It is a sad week for jazz drumming, as Ronnie Scott's reports of the death of Martin Drew after a heart attack, age 66.
The house drummer at Ronnie's between 1975 and 1995, Martin worked with many household names, including Ella Fitzgerald and Dizzie Gillespie. Martin was perhaps best known for his work with the Oscar Peterson Trio, which saw him perform at New York’s Carnegie Hall and the Hollywood Bowl.
Jack Massarik writes a full obituary for jazzwise here. Lance Liddle's blog, bebop spoken here also features a tribute to Martin by Adrian Tilbrook. Our thoughts are with his family and friends.
RIP Martin Drew (1944-2010)
Long Distance Duet
Regular readers may remember this clip of saxophonist, kidney transplant beneficiary and general good guy, Andy Williamson playing a long distance duet with Dave Silk on bass, half way through abseiling down Guy's and St Thomas' hospital.
Should any of you wish to attempt to repeat this with a trumpet, double bass or miniature casio keyboard, Andy is looking for volunteers to participate and raise funds for another sponsored abseil at the hospital this Sunday 01 August in aid of the Guy’s and St Thomas' Kidney Patients’ Association. Get in touch with him through bigbuzzard.co.uk or 07980 680052.
Review: Wadada Leo Smith
Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith two-day residency
(Café Oto, 24-25 July 2010. Day 1 with Mark Sanders, John Coxon and John Edwards. Day 2 with Pat Thomas, Tony Marsh, Lol Coxhill and Steve Noble. Review and pencil drawing by Geoff Winston.)
"Wadada Leo Smith ... ‘Leo Smith’ was '90's ... 1890's." Wadada corrected the introduction lightly, but firmly. He also achieves that balance between lightness and resoluteness in his music. His intense delivery is never overbearing, but is measured and challenging. His technical fluency is deceptive, a veil for his skill in leading and bringing out the best from his co-musicians. His range and command elude easy categorisation.
Each of his two nights at Cafe Oto opened with a set of absorbing extended duets - on the first with the graceful percussionist, Mark Sanders, and on the second with Pat Thomas, effervescent on keyboards and electronics.
In both duets the piercing trumpet tones were leavened with glockenspiel-like sounds from Wadada's thumb piano, also complementing his more withdrawn delivery when using the mute. His body expression said much about the music - concentrated and focussed - he'd alternate between being bent over with trumpet facing the floor, dreadlocks obscuring his face, then upright, facing the room. "Sometimes the trumpet smokes ... I mean real smoke!", and it did, as he'd run out flowing streams of sound, the perspiration on his face pointing to the intensity of his concentration.
In his third number with Pat Thomas there were two spells of extended silence imposed by Wadada, bringing to mind his theory of Rhythm Units - 'A single sound has a mate, and that mate is a silent sound' - in this instance it included the muffled reverberations from a nearby sound system, which he used, Cage-like, to become part of that silence.
Mark Sanders's deft, exploratory drum work was contemplative and melodic. He and Wadada played balance and counterbalance beautifully.
The duets were followed by formidable ensemble sets - John Edwards (bass) and John Coxon (guitar) joining Sanders and Wadada on the first night; then twin drum kits - Tony Marsh and Steve Noble - joining Lol Coxhill (soprano sax), up-front with Wadada, and Thomas on the second.
Coxon brought an extra edge to the mix with his searing guitar mimicking the trumpet's staccato at one point, and Edwards' disciplined. energetic delivery giving a dynamic backbone to the quartet.
Wadada summed it up: :"Duets are hard, but playing with five is even harder!"
There were memorable moments in the second set of night two. The unison and mastery of the drum duo was impressive. Sounding as one instrument, with Marsh standing over an array of timpani to the centre left, and Noble seated at his kit far right, they made it all look effortless. Coxhill and Wadada played a notable duet towards the end of the night, lyrical and constrained, their tones almost interchangeable.
Wadada has a penchant for unexpected juxtapositions. "It's just like deep sea diving - if you get out alive ... be happy!"
Listeners may get the chance to plunge into these sessions again - both nights were being recorded.
