott & Trebilcock’s buoyant grooves and Riepler’s “Morse Code” guitar motif. It’s complicated yet catchy and is a highly sophisticated piece of writing with its blend of simple melodies and complex, interlocking rhythms. Canniere describes the piece as being “a reflection on the seemingly insignificant events that make up everyday life which can eventually culminate in a sudden change or development”. Here that change comes when Scott’s colourful drums wheedle their way into the foreground to carry the melody in an extended percussion feature.
The insanely infectious “Cure” has actually been released as a single and is a bass driven fusion freak out that Canniere wrote in New York with the intention of summing up the buzz and energy of living there. The piece does all this and more but the spirit of London based bands such as Led Bib and Acoustic Ladyland is in there too. Trebilcock and Vatalaro are relentless as Riepler and Fogel both deliver dirty, skronky solos before Canniere takes over during a freer central section. The accompanying press release describes it as a “thrashy fairground ride, like a 21st century Tony Williams Lifetime band”, a description that’s not too far wide of the mark.
The richly atmospheric “Marshlands Blackout”, inspired by a return visit to Canniere’s childhood home in Pennsylvania changes the mood completely with the leader on velvety flugelhorn in a kind of highly descriptive abstract ballad. Fogel’s thoughtful use of electric piano adds considerably to the reflective feel of the piece. “September Piece” maintains the pensive mood with Canniere back on trumpet and with a thoughtful, exquisitely executed solo from guitarist Riepler.
The sparkling “Lost In Translation” delights in its dizzying time signatures but remains intrinsically melodic with Canniere’s fluent, agile trumpet leading his band mates on the kind of roller coaster ride that’s probably both a challenge and a delight to play.
“Spreading Hypocrisy” is Canniere’s musical comment on the Bush administration. It’s an appropriately schizophrenic piece with snatches of trumpet led melody punctuated by barrages of guitar driven riffs. Canniere on trumpet and Fogel on electric piano both get to stretch out with probing solos on a piece that the press release describes as a “lop sided Latin tune”. There’s also an obvious rock influence from Riepler’s guitar plus an element of cerebral funk.
Finally comes the highly personal “Song For J”, Canniere’s dedication to his young son Jonas. Here Canniere plays all the instruments himself-trumpet (natch), Rhodes, guitar and cajon. With its gentle, folk like melody it’s the simplest piece on the record but is none the worse for that and is obviously a labour of love. The almost naïve beauty of the piece represents an effective coda after the complex, harder edged and sometimes angry music that has gone before.
“Forward Space” does indeed represent a major statement from Canniere with its blend of intelligent writing and strong playing. Canniere is a fluent, technically gifted trumpeter who doesn’t appear to borrow too obviously from the greats of the past although Dave Douglas might represent a suitable contemporary comparison. Canniere’s compositions are influenced by contemporary rock almost as much as jazz but in a good way, this is no slick fusion record but represents a far more intelligent and stimulating amalgam of jazz and rock elements. For all their jazz sophistication Canniere’s tunes often have a song like structure and flair for melody.
It should be fascinating to watch Canniere and his group perform this music live. They will be undertaking a short British tour (dates below) but unfortunately all the shows are just a little bit too far away for me. If you are lucky enough to live near any of the venues I’d recommend that you go and check him out. “Forward Space” will be released on January 23rd 2012.
31 January 2012
8:30 pm – 11:30 pm
Forward Space Album Launch at The Vortex, London
London1 February 2012
6:00 pm – 7:30 pm
Forward Space Tour - Ray’s Jazz Cafe, London
15 March 2012 -
Forward Space Tour - The Spin, Oxford
9:00 pm – 11:00 pm
27 March 2012
8:00 pm – 11:30 pm
Forward Space Tour - Parr Jazz Club, Liverpool
28 March 2012
7:30 pm – 10:30 pm
Forward Space Tour - Capstone Theatre, Liverpool
Full details at http://www.andrecanniere.com
The album as a whole is eminently accessible and capable of considerable across the board appeal.
Mats Eilertsen
“SkyDive”
(Hubro Records HUBROCD2507)
The Norwegian bassist and composer Mats Eilertsen is probably best known to UK audiences for his work as a member of the original Food quartet (with Iain Ballamy, Thomas Stronen and Arve Henriksen) and for his current membership of the Tord Gustavsen Ensemble. He has also worked with Solveig Sjlettahjell, Wolfert Brederode, Hakon Kornstad, Havard Wiik and the bands The Source and Parish. Eilertsen’s sideman credits may be impressive but he is also an experienced composer and bandleader and “SkyDive” represents the sixth album release under his own name and his third for Hubro.
“SkyDive” draws on the well established descriptive and lyrical strand of Scandinavian jazz pioneered by Jan Garbarek and can be regarded as a follow up to Eilertsen’s acclaimed 2009 quartet album “Radio Yonder”. The new album retains the core quartet of Eilertsen, saxophonist Tore Brunborg, guitarist Thomas T. Dahl and Finnish drummer Olavi Louhivouri but also brings Louhivouri’s compatriot Alexi Tuomarila into the band on piano. The two Finns toured the UK in 2009 as part of Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stanko’s quintet. “SkyDive” was recorded at Oslo’s famous Rainbow Studios with Jan Erik Kongshaug acting as engineer and, as might be imagined, the album should hold considerable appeal for fans of both BBC Radio 3’s Late Junction programme and the ECM record label. Rainbow and Kongshaug have hosted many a classic ECM session over the years.
The ECM comparisons are further compounded by the presence of saxophonist Tore Brunborg who adopts a broadly Garbarek like sound for much of the album. That said he has emerged from Garbarek’s shadow in recent years and is now an acclaimed saxophonist in his own right with an increasingly individual identity. Brunborg and Tuomarila both shine on the melodic and highly lyrical opener “Splendor” and the following “Memento” which features the pianist at his luminous best. Guitarist Dahl exhibits something of Pat Metheny’s melodic sensibility but his subtle chording, allied to his soundscaping ability, also exhibits echoes of Bill Frisell. Eilertsen and Louhivuori largely retain a low profile, prompting here and embellishing there, their playing tasteful and full of delightful small details but never imposing unnecessarily.
“Birds Perspective” (a paean to nature rather than a Parker homage I suspect) features the group at their most atmospheric and the brief but intimate “Parachute Psalm” is notable for the delightful dialogue between Tuomarila and Eilertsen.
“The Pilot’s Choice” possesses a highly melodic, Metheny like theme that sounds as if it’s been around forever with Dahl’s warm guitar sound helping to bring it to life.
The title track marks a return to the atmospheric approach with Eilertsen featuring on grainy arco bass alongside Brunborg’s plaintive saxophone, Tuomarila’s mellifluous piano, Louhivuori’s nuanced percussion and Dahl’s pointillist guitar. At a little over three and a half minutes it has the air of an exquisite miniature. The insistent, angular “The Void” develops from this with Dahl edging closer to a rock sound and with Tuomarila introducing the sound of Fender Rhodes. Powered by Eilertsen’s muscular pizzicato it’s the most forceful track on the album thus far.
“Embrace” is a lush, atmospheric contemporary ballad with more fine interplay between Eilertsen and Tuomarila as Louhivuori provides quietly busy brushed accompaniment. “The Old Oak” then provides a celebratory, gospel flavoured finale with Brunborg’s declamatory but warm toned sax leading the way followed by a final flourish from the excellent Tuomarila. This is one of the most accessible pieces on the record, a jazz lighter waver if ever there was one.
Indeed the album as a whole is eminently accessible and capable of considerable across the board appeal. Eilertsen’s carefully crafted compositions are highly tuneful and the playing by the all star Scandinavian band excellent throughout. It’s a tightly focussed set with the emphasis on a distilled ensemble sound and with the leader adopting a particularly selfless approach as the anchor of the group. With the concentration very much on the writing there is little in the way of conventional jazz soloing although all the musicians contribute superb individual moments with new boy Tuomarila adding hugely to the overall group sound. Kongshaug’s engineering skills emphasise the textures and nuances of Eilertsen’s writing and with no one individual dominating this represents a fine team effort. Other commentators have suggested that this is Eilertsen’s best work to date and I wouldn’t disagree although there are moments when the music almost seems too pretty and overly restrained. I suspect that my co-writer Tim Owen would find it all a bit bland and lacking in improvisatory gristle and I can understand that point of view too. However many more listeners will unreservedly love the often beautiful music of “SkyDive” (my mate Paul enjoyed it so much that he rushed out and bought “Radio Yonder” as well) and it’s a record that can be recommended to the majority of contemporary jazz listeners.
Out of the Desert Live at JazzFest Berlin
Joachim Kuhn / Majid Bekkas / Ramon Lopez / hr-Bigband
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Reviewed by: Ian Mann
What impresses is the sheer vitality and intensity of the performances with Kuhn still at the height of his creative powers.
Joachim Kuhn/ Majid Bekkas / Ramon Lopez / hr-Bigband
“Out of the Desert Live at JazzFest Berlin”
(ACT Music & Vision ACT 9521-12)
“Out of the Desert” is the name given by the German pianist and composer Joachim Kuhn to his long running project featuring the Moroccan oud, guembri and vocal virtuoso Majid Bekkas and Spanish drummer and percussionist Ramon Lopez. The trio have enjoyed a productive relationship with ACT as evidenced on the albums “Kalimba” (2006), “Out Of The Desert” (2009-reviewed elsewhere on this site) and “Chalaba” (2011).
This new live recording represents the trio’s most adventurous outing to date and finds them joining forces with the Frankfurt Radio Bigband (Hessischer Rundfunk or hr-Bigband) in a performance at the 2010 Berlin Jazz Festival. Initially premièred at the 2009 Deutsches Jazzfestival Frankfurt the performance features a series of new Kuhn compositions (plus one from Bekkas) specifically written for this project. Although a comparative veteran (Kuhn’s first Berlin Jazz Festival appearance was in 1966) the pianist is still at the height of his creative powers as these pieces show. What also impresses is the sheer vitality and intensity of the performances, not only from the three main protagonists but also from the principle soloists of the big band, among them trumpeter Axel Schlosser and guitarist Martin Scales plus Tony Lakatos and the UK’s own Julian Arguelles on saxophones.
The album opens with the attention grabbing “Fresh Air” which features the huge,vibrant sound of the hr-Bigband conducted by Ed Partyka framing bravura solos by Kuhn, Schlosser and rock influenced guitarist Scales. There is also a remarkable passage featuring the impassioned vocals of Majid Bekkas. It’s a dynamic start with Kuhn’s arrangements consciously avoiding all the standard “big band” clichés.
Similarly the lengthy “Lichtquelle” is a superb ensemble piece based around chunky rhythms and North African melodic motifs with a superb opening solo from Kuhn at the piano. The ensemble then drop out entirely as first Bekkas on oud and vocal, then Lopez on percussion enjoy extended features before the big band return for a rousing finale.
“Der Wanderer” allows the core trio plenty of room to stretch out on lengthy piano led passages with Bekkas also featuring on the bass like guembri and supplying another distinctive vocal contribution.
The four part “Klangzeit in vier Farben” is presented as a kind of suite beginning with “Klangeinfuhrung”, a piece that combines virtuoso solo piano with low register, often avant garde orchestral murmurings . From this emerges “Klange Des Himmels” which features Kuhn in rewarding dialogue with the tenor saxophones of first Tony Lakatos and then Julian Arguelles, the playing becoming freer and more impassioned as the movement progresses. The Bekkas composed “Balini” begins as another solo episode for guembri and voice but really catches fire when Kuhn and Lopez are added to the proceedings, the pianist and percussionist superbly augmenting the power and intensity of Bekkas’ vocals. Finally comes the thunderous, highly rhythmic “Dampfmaschine” led by Kuhn’s percussive piano and featuring some marvellously bombastic big band passages. It’s like a highly sophisticated cop show or Bond movie theme with Kuhn and his numerous colleagues sounding as if they’re having a ball as they vary the dynamics and move up and down the gears.
The Berlin festival crowd gave the music a great reception and the rest of us should be grateful that ACT founder Siggi Loch had the vision to capture this marvellous music on album. In the UK it would have been aired on Radio 3 at best or else vanished into the ether. Apart from the occasional ponderous moment Kuhn and his colleagues produced a performance of warmth, skill and vitality and there’s a sense that this concert was a real “event”. Kuhn is widely acknowledged as one of Germany’s greatest ever jazz exports and the “Out Of The Desert” series reveals that he is as committed as ever to expanding his musical horizons and that his technical skills are very much intact. His soloing throughout the album is inspired and his writing consistently imaginative. Although it’s very much Kuhn’s album Bekkas and Lopez add a good deal to the proceedings, shaping Kuhn’s writing and giving the album a distinct “Desert Blues” flavour. Their instrumental, and in the case of Bekkas also vocal, contributions are excellent throughout.
The h-r Bigband also impress with the quality and flexibility of their playing. They lined up;
Heinz Dieter Sauerborn- alto & soprano sax, flute, clarinet
Oliver Leicht-alto & tenor sax, clarinet
Tony Lakatos-tenor & soprano saxophones
Julian Arguelles-tenor sax, alto flute
Frank Wellert, Thomas Vogel, Martin Auer, Axel Schlosser-trumpets
Gunter Bollman, Peter Feil-trombones
Christian Jaksjo-trombone, euphonium
Manfred Honetschlager-bass trombone
Peter Reiter-keyboards
Martin Scales-guitar
Thomas Heidepriem-bass
Jean Paul Hochstadter-drums
Match & Fuse EP No. 3
WorldService Project and ReDiViDeR
Monday, January 09, 2012
Reviewed by: Ian Mann
WSP and their European counterparts have youthful brio and talent to burn.
WorldService Project / ReDiViDeR
“Match & Fuse EP No. 3”
“Match & Fuse” is the name given to a series of collaborations between the young British group WorldService Project and their similarly inclined and equally youthful counterparts in a variety of European countries. The first “match” saw WSP linking up with the Norwegian band Synkoke to perform a series of events in both the UK and Norway with both bands playing a set each before a final on stage “mash up” featuring the personnel of both groups. The fruits of this collaboration can be briefly heard on this new EP.
WSP have since teamed with the German trio Schulbus to produce a second “Match & Fuse” limited edition EP and to perform gigs in Oxford and London in November 2011. WSP will be travelling to Berlin to appear with Schulbus at the city’s Jazzkeller 69 venue on February 24th 2012.
Schulbus consists of guitarist Hannes Buder, saxophonist Robert Menzel and drummer Hannes Lingens. Their music on the second “Match & Fuse” EP is both interesting and enjoyable and is reminiscent of a slightly more restrained trioVD. WSP ‘s contribution to the record comprises of three more tracks culled from their début album “Relentless” with the title track appearing alongside “There’s Always One” and “Bye Bye”.
This third Match & Fuse collaboration teams WSP with the chordless Irish group ReDiViDeR who are led by the drummer and composer Matt Jacobson. With saxophone (Nick Roth), trombone (Colm O’ Hara) and electric bass (Derek Whyte) in the line up the instrumentation has many similarities to that of WSP. Jacobson claims Charles Mingus, Steve Coleman, Deerhoof, Phil Ivey and the Carnatic Music of Southern India as influences and his two pieces on this latest Match & Fuse EP are never less than interesting.
The first, “And Much” begins with bleary, rasping, overblown trombone shadowed by the leader’s oddball percussive effects (cymbal scrapings etc.) in what I assume to be largely improvised opening. Eventually more orthodox drumming takes over and a clear melody emerges with Whyte’s liquid, cerebrally funky electric bass leading the way for a substantial passage mid tune. Roth’s squalling alto sax dominates the latter stages with Jacobson’s increasingly powerful drumming driving him forward. The group’s press release describes their music as “downtown grooves with catchy melodies and collective improvs.”. At various times elements of all three can be detected here.
The second ReDiViDeR (the group is keen to emphasise the palindromic nature of its name) piece “The End Is The Best Part” places a stronger emphasis on melody with Roth’s alto sax skipping and doodling above O’ Hara’s trombone vamp and Whyte’s springy, low register bass grooves. Later there’s an agile trombone solo above gently propulsive bass and drum grooves, a brief passage of sax/trombone counterpoint, and a vibrant bass and drum dialogue before a rousing sax led finale. Together the two pieces form a tempting taster for the UK live dates later in January 2012.
For regular WSP listeners this latest EP will be pick of the bunch thus far. Rather than raiding their début album again the group have included two new tunes captured in live performance at London’s Vortex Jazz Club in November 2011. From the same evening WSP also appear alongside Synkoke in a segue of “Small Town Girl” and the Norwegian band’s “Ho Seier Kva Ho Tykkjer”. Led by keyboard player and composer Dave Morecroft WSP also features saxophonist Tim Ower, trombonist Raphael Clarkson and the rhythm pairing of Conor Chaplin (electric bass) and Neil Blandford (drums).
Morecroft’s imaginative compositions match old style funk with Led Bib/ Acoustic Ladyland style skronk and something of Django Bates madcap inventiveness. Morecroft’s pieces are full of incident, racing up and down the gears with remarkable sophistication. The three WSP pieces here are a musical white knuckle ride and a reminder of just how exciting this young band can be when they appear live.
Opener “Dance Of The Clown” conveys something of the humour inherent in the title via a mix of squalling, brawling sax and trombone, whistling synth and crazy stop/start rhythms that periodically coalesce to form killer hooks and grooves. Owers shades the instrumental honours with a thrilling sax solo.
“Villain Of The Aeroplane” (perhaps intended as a companion piece to the album’s “Hero of the Bus”) also packs a hefty punch with its powerful riffs and grooves and shuddering tempo changes.
Everybody acquits themselves well on this hugely exciting piece of classic WSP.
Like the earlier “Dance Of The Clown” the closing “Small Town Girl” featured in the highly entertaining WSP set that I saw at the 2011 Brecon Jazz Festival. Teamed here with SynKoke’s “Ho Seier Kva Ho Tykkjer” it makes for a celebratory and irresistibly funky conclusion with bellicose horns uniting above heavy grooves as Morecroft delivers a stunning electric piano solo. The trademark switchback rhythms are here in abundance, WSP are adept at dynamic contrast but inevitably just can’t resist going for the jugular as here. The use of voices is a good indication of just how much fun the two bands had in storming their way through these two tunes and the Vortex crowd respond with a reciprocating enthusiasm.
WSP and their European counterparts have youthful brio and talent to burn. Match No. 4 will team them with the Italian group Tribaco in April and I’ll be taking a look at that in due course. In the meantime we have this collaboration with ReDiVideR to look forward to. 2012 is shaping up to be a very important year for Dave Morecroft and WSP and should see the group’s reputation to continue to grow across the UK and Europe.
This limited edition EP will be available at the gigs listed below;
WorldService Project & ReDiviDeR (match no. 3)
January in UK
Friday 20
London: Vortex 11 Gillett Square, N16 8AZ
Saturday 21
Nottingham: Café Bar Contemporary, Weekday Cross NG1 2GB
Sunday 22
Bristol: Leftbank, 128 Cheltenham Road, Montpelier, BS6 5RW
“Elements Of Truth” combines the episodic writing of their début with the Dolphy inspired abstractions of “Out 'n' In” to produce a distinctive recording of demanding but ultimately invigorating music
Empirical
“Elements of Truth”
(Naim Jazz naimcd 168)
Empirical have changed immeasurably since their attention grabbing début album featuring the now departed trio of trumpeter Jay Phelps, pianist Kit Downes and bassist Neil Charles. Now with a stable quartet line up featuring founding members Nathaniel Facey (alto sax) and Shaney Forbes (drums) plus Tom Farmer (double bass) and Lewis Wright (vibes) the award winning group are back with their third album “Elements Of Truth”, a worthy follow up to their acclaimed Eric Dolphy inspired release “Out ‘n’ In”.
“Elements Of Truth” combines the episodic writing of their début with the Dolphy inspired abstractions of “Out ‘n’ In” to produce a distinctive recording on which bassist Tom Farmer emerges as the main compositional voice. He contributes seven of the ten pieces with Facey weighing in with a further two and with Lewis Wright supplying the title track. Guest pianist George Fogel is featured extensively and his presence gives the new record a less claustrophobic sound than its predecessor.
The album commences with Farmer’s atmospheric “Say What You Mean, Mean What You Say”, a piece inspired by the unlikely triumvirate of Oliver Messiaen, Steve Lehman and Vijay Iyer. A ghostly opening section featuring subliminal voices and the other worldly shimmer of Wright’s vibes leads into an intricate, densely knit piece with alto, vibes and piano jostling for supremacy. There are no extended solos but each of the three front line instruments enjoys brief prominence as Farmer and Forbes stoke the often complex rhythmic fires.
As the title might suggest Facey’s “Yin and Yang” is a two part composition with Fogel’s gothic piano intro quickly ceding to Farmer’s propulsive bass figure which in turn provides the backbone for the composer’s incisive alto explorations. The second half of the piece is more impressionistic and is centred around Wright’s vibes, Facey’s alto, and Forbes atmospheric and colourful drumming.
It’s a mature and imaginative piece of writing.
Also by Facey “In The Grill” (the phrase is actually a boxing reference) is fiendishly complex and represents a celebration of spatial awareness. The composer solos with bravado above the switchback rhythms and textures created by vibes, piano, bass and drums. You feel like you’ve gone fifteen rounds just listening to it. Collectively Empirical possess huge technical abilities and are not afraid to show them off. That sense of “going for it” is also inherent in the title.
Farmer’s “Out Of Sight Out Of Mind Part 1” employs a similar structure to his opening tune with another ghostly introduction, this time featuring bowed vibes and interior piano scrapings, that eventually gives way to a more conventionally structured and by, Empirical’s standards, relatively uncluttered second half centred around Facey’s long alto lines.
Farmer dedicates “Cosmos” to TV astronomer and physicist Carl Sagan and the piece includes a suitably spacey middle section bookended by a Monkish main theme. Facey really digs in on alto in the closing section with a searing Dolphy-like solo before the delicate coda.
Empirical’s influences are wide with Farmer naming Bjork as an inspiration for “Simple Things”, a piece with more of a song like structure than much of their other work. Forbes’ hip hop inspired drumming gives the tune a thoroughly contemporary feel but the music is far more complex than the title might suggest as Wright and Fogel weave their way in and out of a piece structured around Facey’s repetitive sax phrasing.
There are more contemporary grooves on “An Ambiguous State Of Mind”, inspired by the methods of pianist Vijay Iyer and written By Farmer as a feature for Fogel. The guest pianist impresses with a leaping, exuberant solo but there is also garrulous sax from Facey and dynamic drumming from the excellent Forbes.
“The Element Of Truth”, effectively the title track, represents the first Lewis Wright composition to be recorded by the band. The piece exhibits a deliberate dream like quality with Facey’s sax musings underlaid by subtly shifting rhythmic pulses with Forbes again particularly impressive.
Farmer’s “Out Of Sight Out Of Mind Part 2” is a more energetic affair than “Part 1”, briefly swimming into focus with Facey’s alto sax to the fore amidst a maelstrom of swirling vibes and busy drumming. It all fades out rather abruptly with Facey still in full flow and seems to be little more than a snapshot.
My review copy also includes the bonus track “Spitting Them Out”, another Farmer composition but one that differs significantly from the rest of the album. This shows the four piece Empirical in full on, heads down bebop mode with dazzling solos from Wright, Facey and Forbes. It’s a very welcome addition and its comparative simplicity contrasts well with the densely knit, often cerebral music to be heard elsewhere.
“Elements Of Truth” displays clear signs of Empirical’s continuing artistic development on a series of intriguing compositions. There are few conventional jazz solos, the approach is very much one of collective improvisation on what are often very complex themes. Nonetheless the individual contributions are superb with Fogel so fully integrated that he can almost be considered a fifth member. Perhaps the band still wear their influences a little too much on their sleeves, besides the names mentioned above Andrew Hill, Wayne Shorter and Branford Marsalis are also name checked by the band as influences. The layered complexities of the music have also evoked valid comparisons with the Claudia Quintet and I’d also suggest that the music of Steve Coleman and the M Base crowd also exerts a considerable influence. For all that these boys can play and are certainly not bashful about showing off their chops on this demanding but ultimately invigorating music. Empirical continue to progress and their dates on a short British tour, with Fogel guesting on piano, should be well worth seeing.
Tour dates;
14/01/2012 Turner Sims Concert Hall, Southampton
21/01/2012 Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester
10/02/2012 Royal Welsh College of Music, Cardiff
Brings together elements of jazz, rock and Indian music in a highly distinctive fashion.
Rudresh Mahanthappa
“Samdhi”
(ACT Music & Vision ACT 9513-2)
Alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa has attracted a compelling amount of critical praise both for his solo work and for his collaborations with pianist Vijay Iyer, a musician with whom he shares a very similar cultural background. Both Iyer and Mahanthappa were born in the US to Indian parents and both have established themselves as expert jazz players before consciously setting out to explore their Indian musical heritage. Iyer has recorded a series of albums for ACT with his latest recording “Tirtha” (reviewed elsewhere on this site by Tim Owen) his deepest examination yet of his Indian ancestry.
“Samdhi”, Mahanthappa’s ACT début, not only references the saxophonist’s Indian background but also throws all his other influences into a rich and bubbling musical stew. There’s the bebop of Charlie Parker, a primary influence, then 80’s fusion (Brecker Brothers, David Sanborn, the Yellowjackets) plus more contemporary developments from the worlds of hip hop and electronic music. To Mahanthappa everything is fair game- “from Gregorian Chant to Lady Gaga” as he puts it. The saxophonist was lucky enough to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship to pursue these varying musical paths and the result is an album that brings these seemingly disparate strands together as a coherent and invariably thrilling whole. The title is well chosen, “Samdhi” is the Sanskrit word for twilight and is an apt description for the way he blurs the boundaries between the various musical genres that have influenced him. The instrumentation features the leader on alto sax and electronics, David Gilmore on electric guitar, electric bass specialist Rich Brown plus the twin percussive attack of Damion Reed on kit drums and “Anand” Anantha Krishnan on mridangam and kanjira. This unique line up brings together elements of jazz, rock and Indian music in a highly distinctive fashion.
Mahanthappa has channelled his writing into twelve relatively brief items, some of them little more than vignettes, and the improvising is, in the main tight and focussed. The longer pieces give the musicians greater room to stretch out and there are some brilliant individual contributions within the distinctive group sound. “Parakram # 1” acts as a kind of overture with Mahanthappa’s shenai like alto cutting sharply through the surrounding electronic soundwash like an Indian Jan Garbarek.
Mahanthappa first explored his Indian heritage on the 2008 album “Kinsmen” when he worked with the Carnatic saxophonist Kadri Gopalnath as part of the Dkshina Ensemble. A later visit to a Carnatic music festival in Chennai, India involved further immersion in Carnatic (or South Indian) music and the fruits of these labours can be heard on the following “Killer” which adds the percussion of Krishnan for the first time. The obviously Indian elements that Mahanthappa and Krishnan bring to the band are balanced by Gilmore’s rock influenced guitar and Brown’s buoyant electric bass with Reid’s kit drums complementing Krishnan superbly. The two percussionists link up seamlessly throughout the album as emphasised on the later all percussion item “Meeting Of The Skins”. The surging “Killer” features the leader’s mercurial alto, a wonderful blend of Carnatic and bebop influences plus Gilmore’s guitar, lithe and intelligent above a backdrop of exotic percussion.
Mahanthappa and Gilmore also enter into a thrilling exchange of phrases on this high octane piece that really throws down the gauntlet for the rest of the album.
“Richard’s Game” is the first of the “vignettes”, a solo electric bass feature for the Toronto based Rich Brown, a musician who has also played with a Canadian Indo-jazz band. It’s a melodic improvisation in the spirit of Jaco Pastorius with Brown affecting an almost guitar like sound. The piece provides a gateway into the following “Playing With Stones”, one of the album’s lengthier and more through composed numbers, a piece that previously appeared on “Apex”, Mahanthappa’s 2010 album recorded with fellow saxophonist Bunky Green. The opening Indian inspired melody evolves into a more jazz inspired passage featuring Mahanthappa’s horn and with Gilmore’s guitar providing an element of abstraction. Brown’s bass groove provides the backdrop for Krishnan’s percussion feature before the initial melody re-emerges.
“Rune” is a solo feature for Gilmore with the guitarist gently layering his sound via the judicious use of effects. Again the piece is a precursor for the following item, the boppish “Breakfastlunchanddinner”with its scintillating sax and guitar exchanges plus a thrilling rock influenced solo from Gilmore. Bassist Brown also gets another chance to demonstrate his chops again with an effortlessly funky solo and the two percussionists also feature strongly.
“Parakram # 2” represents Mahanthappa’s excursion into the world of electronica with its live saxophone looping and synthesised drum beats. It could have ended up sounding a mess but is actually highly effective. Once again the piece provides an appropriate introduction for the following item “Ahhh”, another convincing mix of jazz harmonies and Indian structures and rhythms with Gilmore’s wonderfully fluent solo taking flight in the middle. Elsewhere Brown’s percolating bass groove and the busy chatter of the two drummers provides the taking off point for a fiery Mahanthappa solo that once again sees the saxophonist electronically treating his sound.
“Meeting Of The Skins” represents the long awaited face off between the two percussionists, a fiery duel between Reid on kit drums and Krishnan on the double headed frame drum the mridangam and the South Indian tambourine or kanjira. Elsewhere the two percussionists combine brilliantly, their colourful rhythmic interplay adding much to the album as a whole. As on the earlier bass and guitar cameos the composition credit is given to the protagonists suggesting that all three of these solo interludes were fully improvised.
“Still-Gas” is powered by Brown’s infectious bass groove and features some of Mahanthappa’s most incisive playing plus another powerful solo from former M Base guitarist Gilmore, all enhanced by the ebullient work of the twin percussionists. It’s a real nod to the funk and fusion of Mahanthappa’s youth yet still acknowledges his current identity.
The final two pieces are thematically linked with the brief multiphonic solo saxophone piece “For My Lady” seguing into the sumptuous slow burning electric ballad “For All The Ladies”. It’s very different in feel to the rest of the record and a beautiful way to end a very good, if sometimes rather intense album.
Mahanthappa has been exploring his cultural heritage on record for some time now. I’ll admit that I’ve not heard much of his previous output but “Samdhi” suggests that I should start taking a serious look at his back catalogue. This new album brings his various influences together in stimulating fashion and is a highly distinctive and personal statement, full of innovative, imaginative writing , musical colour and with some brilliant musicianship all round. It almost seems invidious to pick out individuals but it has to be said that Gilmore is particularly impressive.
It’s “fusion” in several different senses of the word and suggests that the much maligned “f word” should be looked at in a new light.
There's a palpable energy about these sparkling performances that could only come from a group in which the musicians know each other's playing intimately.
Seamus Blake
“Live At Smalls”
(Smalls Live SL-008)
Saxophonist Seamus Blake was born in the UK in 1970, raised in Vancouver and is now based in New York after graduating from the famous Berklee College of Music in Boston. Widely acknowledged as one of the world’s leading contemporary saxophonists Blake has worked with guitarist John Scofield, drummer Victor Lewis, trumpeter Dave Douglas and many other leading jazz figures.
Although I’d been aware of Blake’s presence and stature on the jazz scene for some time my “real” discovery of his playing came earlier in 2011 when Blake visited the UK to guest with a quartet led by Belfast based guitarist Mark McKnight and also featuring organist Ross Stanley and drummer James Maddren. Although Blake had appeared with the same personnel on McKnight’s album “Do Or Die” it was in live performance that the group really took off with their appearance at Dempsey’s in Cardiff rating as one of my gigs of the year as the group expanded on and breathed fresh life into the album material. All were outstanding but it was inevitably the Transatlantic visitor who garnered much of the attention.
My review of the Cardiff show attracted the attention of Seamus’ father and manager Dan Blake, who still lives in Vancouver, and who kindly sent me a copy of Seamus’ latest album for review. Thanks Dan.
“Live At Smalls” features Seamus Blake in what I like to think of as his natural habitat- leading an all star band in an intimate jazz club setting. Recorded live at Smalls in New York City and released on the club’s own Smalls Live imprint the album features Blake’s regular quintet stretching out on four Blake originals plus the standard “Stranger In Paradise”. What sets the album apart from any old blowing session is the sheer vivacity and inventiveness of the playing- from the off it’s obvious that this is a group that is clearly on top of its game. There’s a palpable energy about these sparkling performances that could only come from a group in which the musicians know each other’s playing intimately. The album has some great individual moments but also hangs together very effectively as a whole. Those responsible for these audio delights are Blake, specialising on tenor (he sometimes doubles on soprano), guitarist Lage Lund, pianist Dave Kikoski, bassist Matt Clohesy and drummer Bill Stewart. It’s a heavyweight aggregation and the performances are of the high quality that one would expect from such a stellar line up.
Blake and his colleagues specialise in a brand of muscular post bop with intricate but not “difficult” themes and with plenty of room for the soloists to express themselves. It’s rooted in bebop and hard bop but with a thorough absorption of more contemporary developments. The album begins in blistering fashion with “Subterfuge”, the knotty theme providing the jumping off point for lengthy solos from Blake and Lund . The leader goes first demonstrating an astonishing fluency on the tenor sax as he solos in bravura fashion above Kikoski’s choppy piano chording and Stewart’s busy drumming. Blake seems to have a particular affinity for working with guitarists and the elegant but fiery Lund is up there with the best of them. He favours a pure, clear tone and deploys his effects judiciously. His mercurial single note soloing doesn’t seem to borrow from anybody in particular and his sound is very much his own. The peerless Bill Stewart is John Scofield’s drummer of choice and he has appeared with dozens of other leading jazz musicians including Scofield’s fellow guitarist Pat Metheny. Stewart is an inherently tasteful and highly colourful player but at the same time is not exactly lacking in power and seems to be capable of handling anything that’s thrown at him. He excels throughout this album and features strongly in the closing stages of this opening tune.
“Amuse Bouche” explores broadly similar territory with another memorable theme and more buccaneering soloing from the fearless Blake and the lithe Lund. The pair also link up to trade ideas above a scalding rhythm section. The Smalls series of recordings keep audience sounds prominent in the mix and there’s no mistaking just how much the New York crowd enjoyed this.
Blake’s “Consequence” slows the pace a little and provides a welcome opportunity for us to hear Kikoski as a soloist. Hitherto a superb accompanist the first two numbers saw the pianist dealing with Blake’s tricky heads with ease and offering propulsive, intelligent support to the soloists. Significantly he never gets in Lund’s way but links up superbly with Clohesy and Stewart to form a highly effective rhythmic unit. This piece sees him stretching out in inventive but essentially lyrical fashion before effortlessly slipping into a more supportive role as Blake’s tenor once again takes flight. I first heard Kikoski more than a decade ago when I enjoyed a live performance by the late Bob Berg’s quartet at the old Ronnie Scott’s club in Birmingham. Kikoski is also a an interesting leader and his excellent album “The Maze” (Criss Cross,1998) features an early appearance from none other than a young Seamus Blake.
“Strangers In Paradise” serves as both the album’s sole standard and only ballad. It opens with a delightful duet between Blake and Kikoski before expanding into a lustrous group performance that once again features Kikoski’s swinging lyricism in an extended solo that clearly delights the audience. Clohesy improvises around the melody in a rare bass feature before Blake briefly takes flight prior to a more lyrical coda.
The album closes with the lengthy “Fear Of Rooming”, a tune that marks a return to the approach of the first two numbers. Something of a favourite in the Blake catalogue this is a piece that gradually gathers momentum by way of outstanding solos by Kikoski, Blake and Lund with Stewart also making an outstanding contribution behind the drums. Once again the Smalls crowd clearly loved it.
“Live At Smalls” represents an excellent live snapshot of Blake’s essentially acoustic regular quintet. However Blake is a versatile and inquisitive musician who is involved with a number of other projects across a variety of jazz styles, often involving the use of electronics. In addition to his saxophone skills he is also an accomplished guitarist and vocalist. More information on Blake’s other projects can be found at http://www.seamusblake.com
In the meantime this quintet returns to Smalls for two live shows on January 27th and 28th 2012.
An innovative and highly personal blend of jazz and folk music with an element of discreet electronica.
Neil Yates
“Five Countries”
(Edition Records EDN1029)
The Manchester born trumpeter Neil Yates made his Edition Records début as part of the ensemble that featured on label boss Dave Stapleton’s excellent 2008 album “Catching Sunlight”. Now Yates returns to the label as the leader of his own trio performing an innovative and highly personal blend of jazz and folk music in the company of Hungarian acoustic guitarist Zsolt Bende and Irish bodhran player and percussionist Cormac Byrne. I saw the trio perform much of this music on the free stage at the Queen Elizabeth Hall as part of the 2011 London Jazz Festival and a review of that performance can be found as part of our feature covering the festival.
Yates has been a stalwart of the UK jazz scene for many year featuring in a variety of contexts. I think I first encountered his playing as a member of Gary Crosby’s Nu Troop many years ago. More recently Yates has been exploring his love of Northern brass band sounds plus a simultaneous enthusiasm for Irish and other traditional musics. In doing so he has expanded upon his jazz roots to create music that is both innovative and highly personal, his pushing of the boundaries culminating firstly in his brass led 2007 Cheltenham Jazz commission “Sketches From A Northern Town” and now in this convincing blend of jazz and folk elements. For all his love of tradition Yates’ music also looks forwards, “Five Countries” makes judicious use of electronics, particularly live looping, to add to the often mystical atmosphere.
The title “Five Countries” is a reference to the three musicians’ countries of birth, migration and subsequent domicile. The music covers an appropriately broad stylistic range and by virtue of its personal nature often exudes a very real sense of place. Yates is responsible for the bulk of the compositions and collaborates with Bende on the lovely “Izabella’s Dream”. The guitarist contributes the atmospheric ballad “Freedoms Lost” while the closing “Seventh Sense” also incorporates “Watermans” by the renowned folk flautist Michael McGoldrick. Born in Manchester of Irish heritage McGoldrick is an acknowledged master of Irish traditional music on flutes and whistles and his techniques have exerted a considerable influence on Yates’ increasingly unique trumpet style- a style Yates has dubbed “diddle knock” in acknowledgement of its folk inspired origins.
The album commences with “Flutter and Flight” which makes use of live looping to create an atmospheric backdrop for Yates’ feathery tone as Bende’s quietly insistent guitar chording and the patter of Byrne’s percussion provide rhythmic impetus. Bende also features as a soloist with his cleanly picked quietly articulate style.
The opening track sets the mood for the album as the segue of “Snowdonia/Sail The Sky” explores broadly similar territory blending folk melody with occasional elements of discreet electronica. Yates’ fluent trumpet whisper is more personalised than ever with even stronger elements of McGoldrick’s folk influence.
“Frozen Forest” conjures up the chilly winter landscapes of Bende’s native Hungary and showcases his guitar alongside Yates’ fluid, long lined improvisations. Bende’s sense of space on the acoustic guitar is sometimes reminiscent of a European Ralph Towner.. Byrne’s percussion work on this track is also superlative, incorporating his trademark bodhran with cymbals and other items from the standard drum kit. I’m used to seeing him as the driving force of folk rock acts such as Uiscedwr and the Seth Lakeman Trio, a fiery player capable of providing an incredible rhythmic impetus from the bodhran as well as being a spectacular soloist. It’s intriguing to hear him in a different context where the focus is as much on colour and texture as on pure rhythm and on the whole he performs brilliantly.
Yates’ habit of bracketing tunes together probably has it’s origins in the dance “sets” of traditional Irish music. “Dustfall/Spin The Sky” represents another good example of Yates’ folk inspired trumpet technique.
“Freedoms Lost” is a moving and beautiful ballad with a haunting air of fragility and features Yates on tenor horn.. By way of contrast the following “Izabella’s Dream” is positively joyous. Jointly written by Bande and Yates the tune is dedicated to their two young daughters and was one of the most effective items in their London Jazz Festival set. There’s a strong hint of flamenco here alongside the more obvious Celtic folk influences.
“Slipreel”, with Yates doubling on whistle, is the most obvious nod to the Irish folk tradition but still maintains the reflective mood of the rest of the album with subtle electronica again adding to the colours created by the three musicians.
Both “Storm On The Irish Sea” and “Rainy Harbour” are highly descriptive evoke a strong sense of place. Yates announcements at LJF placed these tunes on the Liverpool/Belfast ferry and Rhos on Sea harbour respectively. Both use live looping techniques to build their evocative atmospheres and to give each piece a distinct cinematic quality.
The album closes with a segue of Yates’ “Seventh Sense” and McGoldrick’s “Watermans”, the first featuring Yates’ fluttering trumpet and Bende’s cleanly picked guitar above Byrne’s rich bodhran undertow-in seven, naturally enough. A short passage of solo bodhran (in the main Byrne doesn’t recreate the high octane solos he produces with Uiscedwr and Lakeman) provides the bridge into a brief statement of McGoldrick’s “Waterman’s” theme, a nice acknowledgement from Yates to a musician who has been a huge influence on his own playing.
“Five Countries” is a highly accomplished album the blends folk and jazz with intelligence and a quiet passion. It maintains a unified atmosphere throughout and if there’s a criticism of the album it is that it’s rather one paced. Having said that the trio touch a number of bases with Spanish and North African elements sidling in between the more obvious Jazz and Celtic influences. Jazz/folk crossovers are nothing new but Yates’ is more distinctive than most and his trumpet techniques are highly innovative. Bende and Byrne offer sympathetic support, both displaying a low key virtuosity and a high level of musical intelligence. If anything this music is even more effective in a live context where the skills of the players can be more properly appreciated.
Nash is totally immersed in the creative process as composer, musician, engineer and producer and the finished product exudes class and sophistication.
Derek Nash
“Joyriding”
(Jazzizit Records JITCD1156)
Derek Nash’s role as the hardest working man in British jazz has been well documented on this site. Besides leading the band Sax Appeal and funk outfit Protect The Beat he also fronts the acoustic quartet featured on this latest recording as well as running his Clown’s Pocket recording studio where he has acted as engineer and producer to many of the UK’s leading jazz artists, his clientèle ranging from seasoned veterans to promising newcomers. Then there is his joint proprietorship (with singer Trudi Kerr) of the Jazzizit record label plus his busy schedule as a member of Jools Holland’s Rhythm and Blues Orchestra.
Thankfully he can still find time between all these other commitments (and of course having your own studio helps) to make records like this, a swinging unpretentious collection of originals and standards that stays close to his jazz roots. “Joyride” represents a follow up to 2009’s “Snapshot”, Nash’s first straight ahead jazz recording for many years, but places a greater emphasis on original composition. It also deploys a different line up with only bassist Geoff Gascoyne remaining from the previous recording as part of a core quartet now featuring Dave Newton at the piano and Sebastian de Krom at the drums. Guest appearances come from trumpeter Martin Shaw, trombonist Winston Rollins and vocalist Beverley Vaughan. Like its predecessor “Joyride” was recorded in a single day, a conscious acknowledgement of 50’s and 60’s recording methods made with the intention of keeping the music fresh.
The programme consists of four Nash originals, three pieces co-written with his father Pat Nash (for many years the chief arranger for the BBC Northern Dance Orchestra) and three standards. Things get off to a great start with the title track, Nash’s homage to the seminal Blue Note record label. It’s a typical Blue Note opener with strong suggestions of Lee Morgan’s breakthrough hit “The Sidewinder” featuring fiery solos from Nash, Newton and guest trumpeter Martin Shaw with Gascoyne and de Krom providing the necessary rhythmic drive.
The collaborations with Pat Nash represent the long awaited follow up to their collaboration some ten years ago on the album “Setting New Standards”. The attractive joint composition “Waltz For My Father” is more reminiscent of Bill Evans than Horace Silver and features lyrical solos from Nash, Newton and Gascoyne.
Jerome Kern’s “All The Things You Are” acts as a baritone feature for Nash (who actually deploys all four of the main members of the saxophone family over the course of the album) and also includes customarily excellent solos from Newton and Gascoyne. The duet between Nash on baritone and Newton at the piano is a particular delight, intended as a nod towards both Gerry Mulligan and Dave Brubeck.
Ennio Morricone’s “Love Theme” from “Cinema Paradiso” features Nash’s warm tenor sound in a gently swinging bossa version. There’s a beautifully flowing piano solo from Newton and some exquisitely delicate brush work from de Krom.
The father and son composition “The Time Of Your Life” takes Pat’s 1940’s style melody with Derek giving it a bebop styled twist in the manner of Charlie Parker. Derek delivers a suitably Bird like alto solo with further features coming from Newton and de Krom.
“Be My Valentine” by British pianist Phil Phillips represents an alternative to the more familiar “My Funny Valentine” and is slinkily seductive with more than a hint of the blues. Smoky, bluesy saxophone features alongside solos from Newton and Gascoyne.
The Derek Nash original “Majolica” is a beguiling Latin tinged tune that gives de Krom the chance to demonstrate his “hand drumming” technique. Newton throws a series of quotes into his piano solo and the mood is gently playful throughout.
Also by Nash “Love At First Sound” is a lush ballad inspired by the Great American Songbook. Beginning with a tender saxophone/piano duet and with de Krom and Gascoyne later offering sympathetic support this is an impressive example of mood building with Nash supremely expressive on baritone sax and with Newton at his most lyrical at the piano.
Another Nash original, “Voodoo Rex”, offers a complete change of mood and style. The piece is named after Nash’s favourite alto sax, designed for him by one Steve Goodson, a native of New Orleans. Nash brings something of the flavour of Goodson’s home city to this effervescent piece which sees him trading licks with guest trombonist Winston Rollins as the rhythm section bubble away beneath with Newton breaking cover to deliver an exuberant solo. The emphasis is very much on fun and the tune bears a marked resemblence to the old r’n'b hit “Hi-Heal Sneakers”.
The final Derek Nash/Pat Nash collaboration is “Haunting Me”, a languid Jobim style bossa with more of Nash’s uniquely tender baritone and Newton’s sublimely lyrical piano. Capable of playing in a myriad of styles, moods and tempos the Scot is one of Britain’s most tasteful and versatile jazz pianists.
The album concludes with an alternative take of the Phil Phillips tune featuring the intimate, understated vocals of Beverley Vaughan. The lyrics represent another nod to the Great American Songbook and the tune very much sounds as if it could be standard. Nash adopts an accompanying role with pianist Newton taking the instrumental honours.
There’s nothing particularly original about “Joyriding” but the quality of the writing and performances ensure that it remains essential listening. Nash is totally immersed in the creative process as composer, musician, engineer and producer and the finished product exudes class and sophistication. Nash is probably best known as an alto saxophonist but he impresses on all four horns with his astonishing fluency on baritone perhaps the most distinctive element. Newton is effortlessly excellent throughout, as always, and Gascoyne and de Krom are the consummate rhythm section, swinging forcefully one minute, tenderly embellishing the next.
With its greater concentration on original material “Joyriding” just about gets the nod over the earlier “Snapshot” with the collaborations between Derek and father Pat Nash particularly fascinating. The album emphasises the acoustic nature of the quartet to good effect and represents a worthy and welcome addition to the Nash catalogue.
Niescier's trio negotiate a variety of moods but achieve a consistent tone of understated, unforced confidence.
31 year old, Polish-born saxophonist Angelika Niescier has been winning plaudits from the German press for years, but is little known in Britain or America. I think that might change. The recognition gained momentum in 2001 when Niescier formed the modestly named (in German) ‘Sublim’ quartet, and in 2004 when that band first toured in Europe. Their second album was, say Enja, heralded by German publication Jazz Thing as the best German jazz recording of the past 10 years. For the follow-up, ‘Sublim III’ (2009), Niescier demonstrated adventurousness by adding an oud to the lineup for the 20 minutes of the two part “Oud Suite”. And now, on ‘Quite Simply’, Niescier essays something different again; a back-to-basics trio with two new musical partners; and I think she’s on to something special.
Bassist Thomas Morgan has played with such artists as Joey Baron, David Binney, Steve Coleman, and Sylvie Courvoisier. In 2012 he will play European dates alongside Gerry Hemingway in trombonist Samuel Blaser’s band, Consort in Motion. Tyshawn Sorey has also played with Blaser. He studied with Anthony Braxton at Wesleyan University, so naturally he cites Braxton associate Gerry Hemingway as a role model (http://bit.ly/29MjYz). The drummer has two CDs under his own name: That/Not (2007) and Koan (2009). He is a member of Steve Coleman’s Five Elements, and plays in the Fieldwork trio alongside Vijay Iyer and Steve Lehman, as well in a trio led by saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock.
Full playback of ‘Quite Simply’ lasts a clean, lean 68 minutes, over which the trio negotiate a variety of moods but achieve a consistent tone of understated, unforced confidence. Compositions by Ornette Coleman and Anthony Braxton complement six originals by Niescier.
“Diffractions” is a bright, up-tempo lead track—the first of three that extend to ten minutes—which practically scuttles along. Niescier’s sax is lean and agile as she explores increasingly impressionistic thematic variations. Sorey essays a carefully shaded solo for a good portion of the track’s second half, without once threatening self-indulgence. Echoes of cymbal scrape and spartan bass plucks announce “Mithra’s Despair”, as Niescier does little more than withhold her breath. The track gradually firms up, but its rhythm remains stately, even borderline funereal, as Niescier unfurls an absorbingly reflective solo.
Ornette Coleman’s “Congeniality” will be instantly recognisable, in all its jaunty individuality, to anyone who knows Coleman’s classic ‘Shape of Jazz to Come’ album. But the trio hold the theme at a slight distance, addressing it by turns lightly, directly, and in abstraction. Niescier is discursive in opening it up, while Morgan and Sorey fillet the composition of its rhythmic possibilities. A sinewy “Level 3” prompts Niescier to push into harsher registers. In its second half she locks onto a repeated motif as the rhythm section improvise a dynamic backdrop. The bass gives shape to the track as it builds to a crescendo of accumulated pressure modulated by Storey’s drumming.
“Uncertainity Principle” is a ballad, and a lovely example of the trio working in counterpoint. The sax lays down a narrative to percussion counterpoint, guided by the bass. Storey provides a commentary on Niescier’s lines, firming up the dynamics when her long, meditative solo threatens to lapse into solipsism. This rather bookish introspection is maintained for “69-0”, the Braxton composition (documented by Braxton on his mammoth ‘Willisau (Quartet) 1991’ album). This is one of Braxton’s ‘story’ compositions, which (from memory) he visualises as a series of interlinked rooms. Its initial tentativeness cedes to something brooding but alert, shaped by rippling toms and burred bowed bass. The sax is at first stately, but becomes tremulous, so a sudden up-tempo recapitulation of the theme before the next track snaps into focus comes as something of a surprise.
The lively pulse of “Untitled” is pretty welcome after the fifteen down-tempo minutes of “Uncertainty” and “69-0”. Its theme is briefly but lyrically rendered by Niescier. The track eases back but never loses its momentum, as Storey inventively maintains an impressive work rate. He pushes the saxophonist’s fiery eloquence to some passionate declamations, but its the bass that then dictates the discourse in a midway ease-off. A snap back to the now naggingly familiar theme suggests that the track has the makings of a firm live favourite. As the final piece, “Bajazzo” slowly opens up Thomas’ bass provides a mournful, low-key backing for a reflective sax solo. But the trio guide the album out in mostly insouciant style, and the ending flirts bravely with introversion. It’s as if the trio realise they have little more to prove, and little to gain by unwanted grandstanding.
This has been one of my surprise finds of 2011. It should appeal to anyone who likes Anthony Braxton’s jazzy small-group recordings of the late 80s, but has the potential to reach a broader demographic, from Late Junction’s audience, say, to lovers of the most adventurous contemporary improv.
A beguiling mix of folk music, sung poetry and ECM’s house brand of subtle improvisation.
Norwegian folksinger Sinikka Langeland plays a kantele, a type of zither. On ‘The Land That is Not’, her third album for ECM, her repertoire is a beguiling mix of folk music, sung poetry and what might be described as ECM’s house brand of subtle improvisation. It is a maturation of the style forged on her 2006 label debut, ‘Starflowers’, which featured the same remarkable line-up as the present album, and its follow-up, ‘Maria’s Song’, for just kantele, violin and organ. The compositions on ‘The Land’ each frame a lyric, in Swedish or Norwegian but accompanied by translations in the booklet, which is sourced from the modernist poetry of Edith Södergran and Olav Håkonson Hauge.
Langeland’s trumpeter Arve Henriksen is now an ECM regular, having apparently stepped back from his involvement in Supersilent. ‘The Land’ is something like his tenth outing for the label, all but one of which has been a supporting role, as on saxophonist and bandmate Trygve Seim’s 2001 ECM debut, ‘Different Rivers’. Seim has likewise recorded various dates for ECM in the years since, including a double-header with Frode Haltli, Yeraz, which I reviewed for the Jazz Mann in December 2008: http://bit.ly/smTj7u. Anders Jormin has played double bass on ECM dates for big hitters such as Charles Lloyd, Don Cherry, and Bobo Stenson over the years, but to my mind he is particularly notable for his contributions to ‘Leosia’ and other Tomasz Stanko albums of the late 90s. Drummer Markku Ounaskari is new to me, but has had a few well-received recordings on Finnish labels, and after contributing to Langeland’s ‘Starflowers’ he formed his own group to record last year’s ‘Kuàra’ (subtitled ‘Psalms and Folksongs’) for ECM, so winning the 2010 Emma best jazz album of the year award, the Finnish equivalent of a Grammy.
While the musicianship on display and its realisation are uniformly impeccable, the blessings of their involvement are partially offset by the airlessness or Eicher’s production. Whereas the best folk music is imbued with the coarse grain of mediated experience, here the grain of expression is smoothed over and tamped down. Langeland’s music still shines bright, but it is softened and guttering, like a flame under glass. As a result, the album is best cherry-picked, or rather, since track by track standards are high, enjoyed in part rather than tackled in one sitting.
The album’s title track demonstrates immediately that Langeland’s crystal-clear enunciation of each poem’s lyric goes hand in hand with her rendering of its emotion, and that the tensile clarity of her instrument and her wonderful group are a perfect match.
“Triumph of Being” matches Langeland’s glassy kantele with swirling up-tempo brass and an ascending bassline, then settles into a rather jaunty theme with splashes of middle eastern flavour. “The River Murmurs” is just as subtly dramatic. It sets a lyric by Hauge to evocative bowed metal and rippling wooden percussion. When the words are over, a groundswell of music is borne along on a martial rhythm, as inexorable as a river in spate, and abating as suddenly.
“Lucky Cat” gets a punchy, jazzy interpretation, with trumpet and saxophone in call and response mode and the bass thrumming below. It’s an exception to the rule. Elsewhere Langelannd’s accompaniment invariably colours and informs the ensemble sound. Henriksen sets the initial ‘fourth world’ ambience of “It’s The Dream” but as soon as Langeland sings she reclaims the piece, and subsequent solos are carefully modulated to sympathise with her kantele’s range and tonality.
In “The Day Cools” the emphasis is purely on Langeland’s supple duet with Jormin’s bass, and the arrangement for “The Rose” is just as straightforward. Langeland laces her own singing of the lyric—“I stood in spring rain and drank in longing”—with delicate traceries of kantele, to Seim’s wonderfully smoky saxophonic accompaniment.
The final piece, “Slowly the Truth Dawns”, is the one where the various instrumental colours are most skilfully integrated. At its close, as a dolorous tom tom pulse sets a slow, stately pace each musician makes increasingly minimalist gestures, until the end comes with a soft gong hit and subtle glints of cymbal wash.
Langeland has been recording since 1994, when her solo debut ‘Langt innpå skoga’, initiated a ten-year association with the Grappa Musikkforlag label. ‘Har du lyttet til elvene om natta’ (1996) features Anders Jormin among an ensemble playing music set to poems by Hans Børli, while subsequent releases explored Finnish folksong alongside the music of Bach. A project to revive the songs of the traditional Finnish culture of her adopted home of Finnskogen, Norway inspired more recent works such as the solo ‘Tirun lirun’ (2001) and ‘Runoja’ (2002), which was recorded by a small group featuring Arve Henriksen. You can find more details where I found these: http://www.sinikka.no/.
The guitarist's second offering of often knotty, sometimes elliptical music inspired by the writings of Vladimir Nabokov.
2011 has been a good year for fans of French guitarist Marc Ducret, as he’s been busier than usual in the recording studio. This album, being the second of two volumes to date in the ‘Tower’ series, follows Ducret’s appearance on Franck Vigroux’s Broken Circles Live (http://bit.ly/unHTe3), and has since been followed by another on trombonist Samuel Blaser’s ‘Boundless’.
Likewise, Tim Berne’s contribution here is just the latest in a recent string of what were previously infrequent appearances on other artist’s recordings, following Michael Formanek’s ‘The Rub and Spare Change’, Simon H. Fell’s ‘Positions and Descriptions’, and AB&C’s ‘The Veil’ with Jim Black and Nels Cline.
Ducret’s French label, Ayler Records, describes ‘Tower’ as “a musical rendition of a short chapter from Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Ada”, “composed to convey Nabokov’s text complex structure and writing process – a labyrinth made of mirrors, back and forth moves, and connections”. And that’s a good description of this often knotty, sometimes elliptical music.
The different groups assembled to realize the two extant volumes of ‘Tower’ (a third has apparently been composed, but not yet recorded) are both notably bass-less. There was more than enough low end in the arsenal of volume 1’s trumpet, trombone, bass saxophone and drums configuration to compensate, but Volume 2 takes a different tack, being much lighter and drier, matching Dominique Pifarély’s violin to Tim Berne’s alto saxophone. Tom Rainey, on drums, is their ideal counterpoint.
At the start of the album’s first piece, “Sur l’Electricité” (16’39), Pifarély’s violin emerges from an aural fog, a field recording of steam locomotion – all hiss and distant shuntings – tautly bowed, like a siren. When Ducrett enters, plucking clean paper-dry notes, the smoggy ambience evaporates. Rainey adds percussive detail stealthily at first, but within ten minutes the piece is buzzing as violin and alto lines coil at dizzying speed while the electric guitar gutters away in what could be resentful counterpoint.
The first five minutes of “Real Thing #3” (21’31) are choppier yet more restrained, as Berne and Ducret initially set the harmonic tone and Pifarély soars freely in orbit around them. But once again, some natural gravity draws the sax and violin together as the guitar withdraws. At the track’s midpoint the music ebbs until all we hear is skeletal percussion scoured by the violin’s short and scratchy abrasions, until the subtle re-entries of Berne and Ducret layer on a patina of burred sustains.
The quartet is back on their mettle for the start of “Softly Her Tower Crumbled in the Sweet Silent Sun” (17’41), Ducret spiking a collective upward spiral with animating jolts of electricity. After three minutes, however, the group is in free space, their music blossoming in unexpected formations. The highlight for me is a scabrous duet for guitar and violin. Ultimately the mood relaxes and the tone of interplay evens out, with violin, sax and guitar equably orbiting each other to an even rhythmic pulse.
