LondonJazz

Review: An Evening with Alex Wilson

2012-02-01T17:24:00.000Z

An evening with Alex Wilson
(Kings Place Hall One. Final night of eXploraations. 28th January 2012. Review by Jane Stringfellow)

It felt like being at party, as Alex Wilson demonstrated his thrilling piano style in three separate ensembles joined by a group of highly talented musicians.

The first work, Concerto for Kora, Piano and String Quartet, a new work receiving its second performance, with soloist Kadialy Kouyate on kora, had been composed when Wilson was composer in residence for Harrogate International Festival 2010 and followed his collaboration with Malian musicians and the album Mali Latino. The concerto drew on classical elements of Europe and Africa. In performance, the melancholy music of Kora was juxtaposed with Wilson’s urgent piano playing. There was evidence of some Celtic influence too. The interplay between the Kora and string quartet was impressive. Rhythmic interaction between Alex and the kora brought the performance to a climax in the third movement.

After the interval Wilson introduced his jazz trio, long time collaborator Frank Tontoh on drums and Matt Owens (replacing Davide Mantovani) on bass. Tontoh and Wilson were far apart on stage but their constant interaction filled the space and wowed the audience. Opening with Sting’s We Work the Black Seam they brought power and poignancy to the music, Tontoh’s percussive playing was sometimes menacing and evocative of tools at the coalface. In Fly, Wilson encouraged the audience to join in and sing, no one could sit still. Quest, a Wilson composition featured a fine rhythmic solo by Matt Owens.

Another Wilson Composition Gospel Cha, inspired by pianist Les McCann, was suitably funky with some fabulous piano and drum soloing. The set ended with Miles Davis’ Solar played in a Cuban Danzon vibe, it featured Dave Pattman on congas and there was dancing in the aisles.

In the third part of the evening, Wilson performed one section of the Compass Suite, a recently commissioned piece of music that takes an audience across the points of the compass, Wilson had composed South. On stage he was joined by the string quartet and guest soloists Soweto Kinch on alto sax and Jay Phelps on trumpet. This was a magnificent end to the evening, Latin rhythms and percussion, wonderful interplay between the string quartet, piano and brass and incendiary soloing from both Kinch and Phelps.

The audience would not let the band go home without an encore. Wilson and his band did not disappoint, ending up with a riveting salsa.

alexwilson.ch

CD Review: Tommy Smith Youth Jazz Orchestra - Emergence

2012-02-01T08:50:00.000Z

Tommy Smith Youth Jazz Orchestra - Emergence
(Spartacus Records STS016. CD Review by Chris Parker)

Ten years on from its foundation (June 2002), Tommy Smith's Youth Jazz Orchestra continues to give the best possible introduction to the world of jazz to successive batches of young Scottish musicians.

The quality of the playing on this album can be gauged not only by the fact that all five winners of the Young Scottish Jazz Musician of the Year competition (est. 2007) are present in the band's ranks, but more importantly, that they negotiate a wide-ranging repertoire with verve, precision and considerable aplomb.

Material from the heart of the big-band canon (Ellington's 'In a Mellow Tone' and 'Mood Indigo', Billy Strayhorn's 'Take the "A" Train', the Motens' 'Moten Swing', the Davis/Feldman classic 'Joshua') is interspersed with slightly more recherché fare (Astor Piazzolla's 'Michelangelo', Tommy Smith's feature for tenorist Joe Wright 'Numbers') and the odd escape from the rock world ('Black Friday' from the Steely Dan songbook), but it is the alternately punchy and crooning ensemble work, the cogent soloing and, above all, the sheer exuberance of the band's overall approach that impresses throughout this rousing programme.

Much more than just an incubator for its illustrious and acclaimed elder relative, the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra (though many members do progress to the senior outfit), the TSYJO is a considerable creative force in its own right, and plays a vital role, perfectly documented on this wholly enjoyable album, in what is a burgeoning jazz scene north of the border.

spartacusrecords.com

Review: Gert Dudek and the Hans Koller Trio

2012-01-31T17:40:00.005Z

Gerd Dudek. Drawing by Geoff Winston.
Copyright 2012. All rights reserved.