Chris Dagley
Shocking news this morning. Chris Dagley (above) was killed when returning from the gig at Ronnie Scott's last night on his motor bike. Aged just 38, there can be nobody who brought such energy and enthusiasm to his work as a musician,. Friends from MYJO and NYJO, Colleagues at Ronnie's, people who remember recording sessions such as an important CD with Clare Teal are talking about him today with the warmth and affection which is the norm for the British jazz community.
This is a cruel and utterly tragic loss.
Ronnie Scotts' Brit Jazz Festival Preview
British jazz has just gone through its most interesting ten years since the sixties. Nobody disputes that. The initiative of Ronnie Scotts’ Brit Jazz Fest, now in its second year, will prove that.
A perfect example is the 2009 Mercury Prize nominated Led Bib, who hit new eardrums with their album Sensible Shoes. They perform in a double bill with Phronesis, one of Dave Stapletons’ gig highlights at Brecon Jazz Festival this year. Phronesis are currently drawing favourable comparison with E.S.T, from many jazz critics. Their new album Alive is exactly that. Jasper Høiby’s compositions captured me in the first few seconds and Brit, Ivo Neame’s piano playing has a beautiful lyricism to it. See them both on Tuesday 3rd August.
Nearly 14 years and four albums on, Partisans are still experimenting and thrilling. Their last album, By Proxy, took electronica, heavy rock riffs, be-bop, hard-bop and more and tied it together with coherent melodic solos and tight heads that come from great jazz musicianship and creativity. The original experimenters, Partisans, are intelligently programmed in a double bill with Trio VD, whose energy in performance is infectious. Imagine a jazz heavy metal ornette coleman part-rap part-beatbox stadium gig performed by musicians dressed as hip-hop front men and you’re half way there. Go to this gig and you’ll see what I mean.
Preview by Fran Hardcastle
A perfect example is the 2009 Mercury Prize nominated Led Bib, who hit new eardrums with their album Sensible Shoes. They perform in a double bill with Phronesis, one of Dave Stapletons’ gig highlights at Brecon Jazz Festival this year. Phronesis are currently drawing favourable comparison with E.S.T, from many jazz critics. Their new album Alive is exactly that. Jasper Høiby’s compositions captured me in the first few seconds and Brit, Ivo Neame’s piano playing has a beautiful lyricism to it. See them both on Tuesday 3rd August.
Nearly 14 years and four albums on, Partisans are still experimenting and thrilling. Their last album, By Proxy, took electronica, heavy rock riffs, be-bop, hard-bop and more and tied it together with coherent melodic solos and tight heads that come from great jazz musicianship and creativity. The original experimenters, Partisans, are intelligently programmed in a double bill with Trio VD, whose energy in performance is infectious. Imagine a jazz heavy metal ornette coleman part-rap part-beatbox stadium gig performed by musicians dressed as hip-hop front men and you’re half way there. Go to this gig and you’ll see what I mean.
Preview by Fran Hardcastle
Ronnie's Radio
Congratulations to the Ronnie Scott's team for getting RonnieScott's BritJazz Radio off the ground for (newsletter readers will have a prize draw offer connected with the Festival tomorrow!!)
It will broadcast direct from the club on 96.3FM (in central London) and online at ronniescotts.co.uk from July 30th to August 14th. The presenter of a drivetime show will be Jumoke Fashola. Michael Mwenso will host a late night slot. Guest presenters will include James Taylor the Hammond organ player, pianist Neil Cowley and the (hilarious) singer-pianist Ian Shaw. After August 14th the station will revert to broadcasting online.
Review: Dave Morecroft/Leafcutter John/ Gina Southgate
Dave Morecroft/Leafcutter John/Gina Southgate
(Vortex, July 21st 2010, Review by Tom Leaper)
Piano, laptop and paintbrushes aren’t the mostly likely of trio line-ups. Whatever: the Vortex, with its open-minded, listening audience is the perfect place to give it a try. This improvised spectacle of sound and colour was provided by pianist Dave Morecroft (World Service Project) effects man Leafcutter John (Polar Bear) and artist Gina Southgate (previous work on the walls of the club). The set, consisting of three improvisations and one original composition (Morecroft’s Underneath) saw every number yield its own painting, composed using the various paints and tools by the stage.