Across all three pieces, the group sustain a tension between expression and control, as highly disciplined ensemble playing brings Ducret’s compositions alive with the instantaneity of improvisation.
Arguably, as a departure from the compositional style Ducret has developed both with his own longstanding trio (Bruno Chevillon and Eric Echampard) and in collaboration with Berne, ‘Tower, vol. 2’ is not quite as interesting as its companion album. And in purely musical terms, Ducret’s guest spot on Blaser’s ‘Boundless’, which was recorded for Hat Hut just a fortnight after volume 2, is closer in tone. But on its own terms, musically it is just as good; and anyone with an ear for the works of Ducret or Berne should be sure not to overlook it.
Made In Gorton
The Magic Hat Ensemble
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Reviewed by: Ian Mann
Imaginative and highly contemporary arrangements that breathe fresh life into even the most hackneyed of material.
The Magic Hat Ensemble
“Made In Gorton”
(Jellymould Jazz JM-JJ006)
Manchester’s Magic Hat Ensemble created quite a splash nationally with the release of their 2010 début album “This Conversation Is Over” (Jellymould Jazz) and their accompanying UK tour. A review of their April 2010 performance at The Hive in Shrewsbury is reviewed elsewhere on this site. Their second album, “Made In Gorton”, was supported by a similarly far reaching tour earlier in 2011.
The Magic Hatters have won many friends with their distinctive updating of jazz and bebop standards as they bring a contemporary, sometimes irreverent and decidedly Northern attitude to their interpretations of some of the jazz classics. Led by Steve Chadwick the group’s personnel remains as Chadwick (trumpet/cornet), Tony Ormesher (guitar), Andrzej Baranek (piano), Nick Blacka (bass) and Richard Turner (drums). The album title is a proud reference to their part of Manchester and comes complete with retro packaging that pays homage to the much loved vinyl format. Once again the album appears on the Huddersfield based Jellymould Jazz imprint.
Once again the album features a series of exploration on a varied selection of jazz classics delivered in the unique Magic Hat style. A brief introductory fanfare leads into a furiously swinging “You and the Night and the Music” led off by Chadwick and featuring the flying fretboard work of Tony Ormesher. The guitarist is one of MHE’s most potent weapons, a fluent improviser rooted in the bop tradition but often packing a rock attitude. Pianist Baranek follows with a similarly sparkling solo and there’s an effervescent drum feature from the excellent Rob Turner. It’s then left to leader Chadwick to steer the group home. It’s an exhilarating start that displays many of the qualities that have made the group such an exciting live draw.
Victor Feldman’s “Seven Steps To Heaven” begins more reflectively with Blacka’s bass pulse, Chadwick’s trumpet squiggles and Turner’s shimmering percussion. There’s an almost New Orleans feel about Chadwick’s playing albeit filtered through 60’s avant garde elements as the piece begins to build momentum with Chadwick soloing above the almost martial chatter of Turner’s drums. The main theme/hook introduces more conventional bebop elements but an insistent keyboard vamp represents a more contemporary development and forms a hypnotic backdrop for further solos from Chadwick and Ormesher and there’s another dynamic feature from Turner too. As other observers have noted the Magic Hatters take great delight in subverting tunes by altering structures and time signatures and this arrangement of the old Miles Davis vehicle serves as a particularly fine example.
“Just Friends” begins with gentle washes of arpeggiated piano and builds gradually with the introduction of guitars, trumpet and rhythm. In MHE terms it’s a ballad and includes a deeply resonant bass solo from Blacka plus the warm, effusive trumpet tones of leader Chadwick.
The group’s treatment of the famous Jazz Messengers warhorse “Blues March” opens with appropriately military style drumming but soon begins to vary the tempo, sometimes racing to a gallop, at others slowing to a walk. It’s a refreshing re-imagining of a much played item with fine solos coming from Chadwick, Blacka and a subtly bluesy Baranek. In the latter part of the tune Ormesher cuts loose to deliver another typically agile and mercurial solo.
Hermeto Pascoal’s beautiful “Menina Ilza” is given a subtle gospel flavour with Ormesher revealing his more sensitive side with a picked acoustic guitar solo. Blacka again impresses at the bass and Chadwick caresses the melody via his trumpet.
A spirited interpretation of Wayne Shorter’s “Speak No Evil” takes the album storming out with powerful solo statements from Ormesher, Baranek and Chadwick above the propulsive rhythms of Blacka and Turner. It’s a thrilling finale to a consistently entertaining but highly sophisticated album. There’s even a brief “punk jazz” style secret track that acts as a kind of irreverent coda.
The Magic Hat Ensemble are far more than just another “bebop by numbers” outfit. Their imaginative and highly contemporary arrangements breathe fresh life into even the most hackneyed of material. The standard of musicianship is of a high standard throughout with leader Chadwick the glue that holds the band together. Both Ormesher and Baranek are fluent, inventive soloists and in Blacka and Turner the band has a flexible and often very powerful rhythm section. As its down to earth title suggests “Made In Gorton” is refreshingly unpretentious but always retains the listener’s attention with it’s clever arrangements and quality playing. As the group’s publicity states “It’s not all happening in London!”, a statement I’ll readily endorse whilst adding that the Magic Hat Ensemble are also a supremely entertaining live act.
Flowers and Other Stories
Assaf Kehati Quartet
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Reviewed by: Ian Mann
A well crafted album that impresses with its skill and intelligence.
Assaf Kehati Quartet
“Flowers and Other Stories”
(AK Jazz)
Assaf Kehati is a Boston based guitarist and composer and this represents his second album as a leader following 2010’s “A View From My Window”. Kehati moved to the US from Israel in 2007 and has worked with an impressive list of artists including pianist Ran Blake, drummer Ziv Ravitz and saxophonist George Garzone. I suspect that he may have studied at Boston’s famous Berklee College of Music although his biography doesn’t actually state as much.
As well as leading the quartet that features on this album Kehati also co-leads a trio featuring drummer Billy Hart that has, at various times, included saxophonists Eli Degibri, Will Vinson and Donny McCaslin. I’ve not heard the trio but would assume that the music Kehati plays there is freer and less structured than with the quartet. Indeed “Flowers and Other Stories” is a good showcase for Kehati’s composing talents on a series of seven self penned themes, often highly melodic and with a distinct folk like quality. Kehati’s collaborators on the record are Israeli saxophonist Alon Farber, bassist Daniel Sapir and drummer Udi Shlomo.
The album begins with the lengthy “Calling Me Home”, a slowly unfolding piece with a strong melodic theme that is initially stated by saxophonist Alon Farber. Kehati’s own playing is refreshingly understated and ego-less, he’s very much a team player and serves the ensemble throughout the album. Sapir and Shlomo are a supportive and flexible rhythm team with the drummer in particular adding much in the way of colour and detail throughout. Kehati exhibits something of Pat Metheny’s melodic sense, economy of line and purity of tone yet establishes a distinct identity of his own. Purity is also a quality that applies to Farber’s saxophone sound and he impresses with his intelligence and inventiveness. “Calling Me Home” also includes a subtle feature for Shlomo, his thoughtful and colourful drum patterns delivering so much more than the by rote drum features/solos often heard elsewhere.
Shlomo also begins “Mr. Mario”, a tune featuring a character that Kehati likes to describe as a musical gypsy. With its hints of Africa and the Middle East this is one of Kehati’s most intriguing tunes and features him in sparkling dialogue with drummer Shlomo as Sapir fulfils an anchoring role. Farber also impresses with his sinuous melodic lines and economical soloing. The brief “Tali” ,written for an old friend, features one of Kehati’s most affecting melodies and includes a feathery soprano solo from the impressive Farber.
“The Most Beautiful Flower”, essentially the title track, is a near twelve minute epic that does indeed open like a flower, building from Farber’s simple statement of the opening theme through features for bass, guitar and saxophone with Shlomo’s receptive drum work complementing each in turn. However, most importantly, this is far more than a string of solos, it is more about the quality of the writing and the musical dialogue that it inspires. This is a quiet, slow burning epic that segues via a closing passage of solo guitar into the following “The Snow and the Sun”, a winning ballad with a folkish melody and a gloriously warm saxophone sound. This piece also gives Sapir the chance to demonstrate his solo abilities with a brief but deeply resonant bass feature. Kehati himself adopts a richly conversational guitar tone that once again recalls Pat Metheny.
“Don’t Attack” features Farber’s delicately probing soprano and Kehati’s pointillistic guitar above a constantly evolving web of bass and drums. There’s also a melodic, lyrical coda. Like many of Kehati’s pieces there’s a surprising amount going on. This is music that manages to be simultaneously soothing and adventurous.
The album concludes with the gently Metheny-esque ballad “Invisible Green” played in trio mode with Kehati’s conversational guitar underpinned by Sapir’s deep bass undertow and Shlomo’s deft brushwork.
“Flowers and Other Stories” is a well crafted album that demonstrates Kehati’s ability with the pen and suggests that he has considerable potential as a composer. The playing by all members of the group is immaculate throughout with the ensemble sound paramount, although each musician also impresses individually. Kehati himself favours a pure, clear sound with the minimum of effects and his single note lines are eloquent and tasteful throughout. Similar qualities can be applied to saxophonist Furber whilst Shlomo excels as both colourist and conversationalist with an intelligent and flexible drumming display made possible by the anchoring role played by the equally adaptable Sapir.
If the album has a fault it is that it’s all a bit too elegant and tasteful. There are moments when one wishes that Kehati would provide a bit of grit in the oyster and crank up his amps and muddy the waters a bit. But maybe that’s just not his style and on the whole “Flowers and Other Stories” impresses with its skill and intelligence. Closer listening reveals a musical sophistication that helps to offset any impression of surface blandness.
There is a genuinely spiritual feel to Birchall's music that clearly has great resonance for contemporary jazz audiences.
Nat Birchall
“Sacred Dimension”
(Gondwana Records GONDCD 006)
The Mancunian musicians Nat Birchall (saxophones) and Matthew Halsall (trumpet) have managed to create their own sub genre of jazz with a series of albums that have taken the modal jazz of Miles Davis and the “spiritual jazz” of John Coltrane, Alice Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders and updated it for the 21st Century.
Released on Halsall’s Gondwana record label “Sacred Dimensions” is Birchall’s third album to explore these musical areas and is arguably his best to date. He expands on the successes of the earlier “Akhenaten” and “Guiding Spirit” whilst introducing a largely new band featuring Corey Mwamba (vibes), Rachel Gladwin (harp), Nick Blacka (bass) and Andy Hay (drums). Pianist Adam Fairhall remains on board having featured on Birchall’s previous two Gondwana recordings.
The programme consists of five lengthy Birchall originals, each characteristically spiritual/mystical in feel but with plenty of room for his impressive band to stretch out. Mwamba adds a distinctive and welcome new voice to the ensemble sound and Gladwin, who guested on “Guiding Spirit” as well as appearing on a number of Matthew Halsall’s albums, has now become a fully fledged member of the group. Her harp playing is equally distinctive, reminiscent not only of Alice Coltrane but also of the African kora. Another distinctive element is the use of percussion. Rather than using a professional percussionist as he did on “Guiding Spirit” Birchall handed out bells and shakers to the band members (plus Gladwin’s brother Rueben who was present in the studio) and asked them to play when they felt it appropriate, a much freer, less skilled and even raw approach.
The album commences with “Ancient World” which is based on the Phrygian mode and is a first take. Underpinned by Fairhall’s piano chords the tune features Birchall’s “middle eastern” sounding soprano saxophone and incorporates eloquent first solo statements from Mwamba and Gladwin. The piece also offers the first audible evidence of Birchall’s percussion experiment, one that seems to work brilliantly.
The title track was inspired by the concept of “elevation” and features Birchall on John Coltrane inspired tenor, teasing meaning from delicate melodic fragments. Pianist Fairhall drinks deep from the spiritual well with a probing solo mid tune accompanied by the low rumble of Hay’s drums and the shimmer of the group percussion.
“Dance Of The Mystic” is even more obviously Coltrane inspired with a modal vamp providing the backdrop for an impassioned tenor work out by the leader. Fairhall’s piano solo combines lyricism with rhythmic drive and Gladwin’s harp shimmers in and out of focus. Blacka, previously heard with Manchester’s Magic Hat Ensemble, and the powerful but flexible Andy Hay provide the necessary rhythmic stimulus.
Inspired by a John Masefield poem the graceful “Peace In Nineveh” features the leader on pure toned soprano followed by Fairhall at his most flowing and lyrical. Mwamba is as inventive as ever on vibes and engages in an engrossing and often sparky dialogue with Hay at the drums. Birchall’s soprano restores spiritual equilibrium in the closing restatement of the theme.
The concluding “Radiant Will” takes its title from a phrase in an essay on Coltrane by the celebrated American jazz critic and cultural commentator Stanley Crouch. The music is dramatic and highly spiritual with Fairhall’s rippling, Tyner-esque piano joined in dialogue by the drum explosions of Andy Hay. But the focus of the piece is Birchall’s powerful tenor explorations with Gladwin’s harp providing a welcome sweetening touch.
It would be tempting to criticise Birchall as a revisionist but few have chosen to do so. Instead most commentators have noted how skilfully Birchall has taken his love of Coltrane and updated his legacy for the 21st Century. There is a genuinely spiritual feel to Birchall’s music (and to Matthew Halsall’s too, for that matter) that clearly has great resonance for contemporary jazz audiences. Halsall’s performance, with Birchall on saxophones, was one of the highlights of the 2011 Mostly Jazz Festival in Birmingham and attracted many new worshippers to the Gondwana shrine.
I like Birchall’s updating of the Coltrane myth and it seems that many other contemporary jazz followers clearly feel the same way.
European jazz elements combine with Cuban rhythms to create something distinctive and highly personal.
Time Zone
“Crossing The Line”
(Spherical Records SPR003)
I first became aware of the music of London based trumpeter and composer Loz Speyer back in 1999 when his quartet featuring guitarist Andy Jones, bassist Richard Jeffries and drummer Tony Bianco played on an open air bandstand at the inaugural Leamington Spa Jazz Festival. I was impressed and bought a copy of their then latest album “Two Kinds Of Blue” (33 Records), I guess you don’t need me to tell you who one of the prime influences was.
Fast forward ten years and I reviewed for this site the excellent album “Five Animal Dances” recorded by Speyer’s Inner Space Music, a more improvisatory group featuring Chris Biscoe (reeds), Julie Walkington (bass) and the great Seb Rochford (drums). These two records identified Speyer as an intelligent, highly versatile musician and his latest project, Time Zone, reveals yet another aspect of his musical personality.
Time Zone has its roots in Speyer’s domestic circumstances. His wife, Katiuska is Cuban and Speyer has spent much of the last ten years or so travelling between London and Santiago de Cuba, crossing boundaries but building bridges. “Crossing The Line” is the musical manifestation of these processes with Speyer’s London based band incorporating Cuban elements into their jazz based improvising. Not that Speyer has produced a typically Afro Cuban “party” record. “Crossing The Line” is far more intelligent and serious than that with many of Speyer’s compositions having their origins and inspiration in personal experience. Indeed he achieves a remarkably organic synthesis of the elements that make up Time Zone’s music with the European jazz elements combining with the Cuban rhythms to create something distinctive and highly personal.
Joining Speyer on trumpet and flugel are London based musicians Martin Hathaway (alto sax, bass clarinet), Stefano Kalonaris (guitar and tres), Davide Mantovani (double bass), Simon Pearson (drums) and Maurizio Ravalico (congas and percussion). They begin with “Conjunto” a rich blend of horns and guitar underpinned by the percolating rhythms of a highly accomplished rhythm section. Speyer and Hathaway link up well with both producing pithy solos as well as engaging in absorbing dialogue. Kalonaris adds rock influenced guitar, a good example of the way Speyer brings seemingly disparate elements together and there are also brief snippets of vocals with lyrics referring to the nature of travelling, sung in “coro” by members of the group.
“Lista De Espera” (or “Waiting List”) is autobiographical, a musical account of Speyer’s family becoming stranded in Cuba due to a lack of flights as Speyer fretted in London. Conganista Ravalico helps to give the piece its distinctive Cuban flavour and enjoys something of a feature mid tune. Speyer’s trumpeting is bright and effusive and contrasts well with Hathaway’s dry, slightly acerbic alto. Kalonaris deploys the distinctive acoustic sound of the Cuban tres.
Speyer describes his band as “Bilingual”, also the title of the next tune. Musically it’s a reference to the flexibility of his band members and their capacity to absorb musical ideas from as far afield as Cuba and Eastern Europe. It’s also a reference to his step daughter who came from Cuba to live in London at the age of eleven and has fitted in perfectly “she now moves most easily of all of us between the two worlds”, says Speyer. Musically the piece incorporates urban funk rhythms, grainy bass clarinet and Kalonaris’ metallesque guitar before shifting abruptly to a more obvious Cuban groove with Ravalico and Pearson featuring strongly above Kalonaris’ nagging guitar phrases. It’s the way that Speyer and his colleagues juxtapose these various elements that’s impressive. Bilingual indeed- with the composer having plenty to say for himself in a celebratory trumpet solo.
The percussion led “Snakepath” features Blue Note style horns in a perfect synthesis of Speyer’s jazz and Latin tendencies with sparkling jazz solos coming from Hathaway on alto and Kalonaris on guitar, boppish but with a tantalising trace of the rock elements heard elsewhere. Ravalico’s percussion feature provides the most obvious Cuban component.
“Miracle Maricel” celebrates Speyer’s young daughter in relaxed but joyous fashion with the leader’s warm and effusive flugel solo leading the way. He’s followed by a relatively laid back Kalonaris then by the always immaculate Mantovani with a richly resonant bass solo.
“Fine Line” continues the mood with Speyer again on flugel, the nearest this mostly predominately album gets to a ballad. The highlight is a thoughtful alto solo from Hathaway, skilfully constructed above largely orthodox jazz rhythms.
The closing “International Dateline” incorporates snippets of telephone conversations and related dialling noises plus a monologue from Speyer about the difficulties of conducting a long distance telephone relationship. It’s the lengthiest track on the record and some of this stuff is a little self indulgent and rather overstays its welcome. However if you get bored of listening to Speyer’s list of telephone related complaints there’s some great wailing alto sax from Hathaway to concentrate on and some typically engrossing underlying rhythms. Nevertheless the additional elements entail that for me the piece doesn’t quite match the standards of the rest of this very good album. It probably works much better live-and this is a group that has toured extensively.
Minor misgivings aside this is a very good album that takes a refreshingly original approach to Cuban music. Speyer’s compositions are consistently interesting with their disparate elements and regular twists and turns and the playing from a supremely accomplished band is superb throughout.
“Cross The Line” is a worthy addition to a diverse and intelligent body of work.
Gilad Atzmon & The Orient House Ensemble, Black Mountain Jazz, Kings Arms, Abergavenny, 27/11/2011.
Gilad Atzmon & The Orient House Ensemble
Tuesday, December 06, 2011
Reviewed by: Ian Mann
Atzmon is a true one off, a musician, writer and political activist who has enriched the UK jazz scene enormously whilst simultaneously creating an entire genre of his own in the process.
Gilad Atzmon and The Orient House Ensemble, Black Mountain Jazz, Kings Arms, Abergavenny, 27/11/2011.
The indefatigable Gilad Atzmon breezed back into town with his working group in tow for an exciting evening that featured the Israeli born saxophonist’s usual mix of terrific playing, political comment and spiky humour. Tonight’s edition of the OHE featured long serving members Frank Harrison (keyboards) and Yaron Stavi (double bass) with drummer Enzo Zirilli standing in for the unwell Eddie Hick. Born in Italy but based in London Zirilli has worked with Atzmon before as a regular member of singer/songwriter/guitarist Sarah Gillespie’s group.
Thus constituted the OHE treated us to a typically energetic and sparky evening with music that embraced both jazz and the music of the Middle East to create something unique. Atzmon has virtually created a genre of his own with his maverick borrowings from so many different sources.
It’s all informed by the subject of “Jewish Identity Politics”, a subject Atzmon covers in greater detail in his recently published book “The Wandering Who?”. Gilad was kind enough to give me a copy of the book for review purposes and I’ll be looking at it in greater detail in our features section in due course. From what I’ve read so far it promises to be an accessible and entertaining but highly thought provoking read. Atzmon was due to speak on the subject, plus his love of Charlie Parker and bebop, in a talk before this gig but with the majority of the large audience not turning up until BMJ’s regular gig time the talk was shelved. This was unfortunate but then again I have to confess to being one of the guilty ones. Nevertheless the gig itself, which was supported by the Arts Council of Wales’ “Night Out” scheme and by Abergavenny Music, was a great success and attracted one of BMJ’s biggest audiences of the year.
With the concert being streamed live on the Valleys radio station BRFM ( based in Brynmawr) and on the net Atzmon commenced with the standard “Old Folks”, beginning the tune himself with a burst of unaccompanied alto saxophone. Atzmon later undertook a more conventional jazz solo with Stavi also featuring on the bass.
The bulk of the original material was drawn from the OHE’s most recent studio recording “The Tide Has Changed”, released in 2010 to mark the group’s tenth anniversary. The title track came next, a hard driving piece featuring the soaring wordless vocals of Atzmon and Stavi. The leader soloed powerfully on alto sax and entered into colourful dialogue with drummer Zirilli, the Italian deploying a range of shakers and other small percussive devices and also using his bare hands on the skins. The versatile Harrison delivered his solo on his Technics P30 keyboard with the responsive Zirilli again engaging in musical conversation from behind the drums. Harrison is a highly versatile and adaptable musician, equally at home with the acoustic and electric incarnations of his instrument. Very much Atzmon’s “right hand man” he has been a member of the OHE since the very beginning of the group. He also leads his own piano trio featuring long term associate Stephen Keogh (drums) and new bass player Davide Petrocca. The trio’s new album “Sideways” will be released in January 2012 followed by a UK tour in February. I will be covering the album, and hopefully the tour, in the New Year. Harrison is also excellent in this context so this should be well worth waiting for.
“Bolero At Sunrise” saw Atzmon putting his unique stamp on Maurice Ravel’s most famous work (Torville and Dean and all that). Zirilli’s martial drum intro paved the way for incisive solos from Atzmon on soprano saxophone and Harrison at the keyboard, each weaving around the famously insistent Bolero motif.
“A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square” (or “Barclays Bank” as Atzmon put it) represented another foray into the standards repertoire but one that came loaded with political comment. Quotes from “Yankee Doodle” and “God Save The Queen” may have seemed humorous but in Atzmon’s world they also represent sharp satirical comment. Solos came from Harrison and Atzmon with the latter laughing grotesquely through his clarinet. Eventually the piece mutated into a kind of German drinking song (think Brecht and Weill) with Atzmon switching to alto saxophone. Nothing is off limits in Atzmon’s appropriation of global music styles. Thus ended a hugely entertaining but thought provoking first half, full of superlative musicianship with Zirilli fitting seamlessly into the OHE template.
The second set was a similar mixture of Atzmon originals and the group’s distinctive take on jazz and bebop standards. Things began with an often humorous montage of Parker tunes played by the duo of Atzmon on alto and Harrison at the keyboard.
The first original was unannounced but with Atzmon, still on alto, sliding in a quote from “If I Were A Rich Man” during his solo, a typical slice of Atzmon musical humour in a piece that also included features for Stavi and Harrison.
The standard “There Is No Greater Love” represented another opportunity for Atzmon to demonstrate his love of the bebop idiom with a solo alto sax intro and a dynamic passage of dialogue with drummer Zirilli. After we’d heard from Harrison at the keyboard the piece was climaxed by a brilliantly constructed Zirilli drum solo.
“London To Gaza” represents one of the most significant tracks on the OHE’s latest album and began here in atmospheric fashion with Atzmon on soprano and Stavi on bowed bass. Following this impressionistic opening the band hit a heavy groove that provided the backdrop for a lengthy, biting Atzmon alto sax solo, arguably his best of the night. In a move that incorporated elements of his earlier albums the music shifted sideways to incorporate salsa rhythms with Atzmon encouraging the audience to clap along.
After such an entertaining show, one in which the excitement of the music was further enhanced by Atzmon’s presentation, an encore was inevitable. This took the form of Atzmon’s interpretation of Louis Armstrong’s “Wonderful World”, here an unsentimental celebration of life and political and cultural resistance with solos from Harrison and Atzmon and with the saxophonist leaving the bandstand to go walkabout in the audience.
I’ve seen Atzmon and the OHE many times over the years and each show has been different despite the many shared elements. A huge character and a phenomenal technician Atzmon is a true one off, a musician, writer and political activist who has enriched the UK jazz scene enormously whilst simultaneously creating an entire genre of his own in the process.
This had been a terrific way to round off 2011 at Black Mountain Jazz and with BRFM capturing a hugely entertaining performance for their first BMJ broadcast. Let’s hope BMJ can build on this and enjoy a successful 2012.
Acoustic Triangle, The Edge Arts Centre, Much Wenlock, Shropshire. 26/11/2011.
Acoustic Triangle
Monday, December 05, 2011
Reviewed by: Ian Mann
After ten years there's still plenty of life in Acoustic Triangle and tonight's concert definitely felt like a celebration.
Acoustic Triangle, The Edge Arts Centre, Much Wenlock, Shropshire, 26/11/2011.
This concert represented the last date of a UK tour celebrating the tenth anniversary of the group Acoustic Triangle. Malcolm Creese’s chamber jazz trio originally consisted of himself on double bass, multi reed player Tim Garland and pianist John Horler and was itself a direct descendent of an earlier drummerless trio featuring Crease, Horler and reeds man Tony Coe.
Horler left after the first album and was replaced by the younger, more classically orientated Gwilym Simcock. With Simcock in the band the trio embraced their collective classical leanings more openly, pioneering a unique blend of the jazz and classical genres but without diluting the essence or tradition of either. Playing entirely acoustically they frequently took their music into spaces not normally associated with jazz, often playing in churches and other sacred buildings whilst wooing a new and previously untapped audience for their music in the process. Acoustic Triangle’s fan base reaches out beyond the regular jazz demographic making them a hugely popular live act who always attract large audiences, tonight being no exception.
The group’s story has been a fascinating process with the trio developing their style across four albums- “Interactions” (2001), “Catalyst” (2003), “Resonance” (2005) and the ambitious “3 Dimensions” (2007) which successfully added the sound of strings to the trio’s core sound. I have been lucky enough to see the group live on a number of previous occasions with two of these taking place in sacred buildings, Dore Abbey in Herefordshire and Worcester Cathedral, the latter of these performances also incorporating strings. The third concert took place in the Regency splendour of Cheltenham’s Pittville Pump Rooms with the group performing to a mainly classical audience. It’s probably fair to say that Acoustic Triangle tailor each concert to fit the audience and room they are playing to and tonight at Much Wenlock was no exception. The Edge’s Artistic Director Alison Vermee has established a sizeable and loyal jazz following in this small Shropshire town and in what I’m sure was a direct response to a jazz loving audience in a secular setting the trio turned in the most obviously “jazz” performance I’ve ever seen them give. Even without the absence of drums there were moments when they were really swinging.
Having said that there was no compromise of the trio’s methods, they still played entirely acoustically-no amps, no mics, no pick ups and, crucially, no mixing desk. They were positioned much further forward than is normal at The Edge with the audience partially surrounding them in a kind of “horseshoe” formation. Everybody that I spoke to afterwards said that they had heard the group perfectly which was quite a tribute to the excellent acoustics of this relatively new venue.
The trio began with Garland’s “Winding Wind” with the composer’s woody bass clarinet combining well with the rich sounds of Creese’s bowed bass and Simcock’s dampened piano strings. After this atmospheric introduction things really took off as Garland switched to soprano sax, soloing exuberantly as his colleagues offered energetic, even swinging support. Simcock’s piano solo exhibited a similar freshness with the impish Garland swaying and moving and clicking his fingers in time to the rhythm. The subsequent dazzling exchange of phrases between saxophone and piano brought this first piece to a thrilling conclusion. Acoustic Triangle had captivated their audience from the start.
Next the group turned to their classical side with Garland’s arrangement of Maurice Ravel’s hundred year old “Trois Poeme De Stephane Mallarme”, a piece which actually appeared on their first album. Garland’s work on soprano sax, alternately breathy and keening, was punctuated by a lengthy passage of solo piano. Creese, in the anchor role, moved between arco and pizzicato as the music dictated.
All three members of Acoustic Triangle have, at some point in their careers, worked with the venerable trumpeter and composer Kenny Wheeler. Arguably Wheeler’s most famous composition a lovely version of “Everyone’s Song But My Own” came next, introduced by Creese on solo double bass. The leader then entered into a fascinating dialogue with Garland who had now switched to the tenor saxophone before the emphasis subtly changed to the piano with the excellent Simcock gradually taking over.
Creese, who normally handles the announcing duties, was suffering with a heavy cold so in the main Garland and Simcock introduced their own tunes. Simcock explained that on “Plain Song” he was looking primarily for simplicity and this pureness of form was expressed in the unadorned beauty of the piece. The soloists-Garland on tenor, Creese on bass and Simcock at the piano each provided their own take on something that the celebrated cornet player Ruby Braff (1927-2003) would have described as “the adoration of the melody”.
The trio’s fascination with the nature of sound itself was epitomised during the introduction to Cole Porter’s “All Of You” with Garland placing the bell of his tenor sax directly inside the raised lid of Simcock’s grand piano. The reverb that this generated was little short of astonishing, a church like echo that reminded me of the sound of Jan Garbarek at his most glacial. Later in the tune Garland delivered a more conventional jazz solo that climaxed with r’n'b style honking, not something you’d normally associate with Acoustic Triangle. Simcock matched him with an equally bravura piano solo, this was the sound of a band responding to their audience and enjoying a little last night fun.
The first set concluded with Simcock’s “Barber’s Blues”, a dedication to Samuel, the modern classical composer, rather than Chris the jazz trombonist. However as Simcock explained Samuel Barber (1910-1981) had a strong interest in jazz rhythms and harmonies and this piece was inspired by Barber’s early 20th Century works. Simcock introduced the piece at the piano, playing initially with the left hand only with Garland, on bass clarinet, and Creese on solo double bass subsequently taking up the reins. Garland switched to soprano sax for an exceptional solo before returning to bass clarinet following Simcock’s contribution.
This had been a lengthy first set full of adventurous, brilliantly played music. Although the classical components that form such an important part of Acoustic Triangle’s sound were all very much in place the overall feeling was that this had been an hour or so of absolutely outstanding jazz, a quality that the trio were to carry over into a slightly shorter but equally absorbing second set.
The second set began with a segue of Garland tunes with the beautiful folkish melodies of “Black Elk” featuring the composer on bass clarinet. A passage of solo piano provided the bridge into “Bourdin”, based on a French dance and featuring all manner of tricky time signatures. However this kind of stuff is meat and drink to Acoustic Triangle who collectively handled the complexities with aplomb with Simcock soloing joyously at the piano whilst negotiating some treacherous looking left hand figures. He was matched by Garland’s equally mercurial work on soprano sax.
The group had learned that American guitarist and composer Ralph Towner had played The Edge earlier in the year as one half of a duo featuring Sicilian trumpeter Paolo Fresu. They decided to acknowledge this with their version of Towner’s beautifully melodic composition “The Glide”, making for a nice piece of musical symmetry. The interplay here between Garland on tenor sax and Simcock at the piano was particularly engrossing. Nice one.
Garland’s “Rosa Ballerina”, a dedication to his then six year old daughter was another example of Ruby Braff’s dictum with Garland’s soprano sax cherishing the beautiful melody.
The trio closed the second set with their adaptation of pianist John Taylor’s ebullient “Coffee Time”. Simcock opening up the proceedings with a dazzling solo piano improvisation. Garland followed him on soprano sax before the mood changed with an abstract central passage involving interior piano scrapings and grainy arco bass and bass clarinet. The closing stages marked a return to the playfulness and exuberance of the first section with the trio throwing some flashes of musical humour into the mix.
The Edge crowd absolutely loved this and called the trio back for a deserved encore. This proved to be a beautifully emotive version of Bill Evans’ “Blue In Green” featuring the delicately rounded sounds of Garland’s tenor sax in a superbly controlled performance that was almost plaintive at times. Creese was featured using the bow on the intro before switching to pizzicato for a resonant and lyrical solo. Simcock’s unhurried, thoughtfully lyrical contribution seemed to channel something of Evans’ spirit into the evening.
This was a terrific way to conclude what had probably been the best performance I’ve seen from Acoustic Triangle. Being primarily a jazz fan I responded readily to the jazz and swing elements of their performance and to the sheer joy of it, they were all clearly having great fun despite Creese’s bouts of the snuffles. This was also one of the lengthiest performances I’ve seen at this venue and purely in those terms the evening was great value for money. The Edge’s jazz regulars clearly felt the same and gave them a great reception. It also helps that all three are such pleasant, approachable, charming chaps and after the concert they were all happily chatting away to fans in the foyer. After ten years there’s still plenty of life in Acoustic Triangle and tonight’s concert definitely felt like a celebration.
Time Being; Harold Budd / The Necks, AE Harris Building, Birmingham, 24/11/2011.
Time Being; Harold Budd / The Necks
Sunday, December 04, 2011
Reviewed by: Ian Mann
Ian Mann enjoys a unique double bill and takes a look at The Necks' latest album "Mindset".
Time Being; Harold Budd / The Necks, AE Harris Building, Birmingham, 24/11/2011.
This intriguing double bill was part of a short UK tour made under the “Time Being” title and featured the contrasting approaches to minimalism adopted by the American ambient composer Harold Budd and cult Australian improvising trio The Necks. Budd and The Necks share common ground through their collaborations with Brian Eno and both were keen to present their own unique approaches to musical performance on the same evening.
For this date tour promoters Sound and Music worked in collaboration with Birmingham Jazz and it was the latter’s Tony Dudley Evans who introduced the performances in the unusual setting of the AE Harris Building, a former industrial unit in Birmingham’s increasingly fashionable Jewellery Quarter. He explained that The Necks, who had previously played at the city’s CBSO Centre venue, had asked not to play in either a concert hall or a jazz club but had requested “somewhere unusual” and that the AE Harris Building, home to Birmingham theatre company Stan’s Café seemed to fit the bill .The utilitarian ambience plus the visuals of British artist Russell Mills complemented both acts perfectly and this was an evening of highly distinctive, thought provoking music.
I first became aware of Harold Budd in the 1980’s through his collaboration with the indie/ambient rock group Cocteau Twins “The Moon And The Melodies” but must confess that he’s rather dropped off my radar in the intervening years despite his extensive recorded activity over the course of the last two decades. Tonight Budd, playing piano, was joined by the Austrian born, Berlin based improvising musician Werner Dafeldecker who appeared on electronics and occasional double bass. They played a single unbroken piece that began with the drones, pulses and glitches generated by Dafeldecker’s table mounted collection of electronica with Budd eventually joining in with sparse piano chording. At times the sense of space and the way that Budd let notes just hang in the air reminded me of a particularly abstract ECM record. This was all about creating an atmosphere and as the music slowly began to evolve Mills’ visuals subtly matched the mood of the music with blocks of colour slowly and gradually changing hue, amorphous shapes forming and dissolving in a manner that reminded me of an animated Mark Rothko painting. Meanwhile Dafeldecker effected equally subtle treatments of Budd’s piano sound with a dash of echo here or looping and layering there. At one point Budd’s piano arpeggios almost mutated into the sound of church bells.
I should perhaps emphasise just how quiet this performance was, there were times when Dafeldecker’s contribution was almost entirely subliminal. Despite the fact that the audience, Wire readers all I should imagine, were concentrating very intently outside noises did become noticeable.
A very noisy camera shutter deployed by the professional photographer covering the gig was distracting but the sound of police sirens piercing the air of the Birmingham night almost seemed to become part of the performance.
Towards the end of the piece Dafeldecker took up his double bass to produce grainy arco sounds in the instrument’s extreme lower register. He also made something of a show of adjusting the instrument’s tuning pegs but as he had turned his back to the audience in order to face his amp it was difficult to see exactly what he was doing. In many ways the bass seemed to be rather superfluous and Dafeldecker’s playing of the instrument was totally eclipsed by Lloyd Swanton of The Necks later in the evening.
Eventually the two professorial figures on stage lapsed into silence with the audience giving them a rousing ovation. Budd, who was suffering with a cold, looked particularly satisfied with his night’s work as he gave his non verbal acknowledgement to the crowd. It had certainly been an absorbing and fascinating set, there had been moments where nothing much seemed to be happening and stasis almost appeared to be setting in, yet when I looked at my watch an hour had passed seemingly in the blink of an eye.
For me music of this nature is always best experienced live, I can’t say that I’d particularly wish to listen to this kind of music at home. For all this Budd had drawn me into his sound world on a temporary basis at least and it was an education to watch a legend of the ambient music genre at work.
When I informed my co-writer and hard core Necks fan Tim Owen that I was going to this double bill he observed “they will sound pretty lively after Harold Budd I would think”. No arguments there as the trio played one of their trademark hour long single piece improvisations, masterfully building up the tension as the set progressed.
It was the first time I’d seen the group and my first reaction was surprise at the way the group set up on stage. Pianist Chris Abrahams had his back to bassist Lloyd Swanton and drummer/percussionist Tony Buck which to me seemed strange for an improvising group where cues are normally given by a glance, a nod of the head or the raising of an eyebrow. Perhaps they always do this-I’m sure seasoned Necks watchers like Tim or Lee Paterson could tell me- and I wondered if this was a signifier of the group’s commitment to the purity of sound itself, of letting the music make its own direction in a wholly democratic context where the pianist is emphatically NOT the leader.
Nevertheless it was Abrahams who began the piece with Swanton later adding his rich, cello like arco bass to the mix. Buck sat watching for a long time before adding mallet rumbles that sounded like distant thunder to the slowly gathering storm as once again the wail of sirens in the street outside intruded to add to the growing sense of foreboding already being generated by the three musicians.
Swanton put down the bow as the piece gathered intensity, his vigorous pizzicato technique also including dramatic flamenco style strumming. Meanwhile Buck continued to rumble, simultaneously adding the shimmering of cymbals to his attack as Abrahams piano patterns became increasingly hypnotic, interlocking with the rhythms of his two colleagues in almost Reichian fashion.
And still things continued to build with Buck adding the sound of bells, shells and shakers to the already fiendishly complex rhythms he was producing. Many of these small percussion items seemed to be operated by his feet- I was sat towards Abrahams’ side of the stage and it wasn’t always easy to see exactly what Buck was doing. Be that as it may it was still apparent that his technique was little short of phenomenal with his relentless left hand brush work particularly impressive. Buck rarely hits the drums in the conventional manner yet the range of sounds, rhythms and textures he produces is little short of astonishing with his bass drum patterns forming both a rhythmic and melodic component of The Necks’ extraordinary music. There also appeared to be an electronic element (though quite how this was generated wasn’t obvious) with ambient drone patterns being added to the furiously interconnecting rhythms.
Eventually the steadily accreted patterns built to a crescendo bringing with it an incredible release of tension as the trio eased their audience down gradually with a gently lyrical coda. A the final notes died away the audience gave them a thunderous reception but the very nature of The Necks working methods precluded any possibility of encore. It’s a tribute to The Necks’ skill and perseverance that their music has accrued such a devoted cult following- this may be wholly improvised music but it doesn’t fit neatly into any kind of jazz, or indeed rock, category. Traditional virtues such as melody, and especially swing are almost totally absent and yet their music remains oddly compelling. Once again an hour seemed to flash by in a flash.
As A Necks newcomer I’ll admit that I initially found their new album “Mindset” (incredibly their 16th) a little difficult to get into but this live performance helped to bring it all together for me. Witnessing the group live demonstrated their superb individual techniques and single mindedness of vision. John Peel’s famous dictum about The Fall “always different, always the same” is also routinely applied to The Necks, basically because it’s so true. Many of the group’s albums are single pieces of music similar to tonight’s but “Mindset” bends the rules with two shorter pieces that clock in at just over the twenty minute mark and are clearly tailored to fit one side of a vinyl LP. My review copy is a CD but the album also appears in the currently resurgent vinyl format.
The first piece, “Rum Jungle” is The Necks at their most full on, the piece almost seems to be a fragment from an even larger work. The trio hit the ground running with rumbling piano patterns, pumping bass and Buck’s relentless percussive storm of drums, cymbals and shakers. Swanton’s bass adds snippets of melody with eerie keyboard effects also adding to the claustrophobic but compelling atmosphere. Elements of this piece bear a strong resemblance to the music we had heard this evening, Peel’s dictum again.
By contrast “Daylights” represents the trio at their most impressionistic with wispy, spectral keyboard patterns and scattered, almost ghostly percussion combining ethereally as The Necks set the controls for the outer reaches of the cosmos. Again it’s all about layering as Abrahams patiently introduces additional keyboard textures and Buck adds layers of shimmering, skittering cymbals with Swanton’s sparse, simple, almost subliminal bass motifs grounding it all. Much of the piece has an air of zen like calm, a very different feel from the restless and relentless “Rum Jungle” yet the components and methodology are much the same. The Necks have virtually invented a musical genre of their own of which “Mindset” reveals two very different yet unified aspects.
Poogie Bell Band, Charlie Wright’s International Bar,18/11/2011 (part of London Jazz Festival).
Poogie Bell Band
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Reviewed by: Ian Mann
Guest contributor Mark Albini's thoughts on a night of five star festival funk at Charlie Wright's.
Went to see the Poogie Bell Band last Friday night and this turned out to be one of the best gigs I’ve ever seen! Four of the top session musicians in the USA at the absolute peak of their powers and playing rip-roaring solos with a big smile on their faces. They played about three Miles standards including “Tutu”, as well as lots of Marcus Miller (they’ve all been in his band) and soul/funk/jazz standards, with three or four of the band’s own compositions.
Poogie Bell’s drumming was absolutely faultless, Patches Stewart on trumpet was on fire, walking through the audience, soloing with his radio mike, Keith Anderson was incredible on the tenor and alto sax and the keyboard player, Bobby Sparks almost stole the show. His left hand played the bass lines on a keyboard throughout - and he didn’t look at his left hand once!
I would give them MAXIMUM stars because it worked on every level - sheer enjoyment, musicianship, grooves, soul, big hearts and big smiles and an almost telepathic understanding between players at the very peak of their powers. Next time they play, I’m taking the wife, kids and as many people as I can muster because these guys absolutely rock - or funk, I should say! Do yourself a favour and check ‘em out!
As for the venue, it’s just a ground floor pub setting but apparently Poogie and the guys like this. However, I would have preferred a basement jazz club setting as the people talking loudly at the bar weren’t there for the music. Had the music not been so loud, I could have seen me getting into trouble telling people to shut up!
MARK ALBINI
Bishopsgate Institute, London, 18/11/2011 (part of London Jazz Festival).
The Necks
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Reviewed by: Tim Owen
For its gradual foray into dark emotion, and for the contrasting glimpses of lyricism, this was an outstanding performance
This was the first of a two night stand for Australian trio The Necks at Bishopsgate Institute, in a series of concerts organised by north London Jazz venue The Vortex. The recent Necks album, Mindset, features relatively short tracks that are intended to facilitate release on vinyl, but their live show thankfully still saw the trio spinning their trademark performances out of repeating musical figures across each of the evening’s two hour-long sets.
The two sets were very different. The first built gradually from Tony Buck’s cymbal soundings and the soft minimal repetitions of pianist Chris Abrahams, with Lloyd Swanton plucking the barest accompaniment from his double bass. This long intro built to a sudden termination through a gradual crescendo, Abrahams condensing rapidly-fingered note clusters while Buck gradually worked through various hand-held percussion objects before graduating to the drums. Swanton’s switch to bowed bass underpinned a palpable darkening of mood. The resonating silence that followed the climax was enhanced by a pure tone emanating from Buck’s hand-held cymbal strikes, which he damped-down on the drum head. Abrahams increasingly assertive playing gave this piece its backbone. When he withheld its progression for too long I began to tire of the music’s apparent stasis, but something subtle in Buck’s playing suddenly snapped me right back to attention, and I was right back in the moment from then on. This reliance on the audience’s wakefulness and attentive patience is quite a dicey strategy for The Necks, and it’s really something that they can play to sizeable mixed audiences, and hold them in universally rapt attention. It was Buck’s rustle of shells and bells that veiled the ultimate diminution of the set’s forward momentum, and gave it closure.
The second set was dominated by swirling patterns of small, wooden percussion items and Swanton’s deep, rich bass bowing. After a brief intro Abrahams momentarily essayed a lovely fragment pregnant with melodic potential. This could have been sourced from, or worked up into a jazz standard, but in typical Necks style its potentiality was abandoned in favour of a return to trademark Necks austerity, and a new entropic swell of small sonic incidents to an emotive climax. The melodic idea was only revisited, briefly, once the trio had taken us gracefully through some darkly emotive musical passages. Remaining always within their chosen linearity, the trio combined and then re-combined their collective energies in sometimes surprisingly forceful and turbulent ways until Abrahams finally guided the set to its resolution. For its gradual foray into dark emotion, and for the contrasting glimpses of lyricism, this was an outstanding performance; perhaps the best piece I’ve yet heard The Necks play across a handful of live shows.
After the show, Tony Buck dropped into discussion the tantalising prospect of a future alliance between The Necks and Michael Gira’s SWANS. Apparently Gira contacted the Necks to suggest the collaboration, but the Necks’ touring schedule wouldn’t accommodate it. At first, this seems an unlikely proposition. Gira’s outfit still retains the often brutalist, postpunk intensity of its first manifestation, which seems quite at odds with the Necks restraint. But the DNA of its 2010 reincarnation also carries the imprint of Gira’s more melodic, songwriterly Angels of Light persona, and SWANS similarly like to lock into specific musical patterns for forensic examination. The current SWANS live experience is rawly emotive and immensely powerful, and it’s pretty exciting to conjecture how that aesthetic might be channelled if married to the Necks modus operandi. Let’s hope it happens.
Lisbee Stainton, Roger Morgan’s patio, Leys Hill, Ross on Wye, Herefordshire, 13/11/2011.
Lisbee Stainton
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Reviewed by: Ian Mann
Ian Mann enjoys a unique gig on Lisbee Stainton's "Living Room Tour" and takes a look at her three albums to date.
Lisbee Stainton, Roger Morgan’s Patio, Howle Hill, Ross on Wye, Herefordshire, 13/11/2011.
A few weeks ago I reviewed a concert at Worcester Cathedral featuring a triple bill of singer songwriters with folk veteran Judy Collins being supported by young up and comers Deborah Hodgson and Lisbee Stainton. It was the first time I’d heard Lisbee’s music and I was very impressed. My review was picked up on by Clive Stainton, Lisbee’s father and manager and like myself a Herefordshire resident. Clive and his wife Marion called at my house and very kindly dropped off all three of Lisbee’s CDs (“Firefly” 2006, “Girl On An Unmade Bed” 2010 and “Go” 2011). They also invited my wife and I to this hugely enjoyable event, part of Lisbee’s “Living Room Tour”.
With the summer festival circuit finished for another year Lisbee has decided to keep her hand in by playing a series of gigs at the houses of members of her fanbase. Attendance is by invitation only and at the end of the gig a hat is passed round with the aim of at least covering the performer’s expenses. On long haul gigs it’s a stipulation that that the host also provides Lisbee’s accommodation. So far Lisbee has performed in locations as far flung as Berwick Upon Tweed and Tunbridge Wells, she’s even due to play in the mess of a submarine stationed in Plymouth!
Today’s “living room gig” represented something of a return to roots. The Stainton family moved to Herefordshire from the Home Counties some six years ago and this event was hosted by family friend Roger Morgan and his wife Sue. We met up with Roger and several of his friends including Lisbee for her parents for a pleasant lunch at a local hostelry before adjourning to Roger’s house for the performance. On an unusually bright and sunny November day it was considered warm enough to hold the concert on the patio which proved to be an inspired decision. Lisbee performed in front of the stunning backdrop of the Wye Valley, the river snaking it’s way through deeply wooded hillsides, the trees burnished with the magnificent reds and golds of Autumn. This was a truly unplugged performance, no amps, no mics, just a girl, her songs, her voice and her custom made eight string guitar. With the sixteen audience members clustered close around the singer you could hear every note of the guitar, every nuance of the voice and any extraneous noises such as the mewing of a buzzard or the sound of distant gunfire (of a rather different sort than you’d expect to hear on the streets of Hackney) only served to enhance the performance.
The “Living Room Tour” encapsulates what Lisbee Stainton is all about. No X Factor wannabe she’s in the music business for the long haul, a serious (but not pretentious or “difficult”) singer songwriter with a pure voice, an increasingly mature collection of self penned songs and a highly accomplished guitar technique. There’s also a strong work ethic, the Living Room Tour is essentially paid practice, an opportunity for Stainton to hone her performance skills in front of an invited audience. I’d surmise that it’s probably nearly as daunting to perform in front of an audience twenty close friends and family as it is to appear in front of 30,000 at the O2 Arena as Stainton famously did as an unsigned artist in 2006.
For today’s delightfully intimate performance she drew on all three albums, punctuating her performances by telling the audience something about herself. Not everybody whom Roger had invited had seen her before and hence the “Living Room Tour” is also a method of organically growing her gradually expanding fanbase. We learned that Lisbee has been playing guitar from the age of eight, writing songs from nine and performing in public since fourteen. A graduate of the Popular Music course at London’s Goldsmith’s College she has supported Joan Armatrading on tour and has been awarded the support slot for Nashville singer Gretchen Peters’ UK tour in Spring 2012.
Today’s set began with the catchy “Just Like Me” followed by “Red” which appears on both her first two albums. Something of a minor hit the song’s gardening metaphors have their roots in Marion Stainton’s work as a horticulturist. Written when Lisbee was just sixteen this an astonishingly mature piece of song-writing. This was followed by “Wrench”, the first single from the new album “Go”.
“Go” itself was an audience sing along with Lisbee somehow dividing the tiny audience into three to sing the different vocal parts of the chorus. She warned us that she was going to mark us out of thirty for volume, enthusiasm and accuracy but we never did get to hear just how many we’d scored! A look at Lisbee’s Facebook page reveals that it was twenty 7/6/7-not bad but not the best I fear. At one point she also had us snapping and clicking our fingers along to the music, not easy on a chilly November afternoon and with some of the audience members wearing gloves. You had to admire Lisbee’s resourcefulness playing the guitar in such conditions, it couldn’t have been easy.
Whilst at college Lisbee supported herself by working as a London tour guide and developed something of a fascination with the city’s wartime history. This expressed itself in songs like “The Archives”, inspired by Max Arthur’s book “Witness Statements Of The Second World War” and the later “Underground” inspired by the Blitz. Almost on cue a light aircraft could be heard droning overhead. Audience interaction is encouraged at these events and one audience member, Bob, told us of his father’s experiences in war time London, sheltering in a tube station and emerging to find his whole street blown away. “Girl On An Unmade Bed” and “Practice Room” documented more personal music college experiences and concluded a beautiful and memorable first set.
After a break for much needed hot drinks the second set commenced with “Is Whispering” before continuing with “The Author”, one of Lisbee’s most mature “relationship” songs to date and the lovely “Follow”, one of the bonus tracks from “Go” and the tune that she performed at the O2 Arena.
Lisbee put down the eight string and picked up the ukelele to perform her new single, a take on Labi Siffre’s “It Must Be Love”, a song perhaps more familiarly associated with the version by Madness. Another audience sing-along was, of course, inevitable. This track is available as a single only and doesn’t appear on any of Lisbee’s albums.
Lisbee’s songs have strong melodies and memorable choruses, none more so than the anthemic “Millions Of Flowers” (yet more gardening metaphors). These are qualities shared by “We Don’t Believe In Monsters” and the closing “Never Quite An Angel”.
Lisbee’s music is a little outside my normal current listening zone but I’m impressed with her voice, her songs and her instrumental ability. Each album to date is a clear progression and one feels that at twenty three her best work is yet to come. “Firefly”, an astonishingly mature début, and “Girl On An Unmade Bed” were both made under the guidance of artist/producer Rain with Rupert Christie also involved with the latter. For jazz listeners the presence of saxophonist Iain Ballamy (an old associate of Clive Stainton’s) on the first two records is something of a bonus, his soprano sound is particularly lustrous.
On occasions the first two albums can sound a little over produced. Lisbee has gone for a more pared down sound on “Go” (produced by Mikko Gordon) with most tracks featuring her regular working band of Pete Randall (bass guitar) and Andy Chapman (drums). Chapman is also an excellent jazz drummer with a particular affinity for working with singers- he has recently cropped up on albums by Zara McFarlane and the vocal group Sector 7, both of which are reviewed elsewhere on this site. The stripped back approach applied on “Go” has resulted in Lisbee’s most mature and accomplished release to date.
This “less is more” mentality also applied to today’s performance. The songs lost nothing by being performed by just guitar and voice and stood up remarkably well. Not quite folk, not quite pop and close enough to jazz to appeal to me Lisbee Stainton’s music has considerable cross genre potential. For all that her songs are fresh, personal and refreshingly free of compromise. Mainstream success is a distinct possibility but it will be on this level headed artist’s own terms.
As for today I can safely say that today was a unique experience. By chance it was also my wife’s birthday and it’s not every year that you get to attend a private gig, especially in such a beautiful setting. And yes, “Happy Birthday” was added to the set list. The only other artist I know of who regularly does this “living room” thing is that grizzled old left wing rocker Edgar Broughton but I’d guess that an audience with him would be very different!
Our thanks to Roger and Sue Morgan (and Clive Stainton) for the invitation and the marvellous hospitality and to Lisbee for the music. A wonderful day all round.
Dennis Rollins Velocity Trio, The Edge Arts Centre, Much Wenlock, Shropshire, 12/11/2011.
Dennis Rollins Velocity Trio
Monday, November 21, 2011
Reviewed by: Ian Mann
Ian Mann enjoys a funky but sophisticated live performance from trombonist Dennis Rollins' unique trio and takes a look at their new album "The 11th Gate".
Dennis Rollins Velocity Trio, The Edge Arts Centre, Much Wenlock, Shropshire, 12/11/2011.
Thanks to his work with funkmeister Maceo Parker’s ensemble plus leadership of his own funky Badbone group Dennis Rollins is arguably Britain’s best known contemporary jazz trombonist. With Badbone now pretty much a “festival” band Rollins had been looking for a smaller creative unit with which to express himself and found it in the Velocity trio, a unique combination of trombone, Hammond organ and drums. Organ trios featuring saxophones and guitars are relatively common but I can’t think of another group that deploys Velocity’s instrumentation.
Rollins has been honing the Velocity project for some time now. I saw an early edition of the group featuring organist Mike Gorman and Empirical drummer Shaney Forbes at the Lichfield Real Ale Jazz & Blues Festival in 2009, a rather ragged performance from a band that was clearly very much a work in progress. Since then Rollins has refined his vision with the help of new collaborators Ross Stanley (organ) and Pedro Segundo (drums). On the evidence of tonight’s performance plus the music to be heard on the trio’s début album “The 11th Gate” Rollins has really nailed it with this current trio, what might at first sight appear to be an unpromising instrumental configuration actually works very well. Much of this is due to the skill of the players, the self effacing Stanley is Britain’s first call organist for pretty much any jazz outfit seeking to deploy a Hammond and the Portugese born Segundo is a drummer of power, wit and invention. Rollins abilities as a trombonist are undoubted but he has also come up with a strong set of compositions for his colleagues to work with. All these qualities, combined with Rollins’ natural affability and flair for showmanship added up to a memorable evening’s music at Much Wenlock with Rollins’ touring sound engineer linking up with The Edge’s Peter Maxwell Dickson to provide the immaculate sound we’re becoming accustomed to at this venue.
The trio commenced proceedings with the opening track of the album, “Samba Galactica”, an attention grabbing opener mixing funky, soulful grooves with a high level of musical sophistication.
Stanley took the first solo on his two manual KeyB Duo organ, not actually a Hammond at all but sounding for all the world like the real thing. Speaking to Ross afterwards he reckoned his Italian made instrument is actually better than the current crop of contemporary Hammond keyboards. It certainly sounded great and Stanley, also a brilliant pianist incidentally, excelled throughout. Rollins took the next solo on his trusty trombone and was followed by Segundo, his drum feature also revealing a love of showmanship and theatricality as he deployed a battery of small percussive devices in addition to his conventional kit drums.
Also from the new release “Emergence” drew its inspiration from organist Larry Young’s seminal 1965 “Unity” album (other influences on the album include Steve Coleman, Julian Priester, Eddie Harris and many more from the worlds of both jazz and rock). Given Young’s influence it came as no surprise to see Stanley deliver another brilliant solo, followed once more by Rollins and the consistently flamboyant Segundo. Acknowledging the applause Rollins remarked on how lucky he was to be “working with musicians of this calibre”.
The supremely funky “Ujamma” has been in Rollins’ set list for some time (I remembered it from Lichfield) and was ushered in here by solo trombone with Rollins subsequently being joined by the patter of Segundo’s hand drums. The leader’s fruity tones heralded his best trombone solo yet with Stanley matching him for virtuosity, soloing on the top manual whilst picking out the bass line on the lower.
The first set closed with “The Other Side” with Segundo introducing the piece with some shimmering, highly atmospheric cymbal work. Rollins’ first deployment of electronics added to the spacey atmosphere as electronic and acoustic elements became blurred. Rollins’ soundwashes provided the backdrop for his own long toned trombone solo, his contribution punctuated by Stanley’s keyboards.
The trio’s set was extremely well received and many listeners, your reviewer included, were very pleasantly surprised. Rollins always has something interesting to say but even I wasn’t expecting anything quite so good this as the trio combined sophistication with funkiness and showmanship in pretty much equal measure.
Rollins promised that the second set would be funkier and more extrovert than the first and more than lived up to his word with the opening “Big Chill”, a tune dating back to 1995 and here featuring Rollins’ astonishingly agile wah wah trombone combined with Stanley’s keyboard stabs and Segundo’s propulsive drumming.
A hard grooving version of Pink Floyd’s “Money” delighted the crowd with funky solos coming from Rollins and Stanley before Segundo’s exuberant drum feature saw him dazzle with the use of all manner of exotic percussion. The stop/start arrangement teased the audience, only adding to the sense of fun and invention.
The title of “The Eleventh Gate” itself reflects Rollins’ fascination with numerology-his 47th birthday was November 11th 2011, also the date chosen for the album’s release. Introduced by Stanley’s solo organ the tune itself had a gospel feel with Rollins’ big toned trombone taking the role of the preacher and throwing in a hint of Gershwin’s “Summertime” for good measure.