Gerd Dudek with the Hans Koller Trio
(Vortex, Sunday 29 January 2012; final night of Evan Parker's 'Might I Suggest ...' curated season at the Vortex; review and drawing by Geoff Winston)

Sunday's concert at the Vortex was the perfect counterpoint to the season's opening night. Whereas Systems Quartet - reviewed here - had been wilfully off-beat, this closing night of the six brought to the fore both Gerd Dudek's masterly affirmation of the power of the saxophone, and proof of the richness of the contemporary jazz compositional legacy. Furthermore. the contrast between the two demonstrated quite how broad Evan Parker's range of interests is. The series had been made possible thanks to the London office of the Goethe Institute, and this final night was being recorded for future broadcast by Cologne's WDR.

Dudek is a pearl of a player - well respected in Germany, with his roots in its burgeoning free-jazz scene of the 60s, but over here virtually unknown. He was recorded only for the first time as leader, in a similarly classic setting, by Parker for his psi label in 1998 ('smatter by Gerd Dudek, psi 02.01). What is surprising and somewhat disarming, given his early musical associations, is what a mellow, thoughtful and serene player he is. He and Koller's exemplary trio worked off sheet music, travelling unflinchingly through the changes of early Shorter, Coltrane, Dameron, Monk and Ornette.

Dudek's playing is characterised by intense currents of rippled phrasing and a tonal consistency that has affinities with Charles Lloyd and Stan Getz, roots that hark back to Coltrane, and a robust side that hints at Rollins. There is a gravity and serenity to his delivery - mellifluous, meditational and steeped in a deep understanding of both the heritage and its possibilities. One sensed the perfectionist, with an acute sense of detail, modest yet carefree when the timing suited, at one with his instruments.

On soprano for Coltrane's 'Central Park West', he built on the flowing tenor passages unleashed in the opener, Shorter's 'Blues a la carte'. Koller expressed with some amusement, his mild embarrassment at springing the complexities of Herbie Nichols's 'Step Tempest' on him at such short notice, but Dudek took it in his stride, gluing together the theme and the variations with an effortless panache, introducing a hint of bluesy tenor as he got to grips with it.

Throughout, Koller's trio were disciplined, fresh, with a keen understanding of the repertoire. Hayhurst's tender bass solos, Calderazzo's disciplined, muscular interventions and Koller's bright explorations created a well-textured platform for Dudek.

It was Ornette's 'Congeniality', the second number in the second set, that brought out the tougher side of this gentle giant - with Calderazzo and Hayhurst blowing up a storm, its curves, bends and chicanes were negotiated with fierce expressive resolve as Dudek flew, breaking with its tight structure. Moving away from the essential foil provided through both sets, Koller's spiky solo saw a quirky, unpredictable exploration combining a spacious quality with a light wit, to which Dudek added a thoughtful, melancholic twist.

Bowing out with a jaunty take on Coltrane's '26-2', Dudek wore his brilliance with characteristic modesty, bringing the 'Might I suggest ...' season to a close with these German, British and American musicians in fittingly harmonious alignment.

Gerd Dudek: tenor and soprano saxes
Hans Koller: piano
Oli Hayhurst: bass
Gene Calderazzo: drums

vortexjazz.co.uk

CD Review: Vitor Pereira Quintet - Doors

2012-01-31T17:34:00.000Z

Vitor Pereira Quintet - Doors
(F-IRECD 47. CD Review by Chris Parker)

Guitarist Vitor Pereira moved to London from his native Portugal in 2004 (to study jazz under Stuart Hall, Mike Outram et al. at Middlesex University), and his band on this, his first album as a leader, contains some of the capital's most celebrated contemporary players: Led Bib's Chris Williams (alto), Fraud/Golden Age of Steam's James Allsopp (tenor), bassist Ryan Trebilcock and drummer Eddie Hick.

Pereira's music (all eight tracks are his compositions) is a heady mix of immediately accessible jazz, hard-hitting rock (admirers of the MoonJune label's output will love this CD) and hints of so-called 'world' music, all summed up in the album's title, which (like Jim Morrison's band's Huxley-inspired name) refers to mental doors, opened to admit a myriad of such influences.