This was an evening for bold gestures by all three artists. Morecroft kept disappearing inside the piano to slap and strum, Southgate slashed at the canvases and, after much squeaking and squealing, a stunned Leafcutter John popped a balloon in his own face. The audience were transfixed by Southgate’s movements, the sounds of which Leafcutter John recorded and manipulated. The abstract soundscapes created never lacked momentum and fused at times into pulsing groove-like trance.
The trio gradually found each other as the set progressed. It was a fascinating process to witness. Magic occurred near the end of the set when cathartic block chords, layered vocals and clattering print-making coincided to smiling approval.
I hope there's a follow up gig. See you there.
Picture credit: Cross-dress String Quartet by Gina Southgate from www.vortexjazz.co.uk
Hundreds and Thousands (of gigs)
As the arts funding climate darkens, and the daily clamour mounts to stop cuts (excuse me, how could the Royal Opera possibly function without its ten salaried Press Officers?), please can we spare a particularly sweet thought for those who produce hundreds and thousands of gigs without it.
The five year-round jazz venues in London - Ronnie Scott's, Pizza Express Dean Street, 606, Vortex and Bulls Head- all unfunded, host jazz virtually every night of the week. If you do the same maths I do, the total number of gigs at these five venues alone must approach THREE THOUSAND in a year.
Concerning the Arts Council funding which does go into jazz promotion and capacity and infrastructure building, low in comparison to most other art forms, RAM postgrad student trumpeter Jack Davies has been trawling ACE documents, and come up with SOME STATS.
Quality in Nevada Street
Holy Meridian! Has anyone - apart from Phil Wain, thank you Phil! - spotted the sheer quality of the bands appearing this weekend in one of London's most intimate venues, Oliver's Bar in Nevada Street, Greenwich . I don't get down there often but here's a review.
Friday July 30th: Gary Willcox Band - Chris Biscoe on Sax, Phil Robson on guitar and Patrick Bettison on bass, Gary Willcox on drums,.
Saturday July 31st : Maciek Pysz Trio with Asaf Sirkis and Mao Yamada
Phil Wain reviewed Maciek Pysz' last London outing HERE
Here's the Oliver's Music Bar Site
And check out the world-class Phil Robson putting out a few hand-built guitars through their paces on Youtube HERE
Annie Whitehead
Annie Whitehead on Friday at the Vortex, caught by the lens of photographer Roger Thomas.As Roger writes: "She's does a great job giving amateur musicians the benefit of her gift and keeping music alive in London."
Absolutely!
Here's a link to her workshop site
The Devil wears Prada, Christian wears Dior...
...and Esperanza Spalding (above) promotes Banana Republic. Here's a Dior-ized Christian Scott and a Prada campaign just launched, based around Fever. Hold on to your pork pie hats, ladies and gentlemen, we are definitely going through a jazz fashion moment.
There's more in today's Sunday Times "Style" section from writer Robert Ryan, including an interview with Krystle Warren, and Matana Roberts ( "try playing this thing in these heels") at the Vortex.
The article is behind the Times paywall. But necessity being a mother etc., here's Chris Parker's indispensable and timeless piece on the subject .
"40 jazz things to do before you die (or Keith Jarrett kills you)"*
A visit to Woodlawn Cemetery in NYC (above) is one of the suggestions in a list from Lee Mergner of JazzTimes, in celebration of the fortieth anniversary of the magazine (Happy Anniversary!) which also includes:
-Listen to every Miles Davis CD in chronological order and dress accordingly for each period
-Wear your JazzTimes T-shirt and pace back and forth outside the offices of DownBeat in Elmhurst, Ill.
-Cough as quietly as possible during a Keith Jarrett concert, without getting lectured or lambasted
For the British version of this extreme sport.........try walking up to one of the musicians listed in" Dave Newton's Alternative Professions" and ask them if they've ever done the job described.