Finally came the trio’s version of Eddie Harris’ classic “Freedom Jazz Dance”, an arrangement full of twists and turns and with superb solos from Rollins and Stanley. Ever the showman the gregarious Rollins encouraged the audience to clap along thus bringing an evening of consistently excellent music to a joyous conclusion. Although the size audience was a little smaller than usual (around 70 or so at a guess) their enthusiasm was enough to tempt the trio back to the stage for an obviously unplanned encore as Rollins opted to run through “Samba Galactica” once more albeit with a few tweaks to the arrangement here and there.
After the gig I spoke to both Dennis and Ross Stanley, both refreshingly modest and down to earth chaps. Dennis very kindly gave me a copy of the freshly released “The 11th Gate” album which appears on the American Motema label. With the exception of the Pink Floyd tune all the pieces we heard tonight appear on the album and I’m pleased to report that the trio’s music works just as well on CD as it does in live performance. The album is consistently involving and rewarding and repays repeated listening. The four star rating applies equally to both tonight’s performance and the album itself. It’s taken Dennis Rollins some time to get the Velocity Trio to this point but it’s been well worth the wait.
There is plenty of light and shade in music that combines the beautiful and the brutal.
IreNE
“T/Sextet/Bien Sur/T”
IReNE is a young quartet of French musicians consisting of Yoann Durant and Clement Edouard on saxophones, with the latter also contributing a substantial degree of electronic manipulation to the group sound, plus Julien Desprez on guitar and Sebastien Brun at the drums. The group are members of the Coax Collectif, an aggregation of young French musicians with similarities to and links with the British Loop and F-ire Collectives.
This four track EP is a taster for the band’s début album which is set to be recorded in January 2012 with a view to a late spring release. Currently on tour in Europe the group are due to appear at The Vortex on November 19th as part of a Coax Collectif showcase alongside the groups Metal-O-Phone and Pipeline. This event forms part of the 2011 London Jazz Festival.
IReNE won the awards for both best group and best composition at the 2010 La Defense National Jazz Festival and this EP is represents a handy snapshot of their talents. Superficially the sax/guitar/drums line up bears a resemblance to the UK’s own trioVD but IReNe’s overall approach is less intense with a greater emphasis on nuance and texture.
Opener “T” combines long, baleful sax lines with a rock influenced guitar backdrop and sturdy drumming. It’s approximately in the same sonic area as Led Bib and Acoustic Ladyland.
The second piece, “Sextet” is more impressionistic with Edouard’s electronics providing a swirling backdrop to the counterpoint of saxophone and pointillistic guitar. The drums sound programmed and glitchy but a relatively straightahead saxophone solo eventually emerges. There are some highly interesting juxtapositions here and the piece acquires a kind of anthemic beauty as it gradually gathers intensity. Impressive.
“Bien Sur” is a foray into trioVd / Led Bib style skronk with bellicose saxes, thrashy guitar and pummelling drums. The piece combines rock riffage with a freer second section in which the group push their instruments to the edge.
The intensity of “Bien Sur” is a total contrast to the chilled out trip hop vibe of the closing “S”. Shimmering,drifting and ethereal this reveals the group at their most lyrical but there’s a brooding quality about the fragile beauty on display here.
This brief snapshot of IReNE’s music suggests that they are a very interesting band with a lot of good ideas and with considerable potential. There is plenty of light and shade in music that combines the beautiful and the brutal. The impending full length album should be well worth waiting for. In the meantime the group’s London Jazz Festival appearance promises to be an exciting and intriguing event. The Vortex should prove to be the ideal venue for IReNE and their Coax Collectif colleagues.
Ian Mann loves trioVD's new EP but hates the inspiration behind it.
trioVD
“X”
(Naim Edge Naimcd159)
The hard hitting jazz power trio of Chris Sharkey (guitar), Christophe de Bezenac (alto sax) and Chris Bussey (drums) made a big impression with their début album “Fill It Up with Ghosts”, a recording that won Mojo magazine’s award for best jazz album of 2009. The Mojo award perhaps gives some indication as to the group’s rock leanings, they’re loud, brash and heavily amplified but, thanks to their commitment to improvisation retain a jazz soul. Despite their undoubted appeal to discerning rock listeners they’re probably too uncompromising to ever become mainstream. Here at the Jazzmann we rather like them with Tim Owen’s reviews of “Fill It Up with Ghosts” and of a later live performance at London’s Vortex appearing elsewhere on this site. Meanwhile I enjoyed their late night set at the 2010 Cheltenham Jazz Festival and my thoughts on that appearance can be found in our festival coverage in the features section.
trio VD emerged from the Leeds improvised music scene before going on to make an impression on the national stage. Due in part to guitarist Chris Sharkey’s parallel engagement with Acoustic Ladyland things have gone a bit quiet (not a word I thought I’d ever associate with trioVD) on the trio front lately and this new EP comes as a very welcome reminder of the band’s continued existence and finds them in rude musical health.
In typically provocative fashion trioVD have named this latest release “X”, the four titles inspired by the identities of the judges on The X Factor television programme. It’s a matter of pride to me that I’ve never watched a single episode of the show (or of “Strictly” for that matter) but such is the hold of these programmes over our culture that even I know roughly who these people are. To me it’s all a regression to the type of television my parents used to watch, the kind of thing that rock and other alternative musics were supposed to have done away with. And yet it’s back and bigger than ever but with an element of emotional cruelty and manipulation that is sadly very contemporary. I hate it - but then I seem to be increasingly out of step with popular culture in general. It’s probably my age, I was brought up with prog and punk and the musical tribalism and snobberies that came with them before moving on to the even less commercial delights of jazz. Once you’ve come this far there’s no going back, hence my evangelism for non mainstream music and jazz in particular. It’s almost a lifestyle choice and it’s one that leaves me increasingly disillusioned with popular culture as a whole. Yeah, you’re right I’m just a miserable old git.
Meanwhile Chris Sharkey insists “Our intention here is not to mock this programme, the judges, and, most importantly, the brave souls that enter this coliseum of popular culture. It is a musical response to the show. Some people vote. We make music”. And rather splendid music it is too. I’m rather partial to trioVD’s excoriating brand of intelligent jazz skronk.
Opener “Tulisa” crams an awful lot of information into it’s three and a half or so minutes (didn’t somebody once say that was the perfect length for a single). The press release describes this as “blundering thrash metal” but besides the bludgeoning, super fast riffs there are snatches of sampled voices and other electronica. It’s thrilling and visceral with Sharkey’s scratchy guitars, de Bezenac’s bellicose alto and Bussey’s hyper kinetic drumming combine with these additional elements to deliver trioVD’s archetypal barrage of sound.
“Walsh” is described as “a Celtic jig on steroids come pseudo power ballad” and while these elements may have provided some kind of inspiration the results are still very trioVD. De Bezenac plays it pretty much straight for much of the time, almost exaggeratedly so as his alto soars and wails, but the recurrent use of voices, a development that started on “Fill It Up with Ghosts”, plus Bussey’s unquenchable fire keeps the music suitably urgent and edgy.
That urgency and edginess is even more apparent on the stuttering, restlessly shifting “Barlow” which incorporates some of the trio’s most killer riffs, alternating them with more impressionistic episodes. A combination of “90’s pop peaks and monotone slumps” as the press release has it, or perhaps the classic quiet/loud grunge dynamic. Gary Barlow and grunge? It could only happen here.
The closing “Kelly” opens up new avenues for the band to explore with a chilled out trip hop vibe representing their deepest excursion yet into the world of sampling and electronica. A slow-burner of a tune it gradually builds in intensity as spiralling saxophone and guitar lines intertwine above a combination of an electronic soundwashes and Bussey’s sturdy drumming. It’s back to that “pseudo power ballad” syndrome again.
“X” shows trioD making clear progress as they expand their sound without sacrificing their trademark intensity. Hopefully it will act as a highly promising precursor for their keenly anticipated second album but it is an essential listen in its own right. The EP also throws up a number of interesting philosophical questions regarding music, culture and commercialism. The day that trioVD appear on the X Factor themselves will be the day I start tuning in. Let’s face it, it ain’t ever going to happen. Is it?
Well that’s what I think. These are the band’s comments on the four pieces, they make for fascinating reading;
More about ‘X’ from trioVD themselves…
TULISA
A twisted homage to the new queen of X Factor mania. We immersed ourselves in Tulisa’s music then largely ignored it, choosing to cherry pick vocal inflections, lyrical themes, mysterious church bells and essentially mess around with the wonderful, percussive rhythm of her name. Every rhythm in the song is derived from her 7 syllable tongue-twister. This is classic trioVD territory and we’re already having tons of fun playing this live.
WALSH
Opening with a warped Irish jig in 15/8 with impassioned subtle boyzone/westlife-isms, Walsh soon transmogrifies into an improvised, power-ballad saxophone showcase that draws its inspiration from the one or two thousand ballads the aforementioned have racked up over the years. We left out the obligatory key change at the end but I promise that we spontaneously stood up from our stools and walked to the front of the stage at the end of this recording.
BARLOW
We took the famous cliché ‘Everything Changes But You’ and applied it literally to a musical idea. What if everything changed all the time? Well, you get something like this. Everything is linked and locked in but constantly moving. Barlow’s deadpan delivery can be spotted towards the climax of the tune.
KELLY
We found an a cappella of Ms Rowland, chopped it up and used it as a central device around which we improvised an original track. This was the first take!
There is also a stunning video for “Tulisa” which can be found at;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOq5bNfhKbg
(beware of flashing images!)
Michael Janisch / Aruan Ortiz Group, The Cross, Moseley, Birmingham, 09/11/2011.
Michael Janisch / Aruan Ortiz Group
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Reviewed by: Ian Mann
Some memorable soloing from all concerned.
Michael Janisch/Aruan Ortiz Group, The Cross, Moseley, Birmingham, 09/11/2011.
Bassist, label owner and all round mover and shaker Michael Janisch consistently brings interesting American and European musicians to play in the UK and his projects are often excellent and never less than interesting. Born and bred in the US and now resident in London Janisch has used his “transatlantic” status to great effect over the last few years, indeed one of his most rewarding ensembles has been the Transatlantic Collective, a bringing together of European and American musicians documented on the excellent album “Traveling Song” (Woodville Records, 2008).
Janisch attended the famous Berklee College of Music in Boston and many of the musicians he brings to these shores are also former Berklee alumni, among them Cuban born pianist Aruan Ortiz, a Berklee contemporary of Janisch and co-leader of this “supergroup” featuring two of America’s leading musicians alto saxophonist Greg Osby and drummer Rudy Royston. After a time spent living in Barcelona Ortiz is now resident in New York where he has worked with trumpeter Wallace Roney among others.
The Janisch/Ortiz group have been touring mainland Europe as a quintet with Spanish trumpeter Raynald Colom. Tonight’s appearance was their first as a quartet and on occasion it showed with the group adopting a blowing approach on tunes by Janisch and Ortiz plus a couple of jazz and bebop standards. There were none of the tight arrangements of Janisch’s “Purpose Built” group with the quartet instead stretching out at length in a head/solos/head format. However as Osby revealed to Sebastian Scotney of the London Jazz Blog the band have been playing different tunes every night , keeping things fresh and really challenging each other. Not surprisingly there was some memorable soloing from all concerned although the lack of an acoustic piano (Ortiz played Rhodes throughout) and a booming sax/vocal mic sometimes detracted from the quality of the music.
Tonight’s gig was organised by the Birmingham based Cobweb Collective of young musicians. Many members of the Collective are students at, or graduates of, the Jazz Course at Birmingham Conservatoire and the upstairs room at The Cross seemed to be filled with young musicians-it was the youngest jazz audience I’ve been part of for a long time. Perhaps this wasn’t so surprising, education is a big part of Janisch’s remit and the quartet had conducted a master-class at Trinity College, London that afternoon before driving up to Birmingham. Tomorrow it was the turn of tonight’s audience to receive tuition from the masters back at the Conservatoire. In any event the presence of a large, young, and enthusiastic audience made for a great atmosphere and acted as real spur for the musicians on stage.
Janisch’s solo bass intro ushered in his own “Precisely Now” from his own 2009 début solo album “Purpose Built”. In this context the piece was radically expanded and mutated with Ortiz taking the first solo, adopting a chiming Rhodes sound that he stuck to for the rest of the evening. He was followed by the dazzlingly fluent and adventurous Osby, one of the leading jazz figures of recent years. Osby’s career has included an involvement with the influential M-Base movement but as recordings such as “St. Louis Shoes” (a nod to his roots) prove he also has a deep, if not always reverent, understanding of the tradition.
This was emphasised by the group’s next selection, a sometimes playful take on Fats Wallers’ “Jitterbug Waltz” featuring an audacious Osby solo with the saxophonist’s inventiveness matched by Royston’s unstoppable rhythmic flow at the drums. I’d seen Royston once before as a member of Bill Frisell’s band at Cheltenham Jazz Festival and been highly impressed, an assessment confirmed by another superb performance here. Janisch describes Royston’s playing as “explosive” but there’s a supple inventiveness to complement his undoubted power. This was emphasised by his dialogue with Ortiz’s Rhodes before Janisch took the final solo of this warmly received item.
Next came Ortiz’s “Orbiting” from his soon to be released new album, an often complex tune featuring an initial solo from Osby, an extended keyboard workout from the composer and a stunning drum feature from the dynamic Royston.
This was Osby’s first gig in the UK for five years and for the final number of the first set Janisch invited one of the saxophonist’s old friends onto the stand. Toting his tenor Jean Toussaint went toe to toe with Osby on a blistering version of John Coltrane’s “Mr P.C.” with both horn men delivering barnstorming solos above the propulsive rhythms of Janisch and Royston. Ortiz’s Rhodes inevitably sounded rather puny by comparison and I did find myself missing a “proper” piano until Toussaint and Osby returned for a thrilling exchange of licks and phrases. The two saxophonists were clearly enjoying themselves immensely and this communicated itself to the audience who gave the now quintet a tremendous half time reception. Incredibly the first set had lasted for a good hour and a half.
Drummer and Cobweb member Jonathan Silk announced a second set that began with Janisch’s “Lost Creek”, again from the “Purpose Built” album . A more wistful tune than anything heard in the set this piece included solos from Ortiz and Osby and also from Janisch, a consistently resourceful and inventive bass soloist as well as a great driver of tunes.
Osby’s solo alto sax intro heralded his own “Please Stand By”, an engaging piece full of clipped funk rhythms and stabbing electric piano chords that elicited Ortiz’s best solo of the night sandwiched between statements from Osby and Janisch.
The pianist’s lengthy solo introduction metamorphosed into a heavily mutated version of Cole porter’s “Just One Of Those Things” with solos from Osby, Ortiz and Royston. These same three also featured on Ortiz’s complex composition “The Maestro” which closed a shorter, but wholly absorbing second set. It was approaching midnight and we’d already heard a lot of music so it came as no surprise that no encore was forthcoming.
We had heard some great playing but given the all star nature of the group I was still left a little disappointed. It was a treat to watch Osby for the first time and to see Royston again and it goes without saying that Janisch delivered the goods as always. It was the piano sound that marred it for me, I know an acoustic piano isn’t always a practicality at many venues but I’ve heard a lot of electric instruments that have sounded far better than this. Ortiz seemed to be at a disadvantage in comparison to the rest of a pretty phenomenal group and as such it was difficult to assess his contribution. I certainly didn’t feel that we’d heard him at his best. Indeed the sound in general probably wasn’t as good as it could have been.
The group (including Colom) will be playing two sets at London’s Pizza Express Jazz Club on November 11th as part of the 2011 London Jazz Festival. The first of these is already sold out. Tonight’s date certainly had it’s moments but I predict that the real fireworks will come in London with the Pizza’s piano putting Ortiz on a similar footing to the rest of the group.
A very sophisticated and classy piece of work.
Sector 7
“The EP”
(Sayso Records SEHSO02CD)
Sector 7 is a jazz vocal group plus rhythm section who specialise in sophisticated arrangements of songs from right across the jazz spectrum with the emphasis on the vocal harmonies of the four singers. Their début EP appears on Sayso Records, the label of one of the participants, singer Sarah Ellen Hughes. Hughes is joined by fellow vocalists Emma Smith, Kwabena Adjepong and Shakka Philip to give the vocal part of the group a 50/50 male/female split. The four singers are accompanied by a very classy rhythm section consisting of pianist George Moore, bassist Tim Thornton and drummer Andy Chapman. An intriguing programme includes pieces by George Gershwin, Stevie Wonder, Silje Neergard and Chick Corea.
This five track mini album begins with the song “She’s Like The Swallow”, credited to “Anon” so I presume it’s a traditional folk song of some description- a quick internet search suggests that it originated in Newfoundland. Sector 7’s arrangement is unmistakably jazz with rich layers of jazz harmony vocals and both male and female scatting. There are no instrumental solos but the trio’s sympathetic and responsive accompaniment is right on the money throughout.
Gershwin’s “But Not For Me” opens with a vocal fanfare somewhere between a barber shop quartet and the Andrews Sisters before settling into a more obvious jazz format. There’s a female lead vocal (the packaging carries a minimum amount of information and I’m not going to speculate who sings lead where) and a pithy bass solo from Thornton before the rest of the vocal group come in to provide Sector 7’s trademark harmonies. This is a bright, breezy, appealing and often downright playful take on a much loved and brilliantly written jazz standard.
A take on Stevie Wonder’s “Superwoman” explores the group’s soul leanings with the guys in the band taking the lead, their soulful vocals cushioned by gospel style vocal harmonies. Pianist Moore gets the opportunity to stretch out mid tune.
The Norwegian singer Silje Neergard is a particular favourite of Hughes hence the inclusion of Neergard’s collaboration with Pat Metheny, “Tell Me Where You’re Going”, at her recent live show in Abergavenny (a performance reviewed elsewhere on this site). The Neergard tune here is “Be Still My Heart”, another quality pop song with shared female (presumably Hughes) and male lead vocals and some lush (for me perhaps rather overly so) pop/soul harmonies.
The group’s version of Chick Corea’s enduring “Spain” also appears on Hughes’ most recent solo album “The Story So Far”, suggesting that this is another personal favourite. This vocalese version of the song (Hughes told me that the lyrics are by Al Jarreau) is an impressive piece of work. Corea’s marvellous melodies lend themselves well to the quartet’s wordless vocalising and elsewhere the singers impart appropriate emotion and gravitas to Jarreau’s words. In a piece written by a pianist it’s also appropriate that George Moore gets another chance to shine.
Sector 7’s music is a little outside my usual area but there’s no doubting that this EP is a very sophisticated and classy piece of work and I’d surmise that the group’s live shows are equally impressive. All four singers acquit themselves well and the rhythm section perform immaculately throughout with Lester Salmins’ pinpoint mix serving everybody well. A word for drummer Andy Chapman, a musician who has just come on to my radar and who seems to have a particular affinity for working with singers having recently appeared on “Until Tomorrow”, the début album of Zara McFarlane (see review elsewhere on this site). In a slightly different context he is also a regular member of the trio led by guitarist/singer/songwriter Lisbee Stainton and drums on her latest collection of original songs “Go”.
The Immeasurable Code
Phil Robson & the IMS Quintet
Wednesday, November 09, 2011
Reviewed by: Ian Mann
The music is full of sophisticated rhythmic patterns and rich and intriguing textures.This is a worthy follow up to Robson's previous solo recordings.
Phil Robson
“The Immeasurable Code”
(Whirlwind Recordings WR4620)
In January 2011 guitarist Phil Robson undertook a UK tour with a hand picked group of musicians to perform a series of compositions based on the theme of “communication, ancient and modern” commissioned by Derby Jazz (incidentally Robson’s home town). I saw the Birmingham date of the tour, a curious affair that proved to be part concert, part educational forum and an account of that evening can be found elsewhere on this site. Although the Birmingham show proved to be a little frustrating (we got to hear less than half of the pieces that make up this album) the potential of Robson’s group and of the music was obvious and the second of the group’s two appearances at London’s Vortex was recorded and was transmitted on BBC Radio’s “Jazz on 3” before subsequently finding it’s way on to this album.
Having been commissioned by Derby Jazz Robson set about writing for a specific combination of musicians, many of them long established associates. Bassist and Whirlwind label owner Michael Janisch featured Robson on his own solo album “Purpose Built” but for many listeners the big draw will be the presence of American saxophonist Mark Turner, a musician who first worked with Robson on singer Christine Tobin’s “Deepsong” album (1998). Turner is considered to be one of the world’s leading saxophonist and is perhaps best known as a member of the trio Fly (with bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jeff Ballard) and for a series of acclaimed solo albums. Joining Turner in an unusual front line is Britain’s leading jazz flautist Gareth Lockrane with Cuban emigre Ernesto Simpson completing the group on drums. Simpson is Robson’s most recent acquaintance but his playing seems to fit this all star line up perfectly.
The album opens with a brief “Intro” credited to Janisch and Robson which I suspect is largely improvised. It’s essentially a piece for solo bass that leads into the first composition proper, the lengthy “Nassarius Beads”. The title is derived from the discovery of ancient shell ornaments in a cave in Morocco. These have been dated to 82,000 years ago and are believed to be the earliest example of human art. Musically the piece is full of sophisticated rhythmic patterns and rich and intriguing textures, particularly the blend of flute and tenor saxophone. Lockrane delivers the first solo followed by the always eloquent Robson. Turner’s tenor solo is an excellent example of his unique sound, often playing in the instrument’s altissimo register in an updating of the style of one of his influences, the late Warne Marsh.
The atmospheric sounds of Lockrane’s alto flute combine with Janisch’s arco bass on the introduction to the dramatic and episodic “Telepathy and Transmission”. There’s a brooding quality to the combination of flute and tenor before Turner produces one of his most powerful solos of the set. He’s followed by Robson’s fuzzed up, rock influenced guitar, a reminder of the composer’s dual life with jazz rock supremos Partisans.
The ballad “The Telegram” takes its title from the use of the telegram as a narrative device in all the best romantic films. An attractive Robson theme provides the framework for the lush woodwind textures of Lockrane and Turner as flute and tenor entwine around each other like the lovers inherent in the title. Robson’s coolly elegant guitar solo adds a pleasingly personal note to the proceedings.
The complexities of the “The Instant Message” sometimes recall Robson’s Partisans work particularly in the blend of guitar and tenor saxophone. It’s also a tune that allows plenty of room for blowing with both Robson and Turner producing marathon solos spurred on by Janisch’s propulsive bass work and Simpson’s colourful, neatly energetic drumming. Lockrane also cuts loose on flute with Robson’s sophisticated chording supplementing the work of the rhythm team. There’s also a series of drum flourishes from Simpson in a number that proved to be enormously popular with the Vortex audience.
The title track is based on the rhythms of Morse Code and at Birmingham was described by Robson as being the most complex piece on the album. It’s also highly thrilling with Lockrane’s piccolo approximating the tapping of telegraph keys in counterpoint to Turner, here making a rare appearance on soprano saxophone. Turner’s soprano solo is followed by Robson on guitar and Lockrane on flute as the music gets ever more complex before signing off with the sound of a genuine telegraph triggered by Robson’s foot pedals. Exhilarating stuff.
The brief “The Net” then features guitar generated electronica and can be seen a natural successor to “The Immeasurable Code”. It concludes with a powerful blast of skronk from the entire band.
“A Serenade” is effectively the album’s second ballad, a piece that unfolds slowly and deliberately with the emphasis on mood and texture. Lockrane’s flute, Turner’s tenor and Robson’s guitar blend beautifully above a backdrop of delicately brushed drums.
“The Fire and the Drum” begins with a passage of solo percussion from Simpson before exploding into life via solos from Robson, Turner (again on soprano) and Lockrane. Simpson and Janisch maintain a propulsive odd meter groove throughout and there’s some brilliant interplay between the horns as Robson alternates between front and back line duties. Even when not soloing the guitarist is an important presence throughout the album filling the accompanists’ role with skill and aplomb.
Robson’s brief but quirky arrangement of Richard Rogers’ “Happy Talk” (the theme is “communication” remember) ends the album on an upbeat note. The piece fades out rather abruptly suggesting that it was actually much longer at the live event and has been rather brutally edited. This is a shame as the sound quality throughout the rest of the recording (courtesy of engineer Chris Lewis) is excellent.
It’s good that Robson has been able to make this music available on CD especially with a line up that is unlikely to be a regular fixture. “The Invisible Code” is a worthy follow up to his previous solo recordings “Impish”, “Screenwash” and “Six Strings and The Beat”.
Phil Robson’s IMS Quintet (it stands for Instant Messaging Service) featuring Mark Turner will appear at the 2011 London Jazz Festival. They are scheduled to play the Purcell Room at the South bank centre on Tuesday November 15th. For more details visit http://www.londonjazzfestival.org.uk
Arun Ghosh Quartet, Ludlow Assembly Rooms, Ludlow, Shropshire, 04/11/2011.
Arun Ghosh
Tuesday, November 08, 2011
Reviewed by: Ian Mann
Ian Mann enjoys a dynamic live performance of Indo-Jazz from clarinettist and composer Arun Ghosh and takes a look at his albums "Northern Namaste" and "Primal Odyssey"
Arun Ghosh, Ludlow Assembly Rooms, Ludlow, Shropshire, 04/11/2011.
Clarinettist and composer Arun Ghosh is currently touring the UK in support of his new album “Primal Odyssey”, recently released on the Camoci label. The album features a unique three horn front line comprised of Ghosh (clarinet), Idris Rahman (tenor saxophone) and Shabaka Hutchings (bass clarinet) plus a rhythm section of Led Bib bassist Liran Donin and drummer Patrick Illingworth, like Rahman also a member of the jazz/roots group Soothsayers.
Tonight’s performance at Ludlow featured three fifths of the album line up with Ghosh, Rahman and Illingworth being joined in a quartet format by Manchester based Gavin Barrass (double bass), a supremely adaptable musician best known for his work with the Mancunian bands led by trumpeter Matthew Halsall and saxophonist Nat Birchall. The enforced changes led to Ghosh adapting his set list to include a number of tunes from his acclaimed début album “Northern Namaste” (Camoci, 2008), an album featuring a greater number of arrangements for just clarinet and tenor plus more tunes that Barrass was already familiar with. To an audience that in the main probably hadn’t heard Ghosh before this was of little consequence and the small but enthusiastic audience in the Assembly Rooms’ “Oscar’s” performance space responded positively to Ghosh’s distinctive blend of “Indian Jazz”.
As Ghosh puts it he “was born in Calcutta, bred in Bolton and matured in Manchester” and his music is a unique mix of sources drawn from Indian music and jazz, the latter often of the modal variety pioneered by John Coltrane. Illingworth’s drumming also brings a contemporary rock sensibility to the group. Ghosh is loath to call his music “fusion”, preferring to think of it as simply being a natural coming together of all his influences. “Northern Namaste” was more obviously “Indian”, mainly through its occasional use of tabla, sitar and other Indian instruments, but “Primal Odyssey” eschews these with Ghosh preferring to express his heritage through a combination of purely “Western” instruments. And make no mistake that heritage is always there, sometimes expressed subtly at other times less so, but there’s an edginess and urgency about Ghosh’s music that prevents it from slipping into the kind of precious, cute or over intellectual jazz/folk “fusions” one might hear elsewhere. Almost certainly some of this stems from Ghosh’s northern upbringing, this is music from the streets, often delivered with a very northern blend of bluntness and swagger. Ghosh’s shows are high on energy, he’s a charismatic performer constantly moving his body in time to the music and I’m sure that at some gigs he has the audience up on their feet swaying along with him. Rural Shropshire wasn’t perhaps quite the place for that, despite the organisers attempt at a club/cabaret style vibe, but that doesn’t mean to say that the music wasn’t appreciated.
The quartet commenced with “Aurora”, the opening track from “Northern Namaste”. Even without the album’s tabla undertow the Indian inflections of the music were immediately apparent in Ghosh’s opening clarinet solo. The leader was followed by Rahman’s slow burning tenor solo, the whole underpinned by the modal pulse of Barrass’ double bass.
Idris Rahman is a fine clarinettist in his own right, often playing the instrument as a member of his pianist sister Zoe’s quartet. The as yet unrecorded “River Song”, inspired by Bengali folk music, featured the sound of the twin clarinets of Ghosh and Rahman intertwining like snakes above Illingworth’s neat brush work.
From “Primal Odyssey” “Unravel” was another example of the influence of modal jazz on Ghosh’s work, the modal framework acting as a springboard for solos of considerable attack and intensity from Rahman and Ghosh. There’s nothing fey or even vaguely classical about Ghosh’s approach to the clarinet (despite the fact that he’s been classically trained ) and there’s no trad jazz corniness either. Ghosh taps into the clarinet’s role as a folk instrument, playing with passion and skill and delivering plenty of flattened or “blue notes” to link it in to the jazz tradition.
From “Northern Namaste” the piece “Come Closer” featured a brief clarinet/tenor sax duo opening before Barrass established a deep bass groove which Illingworth embellished with almost hip hop rhythms in a genuine bass and drum dialogue. Meanwhile the sinuous horns of Ghosh and Rahman were interweaving in a further gripping musical conversation of their own.
Ghosh has written extensively for the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester and several of the pieces on “Primal Odyssey” were originally written for this purpose. “Caliban’s Revenge” was initially written for the late Pete Postlethwaite, a sometime Shropshire resident, to complement his role as Prospero in Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”. Potlethwaite requested a “Who like aggression” and something of that remains in the driving ektar rhythms of the current edition of the piece. Appropriately it was Illingworth’s drums that lead it in (a nod perhaps to the late, great Keith Moon) with barnstorming solos subsequently coming from Rahman and Ghosh, the clarinettist supplementing his solo with a series of appropriately theatrical hand gestures. Illingworth maintained his level of attack throughout the piece and the tune ended with a dynamic drum feature.
I was expecting the first half to end here but the quartet signed off with the slow-burning “Uterine” from “ Northern Namaste”, Ghosh’s dedication to his third child, he scarcely looks old enough to have one! Slowly building in intensity this featured a very different drumming performance from Illingworth with the emphasis here on percussive detail rather than power as he and Barrass accompanied the characteristically fluent solos of Rahman and Ghosh.
This had been an excellent first half with Ghosh’s distinctive but eminently accessible blend of “Indo-Jazz” quickly winning the approval of the Ludlow crowd. Ghosh is a great communicator and proved to be highly adept at verbally explaining his musical ideas to his audience. The quality and spirit of the playing then spoke for itself.
The second half began with the hard driving grooves of “Damascus” from the new album with Rahman and Ghosh again soloing powerfully. But it’s the interplay between the horns that’s the essence of Ghosh’s music, particularly on “Primal Odyssey” where the additional voice of Hutchings is added to the mix.
From “Northern Namaste” “Bondhu” (English translation “Friend”) was another piece based on Bengali folk music and was described by Ghosh as “my ideal homeland tune”. This was a delightful miniature featuring the swirling twin clarinets of Ghosh and Rahman. “Longsight Lagoon”, from the same album, received a less glowing verbal introduction. Inspired by a location in Manchester this was a less flattering musical illustration with Rahman effecting a harsh, gritty, earthy tenor sax sound throughout. A little light relief came during Ghosh’s clarinet solo when I thought I detected a veiled quote from Gershwin’s “Rhapsody In Blue”. Or is that “Sky Blue” these days?
The unrecorded “Bismillah” was a tribute to the late Indian musician Ustad Bismillah Khan (1916-2006), the leading exponent of the double reed instrument the shenai. Khan’s playing was a considerable influence on John Coltrane’s modal and “spiritual” jazz of the 1960’s and he provides a neat link between Ghosh’s jazz and Indian influences. A gentle sax and clarinet intro was merely the calm before a storm of rasping tenor sax, soaring clarinet and, perhaps most surprisingly, Illingworth’s powerful rock rhythms.
More surprises came with the closing number, Ghosh’s arrangement of The Beatles’ “Tomorrow Never Knows” which he described as “bringing it back home”. With Illingworth slamming out the familiar Ringo rhythm Ghosh picked out the melody as Rahman approximated the seagull noises of the original in his tenor’s upper register before subsequently embarking on his solo. Illingworth was featured at the drums before Ghosh’s climactic final solo seemed to signal the end of the gig.
However this being Ludlow the audience didn’t stamp or holler-but they did make it quite clear that they weren’t going anywhere until they’d heard some more. “ A very Shropshire encore”, as Ghosh put it, began with Barrass picking out the mighty bass riff that powers Primal Odyssey’s “Headrush” as Rahman and Ghosh locked horns for not quite the final time. Did I detect just a smidgen of King Crimson’s “21st Century Schizoid Man” in all that sax and clarinet waling?
Following this final assault Ghosh and Rahman, both now on clarinet, stepped out front and off mic for a calming “Nocturne (Chandra Dhun)”, the final track on “Primal Odyssey”. Accompanied only by Barrass’ double bass this was a lovely way to end two excellent sets of music from this highly competent quartet.
I’ll confess that I was a little disappointed that Hutchings wasn’t there, I’ve long been an admirer of his work with Courtney Pine, Polar Bear, his own groups Zed-U and Sons of Kemet and more recently in a free improv context. No wonder he was busy elsewhere! I also enjoy Liran Donin’s playing with his regular band Led Bib also and I’d surmise that he was playing elsewhere with them but I though Gavin Barrass did a terrific job in his absence.
“Namaste” means “welcome” and Ghosh was certainly very welcoming both to your reviewer and to the numerous other fans who took time to speak to him afterwards. The tour continues and Arun Ghosh is also scheduled to be the “Artist On The Move” at the 2011 London Jazz Festival where he will be making a number of appearances in different contexts and locations, many of them free of charge. See http://www.camoci.co.uk and http://www.londonjazzfestival.org.uk for more details.
Both albums are highly recommended, packed with memorable tunes and some great playing. If one has a criticism of Ghosh it’s perhaps that there’s a lack of light and shade in his music, particularly on “Primal Odyssey” which is pretty intense and “full on” almost throughout. Having said that he’s a dynamic live performer and I’d urge anyone reading this to check him out. He’s capable of even better performances than this.
A highly promising snapshot of a young piano trio with bags of potential.
Claire James Trio
“Lines”
(Efpi Records)
This young piano trio are part of the Manchester based Efpi Collective, home to Beats & Pieces Big Band, HAQ, Trio 265 and others. Pianist and composer Claire James cites British greats such as John Taylor, Nikki Iles and Zoe Rahman as influences on her style and her trio has played at the Manchester Jazz Festival, supported the Kit Downes Sextet in Liverpool and played at the BBC Proms Plus series at London’s Royal Albert Hall. Her Efpi label mate guitarist Anton Hunter predicts that the trio are “going to be huge”; that remains to be seen but it’s immediately clear from this début EP release that the trio have considerable potential.
Joining James on this four track EP are bassist Stewart Wilson and drummer Jim Molyneux, like James former students at Manchester’s Royal Northern College of Music. The four pieces are all composed by Claire James although the trio’s live repertoire also includes an arrangement of Nick Drake’s “Northern Sky” suggesting that the work of Brad Mehldau can be added to the list of influences.
The EP opens with the title track, a highly competent slice of contemporary piano jazz that develops from James’ opening solo piano to encompass numerous changes of pace and rhythm. The influence of Zoe Rahman’s rhythmic drive is immediately apparent but there’s also something of Taylor’s lyricism too. Wilson contributes a brief but fluent bass solo and Molyneux is quietly energetic throughout. It’s a very promising start.
“St. Mawes” begins atmospherically with dampened strings and interior scrapings before an attractive piano theme emerges with James in dialogue with the rich hues of Wilson’s bowed bass.
Wilson switches to pizzicato and back again as the piece slowly unfolds, a highly lyrical depiction of the Cornish village of the title.
James clearly likes to write pieces inspired by her travels and “Marrakech” is a more spirited affair that sometimes owes something to the more grooved based approach of E.S.T. or the Neil Cowley Trio. Nonetheless the piece also has its lyrical moments including a highly lucid bass solo from the impressive Wilson. Molyneux is also prominently featured on a piece that must surely be something of a live favourite.
The closing “Io” emphasises the trio’s lyricism, developing episodically from James’ lengthy solo piano intro through Wilson’s pensive, deeply resonant bass solo to a sumptuous, richly melodic main theme coloured by Molyneux’s sensitive brush work. Finally the piece comes full circle to conclude with a further brief passage of solo piano.
Co-produced by Beats & Pieces leader Ben Cottrell “Lines” is a highly promising snapshot of a young piano trio with bags of potential. The EP covers a lot of ground over the course of its four tracks and it is immediately clear that Claire James, in addition to her pianistic skills, is also a composer of considerable promise. There’s enough here to suggest that the trio’s first full length album recording should be well worth waiting for.
In the meantime the Claire James Trio play the 2011 London Jazz Festival as part of an Efpi Records showcase on November 15th 2011 at The Forge, Camden alongside label mates HAQ and Trio Riot. Details below;
Date
Tuesday 15 November 2011
Time
8:00pm
Venue
LONDON The Forge
3-7 Delancey St
London
NW1 7NL
0207 383 7808
Tickets
£8 + bkg
A guitarist of enormous technical ability who utilises his considerable gifts thoughtfully and tastefully.
Kristian Borring
“Nausicaa”
(Ultra Sound Records US-CD076/5)
Kristian Borring is a Danish guitarist and composer now based in London following his completion of a Masters degree at The Guildhall in 2006 after previous studies in Holland. Now a well established figure on the UK jazz scene Borring’s début album features his regular British quartet consisting of pianist Arthur Lea (Paragon, Seb Pipe), bassist Spencer Brown (Porpoise Corpus) and drummer Jon Scott (Kairos 4tet, Paragon). The line up is augmented on three of the eight original pieces by saxophonist Will Vinson, a musician born in the UK but now resident in New York where he is building an increasingly impressive reputation.
I saw Borring perform live in September 2011 as part of saxophonist Tommaso Starace’s quartet at a gig at The Hive in Shrewsbury. It was immediately apparent that he was a guitarist of enormous technical ability and that he was capable of utilising his considerable gifts thoughtfully and tastefully. These are also qualities that he brings to his own recording. There are no guitar histrionics on “Nausicaa”, instead the music evolves gradually and logically through a series of often lengthy compositions.
All the tunes are Borring’s and the album commences with “Below Sea Level” a ten minute piece that features Borring’s elegant single note improvising and sophisticated chording. There are hints of Pat Metheny but also of more contemporary players such as Brad Shepik, Ben Monder and Kurt Rosenwinkel, the latter having worked with Vinson in New York. Elsewhere the piece features Lea switching between Fender Rhodes and acoustic piano and contributing a flowing, lyrical solo on the latter. Scott brings brings the same kind of detail and nuance to his playing that he displays as a member of Kairos 4tet and Brown proves to be a supple and adaptable bassist.
“The Famous G” is more groove based with Brown leading things off and providing a strong grounding presence throughout in tandem with Scott’s shuffling grooves. Lea’s Rhodes chording underpins Borring’s nimble guitar soloing before assuming the lead. Here, as elsewhere, Borring favours a pure guitar sound with little in the way of effects.
The tricky, boppish “Last Whistle” adds Will Vinson to the proceedings, the saxophonist linking up well with Borring on some fiendishly tricky unison melody lines before the pair embark on their solos with Borring going first. Vinson’s fluent, pure toned alto follows and there’s also a series of lively breaks from Scott at the drums. Vinson is a player who has grown in stature since I caught his performance at the 2009 Cheltenham Jazz Festival, a concert that was frustratingly cut short by a power cut at the Everyman Theatre.
“Invisible Lady” is a lengthy ballad that begins with the sound of Borring’s solo guitar before developing into a sumptuous Lea piano solo. Borring’s own solo contains some of the most orthodox “jazz” guitar of the set backed by Scott’s neatly energetic drum work. Bassist Spencer Brown also steps forward with a deeply resonant solo backed by Scott’s chattering drums and Lea’s sparse piano chording.
The title track is inspired by Princess Nausicaa who assisted Odysseus in Homer’s Odyssey. It’s a typically episodic piece of writing with Vinsons pure toned sax prominent in the mix. Following the theme statement he digs deep in his solo, consistently pushing and probing, before eventually handing over to the warm tones of Borring. Vinson returns to restate the theme before something of a drum feature for Scott in the tune’s closing stages.
As the title suggests “Lucinda’s Dream” is a second ballad feature notable for Borring’s rosy, Metheny like guitar and Lea’s delicate piano lyricism, both well supported by Brown’s sonorous bass and Scott’s characteristically sympathetic drumming.
“Clapton Cowboys” (I’d like to know the story behind that title) marks the final appearance and is a gently upbeat piece of post bop that allows the saxophonist plenty of room to stretch out with a lithe and fluent solo before handing over to the equally agile Borring. The support from the rhythm team on this often complex piece is as assured as ever.
To end there’s a brief reprise of the theme from “Nausicaa”, a duet for just guitar and piano.
“Nausicaa” represents an assured and promised début from this highly accomplished guitarist and composer. Having witnessed Borring live I can attest first hand as to his technical abilities. He’s also an interesting writer but having said that none of his themes here is particularly memorable and arguably some of the pieces are over-long. The sometime presence of Vinson gives the programme a considerable boost but the core quartet of Borring, Lea, Brown and Scott is also a well balanced unit and everybody plays well throughout.
Rather like “Do Or Die”, the recent release by fellow guitarist Mark McKnight, the album sometimes seems a little too polite. However when McKnight took the music on the road in the company of tenor titan Seamus Blake the material seemed to take on a life of its own. The McKnight/Blake gig at Dempsey’s, Cardiff was one of the unexpected highlights of the year so far. Whether Borring can achieve quite the same level of lift off remains to be seen but the core quartet are currently touring the UK. The remaining dates are;
Friday 11 November
19:30* Tickets: £10/8
Spice of Life 6 Moor St, London W1D 5NA
Tel: 020 7437 7013 http://www.spiceoflifesoho.com
* opening set before Kristian joins Alicia Hart Band with Esben Tjalve on piano for the second set.
Weds 16 November
20:00* Tickets: £10/8
Green Note * ALBUM LAUNCH *
106 Parkway Camden NW1 7AN
Tel 020 7485 9899 http://www.greennote.co.uk * opening set on double bill with TROYKA
“Flood Tide” shows Crockatt subtly shifting his approach and is a worthy follow up to his highly acclaimed début.
Sam Crockatt Quartet
“Flood Tide”
(Babel Records BDV1199)
“Flood Tide” is saxophonist and composer Sam Crockatt’s keenly awaited follow up to “Howeird”, his 2009 release on the Loop Records label which won that year’s Parliamentary Jazz Award for best album. “Howeird” featured the pianistic talents of Gwilym Simcock, a factor that helped to bring the album a good deal of attention. Simcock’s increasingly busy schedule ensured that he was never likely to be a fixture in the Crockatt quartet and his place on this recording has gone to Kit Downes, a similarly talented (and these days almost as busy) player and composer. Crockatt’s regular rhythm section of double bassist Oli Hayhurst and drummer Ben Reynolds remain in situ and this new quartet configuration ensures that “Flood Tide” is a worthy follow up to its illustrious
predecessor.
I’ve been lucky enough to see Crockatt perform live a couple of times. Earlier this year I saw this quartet début some of this material at the 2011 Cheltenham Jazz Festival. Even though Crockatt was suffering badly from the effects of a heavy cold it was immediately apparent that the new group had considerable potential and this is borne out throughout “Flood Tide”. Previously I’d seen him playing a standards set at The Hive in Shrewsbury with a local rhythm section of pianist Edgar Macias, bassist Tom Hill and drummer Miles Levin. This event is of more significance than might first be apparent. Crockatt is by far the most “straight ahead” member of the Loop Collective, eschewing the overt experimentation and use of electronics embraced by many of his colleagues. He plays in a strictly acoustic setting and isn’t ashamed to show a degree of deference to the jazz
tradition. A recent move from London out to rural Somerset seems likely to enforce these musical character traits. Not that Crockatt should be considered a “young fogey”, “Flood Tide” is full of interesting and thoroughly contemporary jazz compositions, seven by tenor sax specialist Crockatt and one by pianist Kit Downes.
Indeed the album kicks off with Downes’ “Sun and Moon”, which as Crockatt’s liner notes inform us was written by the pianist in the car on the way to a gig with the sun on one side and the moon on the other. It’s an energetic, odd meter opener essentially divided, appropriately enough, into two parts. The piece opens in saxophone trio mode but Crockatt ensures that the piece retains an underlying lyricism, closer in spirit to his former teacher and mentor Julian Arguelles than to the more full on style of Sonny Rollins. Downes’ exuberant, tumbling Jarrett style piano solo constitutes the second half of the tune. Taken as a whole it represents a strong start to the new album.
Crockatt’s own “Trilogy” focuses more readily on the quartet’s lyrical virtues. This “tune in three parts” is delicately paced and includes an opening feature for bassist Hayhurst wrapped up in a kind of folk melody cum march. Then follows a delightful central section featuring an exquisite duet between Crockatt and Downes before a freer closing segment. Reynolds’ subtly detailed drumming adds colour and nuance throughout.
“The Golden Goose” also includes another excellent solo from Hayhurst but the tune is in fact a dedication to Crockatt’s tenor and the composer contributes a fine solo in a composition that embraces the mainstream but is still packed full of contemporary ideas.
Solo saxophone introduces “King Apple” a trio item that evokes Rollins and bebop whilst still retaining Crockatt’s innate tunefulness and lyricism. Hayhurst’s muscular but supple bass playing and Reynolds’ colourful drums and percussion are highly effective and contribute hugely to the success of the piece. It’s not dissimilar to the music of the young London based saxophone trio Partikel.
“The Ridgeway” celebrates the house in North London that became the Loop Collective’s hangout and was Crockatt’s home for ten years. It’s a celebratory, groove oriented, Latin tinged piece and features an exuberant piano solo from Downes and some fiery r’n'b inflected tenor from the composer.
“The Prophet” is altogether more serious in tone with Crockatt’s notes informing us that the piece is “Based on the verse on death from Kahil Gilbran’s beautiful book The Prophet”. The music has an almost Zen like calm with a delicate, folkish saxophone melody embellished by Reynolds’ delicately detailed drum and percussion shadings. There’s a quiet intensity about this piece that is sometimes reminiscent of Jan Garbarek, one of Crockatt’s acknowledged influences.
“Theodore’s Spring Song” is centred around a series of engaging duo dialogues featuring Reynolds, firstly with Crockatt and subsequently with Downes and Hayhurst. There are freer moments that involve all four members of the quartet in spirited musical conversation plus a blues based theme that somehow holds it all together.
Crockatt describes “Flood Tide” itself as a “a watery sort of tune”. At a little under nine minutes it’s the lengthiest piece on the album and is a cinematic piece of writing that is intended to represent “a kind of magnetic ebb and flow”, a quality that Crockatt applies, with some justification, to the album as a whole. There’s an appropriately flowing solo from Downes, a real outpouring of ideas, followed by a serpentine saxophone voyage from Crockatt that probes deeply but never loses the underlying sense of melody. The piece concludes with a lovely saxophone and piano duet, this coda perhaps representative of the “calm after the storm”.
Recorded at the renowned Artesuono Studios in Udine, Italy, home to many ECM albums and recently an increasingly popular destination for UK jazz artists, “Flood Tide” boasts a superior sound that emphasises the lyrical virtues of the quartet. But there’s also a degree of muscle about Crockatt’s music that finds increasing expression in his writing and playing. Also Downes brings a spirit of freedom and openness to the group that was perhaps less apparent on the “Howeird” recording. “Flood Tide” shows Crockatt subtly shifting his approach and is a worthy follow up to his début. Let’s hope his audience stays with him.
Bishopsgate Institute, London, 28/10/2011
Marc Ribot
Tuesday, November 01, 2011
Reviewed by: Tim Owen
Henry Grimes is both the living inspiration for, and the fulcrum against which Spiritual Unity leverage a direct connection to the late, legendary saxophonist Albert Ayler.
Marc Ribot’s style speaks eloquently of his New York City home; not just of the late 80s ‘downtown’ scene from which he emerged, but also the earlier 70s loft jazz scene which channelled the visionary spirit of John Coltrane and Albert Ayler into the present, the Latin ‘Nu Yorican’ scene, and the music of the Cuban diasporas. In his playing all of these inspirations are suffused with the charged emotion of the delta and urban blues. Ribot has worked this heady brew into the music of bandleaders as distinctive and distinct from each other as John Zorn, Tom Waits, and Elvis Costello. As a bandleader in his own right, however, I’ve often been less than fully convinced by the ways he’s sought to synthesise his influences. Rootless Cosmopolitans, Shrek, The Prosthetic Cubans, and Ceramic Dog were all cool bands in different ways, but none were really great.
I haven’t heard Ribot’s SunShip, with another guitarist, Mary Halvorson, Chad Taylor and bassist Jason Ajemian, but I guess its music is related, in spirit at least, to the music he makes at Bishopsgate tonight with Spiritual Unity. The band, which features Chad Taylor on drums, is essentially a vehicle by which Ribot can connect through bassist Henry Grimes to the music of Grime’s one-time band leader, Albert Ayler. Grimes is both the living inspiration for, and the fulcrum against which Spiritual Unity leverage a direct connection to the late, legendary saxophonist.
When, in 2002, Grimes re-emerged from years of obscurity, he was reportedly playing on top form in miraculously short order. Well I saw Spiritual Unity in 2006, and Grimes seems even more robust and purposeful now than he did then. His playing reminded me of an interview Ribot gave at that time, which is worth quoting at length, because I couldn’t put it any better:
“[Henry Grimes] can be productively written into a history of jazz, into a history of wider improvisational music, into a history of punk rock in terms of the intensity of the experience—and also productively written into a history of religious/ritual music…He’s really a Cecil Taylor of the bass. And he has his own version of playing grooves related to some strain of sixties funky jazz that we think we remember, but we don’t. When I play with Henry, it’s as if I’d only seen synthetic fabrics my whole life, and I’m confronted with a hand-knitted wool sweater with all its oddities and imperfections—different, yet infinitely warmer. He’s the living embodiment of the difference between groove and metronomic time” [All About Jazz: ]http://bit.ly/w3KMr6]
With Spiritual Unity, Ribot mainlines Ayler, John Coltrane and the blues in their pure form. I mean no disrespect to trumpet player Roy Campbell, whose articulacy enriched considerably the music the band recorded in 2004, but his absence permits the trio to close ranks and rip into their source material with a more single-minded focus.
Ribot rips out music in torrents. He’s not the flashiest of stylists, but has a raw, unforced eloquence that’s inimitable even, as here, when at its driest. James ‘Blood’ Ulmer is the only other guitarist I might compare him with, but where Ulmer overtly plays out a take on harmolodic blues, Ribot’s style derives as much from the ‘punk’ aesthetic as it does any purely musical influences. Chad Taylor, on drums, has a deceptively economical style that generates intense kinetic energy, making him Ribot’s ideal accompanist for this approach to this material.
Ribot announced that he wouldn’t pause to identify the tunes, and was true to his word. He played Ayler’s “Spirits” and I thought I heard Howlin Wolf’s “Spoonful”, but I wouldn’t put money on that. It was a blues, for sure. I thought Ribot announced Sun Ship as the encore, but Mike Hobart for the FT [http://on.ft.com/upqCVK] tells us it was Bix Beiderbecke’s “Singin’ the Blues” followed by Coltrane’s “Dearly Beloved”. Hobart has the band playing “Sun Ship” earlier in the evening, in a “meditative” rendition; if so no wonder I couldn’t place it.
The evening opened with short sets from pianist Matthew Bourne, who played just four vignettes, and the processed cello and vocal of duo Mayming. In the paltry quarter hour allocated to him Bourne presented a showcase of sharply contrasting works, of which the highlight was a percussive treatment of the piano casing and strings, one of the most original and direct approaches to the style I’ve seen. His other pieces contrasted free jazz flow, a lyricism overtly indebted to Keith Jarrett, and a hushed attention to the resonance of softly struck, decaying chords. Mayming were charming but rather amateurish, their live processing veering from whimsical to crude and sometimes shrill. They were an unlikely and unwise selection for the main support slot.
Sarah Ellen Hughes Quartet at Black Mountain Jazz, Kings Arms, Abergavenny, 30/10/2011.
Sarah Ellen Hughes
Tuesday, November 01, 2011
Reviewed by: Ian Mann
Ian Mann enjoys a live performance by vocalist Sarah Ellen Hughes and her quartet and takes a look at her latest album "The Story So Far".
Sarah Ellen Hughes, Black Mountain Jazz, Kings Arms, Abergavenny, 30/10/2011.
The former NYJO singer Sarah Ellen Hughes is currently in the midst of an exhaustive UK tour in support of her recent album “The Story So Far”, released on her own Sayso Records label in 2011. Now London based, Hughes was born in Llanelli and her Welsh roots brought her to Abergavenny in the company of her regular drummer Darren Altman, who appears on the album, plus Swansea based musicians Dave Cottle (keyboards) and Alun Vaughan (electric bass). Hughes normally uses this configuration for the numerous gigs she plays in her homeland and the size of the audience (the function room at the Kings was as full as I’ve seen it for some time) suggested that she retains a strong local following. BMJ promoter Mike Skilton announced himself delighted with the turnout which must have numbered between forty and fifty with no table left unoccupied.
The bulk of the material played tonight was sourced from Hughes’ two albums “The Story So Far” and the earlier “Darning That Dream” (2010) and comprised of an entertaining mix of jazz standards, pop songs and creditable Hughes originals.
The quartet kicked off with their version of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “My Favourite Things” which appears on the latest album. Clearly influenced by John Coltrane’s famous modal version the piece offered an early demonstration of the soloing skills of Cottle on electric piano and Vaughan on his distinctive six string electric bass. Driven on by Altman’s crisp and energetic drumming Hughes demonstrated a real understanding of jazz phrasing and a clear willingness to interact with her colleagues. In other words she’s a proper jazz vocalist, you’d expect a former NYJO vocalist ( among her predecessors was the late Amy Winehouse) to be a class act.
The song “The Story So Far” is fine example of the singers’ art of vocalese. Hughes added her own lyrics to an existing tune written by the saxophonist Dave O’ Higgins. It’s a highly attractive piece and O’Higgins returns the compliment by guesting on the tune on the album. It’s a shame he couldn’t be part of tonight’s line up but Cottle and Vaughan stepped up to the plate to deliver excellent solos followed by a thrilling exchange of Hughes’ scatted vocal phrases and answering drum breaks from Altman.
Three tunes from Hughes’ earlier album followed. “Darning That Dream” was another example of vocalese with Hughes re-harmonising a Dexter Gordon version of the standard “Darn That Dream” and adding her own lyrics, the words a moving reflection on the loss of her mother. The first ballad of the evening the piece featured a thoughtful piano solo from Cottle with Altman showing his sensitive side with some sympathetic brush work.
The Bob Dorough song “Devil My Care” appears on the album as a duet with the marvellous Ian Shaw (a review of Shaw’s solo performance at the 2011 Lichfield Real Ale Jazz and Blues festival can be found in our features section). In Hughes’ own words the song “contains a lot of notes” and the singer handled them with considerable aplomb sliding around the tongue twisting lyrics with a remarkable degree of flexibility.
Cole Porter’s salacious “Love For Sale” was famously banned in the 1920’s. Hughes’ version of the tune brought it right up to date with Altman adding an almost funk/hip hop groove and with Hughes audaciously shoehorning some additional lyrics, courtesy of Sting, into the song’s middle section.
Having performed “a twenties song in a seventies style” Hughes reversed the process with a slowed down jazz version of Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “Close to You”, famously a huge 70’s hit for The Carpenters. The song appears on Hughes’ latest album and here featured Cottle’s wonderfully versatile Yamaha keyboard approximating an acoustic guitar sound at times.
Also from the new album a segue of A.C. Jobim tunes “Corcovado/If You Never Come To Me” featured some of the best playing of the set with an absorbing solo drum passage from Altman, much of it played with his bare hands. Then came a trilling electric piano solo that recalled Chick Corea’s work with the original version of Return To Forever (with Flora Purim etc.). Hughes handled the transition from Portugese to English lyrics easily in an impressive all round group performance.
The first set concluded with Hughes’ original tune “Working Hard”, an autobiographical and often humorous comment on the economic vicissitudes of living the jazz life in present day London. Hughes gave up a career as a primary school teacher to concentrate on jazz full time. Hopefully that decision is now beginning to reap its own rewards.
The second set commenced with the quartet’s version of Fats Waller’s “Honeysuckle Rose” with plenty of solo space being given to the three instrumentalists. The Waller tune appears on Hughes’ latest album as does “Take Me Away”, a strong original song that bridges the gap between jazz and pop. The recorded version includes memorable contributions from O’ Higgins on saxophone and Chris Allard on guitar. Here pianist Dave Cottle took the instrumental honours.
Also from “The Story So Far” came another Hughes original, “Busy Bee”. Another autobiographical account of Hughes’ jazz life the recorded version seems a bit “throwaway” but the furrowed brows of Cottle and Vaughan suggested that it’s rather more difficult than it might first appear and is actually a bit of a devil to play. Here the quartet stretched out playfully on the tune with Hughes injecting an additional element of humour and a low key theatricality as she gave full rein to her considerable scatting skills with Cottle’s piano the perfect foil.
“Tell Me Where You’re Going” was the title track of Norwegian singer Silje Neergard’s 1990 début album, a collaboration with the great guitarist and composer Pat Metheny. Co-written by Neergard and Metheny the song was an international hit and Neergard remains one of Hughes’ chief inspirations. Hughes’ version began in trio mode with the singer accompanied by just piano and bass. The introduction of Altman’s drums then dramatically launched the song into anthemic territory with Cottle taking flight at the piano.
Sarah’s version of George Gershwin’s “Fascinating Rhythm” began with her solo vocals, later combining with Vaughan’s springy bass grooves in an imaginative arrangement that saw Cottle shifting the controls of his keyboard to the organ setting for his solo.
Jobim’s “One Note Samba” featured the members of the quartet clapping in the intro with Hughes’ vivacious vocal performance eventually leading to an extended drum feature for Darren Altman. Rock rhythms were the order of the day for a take on Jimi Hendrix’s “Little Wing” with Hughes’ voice soaring triumphantly. The recorded version on “The Story So Far” features the guitar of guest Chris Allard.
Hughes, like many jazz vocalists, seems to have a particular affinity for the music of the Gershwins.
The closing “Lady Be Good” allowed all the members of the quartet to demonstrate their abilities with Cottle’s quote filled piano solo and Vaughan’s guitar like chording on the bass followed by another remarkable voice and drum dialogue. This was heady stuff and it was inevitable that the quartet would be called back for an encore. This proved to be yet another Gershwin song, this time “But Not For Me” which included another musical conversation between Hughes and Altman, this time more muted with Altman deploying the brushes.