Punchy and vibrant though most of Pereira's music is (and the band has an extremely effective habit of suddenly throwing in loud, grungy sequences to punctuate the more discursive jazz-based playing), it does have its quieter moments, where it takes on a softer quality, occasionally even approaching the mellowness associated with label-mates Oriole.

For the most part, however, Doors rocks and swings hard, both saxophonists tellingly featured in both straightahead mode and the odd freer passage, and Pereira himself decorating the vigorous band sound with intelligent, cleanly articulated solos. An auspicious debut.

F-IRE

Dave Douglas at the Royal Academy of Music. A Round-up

2012-01-31T12:03:00.003Z

Dave Douglas at the Royal Academy of Music
Photo Credit: Hana Zushi/ Royal Academy of Music

Royal Academy of Music postgraduate guitar student Alex Roth gives his first-hand account of Dave Douglas' inaugural week as International Jazz Artist in Residence at RAM.

The events open to the public were a public masterclass on Wednesday 26th January, and a concert the following day.

Alex Roth, who participated in these, and in the full programme running up to them, writes:

The week was split into two main areas of focus: composition workshops and big band rehearsals.

Composition Workshops

We started out discussing problems often encountered when setting out to compose music - getting started, dealing with a sense of tradition, using influences creatively, developing fragments of ideas into cohesive forms etc. After that, Dave set us a series of tasks each to be completed in 10 minutes. First, we had to design a graphic score. Next we had to write a melody using a 12-tone row. Finally he asked us to compose a piece without any restrictions except that it had to fit onto 1 page of A4. All of these were done away from our instruments. We then workshopped some of these pieces, with insightful critiques from Dave. He asked us to make revisions of our pieces overnight to be tried out the next day.

Each day we would play the new versions of people's compositions and discuss whether the revisions had improved them or not. My own piece benefitted from a clearer notation and layout, stronger transitions between sections and more specific instructions for the improvised material.

Big band rehearsals

Having already had several rehearsals leading up to Dave's arrival, we had become familiar with the written music (from his album 'A Single Sky') so he was free to concentrate on the finer details: working on ensemble time-feel, shaping improv sections, honing drum grooves etc.

Dave Douglas
Photo Credit: Hana Zushi/ Royal Academy of Music

The Final Day

The last day with Dave was somewhat more relaxed, having reached the climax of the week on the gig the night before. He played us some tracks that had been important to him (Ahmad Jamal, Joe Henderson, Booker Little, Rufus Wainwright, Kirk Franklin, Duke Ellington) and explained what he liked about them all. We then played some standards and tried a few of his small-group pieces, and several issues came up that hadn't been discussed in depth so far. Chief among these was the subject of time-feel and in particular the fact that Dave felt we all had a tendency to lay behind the beat, and in some cases actually slow down. We tried a few exercises with the metronome to solidify the time and he tried to get us to play more on top of the beat.

The power of music

One of the most inspiring things for me was to witness a great composer rehearsing his own music. There seems to be a fine line between perceived arrogance and sheepishness when composers lead an ensemble through their own music, and it was refreshing to see that while Dave knew exactly what he wanted from the big band he always found a way to impart this that was clear but not inhibiting. I had the impression that the confidence to do this came from Dave's belief that the music was not 'his' per se but rather a kind of greater force on whose behalf we were all working. He talks a lot about the power of music and the gift of being a musician and I think this is what he means by it.

Compositional Momentum

It was energising to be given such short deadlines, and to rise to the challenge of producing something worth pursuing. I would never have thought I could write anything of value in 10 minutes, but Dave was keen for us to proceed on the basis that great works of art don't necessarily have to have grand beginnings, and in fact they can often start from the simplest of ideas.

During the course of the week we collectively produced something like 20 new pieces ready for performance and being part of that process right from the outset was an eye-opener in terms of understanding both the importance of self-discipline and the realities of the creative curve, not to mention the great feeling that comes with compositional momentum and productivity!

Dave Douglas
Photo Credit: Hana Zushi/ Royal Academy of Music

Kenny Wheeler

The concert coincided with the announcement that the Academy is to receive Kenny Wheeler's archive of compositions, and the residency solidified Nick Smart's strong relationship with Douglas, following his involvement in Douglas' Festival of New Trumpet Music which was dedicated to the work of Kenny Wheeler. Wheeler himself was in attendance at the big band concert, and Dave Douglas was keen to pay tribute to the Academy's close links to the great man, composing a piece specially for him.