*JazzTimes are responsible for this title
BRECON FESTIVAL PREVIEW. AUG 6th -8th. Dave Stapleton's Picks
The honour of playing the opening gig at the Brecon Jazz Festival this year goes to Dave Stapleton's Quintet (Christ's College Stage, Friday August 6th, 6pm) , caught on video above in Zagreb.
We asked Dave to talk about a few gigs about he's particularly looking forward to hearing once he steps off stage:
Jason Yarde and Andrew McCormack (Brecon Cathedral, Friday, 10.30pm)
I first saw Andrew and Jason at the Banlieues Blues Festival in Paris last April. I though that gig was fantastic and am looking forward to to hearing them again.
I was bowled over by their arrangements, and think that they are two of the most interesting musicians in the UK.
Phronesis (Roland Stage, Christ College, Saturday, 3.30pm)
Since working with Jasper, Anton and Ivo on their new their album 'Alive' , I've listened to their music loads, but to seeing them live is something else!
The music grabs you and the communication between each of them is so unique. Ivo Neame is one of my favourite fellow pianists - his phrasing and touch is just incredible! With the launch of their new album, I guarantee this one should not be missed!
Keith Tippett and Julie Tippetts (Theatr Brycheiniog, Sunday, 3pm)
Keith has been a massive influence on me and since meeting him at the Welsh College have worked with him many times on album projects, live projects as well as scoring some of music into Sibelius. Julie has written some lyrics for me on some of my music too. Having spent time with them and got to know them as friends it is really special to hear them make music out of nothing! They are truly extraordinary, and two of the best improvisers around.
Plus there's Hugh Masekela, Erik Truffaz, Hypnotic Brass, Andy Sheppard, Gwilym Simcock, Kit Downes, Magnus Lindgren, Dave Newton, Get the Blessing, Scott Hamilton......
HERE'S THE FESTIVAL'S SITE WITH THE FULL PROGRAMME
RIP Willem Breuker (1944-2010)
Peter Hum's blog is reporting the death of Dutch saxophonist and bandleader Willem Breuker.
A biography is HERE
Herbie for London Jazz Festival - 13 /14 November
Two Herbie Hancock shows in the London Jazz Festival at the Royal Festival Hall, a touring version of the Imagine Project, the CD scheduled for UK release on August 2nd - have just gone on public sale.
RIP Harry Beckett (1935-2010)
UPDATE(Thurs 29th): Harry Beckett's Funeral will be at Islington Crematorium on Thurs August 5th at 3pm
The much-admired trumpeter and flugelhorn player Harry Beckett died this afternoon after a stroke on Tuesday. His last gig was Big Band Britannia with Guy Barker's orchestra last month (Photo credit: Roger Thomas).
The roll-call of bands he was in makes him a central figure of the 60s/70s British scene: Ian Carr's Nucleus, the Brotherhood of Breath and The Dedication Orchestra, London Jazz Composers Orchestra, John Surman, Octet Django Bates Ronnie Scott's Quintet, Kathy Stobart, Charlie Watts, Stan Tracey's Big Band and Octet; Elton Dean's Ninesense. He also toured with Charles Mingus.
Mike Westbrook writes:
We were very sorry indeed to read about the death of Harry Beckett. An incomparable loss, personally and musically. He was one of our greatest, and most distinctive trumpet players, and a totally committed jazz musician. We worked together a lot in the 60s and early 70s, especially in my orchestra. His solo on the last track of the Metropolis album is one to treasure. Thereafter Kate, I and Chris Biscoe often ran into him on the road, always a delight. Chris, of course, has been working regularly with Harry in small groups. At one point the two of them did a two-year stint with the Orchestre National de Jazz, in Paris. We are all going to miss him terribly.
Trevor Watts writes:
Harry was always a pleasure to play with, and always indicated to me that he enjoyed very much our gigs together. A lot of that was to do with own his undoubted good humour, encouragement and enthusiasm. We would always have a lot of laughs together, and I can hear his voice now saying "Hey Trev, how's it going," with a wry smile on his face. I'd always try and reply with some tongue-in-cheek remark, and we'd be having a laugh from that point onwards.
He was a great player that found the key all musicians like us are looking for. The way to "get it on" every time he picked up the horn. He'll be sadly missed by many people. Not least of all myself. I was glad to have known him. Very sad.