This had been a highly enjoyable show with good all round performances by both the singer and the instrumentalists in an accomplished Anglo-Welsh alliance. It was the best attended BMJ club night for some time generating a good atmosphere that ensured that everyone went home happy. After a lean few months for the club it was good to see things picking up so well. It was also good to meet Dave Cottle who runs another well known Welsh jazz club, Swansea Jazzland. Dave is currently “living the dream” with his beloved Swans in the Premier League!
Hughes’ album “The Story So far” is also well worth a listen containing much of the material heard tonight and featuring a core quartet of Hughes and Altman plus pianist Rick Simpson and Empirical bassist Tom Farmer. Dave O’Higgins and Chris Allard make welcome guest appearances as I’ve already mentioned.
Hughes is also a member of the jazz vocal group Sector 7 which features her alongside fellow singers Emma Smith, Kwabena Adjepong and Shakka Philip plus a classy rhythm section of George Moore (piano), Tim Thornton (bass) and Andy Chapman (drums). I’ll be taking a look at their recent début EP shortly.
Sarah is also an accomplished jazz journalist, regularly contributing articles to Sebastian Scotney’s London Jazz blog. In many of these she deploys her inside knowledge to review the work of other vocalists. I hope she doesn’t find too much wrong with what I’ve written here!
In the meantime details of the remaining tour dates plus details of Sarah ‘s album releases can be found at http://www.sarahellenhughes.co.uk
Muntu Valdo, The Edge Arts Centre, Much Wenlock, Shropshire, 29/10/2011.
Muntu Valdo
Monday, October 31, 2011
Reviewed by: Ian Mann
Valdo is a one man band and then some. Ian Mann enjoys the Cameroonian artist's remarkable solo performance and takes a look at his two albums.
Muntu Valdo, The Edge Arts Centre, Much Wenlock, Shropshire, 29/10/2011.
Over the course of the last few years The Edge’s “Jazz Notes” series has proved to be a resounding success with international stars such as Tord Gustavsen, Bobo Stenson, Tomasz Stanko, Matthias Eick and Ralph Towner all visiting this remarkable venue in rural Shropshire. The cream of the UK’s jazz musicians, among them members of the Loop and F-ire Collectives, have also been regular visitors and many reviews of jazz events at The Edge can be found elsewhere on these web
pages.
“Jazz Notes” grew from humble beginnings, initially just featuring local Midlands based bands, but is now an established part of the UK touring circuit and The Edge is a favourite venue of many musicians. The success of the jazz programme has led to artistic director Alison Vermee casting her net further with a series of folk and world music events under the banner “More Music at The Edge”. Tonight was the second concert of the series following an earlier appearance by the folk group Southern Tenant Union, an event that I was unable to attend due a previous commitment at the Harmonic Festival in Birmingham.
The music of the Cameroon born solo performer Muntu Valdo therefore represented the venue’s first excursion into “world music” and I’m pleased to report that the event was a great success. A late surge in pre-orders plus a healthy number of door sales ensured that a highly respectable audience of 80 turned up with every one of the tables in the cabaret style set up occupied. Valdo, a highly skilled performer with considerable personal charm ensured that everybody went home happy and on the evidence of this evening it would seem that the “More Music at The Edge” series is really starting to take off.
I’d seen Valdo perform live once before, earlier in the year in a decidedly chilly marquee as part of the music programme at Hay Festival (as chronicled in our “Notes from Hay” feature). I very much enjoyed his appearance there but felt that tonight’s show was better again, two forty five minute sets instead of a single hour long performance. Valdo refers to his music as “Sawa blues” after the region of Cameroon that he hails from. However as jazz journalist Kevin Le Gendre astutely observes in his liner notes for Valdu’s latest album “The One And The Many” (2011) he draws extensively on the various musics of the African diaspora, American jazz and blues, Jamaican reggae, Brazilian samba and more. There is a hint of artists as superficially diverse as Bob Dylan, Bob Marley and Milton Nasimento in his sound. One should never forget that all these musics have ultimately come out of Africa never mind how westernised and mainstream they may seem to have become.
Valdo isn’t afraid of utilising modern Western musical technology to enhance his sound. His basic acoustic guitar/harmonica/voice set up is augmented by an array of foot pedals (operated by bare feet for extra sensitivity) which allow him to loop and layer his sound, sometimes using updated synclavier technology to introduce guitar generated tuned percussion sounds to an already rich sonic mix. In other words Valdo is a one man band and then some. The album title “The One And The Many” is an oblique reference to Valdo and his “sorcerers” as he refers to his array of foot pedals. Live looping is now pretty much standard music practice but I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody deploy it as skilfully and comprehensively as Valdo who also uses it to multi track his voice in a rich tapestry of melody and rhythm. He does so much more than the basic guitar layering of most other practitioners.
As I’ve mentioned Valdo is a highly personable performer who actively encouraging his audiences to sing and clap along with his highly melodic songs. The fact that he sings in the Sawa language hardly seems to matter, Valdo is a great communicator and his choruses are so catchy that even English audiences have no trouble singing along in an unfamiliar language. His voice is warm and highly expressive and even though he was fighting the effects of a cold he still sounded great. For all his guitar, harmonica and technological skills it’s Valdo’s voice that is the key to the success of his music. Some of tonight’s most affecting numbers were when he played it “straight”; just voice guitar and harmonica, the latter held in a neck brace in the style of Bob Dylan or Neil Young.
Most of tonight’s material was sourced from “The One And The Many” with Valdo occasionally dipping into the repertoire of his previous album “Gods & Devils”, recorded with a band back in 2005. It’s a tribute to his solo performance skills that the basic sound of the new album is remarkably similar to that of the band recording. At this point it should also be stated that Valdo is more than just a charismatic live performer, both albums stand up to regular and repeated home listening.
Immersion in the albums also serves to heighten the listener’s understanding of Valdo’s political sensibilities. Amongst the numerous love songs there are also musings on the current state of Africa, economic migration and the legacy of European imperialism. “The One And The Many” thus also represents a call for peace, brotherhood and solidarity. At Hay I didn’t really register the political aspect, Valdo’s sunny disposition ensures that he’s not an obviously “angry” performer, but tonight the English lyrics of songs such as “Gods And Devils” and “No Mercy” plus a brief rant about the situation in Dharfur left one in no doubt as to where Valdo’s political sympathies lie. Even a seemingly innocent sing-along such as “Djongo” (translation “The Sword”) from “The One And The Many” is deeper than it appears. An inspection of the translation in the album insert reveals a particularly shocking and bloodthirsty lyric and an indictment of imperialist politics.
Now based in London Valdo is slowly acquiring a following for his highly individualistic music. Tours with his countryman jazz bassist Richard Bona and with Ladysmith Black Mambazo have exposed him to large audiences and have won him a lot of friends in the process. Indeed there were moments tonight when Valdo’s multi tracked and layered solo vocals sounded remarkably like his Ladysmith friends with maybe just a hint of Bobby McFerrin thrown into the mix.
Tonight Muntu Valdo won many new fans, as I’m sure he does at pretty much every live performance. Although his music can conveniently bundled into the “world music” bag his songs are melodic and accessible enough to hold considerable appeal to a broad range of listeners. I’d be surprised if there was anybody in the audience tonight who didn’t enjoy some aspect of Valdo’s performance. Mainstream success is probably unlikely but the quality of his live performances should ensure that his fan base continues to grow. He’s certainly a performer I’d be happy to see again but having witnessed the solo show twice I think I’d rather like to see him with a band. That could be really interesting. However I’d urge listeners of all persuasions to check out Muntu Valdo both live and on record. He’s an artist well worth listening to on any level.
The “Jazz Notes” series takes over at The Edge again for the foreseeable future until gypsy jazz guitarist Robin Nolan appears under the “More Music” banner in April 2012. Let’s hope this new strand goes from strength to strength in the manner of its more established companion series.
The Vortex, London 26/10/2011
Fire! with Oren Ambarchi
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Reviewed by: Tim Owen
Fire! and Ambarchi rock out like Neu! infused with the spirit of Miles Davis’ mid ‘70s live vibe
With the substitution of drone guitar maestro Oren Ambarchi for the wired post-rock styles of studio collaborator Jim O’Rourke, Fire!’s current live shows give a new twist to the sound captured on their recent Unreleased? album. Arguably, Ambarchi is the better fit.
I stand by the statement that, on the album, O’Rourke bought “a new layer of detail and textural coloration to the mix, and finer gradations of tension to a group dynamic that gains heft and clarity of purpose as a result” (you can read the full review here: http://bit.ly/uOX5il). But Ambarchi’s way with sustained tones gave the first set of the live gig a backbone drone that allowed the groove to cut deeper and the bass to travel in correspondingly deep vibrational pulses.
Ambarchi has made some fine recordings for solo guitar and electronics, notably on the Touch label, but may be better known in some circles for his collaborations with ‘doom drone’ band Sunn 0))), and spinoff trios Burial Chamber and Gravetemple. It’s primarily the latter vibe that he brings to Fire!’s table.
In the first set, Fire! and Ambarchi played extended versions of the first two tracks from Unreleased?: “Are You Both Still Unreleased?” and “…Please, I am Released”. The first was a slow, steady, mantric build of sound to a level of almost overwhelming accumulated intensity.
With Fire! channelling the drone, Johan Berthling’s electric bass is reconstituted as a truly galvanising propulsive force and Andreas Werliin’s drums take on an almost shamanic role. Mats Gustafsson concentrated on Fender Rhodes for much of the gig, enriching the gradual accumulation of sonic thrust with wayward space-rock electronics. Only once each track peaked did he pick up the baritone sax, and the intrusion of his vocal, deep bass wail into the otherwise unswervingly linear collective sound was raw and primal.
Werliin began “…Please, I am Released”, accompanied by Gustafsson’s splashy Rhodes FX, with a tight double-time rhythm, the others locking in to rock out like Neu! infused with the spirit of Miles Davis’ mid ‘70s live vibe. Fire! rode this groove for a quite a while before easing back to let the deep bass take over, setting the panels of the sound engineer’s booth at the back of the venue abuzz with vibrations and allowing the detail of Ambarchi’s guitar manipulations to be appreciated. Gustafsson re-entered on the baritone horn, channelling Albert Ayler through some subtly controlled circular breathing, but soon opening those lungs up to really blow when the others fused together to take the set nova.
Coming after a twenty-minute interval, a second set of one number was fine by most standards, but anticlimactic all the same. I think this was a version of album closer “Happy Ending Borrowing Your”: an insistent deep cosmic blues pulse with an interlude for bass and guitar to entwine lines. The tune ended with a powerful surge of jazz rock, and Gustafsson’s climactic blending of the baritone’s lowest register with the electronic bass drone. Ultimately the electric instruments faded into a fug of low-end audio detritus, leaving Gustafsson to end the night on a surprisingly warm note with a coda of bruised-sounding solo saxophone.
Kings Place, London; 22/10/2011
Christian Wallumrød Ensemble
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Reviewed by: Tim Owen
This group spins music of exquisitely heightened sensitivity
This was a rare and low-key appearance by the Christian Wallumrød Ensemble, playing material from their two albums to date: The Zoo is Far (2007) and Fabula Suite Lugano (2009), both on the ECM label.
There have been some notable changes in the group’s lineup since 2007, though fortunately the essentially sympathetic Per Oddvar Johansen remains on drums and vibraphone, and Gjermund Larsen is still a central presence on violin, viola and Hardanger Fiddle. On cello, Tove Törngren replaces Tanja Orning. The most significant change is the absence of the baroque harp of Giovanna Pessi, who Wallumrød credited (in the liner notes for The Zoo) as an early catalyst for this ensemble. The addition of tenor saxophonist Espen Reinertsen brings a new dimension to its sound, not least in tonal sympathy with the trumpet of Eivind Lønning, who came aboard for Fabula Suite Lontano, replacing Wallumrød’s longstanding collaborator, trumpeter Arve Henriksen.
Reinertsen tamps down his playing to suit the refinement of Wallumrød’s conception, just as percussionist Johansen does so effectively. Both players are called upon to exercise uncommon restraint, while retaining vital presences in the group mix. Lønning was a revelation to me, his tonal precision and ease of authority instantly marking him out as one of those names that will promote any recording or event as one worthy of attention. He has risen to the unenviable task of stepping into Arve Henriksen’s shoes, bringing some of Henriksen’s unique blend of stillness, tonal richness and emotive power to bear without ever sounding derivative.
Wallumrød’s arrangements for the live show are looser than those of the tight, incisive studio vignettes, allowing pieces time to unfold more expansively. But the essentials remain the same.
The treatment of “Parkins Cembalo” is one highlight of the evening. A relatively lengthy 3:45 on disc, each of its three parts are here given more lengthy expositions. Wallumrød’s style is characteristically limpid and restrained, so his insistent repetitions at the start of this piece create a sense of tension, which carries into a middle section in which rapid but muted percussion rises out of agitated, fluttering strings. An abrupt transition takes us to a passage of increasingly soft, plosive phonics from the brass and reeds, and then to an extended coda spun from soft breath sounds which, though quiet as whispers, are agitated by muted percussive finger taps and contact sounds from strings and valves. From an initial agitation, then, the group spins of exquisitely heightened sensitivity.
Elsewhere, the group’s music has an overtly formal sense of experimentation, with the musicians subservient to the composer’s vision in a way that is antithetical to the spirit of jazz or free music. Drawing from folk, jazz, and chamber music traditions, it is expressed in a high style of new European chamber jazz that is most directly associated with the sensibility of ECM. One of this ensemble’s defining characteristics, which sets it apart to some extent, is the overt influence of sacred and baroque music and, in particular, the courtly majesty of Henry Purcell. I’m not sure that ‘courtly’ is a quality I admire in music. For me, the passages that strive to imitate Purcell’s formal elegance sound rather stilted, with an almost ceremonial feel that sits at odds with the gossamer-light handling of other sources. On balance, though, the music is never less than attractive and enthralling.
I don’t think the atmospheric vacuum of Kings Place, a venue too new to have any positive ambience, was the best choice for this music, but the group’s performance was so compelling it didn’t matter too much. I hope Wallumrød continues to develop this music, and that his group will mature and weather any further lineup changes, any of which threaten to disrupt such a finely calibrated ensemble.
An absorbing album with the emphasis on the overall group sound.
Flashmob
“Generals”
(F-ire Presents F-IRECD 44)
Flashmob is a new quartet led by the Cornish born guitarist Ryan Williams. Their début album appears on the F-ire Presents imprint and features the trumpet and flugelhorn of Fringe Magnetic leader Rory Simmons plus the rhythm section of bassist Will Collier and drummer Nick Smalley. Although the album features Williams’ compositions exclusively he is quick to point out that the group name emphasises the democratic nature of the band, something that can be very clearly heard in the music.
As a teenager Williams was initially influenced by rock acts such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers but later turned to jazz after discovering first John Scofield then Pat Martino and Adam Rogers. Bill Frisell, Pat Metheny and Ben Monder have also been influential on Williams’ style as has Brad Shepik, the guitarist with trumpeter Dave Douglas’ Tiny Bell Trio. Douglas and saxophonist David Binney have also influenced Williams’ writing which endeavours to steer clear of the head/solos/head format in favour of a more integrated group sound that deploys improvised solos as a compositional device.
Much of “Generals” is surprisingly understated for a guitarist led record. Williams’ tunes unfold slowly and logically with the leader very much part of the ensemble. The opening “Chetniks” is a showcase for Simmons’ melancholic, pure toned trumpet sound with Smalley’s carefully orchestrated, low key drum eruptions adding to the drama. Williams himself is an integral part of the ensemble sound and only assumes the lead in the very closing stages of the tune.
Williams presence is more notable on a number of pieces performed in the trio format due to the absence of Simmons who missed one of the recording sessions due to his touring commitments with Jamie Cullum. “A Near Miss” is one such tune and includes a resonant Collier bass solo and Smalley’s delicately detailed percussion alongside Williams’ country-ish Frisell tinged guitar.
For “Blind Faith” the group welcome Simmons back into the fold for a piece based around contemporary drum grooves and short, punchy melodic phrases. There’s a stunning Simmons solo accompanied initially only by Smalley’s drums. Williams later takes the chance to allow his inner rocker to take temporary control. This is one of the album’s most attention grabbing tracks, exhibiting a definite New York sensibility.
“O.A.C” is another trio item with Williams meandering in ruminative fashion around Colliers’ deep bass figures and Smalley’s colourful, finely detailed rhythmic flow, shades here of Jon Christensen or Jeff Williams. Taken as a whole the piece is highly effective.
The quartet piece “Catalogue Of Error” features Simmons’ long, melancholic lines and a carefully paced solo from Williams above Colliers’ rich, deep bass undertow. There’s a fragile beauty here that wouldn’t be out of place on an ECM album.
At first “Borderlines” promises to mine the same kind of territory as “O.A.C” but the trio subsequently gain momentum to push the tune into a more groove orientated area. The interplay between guitar and bass is particularly engrossing with Collier a significant and powerful presence throughout.
“O.A.C” is briefly reprised with Simmons now present in the ranks and taking a leading role. Almost inevitably the tune sounds very different but it is no less effective for that.
The interplay between guitar, bass and drums on the trio pieces is consistently engaging. Williams is prepared to allow his colleagues plenty of space and there are features here for both Collier and Smalley but it’s the three way dialogue that really fascinates.
Simmons returns for the album closer “Top Shelf” another piece with a highly contemporary feel as short repeated staccato phrases demand the listener’s attention. Williams delivers a quietly intelligent solo and there’s a more forceful offering from Simmons that nonetheless retains an underlying lyricism. Smalley also features before the end of another intriguing piece of Williams writing.
“Generals” doesn’t shout for attention and on first playing may even sound a little dull. However persistence on the part of the listener pays dividends. This is highly intelligent music where much of the pleasure is in the detail with Colliers’ powerful but supple bass and Smalley’s colourful drumming becoming more enjoyable with each subsequent listening. Simmons is excellent on all the pieces he plays on, his tone pure and bright and refreshingly free of gimmickry. The same virtues apply to Williams’ always cogent soloing but he is also an intelligent accompanist, an often overlooked aspect of the guitarist’s art.
Williams’ ego-less approach has produced an absorbing album with the emphasis on the overall group sound. Despite the plethora of influences outlined above Williams is very much his own man and has developed an approach to the guitar that transcends his sources. “Generals” is a bit of a grower and it will be interesting to see how these tunes, plus several as yet unrecorded pieces, develop when the band goes on the road in November 2011 as part of a British tour. The tour dates are listed below;
8/11/11 - ParrJazz, Liverpool
9/11/11 - Showroom Cinema, Sheffield.
10/11/11 - Matt and Phreds, Manchester
20/11/11 - The Salisbury, London (Part of the London Jazz Festival)
29/11/11 - Dempsey’s, Cardiff
30/11/11 - One Eyed Cat, Truro
1/12/11 - The Drewe Arms, Drewsteighton
8/12/11 - The Yardbird, Birmingham
A high degree of group interaction with Williams subtly dictating proceedings from the drums. With a strong balance between composition and improvisation the album absorbs and impresses throughout
Jeff Williams
“Another Time”
(Whirlwind Recordings WR4616)
I first encountered the playing of the American drummer and composer Jeff Williams in the 1970’s when he appeared on a number of records featuring saxophonist Dave Liebman and his circle of musicians among them pianist Richie Beirach and bassist Frank Tusa. In more recent times I have enjoyed his work with British saxophonist Martin Speake.
Williams has also worked with an impressive roster of other major jazz artists during his long career including lengthy stints with saxophonists Stan Getz and Lee Konitz. He has also performed with Clark Terry, Dizzy Gillespie, Cedar Walton, Art Farmer, Michel Petrucciani, Randy Brecker, Paul Bley, John Abercrombie, John Scofield, Kenny Barron, Tony Malaby, Dave Holland, Tom Harrell, Bill McHenry and many more. It’s an impressive list and since establishing a second home in London in 2005 Williams has also ensconced himself on the British jazz scene working with Speake, Nikki Iles, Kenny Wheeler, Norma Winstone, Hans Koller and others.
“Another Time”, released on bassist Michael Janisch’s Whirlwind Recordings label, represents Williams’ third outing as a leader following “Coalesce” (1991) and the more recent “Jazzblues” and is Williams’ first solo date for over a decade. Like its predecessors the new album has received considerable critical acclaim and rightly so. “Another Time” is an impressive piece of work that features Williams’ “American Quartet” featuring trumpeter Duane Eubanks, alto saxophonist John O’Gallagher and bassist John Hebert. Recorded in Brooklyn the final mix captures every nuance of what Time Out NY referred to as “Williams’ supple rhythmic flow”. Sourced from within the band the album features eight compositions, five from Williams with the other three members contributing one piece each. Given the “chordless” nature of the line up it comes as no surprise that the music bears some resemblance to that of Ornette Coleman’s classic quartet but there is also an underlying melodic quality and an inner logic to the music that prevents it from ever becoming too “difficult”. The four musicians know each other well having worked together in a variety of different settings and that chemistry is apparent throughout the recording with a high degree of group interaction and with Williams subtly dictating proceedings from the drums.
The album opens with Williams announcing his presence with an opening salvo of solo drums on his own composition “Search Me”. Eventually O’ Gallagher and Eubanks enter the proceedings, at some moments coalescing, at others trading phrases before each embarking on lengthy solos with O’Gallagher going first. He has a pure, almost austere tone on the alto but is a highly fluent and adaptable improviser as his playing throughout the album proves. Eubanks, a member of the famous musical dynasty that includes his brothers trombonist Robin and guitarist Kevin, is equally inventive and proves to be a good foil for O’Gallagher, the pair complement each other well throughout the album.
Williams’ “She Can’t Be A Spy” is a good example of the polyrhythmic flow of his drumming, subtly pushing the piece along as O’ Gallagher and Eubanks develop their sometimes surprisingly lyrical solo ideas. There’s also a section of solo bass from Hebert, so often the unsung hero in the Charlie Haden role. Also by Williams “Double Life” explores broadly similar territory with some excellent unison horn passages punctuating the inevitable but always absorbing solos.
Eubanks’ “Purple, Blue and Red” begins in pensive mood with the two horns combining mellifluously above the patter of Williams’ drums. Eubanks’ solo is similarly thoughtful as is Gallagher’s later effort but these episodes are punctuated by more up-tempo, almost conventionally swinging passages. It’s an intriguing piece of writing that sits well within the context of the album.
Hebert’s “Fez” evokes a suitably Middle Eastern feel expressed through the wails and slurs of Eubanks’ trumpet and O’Gallagher’s complementary alto. The saxophonist’s event packed, stream of consciousness solo is little short of stunning with Williams matching his every move with confidence and aplomb. There’s also a virtuoso bass solo from Hebert, alternatively plucked and strummed.
Williams’ “Under The Radar” is a superb example of his percussive skills . Hebert’s bass underpins his constantly unfolding patterns of pulses, rhythms, colours and accents. O’Gallagher and Eubanks deliver customarily intelligent, subtly probing solos and there are also brief moments when Hebert’s bass assumes the lead.
The pensive mood returns for O’Gallagher’s atmospheric “Go Where You’re Watching”, a brooding piece featuring an unaccompanied twin horn intro plus a passages for solo bass followed by an absorbing alto sax/double bass duet. It’s a supremely controlled performance and very different to much of the rest of the album. This record marks my introduction to the sound of John O’Gallagher. He impresses throughout and I suspect that his numerous solo albums will also prove worthy of further investigation.
The album closes with “Another Time” itself. Williams’ choice of title references both the challenging economic climate and other world events but is also reference to the idiosyncratic rhythms and meters to be heard throughout the album. The buzz of Hebert’s arco bass accompanies the horns on the intro before the attractive theme emerges with its subtle horn voicings. Eubanks takes the first solo, quietly sinuous on the trumpet, eventually handing over to the excellent O’Gallagher. Williams’ drum work is as exquisite as ever with some supremely inventive cymbal colourings.
It’s been a long time since Williams’ last solo album and “Another Time” proves to be well worth the wait. With a strong balance between composition and improvisation the album absorbs and impresses throughout with some fine playing from all concerned. Williams and his colleagues have come up with some strong themes to improvise around and this is an album that rewards careful listening. Inevitably many of the tracks end up sounding superficially similar but such is the quality of the dialogue between the musicians that the listener remains involved throughout with each piece constituting its own individual sound world.
Jeff Williams launches the album at the 2011 London Jazz Festival on November 18th at the Green Note venue. He will be joined by a UK band consisting of Phil Robson (guitar), Sam Lasserson (bass) and the award winning young saxophonist Josh Arcoleo. More details at http://www.greennote.co.uk
A work that speaks of Cornelius' increasing maturity as both a writer and musician, arguably his best release to date.
Patrick Cornelius
“Maybe Steps”
(Posi-Tone Records PR8089)
I first encountered the playing of the New York based alto saxophonist and composer Patrick Cornelius back in the autumn of 2009 when he appeared at Dempsey’s in Cardiff as part of the Transatlantic Collective, an all star aggregation of American and European musicians co-led by Cornelius and bassist Michael Janisch. A review of that show can be found elsewhere on this site together with further pieces on Cornelius’ first two solo albums “Lucid Dream” (2006) and “Fierce” (2010).
“Lucid Dream” was a wide ranging affair that concentrated on Cornelius’ composing skills and featured a number of rising stars on the US scene, among them pianist Aaron Parks, drummer Kendrick Scott and vocalist Gretchen Parlato. “Fierce” was a more focussed trio affair featuring Janisch and drummer Johnathan Blake which placed the emphasis more firmly on improvisation. Nevertheless Cornelius still brought along a set of attractive compositional themes for his colleagues to work on and the result was an album that managed to be simultaneously challenging and accessible.
“Maybe Steps” marks a return to a more composition based approach but the album is less sprawling than “Lucid Dream” and is arguably Cornelius’ best release to date. Although recorded on the East Coast the album appears on the Los Angeles based Posi-Tone label and credit must be given to producer Marc Free and his team of engineers for a pinpoint mix that allows Cornelius and his band to be heard at their best. The saxophonist is joined by a core quartet featuring pianist Gerald Clayton and bassist Peter Slavov with Kendrick Scott returning to the drum stool. There are also guest appearances from guitarist Miles Okazaki and from pianist Assen Doykin who replaces Clayton on the tune “My Ship”.
Born in San Antonio, Texas, Cornelius studied at the Berklee College of Music in Boston before moving to New York to complete a Master’s degree at the Manhattan School of Music. The tunes on “Maybe Steps” are often inspired by events in Cornelius’ life as the artist’s notes that accompanied my copy of the album make clear. The title of the fast moving modal opener “Christmas Gift” relates to the birth of his daughter Isabella on Boxing Day 2009. The turbulence of the music replicates the energy and urgency of the race to the maternity hospital. There’s a biting clarity to the alto playing that merges with Clayton’s often percussive delivery and Scott’s dynamic drumming to present a perfect sound picture of the event that inspired it.
The title track appeared in another form on the “Fierce” album. Here Cornelius invests the melody with a wistful, nostalgic feel. The title refers to the “key moments” and “big decisions” of life and the reflective mood certainly brings out the more lyrical side of the band with thoughtful solos coming from Clayton and Cornelius subtly prompted by Scott’s always colourful drumming and Slavov’s anchoring bass pulse.
“Bella’s Dreaming” was inspired by Cornelius’ sleeping infant daughter. However this is no mere lullaby but a graphic depiction of the stages of sleep-”from peaceful slumber to fitful REM to waking up crying and screaming” as Cornelius puts it. It’s only brief but packs a remarkable degree of information into just two and a half minutes, steadily building in intensity before eventually falling away in the interest of musical symmetry.
Apart from the obvious jazz influences- Parker, Coltrane, Ornette etc.-Cornelius is also a huge fan of Peter Gabriel and included a cover of Gabriel’s tune “Don’t Give Up” on “Lucid Dream”. Here the original tune “Brother Gabriel”, inspired by a depressive episode, takes the harmonic structure of Gabriel’s “Here Comes The Flood” and re-contextualises it in the form of a moving jazz ballad with quietly intelligent solos from Cornelius and Clayton above an interactive presence of supple bass and brushed drums.
Cornelius was originally classically trained and “Shiver Song” is another example of Cornelius adapting the harmonic structure of another piece and writing his own tune around it. In this instance the source is Erik Satie’s “Piece Froides # 2” which is transformed into a fast moving boppish episode with supremely fluent solos from Cornelius and Clayton and a dynamic closing drum feature from Scott. It’s surprisingly invigorating stuff.
Although influenced by other alto players Cornelius is also in thrall to the great tenor saxophonists, particularly John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins. Coltrane’s composition “Countdown” provides the inspiration for Cornelius’ own “Into The Stars”, an anthemic slow burner of a tune featuring a guest appearance from guitarist Miles Okazaki who takes the first solo. A reflection on the nature of the afterlife written following the death of Cornelius’ father the tune also features an astonishingly fluent alto solo plus a dexterous but moving bass solo from Slavov. The bassist also shines on the following “A Day Like Any Other” alongside the always inventive Clayton plus Cornelius himself on an airy tune celebrating Cornelius’ marriage.
Okazaki also appears on “Echoes Of Summer”, a wistful tune written in reminiscence of Cornelius’ youth. The composer and Clayton also make graceful solo contributions.
A couple of outside items follow, Kurt Weill’s “My Ship” and George Shearing’s “Conception”. Guest pianist Assen Doykin replaces Clayton for “My Ship”, an unashamedly sentimental ballad with a beautifully controlled performance from Cornelius in an intimate duo setting. Cornelius describes the Shearing piece as “a watershed tune for me, very challenging”. It’s an ultra tricky bebop piece that sees the group again extended to a quintet by the presence of Okazaki who contributes a slippery solo rapidly followed by equally busy solo passages from Cornelius and Clayton plus a drum feature from Scott. It’s enough to leave both the players and the listener feeling breathless.
The album concludes with Cornelius’ atmospheric “Le Rendez-vous Final” in which he attempts to re-create a kind of film-noir feel. Clayton’s deliberately paced piano solo and Clayton’s carefully considered hand drumming add much to the atmosphere established by the lonely cry of Cornelius’ horn. It’s an excellent example of mood building and like the rest of the album is a tribute to the compositional skills that saw Cornelius receive the ASCAP award for “Young Jazz Composer” for three years in a row back in the early 00’s.
“Maybe Steps” is a collection of sophisticated and varied compositions superbly played by a highly competent group of musicians. It’s a work that speaks of Cornelius’ increasing maturity as both a writer and musician, a player who is developing a unique voice on his instrument. His supporting musicians are uniformly excellent and the production captures every nuance of the music. Like its predecessors “Maybe Steps” is eminently accessible but still offers much to engage the serious listener. It’s a worthy addition to an already impressive catalogue of work.
The Destroyers, Assembly Rooms, Presteigne, Powys, 22/10/2011.
The Destroyers
Monday, October 24, 2011
Reviewed by: Ian Mann
Ian Mann enjoys a high energy performance by the anarchic Birmingham based ensemble and also takes a look at their album "Out Of Babel".
The Destroyers, The Assembly Rooms, Presteigne, Powys. 22/10/2011
This was the first date of a short British tour currently being undertaken by the Birmingham based band The Destroyers, an anarchic large ensemble who fuse various types of world music with performance poetry, social comment and an almost punk like energy. Their appeal is broad enough for them to have appeared at Cheltenham Festival in 2010 and Moseley Folk Festival in 2011. Numbering up to fifteen strong (tonight I counted a dozen) their flexible line up is led by violinist Louis Robinson and fronted by poet/songwriter/vocalist Paul Murphy, once memorably described as “a granddad in a fez”. Thanks to the band’s publicist, the marvellously monikered Julia Peculier (the name is a perfect encapsulation of the whole Destroyers ethos) for inviting me along to this opening gig and for providing me with a copy of the group’s début album “Out Of Babel”. Also to drummer Dan O’Connell for taking the time out to talk to me afterwards.
As soon as I entered the Assembly Rooms I knew there was going to be something different about this gig. The bleachers had been pushed back to create a dance floor and it was immediately apparent that tonight’s show was going to be pretty “full on”. Jointly promoted by those local forces for musical good Sheep Music and Mid Border Arts the gig was an official sell out. The band had previously played the town’s Sheep Music Festival in the past and had obviously accrued something of a cult following in the area. A young and noisy crowd were ensuring that the bar was doing good business and were obviously up for a good night out. They were not to be disappointed.
Introduced by Sheep Music’s Pete Mustill The Destroyers’ “Dirty Dozen” took to the stage clad in a variant of Dexy’s/Mumford’s dungaree chic and positively tore into their instrumental opening number. The line up included clarinet, trombone, trumpet, accordion, violin, flutes, hurdy gurdy, tuba,guitar, bass guitar and drums with Murphy’s vocals being added later. I make that twelve but but they hardly stood still long enough for me to count them.
The Destroyers play with an almost maniacal intensity and verve with choreographed (but not slick) dance movements, crazed vocals and an almost rock volume level. Their blend of turbo charged, tuba driven klezmer/Balkan/Celtic music (delete where appropriate) isn’t subtle but more than makes up for that with its energy and is highly effective. But there’s more to The Destroyers than just being a rollicking, rumbustious party band. Poet and lyricist Paul Murphy adds his words and voice to many of the band’s numbers. His words are sometimes macabre, sometimes political, sometimes celebratory and sometimes just plain funny. With his half sung/half spoken delivery he’s not the greatest singer in the world but his delivery works in a Tom Waits sort of way. But if anything I was reminded more of the theatrics of the late, great Alex Harvey, another limited singer who surrounded himself with quality players. And make no mistake there are some fine musicians in The Destroyers ranks drawn from the best of the Birmingham jazz and folk scenes.
Murphy’s first contribution was to recount the grotesque tale of “The Glass Coffin Burial of Professor Zurinak”, a tune drawn from the “Out Of Babel” album. Grey of beard he really does look like a granddad and yes, he does wear a fez. It’s all part of the group’s love of “fancydressorama” as their Twitter page describes it. They also love jumping into the crowd to play as they did on the next manic, stop/start instrumental.
From “Out Of Babel” one of the group’s most notable songs is “Where Has The Money Gone?”, a tune that lampoons the crooked US financier Bernard Madoff. The slogan also appears on a well designed and popular band t shirt. However Murphy still hasn’t finished bashing the bankers and rightly so. “Red Tape” was another rant at the boys in the City and is scheduled to appear on the band’s forthcoming second album “There’s A Hole In The Universe”.
On the whole the entire evening was a massive outpouring of energy. The only quiet instrumental interlude was rather marred by the rather noisy crowd so the band decided to stick with the high octane stuff and give the audience what they obviously wanted. Drawing on Greek myth the new song “Sisyphus” compared the eternal and pointless labours of the song’s title character with the modern futility of going to work. The hectic “Only The Dead Don’t Dance”, which ended the first half, added a Celtic element in tribute to Murphy’s Irish roots.
The second half was even more energetic than the first with more and more people taking to their feet. By the end hardly anybody was left in the admittedly sparse seating, The Destroyers certainly know how to work a crowd.
Second half highlights included the rousing instrumental, “Sirba”, which kicked things off by blending frantic klezmer with “I’m The King Of The Swingers” from “The Jungle Book”. Young trumpet maestro Sam Wooster, a product of Birmingham Conservatoire’s Jazz Course showed up particularly well here and elsewhere.
Murphy’s “Methuselah Mouse” told the tale of a laboratory mouse who has been bred to be ageless and disease free and hence immortal. In a suitably bizarre twist he escapes from captivity and meets his demise in the jaws of a cat. Guitarist Dan Wilkins performed the entire song wearing a mouse mask.
Mick Howson’s “The Hurdy Gurdy Tune” featured the composer on the instrument of the title and was packed with punchy Balkan rhythms. Scheduled to appear on the forthcoming album this was one of the most convincing instrumental pieces of the night.
“There’s A Hole In The Universe” itself, once again featuring Murphy, is currently available as a single pending the release of the album. This was followed by a storming fiddle and accordion led instrumental and finally the title track of “Out Of Babel”, the lyrics a celebration of the kind of musical multiculturalism that The Destroyers specialise in. The band has “broken out of the nest of genre” as Murphy has it, a remark that is perhaps illustrated by the cover of “Out Of Babel”.
A delirious, dancing crowd wasn’t about to let them go quietly so they stuck around to play an equally energetic “Swamp Fever”, a piece they dedicated to local violinist John Hymas.
In a live context The Destroyers aren’t the most subtle band in the world but there’s no doubt that they’re very good at what they do. Their energetic, rip roaring approach clearly thrills audiences and I would imagine this all dancing, wildly enthusiastic crowd reaction is pretty much standard at their shows. Murphy’s lyrics add another dimension but some of their sense is inevitably lost in concert and these are perhaps best appreciated on record.
First impressions of the “Out Of Babel” album are that it works very well. The energy of the live performances is all present and correct but there’s also a precision that isn’t perhaps always best appreciated in a live situation. Ditto Murphy’s lyrics with their wordplay and mythical references.
The album boasts the full fifteen strong line up and also includes a guest appearance from former member Percy Pursglove. Many of the songs and tunes featured in tonight’s show appear on the record and there are even a couple of Murphy songs with Italian lyrics which are sung by trumpeter Leo Altarelli ( who was replaced by Wooster at Presteigne).
The remaining dates of The Destroyers tour are listed below. The group’s Twitter page speaks of how much they enjoyed Presteigne and I don’t foresee the energy levels flagging elsewhere on their travels. The tour culminates in a home town gig at Birmingham Town Hall. That should be one hell of a party.
Fri Nov 4th 10:30pm - The Fleece, Bristol
Tickets on the door, £7 before 11.30. £9 after
Sat Nov 5th 8.30pm - The Electric Palace, Bridport
£7 in advance or £10 on door Tickets from:
http://www.seetickets.com/Event/THE-DESTROYERS/The-Electric-Palace/584101
Fri Nov 18th 10:00pm - Northumbria University, Newcastle
Tickets on the door £7 before 11pm. £9 after
Sat Nov 19th Time tba - Yellow Arch Recording Studios, Sheffield (More info to be announced shortly)
Fri Dec 2nd 7.30pm - Wilton’s Music Hall, London (SINGLE LAUNCH)
Support from Bev Lee Harling and the Kitchen Sink
Tickets £12: 02077029555 http://www.wiltons.org.uk
Benefit gig for Wilton’s Capital Appeal to open up more of Wilton’s derelict spaces
Sat Dec 10th 8:00pm - Town Hall, Birmingham (SINGLE LAUNCH)
Support from the Mike Fletcher Big Band. Tickets £10 from http://www.thsh.co.uk
Places And Other Spaces
McCormack & Yarde Duo
Friday, October 21, 2011
Reviewed by: Ian Mann
A mature and intelligent work by a partnership of equals.
McCormack & Yarde Duo
“Places And Other Spaces”
(Edition Records EDN1028)
Pianist Andrew McCormack and saxophonist Jason Yarde released their first duo album, “MY Duo” on Yarde’s Joy And Ears imprint in 2009 to general critical acclaim. The pair’s latest offering on a new label, Edition Records, has garnered even more plaudits with the duo demonstrating a real affinity for each others’ playing.
Both musicians have established pedigrees; Yarde has been an important figure on the UK jazz scene for many years since his early beginnings with the groups J- Life and Tomorrow’s Warriors. He was worked with an exhaustive list of UK and US names, often acting as an arranger, and has led his own groups including Trio Wah! and Acoutastic Bombastic. McCormack currently works with both saxophonist Denys Baptiste and bassist Kyle Eastwood and also released an impressive and widely acclaimed piano trio album “Telescope” on the Dune label back in 2005.
The pairing of just saxophone and piano may appear limiting but McCormack and Yarde manage to find plenty to say within the format. This new album consists of eleven pieces which the duo like to think of as being akin to “short stories”, each is concise, often full of incident, and each establishes its own mood. The composing credits are spread equally with each musician contributing four tunes each with two joint compositions plus a nod to tradition with the inclusion of George Gershwin’s “Embraceable You” which closes the album.
“Places And Other Spaces” was recorded at the Ship Studio at Dartington Hall in Devon and the location forms the inspiration for the jointly composed “D-Town” which opens this impressive set. McCormack’s often hypnotic piano grooves sometimes recall Keith Jarrett and he’s allowed a good deal of solo space in the moments that Yarde’s sax isn’t dancing beguilingly around him. The duo were particularly happy with ambience of the Ship and Danish recording engineer August Wanngren has come up with a mix in which all the nuances of the duo’s interplay can be clearly heard and appreciated.
McCormack’s lyrical “Spanish Princess” is located somewhere between Portico Quartet’s hypnotic but melodic minimalism and ECM style balladry with Yarde’s soprano alternating between the mellifluous and darkly probing.
Yarde’s own “Dark Too Bright” begins with a bird like chorus of unaccompanied soprano with McCormack’s piano subsequently shadowing Yarde’s every inflection before stealthily taking over the lead. It’s an inspired re-working of a tune that Yarde wrote more than twenty year ago for the group J-Life and concludes with saxophone and piano in perfect synchronicity.
McCormack’s “Antibes” unfolds slowly and organically with the pinpoint clarity of Yarde’s soprano contrasting nicely with the low key hypnotic rumble of McCormack’s piano figures. The melody itself is lovely, with a folk song like quality. Also by the pianist “Epilogue” explores broadly similar territory.
Like the opener Yarde’s “Hill Walking On The Tynerside” evokes a real sense of place with its alto sax squalls and dense left hand piano figures. Indeed McCormack’s use of rhythm throughout the album is fascinating with the pianist citing sources as diverse as Art Tatum and Prokofiev as inspirations.
After this the jointly composed “Other Spaces”, effectively the title track, is almost minimalistic in its reflective and lyrical self absorption. So too is “Holding Pattern”, another beautiful McCormack melody which the duo probe and stretch with quiet but rigorous intelligence.
Yarde’s “The Spaces Before” is a brief snippet of solo saxophone multiphonics and is followed by the saxophonist’s lovely “Flowers For Japan”, a response perhaps to the earthquake earlier this year but with a beautiful melody clearly inspired by Japanese music. The duo develop the theme with
each musician subsequently embarking on a solo feature, McCormack’s a limpid piano solo, Yarde’s a re-introducing of the multiphonics tantalisingly hinted at previously.
Finally the melody of Gershwin’s “Embraceable You” is slowed down and stretched and given a thoroughly contemporary feel. McCormack begins the piece with an extended passage of solo piano with Yarde subsequently picking out the familiar melody. The duo show their customary empathy as they explore the piece, quietly stamping their own identity on the tune. Yarde’s lengthy passage of solo saxophone is exceptional, a model of taste and control.
“Places And Other Spaces” is a mature and intelligent work by a partnership of equals. It’s interesting to hear McCormack in another context after witnessing his barnstorming performances as a member of the Baptiste and Eastwood groups. Here the emphasis is on mood building and lyricism with the pianist succeeding brilliantly and revealing himself to be a wonderfully versatile musician. Much the same applies to Yarde who I have only previously seen or heard as a member of a larger ensemble.
Some listeners may find this album a little one paced and lacking in drama but there’s still plenty here to absorb and fascinate. I hope to witness the duo first hand when they support Michel Portal’s group at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on 14th November 2011 as part of the London Jazz Festival.
Talibam! with Alan Wilkinson, Cafe Oto, London, 12/10/2011
Talibam! with Alan Wilkinson
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Reviewed by: Tim Owen
Talibam! came to London recently for a short season of post-punk(-jazz) collaborations with saxophonist Alan Wilkinson and a New York dance company.
Talibam! with Alan Wilkinson
Cafe Oto
12/10/2011
Talibam! were in the mood for post-punk(-jazz) collaboration last week, first bringing improv energy to a couple of ‘punk ballerina’ Karol Armitage’s showcase events in the Dance Umbrella season, and then at Cafe Oto in an engagement with saxophonist and ‘punk jazz’ pioneer Alan Wilkinson.
Before I caught their Wednesday night performance at London’s Cafe Oto, Talibam! played a headline set at the tiny, grungy pub venue The Old Blue Last on the Monday, before relocating for two nights with Armitage’s company in the rather swankier, and slightly less tiny Queen Elizabeth Hall. There, the duo from New York—Matt Mottel (synth) and Kevin Shea (drums)—were merged into a quintet playing a live score by Rhys Chatham that summoned, according to the publicity, “the raw energy of punk’s wall of sound”. They bought some dancers along with them to Cafe Oto the next night, and there were rumours in the twittersphere of a dance intervention there too, but the band evidently decided against it. The prospect of their imminent collaboration with Wilkinson presumably didn’t need any spicing up.
Jazz Mann readers should need no introduction to Kevin Shea by now (I recently reviewed the new live album from his other main occupation, Mostly Other People Do The Killing, while Ian Mann reviewed a live MOPDTK show we both attended at the Vortex earlier this year). In the past he’s been even more of a wildcard performer with Talibam! as with MOPDTK, so it was surprising that on this occasion he kept to his drum stool and maintained a constant stream of rhythmic invention all night, without any madcap digressions or breakdowns. Yes, he played like a Sunny Murray acolyte with ADHD, constantly lashing the hi-hat while maniacally patterning the skins and rims, but he ensured that the set had a strong forward-flowing momentum. His playing and that of Mottel coursed in parallel trajectories, hymned by Wilkinson’s impassioned saxophonics.
Wilkinson initially came to my attention in the early ‘90s as a member of the often caustic free-jazz trio Hession/Wilkinson/Fell, which attracted the first attribution of the term ‘punk jazz’. His playing on both baritone and alto retains a no-nonsense sense of focus and discipline. If the ‘punk’ tag still fits it’s because his sound is marked by an astringency that’s also characteristic of American post-punk acts such as Black Flag. Wlkinson eschews stylistic extravagances, disdaining ostentatious curlicues and multiphonic or circular breathing effects, and never resorts to quotes from other musician’s works or allusions to other traditions. His sound can be surprisingly tender at times, but he mostly plays with a certain machismo, in forceful straight draughts. The only notable exceptions come when on a couple of occasions this night he reached into the upper register of his horn to join Mottel in mercifully brief, migraine-inducing unison shrieks.
Poorly disguised behind ridiculous green sunglasses, Mottel bops up and down on the balls of his feet throughout the set, fingering his moog with the ticklish rapidity of an electric guitarist’s hammer-ons. He displays a surprisingly light touch that bears the unmistakable traces of P-Funk veteran Bernie Worrell’s influence. When he does sustain or modulate a sound through his small array of effects it’s all the more effective for being a choice digression. His opens up the Talibam! sound to suggestive flirtations with elements of funk, sci-fi, pop and film music, but—at Oto at least—these remain merely suggestions, hints and allusions. Like Wilkinson and Shea, he keeps faith in the moment.
Despite their rep for iconoclastic tomfoolery, with Wilkinson on hand Talibam! plays with all due purposefulness. In forging an unexpectedly straightforward blend of the duo’s metalanguage and Wilkinson’s directness, they seem made for each other.
Talibam! (without Wilkinson) were back again with Armitage’s company Armitage Gone! Dance at Imperial College the following night, performing a live score to Armitage’s ‘The Watteau Duets’. The piece apparently “portrays the battle of the sexes as a war dance with a sense of humour”. I wish I could have seen it, but, as with the earlier Dance Umbrella events, I wasn’t aware of it in advance as the promoters apparently didn’t think to advertise the involvement of Talibam! beyond the dance listings.
An assured and pleasingly mature début. It seems likely that Zara McFarlane is about to become an increasingly significant figure on the UK jazz scene.
Zara McFarlane
“Until Tomorrow”
(Brownswood Recordings BWOOD070P)
The young London based singer Zara McFarlane is the latest signing to Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood recording label. Now aged 28 McFarlane has appeared with an impressive roster of artists from both the jazz and popular music fields. Her collaborations include work with jazz artists Denys Baptiste, Orphy Robinson, Soweto Kinch, Hugh Masekela and Alex Wilson. She also worked with Tomorrow’s Warriors and was the featured vocalist on the Jazz Jamaica All Stars 2006 Motown themed album “Motor City Roots”.
The press release cites the great contemporary jazz singers Cassandra Wilson and Dianne Reeves as influences on McFarlane’s style alongside more soul orientated performers such as Jill Scott and Erykah Badou. Certainly the music on “Until Tomorrow” references both genres but keeps the emphasis firmly on jazz with McFarlane being assisted by an excellent band that includes pianist Peter Edwards, bassist Nick Walsh, drummer Andy Chapman and the saxophonists Binker Goldings, Camilla George and Zem Adu.
My review copy comes with the minimum of information but it would seem that most of the songs are self penned with Peter Edwards helping out with the arrangements. Opener “More Than Mine” unfolds slowly and insistently from Edwards’ piano opening with McFarlane’s vocal addressing a broken relationship and her love rival. It’s a performance that blends vulnerability and assertiveness in equal measure and also includes a terrific horn arrangement with the saxophonists carousing bluesily in an extended central instrumental section.
“Captured (part 3)” is a more orthodox jazz ballad played by the core quartet with bitter sweet lyrics and some masterful piano work from the excellent Edwards. Walsh and Chapman are a sympathetic rhythm section with the drummer exhibiting a keen eye for detail.
The wordy “Mama Done” demonstrates the flexibility of McFarlane’s voice and finds her displaying a real talent for jazz phrasing. Edwards, Walsh and Chapman offer characteristically flexible and empathic support.
The title track is a delicate ballad that incorporates more beautiful piano from Edwards and rich, soulful arco bass from Walsh. McFarlane gives a beautifully pure and wistful vocal performance.
“Blossom Tree” adds a touch of soul to the proceedings With McFarlane coming on slinky and seductive above Walsh and Chapman’s subtle but persistent grooves. There’s also a burst of smoky saxophone that adds greatly to the sensual atmosphere of the piece.
Other sources suggest that “Feed The Spirit (The Children & The Warlock)” is a tune dating back to 1975 written by former Roberta Flack collaborator Harry Whittaker and with McFarlane adding contemporary “vocalese” lyrics. It’s arguably the centre piece of the album building from a hushed semi spoken intro to full on magnificence including a powerful saxophone solo. The lyrics are concerned with spiritual matters with the line “Feed the spirit, feed the soul” almost becoming a mantra. It’s an ambitious piece that clearly shows its seventies roots but is none the worse for that.
By contrast a second Whittaker piece, “Waking Sleep (Thoughts)” is almost minimal with McFarlane and her accompanists conjuring up an appropriately dream like atmosphere with Walsh’s delicately plucked solo the instrumental highlight.
The tunes “Chiaroscuro” and “Desire” were co-written with British house music producer Bopstar and initially appeared on record in a very different context. The former now embraces a suitably noirish, smoky after hours atmosphere topped by a blazing saxophone solo. “Desire”, a voice and piano duet, evokes the same kind of atmosphere but with a more explicitly sensual vocal and lyric.
The album is bookended by an alternate take on the opening “More Than Mine” with a men’s chorus supplementing McFarlane’s vocals. The male chorale adds little, the track is a pleasant bonus but neither radical nor essential.
“Until Tomorrow” is an assured and pleasingly mature début from a singer who possesses a pure tone and who has real feel for jazz melody and rhythm. Her original songs are sharply observed and very likely self referential, McFarlane is a convincing storyteller who recently cited the great Nina Simone as a primary influence. It all makes a pleasant change from identikit vocal albums crammed full of standards. McFarlane’s core group of Edwards, Walsh and Chapman is outstanding too, complementing the singer’s every move with grace and acumen. The three saxophonists acquit themselves well also, but the lack of information makes it impossible to attribute their individual contributions. “Until Tomorrow” has attracted a compelling amount of critical praise from a number of sources and it seems likely that Zara McFarlane is about to become an increasingly significant figure on the UK jazz scene.
Kairos 4tet, The Edge Arts Centre, Much Wenlock, Shropshire, 15/10/2011.
Kairos 4tet
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Reviewed by: Ian Mann
A performance that saw the group stretching out further into jazz and improvised territory but without sacrificing any of their trademark melodicism.
Kairos 4tet, The Edge Arts Centre, Much Wenlock, Shropshire, 15/10/2011.
This concert was Kairos 4tet’s first public performance since scooping the MOBO award for “Best Jazz Act” at the annual awards ceremony held this year at Glasgow’s Scottish Exhibition Centre. I had tuned in to BBC 3’s live transmission specifically to see the quartet- saxophonist and bandleader Adam Waldmann, pianist Ivo Neame, bassist Jasper Hoiby and drummer Jon Scott- collect their award with Waldmann giving a succinct and intelligent thank you speech, but frankly I couldn’t be bothered to stick with the parade of rap and r’n'b acts that inevitably followed.
So once again congratulations to Adam, Ivo, Jasper and Jon on the winning of this prestigious award. I’d like to think that the Jazzmann may have played a small part in their success by our early recognition of the quality and potential expressed in the group’s self released 2009 début album “Kairos Moment”, recorded by Waldmann, Hoiby, Scott and original pianist Rob Barron. Waldmann’s highly melodic themes had an understated song like quality that gave the quartet an appeal that stretched beyond the normal jazz constituency and attracted a compelling amount of media attention. The group then consolidated their success with a move to Edition Records and a second album “Statement Of Intent” which, thanks in part to new pianist Ivo Neame, saw the group stretching out further into jazz and improvised territory but without sacrificing any of their trademark melodicism. Their audience stuck with them and Kairos 4tet remain one of the UK’s most popular new jazz acts, a position the MOBO award can only strengthen.
Tonight was my third live sighting of Kairos 4tet as a group, although I’ve seen the individual members many times in other contexts, and this was easily their best performance thus far. The award seemed to have given the group a confidence that wasn’t there before and the level of musical sophistication and group interaction was more pronounced than previously. Of course the venue helped, The Edge is always a great place for musicians to play with listening and attentive and invariably large audiences. Once again credit is also due to the venue’s resident sound engineer Peter Maxwell Dixon (a member of the city’s Cobweb Collective he also does the sound for many gigs in the Birmingham area) whose superior mix allowed every note, nuance and detail to be heard with pinpoint clarity. Drummer Jon Scott was particularly well served by Maxwell Dixon with every beat, accent and detail clearly audible.
Tonight’s selection of material was divided pretty much equally between the group’s two albums commencing with “Hymn For Her” from the début “Kairos Moment”. Although a lengthy piece the tune embodies many of the group’s lyrical qualities with its appealing soprano sax melodies, gently propulsive bass and piano grooves and delicately detailed drumming. Solos came from Waldmann on soprano and Neame at the piano, both probing intelligently within the highly melodic framework. For all the surface prettiness of Waldmann’s themes there are plenty of sophisticated harmonic and rhythmic ideas ideas going on within his attractive compositions. Waldmann then switched to tenor as the tune segued into “Philosophy Of Futility” from the more recent album “Statement Of Intent”. A more forceful tune this featured Waldmann’s tenor solo above Neame’s piano arpeggios and the first of a number of excellent solos from the always impressive Hoiby as Neame reached into the piano’s innards dampening the strings. Finally came a drum feature for Jon Scott, a rapidly maturing musician with an increasingly impressive reputation. “Statement Of Intent” signalled a growing political awareness on Waldmann’s behalf and he dedicated this tune to the anti capitalist protesters currently encamped at St. Paul’s Cathedral. However in a nice display of self deprecating humour he then informed us that CD’s were available in the foyer! Waldmann is an increasingly confident announcer of tunes, an assuredness that is doubtless the result of the group’s deserved success.
In Kairos’ early days Waldmann seemed to be something of a soprano specialist but these days he seems to divided his time more equally between his two horns. From the second album “Simpler Times” was a beautiful ballad featuring the leader’s breathy tenor that embraced all the group’s song like and lyrical virtues. With solos from Waldmann and Neame and sympathetic support from Hoiby and Scott the group held the audience spellbound with a brilliantly controlled performance.
The quartet closed the first half with “V.C.”, the tune which opens their début recording but which has become a regular first set closer. This is one of Waldmann’s most joyous and exuberant tunes (it means “Very Cheers” apparently) and here formed a vehicle for the composer’s sinuous soprano and Neame’s effusive piano as well as including a hand drumming feature for Scott. By Kairos’ standards this was a high energy finish to an excellent first set.
Russell’s Resurgence”, a dedication by Waldmann to his fellow saxophonist Russell Van Den Berg, is another of Kairos’ more up-tempo tunes and this provided an energetic introduction to the second set with solos coming from Waldmann on mercurial soprano, Neame at the piano, Hoiby on bass and finally Scott at the drums. However with its multifarious twists and turns incorporating several changes of dynamics this was far from being the head/solos/head affair the listing of solos might suggest. Here the piece was segued with Statement’s “The Calling” with Neame and Hoiby’s duet providing the bridge and with Waldmann switching to tenor. I’ve mentioned the “song-like” quality of Kairos’ music before and the album version of this tune features a vocal by Swedish singer Emilia Martensson who also contributed to the group’s “Kairos Moment” album. Indeed many of Waldmann’s tunes sound like songs without words and in Kairos’ case the often obligatory vocal track seems a perfectly natural consequence rather than a cynical marketing exercise. In the absence of Martensson a magnificently expressive bass solo from Hoiby filled the gap.
The quartet played the title tracks of both their albums, the first a brief, gentle coda to the previous segue with Waldmann on tenor. “Statement Of Intent” saw Waldmann moving to soprano for a piece that lived up to its title with significant statements from all four members of the group. They had intended to finish at this juncture but such was the audience reaction that they decided to remain on stage (rather than going through the whole “encore” ritual) and to close with the lovely ballad “Maybe Next Year”, which appears in song form on the second album with a vocal from Martensson. Here Waldmann’s tenor and Neame’s piano proved to be more than adequate substitutes in another sublime performance.
Since I saw them last Kairos have become more of a “band”. Musically Waldmann is less dominant than previously, often content to state the theme before letting his colleagues take the reins for long stretches. Hoiby was here last month as part of the quartet of Norwegian saxophonist Marius Neset and it was interesting to make comparisons. The formidably technically gifted Neset seemed compelled to fill every space, a consequence perhaps of having studied and worked with Django Bates. Waldmann is positively reticent by comparison, largely eschewing orthodox jazz soloing let alone Neset’s pyrotechnics, but I found both approaches equally valid and loved the music of both groups. As my mate Steve Fletcher, who attended both gigs observed “it’s just that Waldmann is like Stan Getz to Neset’s John Coltrane”, a good comparison I think.
The fact that we can even draw such comparisons is thanks to The Edge’s artistic director Alison Vermee who continues to bring top British and international performers to rural Shropshire. A strong “Jazz Notes at The Edge” season runs until the end of May 2012 and the venue is also hosting folk and world music events. Visit http://www.edgeartscentre.co.uk for more details.