Conclusion

Perhaps the over-riding impression I have of Dave from the whole week is just how much he means what he plays and writes. It all seems to come from somewhere really deep and at the same time it's as though he's had to work really hard for the facility to channel it. Sitting right next to him on the gig and sharing in the creative experience was really powerful for me.

This week had the feeling of something far more than a normal class.

Royal Academy of Music

Dave Douglas's Greenleaf Music

Alex Roth Music

Love Supreme Festival 2013 unveiled. Brighton. Outdoors

2012-01-31T06:53:00.000Z

Plans for the UK's "first outdoor jazz festival", in 2013 in Brighton, involving an investment of £2m, were unveiled yesterday. Here's the full story.

Jack's been thinking...about Dagda Quartet's tour in April

2012-01-28T17:21:00.000Z

Dagda Quartet. Photo Credit: Sebastian Charlesworrth

Trumpeter/ bandleader Jack Davies, in his weekly column, looks at a nationwide tour in April by Dagda Quartet

An often heard criticism of the modern jazz scene is that there are few opportunities to play, and even fewer to work with the same group of musicians on the same music night after night. Alto player Tom Harrison seems to prove single-handedly that this needn’t be the case.

Harrison's band, the Dagda Quartet, is embarking on its second major national tour in two years, this time visiting a total of nineteen venues across the country. While the music was communally written, Tom booked all of the players and gigs himself – this is an opportunity he has created for himself through hard work and dedication.

He remarked to me that the last tour they did changed the way the band played together. The band have an intense tour schedule, and the musical growth that occurs from such repeated immersion in the music is exactly what he is trying to achieve again.

This tour is to support the band’s debut album, and Tom notes the impact live performances have had on his own music: “Much of the structure was formulated on live gigs. A tour of this size will hopefully develop the compositions in unexpected ways.”

Alongside his regular quartet of Billy Adamson (guitar), Tom West (bass) and Mike Clowes (drums), Tom has enlisted the services of some distinguished guests, including tenor players Jean Toussaint, Joe Wright, Paul Booth and trombone player Tom White.

Tom clearly relishes the input these musicians will bring: “I have selected a series of instrumentalists who I believe will really bring something of their own distinctive playing to the compositions, each of whom offer very different approaches to improvisation and help take the compositions in new directions.”

Sharing a stage with Toussaint for four gigs in five days will also give Harrison something else that the modern scene often lacks: a taste of the kind of musical apprenticeship Toussaint had in the years from 1982 to 1986 as a member of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers.

Dagda Quartet's tour (supported by Jazz Services) will be in April. London dates abnnounced are 15th at the North London Tavern and 20th at the Forge in Camden Town (FULL LIST OF TOUR DATES ).

Dagda Quartet's album will be released on LYTE Records .

The What's your Blues Name Chart

2012-01-28T09:58:00.000Z

No claims that this is original content, nor can I find an attribution to the creator (?) I quite like the idea of a legend of Welsh rugby (and later an orthopaedic surgeon) as Boney Back Jefferson.

Sam Leak writes about the Wednesday Jam at Oliver's in Greenwich

2012-01-27T18:50:00.000Z

Pianist Sam Leak writes about the Wednesday jam sessions at Oliver's Music Bar, Nevada Street, Greenwich

Olivers Jazz Bar, an authentic old fashioned style Jazz club hidden away in a basement near Greenwich park, is one of Greenwich's best kept secrets.

For years some of the best known UK and International Jazz Musicians have graced it's stage, from Mark Turner and Will Vinson to Kit Downes and Jim Hart. The Wednesday Jazz Jam has long been a favourite haunt for London's top Jazz musicians and students, particularly from the local Trinity College Of Music.

Recently the Jam has been taken over by the new promoting team of Saxophonist Tom Stone, Vibraphonist/Drummer Lewis Wright, Pianist Sam Leak, and Saxophonist Jon Shanoy who have recently unveiled an exciting new season featuring some of the top names in British Jazz including Anita Wardell, Steve Fishwick, James Maddren, Jim Hart and Gareth Lockrane.