(Harold Winston Beckett, born Barbados May 30 1935, died London July 22 2010)
The Mercury Prize and predictions
Hallelujah. There is hope. People who make their opinions public can and do change them when faced with the undeniable. Until last year, Evening Standard Pop Critic David Smyth appeared pathologically incapable of mentioning jazz without dolloping in an allusion to "turtle-necks" or "chin-scratching". No longer. This year he is a Mercury Prize judge. So , rather than indulging in the generally uninformed speculation on Tuesday when the nominations came out, he wrote:
British music is so strong that this year could have had 30 nominees
[...]Unlike the Brits, which reward sales, the Mercury considers artistic merit alone, which doesn't often tally with the people's favourites. It's surprising then, to count that seven of the 12 albums have been in the UK top 10.
As a member of the dozen-strong judging panel for the first time, I can confirm that the judges are as yet no wiser on the eventual winner than anyone else. We decide on the day of the ceremony, at Mayfair's Grosvenor House hotel on September 7, moments before Jools Holland opens the envelope. [...]
And let us not forget the jazz nominees, the Kit Downes Trio, who emerge at the top of what turns out to be an exceptionally strong year for British piano jazz. Who knew? Jazz belongs perfectly on a shortlist which could only please everyone if it were 30-strong. What a great sign for British music that this year it could have been.
Wow , let's raise a half-full glass to Luke 15:7! Yes folks, this is a transformation. "Wolle die Wandlung," said the poet,
Meanwhile, at the other, grumpier end of the scale, there are laggards who haven't clocked what's going on yet, like Neil McCormick of the Telegraph.
I’m not particularly surprised by any of the other six, apart from the Kit Downes Trio, which takes the annual token jazz album spot with a record that has had no impact outside of its tightly enclosed genre whatsoever. [...] The question is, [..] does anyone still want to win the Mercury Prize? Maybe they should just give it to the Kit Downes Trio, then nobody will notice if it proves a career killer again.
I had an email from one friend responding to this: "You should take this self-important shit to task." Thanks but no thanks. I'd rather not, and here's why.
Yes, I can see that the opinion has been reached without the writer seeing any need to inform his readers with any knowledge whatsoever of what Kit Downes' music is about. The question, then, must be how long zero knowledge can remain a tenable public stance for a professional with the role of pundit, or advisor, or gatekeeper in any field.
Calmos. Heads can't stay in the sand forever. Self-correction will happen of its own accord. Unless people want to treat the profession of rock journalism as a safe way to drift into retirement on a final salary scheme, eventually they will - inevitably - latch on that something quite astonishing has been happening in the past few years in British jazz.
I'm told that up to 15% of the entries in a typical year are jazz albums. And therefore by law of averages the judges - who are paid to LISTEN, rather than to regurgitate received opinion- are probably going to find something they like.
Anyway, rather than uninformed speculation or punditry, have some information. Here's the betting. The favourite is The xx at 3/1 (apparently there's been one substantial bet) and the Kit Downes Trio have the joint longest odds at 26/1.
MEETUP
Meetup groups are a worldwide phenomenon, and thriving. They cover all kinds ofinterests. Take the East Midlands Dungeons and Dragons Meetup. Preferably to a safe distance, please.
The LondonJazz Meetup, run by occasional LondonJazz writer and thumb-popping bass nut Rob Mallows now has 620 members, and organizes groups to go to loads of London gigs. They also have gatherings. The next is at the Archduke in SE1 on August 7th and here are the details
Review: Tessa Souter
Tessa Souter
Pizza Express, July 19th 2010, Review by Jeanie Barton
I shared an evening of song with Tessa Souter, a charming, willowy Englishwoman who now lives in New York. Dressed in a floor length black/gold dress, her hair piled high in a top knot on her head, in silhouette she is reminiscent of a Roman or Egyptian goddess. She also creates a very warm atmosphere in which one feels like her guest, or a member of her family invited round for cocktails.
But what really draws you into the warmth is her performance. The melodies may be (mostly) uniformly melancholy, but she presents them with pride, strength and above all, style. And she writes intense and evocative lyrics, putting words to the feelings we all share but cannot necessarily articulate.