Athens Concert
Charles Lloyd and Maria Farantouri
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Reviewed by: Tim Owen
Lloyd's latest blends the empathetic spirituality he bought to traditional American sources on the post-9/11 album 'Lift Every Voice' with the music of a very different tradition.
Charles Lloyd / Maria Farantouri
Athens Concert
ECM
Charles Lloyd is almost guaranteed to side-step expectation with each new release, but this is undoubtedly one of his boldest and most personal recordings to date. His latest album for ECM blends the empathetic spirituality he bought to the traditional American sources on the post-9/11 album ‘Lift Every Voice’ with the music of a very different tradition, in collaboration with the Greek singer Maria Farantouri.
‘Athens Concert’ is a double album, recorded ‘live’ at Herod Atticus Odeon, Athens, in June 2010, with a mixed American/Greek ensemble. The concert must have been quite an event. The Herod Atticus Odeon is a concert venue created from the original 2nd century amphitheatre, located on a slope of the Acropolis of Athens, and I can only assume that it is a richly atmospheric setting. You can certainly catch a sense of occasion from these recordings, which test the versatility of Farantouri’s contralto in a set that combines traditional and contemporary Greek sources with original Lloyd compositions.
Farantouri has a long history of collaboration with composers as distinctive and distinct as Mikis Theodorakis and Vangelis. In 2010, Alpha TV ranked her Greece’s 18th top-certified female artist of the half decade since 1960. She first appeared on stage with Lloyd in Greece in 2003, to sing his song “Blow Wind”. Here she reprises the performance, singing Lloyd’s text in accented English with an uncontrived gospel feel. Elsewhere on Lloyd’s material her delivery has a slight theatrical aspect that I usually wouldn’t warm to, but mostly I can understand Lloyd’s admiration: “The resonance of her voice”, he writes in the album notes, “stirred the memory of my love for Lady Day”. Apparently Lloyd has visited Farantouri in Greece every year since that first meeting, and the long gestation of his engagement with the country, its culture (as a one-time member of the Greek parliament, Farantouri is equally well known in Greece for her political and cultural activism) and musical traditions has found very convincing expression in this body of work.
The core members of the Athens ensemble are Lloyd’s working quartet, which debuted on record with a 2007 live set (also for ECM), ‘Rabo de Nube’. They are Jason Moran on piano; Reuben Rogers, double bass; and Eric Hartland drums. They are joined by Socratis Sinopoulos, a regular Farantouri collaborator, on lyra with a “mystical sound” that, as Lloyd writes, “adds an entirely ‘other’ dimension” to the Americans’ jazz conception.
A quartet rendition of Lloyd’s classic “Dream Weaver” is rhythmically locked-in, with a nigh-on perfectly conceptualized solo from Moran. Elsewhere, the concert isn’t entirely free of the formality that’s characteristic of any high-minded cross-cultural exchange, but that sense diminishes as the performance progresses, and right from the start any shifts in register can be dramatically abrupt, as when a piano solo breaks out of the balladic song form of “Requiem”, snapping the listener to attention. Lloyd solos with sensitively realized freedom throughout, variously probing on the combustible “Espano sto xero homa”, and achingly poignant on “Taxi sta Kythera”, which closes the first disc. Here Lloyd’s saxophone expresses emotion with an eloquence that even Farantouri’s voice would struggle to match.
The highlights are undoubtedly the three lengthy parts of “The Greek Suite”, which comprises eleven themes of mostly traditional origin. These were arranged by pianist Takis Farazis, who Lloyd credits with making “an enormous contribution by connecting the dots between the structures of Greek tradition and the open borders of improvised music”. Farazis sits in on the “Greek Suite” tracks as a second pianist, and with Farantouri singing predominantly in Greek, Lloyd often turns to the flute and tarogato to forge a shared vernacular. As Part III takes the concert to its conclusion, the ensemble responds to every dynamic shift in those traditional structures by maximising the drama of every improvised instrumental break, no matter how brief. A terrific drum solo in “Alismono kæ hæromæ”, for example, is answered by a powerful statement from the ensemble led by Sinopoulos lyra, minus Lloyd and Farantouri, that leads into the climactic verses of “Tou hel’ to kastron”, and Lloyd’s climactic solo statement. A final track, “Yanni mou” presents a forceful distillation of the evening, allowing each performer the freedom to sign off with a personal flourish.
This is a highly recommended album. It’s a fine testament to Lloyd’s musical precocity, to his band’s versatility and inventiveness, and to the broad-minded inclusiveness of the ECM label. Any fans of Lloyd certainly shouldn’t miss it.
Julian Siegel Quartet, Dempsey’s, Cardiff, 12/10/2011.
Julian Siegel Quartet
Friday, October 14, 2011
Reviewed by: Ian Mann
An excellent evening of complex, intelligent but ultimately thrilling music.
Julian Siegel Quartet, Dempsey’s, Cardiff, 12/06/2011
“Urban Theme Park”, Julian Siegel’s latest release as a group leader rates as one of the best albums of 2011 and is reviewed elsewhere on this site. Multi reeds player and composer Siegel is probably best known for being co-leader (with guitarist Phil Robson) of jazz rock titans Partisans but he is an incredibly busy musician who turns up in all kinds of contexts from section work with big bands to accompanying singers. He has fronted an international trio featuring New York musicians Greg Cohen ( double bass) and Joey Baron (drums) with the emphasis very much on collective improvisation and also runs the quartet that recorded “Urban Theme Park”. Siegel is currently touring the album and the chance of seeing the complex, intelligent but ultimately thrilling music of “Urban Theme Park” performed live was too good to miss.
The quartet Siegel brought to Cardiff featured album personnel Liam Noble (piano and keyboards) and Siegel’s Partisans colleague Gene Calderazzo at the drums. The bass role was filled by the supremely adaptable Dave Whitford who filled in for the unavailable Oli Hayhurst with considerable aplomb. Indeed it was Whitford and Calderazzo who gently ushered in “Incantation # 1”, a piece that originally appeared on the Siegel/Cohen/Baron album “Live at The Vortex”. It was perhaps not the best choice of an opener with its fluid structures and meters offering little for the audience to get a handle on. Siegel moved effectively between clarinet and tenor sax but at this stage Noble’s piano was buried rather too deeply in the mix although this was quickly sorted out and didn’t represent a problem for the rest of the set. In any event his solo still served to introduce his chunky, percussive, highly individualistic piano style with the left hand often proving more dominant than the right.
Things really took off with the first of the “Urban Theme Park” selections “Six Four”, a complex but exuberant item introduced by Whitford’s bass and with the kind of cerebrally funky groove suggested by the title. With Siegel’s fluent tenor sax and Noble’s flowing piano riding the tricky but infectious grooves this was exhilarating stuff and set the standard for the rest of the night.
“Heart Song” slowed the pace again with Siegel and Noble introducing the tune with an elegant clarinet and piano duet with more conventional solos coming from Siegel, Noble and the resourceful Whitford at the bass.
“One For J.T.” is a dedication to the great British pianist John Taylor. Complex but infectious with a thrilling 12/8 groove the piece featured some powerful tenor sax soloing from Siegel fuelled by the dynamic drumming of Calderazzo. Full of mercurial twists and turns the piece also included a solo piano interlude during which the fiercely independent Noble contrived to sound nothing at all like John Taylor.
Noble moved to his Novation electric keyboard and associated laptop for “Lifeline”, a highly atmospheric piece featuring spacey, looped keyboard textures, grainy arco bass from Whitford plus Calderazzo’s mallet rumbles and cymbal washes. Siegel’s woody bass clarinet navigated a course through this curious landscape with a typically memorable Siegel melody eventually emerging before being expounded upon by the group. Eventually the piece segued into a joyous rendition of Cedar Walton’s “Fantasy in D”, the only “outside” tune on the “Urban Theme Park” album. With the effervescent Calderazzo driving the group on they stormed through the tune with Siegel’s garrulous tenor solo eventually giving way to Noble’s torrential piano. With Calderazzo rounding things off with a final flourish at the drums this was a breathtaking way to close an excellent first set. Another pleasingly large Dempsey’s crowd, again swelled by the presence of students from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama gave the group a great reception.
The second set was, if anything, even better commencing with the West African flavoured “Keys To The City” with its broken piano and drum grooves plus joyous solos from Siegel on tenor and Noble at the piano. As on the album the tune featured a substantial bass feature with Whitford stepping seamlessly into Hayhurst’s shoes. Afterwards Siegel spoke admiringly of the bass player’s adaptability and versatility.
“Shining Light” from Siegel’s first quartet album, 2002’s “Close Up”, was a surprise inclusion, a beautiful ballad featuring Siegel on reflective, tender tenor, Calderazzo on brushes and Noble moving between acoustic and electric keyboards. Solos came from Siegel and the expressive Whitford at the bass with Noble’s layered keyboards contributing to an anthemic closing section.
The three part composition “Game Of Cards” forms the focal point of the “Urban Theme Park” album and borrows its theme and structure from Stravinsky’s ballet “Jeu des Cartes”. Here the first part or “deal”, “Dead End”, represented a tour de force for Siegel on soprano saxophone, lashed on by Calderazzo’s volcanic drumming. The equally frenetic second part “Get Lucky” with its contrapuntal rhythms included features for Whitford, Siegel, still on soprano, and Calderazzo at the drums. Whitford’s bass then provided the link into the final part, “Fast Game” centred around a feverish piano solo from the excellent Noble.
A sparkling second set ended with the inappropriately titled “Interlude”, a feature for Siegel’s brilliant bass clarinet playing and a piece that even offered some conventional jazz swing, a contrast to the exotic and complex rhythms we’d been treated to during the rest of the evening.
With a large and appreciative audience in attendance (long may it continue) an encore was inevitable with Siegel and the quartet returning to romp through “Sandpit”, a tune that originally appeared on “Close Up” and subsequently re-emerged as part of the Cohen/Baron trio repertoire. It’s a complex but appropriately playful tune and one that Siegel clearly has great fun playing. This version was different from any I’ve heard previously with Noble coaxing a suitably dirty tone from his keyboards before embarking on a wild synthesiser solo that would have given even Django Bates a run for his money. With Siegel wigging out on tenor and Calderazzo careering around his drum kit this was a high octane send off to an excellent evening’s music.
This was another of the great Dempsey’s nights and I was amazed to hear from both Siegel and Noble that this was the first time they’d actually played there. Let’s hope that now they’ve discovered this down to earth but welcoming and most importantly LISTENING venue that it won’t be the last.
The “Urban Theme Park” tour continues. Try to catch this outrageously talented quartet if you can. The remaining tour dates are;
October 16th WAVENDON
The Stables,
Stockwell Lane
MK17 8LU
11.30am -1.30 £8
http://www.stables.org
01908 280280
October 20th GATESHEAD
Old Town Hall, West St. Gateshead, NE8 1HE
8pm £10-8
http://www.jazznortheast.com
0191 433 6965
October 28th BRIGHTON
Studio Bar, Komedia, 44-47 Gardner Street, BN1 1UN
8-10.30pm £15-13
http://www.brightonjazzclub.co.uk
01273 647100
November 3rd LONDON
Vortex Jazz Bar, 11 Gillett Square, Dalston, N16 8AZ
8.30 pm £10
http://www.vortexjazz.co.uk
020 7254 4097
November 11th WAKEFIELD
Sports Club, Eastmoor Road, WF1 3RR
8.30pm £12-11
http://www.wakefieldjazz.org
01977 680542
November 12th LONDON JAZZ FESTIVAL
BBC Jazz Line Up (in Triple Bill) Royal Festival Hall, Clore Ballroom, Southbank Centre, SE1 8XX
4pm-6 free
http://www.londonjazzfestival.org.uk
Nov 18th LONDON JAZZ FESTIVAL
Julian Siegel + Liam Noble
St James’s Piccadilly
197 Piccadilly, W1J 9LL
1.10 - 2pm Free
http://www.bashomusic.co.uk/piccadilly.htm
December 16th SHEFFIELD
Millennium Hall Polish Centre, 520 Eccleshall Road, S11 8PY
8pm £13-10
http://www.sheffieldjazz.org.uk
Judy Collins / Lisbee Stainton / Deborah Hodgson at Worcester Cathedral, 11/10/2011.
Judy Collins / Lisbee Stainton / Deborah Hodgson
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Reviewed by: Ian Mann
Ian Mann on "An Evening of Divine Music at Worcester Cathedral".
Judy Collins plus Deborah Hodgson and Lisbee Stainton, Worcester Cathedral, 11/10/2011.
Billed as “An Evening of Divine Music at Worcester Cathedral” this event was organised by local singer and promoter Deborah Hodgson, a long time admirer of the venerable American folk singer Judy Collins. The two women initially met when Hodgson opened for Collins at the 2009 Isle Of Wight Festival (on a bill that also included Neil Young and the Stereophonics) and Collins added the backing of her Wildflower Record label to tonight’s event. This evening’s line up was completed by rising star Lisbee Stainton from Herefordshire, a singer songwriter with a growing reputation and a burgeoning following. The Cathedral itself made for an interesting and intimate listening experience, the splendid acoustics and magnificent architecture adding greatly to the atmosphere.
DEBORAH HODGSON
Deborah Hodgson herself opened the evening with a selection of self penned songs plus the jazz standard “Autumn Leaves”. I’ve always been impressed with the quality and purity of Hodgson’s voice having seen her perform previously at local venues such as The Hatch (as part of a double bill with New York singer songwriter Kenny White, a show reviewed elsewhere on this site) and The Floor at St. Michael’s Village Hall near Tenbury Wells (opposite Boo Hewerdine). The Cathedral represented the largest space and audience that I’ve seen Hodgson perform to but she had no difficulties in rising to the occasion with her singing as cool and assured as ever.
Armed with just her acoustic guitar Hodgson calmly walked on to give a brief but immaculate rendition of her song “ Beautiful Sky”. She then set down her instrument and summoned her accompanists, pianist Martin Riley and cellist Catherine Oldham Harper to the stage. Both have worked regularly with Hodgson and know her material well and the singer and instrumentalists combined sublimely for the rest of the set. This included the lovely “Taigh Allain” (Scots Gaelic for “Beautiful House”), co-written with Riley and here dedicated to the Cathedral itself.
Besides Collins another significant influence on Hodgson is the late Eva Cassidy. “Springtime” was a setting of one of Cassidy’s poems to music by local composer Ian King. The song, a paean to nature and the power of human love, will appear on Hodgson’s forthcoming album which will feature contributions from Dan Cassidy, Eva’s fiddle playing brother. The album will be keenly anticipated, Hodgson’s first full length recording following a series of EP’s.
One of those EP’s, “Love Will Find A Way”, features “Truth Of The Matter”, a song Hodgson performed at the Isle Of Wight. With Hodgson back on guitar and with Oldham Harper plucking her cello like a bass this was a spirited piece with confessional lyrics.
Another joint composition with Riley “Song Be My Soul” drew on Hodgson’s Welsh roots and love of poetry with a chorus based on “Calon Lan” and with lyrics that borrowed from the poetry of Siegfried Sassoon. “Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer’s Day” went even further directly quoting William Shakespeare in another Hodgson/Riley adaptation.
Although Hodgson’s is essentially a folk voice the jazz standard “Autumn Leaves” is a long standing favourite item in her repertoire. It’s an effective arrangement with Oldham Harper’s sombre cello perfectly complementing the melancholic sentiments of the lyrics.
This was an excellent start to the evening with Hodgson’s strikingly pure voice superbly supported by Riley’s sublime pianistic touch on the venue’s splendid grand piano and Oldham Harper’s technically brilliant, always apposite cello playing. Hodgson had set the bar high, she really ought to be better known nationally. Perhaps the forthcoming album will change all that.
LISBEE STAINTON
A local artist who seems to be going places is Herefordian singer/guitarist/songwriter Lisbee Stainton. Still only twenty three Stainton is a graduate of the Popular Music course at Goldsmith’s College in London and is now based in the capital. She has already released two albums, “Firefly” (2006) and “Girl On An Unmade Bed” (2010). The latter has enjoyed considerable success with Stainton enjoying the patronage of Tom Robinson and being invited to support Joan Armatrading on the latter’s 2010 UK and European tour. Stainton’s third album, simply entitled “Go” will be released on October 17th 2011 and I’ll be taking a closer look at this in due course. First impressions are that it’s a strong selection of songs delivered in a pleasingly stripped back format with Stainton herself handling most of the instrumental parts alongside her regular rhythm section of bassist Pete Randall and drummer Andy Chapman. The emphasis is on the songs, the singing and the playing rather than the grand production which is refreshing, having said that the sound is crisp and clear throughout. If mainstream success comes knocking for Lisbee Stainton it’ll be on her own terms and as tonight’s show proved the girl can play.
What Stainton plays is a distinctive eight string guitar designed for her by Joe White of Ash Vale, Surrey. Tonight in a pared down instrumental configuration she was accompanied by young guitarist Charlie Wilkinson on a regular six string acoustic. The two instruments dovetailed well on Stainton’s material, which was more poppy and rhythmic than Hodgson’s had been, and kicked off with “Just Like Me” and “Red”, the latter packed with gardening metaphors and something of a minor hit. Both of these first two tunes were sourced from the album “Girl On An Unmade Bed”.
Stainton dipped into the new album with the catchy title track and the wistful “Millions Of Flowers” before going back to “Girl On An Unmade Bed” with a version of the title track. This represented Stainton’s thoughts on leaving college and heading out into the wider world, it was a timely reminder of her youth.
However the last two songs, both drawn from the new album hinted at a growing songwriting maturity. “The Author” compared a relationship with the narrative of a novel, not an entirely original idea perhaps but very effective. “Silence Scares Me” is deliberately simple and packs an anthemic chorus. It could even be a potential hit single. It certainly ended the first half of tonight’s concert on a positive note.
This was my first introduction to the music of Lisbee Stainton and overall I was impressed with the quality of her singing, playing and songwriting. Plus of course it’s good to see someone with local connections doing so well. Let’s hope that “Go” consolidates Stainton’s progress, who knows Laura Marling style commercial success could be just around the corner, or would Ellie Goulding, also from Herefordshire, be a more suitable comparison?
JUDY COLLINS
The second half of the evening was given over entirely to Judy Collins. Now aged 71 Collins is a bona fide folk music legend with a voluminous back catalogue dating back to the 1960’s. I don’t intend to start by looking back over Collins’ career as in effect she did this for me. Her set was one part an account of her life story, illustrated by snippets of songs and one part orthodox concert.
I’ll admit that as a jazzer I know precious little about Judy Collins. I remember her massive 1971 hit, an accapella version of the hymn tune “Amazing Grace” which as a heavy metal fixated teenager I absolutely hated and I’ve paid her precious little regard ever since. So maybe I’m not the right person to review this concert but here goes.
An incredibly lithe and statuesque septuagenarian Collins turned in a lengthy set well in excess of the advertised one hour and twenty minutes. Accompanied only by her pianist and musical director Russ Walden Collins displayed a commendable amount of stamina and the occasional hints of frailty and the odd creaky vocal could easily be forgiven.
Collins is set to publish her long awaited memoir “Sweet Judy Blue Eyes” next year and tonight’s set, perhaps anticipating this was essentially Collins’ life in song. We heard of her upbringing playing classical piano (Rachmaninov etc.) before discovering jazz and the “Great American Songbook” through her father’s record collection before moving on again to American folk via Irish traditional music. Illustrations included snatches of Rodgers & Hart’s “Where Or When” and “Danny Boy”.
Coming of age in the sixties Collins moved to New York where she became part of the Greenwich Village folk scene linking up with Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Dylan’s then manager Albert Grossmann establishing faultless leftist credentials in the process. She remains a political activist to this day. She talked of her friendship with Baez and played a full length version of Baez’s biting and wordy “Diamonds and Rust”, allegedly written about Dylan. From Dylan himself we heard “Mr Tambourine Man” which was particularly well suited to the twelve string acoustic guitar Collins deployed throughout the set.
Collins’ first big hit single, her version of Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” was despatched very early on in the set. “Amazing Grace” found her encouraging the audience, or “congregation” as she put it, to join in. This was highly effective with the acoustics of the Cathedral adding greatly to the resonance of the assembled voices. Another hit, her version of Fairport Convention’s “Who Knows Where The Time Goes” was also performed and was effortlessly lovely but as a proud Brit I have to admit that I prefer the original.
Collins has always been a fine interpreter of other people’s material and spoke of her admiration for the songs of Jimmy Webb And Leonard Cohen, a snatch of “Suzanne”, with Collins now at the piano illustrated the latter. With Walden temporarily off stage Collins sang a series of songs at the piano as the evening came more to resemble an orthodox concert. This clutch of songs included Webb’s “Gaugin” from the album Paradise plus a some of Collins’ own recent songs, deeply personal, highly wordy affairs including a tribute to Collins’ mother and her struggles with Alzheimers. Much of this was weighty, sometimes harrowing stuff but the re-appearance of Walden signalled a return to the hits with Collins standing to sing Stephen Sondheim’s “Send In The Clowns” as she battled the urge to cough. A sizeable audience didn’t seem to mind and called her back for an encore, a version of “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” with Collins encouraging the audience to sing along once more.
Most of the crowd seemed happy to have spent at least part of the evening in the presence of a folk and popular music legend. Many were clearly established fans and loved every minute of it. As an “outsider” I wasn’t quite so impressed. There was too much talking for me and the whole thing was just a bit too “showbiz” for my liking. As I’ve admitted there was plenty of material I was unfamiliar with so apologies for the non inclusion of any Collins tunes I’ve missed out. There were also times early on in the set when Walden’s piano threatened to drown out Collins’ vocals, this certainly hadn’t been a problem with Riley and Hodgson and I wondered if the miking had been altered, in any event things improved as the show progressed.
To be honest on a personal level I got more enjoyment out of the two “support” acts. I’ve always rated Hodgson very highly and Stainton proved to be an exciting new discovery. Perhaps I’ve been a little harsh on Collins and should apply the same kind of indulgence that I’d allow to ageing jazz veterans (Pharaoh Sanders at Cheltenham Jazz Festival springs to mind).
On the whole this was a very enjoyable evening and I’d like to thank Deborah Hodgson for inviting me along to cover it. I’m pleased to say that the presence of a bumper audience made this a hugely successful event with all three singers doing brisk business at their respective merchandise stalls. I’m delighted for Deborah that everything went so well. I shall be keeping an eye on the progress of Lisbee Stainton and eagerly awaiting Deborah Hodgson’s first album.
COMMENTS
From Maureen S. Child
I find this an assessment of the Judy Collins Concert. True, the support acts were pleasing and the musicianship of Lisbee Stainton is impressive, but both their programmes were unbalanced and the self composed songs all very similar. Deborah Hodgson’s programme came alive for me only with her rendition of the classic, ‘Autumn Leaves’ leaving me thinking how much better her presentation would be if she varied her programme more offering a mix of standards and new songs.
Judy Collins, age not withstanding - gave a confident and supremely professional performance - perhaps not enough to overcome the reviewer’s prejudices - but enough to inform her audiences that her talent is alive and well. How many other songs do you know about death and dementia? Her lyrics have gravitas. to dismiss them as wordy is to miss the depth of the poet’s art.
Ian replies;
I’m quite happy to be taken to task about this review. As I’ve admitted I probably wasn’t the ideal person to review Judy Collins’ contribution to the programme. Maureen is obviously one of the established fans I referenced in my review. To refer to Judy’s original songs as “wordy” does not mean that I am dismissing them lightly. Listening to “wordy” songs at a gig for the first time it’s often difficult to appreciate the full beauty of the lyrics- you need to study the album and the lyric sheet for that. I’m a huge fan of Peter Hammill, another “wordy” artist who tackles weighty subjects such as ageing in his songs but I wouldn’t envy an “outsider” trying to review one of his concerts with no previous knowledge of the material.
Apart from the obvious greatest hits packages I’d appreciate it if Maureen could direct me to the best Judy Collins albums to listen to. I actually LIKE song lyrics to mean something and, of course, it’s never too late to learn. Otherwise I’d still be listening to heavy metal!
I believe the concert was also being reviewed by the Maverick music magazine. I suspect that their appraisal of Judy Collins’ contribution to the evening may be rather more favourable than mine!
From Stephanie Tucker Little;
The music is truly amazing and I would like to add that Deborah Hodgson’s performance was just beautiful!
Her vocals could not be better and her spirit shines through like wild flowers in all her songs. Such an amazing talent!
—Stephanie Tucker Little
The three instruments blend together seamlessly and one is left in little doubt as to the veracity of Robin Nolan's status as a virtuoso in the world of gypsy jazz guitar.
Robin Nolan Trio
“Tainted Love”
(Robin Nolan Music RNM04)
Robin Nolan is considered to be one of the world’s leading gypsy jazz guitarists. He is certainly revered by local gypsy jazz musicians such as the Gloucestershire based combo Swing From Paris with whom Nolan collaborated for a series of live appearances in 2010.
Born in the UK Nolan studied at the Guildhall School of Music but it was a visit to the annual Django Reinhardt Festival at Samois-Sur-Seine, France, in 1992 that inspired Nolan to dedicate his life to the guitar and the gypsy jazz style. Nolan has been incredibly prolific ever since recording in both trio and quartet formats, touring widely across Europe and Canada and becoming a personal friend of the late George Harrison. Now based in Amsterdam his current trio features his younger brother Kevin Nolan on rhythm guitar with Arnoud Van den Berg on bass.
Nolan is not afraid to look beyond the regular gypsy jazz canon for inspiration. His latest album “Tainted Love” draws on 80’s pop with imaginative re-workings of songs associated with Soft Cell, Human League and Police among others. For jazz listeners the pill is sweetened by the inclusion of occasional jazz and gypsy standards. Nolan has adopted an unusual, some may even say provocative, stance, but on the whole his approach works well.
The thirteen concise selections on this album begin with a fast and furious take on the old Django Reinhardt warhorse “Joseph Joseph” but even here Nolan can’t resist the temptation to throw in a quote from one of rock music’s most famous riffs, Deep Purple’s “Smoke On The Water”. This is “Joseph Joseph” as you’ve probably never heard it before.
My copy of this album came from Shrewsbury based musician Chris Quinn who is due to play rhythm guitar with Nolan on his UK tour in spring 2012. The information given on the cover is minimal although there is the proud boast that the album won the “5 star Facebook award for best Gypsy Jazz recording 2011”.
Be that as it may the next tune up is “For Sephora”, another Reinhardt piece I suspect, although the sleeve doesn’t say as much. In any event it’s taken at a fast clip with the three instruments meshing together well and with some dazzling fretboard work from Robin Nolan.
A series of interpretations of pop material begins with “Something Stupid”, once famously a hit single for Frank and Nancy Sinatra. The song lends itself well to Nolan’s slightly whimsical gypsy jazz style treatment.
The title track is clearly inspired by the Soft Cell version but if memory serves they, in turn, lifted it from soul singer Gloria Jones. Here it’s the vehicle for some taut, virtuoso finger picking from Nolan as his rhythm colleagues strum up a storm behind him.
The Beatles’ “And I Love Her” has been covered by Herefordshire’s own gypsy jazz virtuoso Remi Harris but Nolan’s version is different again with an expansive introduction that stands apart from the body of the song. Again there’s plenty of virtuosity on offer plus something of that taut, urgent quality that seems to imbue much of Nolan’s work.
“Don’t You Want Me”, an enormous synth pop hit for Human League in the early 80’s lends itself extremely well to Nolan’s distinctive gypsy jazz treatment as jazz virtuosity combines with a sense of rock dynamics.
“Tears” slows things down a little but there are still plenty of interesting things going on with Nolan’s ever inventive guitar work shadowed by Arnoud Van den Berg’s splendidly resonant bass.
A-ha’s massive hit “Take On Me” is given a breezy up-tempo treatment with Kevin Nolan’s crisp rhythm guitar propelling his brother’s flights of fancy. It’s great fun, as is a languid, samba style take on the Police hit “Every Breath You Take”. Nolan’s novel approach goes a long way to subverting the frankly sinister mood of the original.
As far as I can tell the remaining four pieces are gypsy or jazz standards. I certainly don’t recognise any of them as pop songs. There’s a breezy “San Miguel” plus an equally lively “Swing Gitane” and Nolan and co. don’t exactly hang about on “Bossa Dorado” either.
The album closes with the jazz standard “All Of Me”, a favourite vehicle for Reinhardt and his numerous successors. Nolan and his colleagues imbue it with the same brio as the rest of the album.
“Tainted Love” represents a very enjoyable listen with some excellent playing from the three participants. The three instruments blend together seamlessly and one is left in little doubt as to the veracity of Robin Nolan’s status as a virtuoso in the world of gypsy jazz guitar. If one has a criticism it’s that everything is delivered at a rapid speed, Nolan knows he’s got the chops and takes the chance to show them off at every opportunity. I guess that in many ways this is the essence of gypsy jazz but nevertheless a little more variation in pace and mood would have been welcome.
I certainly don’t have a problem with Nolan’s selection of material. Jazz has always borrowed from popular song and I don’t see any difference from Nolan borrowing from A-ha to Brad Mehldau borrowing from Radiohead. The point is that both bring something fresh to the material albeit in totally different ways. Occasionally one senses that Nolan might just be being ironic but that hardly seems to matter either.
As enjoyable as this album is the best way of appreciating gypsy jazz is in a live context where one can truly appreciate the virtuosity of the players, particularly the lead guitarists with their dazzling runs, dizzying chord changes and note bending techniques. With this in mind I’ll be keeping an eye open for Nolan when he returns to UK shores in 2012.
Peter King Quartet, The Shrewsbury Coffeehouse, Shrewsbury, 06/10/2011.
Peter King Quartet
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Reviewed by: Ian Mann
I was pleasantly surprised by both the selection of the material and the overall quality of the playing.
Peter King Quartet, Shrewsbury Coffeehouse, Shrewsbury, 06/10/2011.
The veteran British alto saxophonist Peter King has been a fairly regular fixture on The Jazzmann web pages over the last couple of years due mainly to his regular appearances at the Brecon and Titley jazz festivals. Widely acknowledged to be a world class soloist King’s creative powers remain undimmed and he remains a dazzlingly fluent saxophone soloist. Now in his early seventies King recently published his autobiography “Flying High”, a fascinating read which reveals him to be so much more than just a great jazz improviser, he has also written for string quartet plus a full blown opera, “Zyklon”, which tackles the thorny issue of the Holocaust. Away from music King’s interests are broad, embracing motor racing, aviation and aero-modelling, indeed he is something of a leading authority on the latter, a parallel world where his standing is at least equal to that of his jazz celebrity. But “Flying High” doesn’t shy away from the more difficult issues of the “jazz life” that King has faced and overcome-drug addiction, racism, economic hardship and artistic compromise among them. He’s a highly intelligent man and a great survivor and it was an honour to get my copy of the book signed by the author after this gig. It’s such a fascinating life story that I think it’s fair to say that you don’t even need to be a jazz fan to gain access although obviously it helps, King doesn’t pull any punches when he talks about the foibles of his fellow musicians.
And so to this evening’s performance in the intimate confines of Shrewsbury’s latest jazz venue the Shrewsbury Coffeehouse. It was good to see King in what was effectively a club setting and very different to the large marquees at Titley. As a senior figure on the UK jazz scene King has a loyal following and recently played a sold out show at Shrewsbury’s more established jazz venue The Hive Arts Centre. This was very well received and I’m sure many of tonight’s audience were seeing King for at least the second time. As at The Hive he was teamed with a “local trio” consisting of Paul Sawtell on electric piano, Tom Hill on double bass and Dave Hassell on drums, the latter replacing the recently departed Tony Levin. King had travelled up from London and astonishingly drove straight back afterwards but even the “locals” came from Mid Wales, Birmingham and Manchester respectively, a sign perhaps that this was a receptive trio with whom King was more than happy to play. They certainly gave him excellent support with the soloing skills of the expatriate American Tom Hill being particularly well deployed.
Having seen King fairly regularly over the last couple of years I was apprehensive that the set, which was obviously going to rely heavily on jazz standards, would be a little too predictable but I was pleasantly surprised by both the selection of the material and the overall quality of the playing.
The performance was introduced by Shrewsbury based saxophonist/flautist and composer Casey Greene (of the Latin group Quiver) who had helped to organise the concert and the quartet kicked off with a lively and attractive version of Kurt Weill’s “Speak Low”. King demonstrated his fluency early on, the ideas just seemed to flow out of him, and the tune also introduced the other members of the band with solos coming from Sawtell and Hill plus a flurry of drum breaks from Hassell.
The jazz standard “Stella Starlight” was taken at a medium fast tempo with solos from King, Sawtell at the Roland and Hill on double bass. The latter’s huge tone and impressive dexterity were to feature extensively throughout the evening and rightly so.
“Soul Eyes”, probably the pianist and composer Mal Waldron’s most famous composition,was the first genuine ballad of the evening and was ushered in by King’s solo alto sax intro. As the tune developed King soloed in more orthodox fashion and was followed by Sawtell and the remarkably expressive Hill.
In recent years King has harboured a growing fascination for the music of John Coltrane and it was JC’s “Impressions” that took the first set storming out with a passionate alto solo from King, feverish piano from Sawtell and flamboyant flamenco bass strumming from Hill. King joined forces with Hassell for a fiery alto sax/drums dialogue with the percussionist doing his best Elvin Jones impression before embarking upon a solo of his own. This was gripping, high energy stuff that closed the first set with a bang and evoked a great reaction from the Shrewsbury crowd.
The second set began with an urgent and distinctive version of Antonio Carlos Jobim’s “Wave”, here given more of an Afro-Cuban flavour and featuring solos from King, Sawtell and Hill.
King’s Coltrane obsession is almost matched by his fascination with the music of another tenor saxophonist, in this instance Wayne Shorter. “Footprints”, arguably Shorter’s best known tune, was given a determinedly modal treatment with extensive solos coming from King and Hill and with Hassell’s distinctive cymbal work also adding substantially to the flavour of the piece.
Billy Strayhorn’s ballad “Lush Life” has long been a key item in the King repertoire. Indeed King has frequently opened the second half of his concerts with a solo rendition of this tune before inviting the group back to the bandstand. This time it was different, King played the verse from “Lush Life” solo before the band came in to create a segue with perhaps the most famous jazz ballad of them all, “Body And Soul”. Here Hassell’s sensitive brushwork provided the backdrop to well measured solos from King, Sawtell and Hill before King brought things full circle with a highly effective solo saxophone coda.
The evening ended with the quartet’s second excursion onto the Wayne Shorter back catalogue, in the shape of “Yes Or No”, which King originally recorded on his 1994 album “Tamburello”. Tonight the tune was essentially a feature for Dave Hassell who introduced the piece from the drum kit and closed it with a series of cowbell accented breaks following solos from King and Sawtell.
Sadly, and despite the clamouring of the audience, this was all we had time for before the musicians (and your reviewer) commenced their lengthy journeys home. Overall I had been very impressed by what we had heard. Often the performances when a visiting star soloist is yoked to a local rhythm section, who very often he hasn’t even met before, can be very stale and predictable with every tune being in the same head/solos/head format. Largely this didn’t apply here, King’s sheer inventiveness plus a degree of existing familiarity helped greatly but Sawtell, Hill and King are classy players in their own right and all acquitted themselves well. I did wonder if Casey Greene might unpack his horn and sit in for a couple of numbers and asked him if he was tempted, but as he said “oh no, I know when I’m beaten”, a measure of the very real respect with which he regards Peter King’s playing.
King had brought a number of albums with him for sale (plus the book, which I’d already bought at Titley) and after some deliberation I treated myself to a copy of “Speed Trap”, a fiery live session recorded at Ronnie Scott’s way back in 1994. The record teams King’s fluent alto with the crackling trumpeting of Gerard Presencer and an all star rhythm section features Steve Melling, King’s long term pianist of choice, bassist Alec Dankworth and drummer Steven Keogh. The six extended selections feature a wealth of fine and often fiery playing.
Tonight was another memorable night at the Shrewsbury Coffeehouse, coming very soon after the hugely enjoyable evening with guitarist John Etheridge and violinist Chris Garrick (also reviewed elsewhere on this site). With its exciting programme of jazz and folk events this friendly venue is a welcome addition to the live music scene in this part of the world.
Steve Tromans “Directions In Music”, MAC, Birmingham, 01/10/2011, (part of Harmonic Festival).
Steve Tromans
Monday, October 10, 2011
Reviewed by: Ian Mann
Guest contributor Pam Mann with her thoughts on a unique marathon performance from pianist Steve Tromans.
Steve Tromans, “Directions In Music”, Midlands Arts Centre, Birmingham,1/10/2011 (part of Harmonic Festival)
I witnessed another unique and enjoyable performance at the Harmonic Festival which was held at the MAC which is situated on the edge of Cannon Hill Park in Birmingham.
Pianist and composer Steve Tromans wanted to deliver a performance that was uncapturable by traditional means. To listen you had to obtain a wireless headphone system from reception. This enabled you to explore the theatre and its surroundings whilst listening to an attempt at an eleven hour piano marathon. Some have compared the experience to that of the increasingly popular “silent disco” phenomenon.
When we first arrived Tromans was setting himself up in a space between the theatre bar and the café. We were due to dive into a ticketed gig straight away and initially had no opportunity to listen. However as we emerged from the gig one of the MAC staff passed us a headset and invited us to have a listen and immediately I was captivated. It was strange to be able to hear the music but not see the performer. Ian immediately went to reception to organise a headset for us and meanwhile I went to watch Steve play. It was equally strange to watch him hammering away at the keys of his electric piano but to hear no sound. He was wearing a headset himself and seemed to be quite oblivious to those watching him. By this time there were a number of people sat at tables and on sofas in the immediate vicinity listening on their headsets.
A lot of the time that I was listening I wasn’t actually watching him play. It was such a glorious day that I chose to sit in the outdoor area at the picnic style tables with my head bobbing away to the music. There were other listeners out there and we acknowledged each other with a knowing smile as if we were sharing something secret. Goodness knows what the other people using the park thought of us but I was enjoying the music far too much to feel self conscious.
We were in and out of gigs all day whilst Steve continued to play but I listened as often as I could, even having the headset playing while we were waiting for gigs in the theatres to start. At one point I was sat on a bench, swinging my legs in time to the music when Steve looked up, caught my eye, and smiled right back. It was as if we were in a secret world, there in the middle of a busy theatre complex with someone I had never spoken to before, a very bizarre feeling.
Unfortunately all good things have to come to an end and after the final ticketed event of the day I went back to to the area that Steve was still playing in, almost eleven hours after he had started, to catch the final moments of his marathon. He seemed to stop quite suddenly which rather took me unawares. The people who were still there broke into a spontaneous round of applause and Steve just said “it seemed right to stop right there”.
He must have been exhausted but had provided some excellent entertainment for those who were listening whilst at the same time receiving some very strange looks from people who had just wandered in from the park.
I would just like to mention the MAC itself, what a super venue with a lovely park on the doorstep, a café serving good food at reasonable prices, and staff that are genuinely interested in you and keen to ensure that you enjoy your time there.
Thanks must also go to Steve Tromans for producing a marathon performance that was consistently enjoyable.
The Coimbra Concert
Mostly Other People Do The Killing
Sunday, October 09, 2011
Reviewed by: Tim Owen
MOPDTK should rightly be famous, or possibly infamous, for their live shows. This double-disc set provides the aural evidence.
Mostly Other People Do The Killing
The Coimbra Concert
Clean Feed
Mostly Other People Do the Killing should rightly be famous, or possibly infamous, for their live shows. This double-disc set, recorded at Salão Brazil, Coimbra, Portugal over two May nights in 2010, provides the aural evidence.
The physical album, in MOPDTK tradition, comes wrapped in a tongue-in-cheek ‘cover’ of Keith Jarrett’s Koln Concert, but forgoes the usual jocular liner notes from the pseudonymous Leonard Featherweight. With a too-soon attempt to promote the in-venue sale of CDs promptly heckled down, any stage announcements are mostly been dispensed with, so there’s little to distract the listener from this mostly breathless two-hour tumble through the MOPDTK songbook. The nine titles identified on the back cover serve to identify only the compositions with which the group launch each track, each a medley of material drawn from MOPDTK’s four studio albums to date. And each track, though all have distinct original rhythmic and melodic aspects, acts principally as a framing device for the welter of impromptu diversions, allusions, and cross-genre quotations with which the group embroider their performance.
Since the MOPDTK live experience is, albeit only marginally, less densely packed with ideas than the studio recordings, this album might be an ideal place for those previously kept at arms-length by MOPDTK’s studiously ironic image to dip into their world. That said, it’s admittedly more of a dive than a dip, a down-the-rabbit-hole experience in which instant recognition of each familiar theme is swiftly followed by a whiplash displacement. If your sense of jazz-rightness is too rigid or narrow you’ll get woozy, but just go with the flow for and you’re guaranteed a payoff in genre-busted exhilaration.
Notwithstanding their evidently ferocious collective talent, MOPDTK are instantly lovable for their lack of studious hipster cool. There’s none of the music-school-graduate, or toe-in-the-indie-rock-world pseudo-hipster self-consciousness to them, as with other jazz acts in their peer group. MOPDTK play jazz unapologetically, fully acknowledging the tradition. And they have fun doing it, while somehow avoiding the travesty of trivialisation. They kick ass. As a musician, drummer Kevin Shea is certainly the most iconoclastic and least likely to seek to dazzle with some display of technical artistry, though it’s probably not beyond him to do so. He’s too much of an entertainer for that. Think of Gene Krupa, Han Bennink, and Keith Moon; Shea is somewhere in the same capacious bag. The quiet, self-effacing saxophonist John Irabagon is the salt to Shea’s pepper. He’s terrifically incisive, and a master of diverse styles, ranging coolly from the terse to the loquacious. Witness the fine passage of circular breathing in one of his solos that suggests he’s always keeping plenty in check. On trumpet, Peter Evans is perhaps the most astonishingly inventive musician I know of, but he’s mercifully tasteful with it. And on bass, the band’s leader and composer Moppa Elliott, is the linchpin on which everything turns, and he somehow makes it all look and sound so easy.
MOPDTK customary close their live shows with a “Night in Tunisia” medley (on the Coimbra set, part of the sequence that begins with, and is therefore titled “Blue Ball”), but here it closes disc one. This is undoubtedly because there’s a strong visual aspect to this segment that’s inevitably lost in mediation. It will be impossible for those who haven’t seen the live show to get the complete picture. Particularly, they will not understand why anyone would whoop at Kevin Shea’s rather basic-sounding off-skins soloing in his percussion feature that leads up to “A Night in Tunisia”. There’s probably no sound engineer out there talented enough to render in hi-fi the sound of a man caressing, licking and/or dry-humping a venue’s infrastructure. Still, any Jazz Mann readers with their hands on the recording can check out Ian Mann’s review of MOPDTK’s London concert of July 2011 for a few insights into the goings-on: http://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/mostly-other-people-do-the-killing-the-vortex-dalston-london.-14-07-2011/ (though I note Ian draws a veil over Shea’s more outré antics, so you’ll have to wait on the first MOPDTK live DVD for the full, entertainingly distasteful picture of those few choice moments).
Saturday at Harmonic Festival, Midlands Arts Centre, Birmingham, 01/10/2011.
Various Artists
Friday, October 07, 2011
Reviewed by: Ian Mann
Artistically Harmonic 2011 was a huge success with memorable performances from a wide array of musicians.
Harmonic Festival, Midlands Arts Centre, Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham, 01/10/2011.
Following the excellent Friday programme the second full day of the 2011 Harmonic Festival offered even more music with a pretty constant stream of performances throughout the day. Ticketed events included Mike Hurley’s Tasting Notes, the Mike Fletcher Quartet, Percy Pursglove’s Enchanted Heart and Saturday headliners Food. The “Best Of Cobweb Collective” programme of free events which had begun the previous evening with the Jonathan Silk Quartet continued in the MAC’s Café area with a total of four acts appearing. In this way many people who were not hardcore jazz fans got to hear some of the best jazz the Birmingham scene has to offer. With the glorious late summer weather the neighbouring Cannon Hill Park was very busy and popular with many families dropping into the MAC Café for a drink or a bite to eat. The programme was completed by Steve Tromans’ eleven hour piano marathon of which more later.
LYDIA GLANVILLE QUARTET
First up in the Café was the young drummer Lydia Glanville leading a quartet consisting of Ben Thomas (trumpet & flugelhorn), James Wilson-Rhead (piano) and Alex Phillips. Glanville plays drums and percussion in a variety of jazz, folk and Latin bands with this her most conventional jazz outlet.
They played a variety of attractive compositions sourced from within the group commencing with Glanville’s ballad “Falling” featuring the composer on brushes with solos coming from Thomas on flugel and Wilson-Rhead on electric piano. Thomas switched to trumpet for his own “Heebie Jeebies” which was lively and tricky and included features for each member of the group. Wilson-Rhead’s “Osmo” was another flugel led ballad and also included a feature for bassist Alex Phillips.
I had to leave at this point to attend the first of Mike Hurley’s sessions in the Hexagon but nevertheless I had enjoyed what I’d heard. Ben Thomas is a regular performer in my own county of Herefordshire and I’ve always admired his playing so it was good to witness him in good form here.
MIKE HURLEY’S TASTING NOTES
Pianist and drummer Mike Hurley was the third driving force at this year’s Harmonic alongside festival directors Chris Mapp and Percy Pursglove. Hurley’s Tasting Notes project consisted of four sessions of freely improvised music featuring rotating personnel drawn from a pool of musicians and loosely based on a food related theme. The four sessions were spaced throughout the day and were entitled “Spicy”, “Sweet”, “Sour” and Savoury” but it’s probably best to consider them as a single entity rather than sticking strictly to the chronology of the festival performances. The subdued lighting and intimate atmosphere of the Hexagon was perfect for this type of project with the interaction between the players subtle but obvious, this was improv at its most upfront and personal.
Prior to each session the audience members were invited to sample a morsel of food representative of the flavour of the session. Thus “Spicy” was presaged by a cup of hot, spicy, Thai style soup. The music itself came from Gail Brown on trombone, Simon H. Fell on double bass, Harmonic’s own Percy Pursglove on trumpet and British improv veteran Tony Marsh at the drums. The music seemed to evolve organically, it’s always fascinating to watch the improvisational process in action even if the results don’t always translate so well for subsequent home listening. Extended techniques were very much in evidence with Fell sometimes using two bows on his instrument simultaneously, often with one being used in the conventional arco manner with the other being jammed under the strings. Marsh explored every aspect of his drum kit and Brand and Pursglove made use of a variety of mutes plus overblowing and harmolodic techniques. On occasions the group broke down into duos with the dialogue between Brand and Pursglove particularly engrossing. A botched ending to the first piece hardly mattered, this was freely improvised music, the mistakes stay in, all power to the accident!
The second piece, ushered in by Pursglove’s Harmon muted trumpet and featuring Brand’s wah wah style trombone also featured the gurglings of a babe in arms who was with her parents in the front row. Normally this would be an irritant but here it just seemed to blend in and to almost be part of the performance.
Whether the music of the first session was genuinely “Spicy” is a matter for personal interpretation.
For “Sweet” the culinary introduction consisted of sticky and frankly moreish brownies. Certainly Mike Hurley’s piano added a certain sweetness to the music but this was offset by the squalling of Brand’s trombone and Raymond MacDonald’s alto sax, their duelling fuelled by Miles Levin, son of the late Tony Levin, at the drums. However the piece did feature a suitably lyrical passage for piano, trombone and alto sax before a final feature for MacDonald.
“Sour” was presaged by chocolate covered cumquats and introduced two new faces in the form of festival director Chris Mapp on double bass and Shabaka Hutchings on tenor sax and clarinet alongside MacDonald and Levin. The “sourness” of the title was exemplified by Hutchings’ and MacDonald’s sax duelling with the altoist’s acerbic tone particularly appropriate. Mapp and Levin’s bass and drum dialogue gave Hutchings the chance to switch to clarinet thereby adopting another voice for his ongoing musical conversation with MacDonald. Their dialogue was punctuated by a fluent Mapp bass solo, it was surely only fitting that one of the festival’s directors should be given the floor to himself if only on a temporary basis.
The final segment of these improvised sessions, “Savoury”, saw the audience tucking in to tasty Welsh rarebit before the final permutation of musicians in the form of Hutchings, Fell, Marsh and, most appropriately, Hurley took to the floor. The music moved through a lovely piano and arco bass intro through a Hutchings tenor solo and a remarkable solo bass feature from Fell. Like that other great free jazz bassist John Edwards Fell is a player who seems to have a uniquely physical relationship with his instrument. Hutchings again effected a switch to clarinet and entered into an absorbing dialogue with the ever responsive Levin before a final piano solo from event organiser and co-ordinator Mike Hurley brought down the curtain on a fascinating day of improvised music.
On the whole Hurley’s project had been a great success. The idea of the food tastings was quite inspired and created quite a talking point and very appetising it all was too. The intimacy of the venue was perfect for the music although a little stifling at times due to the unexpected late summer heatwave. A word too for the piano, an upright with all the workings exposed, it sounded good and was just perfect for all those interior pluckings and scrapings.
Had these performances been scheduled back to back it would all have proved to be a bit too intense but spacing them throughout the day like different courses on a menu was perfect with each session lasting between thirty and forty five minutes. It’s unfortunate that my co-writer Tim Owen, a real free improv expert couldn’t have been there, I’m sure he could have described the music far more eloquently than I. Free improv is an acquired taste and it’s a shame there weren’t more people to witness this unique event. Although I’d seen several of these players before some were new to me . It was good to witness Gail Brand performing live having previously only heard her on albums by maverick guitarist Billy Jenkins. I was hugely impressed by her contribution and it was also good to see improv legend Tony Marsh at work. Well done to Mike Hurley for bringing this unique combination of London and Birmingham musicians together to create something truly of the moment.
MATT RATCLIFFE QUARTET
The Best of Cobweb programme continued in the Café with key board player Matt Ratcliffe leading his quartet. Ratcliffe appeared at last year’s Harmonic festival with guitarist Matt Chandler’s MC3 organ trio. Here he was playing electric piano with his own group with Lluis Mather on tenor sax, the ubiquitous Nick Jurd on bass and Tymek Jozwiak at the drums. The general hubbub in the Café made listening difficult and all the tune announcements were inaudible, plus I was taking advantage of the downtime between ticketed gigs to get some grub myself. Nevertheless I enjoyed what I heard with Ratcliffe contributing some fine electric piano solos. It was also good to hear Noose leader Lluis Mather in a more straight-ahead context. His fluent soloing was hugely enjoyable too.
MIKE FLETCHER QUARTET
Following some of the heavy stuff we’d heard in the Hexagon as part of the Tasting Notes series the more straightforward jazz offered by Birmingham based saxophonist and composer Mike Fletcher came as a breath of fresh air. Fletcher’s performance took place in the MAC’s main theatre and featured the leader alongside London based pianist Sam Watts and the young rhythm section of bassist Nick Jurd and drummer Euan Palmer.
Fletcher is a good few years older than his colleagues, though hardly ancient, and has taken some time out from the jazz scene to go travelling. His pieces are either inspired by his experiences or are tributes to his jazz or literary heroes. The first piece “AF” was one of the latter, a tribute to the great flugelhorn specialist Art Farmer with Fletcher on alto and including features for all the members of the quartet. This was standard head/solos/head fare and as such rather forgettable but the set soon began to take off with “Don Quixote”, a piece written in Spain and inspired by Fletcher’s travels there. The travel inspired tunes were far more individualistic and descriptive and consequently far more interesting. Fletcher’s use of the rarely heard C melody saxophone also added a distinctive touch to a piece that featured solos from Watts, Fletcher and Jurd.
“A Dino” straddled the categories, partly inspired by Fletcher’s travels and partly by the great Argentinian bandoneon player Dino Saluzzi. Watts began the tune with a sumptuous passage of solo piano followed by solos from Fletcher on flute and the increasingly impressive Jurd at the bass.
The modal “Desolation Angels” was inspired by Jack Kerouac’s book and featured Fletcher’s biting alto alongside Watts’ piano. “Untitled” began with another splendid passage of solo piano and again featured Fletcher on flute.
The sprightly jazz waltz “This Is This” featured sparkling solos from Fletcher on C melody sax, Watts on piano and Jurd at the bass before Fletcher’s bebop homage “Flexterity” took things storming out with the composer on alto and with a wonderfully exuberant solo from Watts, probably his best of the set. Euan Palmer, who impressed throughout with his crisp, clean and subtly propulsive drumming enjoyed a series of breaks.
I thoroughly enjoyed this set which saw Fletcher in fine form and bringing out the best in his young colleagues. Let’s hope Fletcher can get to record some of these compositions.
ELDA
Taking their name from the Swedish for “to electrify” or “set alight” this trio consisting of Chris Mapp on bass guitar, Aaron Diaz on trumpet and electronics and the versatile Mike Hurley at the drums played in the Café area. Again picking up announcements was difficult but the three pieces I heard came from the pens of Mapp, Diaz and Arve Henriksen. Diaz is clearly influenced by Henriksen and incorporates electronics into his music courtesy of a free standing effects unit. His trumpet and electronically generated textures merged with Mapp’s liquid bass guitar with Hurley anchoring things from the drums. The Café wasn’t perhaps the best place to appreciate the subtleties of their music and in any event I had to leave early for the next ticketed event. I was intrigued by what I did hear and would like to hear more of the trio at some point in the future.
PERCY PURSGLOVE’S ENCHANTED HEART
Taking place in the MAC’s main theatre this project consisted of a series of intimate duets featuring Percy Pursglove on trumpet and occasional double bass and his long term friend and collaborator Hans Koller at the piano. Born in Germany Koller has been resident in the UK for many years and has taught with Pursglove at Birmingham Conservatoire. Koller’s large ensemble album “Cry, Want” featuring Pursglove and special guest Bill Frisell (guitar) is reviewed elsewhere on this site.
This relaxed and understated set featured some lovely playing from both men. Most of the compositions came from Koller, some of them his settings or adaptations of Bach pieces such as the opener “Evensong”.
Koller’s “Footloose” featured Pursglove on double bass but in the main he stuck to the trumpet which appears to be his main instrument these days. It’s certainly the one that’s winning him the plaudits as he establishes himself increasingly on the London jazz scene.
“Enchanted Heart” itself was suitably lush and romantic with Pursglove back on the trumpet and this was followed by “Secret Garden” and the deeply emotional “Heart & Soul”. The forbiddingly titled “The Bitter Passion Time” was followed by an instrumental setting of the John Masefield poem “Sea Fever”.
Throughout the set fragments of a tune had acted as a kind of coda to other pieces, sometimes rather jarringly so. Pursglove and Koller played “Reflections Of Moods” in full at the end of the set, a neatly symmetrical way to conclude a concert that was intimate, beautifully crafted and high on interaction and mutual respect. The Koller/Pursglove collaboration sometimes reminded me of that other splendid British trumpet/piano duo Tom Arthurs and Richard Fairhurst.
GREYISH QUARTET
The final Best Of Cobweb session came from Greyish Quartet, a band led by young pianist and composer David A.Grey and featuring Sam Wooster on trumpet, Nick Jurd on bass and Jim Bashford at the drums. The Café was absolutely packed at this time and no tables were available so I stood at the back and took in what I could. Wooster’s bright trumpeting impressed, cutting clearly through the hubbub and Grey delivered a series of fluent solos at the electric piano. Jurd and Bashford were a propulsive and swinging rhythm section and the whole performance had an appealing energy about it although the subtleties couldn’t really be appreciated. The quartet is due to record soon, I hope I get the chance to hear the album when it comes out as this performance suggested considerable potential.
FOOD
Saturday’s headline act was another Anglo/Norwegian electro improvising collaboration courtesy of the duo Food comprising of English saxophonist Iain Ballamy and Norwegian drummer Thomas Stronen. Food began way back in 1998 and originally featured Ballamy and Stronen alongside bassist Mats Eilertsen and, in a nice touch of symmetry, Harmonic’s Friday night headliner Arve Henriksen on trumpet. With Eilertsen and Henriksen now ploughing their own furrows the slimmed down Food now perform with guest artists. The duo’s 2010 debut for ECM records, “Quiet Inlet” featured contributions from trumpeter Nils Petter Molvaer and guitarist and soundscaper Christian Fennesz. It’s a good introduction to Food’s sound-world and consists of seven concise and often highly melodic improvised pieces.
In a live context Food tend to prefer lengthy single piece improvisations that fill an entire set, their splendid performance at the 2010 Cheltenham Jazz Festival alongside Fennesz being a case in point. Today’s Birmingham performance again found them working alongside a guitarist, the Norwegian Bjorn Klakegg in his first appearance with the group.
As Ballamy explained the group’s music is totally improvised and the lengthy first item was typical of Food’s modus operandi with Stronen dictating the proceedings from his customised drum kit, a mind boggling mix of conventional drum kit, a dizzying array of small cymbals, bells and gongs plus an arsenal of electronic percussion and other computerised gizmos. Ballamy inserts glorious snippets of colour and texture into Stronen’s soundscapes via his tenor and soprano saxophones plus EWI (electronic wind instrument) and also has his own electrical devices, including live looping, to shape both his own and the group sound. Klakegg initially sounded a little tentative and unsure of his role, less integrated into the group than Fennesz, but his playing gained authority as the set progressed. Like his colleagues he had a battery of pedals and other electronic effects at his disposal.
Food’s densely layered soundscapes were strangely hypnotic and compelling and in a concession to theatricality were accompanied by swirling dry ice, which personally I could well have done without. Not that this detracted from the music itself, which, with its unique blend of jazz, electronica and folk influences has its own kind of chilly beauty. Conventional jazz solos are hardly appropriate to the Food ethos but each musician took turns in sharing the lead with Klakegg on guitar and Ballamy on tenor both delivering passages that were broadly speaking “solos”.
The group’s initial, subtly shifting magnum opus was very well received and for their second “stretch” ,as Ballamy put it, the trio were augmented by the twin trumpets of Percy Pursglove and Aaron Diaz, the latter bringing even more electronic gadgetry to the already crowded stage. The two Birmingham based musicians acquitted themselves well, filling Molvaer’s role between them with a mix of open horn and muted trumpeting plus Diaz’s electronic effects. They slotted in very nicely with Food’s distinctive group ambience.
This was an excellent final concert to conclude Harmonic 2011’s ticketed programme. It probably fell just short of Food’s Cheltenham performance last year and of course comparisons with the previous evening’s event featuring former Food member Arve Henriksen were inevitable. For me Arve and Dreams Of Tall Buildings get the nod, possibly because I had seen Food before and thus knew roughly what to expect, but the standing ovation granted to the Henriksen/DOTB suggests that most of the audience (I’m sure there were many that attended both gigs) agreed with me.
