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.

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