The stand out song for me was I know with time (Iwill forget). Her English lyrics to Léo Ferré’s song Avec le Temps describe many feelings just after a relationship break up - all of the love (the physical/sexual absence) that can incorporate even the negative "the cage you kept me in" as longing reminiscences - the contradiction and masochism of lust and love.
Another emotionally powerful moment came towards the end of Ana Maria by Wayne Shorter. She has written insightful words to Shorter's tune, reflecting on the untimely death of Shorter's wife in an air crash in 1996 - the ever present space that is left in our lives when our loved ones leave. "You are the light of morning, you are the new day dawning".
This was also the moment when she stopped holding back her strong and warm voice, stopped merely hinting that she has power in reserve, and truly opened out her instrument.
Nikki Iles' sumptuous piano accompaniment was as comforting as a big duvet spread over the room, combined with the gravity and reliability of the rhythm section (Mark Hodgson on double bass and Winston Clifford on drums) they helped give Tessa all the focus and intensity she delivered into her songs. Stuart Hall provided an edgy seasoning to most numbers playing a flamenco style guitar, violin and bouzouki - his birdlike stature and wide-eyed energy honed in on each member of the band in encouraging instruction.
The evening culminated with Wise One, a musing on the wisdom of new born babies - how we unlearn all the trust and instinct we are blessed with at birth. Nikki Iles expanded on the finesse she had exhibited in her other solos by throwing back the covers with a series of strides and scales across the keyboard. The band closed the show aptly swinging That’s All.
But it is Tessa Souter's warmth, and the powerful images of attraction which stay in the mind, as in a particularly haunting line from the title track of her CD Obsession: "you’re like a wind that blows in front of a storm." I was blown away.
Ramsey Lewis at LSO St Lukes
Thanks to photographer Roger Thomas, two great shots of a happy Ramsey Lewis, multiple Grammy winnner and gold disc awardee, in concert at LSO St Luke's last Friday July 16th.Kit Downes Trio nominated for Mercury Prize
The Kit Downes Trio's CD "Golden" has been nominated for the Barclaycard Mercury Prize. Here's the profile of Kit Downes for the Telegraph which I wrote when the CD was released.
A typically laconic bass player'scomment from Calum Gourlay on his way from the announcement eventtoday. "We've known for longer than everyone else, and it still hasn't quite sunk in."
On the BBC's Listen Again is a live set recorded in May at the Cheltenham Festival
Review: Ralph Alessi and the Jim Hart Trio/ Partikel
Jim Hart Trio (Jim Hart vibes, Michael Janisch, bass, DaveSmith drums) with Ralph Alessi -trumpet
(Grey Horse, Kingston, July 19th 2010)
Jim Hart made a verbal slip-up when he presented the band after their first number: “It brings me very great pressure to introduce…”
He corrected himself immediately, smiled. apologised. "I meant pleasure." As Hart made clear in a great piece he wrote for us last week, he has been looking forward to this collaboration between his trio and Ralph Alessi. But maybe there was also a grain of truth in what he had said. Because this was the first gig of a nationwide tour, and they had only met Alessi for the first time that afternoon to rehearse. And also because Ralph Alessi’s compositions, such as Dog Waking which they had just opened the gig, are anything but simple.
But by the end of the set, there was a very strong sense of a substantial journey already having been travelled. The smiles were back. This collaboration between an American master and three players from London from a younger generation has legs, and can be thoroughly recommended.
Both Ralph Alessi 's father and his grandfather were orchestral trumpeters of great distinction. He has a - possibly inherited- unflappably calm platform demeanour. His stock-in-trade when he plays is to make the angularities and asymmetries of complex tunes sound natural, to assert their logic, to lead. There is always the sense of a direction of travel. His is an often understated, but always compelling and impressive voice. And his trumpet sound is full, focussed and a constant pleasure to hear.