STEVE TROMANS DIRECTIONS IN MUSIC
While we had been absorbing all the music described above Birmingham based pianist Steve Tromans was sat in the MAC gallery pounding away at the keyboard of an electric piano. Nobody could hear him unless they had hired a set of headphones to listen to Steve’s piano marathon. He played for the best part of eleven hours solid, starting at midday and finishing after 11.00 pm. During the brief breaks between bands on the other stages fans could be seen listening to Steve’s magnum opus unfold, there were lyrical, classically inspired moments, Keith Jarrett gospel style vamps and torrential percussive motifs clearly inspired by Tromans’ love of John Coltrane and his pianist McCoy Tyner. Of course anybody dipping into the performance may have heard something entirely different.
At the end of the evening a small knot of fans and festival staff gave Tromans a hearty round of applause as he lifted his fingers from the keys for the final time and the headphones from his ears. His lugs looked red and raw, his fingers more so. This had been a remarkable feat of both physical endurance and sheer musicality delivered in a unique way. I’d even been out exploring the environs of Cannon Hill Park with Steve’s music ringing in my ears. It was also odd to hear the music and not have any visual input, the facial expressions, workings of the fingers etc. although some listeners did position themselves in such a way as to ensure they caught this. For me this aspect had parallels with Phronesis’ “Pitch Black” performance at this year’s Brecon Jazz Festival.
I had to head for home at this point but I hope somebody headed for the bar and got him a well earned beer.
OVERVIEW
Artistically Harmonic 2011 was a huge success with memorable performances from a wide array of musicians with Henriksen and DOTB the pinnacle and the perfect blend of the local with the international. Financially I hope it broke even and that it can be repeated. Harmonic fills a niche in the Birmingham festival calendar giving “cutting edge” or experimental music a place to be appreciated and giving local, often very young musicians a platform to demonstrate their skills. It offers a good alternative to the largely trad to mainstream Birmingham International Jazz Festival and the funk and soul orientated Mostly Jazz Festival and thus ensures that Birmingham’s main festivals cover a wide variety of jazz. Harmonic also complements the ongoing work of Birmingham Jazz under the leadership of Tony Dudley Evans with the Food concert being financially supported by Birmingham Jazz.
Much of the success of this year’s festival was due to the move to the MAC. Focussing the festival in a single location led to a good atmosphere and praise should also be given to the MAC staff who were extremely friendly, courteous and efficient throughout whether stewarding, working in reception/information or in the Café, well done you guys.
However the main praise should go to festival organisers Chris Mapp and Percy Pursglove for their hard work in ensuring that the festival ran smoothly all weekend. They were everywhere, announcing, playing, liaising and generally doing a fine job. They’re probably still recovering as I write. Well done to them and thanks for the gift of a Harmonic 2011 staff T shirt. It will be worn with pride. Here’s to 2012.
The Thing, Café Oto, London 04/10/2011
The Thing
Thursday, October 06, 2011
Reviewed by: Tim Owen
The Thing play forceful, brawny jazz, steeped in garage rock flavour
To paraphrase Lou Reed, you can’t beat 2 saxophones, bass, drum. Particularly, these days, where both saxophones are played (not simultaneously, you understand) by Mats Gustafsson, and Ingebrigt Håker Flaten and Paal Nilssen-Love are taking care of bass and drum duties. The tripartite Thing has a physically imposing presence, uniformly decked out in no-nonsense jeans and Ruby’s B-B-Q Ts. I guess that’s some sort of sponsorship deal: it’s certainly easy to believe that brisket and pork ribs are staples of the Thing’s diet. And its a pretty useful signifier of the group’s signature sound of forceful, brawny jazz, steeped in garage rock flavour.
It doesn’t seem like five minutes since I finished typing my Jazz Mann review of The Thing’s 2009-recorded collaborative live albums, “Shinjuke Growl” and “Shinjuku Crawl”. Now they have a new one to promote, a studio effort that they’ve named “Mono”, with reference, says Gustafsson, “to the band’s mono mania”. I don’t think he was referring to infectious mononucleosis; more likely it was single-channel sound he had in mind; direct sonics, stripped-back and bullshit free. In any case, from tonight’s evidence “Mono”, the album, sounds like a step back from the outré improv of those “Shinjuku” collaborations, fine as they were, and back to the skronking garage jazz at which The Thing so vividly excel.
Set one rocked hard from the git-go. Even Håker Flaten‘s nonchalantly thrummed bass solo, which he ended by leaning toward an amp to create a deep bass feedback loop, had an exoskeletal rigidity to it. The feedback signalled a steady rock pulse that carried The Thing through a bourbon soaked, New Orleans vibe to something altogether more riff-centric, and a climax underpinned by a driving drum rhythm that had maybe a touch of Meters style to it. According to Gustafsson, this was a version of Stephanie McDee’s Zydeco hit “Call the Police”. He also described something earlier in the sequence as “a Norwegian wedding song”, but that was an in-joke reference to the fact that two of the band were recently married (not to each other, you understand). They closed the first set with a no-nonsense mid-tempo unpicking of the new album title track, “Mono”.
The second set’s pulse was initially slower, beginning with solo bass, then Gustafsson extrapolating from the intro to PJ Harvey’s “To Bring You My Love”, before settling into an impassioned version of Don Cherry’s inexhaustible “Awake Nu”. A hushed passage with the tenderness of a lullaby could have been a nod to Johnny Hodges, but Gustafsson later identified the source as the African American spiritual “There is a Balm in Gilead”. After that the pressure inexorably built up again, through what may have been Sonny Rollin’s “The Bridge” and then (again, according to Gustafsson) “a couple of Dutch themes” that I didn’t identify. I’m guessing they weren’t by 2 Unlimited. Another new track, “The Viking” began in a stentorian mode that the band expertly modulated through a dynamic duet for sax and drums, until Gustafsson could congruously quote Sonny Rollins’ calypso-tinged “St. Thomas”; a neat, bravura transition. The climax to the night was an expertly-judged segue from a long preamble of knotty, staccato impressionism, to a romp through the Sonics’ garage classic “Have Love Will Travel”.
Cline operates in a grey area, seemingly within the parameters of experimental rock, yet clearly in thrall to jazz.
Nels Cline Singers
“Initiate”
(Cryptogramophone)
Nels Cline steps away from his supporting role in the limelight to make a jazz noise with his own trio on “Initiate”, a new double album. Maybe you can’t quite place Cline’s name? He turns up on a fair few recordings (including titles by Jazz Mann favourites Huntsville and Wadada Leo Smith), and he has a long-standing association with the Geraldine Fibbers and Carla Bozulich, for whom he arranged, produced and played on a reworking of Willie Nelson’s album “The Red Headed Stranger”. But chances are you’ll know Cline as guitarist with alternative rockers Wilco, a gig he’s held down since 2004, when he made a significant mark on their landmark album, “A Ghost is Born”.
Away from Wilco, Cline operates in a grey area, seemingly within the parameters of experimental rock, yet clearly in thrall to jazz. He must be a big John Coltrane fan, judging by his contribution to revisions of the saxophonist’s “Ascension” (“Electric Ascension”, 2005, with ROVA) and “Interstellar Space” (“Interstellar Space Revisited”, 1999, with drummer Gregg Bendian), but the influences that emerge on “Initiate” are those of other guitarists: Jim Hall, Thurston Moore, John Scofield and Bill Frisell are all evoked, in a carefully woven synthesis of stylistic inputs.
Cline seems already to have expanded his audience with his 2009 album “Coward”, and “Initiate” looks like an attempt to consolidate those gains. Its two discs - a studio album and a live set - are housed within a gatefold cover that features a striking series of photographs of CERN’s large hadron collider. Both were recorded in Cline’s native California in 2009.
It probably goes without saying, but Cline’s band, the Nels Cline Singers, are no more vocal than Glenn Branca’s Theoretical Girls were female; actually less so, since there was one woman in Branca’s quartet, whereas there are vocals on only a couple of the tracks on this two CD set, and those vocals are wordless. The ‘Singers’ are in fact a classic bass, drums guitar configuration, with bassist Devin Hoff alternating between contrabass and bass guitar, and drummer Scott Amen supplementing his kit with live electronics, loops and treatments.
The electronics are a key ingredient here, but for every track like “Scissors/Saw”, which takes Cline deep into studio experimentation in a way reminiscent of recordings by fellow guitarist/producer David Torn, there are those like “Sunken Song”, on which Cline’s dry, lyrical phrasing had me (unsuccessfully) checking John Scofield’s 1990 album “Time on My Hands” for a source melody. The finely tuned acoustic/electric blend of Bill Frisell’s music is another unmistakeable influence. “Fly Fly” loosely evokes Frisell’s playing on Lookout for Hope, particularly in it’s gradual layering to brooding intensity (Cline isn’t as shy as Frisell of dissonance or overload), while “Divining” ends by entwining Frisell-like looped delays with one of those wordless vocals.
The first, studio disc is a patchwork of various moods and styles, which the Singers all make to work together. While “Floored” is liberally splattered by George Clinton’s cosmic slop (or at least Bill Laswell’s take on it), the low-key aura of “You Noticed”, enhanced by some very sensitive electric piano from guest Yuka Honda, leads into the exploratory abstractions of “Red Line to Greenland”. The more conventionally intricate, delicate group interplay of “Grow Closer” and “b86 (Inkblot Nebula)” frame the moody experimentation of “Scissor/Saw”. The following “King Queen”, by contrast, has some of the suspended animation and urgent forward momentum of dance music. “Zingiber” takes yet another tack, entwining ripples of electro-acoustic guitar in strands of rich bowed bass and dreamy vocalese. “Mercy (Procession)” is a slow builder that takes the album to an effective climax, and the closing “Into It (You Turn)” is a brief voyage into wide-stream electronic ambience, with Yuka Honda on synth.
The live album, as might be expected, is generally looser in structure, and lacks some of the first album’s lightness of touch. “Forge” is a moody, bruising opener, while “Fly Fly” has its intense crescendo. With no letup, “Raze” folds some razor-wire solo guitar improv into passages of truly bruising riffage. Yet all this machismo finally yields to an elegant version of Carla Bley’s “And Now, the Queen”, which is handled with absolute respect and a delicacy of touch that the trio carry over to the discursive “Blues, Too”, which is dedicated to Jim Hall but explores some unfamiliar country improv byways. “Thurston Country” is a loose jam on which Cline takes the back roads through Sonic Youth territory, closing with an unaccredited cover of Sonic Youth’s “New Hampshire” that quotes the tune’s melodic head explicitly. (Of his original version on “Coward”, Cline told Jam Band: “It’s a tribute to Thurston. It’s got a Thurstonian riff, the so called verse riff which is blatant Thurston, it’s in seven. I don’t think Sonic Youth plays in seven anymore.” *) The final track is a funky, jauntily muscular vamp on Weather Report’s “Boogie Woogie Waltz”, on which alt. rock trio Deerhoof guest but make little evident impact, all adding percussion to Scott Amen’s brawny thump. The driving force is always Cline, his guitar tone something like Jim Hall might have achieved, if he’d worked with the BBC’s Radiophonic Workshop.
* http://www.jambands.com/features/2009/02/22/of-cowards-and-continuations-with-alex-and-nels-cline
Friday at Harmonic Festival, Midlands Arts Centre, Birmingham, 30/09/2011.
Various Artists
Tuesday, October 04, 2011
Reviewed by: Ian Mann
A welcome return for "Birmingham's cutting edge jazz festival". Stimulating, rewarding and entertaining with the Dreams Of Tall Buildings/ Arve Henriksen collaboration the undoubted highlight.
Harmonic Festival, Midlands Arts Centre, Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham,30/09/2011.
Billed as “Birmingham’s cutting edge jazz festival” Harmonic is the brainchild of Birmingham based musicians Chris Mapp and Percy Pursglove. Their first venture under the Harmonic banner took place in March 2010 at various venues around the city centre but with the bulk of the performances taking place at the CBSO Centre. The line up featured a mix of local, national and international names with the pick of the performances coming from New York’s Claudia Quintet under the leadership of drummer John Hollenbeck.
Artistically the first Harmonic Festival was a great success and I was pleased to see the festival return for a second year. The move to the newly refurbished Midlands Arts Centre or MAC was an inspired one, the presence of several performance spaces within a single building led to a real festival atmosphere and the glorious late summer weather was a surprise bonus. Such downtime as there was between gigs could be spent out in the sunshine enjoying the well tended environs of the spacious Cannon Hill Park. The free parking was a very significant benefit too!
Friday at the festival featured the annual Jazz and The Media Symposium, an intriguing “Collectives Triple Bill” with music from some of the UK’s brightest young jazz musicians, and, to close, a set from headliner Arve Henriksen, the Norwegian trumpeter collaborating with the Birmingham based soundscape artists Dreams Of Tall Buildings. This was a line-up that stayed true to the Harmonic principles of not only offering a showcase to young players but also bringing in interesting and innovative international headline acts.
JAZZ AND THE MEDIA SYMPOSIUM
The second Jazz and The Media Symposium provided a stimulating afternoon’s conversation with host Tim Wall (Professor of Radio and Popular Music Studies at Birmingham School of Media) introducing presentations from Andrew Dubber, Reader in Music Industries Innovation at Birmingham City University and Sebastian Scotney of the hugely successful London Jazz Blog.
A professional writer, speaker and sometime DJ Dubber referred to various projects he has been involved with in various parts of the globe including Norway, India and the Scottish island of Jura. Perhaps the most relevant of these was Scarborough Jazz Festival where he was involved with the marketing operation. Dubber focussed on jazz’s relationship with the internet and social media and of the need for “media appropriate mediation”. He stressed the importance for jazz of letting its potential listeners become involved in the process of music making, believing this fostered some kind of “ownership”. This was in part facilitated by giving musicians small hand held portable cameras and getting them to film themselves with the results being transmitted on line and thus involving the fans in the process. Some of this all seemed rather too close to the techniques of reality TV for me and overall I wasn’t impressed. Frankly I don’t see Dubber’s methods attracting many new listeners to the fold although established fans may appreciate having an “inside view” of the musicians at work.
I was rather more interested in what Sebastian Scotney had to say. Scotney’s London Jazz Blog is not dissimilar to The Jazzmann with its mix of jazz news and record and live reviews. Sebastian’s style is more conversational and he gives prominence to previews rather than reviews but essentially we’re singing from the same hymn sheet. Both of us are hobbyists rather than professionals and have the simple aims of sharing our enthusiasms whilst (hopefully) helping the jazz community. The London Jazz Blog actively encourages reader comment and participation but only if this is positive or at least informed criticism. “Trolling” is actively discouraged but remains a comparatively minor problem. Sebastian has established a supportive on line community of jazz enthusiasts so well done to him for that. He no longer blogs for the Telegraph but is nevertheless rather more involved with the “music business” than myself. Operating as we do in broadly similar areas we have corresponded by email several times but nevertheless it was good to meet up at last to discuss our shared love for the music. Thanks to Sebastian for buying the coffee during the break, unfortunately I couldn’t reciprocate as he had to dash back to London in the evening to play baritone sax with the Stan Reynolds Big Band. Nevertheless I shall look forward to returning the favour when we meet up at another festival.
Festival director Chris Mapp also took part in the debate citing the importance of youtube and twitter in connection with the Harmonic and Cobweb Collective websites. An interesting debate grew out of this with regard to the question of UK jazz musicians being too modest and self deprecating when it comes to self promotion, especially when compared to their American counterparts, plus the whole issue of “authenticity” and “selling out”. Heavy stuff to end a thought provoking afternoon of debate and ideas.
COLLECTIVES TRIPLE BILL
On then, with the music itself. The early 00’s rise of the F-ire Collective has encouraged other young musicians to follow in their wake. North London’s Loop Collective is the best known and most established of these but similar aggregations of even younger musicians have now sprung up in Birmingham (Cobweb Collective) and Manchester (Efpi Collective). This intriguing triple bill featured one band each from Efpi, Cobweb and Loop with Manchester’s 265 Quartet taking to the stage first. The event took place in the intimate Hexagon performance space with the semi circular seating arrangement giving the audience the chance to get close to the musicians.
265 Quartet are part of a collective of musicians recording for the EFPI record label. With their hand manufactured cardboard sleeves there’s something of the DIY punk spirit about Efpi, particularly their flagship act the Beats & Pieces Big Band, a blistering large ensemble led by Musical Director Ben Cottrell. A Loose Tubes for the 21st Century B&PBB played a rousing set at the Mostly Jazz Festival, held in Birningham’s Moseley Park back in July, and also attracted a rave review in The Guardian for their performance at Ronnie Scott’s as part of the Brit Jazz Festival a few weeks later.
Formed and led by B&PBB guitarist Anton Hunter (also of the Hunter Andreae Quartet or HAQ) the 265 Quartet are a very different prospect to the big band. Inspired by American guitarist Bill Frisell’s 858 Group (hence the numeric name) 265 are a chamber jazz group featuring Hunter on guitar, Cottrell on clarinet, Graham South on trumpet and flugel and Rod Skipp on cello.
The music blurs the lines between jazz and contemporary classical music and composition and improvisation. It’s a tricky line for such young musicians to tread but 265 do so superbly. The group began with Frisell’s “Strange Meeting”, a good introduction to the voices of the band with solo episodes for flugelhorn, clarinet, cello and guitar.
The rest of the material came from within the group. South’s eerie and atmospheric “Sleep” exhibited a real dream like quality and featured the composer on both flugel and muted trumpet.
A segue of Hunter compositions “From Here I Saw What Happened” and “And I Cried” saw Skipp both plucking and bowing his cello and Cottrell using the keys of his clarinet as percussion. South’s lyrical flugel solo contrasted well with the more avant garde elements in the second section as Hunter deployed an array of effects pedals before a muted coda.
Hunter’s lyrical “An Individual Note” was ushered in by the composer’s guitar before the rich blend of Skipp’s cello and South’s flugel took over with subsequent solos coming from South and Cottrell.
To conclude Skipp’s “Joust” was aptly named with each instrument battling for supremacy in an unexpectedly garrulous finale. A sparky clarinet/flugel dialogue culminated in an almost impossibly lengthy sustained single flugel horn note. Skipp meanwhile used a drumstick both on and under his cello strings to abrasive effect.
265 sound very different to the other Efpi projects that I’ve heard and their sound emphasises the sheer versatility of these musicians both individually and collectively. They have yet to record but will inevitably do so. The results should be most interesting.
NOOSE
Noose, part of Birmingham’s Cobweb Collective are led by the young tenor saxophonist and composer Lluis Mather, a graduate of the Jazz Course at Birmingham Conservatoire. Already a distinctive soloist Mather appears in a number of bands and played a prestigious gig as the leader of his own quartet at the 2010 Cheltenham Jazz Festival.
Noose occupies a rather different area to the quartet and is a bassless line-up featuring the vocals of Holly Thomas alongside Dan Nicholls (piano) and Euan Palmer (drums). The group explores the poetry and jazz tradition pioneered by pianist and composer Michael Garrick with Thomas filling the Norma Winstone role.
The intimate setting of the Hexagon was far more appropriate to the group’s music than the wide open spaces of Moseley Park where I saw Noose earlier in the year as part of the Mostly Jazz Festival. Here the nuances of their settings of poems plus Mather’s original compositions could be better appreciated.
They began with a setting of Aldous Huxley’s poem “Somewhere Between”, extracted from his last book “Island”. This was centred around Thomas’ voice and Nicholls’ piano with Mather subsequently coming into his own on the following “Lines Of Succession”, an original featuring the shared saxophone/wordless vocal lines of Mather and Thomas.
“Cotes Du Rhone Village”, a piece that also featured in Mather’s 2009 Cheltenham set was more obviously jazzy with Palmer deploying a variety of implements on his drums from sticks to brushes to bare hands. Thomas’ vocal interlude (in French) represented a fresh twist on the arrangement and the piece culminated in a fluent Mather tenor sax solo.
Palmer’s drums issued in a setting of Philip Larkin’s “High Windows” with Thomas intoning the words above Nicholls’ dense piano chording. Larkin was famously an avid jazz fan so it was highly appropriate that his words should have been adapted for a jazz context.
“Ratcliffe’s Palm” with its piano/drum dialogue and later unison sax and vocal lines plus tenor solo was another step into broadly orthodox jazz territory. The spiky “Lord Of The Dance” (not the hymn tune) moved from a gentle voice and sax intro through a more animated passage of staccato phrases before culminating in an expansive Nicholls piano solo.
To close the Mather original “Fern” with its piano/drum duet segued into a beautiful setting of Tennyson’s poem “Ask Me No More”.
On the whole I enjoyed this but sometimes found the vocals a little superfluous. Mather is an accomplished enough soloist and doesn’t really need any help on the essentially instrumental pieces in the group’s repertoire. Having said that Thomas is an accomplished singer as her duo set with guitarist Toby Carpenter at Harmonic 2010 proved. She was at her best here on the poems although her voice was sometimes rather submerged in the mix. Palmer’s sensitivity and attention to detail at the drum kit was impressive and Nicholls also impressed with his pianistic skills both as accompanist and soloist. Nicholls leads his own group Mirror featuring Loop Collective members James Allsopp (reeds) and Dave Smith (drums) thus providing a neat link with the band coming up next.
SPLICE
Part of the London based Loop Collective, Splice are led by bass guitarist Pierre Alexandre Tremblay who also lectures in composition and improvisation at the University of Huddersfield. Tremblay had led a free workshop that morning as part of the festival with members of the Cobweb Collective and the local electro-acoustic ensemble Soundkitchen participating.
Splice, whose début album “Lab”, has recently been reviewed on The Jazzmann incorporate a good deal of electronica into their work courtesy of Tremblay and trumpeter Alex Bonney. The group is completed by Robin Fincker (tenor sax and clarinet) and drummer Dave Smith. Visibly older than the Efpi and Cobweb guys these players are now experienced professionals but have retained the desire to experiment and innovate.
Although the album contains compositions from all four members of the group at least half the record is freely improvised. Nothing here sounded particularly familiar so I’d guess that the quartet’s set was pretty much fully improvised. The first piece incorporated dubby textures and electronic glitches with Bonney treating the group sound through his bank of electronic devices. Smith’s drum pulses and accents added both colour and rhythmic drive with the most obvious jazz influence coming from Fincker’s tenor.
The second piece featured Bonney on trumpet, actively processing his own sound. After passing through a Smith drum feature and a meandering electronic section Fincker’s full on tenor above an electronic maelstrom seemed to signal coming apocalypse.
The more reflective third instalment opened saw Fincker switch to clarinet with consistently interesting musical dialogues taking place between the band members with Bonney a constant factor. Tremblay’s bass guitar sound was heavily treated throughout the set via the leader’s own box of electronic tricks and he subtly dictated the course throughout.
To close Tremblay announced that the group were going to play a “ballad”. This proved to be a delicious piece of French irony as the group launched into a barrage of thunderous bass chords, bludgeoning drums and bellicose tenor sax. Playing the trumpet one handed Bonney manipulated the sound with the other. Tremblay’s extravagant bass chording sometimes reminded me of Jim Barr of Get The Blessing but Splice wander far more deeply into avant garde and improvisational territory than GTB.
Inevitably there was the odd longueur but overall this was a sparky, consistently engrossing set full of good ideas and excellent playing. The use of electronics anticipated the music that was to come from the Friday headliners Arve Henriksen and Dreams Of Tall Buildings.
ARVE HENRIKSEN AND DREAMS OF TALL BUILDINGS
The Norwegian trumpeter Arve Henriksen has developed a unique voice on his instrument blending post Miles Davis jazz trumpet with folk music forms and electronica to develop a totally personal style. I saw Henriksen give a remarkable performance at Hay Festival in 2009 in the company of laptop artist Jan Bang but this performance with the Birmingham based sound artists Dreams Of Tall Buildings was better still.
Although Henriksen has recorded prolifically for ECM he still finds time for outside projects and initially collaborated with the DOTB duo of Justin Wiggan and Darren Joyce on the album “Rope/Drowning The Heart Sounds” released on DOTB’s Museum label in 2009.
The stage of the MAC’s main theatre resembled an electrical showroom with Henriksen, Wiggan and Joyce together with their arsenal of electronic equipment spread right across the front of the stage with guest percussionist Laurence Hunt positioned on the far left. Hunt had never played with Henriksen before and was the only one of the quartet to actually be reading music although Wiggan had some kind of colour coded crib sheet on his table.
The freshly assembled quartet played a single piece, “The World Forgets To Weep”, which had been specially commissioned for the festival. The ebb and flow of the music quickly drew the listener in with Hunt’s use of tuned percussion sometimes adding a Steve Reich feel to the proceedings. Wiggan and Hunts mind boggling array of lap tops, pedalboards and hand held devices were complemented by throat mikes which amplified their other worldly vocals, an adjunct to Henriksen’s own remarkable singing which ranged from muezzin like wailing to church like choral vocalising to stream of consciousness mutterings in both English and Norwegian. His trumpet playing on both the conventional instrument and the smaller pocket trumpet (echoes here of Don Cherry) was equally distinctive ranging from breathy vocalised sounds to flute like intonations. It rarely sounds like conventional jazz trumpeting but is all the more remarkable for that and it all fitted in perfectly with DOTB’s electronic and computerised soundscapes. Elsewhere Joyce added heavily distorted, fuzzed up electric guitar and Hunt added to the already unsettling but somehow strangely beautiful atmosphere with the eerie sound of bowed cymbals and vibes.
This unique music seemed to grow organically, possessed of a kind of inner logic with Henriksen’s trumpet and vocals and Hunt’s percussion adding a welcome humanising element to the electronic soundscapes generated by Wiggan and Joyce. Moments of chilly beauty were juxtaposed with passages of almost industrial noise to give the piece a strong narrative arc and at times an almost epic grandeur. A subtle but effective lightshow added to the music and at the end of the piece several members of the audience rose to give the quartet a standing ovation.
At this point the house lights came up but the audience resolutely stayed put, still wanting more of this extraordinary music. Eventually Henriksen was coerced into coming out and announcing an encore. This featured the Norwegian singing through his pocket trumpet to the accompaniment of electronically generated sound-washes, the shimmer of vibes and a backdrop of choral vocals. Like much of Henriksen’s output this would have made perfect film soundtrack music.
This was one of the best concerts of its type that I have seen, matched only by Food’s single piece performance at the 2010 Cheltenham Jazz Festival and far eclipsing Spin Marvel’s rather disappointing effort at Cheltenham this year. The involvement of extra musicians also gives it the edge over Henriksen’s Hay performance.
I treated myself to a copy of the DOTB/Henriksen album and find myself pleased to report that this also works very well when listened to at home. In many cases improvised music, whether electronic or acoustic, is less convincing without that vital live/visual element and it’s a tribute to DOTB’s and Henriksen’s soundscaping skills that the album is so effective. I’d not heard of DOTB before tonight’s show but on the evidence of this live performance plus the album I’d be encouraged to find out more.
A long journey home meant that I couldn’t stick around to hear much of drummer and composer Jonathan Silk’s quartet playing in the MAC bar. However what I did catch sounded promising with the twin tenors of John Fleming going toe to toe spurred on by Nick Jurd’s bass and Silk’s drums.
The first day of Harmonic had been stimulating, rewarding and entertaining with the DOTB/Henriksen collaboration the undoubted highlight.
A genuine trio record with a high degree of group interaction. A worthy addition to Mitchell's admirably wide ranging catalogue.
Robert Mitchell 3io
“The Embrace”
(3io Records 3IOCD001)
Pianist and composer Robert Mitchell has been a significant presence on the UK jazz scene for a number of years and has recorded in a variety of contexts ranging from solo piano via a duo with violinist Omar Puente to his seven piece group Panacea. He has also been a prolific and productive sideman with Courtney Pine, Matana Roberts, Greg Osby, Steve Coleman, Dan Stern and others. However my favourite context for Mitchell’s playing remains his 3io with bassist Tom Mason and drummer Richard Spaven. The threesome’s début recording “The Greater Good” (2008) was Mitchell’s best album to date and remains a personal favourite. It was popular with other commentators too and garnered a number of awards. The trio’s immaculate performance at the 2009 Cheltenham Jazz Festival was one of that year’s live highlights.
“The Greater Good” is a tough act to follow and for me “The Embrace” just falls short of its illustrious predecessor. However it’s not for want of trying, Mitchell has again selected an inspired and eclectic collection of outside material to complement the compositions from within the group. Here tunes by Aphex Twin, Little Dragon and 4Hero rub shoulders with compositions by Bheki Mseleku and Robert Schumann, proof indeed that Mitchell refuses to be boxed in by genre. His adaptation of these tunes for the jazz piano format reveals considerable interpretative and arranging skills and follows on from the similarly eclectic “Greater Good” which featured Massive Attack’s “Teardrop” as an album centre piece.
The new album opens with Mason’s bass ushering in Aphex Twin’s “Alberto Balsam”. Once again it is Spaven’s mastery of contemporary grooves that helps to make material such as this convincing in an acoustic jazz context. The 3io have been performing together for ten years and there’s a commendable tightness and interdependency about their playing here and elsewhere. Spaven and Mason’s hypnotic grooves contrast well with Mitchell’s piano lyricism on this highly effective opener.
Mason’s “A Desperate Man” expands from his initial bass riff and retains the contemporary mood established by the opener. Mitchell’s playing is alternatively lyrical and feverish and the piece culminates in an exquisite bass and drum duet with Spaven carrying the melody with his pattering hand drums. Subverting the traditional melodic and rhythmic roles of the instruments in the trio is a favourite theme of Mitchell’s, it may not be strictly innovative but his group carry it off more successfully and take it further than most.
Swedish electronica group Little Dragon’s “Twice” is given an almost minimalist treatment with Mitchell emphasising the beauty of the original melody. Spaven’s ever evolving drum patterns provide wonderfully inspired and colourful punctuation.
The lead changes hands several times during the cover of 4Hero’s “Third Stream” with Spaven’s skittering groove and Mason’s virile bass leading things off before an increasingly exuberant Mitchell piano solo. There are plenty of interactive, rhythmically taut passages too on a track that represents something of a tour de force from the group and has been part of their live repertoire since the “Greater Good” days.
Mitchell’s title track is a tribute to his father and embraces African melodic and rhythmic patterns. These were inspired by the percussionist Nana Tsiboe with whom Mitchell has worked and studied. Mitchell, who is naturally left handed, has also explored the musical possibilities of reversing the traditional roles of the left and right hands at the piano keyboard and some evidence of that can be heard here. Mitchell’s melody overlaps (or embraces) Mason’s bass parts and thus the bassist is also heard to good effect here, including an early solo feature.
Spaven’s “Maz” was originally written for the drummer’s own quintet featuring singer Jose James. This presumably accounts for the melancholy, song like quality of the piece. The similarly lovely “Cycles” by the late South African pianist, saxophonist and composer pays tribute to a talented but often tragic figure. Mason’s wonderfully resonant bass solo and Mitchell’s own joyous playing represent the stand out moments of the piece.
Mitchell’s “A Tear (For Now)” is a beautiful and moving original ballad with Mason’s bass sometimes assuming a melodic role. “Rocker’s Round Window”, a piece by Spaven and his Dutch songwriting partner Vincent Helbers (they wrote the title track of the previous album) is less forceful than the title might suggest even though the piece is centred around Spaven’s colourful and inventive drumming.
Mitchell’s arrangement of classical composer Robert Schumann’s “Traumeri” (or “Dreams”) forms a brief, beautiful, almost hymnal coda to a fine album.
“The Embrace” is a consistently interesting and absorbing record with excellent contributions from all three protagonists. It’s very much a genuine trio record with a high degree of group interaction that sees all three musicians adopting the role of lead instrument at various times in addition to all being involved in the writing process. The standard of the playing is exemplary throughout, all three are excellent technicians.
If “The Embrace” has a fault it’s a lack of variety in mood and pace. Despite Spaven’s hip hop grooves and broken beats this is still thoughtful, almost cerebral, music and many of the pieces do tend to sound rather similar after a while. “The Greater Good” seemed to cover a wider variety of bases and hence still gets the nod. For all this “The Embrace” is still a worthy addition to Mitchell’s admirably wide ranging catalogue.
A record that sits outside the mainstream but there is still much here to please the adventurous listener.
Splice
“Lab”
(Loop Records LOOP 1013)
Splice is an electro-improvising quartet led by Pierre Alexandre Tremblay, the head of the Composition and Improvisation course at the University of Huddersfield. Tremblay also works regularly with members of the North London based Loop Collective and Splice finds him playing bass guitar and electronics alongside Alex Bonney (trumpet & electronics), Robin Fincker (tenor sax & clarinet) and Loop mainstay Dave Smith (drums).
As both the group name and album title suggest this is a band that positively encourages experimentation as the sounds of conventional instruments are juxtaposed with electronics and other elements of sound manipulation. All four members of the band contribute to the writing process with half of the album’s ten tracks being credited to the whole group, a result, I suspect, of them having developed from spontaneous improvisations. Indeed it’s a group piece that opens the album.
“Caffeinated Drinks” begins in free improv territory, all shuffling drums, vocalised trumpet sounds and the flutter of saxophone pads plus a smattering of electronica. The latter gives the piece an almost ambient feel from which a drum groove eventually emerges allied to a deep dubby drone and topped off by alternatively long and short horn phrases. It maps out the territory that the band wish to explore but makes little concession to the uncommitted and as such isn’t perhaps the ideal opening track.
Tremblay’s “Cortege” is more arresting, a skewed funeral march that with its blend of horns, electronica and dramatic drumming sounds similar to something that Polar Bear might have attempted. Indeed the numerous fans of Seb Rochford’s group should plenty to intrigue and delight in Splice’s music.
Alex Bonney’s “The Wanderer” is more lyrical with a mellifluous mix of muted trumpet and clarinet contrasting well with the vaguely unsettling bass and drum grooves conjured by Tremblay and Smith.
Fincker’s composition “The Mess” originally appeared on the eponymous début album by the trio Blink (Fincker with pianist Alcyona Mick and drummer Paul Clarvis), also released on the Loop label and reviewed elsewhere on this site. Here it’s a showcase for the fiery dialogue between Fincker’s tenor and Smith’s drums with Tremblay’s bass providing the necessary comment and punctuation.
After a succession of compositions the group accredited “Debris” marks a return to freely improvised territory and also ups the electronica quotient. Tremblay and Bonney’s electronics evoke the sound of deep space and Smith’s sparse but effective percussion adds a drugged, dubby feel.
Smith’s own “Matter” seems to blur the lines between composition and improvisation. The piece blends long sax and trumpet lines above the rolling thunder of Smith’s drums and the rumble of Tremblay’s electronics, slowly building in intensity and climaxing with a Bonney trumpet solo before subsiding.
“Interlude” is a brief but tempestuous improvised snippet led by Smith’s drums that acts as the curtain raiser for the seriously trippy “Sillon Ferme”, the most obviously ambient piece on the record. Paced by Tremblay’s treated electric bass the piece is full of glitches and other electronica. It’s actually highly effective; simultaneously chilled out and spooky.
“Ballade Fortuite” is a feature for Bonney’s superlative trumpet playing, an improvisation that draws on the Nordic masters Nil Petters Molvaer and Arve Henriksen plus the ghost of Miles Davis.
Tremblay and Smith provide suitably sympathetic accompaniment and Fincker eventually joins forces with Bonney. The whole thing sounds remarkably cogent and through composed and is highly effective.
The album close with Fincker’s “Luna Verde”, another piece that has seen the light of day before, in this instance the latest Outhouse album “Straw, Sticks and Bricks” (see review elsewhere on this site). This version is very different with Tremblay and Bonney’s electronics supplanting Hilmar Jensson’s “space station guitar” on the original but the other worldly feel of the piece remains largely intact. Ironically this track sounds more “improvised” than its immediate predecessor with a dynamic peak being reached around three quarters of the way through with Bonney’s impassioned trumpet solo backed by Smith’s volcanic drumming.
Splice define themselves thus; “Splice’s raison d’être is to mesh together influences of contemporary jazz, free improv, loud and soft noise, punk grit, ambient music, and more… with seamless blends or blunt juxtapositions.”
On the whole I’d say that this album achieves these aims very well. It’s a record that sits outside the mainstream but despite the occasional, almost inevitable, longueurs there is still much here to please the adventurous listener. Splice are due to play the Harmonic Festival in Birmingham this Friday (30th September 2011) and it will be interesting to witness them performing this or similar material in a live situation.
Torfaen Jazz Society Mini Jazz & Blues Festival, Panteg House, Griffithstown, Pontypool, 24/09/2011.
Various Artists
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Reviewed by: Ian Mann
An unpretentious, thoroughly enjoyable and value for money event featuring music from seven very different bands.
Torfaen Jazz Society Mini Jazz & Blues Festival, Panteg House, Griffithstown, Pontypool, 24/09/2011.
TJS’s annual “mini festival” proved to be an unpretentious, thoroughly enjoyable and value for money event featuring music from seven very different bands over the course of the afternoon and evening. In keeping with the ethos of TJS’s regular club gigs a variety of jazz styles were represented with the personnel ranging from local heroes to nationally known figures. At £12.00 for an all day ticket this represented an incredible bargain and the standard of musicianship was impressive throughout.
Unfortunately the Society’s regular venue, the Open Hearth pub, was unavailable hence the re-location to the comfortable lounge of the Panteg Employees Social Club at Panteg House. The festival had actually kicked off the previous evening with performances by blues belter Debbie Lear and her band and jazz vocalist Sophie Garner with the Paul Jones Trio. Festival organiser Ceri Williams pronounced himself delighted with the Friday evening session and particularly the performance by Sophie Garner.
FESTIVAL ALL STARS
Saturday attracted an enthusiastic and knowledgeable crowd that filled the venue but not uncomfortably so. A well organised festival- band switch-overs were effected quickly and efficiently-kicked off bang on time with the Festival All Stars, a one off collaboration led by young trumpeter Jamie Brownfield. Brownfield, from Mid Wales, is a former NYJO member and studied for a year at Trinity before deciding to return home. He has been gigging regularly since a young age and is a member of several different bands, learning his trade “on the job” as it were. Brownfield is already a mature and fluent soloist and was featured here leading a cross generational band featuring the experienced Gareth Roberts, a band leader in his own right, on trombone and Gareth’s namesake Hugh Roberts, from Bristol, on tenor sax. Ashley John Long, now one of Wales’ premier bassists was part of a young rhythm section that also featured pianist Richard West and drummer Jools Aldridge.
The one off sextet played their way through a good natured set of jazz and bebop standards with much in between tune debating about which piece to tackle next. Inevitably it was all in the “head/ solos/head” format but with everybody rising to the occasion this hardly seemed to matter. Gareth Roberts always delivers and is one of my favourite trombone soloists so it was a pleasure to watch him play as always. Hugh Roberts’ gruff, earthy tenor sax proved a good foil for Brownfield’s pure toned trumpet and Ashley John Long is one of the most engaging double bass soloists around, at home in any context from the free to the straight ahead. Richard West impressed with his broad knowledge of jazz piano styles and Aldridge, in conjunction with Long, kept things swinging.
Most tunes involved round robin soloing, usually with a set of drum breaks at the end, but the quality of the playing ensured that the listener remained engaged. A swinging “Perdido” was followed by “All The Things You Are” and then a New Orleans style “Pennies From Heaven” with West’s honky tonk style piano and Roberts’ growling plunger muted trombone. Erroll Garner’s ballad “Misty” showed the more sensitive side of the band and was sandwiched between two high speed bop workouts, Charlie Parker’s “Now’s The Time” and Sonny Rollins’ “Oleo”, both of these providing the group members with opportunities to demonstrate their considerable chops. Hugh Roberts then switched to clarinet for the final number, a New Orleans style rendition of “Indiana”.
The Festival All Stars had got the day off to a cracking start with a swinging, cheerful set chock full of good playing. Roberts and Long impressed as always but after this impressive display I’ll also be keeping an eye on the progress of the younger members of the group, Brownfield, West and Aldridge.
BRYN DAVIES QUARTET
Local lad Bryn Davies is only seventeen but he is already a remarkably mature soloist on both tenor and alto saxophones. A member of the Welsh Youth Jazz Orchestra he also leads his own quartet featuring pianist Aled Vaghela, bass guitarist Frank Morgan and drummer Andy Hughes. All are similarly youthful and also play in local pop and rock bands.
Despite being handicapped by what looked like a nasty hand injury Davies acquitted himself well, switching between tenor and alto in an entertaining set comprised of jazz and bebop standards. Pianist Vaghela, the latest addition to the group, initially looked nervous but quickly acclimatised to the situation and Hughes’ crisp, neatly energetic drumming impressed throughout.
Most of the tunes were unannounced, if Davies is to continue fronting his own groups he needs to work on the verbal aspect of his performance. However his playing spoke for him, he’s already an excellent technician and switched effortlessly between the two horns, the alto being reserved for tricky Charlie Parker style pieces. Among the stand outs were a funked up “Watermelon Man “, which saw Morgan’s bass guitar come into its own, and a strikingly mature ballad performance of “Georgia”.
Speaking to Davies later he downplayed his own performance but I still think the local, and very possibly national, jazz scene is destined to hear a lot more from this talented young musician. He turned up again later as a member of the New Era Reborn Brass Band and acquitted himself well there too.
REMI HARRIS TRIO
Guitarist Remi Harris is another young musician who is making rapid strides. The Herefordshire native has acquired a growing reputation as a masterful gypsy jazz style lead guitarist in the Django Reinhardt mould.
Since I first heard Harris’ music some eighteen months ago he has made considerable progress, touring as lead guitarist with violinist Dan Cassidy’s Swing Quartet and making his London début at the capital’s temple of gypsy jazz Le Quecumbar in Battersea. His performance at the 2010 Brecon Fringe got him a mention in Jazzwise magazine and in 2011 his Brecon date won him the approval of fellow guitarist John Etheridge with whom he is due to perform next year. Other admirers include guitarist Gary Potter, saxophonist Art Themen (of whom more later) and even former Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant- keep an eye on young Mr Harris.
I’ve seen the Harris trio several times over the past eighteen months, mostly at local pub gigs and they’re getting better all the time. Their repertoire has expanded to include material beyond the immediate Reinhardt canon, there’s a greater mix of fast and slow material and Harris is now a more confident and mature between tunes interlocutor. Today he and rhythm guitarist Ben Salmon even turned up in suits but I’m not sure if this was a sign of growing professionalism or if they were going on to a party afterwards! Tom Moore, a student at Birmingham Conservatoire completed the group, playing what looked like a new four string Crafter acoustic bass guitar instead of his usual double bass (Moore shares bass duties with Del Strother who appears on the trio’s CD “Live At The Hatch”).
Today’s set was a good representation of the Harris trio’s increasingly mature style, a good mix of the fast and the slow and with bebop pieces and modern pop tunes rubbing shoulders with their core Django Reinhardt numbers. Opening with “Coquette” followed by the fast and furious “Django’s Tiger” the trio then varied the pace with their languid interpretation of The Beatles’ “‘Til There was You”. Breakneck versions of Reinhardt’s “Joseph, Joseph” and Charlie Parker’s “Donna Lee” were punctuated by the more relaxed jazz standard “All Of Me”.
Harris switched to a warm toned electric for “Somewhere Over The Rainbow”, “There Will Never Be Another You” and the tricky, boppish “Cherokee”, a tune made famous by trumpeter Clifford Brown.
It was back to the acoustic for Duke Ellington’s “It Don’t Mean A Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing”and Reinhardt’s “I’ll see You In My Dreams” and “Montaigne St. Genevieve”. Turbo charged versions of “Puttin’ On The Ritz” and the closing “Sweet Georgia Brown” added a touch of humour to the dazzling technique and ensured that the audience were left smiling. Harris and his colleagues are becoming increasingly adept at pacing and structuring a performance.
Harris, with his dazzling technique, is inevitably the main man but Salmon is the ideal foil, a specialist rhythm guitarist in the Dave Kelbie mould and Moore is a highly talented young bass player who was given the occasional solo, most notably on the Beatles piece.
Remi Harris’ star continues to rise, he’s a terrific talent who can only become better known.
NEW ERA REBORN BRASS BAND
The next band couldn’t have been more different. Inspired by the New Orleans outfits the Rebirth Brass Band and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band South Wales’ own New Era Brass Band make a big, bad, beautiful noise. In the confines of the Panteg Social Club lounge they were LOUD but thrillingly so.
Led by festival organiser Ceri Williams on trumpet the band features some of South Wales’ best brass and reed players. Gareth Roberts and Gwyn Daniels shared trombone duties alongside a very young sax section comprising of Martha Skilton and Bryn Davies (tenors) and Lucy Price (alto) with Steve Davies holding down the bottom end on the mighty sousaphone. Phill Redfox O’ Sullivan and Keith Niblett slammed out propulsive rhythms on twinned snare drums with Mike Kennedy pounding away on a massive bass drum. The mighty Gethin Liddington normally augments Ceri Williams in the trumpet section but unfortunately was unavailable for this date, but no matter this band was plenty loud enough.
Combining funk, jazz and gospel with the energy of the New Orleans streets the bland blew and clattered their way through The Meters’ funk opus “Cissy Strut”, the hymn tune “Just A Closer Walk With Thee” done gospel style and the Rebirth Brass Band’s self explanatory “Feel Like Funkin’ It Up”, the latter the tune announcers’ nightmare. “New Orleans Mardi Gras” was introduced by the pumping of Davies’ sousaphone and the band concluded their short set with a rousing version of James Brown’s “Pass The Peas”.
Inevitably there were a number of excellent solos throughout the set with Roberts and Skilton the prime movers in this regard. Williams’ role was essentially that of co-ordinator although he did enjoy brief moments in the spotlight as did Daniels, Davies and Price. The rhythmic drive provided by the three drummers was impressive throughout and there were a couple of percussion cameos which featured all three of them hammering away. The underpinning role and sheer physical resourcefulness of Steve Davies couldn’t help but impress and even at this early stage in their history New Era are commendably tight. I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to make of this but the sheer visceral power of the brass band hit me right in the gut. I thoroughly enjoyed this and with more gigging experience New Era are going to get even better. Catch them if you can, this is highly enjoyable and accessible music played with skill and a surprising amount of sophistication.
KITTY BEVAN QUARTET
“Kitty Bevan” appears to be a collective name for groups fronted by saxophonist/vocalist Bev Gough. Today’s quartet featured Gough leading a band comprised of guitarist Rob Haddon, bassist Steve Tarner and drummer Greg Evans. They performed an eclectic repertoire of jazz standards and pop tunes but truth to tell this was my least favourite set of the day, veering rather too close to cabaret/lounge jazz/easy listening-call it what you will- for my tastes. The chief pleasure for me was the guitar playing of Haddon, a veteran of the Cardiff scene and Brecon Jazz Festival with groups such as Chameleon and Tangent.
“If I Was A Bell” introduced Gough’s voice and soprano sax playing and also included features for Haddon, Tarner and Evans but by and large the soloing was split between Gough and Haddon with the rhythm section maintaining a low but tasteful profile.
Louis Jordan’s “Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t My Baby” kept up the energy/jollity quotient but “Lullaby Of The Leaves” and“Black Orpheus” introduced a more reflective strand with Haddon’s Spanish style acoustic guitar picking on the latter particularly impressive. He stuck to the acoustic for an effective version of Grace Jones’ “I’ve Seen That Face Before” which also featured Gough on melodica and Tarner on arco bass.
Crystal Gayle’s “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue” returned us to easy listening territory and for my money a take on Led Zeppelin’s “Rock’N’ Roll” was ill advised but plenty of other people seemed to like it. “Like Someone In Love” was an effective jazz ballad and a vocalese version of Horace Silver’s “Song For My Father” closed a well received set. Gough proved to be an engaging personality who enjoyed bantering with the audience and I’m sure a lot of people enjoyed this, it just wasn’t for me. However I did enjoy Haddon’s contribution on both electric and acoustic guitars, the best instrumental moments definitely came from him.
KEITH LITTLE QUARTET
There was more singing from the next act but I’m pleased to say that I enjoyed the Keith Little Quartet far more than I’d anticipated. Defiantly old fashioned the Little group specialises in mainstream jazz with pianist and leader Keith Little citing Earl Hines, Teddy Wilson, Duke Ellington and Count Basie as his primary influences. The quartet is fronted by the magnificently moustachioed Martin Butterworth on clarinet, tenor sax and vocals who names clarinettists Bob Wilber and the recently departed Kenny Davern as his main inspirations. Bath based bassist Bill Lynn and Cardiff based drummer Mike Pincombe make up an experienced and swinging rhythm section.
Butterworth sang on most numbers and did so with skill and charm. Instrumentally he concentrated on clarinet but blew some agreeably earthy tenor sax on “ Somebody Loves Me” and “Pennies From Heaven”, the latter also including a fine boogie piano solo from Little.
Tunes featuring Butterworth’s voice and clarinet included “I Wish I Had You”, “S’Wonderful” and “World On A String”. These were interspersed by the fiery instrumental “Running Wild”, a tune associated with Benny Goodman and featuring dazzling solos from Little at the piano and Butterworth on clarinet.
“Fingers Boogie”, done as a trio was another reminder of Little’s considerable pianistic skills before Butterworth returned to sing Earl Hines’ “My Monday Dates” which was also notable for an exquisite clarinet/double bass duet. A romp through “My Blue Heaven” closed an enjoyable set and featured Butterworth on vocals, clarinet and tenor. Although a charismatic front man he was quick to acknowledge Little’s status as the band’s leader and organiser.
The Keith Little Quartet are very good at what they do and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed them.
MARTIN FISHER QUINTET
The final act of the day was another one off aggregation put together by drummer Martin Fisher. The ever reliable Ashley John Long was back on bass with another local hero, multi instrumentalist Lee Goodall appearing here on alto and soprano saxophones. Two nationally known names completed the line up with Art Themen featuring on tenor sax alongside Steve Melling at the piano.
It was not altogether surprising that, like the Festival All Stars several hours earlier, the one off quintet stuck to a programme of well known jazz compositions albeit with some intriguing Fisher arrangements. Again most of the set was played in the theme/solos/theme format but with Themen, Melling, Goodall and Long as the soloists there was plenty of fine playing to enjoy.
The material included Tadd Dameron’s “Ladybird” which included features for all the participants, the most striking of which was the alto sax/double bass duet between Goodall and Long. Gigi Gryce’s “Minorities” featured an intriguing Fisher arrangement incorporating arco bass and tribal drums plus Goodall on curved soprano.
Jack Sheldon’s blues “Sarah” featured plenty of low down and dirty blues blowing with Long now duetting with Themen’s powerful tenor before demonstrating extended techniques on his bass solo. We heard a lot from Long as a bass soloist during the course of the day and it’s to his credit that he always kept things interesting.
“Have You Met Miss Jones” included a dazzling piano solo from the ever inventive Steve Melling and the quintet finished off by romping through their version of Sonny Rollins’ “Oleo” with the soloists vying with each other for excellence. It may have been a little predictable but this was still an exhilarating way to finish off a marvellous day’s music.
Congratulations to Ceri Williams and the TJS team for staging such an enjoyable, well organised and successful event. Like many jazz clubs and societies TJS is feeling the economic pinch but it is to be hoped that they can continue to survive and will be able to hold a similar event next year.
Grutronic with Evan Parker, The Vortex, London 22/09/2011
Grutronic with Evan Parker
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Reviewed by: Tim Owen
Grutronic and Evan Parker explore a playfully academic brand of electronic music
Grutronic with Evan Parker
The Vortex, London
22/09/2011
Grutronic specialise in a playfully academic brand of electronic music that’s open to integration with acoustic music and embraces the tenets of improvisation. Their 2009 album, “Essex Foam Party”, featured collaborations with vibraphonist Orphy Robinson, and this London concert with saxophonist Evan Parker marks the release of a joint album, “Together in Zero Space”, which was recorded at a 2009 performance in Bratislava. The combination of Grutronic and Parker is immediately attractive for being both less academic than his own electro-acoustic ensemble projects and more traditionally ‘musical’, in that there is much less reliance on sound processing here, where the emphasis is squarely on the immediacy of musical interaction.
With the musicians all seated, ranged left-to-right across the stage, and hunkered over a range of technical-looking boxes, it was often hard to tell who was responsible for any given sound, but there was a great deal of anorak-ish pleasure to be had in observing their many subtle gestural clues. Richard Scott, stage right, plays instruments of his own creation or early adoption. At the Vortex, those devices may (I’m no expert) have included a Buchla Lightning MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) controller, which has wands with which to control the abstraction of inputs from other sources, and/or a Blippoo Box, which Scott describes as “an audio sound generator that operates according to the principles of chaos theory” (the curious are directed to Scott’s website, http://richard-scott.net/ for more details). I can only assume that David Ross’ ‘Droscillator’ is a modified oscillator, an instrument which creates a rhythmic pulse that is used to modulate synthesized effects such as pitch control and phasing. Evan Parker, at centre stage, held a gratifyingly recognisable soprano saxophone. Nick Grew’s specialism is transduction, or the conversion of one kind of signal or stimulus into another, i.e. sound processing, so I suppose his box was a transducer. And Nick’s brother, Stephen Grew, stage left, played an electronic keyboard, which may have been subject to sound processing. His manner of playing – lightness of touch with fleeting contact – was sufficiently remarkable either way.
Grutronic got things underway with gaseous constellations of small sounds, which they gradually spun into a complex web of interrelationships. In a humanising touch, Stephen Grew played brief, elliptically ‘classical’ piano phrases that were subject to short delays, while Nick Grew added sustained tones with a harmonica. The halting, yet never faltering momentum of these early moments bought to my mind the ever-less-chaotic self-regulation of robotic walking machines, which shed redundant limbs in order to achieve mechanical utility. A passage of conversational electronic blips and bits, with their echoes and refractions rendered through processing, evoked the mechanical recitation of insect noises. Evan Parker initially concentrated on short sounds that fitted the overall pattern, but occasionally developed more conventional lines. Grutronic were subject to bursts of agitation. One flurry of notes from Parker triggered a quasi-tribal Grutronic rhythm in response, which then fractured into a layered skein of decayed ambient noise punctuated by back-tracked voice samples. A nuanced exploration of high, sharp tones was similarly punctuated by glassy chinks of sound, like water dripping in a subterranean cavern, as Parker played delicate traceries of soprano that glinted like flashes of light on water.
The first set had been much more thoughtful and restrained than I’d expected from the often playful Essex Foam Party recordings, though no less arresting. The second began with Richard Scott triggering samples of the recorded speech of John Cage (“I love the activity of sound”, ran one particularly pertinent snippet). These musings from the iconoclastic composer prompted a string of reminiscences from Evan Parker. “Nobody warned me about the Cage tape”, he said; “it’s provocative.” “What’s [Cage’s] role,” Parker mused, “if the sounds are going to be sounds anyway?” Not surprisingly, the set initially proceeded from here in a more playfully animated way. Yet Parker still refrained from any overt fluency or emotional expressivity, and the mood once again darkened as innocent clicks of stippled electronic sound were undermined by the introduction of queasily mournful sustained tones. Stephen Grew responded with baroque abstractions that had in their timbre a hint of harpsichord, and drew mischievous responses from his fellow musicians. Parker was more uninhibited in his soloing, played longer lines and deployed circular breathing to explore certain patterns at leisure. Grutronic responded individually with simultaneous agitation, like the mechanisms of an immune system responding to a threat. Bought under control, the results sounded not unlike the music Louis and Bebe Barron created with their pioneering electronic film score for the 1959 Forbidden Planet. In keeping with this deep space theme, Parker’s flurries finally ebbed away to reveal new constellations in patterns of Grutronic sound. This they worked up in surprisingly percussive ways, sounding something like Autechre taking apart the delicate sonic traceries of a music box, and then went for a clamorous, almost industrial climax, with Evan Parker in full cry.
Mark McKnight Organ Quartet at Dempsey’s, Cardiff, 20/09/2011.
Mark McKnight
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Reviewed by: Ian Mann
This is one hot band and their performance was far better than anyone had dared to expect.
Mark McKnight Organ Quartet, Dempsey’s, Cardiff, 20/09/2011
The young Belfast based guitarist and composer Mark McKnight has released two albums as a leader, “Overnight” (2009) and the recently issued “Do Or Die” which I have only just covered for this site. On both albums McKnight exhibits considerable potential both as an instrumentalist and as a composer but this superlative gig at Dempsey’s, part of a tour by the “Do Or Die” line up, comfortably exceeded expectations as McKnight and his group produced an inspired performance that made the records sound rather tame by comparison.
“Do Or Die” was recorded almost a year ago in October 2010 and with the emphasis on McKnight’s writing the results seemed rather too polite in the face of this barnstorming performance. McKnight, Ross Stanley (organ ), James Maddren (drums) and guest tenor man Seamus Blake stretched out on McKnight’s compositions to dramatic effect, stretching the fabric of the tunes, changing the order of the solos and generally blowing the hell out of the material. The presence of the largest Dempsey’s crowd I’ve seen for a long time was a big help, the ranks swelled by a sizeable number of freshly returning students from the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. The enthusiasm of the crowd clearly inspired the musicians but as McKnight explained they have had the chance to play these tunes in by now and I suspect that the high standards set here will be maintained for the rest of the tour. Catch them if you can.
The quartet kicked off with “Nightcap” from the new record, here transformed into a feature for the whole band with McKnight soloing first with his fluent, elegant single note runs. Blake, born in the UK, raised in Canada and now based in New York following a spell at Berklee College of Music in Boston (also McKnight’s alma mater) introduced himself with a typically muscular tenor solo and the tune was extended to include features for Stanley and Maddren, the drummer trading breaks with the other instrumentalists. Exhilarating stuff and a great start to the evening’s proceedings.
McKnight then introduced a new tune “The Ballad of Lee Murgatroyd”, a composition that failed, but delightfully so, to live up to it’s title. Instead it proved to be a piece full of uplifting grooves and strong melodies, perhaps inspired by McKnight’s admiration of Pat Metheny. This was a real flag waver of a tune that incorporated solos from Blake and McKnight plus a further feature for Maddren. The audience loved it and although as yet unrecorded the piece is clearly on its way to becoming one of the hits of the tour.
Rodgers & Hart’s “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” is the only standard on the new album. Here the group adhered more closely to the recorded version with Stanley’s solo organ introduction and a slowed down arrangement featuring Maddren on brushes throughout. McKnight’s delicate, crystalline solo was followed by Blake’s sensitive ballad playing, a timely reminder of his all round ability on the tenor sax.
The first set closed with the title track of McKnight’s début CD, the bebop flavoured “Overnight”. As so often during the course of the evening the quartet expanded upon the original taking the mercurial, boppish lines as the jumping off points for expansive and expressive solos with McKnight leading off, followed by Stanley and Blake before the tune climaxed with another Maddren drum feature. In other contexts it’s often Maddren’s delicate precision and attention to detail that is commented upon but every now and again, in a context such as this, he really relishes the chance to truly rattle the tubs. He was clearly enjoying himself immensely throughout the course of the evening.
A well paced second set began with “Pieces”, one of the more thoughtful tunes on the new album. With Maddren back on brushes there were well constructed solos from Stanley and McKnight as the group eased us gently into the second half of the evening.
Any notions that the second set was to remain a more relaxed affair were quickly torpedoed by a highly combustible version of “Do Or Die” itself with Blake’s bellicose but astonishingly fluent tenor sax solo underpinned by some truly volcanic drumming. McKnight had to follow this but rose to the occasion with some typically slippery lines augmented by the judicious use of his effects pedals. Still not finished Maddren rounded things off with an explosive and exuberant drum feature.
“Contemplate”, again taken from the new record, lowered the temperature a little with Maddren again taking up the brushes to accompany tasteful solos from Stanley and McKnight. However this is a tune with more bite than its title might suggest and Blake’s tenor solo slowly brought things back to the boil and he eventually locked in with McKnight’s guitar in a display of almost rock like dynamics before a quiet coda.
In my review of the record I suggested that the track “(We’ll) Just Disappear “ seemed destined to become something of a live favourite and so it proved. The quartet took McKnight’s already highly descriptive piece and wrought the maximum amount of drama from it with Stanley’s splendidly Gothic organ intro being followed by McKnight’s soaring, stratospheric guitar solo . But the real fireworks came from Blake with a stunning solo that mixed fluency and power, building to a climax above a backdrop of dense organ chording and Maddren’s increasingly busy drumming. McKnight just sat back on his haunches and admired the work of his three colleagues before rejoining the group for a final reprise of the theme.
A rapturous reception incorporating the kind of whooping and hollering I’m more accustomed to seeing at The Vortex ensured that an encore was inevitable. After a brief pause, during which Mr. Blake left the stage to visit the “urination station” as McKnight delightfully described it, the quartet romped their way through a grooving, gospel tinged version of pianist Joey Calderazzo’s modern day standard “Midnight Voyage”. This seemed an appropriate choice, I first heard the tune on the Michael Brecker album “Tales From The Hudson” and it seemed to me that there was something of the spirit of Brecker in Blake’s playing, and maybe a hint of Chris Potter too.
But the evening wasn’t just about Blake, McKnight was also superb throughout soloing cogently and melodically and providing intelligent material for the quartet to work on. Ross Stanley, so dazzling only a couple of weeks ago as the pianist with Alex Garnett’s group proved himself to be equally adept at the organ. Stanley is in many ways the unsung hero of the group, McKnight’s announcements acknowledged the sheer amount of hard work put in by Stanley as the backbone of the band. As for Maddren once he’d loosened up he simply had a ball, playing with enormous verve and enthusiasm and no little skill, always with a smile on his face.
This was one of the great nights at Dempsey’s, a reminder of just how magical this intimate venue can be sometimes when band and audience get on the same wavelength. This is one hot band and their performance was far better than anyone had dared to expect, some of the RWCMD students were awestruck by what they’d seen. I suggested to McKnight that they really ought to make a live album and he told me that the Belfast date, his hometown gig, is to be recorded so there may yet be a live release. Let’s hope so. In the meantime I’d urge anybody reading this to get out and catch the band on one of their remaining tour dates. If they continue in this form you won’t be disappointed.
The remaining tour dates are;
Thurs. 22nd - 8pm Seven Arts 31 Harrogate Road, Leeds LS7 3PD
Friday 23rd - 7.45pm Millennium Hall, Polish Centre, 520 Eccleshall Rd, Sheffield S11 8PY
Sat. 24th - 7.30pm The Seamus Ennis Cultural Centre, Naul, Fingal, Co. Dublin, Ireland
Sunday 25th - 7.30pm Crescent Arts Centre, 2-4 University Rd, Belfast
Monday 26th - 8.30pm The Blue Lamp, 121 Gallowgate, Aberdeen AB25 1BU
Tuesday 27th - 8pm The Cluny, 36 Lime Street, Newcastle NE1 2PQ
Weds. 28th - 8.30pm Swansea Jazzland St. James Social Club, St. James Crescent SA1 6DR
Thurs 29th - 7.15pm Ronnie Scott’s 47 Frith St, Soho, London W1D 4HT *LAUNCH NIGHT*
Thurs 29th - 8.30pm The Spice of Life, 6 Moor Street, London W1D 5NA *LAUNCH NIGHT*
Friday 30th - 8pm Great Northern Hotel, Station Approach, Peterborough PE1 1QL
COMMENTS;
From Dan Blake;
Hi Ian,
This has to be the most passionate and enthusiastic gig review I’ve ever read. It’s a real treat to read a review that is honest and open and captures brilliantly the mood of the moment. Too many reviewers can’t resist the temptation to either show how clever they are by dropping names or resorting to snide comments. A thoroughly enjoyable read.
Intriguing compositions and top quality playing all round.
Mark McKnight
“Do Or Die”
(Whirlwind Recordings WR4617)
Belfast based guitarist and composer Mark McKnight is a musician with a growing reputation. His self released album “Overnight” recorded in New York in 2008 with saxophonist Will Vinson, pianist Sam Yahel and the rhythm pairing of Mark Ferber (drums) and Euan Burton (bass) exhibited considerable potential and is reviewed elsewhere on this site.
His new album builds on the promise of the earlier recording and sees McKnight working in one of his favourite instrumental configurations, the organ quartet. Released on Michael Janisch’s thriving Whirlwind label the album teams McKnight with two of the UK’s brightest young musicians, organist Ross Stanley and drummer James Maddren. The line up is completed by saxophonist Seamus Blake who was born in England, raised in Canada and is now based in New York. Blake is currently considered to be one of the world’s leading saxophonists and his presence on this record represents a considerable coup for McKnight who brought Blake over to Ireland for a tour in 2010.
Recorded in Scotland “Do Or Die” demonstrates McKnight’s growing maturity as a composer in a programme containing six originals and just one standard, an imaginative interpretation of Rodgers & Hart’s “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered”. Strongly influenced by Pat Metheny McKnight is a writer who likes his compositions to tell a story and “Do Or Die” reflects this. McKnight’s pieces are thoughtful and have a strong narrative arc, this isn’t a meat and potatoes Hammond groovin’ album as the instrumentation might suggest.
The album opens with the title track as the quartet builds from McKnight’s choppy, insistent, syncopated opening chords to encompass the swell of the Hammond and Blake’s dark edged saxophone tone. There’s a highly fluent solo from McKnight above the chatter of Maddren’s drums and Stanley’s discreet organ chording, slowly building to a climax at which point the powerful Blake takes over and maintains the energy levels to the end of the tune. Impressive stuff.
“Pieces” is more pensive with the quartet probing delicately and eloquently. Stanley’s organ solo is refreshingly free of bombast and McKnight matches him for elegance with Maddren’s subtly detailed drumming the perfect punctuation as always. Blake maintains a low profile for the bulk of the tune but his exultant final choruses take the tune somewhere else entirely in a pleasingly contrasting final section.
“Nightcap” sounds highly contemporary and urban and includes a McKnight solo that features typically fluent single note lines while at the same time drawing judiciously on rock effects. Blake’s solo combines fluency and earthiness in a virtuoso display underpinned by Stanley’s organ chording and Maddren’s neatly energetic drumming.
“Bewitched” is divided into two parts on the CD. “Bewitched (Intro)” is a brief solo organ feature for the excellent Stanley with McKnight taking over as the tune begins in earnest. It’s a slow burner with Blake’s pure toned sax sharing the lead with McKnight in an imaginative, slowed down arrangement that equates to a superlative ballad performance.
The slyly funky “Tease” explores similar territory to “Nightcap” with McKnight and Blake both contributing lengthy and highly impressive solos above an energetic backdrop of organ and drums.
McKnight’s “Contemplate” is well named. As “Overnight” revealed he is a highly skilled composer and performer of ballads and this atmospheric piece features his own cleanly picked guitar lines alongside Blake’s more forthright, often downright joyous, sax contribution and Stanley’s gospel tinged organ.
The closing “(We’ll) Just Disappear” is a fine example of the narrative power of McKnight’s writing as the quartet head for the stratosphere on a bank of dense organ chords, long saxophone lines and soaring guitar interspersed with jazzier passages featuring the improvising of the always inventive Blake. It’s something of an epic and carries a considerable emotional punch that seems certain to make it a favourite at live shows.
“Do Or Die” is an album that confirms McKnight’s status as a rising star with its blend of intriguing compositions and top quality playing all round. The guitarist acquits himself well in the heavyweight company of Blake and the leader and his illustrious guest complement each other well. The presence of either Stanley or Maddren on any recording is a huge plus and both offer customarily excellent support here, never imposing but still bringing plenty of themselves to the music.
McKnight is currently touring the UK and Ireland with this line-up and I will be checking out their show in Cardiff (tonight!) and reporting back on that. It will be interesting to see how this music translates into a live situation. I’ve seen Stanley and Maddren perform live several times before in a variety of different line-ups and contexts but this will be my first sighting of both McKnight and Blake. Should be a fascinating evening.
A schedule of the quartet’s remaining tour dates appears below;
SEPTEMBER 2011
Tuesday 20th - 8.30pm Dempsey’s 15 Castle Street, Cardiff CF10 1BS
Weds. 21st - 8.30pm The Griffin 266 Bath Street, Glasgow G2 4JP
Thurs. 22nd - 8pm Seven Arts 31 Harrogate Road, Leeds LS7 3PD
Friday 23rd - 7.45pm Millennium Hall, Polish Centre, 520 Ecclesall Rd, Sheffield S11 8PY
Sat. 24th - 7.30pm The Seamus Ennis Cultural Centre, Naul, Fingal, Co. Dublin, Ireland
Sunday 25th - 7.30pm Crescent Arts Centre, 2-4 University Rd, Belfast
Monday 26th - 8.30pm The Blue Lamp, 121 Gallowgate, Aberdeen AB25 1BU
Tuesday 27th - 8pm The Cluny, 36 Lime Street, Newcastle NE1 2PQ
Weds. 28th - 8.30pm Swansea Jazzland St. James Social Club, St. James Crescent SA1 6DR
Thurs 29th - 7.15pm Ronnie Scott’s 47 Frith St, Soho, London W1D 4HT *LAUNCH NIGHT*
Thurs 29th - 8.30pm The Spice of Life, 6 Moor Street, London W1D 5NA *LAUNCH NIGHT*
Friday 30th - 8pm Great Northern Hotel, Station Approach, Peterborough PE1 1QL
Shinjuku Growl / Shinjuku Crawl
The Thing
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Reviewed by: Tim Owen
Tim Owen looks at two new releases in which Swedish saxophone power trio The Thing collaborate with two different guitarists, Jim O'Rourke and Otomo Yoshihide.
The Thing with Jim O’Rourke
“Shinjuku Growl”
(Smalltown Superjazz)
The Thing with Otomo Yoshihide
“Shinjuku Crawl”
(Smalltown Superjazz)
Mats Gustafsson alto and baritone saxophones; Otomo Yoshihide or Jim O’Rourke guitar; Ingebrigt Håker Flaten bass; Paal Nilssen-Love drums.
The Thing has been mutating again. Having started out in homage to Don Cherry, and then collaborating with saxophonist Joe McPhee, the trio changed lanes in 2005 with the attention-grabbing ‘Garage’ album. There, and with the collaborative Two Bands and a Legend side project, they rocked the spirit of garage rock pioneers The Sonics, and plugged into contemporary indie rock by covering cherry-picked tunes by, among others, PJ Harvey, White Stripes, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs (of which track Pete Marsh, writing for the BBC, said “forget Cream, this is what a power trio should be like”; and amen to that). By 2007 the Thing had moved on, albeit with an occasional backwards glance. On “Action Jazz” (2007) and “Bag It” (2009) the indie cover choices were more left-field, and mashed up against spirited but respectful re-workings of jazz standards by Albert Ayler, Ornette Coleman and Duke Ellington. I shouldn’t oversimplify; there were tunes by both Ayler’s sometime trumpeter Norman Howard and Peter Brötzmann on “Garage”, but this part of the groups’ aesthetic was rather underplayed at the time. On the two ‘Shinjuku’ albums, however, the Thing moves beyond reinterpretation to operate in all-horizons-open improv mode.
Both albums were recorded at Shinjuku Pit Inn, Tokyo. “”Shinjuku Growl” was captured in February 2008, “Shinjuku Crawl” fourteen months later, in April 2009. Each date brings a Tokyo-based guitarist into the mix: American-born Jim O’Rourke on “Shinjuku Growl”, and native son Otomo Yoshihide on “Shinjuku Crawl”. Both are multi-instrumentalists for whom the guitar is a sound-source to be treated with the innocence of a new discovery, while retaining an appreciation of its legacy. Both are masters of non-idiomatic improvisation who remain always identifiable even as they seek out new contexts for expression.
“Shinjuku Crawl, First Attempt” comes together tentatively, around a patter of mallets and sax flutters, and then Otomo Yoshihide’s first loose frettings. But when the Thing grows animated Yoshihide responds by unleashing contiguous lines of molten electric guitar, saturated in distortion. A lull in a Nilssen-Love solo marks the transition to “Second Attempt” (the titles are somewhat misleading, as the ‘attempts’ are continuous). Yoshihide shadows an undefined Gustafsson melody, and Håker Flaten’s attentive bowed bass mirrors them both. Yoshihide manages to achieve a sense of clarity even as he becomes more bullish, and the Thing is soon on scalding form for a blast of righteous freedom that lasts until the long, hushed diminuendo of the discursive “Third Attempt”. The Thing still attain peaks of intensity thereafter, but Gustafsson remains remarkably restrained throughout, and Yoshihide approaches his contribution as if it were a film soundtrack, crafting a coherent sequence of richly allusive improvisations. We’re now 40 minutes in, with 25 to go, and far from burnout. The brief “Uramado (Thank You Mr. Fukuoka)” features some beautifully subtle group interplay, but there’s a change of tack for the two-part “Dori Dugout”. After an opening scrimmage between Yoshihide and Nilssen-Love there’s a lengthy, bullish, electrically charged tussle, with Gustafsson playing what might be his slide saxophone, sounding very much like Brötzmann on tarogato. Otomo adopts a more rebarbative stance, prompting Gustafsson to respond with bellicosity. A subsequent series of taut, extended breakdowns for solo or sub-group exploration contains much of the most arresting sonic detail on the album. The final crescendo sees Gustafsson straining at the leash of Yoshihide’s sustains, which are potent enough to keep even the rhythm section from combusting.
On “Shinjuku Growl”, the 22 minutes of “If Not Ecstatic, We Replay” begins with exploratory probing, until Gustafsson’s sax hauls itself into the mix along a sequence of torpid bass notes. A disputatious exchange with O’Rourke then breaks into a tight-throated collective wail. The sax then drops away to reveal an elemental core of bass and drums roiling away and O‘Rourke, scalded, starts ripping out taut, attenuated wires of sound. The core trio then launch into a free jazz free-for-all, with O’Rourke grinding out sonics. The sensitively titled “Half a Dog Can’t Even Take a Shit” carries on in a similarly invigorating vein, but gets really interested half-way through, when the intensity eases off to reveal the fascinating dynamics of Ingebrigt Håker Flaten and Paal Nilssen-Love. They demonstrate some of that old garage spirit, playing at such a lick that Gustafsson, on re-entry, has only to surf their momentum. O’Rourke, who has been keeping a low profile, really rips into this track’s finale. The tamped-down, coagulating start to “I Can’t, My Mouth is Already Full” befits its title, but there’s a flash of intensity before O’Rourke and Gustafsson settle down to a hushed duet. In a coda, Gustafsson tongue-flutters to the toll of a small gong, sounds suspended in silence. For the closing “Shinjuku Growl” everyone is ready to let rip again, and do so for the next seven minutes, then decelerate masterfully around a core ripple of picked guitar. Gustafsson concludes with a melodic saxophone outro as Nilssen-Love’s drumming falls away to a delicate patter.
Tim’s Star Ratings - 3.5 per album.
Chris Garrick and John Etheridge at The Shrewsbury Coffeehouse, Shrewsbury, 17/09/2011.
Chris Garrick & John Etheridge
Monday, September 19, 2011
Reviewed by: Ian Mann
An excellent evening's music by two masters of their craft. It was a pleasure to see them at work in such an intimate environment.
John Etheridge & Chris Garrick at The Shrewsbury Coffeehouse, Shrewsbury.
The Shrewsbury Coffeehouse is a welcome new addition to the live music circuit in Shrewsbury, a town with a burgeoning artistic scene. The Coffeehouse offers a regular series of artistic events including live jazz and folk from some of the leading names in their respective fields plus theatre, comedy and literary events.
I received my invitation to review this show from Shrewsbury based guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Chris Quinn, one half of the popular Hickman and Quinn duo whose work has been reviewed elsewhere on this site. Chris is part of the Coffeehouse team and it’s partly thanks to his status as a musician that the Coffeehouse has been able to attract artists of the quality of guitarist John Etheridge and violinist Chris Garrick to play this new and very intimate venue.
Yes, the Coffeehouse is tiny and on Saturday it was absolutely rammed as around seventy of us squeezed in to witness a hugely entertaining set from two of the UK’s leading jazz musicians. The combination of guitar and violin in jazz dates back to the days of Eddie Lang and Joe Venuti and most famously Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli but Etheridge and Garrick take the instruments to a whole new level, acknowledging the past, and Reinhardt in particular, whilst simultaneously adding a thoroughly contemporary edge through their choice of material and use of modern music technology.
Etheridge and Garrick are frequent collaborators, both as a duo and as members of Etheridge’s Sweet Chorus Quartet in which the pair examine and extend the Reinhardt legacy in the company of rhythm guitarist Dave Kelbie and double bassist Andy Crowdy. Etheridge famously played with Stephane Grappelli himself back in the day but his versatility as a guitarist has also seen him enjoy stints with Soft Machine and the later Soft Machine Legacy Band as well as exploring all stations in between. Garrick is a similarly wide ranging player who has explored jazz, folk and rock, sometimes combining them all together as in his eclectic “Firewire” quartet with pianist David Gordon, Danish bassist Ole Rasmussen and drummer Tom Hooper.
Tonight the pair concentrated on their duo repertoire with many of the featured pieces coming from their excellent 2009 album “Men On Wire”, a title that reflects not only the material used in the manufacture of their instruments but also the nature of the duo as a kind of musical high wire balancing act. It’s also a reference to high wire walker Philipe Petit who once, pre 9/11, famously walked a wire between the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York. Etheridge and Garrick are not afraid to take risks, frequently tampering with and radically rearranging their source material. They’re also prepared to wander well off the jazz map adapting songs by rock writers such as Peter Gabriel and Richard Thompson as vehicles for improvisation.
Indeed it was Gabriel’s “Mercy Street” that opened the show with the duo adding a folk feel to the beautiful but melancholy melody. Etheridge revealed that this was a particular favourite
of the duo’s to play.
They followed this with the intricate bebop lines of a Sonny Rollins tune (the title of which remains trapped in my mental recesses) into which they incorporated a lengthy duet between electric guitar and pizzicato violin. Indeed in the context of the duo Garrick sometimes plucks as much as he bows and the guitar/pizzicato combination appeared in several numbers. It’s a reminder of the rhythmic sophistication of the duo, as well as conventional chording Etheridge also deploys a “hammering on” technique, his tapping of the strings intertwining with Garrick’s violin lines, whether bowed or plucked.
The classical canon is also a fertile source of inspiration for the duo. Their version of Sir William Walton’s “Touch Her Sweet Lips And Part” was inspired by a jazz interpretation by saxophonist Joe Lovano and drummer Peter Erskine. Here the piece opened with a passage for solo violin and ended with solo electric guitar, the crystalline quality of Etheridge’s playing emphasising his feather light touch on the strings.
The duo’s dip into the Reinhardt/Grappelli repertoire, a segue of “Let’s Fall In Love” and “Undecided” sidestepped all the clichés associated with the Hot Club style as the duo broke up the rhythms and combined Etheridge’s acoustic guitar with Garrick’s pizzicato violin.
Their version of the pop tune “Blue Moon” introduced an element of humour with it’s blend drunken, woozy Americana and Garrick’s mischievous “single hair trick”, a technique he learnt from a Romanian folk musician. It’s something that has to be seen to be believed and can be used for either atmospheric or humorous effect. Etheridge’s later solo added something of the blues element suggested by the title.
The first half ended with a richly atmospheric take on Ennio Morricone’s “Cinema Paradiso” sourced from the duo’s widely acclaimed 2006 album “At The Dimming Of The Day” with Garrick beginning on solid bodied electric violin before switching to his more usual (but still substantially adapted) acoustic.
An excellent first half then, characterised by some exquisite interplay between the two instruments with two supreme individual technicians combining to produce something even greater than the sum of the two already impressive parts. An eclectic mix of material sourced from various genres had been adapted to fit perfectly into the duo’s highly distinctive musical aesthetic. The second set expanded on this as the pair added the technology of live looping to their armoury. Garrick’s set up included a substantial pedal-board containing an impressive array of electronic effects.
To begin the pair made something fresh out of Pat Metheny’s tune “James” (a dedication to singer songwriter James Taylor) with Etheridge studiously avoiding copying the style of the composer. “Mean To Me” proved to be a feature for Etheridge’s nimble fretboard work before the duo switched on the machines for a looped and layered and sometimes just plain weird version of Louis Bonfa’s “The Gentle Rain”.
“Msenduza” an Abdullah Ibrahim tune written when the composer was still known as Dollar Brand appears on “Men On Wire” but has also been a staple of Etheridge’s solo shows. It’s an infectious slice of township jazz with a ridiculously joyous and catchy melody. The bulk of the tune was played here as a duet for guitar and pizzicato violin with Garrick only picking up the bow for the closing stages.
It’s a characteristic of the duo that they can bring something fresh to even the most hackneyed of material. Burt Bacharach’s “Alfie” surely falls into that category but in this brief violin feature Garrick managed to bring a compelling amount of tenderness and emotion to the tune before puncturing the mood with a throwaway reference to Cilla Black. It’s to the duo’s credit that they never take themselves too seriously.
The duo closed with “Nuages”, arguably Django Reinhardt’s most famous tune, with the duo bringing a melancholy to the tune that is rarely explored these days despite the meaning of the title (English translation “Clouds”). A passage of solo violin then provided the link into “Sweet Georgia Brown” which ended the evening on a high note, even with Etheridge and Garrick still tinkering with the form of the song and eschewing the clichés.
A rousing reception from the tightly packed audience ensured that an encore was inevitable and the hemmed in duo responded with a lovely version of the old country song “Tennessee Waltz”. Garrick’s violin emphasised the song’s Celtic origins, sometimes sounding like an Irish air, with the twang of Etheridge’s guitar providing the Americana aspect. This was surprisingly lovely and was to be the end of an excellent evening’s music by two masters of their craft. It was a pleasure to see them at work in such an intimate environment.
Etheridge and Garrick leaven their shows with a humorous line in stage patter and with Etheridge resisting the temptation to talk too much they got things pretty much spot on in this regard. The music was of course splendid throughout and the bumper turnout suggested a good future for the new venue. Things were inevitably a little cramped and after the rather noisy air conditioning was turned off at Garrick’s request after the second number the temperature rose exponentially (although, for me, nothing a couple of bottles of beer couldn’t deal with) but any discomfort was worth it for the quality of the music alone.
Thanks to Chris Quinn for inviting me. It was a great evening and I’ll be back for the visit of saxophonist Peter King and his quartet on October 6th. I’m just wondering how the hell they’re going to fit a drum kit in there! And finally just in case you were wondering, yes the coffee is good.
Match & Fuse EP
WorldService Project / Synkoke
Friday, September 16, 2011
Reviewed by: Ian Mann
The “Match & Fuse” compilation is a handy reminder of the abilities of these two highly talented young bands
WorldService Project / Synkoke
“Match & Fuse EP”
The young London based band WorldService Project, led by keyboardist and composer Dave Morecroft were one of the big successes of the 2011 Brecon Jazz Festival. Combining youthful energy with Morecroft’s already extraordinarily sophisticated compositional skills their Sunday lunchtime set was a real eye opener/cobweb clearer.
September 2011 sees the British quintet teaming up with the equally youthful Norwegian band Synkoke for a series of gigs in both the UK and Norway under the “ Match & Fuse” banner. Both groups will play a set each with all ten musicians eventually combining for a climactic shredding session/blowout. Later in the year and into 2012 WSP will be collaborating with German group Schulbus and it is planned that there will be further “Match & Fuse” collaborations teaming WSP with French, Irish and Italian groups.
This six track limited edition EP is divided equally between the music of WSP and Synkoke and will be on sale during the current tour. The three WSP tunes are sourced from their début CD, the aptly named “Relentless” ( Brook Records, 2010) with the Synkoke selections coming from their newly released second album “The Ideologist” (Kokeplate Records) which was produced by Royksopp guitarist Kato Adland.
The mini album roars out of the blocks with Synkoke’s “The Red Song” a slice of raw energy in the mould of the UK’s Led Bib featuring the turbo-driven sax of Erik Nerheim alongside the equally frenetic guitar of Ole Adland (Kato’s brother? one wonders/surmises) and the keyboards of Kristian Harnes- I’m presuming it’s also the latter that generates the choral effect that sometimes permeates the tune, soaring over the sonic carnage beneath. Ellen Andrea Wang (Norway’s answer to Ruth Goller, perhaps) on electric bass and Kurt Andre Aase on drums form a kinetic rhythm section that drives the group relentlessly forward. This should be pretty visceral stuff in the live environment.
Synkoke’s second offering “Our Solar System” begins in the same punk/jazz continuum with bludgeoning unison riffs before drifting off into the deep space of more freely improvised territory. Not that the energy levels are significantly reduced, Synkoke still play with a fearful intensity, as if their lives depended upon it. The group’s myspace page includes quotes along the lines of “the kind of prog jazz Shostakovich dreamed of playing” and of the group’s dream of “blending Arvo Part and Motorpsycho”-plus of course the obligatory nod to Radiohead. It’s all in here somewhere, there’s a keen intelligence behind Synkoke’s industrial strength noise.
The layered sounds at the beginning of “The Blue Song” seems to acknowledge fellow Norwegians Jaga Jazzist before mutating into a molten improvised central section before concluding with spacey, ethereal bleepings. Some may dismiss Synkoke as mere noise merchants but, as with Led Bib and others, closer listening reveals hidden depths. There’s much to enjoy here and the intensity of the music suggests that their live appearances will be pretty dynamic.
WorldService Project are easier to get a handle on, partly because I’ve heard them before and partly because their tunes are (relatively) more conventionally structured and less obviously “punk jazz”. Not that there’s anything tame or predictable about WSP’s music, Dave Morecroft’s event filled compositions offer plenty of dramatic twists and turns and dynamic contrasts that team the maverick intensity of Django Bates with an earthier funk element. Both live and on record WSP combine great fun with an already awesome level of musical sophistication.
Their opening salvo “Hero Of The Bus” proved to be a great live favourite at Brecon and incorporates all the dizzying changes of pace that characterise the group’s style. Morecroft’s synth combines with the punchy horns of saxophonist Tim Ower and trombonist Raph Clarkson as Conor Chaplin (electric bass) and Neil Blandford (drums) negotiate the rhythmic demands with ease. With urgent solos from Ower on sax and Morecroft on keyboards this is great stuff and enormous fun.
“The Screamer” kicks off with clipped funk, crazily racing horn lines and a hint of ska before a more pensive central section featuring trilling Rhodes and lyrical electric bass. It’s sometimes reminiscent of 70’s Brit fusion before the horns and Morecroft’s whistling synthesiser raise the energy levels again and Blandford’s drums drag us back into a reprise of the opening section. This is a typically eventful and inventive piece of Morecroft writing. Synkoke may have more in the way of visceral power but WSP are in many ways the more interesting of the two bands with their habitual experimentations with style, pace and dynamics. The potential of the band, and of Morecroft in particular, is enormous. I’ve compared Morecroft to Django Bates before, his event laden writing and feverish keyboard soloing have something of the character of the young Django.
Let’s hope that in the long term he can make a similarly key contribution to the music we call British Jazz.
“Back So Soon”, the last track on this compilation, also closed the group’s live set at Brecon. Combining funk with counterpoint horns and dizzying stop/start unison passages the piece just bristles with energy and ideas. Clarkson lays down some dirty sounding trombone and Owers solos joyously, initially with just Blandford for company. Live the tune is a feature for the drummer and there’s also an element of that here along with the audience teasing false endings that characterised the Brecon performance.
The “Match & Fuse” compilation is a handy reminder of the abilities of these two highly talented young bands and would perhaps make a nice concert souvenir. However I’d urge anyone reading this to invest in the full length albums, certainly in WSP’s case I can personally recommend it.
The Norwegian leg of the tour has already been completed but I’d suggest that curious UK readers, particularly fans of Led Bib, Acoustic Ladyland, Polar Bear etc. check out these double headers.
This is not a pairing that’s likely to be repeated any time soon.
However if you miss out on this WSP have a more extensive UK tour lined up later in the year. Dates are listed below;
WSP/Synkoke “Match & Fuse” double headers;
21 September Newcastle - Star and Shadow Cinema
22 September Birmingham - The Yardbird
23 September London – Vortex Jazz Club
WSP U.K. Tour
8th October - Marsden Jazz Festival, 4pm
9th October - Pave Bar, Hull, 2pm
10th October - Sela Bar, Leeds, 8pm
13th October - SoundCellar, Poole, 8pm
15th October - Café Bar Contemporary, Nottingham, 9pm
16th October - Latest Music Bar, Brighton, 8pm
19th October - Talking Heads, Southampton, 8pm
21st October - Torfaen Jazz Club, 8pm
26th October - 606 Jazz Club, London, 8pm
4th November - D Fly, Cheltenham, 8pm
“Faithful” enhances the trio's already impressive reputation and confirms their place as one of Europe's premier piano trios.
Marcin Wasilewski Trio
“Faithful”
(ECM 2208 275 9105)
This long running trio led by the Polish pianist and composer Marcin Wasilewski first came to the attention of the wider jazz audience through their recordings and live appearances with the veteran Polish trumpet star Tomasz Stanko. Wasilewski, Slawomir Kurkiewicz (double bass) and Michal Miskiewicz (drums) appeared on a series of Stanko’s ECM albums during the period 2001 to 2005 (“Soul Of Things”, “Suspended Night” and “Lontano”) and this exposure enabled the trio to garner an international following of their own.
Already a regular working unit the trio were well established in their native Poland where they were sometimes known as the Simple Acoustic Trio. The trio’s tenure with Stanko also saw them release an ECM album simply entitled “Trio” (2004) and this was followed by their first post-Stanko album “January” (2007). Wasilewski and Kurkiewicz have also worked extensively with another ECM artist, French drummer and composer Manu Katche, and both appear on Katche’s acclaimed “Neighbourhood” and “Playground” albums.
I was lucky enough to see the trio perform as members of Stanko’s group in a double bill with Charles Lloyd at the 2005 London Jazz Festival but have yet to see them as a self contained unit. I have, however, enjoyed both of their previous ECM trio releases and “Faithful” builds on the strengths of these with a well programmed selection divided equally between Wasilewski originals and an inspired collection of covers. The title track is an Ornette Coleman tune that first appeared on Coleman’s 1966 album “The Empty Foxhole” and its inclusion suggests that the trio is becoming increasingly interested in widening its reach beyond the very European lyricism of its earlier recordings.
The album opens with the atmospheric sounds of Hanns Eisler’s 1942 tune “An den kleinen Raioapparat”, a piece written from the point of view of a German exile who is still haunted by the voices of his persecutors through the medium of the radio. Wasilewski and his colleagues invest the piece with both a quiet beauty and a delicate inner strength. The lyricism of the leader’s piano is superbly augmented by Miskiewicz’s cymbal shimmers and subtle drum accents.
The first Wasilewski original, “Night Train To You” approximates the rhythms of the wheels on the rails of the locomotive in the title. Wasilewski describes it as “a motoric piece, a process” as a simple melody is juxtaposed with complex time signatures of 6/8 and 11/8. The piece has a cinematic quality but there’s also plenty of room for soloing with Wasilewski stretching out joyously and almost funkily. There’s also a feature for Miskiewicz’s drums as he combines colourfully with Wasilewski’s piano chording. Although primarily a highly energetic piece the tune contains a gentle coda intended to represent the slowing down of the train as it comes into a station.
This is an attention grabbing composition and in some ways I’m surprised that this wasn’t scheduled as the album opener, live shows may of course be different. But this is the world of ECM, they do things differently there.
“Faithful” is a gentle, often lyrical exploration of the Coleman tune with purity of sound and line the essence. It offers us the first opportunity to hear Kurkiewicz’s bass being used as a solo instrument. His fully rounded tones are delightfully woody and resonant.
Wasilewski’s ten minute piece “Mosaic” is fittingly named, with simple melodic motifs combining to create a fuller overall picture. The interaction between the members of this long running trio is excellent throughout and a typically immaculate ECM mix captures every nuance superbly. Miskiewicz’s subtle but colourful percussive details are a delight and there’s also another chance to enjoy Kurkiewicz’s ability as a soloist.
The Tommy Wolf/Fran Landesmann piece “Ballad For The Sad Young Men” dates back to 1959 and hymns the Beat Generation. Here it features Wasilewski at his most lyrical and reflective, his gentle piano ruminations sympathetically supported by Kurkiewicz’s low register bass purr and Miskiewicz’s exquisite brush work.
The choice of Hermeto Pascoal’s tune “Oz Guizos” (“The Bells”) reflects bassist Slawomir Kurkiewicz’s love of Brazilian music. Apparently he brought several Pascoal tunes to rehearsals and the trio settled on this one. Despite it’s South American origins the final version sounds thoroughly European and is another fine example of the trio’s lyrical abilities and of their attention to detail.
The hymnal “Song For Swirek” is Wasilewski’s beautiful dedication to the late Marek Swierkowski, a close friend of the trio. The piece begins by emphasising the trio’s core lyrical qualities but Wasilewski’s increasingly expansive and flowing solo ensures that this heartfelt tribute is a celebration as well as a lament.
Another original, “Woke Up In The Desert” was given its title by the Polish rock singer/songwriter Edyta Barosiewcz, a frequent confidante of the pianist. The combination of lucid piano, sonorous bass and filigree drum work is hard to resist.
Paul Bley’s composition “Big Foot” originally appeared on one of ECM’s earliest releases, the pianist’s eponymous collaboration with bassist Gary Peacock dating back to 1970. It’s a piece that has worn well with age and Wasilewski and his colleagues more than do it justice, negotiating its tricky twists and turns with energy and gusto with Kurkiewicz’s bass often coming to the fore.
The closing “Lugano Lake” is a homage to the town of Lugano where the album was recorded. There’s a serenity about the piece that encapsulates the trio’s satisfaction with this recording, but also sufficient energy to prevent things from coming becalmed. It’s an approach that colours most of the music on this CD, lyrical and painstaking at their core the Wasilewski Trio counter any allegations of feyness or lack of dynamics (the fabled “ECM sound”) with their choice of interesting and varied outside material and inspired original compositions. “Faithful” enhances the trio’s already impressive reputation and confirms their place as one of Europe’s premier piano trios.
Lean Left: The Ex Guitars Meet Nilssen-Love/Vandermark Duo, Café Oto, London, 11/09/2011
The Ex Guitars meet Nilssen-Love/Vandermark Duo
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Reviewed by: Tim Owen
A ferociously intense performance; not one for faint hearts.
Lean Left: The Ex Guitars Meet Nilssen-Love/Vandermark Duo
Café Oto, London
11/09/2011
This was an unmissable opportunity to catch an occasional collaboration between established improv duo Paal Nilssen-Love and Ken Vandermark, and guitarists Terrie Ex and Andy Moore of Dutch anarchist post-punk veterans The Ex, coming together under the Lean Left banner. The group was in town just in time to promote the second volume of their self-titled début on Smalltown Superjazz, of which Volume one was one of my favourites of last year (you can read my review of it elsewhere on this site.) Sadly, however, I could only make the first of two nights at Café Oto, for each of which Lean Left were joined by invited guests. On the 11th, this gave us a rare chance to catch Dutch saxophonist Ab Baars on stage in London.
The first piece in the collectives’ first set was so ferociously intense I forgot to take notes, with Vandermark on tenor coming on very much in the style of Peter Brötzmann and Nilssen-Love maintaining a boggling rate of percussive turnover, while the dual guitars set about their excoriating business. This set the pace for much of the rest of the night, which was not one for faint hearts. The second piece, however, began with Vandermark on clarinet, tapping its keys as the Ex guitars
mirrored him in tapping and wringing sound from de-tuned instruments. Terrie Ex, who spent much of the first set with a drumstick between clenched teeth for ready use, then proceeded to grind his machine head into the floor to produce a low moan of feedback while Andy Moore vibed congruent effects from the whammy bar. Although Nilssen-Love had yet to fully engage, Vandermark’s contribution was barely audible at first. But then Moore became more insistent, locking in with a now resurgent Nilssen-Love, and Vandermark switched back to tenor for a frenetic, lurching garage rock-out that gradually boiled down to a more viscous pace, finally coming full circle to end with reed pops and key rattles from Vandermark’s sax and and clicks of electricity sparked from jammed guitar pick-ups.
Ab Baars joined the core Lean Left quartet in the second set. The Dutch saxophonist has played with Ken Vandermark before, and has appeared on the same stage as the Ex, but he didn’t seem particularly comfortable this evening. He more than held his own though, and even added a touch of moderation to a music that might otherwise be a touch too raw for sensitive ears (such as those of the lady sitting behind me, who told her partner indignantly that she would rather have spent the evening at home, listening to Tony Bennett; well it takes all sorts). Baars got the set underway, but Vandermark soon overrode his solo with a sequence of screeches that signalled intensity in the offing. The Ex guitars chimed in with mechanical propulsion, and Nilssen-Love made an unexpected detour into break beats and insistent hi-hat. This appeared to wrong-foot everyone in the front line until Terrie Ex came back with a brief delta blues abstraction, and gradually the heat was bought back up until everyone was rocking out in true Ex post-punk style. Vandermark and Nilssen-Love were obviously relishing every moment.
The next improvisation began in a loose, scrappy alt-rock stagger before briefly going supernova. A fascinating discourse between Baars, Moore and Nilssen-Love emerged from the fallout, before the drummer gave way to Vandermark, and Moore to Ex, leaving the two horns and Ex’s guitar engaged in a flurry of fast tapped-out pecks and screeches that Moore re-joined to add a softly tapped-out sheet of ambient drone. The guitars and Nilssen-Love continued to forage for sound while Baars and Vandermark paired up for a louche, exploratory sax duet. Nilssen-Love worked this up into a spiky but soulful strut, and the collective mined this rich seam until Ex had to abandon play to stop his baggy trousers falling down. Unfazed, he began a third improvisation by scraping a deftly controlled series of high interlocking tones from his fret board with a small cymbal. First Vandermark, and then the full group took this long solo up for development, with Baars surprising me by unleashing a shrill counter-solo that became a new locus for more scrappy but assertive group interaction. Vandermark again stepped up to take things up a few notches in true catharsis through noise, with Nilssen-Love now breaking in hard and all hands locking into serried, staccato riffs.
Ken Vandermark, Paal Nilssen-Love and the Ex Guitars were back at Café Oto the following night, this time with master improv drummer Steve Noble on hand to bolster the percussion arsenal. Sadly I couldn’t be there, but I’ll bet it kicked like a mule.
COMMENTS
From Tony Dudley Evans;
The second night was brilliant with the second set with two drummers (Steve Noble joining Paal Nilssen-Love) really outstanding. In the first set I was impressed how Ken gave real direction to the music, adding both surprisingly melodic passages as well as more groove based sections. In the second set the interaction between Ken and the drummers, and also between the two drummers dominated with the guitars adding interesting textures. Altogether a wonderful and exciting night that shows the vibrancy of the current free improv scene.
Tommaso Starace Quartet, The Hive, Shrewsbury. 10/09/2011.
Tommaso Starace Quartet
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Reviewed by: Ian Mann
It would seem that whatever the combination of instruments Starace chooses to put together the resultant music is going to be colourful and full of interest.
Tommaso Starace Quartet, The Hive, Shrewsbury, 10/09/2011.
I first encountered the music of Tommaso Starace, an Italian saxophonist and composer now based in London, at the 2010 Lichfield Real Ale, Jazz & Blues Festival. Starace proved to be one of the festival’s outstanding soloists and I was subsequently very impressed by his latest recording, “Blood & Champagne”, which also demonstrated his considerable compositional abilities. The album was recorded with the same line up that appeared at Lichfield with Starace on alto and soprano saxophones, Frank Harrison on piano, Laurence Cottle on electric bass and Chris Nickolls at the drums. Reviews of both the album and the Lichfield live appearance can be found elsewhere on this site.
Given how much I had enjoyed Starace’s music I jumped at the opportunity to see him again in the intimate confines of Shrewsbury’s The Hive Arts Centre. True to the jazz spirit Starace has already moved on from when I saw him last. “Blood & Champagne” contained “Even Mice Dance” a composition by the late French pianist and composer Michel Petrucciani which Starace had ingeniously combined with Frederic Chopin’s “Prelude No. 20 in C minor Opus 28”. This provided the springboard for Starace’s latest project, an extended homage to Petrucciani featuring Harrison, Cottle and Nickolls plus vibes player Roger Beaujolais which he hopes to release on a major European jazz label, he’s still looking for a deal at present. Consequently much of the material featured at Shrewsbury came from the pen of Petrucciani and his enduring compositions were superbly played by a quartet consisting of Starace, Cottle and Nickolls with Harrison’s place being taken by the London based Dane Kristian Borring on guitar. This represented an enforced change, Harrison is currently touring with Gilad Atzmon’s Orient House Ensemble, but Borring fitted in superbly and proved to be an excellent and highly distinctive soloist. Initially it seemed a strange premise to bring a guitarist into a group that was paying tribute to a piano player but Borring slotted in brilliantly and brought a whole new perspective to Petrucciani’s music.
Before moving on to the concert itself it is perhaps appropriate to say a few words about Michel Petrucciani. This remarkable musician was born with a rare bone disease and was only about three feet tall. He had to be lifted onto the piano stool but was a superb pianist and a prolific composer who was hugely popular in his own country. He played with a host of European and American jazz stars among them Charles Lloyd, Wayne Shorter, Dave Holland and Tony Williams and lived and worked in the US for a while. He died tragically young at the age of just thirty seven in 1999 but left behind a legacy of excellent recordings and top quality compositions. Despite his physical problems Petrucciani was both cheerful and resourceful and much of his material is bright and optimistic. For me it’s still a source of some regret that I never got to see him perform live.
Starace and his colleagues began with “Looking Up”, a Petrucciani composition with a title that was intended as a wry reflection on his lack of physical stature, “always looking up” as Starace put it. After a beginning featuring Cottle’s bass and Starace’s spoken introduction the leader subsequently picked out the theme on alto before embarking on a lengthy solo that was a good reminder of his fluency as an improviser. Borring followed with a highly original contribution of his own. Borring is a difficult guitarist to pigeonhole, he doesn’t sound like Metheny, Scofield or Frisell and with his distinctive left configurations he brought something very much his own to the proceedings. More recent figures such as Kurt Rosenwinkel and Adam Rogers seemed to me to be more discernible influences. Cottle is a master of the electric bass and if anyone can be said to be a British Steve Swallow it has to be him. On his five string bass he’s a hugely melodic soloist, one of the most musical bassists around , and an effortlessly funky accompanist.
The breezy and optimistic “September 2nd” originally appeared on an album recorded by Petrucciani in the company of drummer Steve Gadd and bassist Anthony Jackson. Introduced once more by Cottle at the bass the piece featured further cogent soloing from Borring on guitar and Starace on alto.
“Even Mice Dance”, originally recorded by Petrucciani with bassist Dave Holland, drummer Tony Williams and the Graffiti String Quartet was the only selection from “Blood & Champagne”. Starace revealed that Petrucciani was hugely influenced by Chopin (whose “Prelude” acts as an introduction to the piece as you’ve already read) and that Petrucciani lies buried in an adjoining plot to the classical composer. With Borring in the group this piece was substantially different to the “Blood & Champagne” version but still retained the lyrical qualities of the original with solos coming from Starace on alto, Borring and Cottle.
“Guadaloupe” represented Petrucciani’s excursion into bossa nova territory with Starace stating the theme before handing over to Borring. Starace’s later alto solo probed darkly, an intriguing counterpoint to the sunniness of the underlying rhythms.
Petrucciani’s “Little Peace In C For V” began with an exquisite dialogue featuring just soprano sax and guitar. Starace’s later solo above Cottle’s springy bass walk was an excellent demonstration of the Italian’s ability on the smaller horn and Cottle’s string bending bass solo was also mightily impressive. Borring’s slowed down guitar solo offered an effective contrast before a spirited bop inspired finish saw the hitherto economical Nickolls cutting loose for the first time. Nickolls is an unfussy drummer but his in the pocket playing is just right for this quartet.
The first half ended on a high note with Perucciani’s gospel flavoured tune “Simply Bop” during which the personable Starace encouraged the audience to clap along before going walkabout in the audience during his alto solo. A respectably sized crowd (fifty plus I’d say) just loved this and gave the group a great reception. The combination of Starace’s personal charm, Petrucciani’s rich and varied compositions and superb musicianship all round had made for a highly effective and enjoyable first half. Even so the quartet were nearly upstaged by Norman The Cat, the handsome ginger tom from next door who made a leisurely tour of the auditorium, including the bandstand, during the interval charming everybody in the process. Tommaso was quick to recognise Norman as a fellow “cool cat”.
Possibly reacting to audience comments at the interval the quartet opened the second half with an interesting arrangement of the jazz standard, “Bye Bye Blackbird” introduced with an alto/bass duet
with subsequent solos coming from Starace, Borring and Cottle plus a further series of drum breaks from Nicholls.
Starace’s waltz “Marvellous” takes its title from Petrucciani’s album of that name, the one with Williams, Holland and the Graffiti String Quartet. Lovingly crafted the piece here featured solos from Starace and Borring and was a fitting tribute to the genius of the man behind so much of tonight’s music.
Solo alto ushered in an unannounced ballad. As a lover of original music I’ll readily admit to not knowing my standards as well as I should. However I suspect that this may have been Duke Ellington’s “In A Sentimental Mood”. Petrucciani was a huge admirer of Ellington and once recorded a solo piano album for Blue Note entitled “Promenade With Duke”. This featured an exceptional solo from Borring and a hugely musical statement from the consistently excellent Cottle.
Another waltz, “Rachid”, followed, a dedication from Petrucciani for his daughter with Starace switching to soprano, arguably an instrument he should deploy more often given his ability on the straight horn. Interestingly the arrangement included a colourful closing drum feature with Nickolls circumnavigating his kit to a back drop of Borring’s sympathetic guitar chording and Starace’s circling sax lines.
Petrucciani’s “My Bebop Tune” was a frenetic closer which set out doing exactly what it says on the tin with Starace’s hurtling, stream of consciousness alto shadowed by Cottle’s fast, springy bass lines, Borring’s intricate guitar chording and the restless chatter of Nickolls’ drums. The second part of the tune slowed the pace a little but this was still an exhilarating end to a superb evening of music. An encore was inevitable with Starace and the group remaining on stage for a good natured romp through Petrucciani’s “Cantabile”. To be honest I stopped taking notes at this stage and just sat back and enjoyed the music.
It would seem that whatever the combination of instruments Starace chooses to put together the resultant music is going to be colourful and full of interest. Factor in Starace’s warm personality and you have a live act that combines entertainment and accessibility with a consistently high standard of musicianship. A word of praise too for Laurence Cottle who took time out to chat to the youngest member of the audience, an eight year old girl seated in the front row who had clearly been enthralled throughout. Dressed very glamorously for the occasion it turned out that she was an aspiring flute player. Let’s hope the encouragement of Cottle and Starace will help to inspire a star of the future. This accessibility and the atmosphere of mutual respect that exists between musicians and audiences are among the things that make jazz such a great music.
I’ve now seen two very different concerts by Starace and without hesitation would recommend him as an excellent live act. The reaction of the Hive crowd suggested that they would fully concur with the above statement.
After the gig I treated myself to a copy of Starace’s acclaimed 2005 album “Plays The Photos Of Elliott Erwitt”, a set of original compositions that reflects Starace’s fascination with photography and cinema. Starace’s tunes have a cinematic quality of their own, a characteristic that can also be heard on the later “Blood & Champagne”. “Plays The Photos” teams him with an inspired British bans featuring Roger Beaujolias (vibes), Liam Noble (piano) and Julian Bury (bass) with Jim Hart, best known these days as a vibraphone player, turning in a rare (but very good) performance at the drums. Like it’s successor “Plays The Photos” is strongly recommended.
Matthew Shipp at The Vortex, London, 07/09/2011 and 08/09/2011.
Matthew Shipp
Monday, September 12, 2011
Reviewed by: Tim Owen
Shipp plays a two-night stand with his pick of London’s finest.
Matthew Shipp
The Vortex, London
07/09/2011, with Evan Parker
08/09/2011, with Paul Dunmall, John Edwards, Mark Sanders
The American pianist Matthew Shipp was last in London earlier in the year to promote his career-best double album ‘Art of the Improviser’. Since then he’s renewed his association with alternative hip-hop trio Antipop Consortium on the ‘Knives from Heaven’ release, but right now he has nothing specific to promote, leaving him free to play this two-night stand with his pick of London’s finest. Perhaps the biggest draw was his summit with saxophonist Evan Parker, which was recorded for future release, but a quartet gig with Paul Dunmall (saxophones), John Edwards (double bass) and Mark Sanders (drums), promised to be even more explosive.
Although one might think he’d need some tenor brawn to match Shipp’s brash stance at the keyboard, Evan Parker played soprano saxophone throughout the first night’s first set, and he needed to be on the lighter horn to match the dazzling speed at which Shipp developed his improvisations. At times, particularly early on, the sheer quantity of sound events generated by the duo was almost overwhelming. At first they proceeded not so much together as in counterpoint to one another. Parker responded to Shipp’s vivacity with his trademark pointillist flurries, filling one sudden vacuum created by Shipp’s laying out with helical flurries of soprano. Shipp was mercurial, at times reminiscent of Cecil Taylor but tighter, blockier in execution; it’s a tendency obviously related to his explorations of electronic and hip-hop rhythms. The fewer the notes Shipp plays, the more bodily he plays them, pivoting his torso like a boxer delivering one-two combinations. His style has a playful aspect that undercuts any severity of precision in his phrasing, and at statelier tempos a hint of coldness is offset by a hymnal aspect to the development of certain melodies. In its latter stages, this first set more than once switched between fluid improv passages and others that came close to stately sonata forms. The latter impression was reinforced by Shipp’s plucking of bold, harp-like notes direct from the piano’s wires, while Parker played with a poise that’s innate to his mature style though rare in free music; this is something that has characterized his playing since he formed his electro-acoustic ensemble, which has something of the dynamic of a chamber ensemble. As the set drew to its conclusion this poise became a less characteristic introversion, a mood that persisted even when Shipp became restless and insistently probing. Gradually, however, the duo slipped back into the sequencing of eruptive, rapid clusters, a mode in which they both excel.
I’m told Evan Parker switched to tenor saxophone for the second set on the 7th. Regretfully, I couldn’t stay for it. By all accounts (of course) it surpassed the first, though the atmosphere in the already uncomfortably crowded venue became “like a Turkish bath”. I may yet get to hear the music I missed, however, since as I say the evening was recorded for future release, although if the announcement was accurate we may have to wait until 2013 for the pleasure.
The second night of Shipp’s short residency featured him in a radically different context, partnered (as on a previous visit to London) by saxophonist Paul Dunmall and the explosive bass/drums partnership of John Edwards and Mark Sanders. Dunmall is roughly a decade younger than Parker, but his sound is much more readily evocative of the style and substance of John Coltrane. Dunmall has described a three-year visit to a Divine Light Mission ashram in America as a formative experience that gave him “a spiritual understanding through meditation, Coltrane’s music, and all the rest of it”. It also led to a short tenure in the mission’s big band, led by Alice Coltrane. Now, at the Vortex, Dunmall frequently locked into the kinetic energy whipped up by Edwards and Sanders and played in spirit of Coltrane and his immediate ‘successors’, such as Pharaoh Sanders, Dewey Redman and Joe Henderson. And since Dunmall, notwithstanding the indebtedness to Coltrane, is just as strongly individual as those other great players, we were treated to a riveting set of high-energy improvised music from the quartet. The downside was that, for long stretches of time, Shipp, although tirelessly inventive, and never less than resourceful and attuned to the moment, effectively played in parallel to others, whose music did little to adapt to the specifics of his style. The collective effort was at its most inspired and/or original when the quartet broke down into duo or trio configurations. Towards the end of the first long improvisation, for instance, a wonderfully combative, percussive piano trio built up a mass of accumulated tension that was effectively exploded by Dunmall’s re-entry, only for Dunmall to drop out again as Shipp lowered the temperature for a dirge-like solo accompanied by bowed bass. A second improvisation began with Dunmall and Shipp engaged in an exchange that recalled the pianist’s earlier discourse with Evan Parker, but as bass and drums ripped into the dialogue the tempo increased, and Shipp dropped out and Dunmall built up to some acerbic, Dewey Redman-style declamations. Never shy of a bit of rough-and-tumble, on re-entry Shipp actually upped both the tempo and the heat of an exchange that never lost its intensity from that point on.
Shipp began the second set dramatic flicking notes from the keyboard with his thumbs, to the accompaniment of heavy bowing and skittering percussion. Dunmall, now on soprano, played with fluency comparable to Parker’s, albeit with more brawn and a touch of steel in his sound (as compared to Parker’s tensile wiriness). In the long up-tempo collective improvisation that followed Shipp meshed more effectively with the others, and particularly with Sanders. Set highlights now came thick and fast: a lovely piano/bass duet; an accompanied solo from Dunmall, extrapolating an extended melodic line from circular breathing techniques; a gob-smacking, percussive bass/drums exchange that inspired Dunmall, back on tenor, and Shipp to counter with their own exchange of percussive taps and strikes, taking the ensemble to a collective climax of thunderous intensity. Shipp took the temperature down again for an exchange with Sanders in which he demonstrated his versatility with relatively straightforward chording, playing through an idiosyncratic series of skittish repetitions that he built to pile-driving intensity before the bass’s re-entry. When Dunmall came back in the scene was set for a dramatic ‘Sun Shipp’ finale. A final improvisation began in contrasting style, with elided abstractions, as Shipp and Edwards on bowed bass blended flurries of sound. When Dunmall tried to impose the clarity of a conventional melody the others kicked against it, and some of the fire went out of the group interaction. Shipp grabbed the opportunity for a boppish solo, leading to another group blow-out and then a slow diminuendo, with all involved finally seeming skittish and either burnt out or charged with enough nervous energy to keep searching for new peaks all night. Sadly, they decided the night was over.
Alex Garnett Quartet at Dempsey’s, Cardiff, 06/09/2011.
Alex Garnett
Wednesday, September 07, 2011
Reviewed by: Ian Mann
An impressive quartet performance with several of the pieces differing significantly from the album..
Alex Garnett Quartet, Dempsey’s, Cardiff, 06/09/2011.
The much loved British saxophonist Alex Garnett recently released his long awaited début recording as a leader. The album, “Serpent”, has received unanimously favourable reviews, not least from this site. Recorded in Brooklyn the album teamed Garnett and his long time collaborator Michael Janisch (double bass) with New York musicians Anthony Wonsey (piano) and Willie Jones III (drums). The two Americans, or maybe three if you count Janisch who is now resident in the UK, make a huge contribution to the record but the ultimate triumph is Garnett’s, his sharply intelligent compositions give his colleagues plenty of ideas to get their teeth into.
For this second date of a British tour in support of the album Garnett and Janisch were joined by the UK based musicians Ross Stanley (piano) and Andrew Bain (drums). With Garnett sticking to tenor throughout the quartet played the majority of the tunes on the album (perhaps advisedly they omitted the notoriously tricky title track) plus a couple of brief standards. This was only the second time this particular quartet had played together, Bain having recently replaced Enzo Zirilli in Garnett’s UK quartet, but already it was obvious that the band were building a chemistry with several of the pieces differing significantly from the record.
As on the album they began with “Lydia”, a fast and furious opener guaranteed to clear any cobwebs. Ross Stanley quickly proved himself to be more than a match for the album’s Anthony Wonsey, his fingers flying across the keys in a dazzling opening solo that even threatened to upstage Garnett. The leader responded with some fiery tenor and Bain weighed in with a series of sparky drum breaks. Both live and on record this is a piece that grabs the listener by the lapels and gives them a damn good shaking.
Still following the pattern of the album the quartet followed this with “Three for a Moor” which Garnett announced as being a tribute to Dexter Gordon. This was more considered with Bain picking up the brushes during the gentle opening exchanges, later switching to sticks as Garnett began to probe more deeply and aggressively. Stanley followed with his customary intelligence and we also heard the first of several excellent solos from Janisch, a player with huge rhythmic drive but also an intelligent and highly dexterous soloist.
I was a little surprised to learn just how big an influence Charlie Parker has been on Garnett’s playing. Perhaps it’s a British thing, Garnett, a tenor player is greatly influenced by Parker while the UK’s leading alto player, Peter King talks of the growing influence of John Coltrane on his own playing. In any event “Blueprint” took on a much more Parker-ish hue than the recorded version with feverish bebop influenced solos coming from Garnett, Stanley and Janisch punctuated by Bain’s busy drum breaks.
A segue of standards completed the first half beginning with Mal Waldron’s ballad “Soul Eyes” which featured Stanley at his most lyrical followed by a remarkable duet between Garnett and Janisch as Stanley and Bain temporarily dropped out. The group followed this with a brief rendition of one of Miles Davis’ early bebop pieces simply entitled “The Theme” with solos coming from Garnett, Stanley and Janisch. Although written by Davis it still all sounded very Parker-ish to me.
All in all this had been a good first half with the quartet quickly warming to the task and obviously enjoying themselves. The second set was even better as they began to relax even more. A remarkable solo bass intro led the way into a fiery rendition of the Latin flavoured “The Pimp” with a powerful tenor solo from Garnett and an equally bravura solo from Stanley. The energy levels were much greater than on the record and as a live item the tune proved to be highly exciting.
The recorded version of “Dracula’s Lullaby” is pretty much a straight ballad but the live version concentrates on the first word of the title with creepy arco bass, sax overblowing and cymbal scrapes. Simultaneously combining an atmospheric eeriness with a degree of theatricality this was another number that took on a fresh identity in a live setting.