There can be no more attentive and watchful drummer in the world than Dave Smith. For much of the time he had his head at 90 degrees from true, his gaze locked in on Mike Janisch’s hands. He was also keeping away from the higher frequencies, limiting his tonal palette. Janisch was on great form, his tuning as ever as good as any in the business, the tone warm and full, the ideas flowing. Jim Hart was fascinating to watch and to hear. As accompanist to Alessi he was a busy presence embellishing, encasing, showcasing, supporting, Alessi's strongly focussed trumpet line. As soloist he was reflecting, commenting, responding both to his own ideas and to those around him.
As the tour develops the free, open sections at the end of Alessi tunes such as Four Finger Grip, which were visited briefly last night, will give more chances for the band to really stretch out. Alessi may at his most creative in the role of a Pied Piper/ Duke of York/Godfather in these free forms. Hart, Janisch and Smith are completely up for the role of accomplices, and the results in the rest of the week, starting tonight in Cardiff, are going be spectacular.
A moment which stood out for me was a remarkable, completely free link passage from Jim Hart's hushed elegy "For JD" written earlier this year as a homage to John Dankworth, to Thelonious Monk's jaunty Bye-Ya. For this improvised journey from sombre hues to bright colours, Alessi was accompanied by Dave Smith, alert to everything. Memorable.
So , get down to the Pizza Express tomorrow Wednesday, and Jez/Peggy/Robert, if you are reading this, get the diary and give the Jazz on 3 microphones an extra outing. You know you want to.
I also caught the beginning of a brief set from “Partikel” (Duncan Eagles saxophone, Max Luthert bass, Eric Ford drums) It is a while since I heard Duncan Eagles play. I had the sense that he has at the same time now completely absorbed the model of his teacher at Trinity Russell Van Den Berg, but also moved away from it and developed his own clear voice. Eric Ford is a higly creative and inventive drummer, little known because he lived for a few years in Paris. He was interesting to contrast with Dave Smith. The context - a stable band versus a new encounter - could not have been more different, but Ford plays much more solistically. He made an instant strong impression last night.
Photo Credit: Monique Baan
Canary Wharf Festival August 13th -15th
Many Londoners don't yet know Canary Wharf. This is the tube station, designed by Norman Foster. But Canary Wharf does host a free (as in no charge) Jazz Festival. A highlight is Friday night. Of which more later. Here's our review of the '09 event, in the form of a list. Here's the full programme for 2010:
Friday 13th August
7 - 8pm Robert Mitchell Trio
8.30 - 10pm Alex Wilson
Saturday 14th August
1.30 - 2.15pm Jazzphonica: Roundhouse Jazz Ensemble
2.45 - 4pm TBC
4.30 - 5.45pm Matthew Halsall
6.15 - 7.30pm The Baker Brothers
8 - 9.15pm Ruby Turner
Sunday 15th August
1 - 2.15pm Ernesto Simpson
2.45 - 4pm The Haggis Horns
4.30 - 5.45pm Natalie Williams
6.15 - 7.30pm Pee Wee Ellis
RIP Dennis Matthews
We wrote last December about the closure of Crescendo Magazine. Founder/Editor Dennis H Matthews passed away in Chase Farm Hospital on July 4th, and his funeral is taking place this afternoon at Slough Crematorium.
Digby Fairweather gave us a tribute: " Dennis carried the flame for the glory days of Big Band, and for its British and American stars for decades in the columns of Crescendo." Digby remembers that Dennis also promoted gigs involving the top players in the country to celebrate the legacy.
According to the jazzprofessional.com website, a substantial part of the back issues are available in digital form, for purchase. We have not been able to verify whether this material is still available and/or whether the price quoted is still current.
Tweeting during performances- What would Boswell have thought?
"I fancy mankind may come, in time, to write all aphoristically," wrote James Boswell in 1773, predicting with 20/20 foresight the advent of Twitter.
But did he, or indeed the Boswell sisters in 1936, ever imagine that people were "gonna sit right down and write [themselves] a letter" during a live performance.
It happened last week. The San Francisco Repertory Theatre designated a part of the audience as a TWEET SEAT section, the main idea being to plug the show, to pursue that holy grail of audience development by letting people outside know what they're missing.
What is it with San Francisco audiences??! I'm with Keith Jarrett on this one.
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