“Saluda Hakim”, another unabashed Parker homage, quickly raised the energy levels again. Chock full of Parker quotes Garnett admits to compiling the tune from Charlie’s cast offs. Not that that’s a bad thing, the tune is hugely enjoyable and formed the vehicle for more sparkling solos from Garnett, Stanley and finally Bain at the drums.
They finished with the album closer “Atonement”, here announced as “When The Saints Go Marching In”. Garnett has taken this hoariest of old jazz tunes and re-harmonised it, subtly but brilliantly recasting it in an entirely contemporary context. Solos came from Garnett and Stanley and the piece also included a final drum feature for Bain.
A modest but knowledgeable Dempsey’s crowd containing most of the Cardiff Jazz regulars gave them a great reception for an impressive quartet performance. Bain is still settling into the group and it’s likely that the overall performance will get even better as the tour progresses. Garnett is a fluent, highly able tenor soloist and a skilled composer and you know exactly what you’re going to get with Janisch, consistently one of the finest bass players in the country. However Stanley’s contribution was the biggest and in many ways most enjoyable surprise. I’ve seen and heard him many times before on both piano and organ but I don’t think I’ve ever seen him solo as effusively as here. He’s a superb technician and a first choice sideman for many musicians but often seems to be playing within himself. Garnett gave him his head and he grabbed the opportunity to cut loose with both hands (literally) and his solos were frequently dazzling. He’s back at Dempsey’s in a couple of weeks time (September 20th) playing organ with guitarist Mike McKnight’s quartet which also features guest saxophonist Seamus Blake so I hope to check him out again then. In the meantime I’d urge readers to get out and see the Alex Garnett Quartet if you can.
The remaining tour dates are;
Thursday 8 September: Ronnie Scotts, 47 Frith St, Soho, London W1D 4HT * UPDATED
020 7439 0747 http://www.ronniescotts.co.uk Gig 7:15 (1 hour set)
Saturday 10 September : 606 Club, 90 Lots Road, London SW10 0QD
020 7352 5953 / http://www.606club.co.uk/ Doors 6:30 PM // £8
Wednesday, 14 Sept: The Hideaway 2 Empire Mews, Streatham SW16 2BF *LAUNCH PARTY*
020 8835 7070 http://www.hideawaylive.co.uk Doors 7pm, Music 8.30pm // £10
Marius Neset Quartet, The Edge Arts Centre, Much Wenlock, Shropshire, 03/09/2011.
Marius Neset
Monday, September 05, 2011
Reviewed by: Ian Mann
Photography: Photograph by Tim Dickeson.
Marius Neset looks set to become one of the major figures of European jazz in the coming years.
Marius Neset Quartet, The Edge Arts Centre, Much Wenlock, Shropshire, 03/09/2011
The twenty five year old saxophonist and composer Marius Neset received rave reviews earlier this year for his album “Golden Xplosion” and there was a real buzz on the UK jazz scene about his first British tour. Tonight Edge regulars were privileged to witness a superlative performance from the young Norwegian and his all star Anglo-Scandinavian quartet. Joining Neset were frequent Edge visitors Jasper Hoiby (Denmark, double bass) and Anton Eger (Sweden, drums), a pairing best known for their work as two thirds of Hoiby’s hugely successful trio Phronesis. Completing the line up on piano and electric keyboards was Nick Ramm of Clown Revisited, Fulborn Teversham,Oriole and others, a highly adaptable and versatile musician who I tend to think of as being the F-ire Collective’s house pianist. Ramm was deputising, very ably, for Django Bates who makes a substantial contribution to the success of the “Golden Xplosion” album.
Originally from Bergen Neset studied with Bates in Copenhagen where the latter is a professor at the Danish capital’s Rhythmic Music Conservatory. Clearly impressed with his young protégée Bates invited Neset to join both his big band StoRMChaser and long running small group Human Chain (replacing Iain Ballamy). Neset subsequently returned the compliment by asking Bates to feature on “Golden Xplosion”. The album, which is reviewed elsewhere on this site, features some inspired playing by Bates and his influence is also readily detectable in Neset’s compositional methods. The music on “Golden Xplosion” is often busy, technically dazzling and full of the dynamic contrasts and sudden changes of direction that have become a Bates trademark. Certainly the spirit of Django loomed large over the first set of this evening’s concert, a complex, attention grabbing affair full of twists and turns and featuring some brilliant playing from all four members of the group. A more lyrical second half saw the quartet visibly relaxing as Neset’s own ideas seemed to come increasingly to the fore. Although frequently mind boggling there was the sense that tonight’s concert was an “event” and several members of the audience (around 100 strong in total I suspect, not quite a full house) rose at the end to give the group a standing ovation. With his blond pop idol looks and formidable technical ability Neset looks to be a star in the making and may not be playing small venues like this for very much longer.
“Golden Xplosion” contains solo, duo,trio and quartet performances and tonight began with just Neset and Ramm taking to the stage as Neset began to play the solo tenor saxophone composition “Saxophone Intermezzo” with Ramm subsequently adding the backing of his Nord electric keyboard to Neset’s already impressively full sound. Eventually Hoiby and Eger came on, on taking up their positions as the music segued into the thrillingly tricky “City On Fire”. This fiendishly complex piece incorporated volcanic tenor sax soloing, dynamic drumming and a wonderfully percussive piano solo from Ramm who spent much of the evening switching between piano and electric keyboards, sometimes playing both simultaneously in the manner of a 70’s prog rocker. Elsewhere there were dazzling unison passages for sax and keyboards and supercharged bass and drums. At the end of this tour de force both band and audience were simultaneously drained and exhilarated.
The next piece, as yet untitled but scheduled to appear on Neset’s next album, initially promised to cool things down a little beginning as a tenor sax ballad with Eger producing some sensitive brush work to complement his leader’s lyricism. In time Neset switched to soprano, the instrument defiantly emitting a couple of blasts of feedback from the bug mike before Neset sorted things out.
Hoiby and Eger picked out a cerebral, odd meter funk groove which Neset soloed passionately above before a passage of solo piano from Ramm doused the fires with Neset returning to the tenor to bring things full circle with a lyrical coda. This was a good example of the broad scope of Neset’s writing, the strong narrative arc backed up by some great playing. It was unfortunate that the technical problem mid tune rather interrupted the flow.
The solo tenor saxophone piece “Old Poison (XL)” saw Neset using the key pads of his instrument percussively in the manner of his compatriot Hakon Kornstad as he developed a series of interlocking patterns that made it almost appear as if he was duetting with himself. A further passage of solo piano from Ramm provided the segue into another new tune, “Boxing”, a punchy number that lived up to its title as Neset, now on soprano, ducked and dived, bobbed and weaved around Eger’s cowbell enhanced beat. The drummer turned in a virtuoso display on this tune, energetically and colourfully circumnavigating his kit as Neset switched back to tenor for the climax of the piece.
At the break a breathless audience raved about what they’d seen and the second half was, if anything, to be even better. “Golden Xplosion” itself was introduced by busily percolating tenor sax and keyboards as Eger coaxed an exotic array of sounds from his kit, at one point using a stick which brought to mind the phrase “do you want bells on it?!”
Ramm soloed on piano before exchanging phrases with Neset above a backdrop of hyperactive drums and bass. It was perhaps a wise decision not to try to reproduce Bates’ astonishing synthesiser solo on the record.
The ballad “Sane” acted as the starting point for an astonishing segue that made up the rest of the set. Neset on tenor and Ramm provided real lyricism against a background of Eger’s gentle mallet rumbles. Hoiby’s bass solo exhibited sensitivity, depth and resonance before Neset took over again with subtle live looping allowing him to layer his sound, again in the manner of Hakon Kornstad, to me a more obvious Norwegian influence on Neset than the more frequently cited Jan Garbarek. A lengthy dialogue between Neset and Eger, the latter still wielding soft head mallets followed before the music took a more boppish turn as the piece climaxed with a torrential solo from Ramm, the pianist really enjoying the opportunity to cut loose and really show off his virtuosity.
After this an encore was inevitable and the group returned to play the lengthy “Angel of The North”, arguably the centrepiece of the “Golden Xplosion” album. On record the piece is much influenced by the episodic, large scale group writing of guitarist Pat Metheny. In a live context the Metheny-isms seemed less obvious as Neset switched from tenor to soprano and back again, once more enhancing his sound with live looping, particularly on the atmospheric coda. The sheer lyricism of this piece impressed many listeners, not least promoter Alison Vermee. It represented a considerable coup for her to get this rising star of the jazz firmament to The Edge and Neset and his band didn’t disappoint with the dynamic Eger, something of a showman himself, also winning many plaudits. Hoiby impressed as ever with his phenomenal rhythmic drive and agile soloing and Ramm also impressed with his adaptability and musical intelligence. However much as I enjoyed Ramm’s contribution the presence of Bates would have been the cherry on the cake with his tenor horn adding to an already almost impossibly rich mix of ingredients. Bates remains a long term hero of mine dating right back to the Loose Tubes days and it would have been great to have seen him at The Edge. Another time, perhaps?
I spoke to Hoiby, Neset and Ramm afterwards, top guys all. The Edge was the second date of a tour which had begun at a sold out Pizza Express in London with virtually all the UK’s jazz media present. It was a nervous night for the band but the reviews I’ve seen suggest that they triumphed brilliantly. The London show was recorded by Jazz On 3 and is due to be transmitted on September 19th. Hoiby and Neset felt that they’d actually played better at The Edge where they felt more relaxed so we were honoured indeed.
Neset’s thoughts are already on the next album, which won’t include Bates as he’s trying to get away from the comparisons/influences. Given the scope exhibited by such compositions as “Angel Of The North” it also came as no surprise to learn that he’s also writing for a large ensemble based in Trondheim where the city’s conservatoire is something of a hot bed of Norwegian jazz.
“Golden Xplosion” is already a huge success and this UK tour is shaping up to be a further triumph. Marius Neset looks set to become one of the major figures of European jazz in the coming years.
Remaining tour dates are listed below, make sure you don’t miss this band!
All dates with Nick Ramm, Jasper Hoiby and Anton Eger unless otherwise stated)
6th Sept – MARIUS NESET – The Earlsdon Cottage Inn, Coventry, UK
7th Sept – MARIUS NESET – South Park Hill, Bracknell, UK
8th Sept – MARIUS NESET – Dempseys, Cardiff, UK
9th Sept – MARIUS NESET – Matt & Phreds, Manchester, UK
10th Sept – MARIUS NESET – Kings Place, London, UK (Part of Edition Records Festival 11)
29th Sept – MARIUS NESET – Dunkers Kulturhus, Sweden
27th Oct – MARIUS NESET – Nasjonal Jazz Scene, Oslo, Norway (w/ Martin France, Nick Ramm and Petter Eldh)
28th Oct – MARIUS NESET – Umeå Jazz Festival, Umeå, Sweden (w/ France, Ramm and Petter Eldh)
30th Oct – MARIUS NESET – Cork Jazz Festival, Cork, Ireland (w/ France, Ramm and Phil Donkin)
2012:
11th January 2012 – MARIUS NESET – De Bijlole, Gent, Belgium
14th January 2012 – MARIUS NESET – Hallsberg Jazz Club, Hallsberg, Sweden
Garnett's début as a leader is well worth the wait.
Alex Garnett
“Serpent”
(Whirlwind Recordings WR4615)
Saxophonist and composer Alex Garnett is perhaps not as well known to British jazz audiences as he should be. The son of of a saxophone playing father, the UK veteran Willie Garnett, young Alex worked in the City before eventually becoming a professional musician, a hired gun who gained valuable experience working with leaders such as blues guitarist Otis Grand and jump jive specialist Ray Gelato among many others including big names such as Van Morrison and The Rolling Stones. He honed his jazz chops playing with the likes of Wynton Marsalis, Humphrey Lyttleton, Peter King and Scott Hamilton plus more contemporary figures from both sides of the Atlantic including Gareth Lockrane, Seamus Blake, Phil Robson and Joel Frahm
Somewhere along the way Garnett became friendly with the enterprising expatriate American bassist Michael Janisch and, with Joel Frahm and Nigel Hitchcock, was part of the “Saxophone Summit” band that Janisch led on a UK tour in early 2010 (a review of their performance at Torfaen Jazz Club appears elsewhere on this site). It was at Janisch’s suggestion that Garnett recorded this, his début album as a leader on Janisch’s Whirlwind record label. The album was recorded in New York (Brooklyn to be precise) and features Garnett and Janisch alongside leading American musicians Anthony Wonsey (piano) and Willie Jones III (drums) on a programme of Garnett originals that see him demonstrating considerable ability as a composer. I’ve been lucky enough to see both Wonsey and Jones perform live, the pianist with alto saxophonist Vincent Herring at the now sadly defunct Sweet Basil when I visited New York in late 1996. Jones I saw more recently, appearing with pianist Cedar Walton at Ronnie Scott’s as part of the 2010 London Jazz Festival. Needless to say only the latter of these appearances is documented on the site, forming part of my London Jazz Festival 2010 feature.
The album was recorded with minimal preparation or rehearsal in order to create a spontaneous “live in the studio” feel and overall this approach works well. Garnett cites saxophonists Hank Mobley, Dexter Gordon, George Garzone, Joe Lovano and Joe Henderson as influences so it’s perhaps not surprising that bebop and its later developments are a primary influence albeit with the quartet adding an agreeably contemporary edge to the proceedings.
The opening “Lydia” is a spirited call to arms, an urgent, churning piece featuring Garnett’s garrulous tenor, Jones’ busy drumming, Janisch’s rhythmic drive and Wonsey’s sparkling pianistics. It’s an impressive statement of intent.
However there’s more to Garnett’s playing than mere bluff and bluster. “Three for a Moor” begins as a gorgeous ballad with Garnett on warm, breathy tenor. However we soon find him stretching out with a gently probing solo. He’s matched by the intelligent soloing of Wonsey with Janisch and Jones providing sympathetic, low profile accompaniment.
As the title might suggest the boppish “Blueprint” sounds like a homage to the classic albums of the Blue Note label with exuberant solos from Wonsey and Garnett and relaxed but emphatically swinging support from the rhythm section. Janisch shines with an attention grabbing arco solo and there are a series of colourful drum breaks from Jones.
The music of “Dracula’s Lullaby” focusses on the second word of the title. This is a beautifully controlled ballad performance with exquisite solos from Garnett on tenor, Janisch on pizzicato bass and the mellifluous Wonsey on piano.
The title of “Saluda Hakim” refers to Charlie Parker’s Muslim name. In a recent feature by Robert Shore in Jazzwise magazine Garnett referred to the piece as being “an amalgamation of some throwaway Charlie Parker quotes-very melodic, creative asides that people often don’t notice. So I put a tune together from his cast offs”. Not surprisingly it sounds much as Garnett describes, very Parker-ish but none the less enjoyable for that. Naturally it’s mainly about the saxophone but Wonsey and Janisch get the opportunity to shine again too and Jones weighs in with another series of explosive drum breaks.
The Latin tinged “The Pimp” sees the quartet stepping back into broadly Blue Note territory with Garnett’s muscular tenor sharing the honours with Wonsey’s breezy comping and soloing.
The title track is an oblique reference to both Adolphe Sax, inventor of the saxophone and its antecedent the “keyed serpent” or ophicleide, and to Joe Henderson, once nicknamed “the serpent”. Musically the piece is a tour de force, a high speed demonstration of Garnett’s formidable chops (he describes it as a “finger buster”) with the rest of the band in hot pursuit. Wonsey’s piano solo is frequently dazzling and matches the leader for brilliance and there’s a volcanic drum solo from Jones.
The album closes on a slightly gentler note with “Atonement” which includes a subtle re-harmonisation of that most famous of jazz pieces “When The Saints Go Marching In”.
Garnett’s début as a leader is well worth the wait. There may not be anything strikingly original here but Garnett’s compositions bristle with intelligence and a strong understanding of the tradition and his choice of titles reveals something of his wicked sense of humour. As Shore mentioned in his review it’s a shame that he doesn’t delve deeper into the stories behind the tunes in his liner notes.
The playing is, of course superlative throughout with each member of the quartet making a significant contribution to a well balanced programme. There seems to be a real chemistry between the musicians which is nicely captured in an excellent mix by engineers Mike Marciano and Tyler McDiarmid.
Garnett is currently touring this music in the UK with a British based quartet featuring Janisch, pianist Ross Stanley and drummer Andrew Bain. I’ll be attending the Cardiff date on September 6th and reporting on it for the site.
The remaining tour dates are;
Sept 6
Alex Garnett Quartet
Dempsey’s Jazz Club
Cardiff, Wales
Wednesday 7 September Ronnie Scotts, 47 Frith St, Soho, London W1D 4HT * UPDATED
020 7439 0747 http://www.ronniescotts.co.uk Gig 7:15 (1 hour set)
Thursday 8 September: Ronnie Scotts, 47 Frith St, Soho, London W1D 4HT * UPDATED
020 7439 0747 http://www.ronniescotts.co.uk Gig 7:15 (1 hour set)
Sept 10
Alex Garnett Quartet
606 Club
London, England
Sept 14
Alex Garnett Quartet- Official Album Launch
The Hideaway
Streatham, London, England
Sept 15
Alex Garnett Quartet
Watermill Jazz Club
Dorking, England
With each successive release, David S. Ware expresses something new within a body of work that, superficially at least, has a fairly narrow focus.
David S. Ware, Cooper-Moore, William Parker, Muhammad Ali
“Planetary Unknown”
(AUM Fidelity)
Although he was active in the ‘70s New York loft scene, David S. Ware cemented his international reputation as a heavyweight saxophonist through a series of recordings, issued between 1992 and 2006, that featured a truly classic quartet: William Parker on bass, Matthew Shipp piano, and first Marc Edwards, then Whit Dickey, Susie lbarra, and finally Guilermo E. Brown on drums. Ware suffered from kidney disease at the age of 60, underwent successful kidney transplantation in 2009, but soon made a remarkable return to work. The old quartet was disbanded when Shipp moved on to concentrate on his own projects, but a new venture teamed Ware and Parker with drummer Warren Smith and guitarist Joe Morris. This unit shaped up nicely on the albums ‘Shakti’ (2008) and ‘Onecept’ (2010), but ‘Planetary Unknown’ marks the début of yet another new quartet, which Ware hopes will be an ongoing concern. William Parker remains Ware’s invaluable right-hand man, generating from his double bass all the energy and momentum required to match the saxophonist in full flight, and enriching Ware’s compositions with emotional intensity.
One might attribute the short-term tenancy of the drum seat in Ware’s ‘90s quartet to the rigours of playing alongside such an imposing, often imposingly percussive bassist. Muhammad Ali might be Parker’s best match yet. Ali has hitherto been best known by association with Albert Ayler, since he contributed to the 1969 sessions that yielded Ayler’s ‘Music is the Healing Force of the Universe’ and ‘The Last Album’. He’s also been cast unfairly into the shadow of his brother Rashied’s association with John Coltrane, particularly on the epochal ‘Interstellar Space’ duets. Muhammad’s own career has been poorly represented on record, despite recording consistently if not prolifically (titles on independents that invariably went soon out of print) and enjoyed a long association with saxophonist Frank Wright. This album finally does the man some justice, and will hopefully be just the first step in a renaissance to equal that of his peer, the veteran bassist Henry Grimes. As with Grimes’, Ali’s skills are revealed here to be in rude health. He marries the vitality of players many years younger with all the authority and lightly worn gravitas of experience.
The presence of pianist Cooper-Moore is just as significant. His first experience was gained alongside David S. Ware and drummer Marc Edwards in the trio Apogee, back in 1970, but he retired from performance in the early 80s, reportedly smashing and torching his piano in disaffection. He then worked for a while as an educator through music, and took to instrument making. When he performed it was as an accompanist for dance and theatre. When Cooper-Moore returned to jazz in the early ‘90s, it was as a member of William Parker’s In Order to Survive. Now he occasionally crops up in unexpected contexts, such as on a favourite album of mine by Talibam!, ‘Ordination of the Globetrotting Conscripts’ (2007), on which he plays his diddley-bo [sic], mouth-bow, and ‘twanger’. He leads a trio with Tom Abbs and Chad Taylor called Triptych Myth, and is also the organist in William Parker’s Organ Quartet, which was documented last year on the outstanding ‘Uncle Joe’s Spirit House’ album (Centering Records).
Given the back-story of these four master musicians, ‘Planetary Unknown’ carries a heavy weight of expectation. It comprises seven all new co-composed pieces fleshed out through improvisation. The album gets under way with a 22 minute epic, “Passage Wudang”, which is gratifyingly intense at first, in the manner of Ware’s most uncompromising albums, with Cooper-Moore squaring up to Ware’s bellicosity with a blocky, angular style of attack not unlike Matthew Shipp’s before him. But as the track stretches out, Cooper-More becomes more fluid, lyrical, and almost stately. The opening and closing tracks are the only ones here that conform to Ware’s post-fire-music style. With Cooper-Moore and Ali aboard, this quartet’s signature sound is looser than you might expect, sometimes more akin to European free music, albeit with clear memories of such strains of Americana as soul and gospel deep within its constitution. At the fifteen minute mark, “Passage Wudang” takes a beguilingly sensitive turn, and a sax-less trio play the piece out as a pastorale. Ware returns only to sign the piece out, but gets the following “Shift” under way in tandem with Ali. It’s a short, unclassifiable piece with the quartet all playing as if at odds, yet fitting together with organic seamlessness. Ware is on tenor only for these tracks and the following duet with Ali, “Duality is One”. Ali is almost insouciantly free here: as Ware rips into a rapid series of variations on the melody the veteran drummer keeps the rhythm buoyant and elastic, effectively tempering the saxophonists’ intensity.
The next three tracks feature Ware on sopranino, his tone more honeyed on the lighter horn than on past outings. Cooper-Moore and Ware swap searching, luminous solos on “Divination”, before the rhythm section rejoin. Ali is on brushes throughout, while Parker plucks full, plummy notes from the bass and Cooper-Moore’s piano darts to refract the sopranino’s switches and turns. There’s gentleness at play here that’s new to Ware’s recorded output. This is particularly evident on the brief “Chrystal Palace” and the following “Divination Unfathomable”. Parker plays deeply resonant bowed bass here that draws Ware into some particularly searching lines. Midway through “Divination” Ware breaks into flurries of circular breathing, Cooper-Moore responds with rapid ebbs and flows of pianism, and Parker and Ali respectively bow and brush up a minor storm. Ware switches to stritch (straight alto) for the closing “Ancestry Supramental”, which starts bright and up-tempo, underpinned by Parker’s nimble fingering, only to develop into an exhilarating, tumultuous give-and-take punctuated by brief percussive flurries, as everyone holds their agitation in restraint until just the right time to throw down. It’s magnificent, heady stuff. With each successive release, David S. Ware expresses something new within a body of work that, superficially at least, has a fairly narrow focus. With a trio of peers at his side he seems set to continue the tradition.
COMMENTS;
I was lucky enough to watch the David S. Ware quartet in Saalfelden on 27/08/2011. What a fantastic group… I am proud to share the same stage with them and to be able to chat with Muhammad Ali.
Korhan Arguden
This is a super-group that works and this album is just packed with top quality playing and composing.
James Farm
“James Farm”
(Nonesuch)
“Oo’s this James Farm then? Never even ‘eard of ‘im”. A typical reaction perhaps for the jazz fan encountering the name for the first time. But, as it turns out, James Farm is not a person but a band, and a veritable super-group at that.
JAMES turns out to be an acronym for the first names of the musicians in this exciting new group. Joshua Redman (saxophones), Aaron Parks (piano), Matt Penman (bass) and Eric Harland (drums) are all leading figures in the world of contemporary American jazz. Redman, Penman and Harland all worked extensively with the SF Jazz Collective between 2005 and 2007 and Penman and Harland constituted the rhythm section on Parks’ acclaimed solo début “Invisible Cinema”.
The group was first convened for an appearance the 2009 Monterey Jazz Festival but such was the chemistry between them that they stuck together and toured extensively before going into the studios in 2010 to record their eponymous début album.
“James Farm” is a long way removed from the usual dilatory superstar jam. All four members of the group write and they have brought a selection of their finest compositions to this first album. “James Farm” seems to take its cue from pianist Parks’ “Invisible Cinema”, most of the pieces are highly melodic and have a strong narrative arc as well as a distinct pictorial quality that borrows from rock and other contemporary song forms as well as jazz. Although “James Farm” is ostensibly an acoustic jazz record it is nonetheless one that is capable of finding an audience beyond its core constituency. Rather like the Anglo/American alliance The Impossible Gentlemen (Mike Walker/Gwilym Simcock/Steve Swallow/Adam Nussbaum) this is a super-group that works and this album is just packed with top quality playing and composing.
Bassist Matt Penman was born in New Zealand and studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston before deciding to settle in the US. Now one of America’s foremost bass players he is also a skilled composer and his piece “Coax” opens the album. It’s an intriguing composition that expands gradually from Parks’ opening piano arpeggios to incorporate dynamic contrasts and contemporary grooves. Redman is superb throughout although his soloing is far from conventionally “jazzy”. There’s a central passage of solo piano from the excellent Parks which contrasts well with the explosiveness of Harland’s drumming later on in the piece. This is a sophisticated piece of writing with Penman’s bass the glue that holds it all together.
The opening of Redman’s “Polliwog” sounds like an E.S.T. groove but the addition of the composer’s saxophone helps to give the music a more earthy, obviously American quality. Redman’s solo is joyous and catchy as hell, Parks adds a touch of lyricism mid tune and Harland is restlessly inventive behind the drums, his grooves managing to be simultaneously interesting and irresistible. The gentle coda is as unexpected as it is effective.
Parks’ “Bijou” is a highly melodic piece clearly inspired by Keith Jarrett’s “country blues” phase. If one were being hypercritical one could sniff at this being rather too close to Jarrett for comfort but it’s better to just sit back and enjoy the melody and the playing. Redman’s tone is round and warm and a joy throughout. If you love Jarrett’s “Belonging” album the chances are you’ll love this too.
Also by Parks “Chronos” is a rather more intriguing piece with folk tinged melodies juxtaposed with hip hop grooves. There’s a lot going on here and there are some wonderful exchanges between Parks and Redman plus some dazzling solo work from each. A lengthy fade out, something of a feature for Harland and with Parks deploying electronic keyboards is less interesting and rather detracts from what has gone on before.
Redman’s “Star Crossed” begins as a slow burner with Redman’s long lined tenor succeeded by Park’s gently probing piano before a sudden tempo change mid way through the piece catapults the saxophonist back into the spotlight for a thrillingly urgent solo. The coda sees a return to a gentler pace with Penman featuring with a delightful bass cameo. This is another fine piece of episodic writing and a good encapsulation of the virtues of this band.
Penman’s “1981” is another piece based around grooves and arpeggios. Highly rhythmic it features fluent solos from Redman and Parks with the latter also chiming in on celeste to approximate a vibes like sound.
Harland’s sole contribution with the pen “1-10” centres around his skittering, sometimes electronically enhanced drum grooves and Redman’s urgent, earthy tenor sax. The group cram a lot onto the tune’s four and a half minutes including a feverish Parks piano solo and the mood is claustrophobic and unmistakably urban throughout.
After the intensity of the Harland piece Parks’ elegant, long lined ballad “Unravel” almost comes as light relief. The pensive, lyrical mood offers a total contrast with Parks and Penman both featuring as soloists. Redman’s entrance brings an anthemic quality to the tune’s middle section
Redman’s “If By Air” begins with ethereal pump organ sounds courtesy of Parks before re-entering more conventional acoustic territory with Harland’s ever inventive grooves fuelling fine solos from Penman, Parks and Redman.
The album ends as it began with a composition from Penman. In contrast to the opener “Low Fives” is a shimmering, spacious, atmospheric ballad that could have been lifted straight off an ECM record. Penman’s bass subtly dictates the pace with Parks’ limpid piano enhanced by Harland’s delicate cymbal shadings. Redman enters later, this time on soprano, his gently probing solo staying true to the spirit of the piece but adding just the right amount of urgency to prevent things becoming becalmed.
“James Farm” represents a remarkable début from this excellent new group as it takes jazz virtues and renders them acceptable to the post rock audience. This is a wonderfully inventive album that draws on all of the groups various influences (jazz, rock,hip hop, film music etc.) but roots them firmly within an acoustic jazz context. Harland is supremely imaginative throughout and his playing spurs his colleagues on to creative peaks of their own. The writing and playing is exemplary almost throughout and it’s easy to see why this album has garnered such a wide degree of critical acclaim as the members of James Farm give of their best to this project.
The group is currently touring the US and will be appearing at the 2011 Monterey Jazz Festival in September. Let’s hope that somebody can tempt them to visit the UK at some point in the future.
An album that will not only hold considerable appeal to established jazz listeners but may also bring the voice Jacqui Dankworth to a wider constituency.
Jacqui Dankworth
“It Happens Quietly”
(Specific Jazz SPEC014)
As most jazz listeners will already know singer Jacqui Dankworth is the daughter of Dame Cleo Laine and the late Sir John Dankworth. Her latest album, “It Happens Quietly” has attracted a good deal of attention both in the specialist jazz press (there’s a major feature by Andy Robson in the September 2011 edition of Jazzwise magazine) and beyond with Dankworth talking about the making of the album on Radio 4’s flagship arts programme “Front Row”.
The main reason for the increased media interest is that the album features arrangements by Jacqui’s late father Sir John Dankworth. “It Happens Quietly” is the collection of standards that father and daughter had planned for years but only got around to collaborating on in the last months of Sir John’s life when it had become obvious that he wasn’t going to be around for ever. Jacqui had previously avoided tackling standards and kept delaying the project in an attempt to avoid comparisons with the work of her parents but this time it was different. Sir John penned many of the arrangements from his sick bed and was ably assisted by his long term collaborator and “right hand man” Ken Gibson. The result is a warm, lush album heavy with strings and Jacqui’s warm, breathy vocals.
Sir John himself can be heard counting in a string laden “A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square” which opens the album. Another Dankworth family member, brother Alec, can be heard on double bass alongside one of Jacqui’s regular collaborators pianist Malcolm Edmonstone . Jimmy Hastings, one of a number of brass and woodwind players adds a delightfully delicate flute solo and Jacqui delivers a deliciously velvety vocal wrapped up inside a lushly enveloping Dankworth/Gibson arrangement.
Cole Porter’s “In The Still Of The Night” is given a more playful, Latin tinged arrangement paced by a subtly swinging Steve Brown at the drums. Guitarist Chris Allard turns in a lively but elegant bop flavoured solo and guest saxophonist Karen Sharp weighs in with some breezy tenor. Jacqui’s vocal is typically intimate and yearning, as Andy Robson points out in his Jazzwise review her training as an actress really helps her get inside each song and to bring out the full meaning of the lyric.
The title track was written by Sir John Dankworth in collaboration with Buddy Kaye and mixes lush orchestration with intimate small group jazz with Tim Garland the guest soloist on gently probing soprano sax.
Although more sparsely arranged the Jimmy Dorsey/Paul Mertz standard “I’m Glad There Is You” (chosen for this project by Dame Cleo Laine and inspired by a version sung by Ella Fitzgerald) preserves the mood of intimacy with a typically pure vocal and a tasteful piano solo from the consistently excellent Edmonstone.
A Dave Grusin tune, “ A Love Like Ours”, written in collaboration with Alan and Marilyn Bergman represents a rare move away from the “Great American Songbook”. It’s an inspired choice, the pared down arrangement emphasising the vulnerability of Jacqui’s voice with Basquiat Strings’ Ben Davis adding a brief but effective cello solo and with Edmonstone again excellent throughout.
The Victor Young/Ned Washington song “My Foolish Heart” is heavier on the strings but features neat solo breaks from Alec Dankworth at the bass and Edmonstone at the piano. Alec is one of the UK’s leading bass players and, for me, something of a personal favourite on the instrument.
“Make Someone Happy” marks the return to a more playful approach with a quirky but skilful arrangement plus sparling solos from Edmonstone and Allard as Brown and bassist Steve Watts keep things swinging. There’s a rare joyousness in Jacqui’s voice too on this rather more light hearted piece.
Oscar Levant’s much covered “Blame It On My Youth” has a minimal arrangement for just voice and piano. Jacqui does a superb job of interpreting the rarely heard lyrics (the tune is often treated as an instrumental). Edmonstone, as ever, is the perfect accompanist.
The Ted Koehler/Harold Arlen song “Ill Wind” receives a typically lush string arrangement with Jacqui’s voice and Karen Sharp’s warm, breathy tenor sax solo providing the meat of the jazz content.
The arrangement of Harry Warren’s “At Last” includes the low buzz of bass clarinets (Sharp and Hastings) and a second solo from Garland, this time on tenor, which weaves in and out of the track. Drummer Andrew Bain who has featured on most tracks thus far, but hitherto without mention, supplies suitably imaginative brushwork.
John Dankworth’s tune “The Man” was originally for pianist Stan Tracey. Jacqui later added words to the piece which is playfully delivered and includes a John Dankworth alto solo, recorded some five years earlier and inserted seamlessly into the piece via the wonders of modern musical technology. To keep it in the family Alec weighs in with a pithy bass solo.
Finally comes the Oscar Hammerstein/Jerome Kern song “The Folks That Live On The Hill”, a paean to family life that sums up the spirit of this album perfectly. The arrangement is a total contrast to the lushness of much of the album, just voice and guitar with a superb performance from Chris Allard, but somehow this small scale intimacy just sounds right.
There’s no doubt that “It Happens Quietly” is a real labour of love and a very classy piece of work. It obviously holds a very deep personal significance for Jacqui Dankworth and although her singing is refined and elegant throughout she also invests these songs with a great deal of emotion in an understated, very English way. She receives great support from her arrangers- her father plus Ken Gibson and Malcolm Edmonstone- and the playing by a large cast of excellent British musicians is immaculate throughout.
It’s all rather too lush and mainstream for my personal tastes but “It Happens Quietly” is an album that will not only hold considerable appeal to established jazz listeners but may also bring the voice Jacqui Dankworth to a wider constituency.
“Taylor Made” ranks as one of the best contemporary mainstream recordings.
Linley Hamilton
“Taylor Made”
(Lyte Records LR006)
Trumpeter Linley Hamilton is part of the burgeoning Northern Ireland jazz scene. The Belfast based musician has worked extensively in both the jazz and pop/rock genres appearing with artists such as fellow compatriot Van Morrison plus Jean Toussaint, Jacqui Dankworth, Ken Peplowski, Foy Vance, Paul Brady and The Commitments. He also introduces a late night jazz show on Radio Ulster with the appropriate title of “After Midnight”. His latest album appears on Irish drummer David Lyttle’s Lyte Records and is an accomplished “modern mainstream” set featuring an interesting selection of jazz standards, contemporary jazz compositions and arrangements of classic pop tunes .
Hamilton appears on both trumpet and flugel horn in a quartet setting that features pianist Johnny Taylor after whom the album is named. Taylor is very much Hamilton’s right hand man, an imaginative soloist and the arranger of many of the tunes on the album. The group is completed by bassist Dan Bodwell, an American living in Dublin, and drummer Dominic Mullan.
The album commences with the jazz standard “Without A Song”, the opening trumpet cadenzas demonstrating Hamilton’s purity of tone before the quartet kick in to deliver the tune at a fast clip. Hamilton’s immediately impresses with his fluency as a soloist and there’s a scintillating trumpet/piano duet mid tune just before a typically sparkling Taylor solo. Bodwell and Mullan swing prodigiously at the fast tempo and keep the pot bubbling almost throughout whilst simultaneously leaving the soloists plenty of room to work in. An impressive start.
“Fade A Little” is written by Roman and Julian Wasserfuhr, the young German jazz playing brothers. Roman (piano) and Julian (trumpet) are signed to the prestigious ACT record label for whom they have recorded two albums. “Fade A Little” is a sombre ballad that opens with a brooding but beautiful piano/flugel duet before moving on to absorb delicately nuanced drumming and deeply resonant but wholly sympathetic bass. The Wasserfuhr’s melody has a song like directness that sometimes recalls ACT label mates E.S.T. and Hamilton and his group serve the tune beautifully.
Alto saxophonist Kenny Garrett’s tune “Happy People” is well named. The jaunty, subtly gospel tinged piece is played with a real joie de vivre with as both Hamilton and Taylor solo in exuberant fashion and Bodwell and Mullan gleefully grapple with the complexities of the rhythms.
In a well programmed set “My Heart’s Desire” features the lush ballad playing of Hamilton with Taylor counterbalancing this by adding a subtle touch of the blues to the proceedings as the rhythm section keep things ticking along nicely. It’s another highly tuneful piece and once again the quartet bring out the full beauty of the melody within an imaginative arrangement.
The boppish arrangement of Rogers & Hart’s “This Can’t Be Love” allows Hamilton and Taylor to show off their chops with joyously fluent solos and Mullan enjoys a series of brief drum breaks. Great fun.
“Throw It Away” is another example of the quartet’s superior ballad skills with Bodwell’s bass solo an early highlight. Hamilton and Taylor once again contrast well on their solos, Hamilton cool and lyrical and Taylor more extrovert but tastefully so. The pianist is an excellent improviser, fluent and full of ideas, he always seems to have something interesting to say.
The two “pop” tunes are sequenced together, both substantially re-worked and re-harmonised. Carole King and Gerry Goffin’s “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” becomes a wistful ballad with Hamilton’s purity of tone particularly striking. Taylor’s solo features him at his most lyrical accompanied by the purr of Bodwell’s bass and Mullan’s crisply accented cymbal work.
Paul Simon’s “Have A Good Time” is given a slyly funky treatment and is propelled by Bodwell’s bass groove and Mullan’s neatly energetic drumming. Hamilton’s slurs and smears give the piece a very contemporary feel. Taylor comps energetically on the first half of the tune before later stretching out with a solo that seems to borrow from both the blues and Horace Silver.
The album closes with Woody Shaw’s “Rosewood”, a spirited bop flavoured workout that again demonstrates Hamilton’s tremendous technical facility plus the equally impressive abilities of his three band mates.
“Taylor Made” is an impressive piece of work. Hamilton may not have anything particularly new to say but what he does impart is delivered with sophistication and eloquence. As a trumpeter he has it all-he’s fluent, agile and inventive on the up-tempo numbers, cool and elegant on the ballads. Taylor is the perfect foil and his playing sparkles imaginatively throughout. Bodwell and Mullan are a superbly sympathetic rhythm section but still find room to impress on an individual basis. Hamilton’s liner notes emphasise the contribution of engineer David McCune and rightly so, the mix is wonderfully clear throughout with each musician captured at just the right level. As the title partly implies “Taylor Made” is a superb all round team effort and the love and care that went into this project is palpable. “Taylor Made” ranks as one of the best contemporary mainstream recordings.
A stamp of authority from a band leader who knows he’s bought everything together nicely this time around.
Wadada Leo Smith
“Heart’s Reflections”
(Cuneiform)
I awarded a Jazz Mann four-star rating to the first album that featured Wadada Leo Smith’s Organic, but that was despite, rather than because of, their contribution to it. That was last year’s two-disc set “Spiritual Dimensions” (also Cuneiform), on which the companion set by Smith’s semi-acoustic Golden Quartet carried the day; the Organic disc was comparatively flat-footed and uninspired. This time around, Organic get the four stars without cheating. So what’s changed? Well there are still four electric guitarists involved here, with Josh Gerowitz replacing former guest star Nels Cline. Violinist Stephanie Smith substitutes for cellist Okkyung Lee, whose contributions to “Spiritual Dimensions” were among the highlights. Angelica Sanchez, on piano and Wurlitzer, is a significant addition to the ensemble, alongside Caseys Anderson and Butler, on alto and tenor saxophones respectively, while the twinned laptops of Mark Trayle and Charlie Burgin add a whole other dimension of possibilities. Meanwhile the essentials remain unchanged, with Pheeroan akLaff’s drumming, and the electric/acoustic tag team of bassists Skúli Sverrisson and John Lindberg very much present and correct. And those electric guitars still dominate front-line support: Leo Smith continues to serve out his apprenticeship in his grandfather’s ensemble alongside veterans Michael Gregory (Oliver Lake) and Brandon Ross (Henry Threadgill, Cassandra Wilson, Bill Frisell, and Archie Shepp, among others).
“Heart’s Reflections” is another two-disc set, but without the Golden Quartet around to steal their thunder Organic here stretch out to fill the temporal space, and they let in a good deal of much-needed light and shade in the process. There are enough electric guitar-drenched, locked-down funk-jazz grooves here to fill a single disc every bit as frustratingly one-dimensional as their earlier effort, but the lengthy multi-part suite that constitutes the title track breaks the ensemble down into numerous subdivisions and a couple of long tracks on disc two - dedicated to author Toni Morrison and free-jazz violinist Leroy Jenkins respectively – also loosen up enough to explore interesting textural juxtapositions. Disc one begins, however, with a loose funk riff for WLS to solo over, and it’s indicative that despite his proven track record as a musical composer and conceptualist of genuine originality, Smith often sounds most in his element when he’s plugged into a wah wah and free to extrapolate on memories of Miles Davis’ in the mid-‘70s. The title of this 20 minute opus is “Don Cherry’s Electric Sonic Garden”, but Cherry would have crammed much more incident and inspiration into a track a fifth as long. It’s not a promising start.
Disc one, track two gets the album’s centrepiece suite, full title “Heart’s Reflections: Splendors of Light and Purification (for Shaykh Abu Al-Hasan al-Shadhili)”, under way with another fine trumpet solo over light percussion (it’s the saving grace of Organics’ more potentially interminable tracks that Smith would remain listenable at any length over just about any backing, which is perhaps that’s the real connection with Don Cherry, who I once saw, in the mid ‘80s, at a festival in Crawley, backed by a local reggae band). Imam Shadhili, incidentally, was the founder of Shadhiliyya Sufi, which was a relatively permissive and non-ascetic order. This track is titled “The Dhikr of Radiant Hearts, part 1”, a dhikr being a repetitive invocation, either of the names of God, or of hadithi or Qur’anic texts. Sufism is surely central to Smith’s philosophy, and that’s always worth bearing in mind when considering his music. “The Dhikr…“ part two languidly shades a feature for Angelica Sanchez’ Wurlitzer into a dialogue between bass and electric guitar that plays out in a weightless atmosphere, before a lovely contrabass solo by John Lindberg, reminiscent of Jimmy Garrison’s later solos for John Coltrane, takes the piece out. There are three such two-part subdivisions of the “Heart’s Reflections” suite, and it’s arguable how closely bonded these parts are to each other, let alone to the whole, but that doesn’t really matter, since it’s in the contrasts of shape, mood and texture that increased listening pleasure resides.
The suite’s third part, “The Mystic Way” is brighter and more propulsive, with an eruptive coda by akLaff that carries the leader buoyantly aloft before ebbing to leave him surrounded by breakers of percussion and cymbal wash. “The Shaykh, as far as Humaythira” is an odd melange of harmolodic funk, non-sequitur guitar solos, and disjointed drumming that ends with a series of slammed and compacted elisions. “Spiritual Presence” sets the ensemble free to solo around the pole of a plangent trumpet solo. This piece sounds like it might be graphically notated, since the players seem to respond not so much to each others’ actions as to a loosely defined mesh of thematic associations. “Certainty” kicks things up a gear for a Miles-at-Fillmore boogaloo, with Smith loosing declamatory blats of trumpet and Sanchez’s Wurlitzer noodling over a rock-solid solid drum track. Ross and Gregory provide a running commentary. The two parts of “Ritual and Memory” conclude disc one. The former features the twin laptops, playing electronic textures against Stephanie Smith’s violin, and is rather rudely interrupted as part two drops in akLaff to backup a broiling twin bass attack by Sverrisson and Lindberg. CD two picks right up from there with the suite’s ninth part, “Silsila”, which has akLaaf punching his way out of a doomy electric-bass dominated backing. A final two-parter, “The Well” begins in a bouncy up-tempo mood, but plays out in a series of mordant trumpet flurries across a bed of electronics.
This leaves only the two aforementioned dedication pieces. The ten-minute long “Toni Morrison: The Black Hole (Sagitarius A*), Consequence and Epic Memory” could outdo Keiji Haino in the ongoing quest for the most preposterous/pretentious song title ever, but it is quite an interesting piece all the same. In the intro, Smith solos forcefully over an ensemble backing dominated by the laptops and violin, but the body of the piece is an affectingly hesitant feature for Angelica Sanchez; essentially a piano trio. This leaves just the 22.5 minutes of “Leroy Jenkins’s Air Steps” to wrap things up. It begins energised and up-tempo, in a freewheeling state that this ensemble rarely attains. Smith then plays off against a turbulent backdrop of mutable ensemble alliances in passages of varying intensity. akLaaf, a key player throughout, rises to heat generated by the four unleashed guitarists (whose presences throughout are more central than I may have suggested: Ross, in particular, is constantly versatile) and Sverrisson’s assertive electric bass. Stephanie Smith’s violin is notably truculent, alternating scrapes and smears with scorching, high-pitch runs. Leo Smith takes the lead for a reflective interlude, with sensitive accompaniment from acoustic bass and piano. When the ensemble kick back in the vibe is funkier, with guitarist Michael Gregory soloing extensively, then an atmospheric coda cools things down for a brief statement by the leader, signing off; a final stamp of authority from a band leader who knows he’s bought everything together nicely this time around.
Phronesis, “Pitch Black Project”, Pemberton Stage, Christ College, Brecon Jazz Festival,13/08/2011.
Phronesis
Friday, August 19, 2011
Reviewed by: Ian Mann
Guest contributor Pam Mann with her thoughts on a unique musical and sensory experience.
Phronesis, Pitch Black Project, Pemberton Stage, Christ College, Brecon Jazz Festival, 13/08/2011
Jasper Hoiby-double bass, composer
Ivo Neame-piano
Anton Eger-drums
A world first was held at Brecon Jazz Festival this year, a jazz gig played in total darkness.
Jasper Hoiby the bass player and leader of Phronesis wanted to put this gig on as his sister Jeanette, had lost her sight completely over the course of a two month period, the consequence of a long term progressive illness. I spoke to Jasper the day before the concert and there was some doubt at that time as to whether it could go ahead due to health and safety considerations. However good sense prevailed and with safety precautions in place (which included shouting “help” if you had any problems during the gig) the performance went ahead as scheduled.
The first eight to ten minutes were played in subdued lighting and then,slowly, all the lights went out. First the four white lights on the stage and then the coloured lights above the band dimmed until darkness descended.
At first I stared into the gloom desperately trying to see -very strange. Then I noticed two very small pinpricks of light to the front and left and a small green light behind and to my right. I put my sunglasses on to dim these away and was left in as near total darkness as you can get anywhere these days.
I was lucky to be sat on the end of a row with no one beside me, just about the only empty seat in the house. As a result I had no physical human contact and truly felt alone in the darkness with the music. Listening intently I found that although I knew where the musicians were the sound of the bass and drums in particular didn’t come from where I was expecting them to. Each number finished to thunderous applause but there were none of the shouts of “yeah!” often heard at jazz gigs. I think most of us were afraid of attracting any attention in case the stewards thought we were in difficulties. No one wanted to be responsible for stopping this amazing experience. However with some encouragement from Jasper the crowd relaxed and I can, I think, recall someone shouting “Go Jazz! (or Jas).At one stage I had the insane urge to get up into the aisle and dance but didn’t because I was afraid of stopping the concert and spoiling all the musicians’ hard work -but it would have been great to do it.
The time went so fast the concert was over before it seemed to have begun and disappointingly the lights came up and Jasper, Ivo and Anton appeared out of the gloom. They had however been playing for fifty minutes in the darkness but it was gone in a flash. They continued playing for a further seven to eight minutes and finally finished to a standing ovation. What a wonderful experience.
As I left the venue I had time for a quick word and spoke to Ivo Neame. I was curious as to how he was able to play the piano in total darkness, how did he know where he was on the keyboard? He explained that he rarely looks at the keyboard anyway, he just plays but that they did have a rehearsal in the dark just to be sure that they could do it. It seemed like it was all in a day’s work to them and yet for the audience it was an amazing night.
COMMENTS
Ian says;
Wish I’d been there now, it sounds as if it was a unique and thought provoking experience.
I’m not surprised by Ivo’s comments, I guess after all the practice he’s put in playing just comes naturally to him. Also look at how many great blind piano players there have been, from Art Tatum to Stevie Wonder. More prosaically I guess it’s a bit like touch typing-something I’ve yet to master!
Ivo plays sax and vibes as well he’s a seriously talented chap.
SEBASTIAN SCOTNEY of the LONDON JAZZ BLOG says;
Ian congrats on the depth and detail of your Brecon coverage, and on this nice piece from your…[wife? / daughter ? / .....?] . Such a shame we didn’t meet and say hi.
IAN replies;
Thanks, Seb. My wife wrote the Phronesis piece. It’s her debut for the site so many thanks for your kind comments.
I hope to get down for the London Jazz fwstival again this year so maybe we can meet up then. If not how about Cheltenham 2012?
A fitting homage but also an excellent work in its own right.
Leszek Mozdzer
“Komeda”
(ACT Music ACT 9516-2)
Polish pianist Leszek Mozdzer first came to my attention on the 2007 ACT release “Pasodoble”, an intimate duo recording made with Swedish bassist and cellist Lars Danielsson. “Pasodoble” received a great amount of critical acclaim both on this site and elsewhere and the duo also made a highly successful performance at the 2009 London Jazz Festival, an event covered by my co-writer Tim Owen as part of his “On the Piano Trail, London Jazz Festival 2009” feature.
Mozdzer also featured as part of the band deployed by Danielsson on another highly acclaimed ACT release, 2009’s “Tarantella”. His latest offering is a solo piano release exploring the music of one of the pioneers of Polish jazz, the late pianist and composer Krzystof Komeda (1931-69). The album is the latest in a series of excellent ACT solo piano recordings by Vijay Iyer, Iiro Rantala Gwilym Simcock and others. The Simcock release, “Good Days At Schloss Elmau” has just been nominated for the 2011 Mercury Music Prize.
Born in 1971 Mozdzer is something of a star in his native Poland and has worked with other leading Polish jazz musicians including trumpeter Tomasz Stanko and violinist Michal Urbaniak. Although he is classically trained it is totally appropriate that he should wish to explore the music of Komeda. The late jazz pianist and film composer has acquired near legendary status in Poland where he is regarded as a national musical hero, almost on a par with Frederic Chopin, Mozdzer’s initial inspiration.
Mozdzer tackles eight of Komeda’s most enduring compositions. He brings a sense of classical discipline and lightness of touch to the music and much of the playing is serene, lyrical and often very beautiful. But for all this Mozdzer is not afraid to muddy the waters, there are also moments of wilful dissonance, particularly appropriate in the closing stages of “Sleep Safe and Warm”, Komeda’s theme for “Rosemary’s baby”, the controversial Polish film director Roman Polanski’s unsettling account of demonic possession.
Mozdzer begins with Komeda’s “Svantetic” from the classic 1965 Komeda Quintet album “Astigmatic”. Komeda had close cultural links with Sweden and the tune was originally inspired by the Swedish writer Svante Foerster. Swedish drummer Rune Carlsson played on “Astigmatic” and Komeda later also worked with Swedish saxophonist Bernt Rosengren. For the melody of “Svantetic” Komeda drew on folk music forms and Mozdzer’s interpretation reflects this, contrasting the simplicity of the melody with elements of jazz improvisation and classical virtuosity and ending with a dash of the dissonance alluded to previously.
“Sleep Safe and Warm” mixes melody with sombre, brooding textures, with rumbling left hand figures periodically ruffling the superficially calm surface. By contrast “Ballad for Bernt”, Komeda’s dedication to Rosengren, reveals Mozdzer at his most lyrical and with the emphasis firmly on the beauty of the melody.
“The Law and The Fist” displays a serenity that belies the rather forbidding wording of the title. Mozdzer distils the beauty of the melody to its essence during a lengthy near eleven minute investigation.
At thirteen and a half minutes “Nighttime, Daytime Requiem” represents an even deeper submersion into Komeda’s music with the pianist displaying an astonishing level of skill. From glacial trills to a lightly skipping right hand virtuosity Mozdzer has it all, sometimes punctuating things with a more sinister left hand rumble as if to maintain a level of dramatic tension.
“Cherry” moves away from the overtly Romantic mood to add an element of playfulness and an almost Monkish cerebral funkiness to the proceedings.
Mozdzer tackles “Crazy Girl” at a slower pace than the original and subtly alters the rhythms and harmonies. The results are stunning in their beauty and the piece has become something of a favourite with other commentators and rightly so.
The closing “Moja Ballada” is similarly lush and beautiful but ends with a brutal suddenness, as if in acknowledgement of Komeda’s tragic (and mysterious) death at the age of just thirty eight.
Mozdzer’s “Komeda” is both a fitting homage but also an excellent work in its own right. The overall mood is Romantic and highly melodic and this is a readily accessible album that is likely to hold considerable appeal to both jazz and classical listeners. However for all its easiness on the ear there are still plenty of interesting things going on beneath the superficially calm surface and Mozdzer brings a high level of musical sophistication and a huge degree of technical skill to the proceedings. “Komeda” may lack the range of the recent solo releases by Vijay Iyer or Gwilym Simcock but the largely unified mood should appeal to fans of both Frederic Chopin and Keith Jarrett alike.
COMMENTS
MIKE KILLINGWORTH says;
If anyone can console us for the tragic death of Esbjorn Svensson it is probably Mozdzer. If you haven’t heard his “Between Us and the Light” (Outside Music, 2006) with Danielson and percussionist Zohar Fresco you have a 5-star treat in store…
ACT, like ECM, rarely release a dud IMHO.
Both records have been put together with considerable care and expertise.
The Edge
“We All Fall Down” (mtheart0901cd)
“Dark Scrawls” (Safehouse 1101cd)
The Edge is the brainchild of Hereford based trumpeter and composer Ben Thomas. I’m used to seeing Thomas playing standards with various local combos but the music on these two albums is very different and reveals a whole new side to Thomas’ musical personality. The material is all song based with 2009’s “We All Fall Down” featuring the voice, lyrics and cello of Laura Collins and with Bristol based Emily Wright taking on the role of lead vocalist for 2011’s “Dark Scrawls”.
Thomas cites a bewildering variety of artists as influences on his group’s music, among them The Beach Boys, Frank Zappa and David Bowie. More jazz orientated sources include The Cinematic Orchestra, Chick Corea and Robert Wyatt and a generalised folk influence is mentioned too. On the earlier album I’m frequently reminded of the poetry meets jazz stylings of singer Norma Winstone and pianist Michael Garrick or of a less eclectic Mike and Kate Westbrook. The mood is predominately sombre, a reflection perhaps of Thomas’ West Walian roots, from the same general location as the poet Dylan Thomas (presumably no relation).
“We All Fall Down” is paced by the melancholy ring of Thomas’ trumpet and flugel horn and Collins’ cello plus Tom Greenhalf’s careful and exact piano. Scott Hammond’s delicately detailed drums and percussion provide sympathetic punctuation and the core group is completed by bassist Erika Lyons, another stalwart of the jazz scene in the Welsh Borders. Back in the late 70’s/early 80’s as Erika Howard she was frequently heard as a professional on the London circuit before escaping to a more bucolic existence in rural Shropshire.
The ten songs on “We All Fall Down” are essentially ensemble pieces although there are occasional pithy solos from Thomas and Greenhalf. Collins’ voice is simultaneously pure and expressive. Her own “Baltimore Oriole” album is reviewed elsewhere on this site and is a classy,swinging, jazz vocal album. Her work on “We All Fall Down” is more subdued and veers closer to her classical roots. Her wistful, poetic lyrics and style of vocal delivery suggest a very strong Norma Winstone influence.
It’s unfortunate that neither album has the lyrics reproduced in full on the CD inserts as I’m sure that a fuller insight into these would add greatly to the enjoyment of the music. “We All Fall Down” retains a unified mood virtually throughout, a little too downbeat and reflective for most listeners I suspect, but no less admirable for that.
“Dark Scrawls”, the title phrase is actually lifted from a line on the previous record, can very much be seen as a continuation. Greenhalf, Hammond and Lyons are still involved but the lead vocals are now handled by Emily Wright. Collins remains as one of a number of backing vocalists alongside Catherine Sykes and Ruth Hammond. Occasional saxophone inserts come from Emily Preston (who also appeared briefly on the first album) and Nicky Jaques. Lee Goodall makes a cameo appearance on bass clarinet and James Chadwick weighs in on guitar. These additional contributors help to provide a wider sonic palette and as a result “Dark Scrawls” is both more varied and more accessible than its predecessor.
The twelve pieces on “Dark Scrawls” largely adhere to the “art song” precedent established by “We All Fall Down”. The lyrics this time round are by Thomas himself and remain within the poetic tradition established by the first record. The regular deployment of more than one vocalist allows greater scope for harmony and layering and adds a distinctive element to the second album. On “Sirens” the ethereal voices of Wright, Sykes and Collins sound spookily like those the Northettes,
Hatfield & The North’s trio of backing vocalists.
Once more things are largely about the ensemble but Thomas again allows both himself and Greenhalf some modest soloing space. A number of the tunes veer closer to orthodox jazz or pop song forms and overall the mood of the album is less sombre than that of its predecessor. Some of the melodies are particularly arresting (“Dark Scrawls” itself for instance) and there are snippets of a dry, sometimes surreal music hidden in the lyrics (the title track again), a trait that also occasionally surfaced on the first album.
I’m loath to analyse individual tracks as both albums tend towards a kind of one-piecedom but both records have been put together with considerable care and expertise. Thomas dominates subtly but also brings the best out of his musicians, many of them based in Wales and the Borders. It’s perhaps all a little too esoteric to be performed on his regular gigs but it would be good to see this music performed in an appropriate setting, a festival for instance, where a listening audience would be guaranteed.
POSTSCRIPT
Ben has also asked me to point out the availability of the following recordings of which he says;
Many years ago myself, Erika Lyons and Brian Waite (piano) formed a trio called “Mosaic”. We performed quite a lot together and recorded our rehearsals which turned into an album entitled “Equinox” (A track I had written). This was in 2004 shortly before Brian passed away. I’m afraid I don’t have any CDs of the recording (they have all been sold/given away) but the album and artwork is available to listen to/download (for free) here:
http://mosaicuk.bandcamp.com/album/equinox
Also at the same site is a tribute album called Lament (dedicated to Brian) myself and Erika made. This album is improvised throughout and is also only available in digital format here:
http://mosaicuk.bandcamp.com/album/lament
Brian was a joy to work with.
More information at these sites:
benthomastrumpet.com
theedgemusic.co.uk
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