The Jam is an open environment for Musicians to perform music with a wide variety of musicians, often including some of the best musicians in the UK. The promoters say: "The Jam has a welcoming and supportive vibe and is always an exciting night for musicians and members of the public alike."

WEDNESDAYS IN FEBRUARY

01/02/2012 - Sam Leak/Gareth Lockrane/George Crowley/Calum Gourlay/Jim Hart
08/02/2012 - Lewis Wright/James Gardiner-Bateman/Will Rixon/Steve Pringle/Tim Thornton
15/02/2012 - Lewis Wright Quartet
22/02/2012 - Jon Shenoy/Sam Crowe/Spencer Brown/Corrie Dick
29/02/2012 - Jon Shenoy/Alam Nathoo/Pat Davey/Matt Ridley

WEDNESDAYS IN MARCH

07/03/2012 - Tom Stone Quartet
14/03/2012 - Lewis Wright/ Josh Arcoleo/Bass tbc/James Maddren
21/03/2012 - Sam Leak/Brandon Allen/Steve Fishwick/Sam Lasserson/Jim Hart
28/03/2012 - Jon Shenoy Quartet

WEDNESDAYS IN APRIL

04/04/2012 - Tom Stone/Billy Adamson/George Moore/Tom Farmer/Shane Forbes
11/04/2012 - Lewis Wright Quartet
18/04/2012 - Sam Leak/Mike Chillingworth/Alex Merritt/Sam Lasserson/James Maddren
25/04/2012 - Jon Shenoy Quartet

We reviewed an evening in 2009

Olivers Music Bar at Myspace

Review: Systems Quartet

2012-01-27T17:01:00.002Z

Rudi Mahall. Drawing by Geoff Winston
Copyright 2012. All Rights Reserved

Systems Quartet
(Vortex, Tuesday 24 January 2012. First night of 6-night season, 'Might I suggest ...', curated by Evan Parker. Review and drawing by Geoff Winston)

For the first of six Anglo-German collaborative concerts at the Vortex, devised by Evan Parker and generously supported by the Goethe-Institut, Systems Quartet offered a reassuringly uncomfortable collision between live instrumentation and electronic intervention in what Parker reckoned would probably be the most confrontational event of the series.

Alex Dörner with his specially adapted Firebird slide trumpet and laptop, and Rudi Mahall on a substantial bass clarinet, took up the leftstage, complemented to the right by the black-clad rhythm section of Adam Linson on string bass and electronics and Parker's long-time collaborator, percussionist Paul Lytton.

They served up a complex sonic brew, rarely straightforward, often juddering in and out of bleak, mechanically-hinted environments, with the spectre of electrical malfunction hovering overhead. The insinuation of unlikely processed sounds and a perpetual unravelling of morphed transformations suggested the shifting scenes of a film's soundtrack. Frenzied and frenetic, rising to the density of sound associated with the ICP Orchestra, they could equally drop to ethereal, delicate pulses and waves.

Paul Lytton used his fingers so lightly on his snare that a ladybird might have been scuttling across the skins. Dörner blew on a mike which picked up the edges of his breath; he sampled and reprocessed sounds so that for moments there would, disconcertingly, be no active players, even though virtual duets were being enacted.

Sparks and crackles, thunderous semaphore and various strands of interference were introduced to build up a spacious yet condensed landscape. Evan Parker has described Mahall as one of the few players "who can play hard reeds on big open mouthpieces"*, (Point of Departure, Issue 9, January 2007)and his sustained, physically demanding flights of pure jazz woodwind owed as much to Parker's soprano sax phrasing as to Dolphy's pioneering bass clarinet work. Linson's intense application to fretboard and bridge confirmed an anchoring presence, linking in to Lytton's exceptional, low-key percussive invention with great assurance.

The nervous anguish of the siren sounds, the waves of weather and insect swarms were complemented by the odd touch of humour - Muhall and Dörner battering a single high note with ear-splitting intensity, only for Muhall to return to it for a moment in a faux introduction to the next number, with a great smile making sure that the audience understood the gesture.

Carefully considered randomness it may have been, but the musicians' instincts and experience made it all hang together with finely-wrought coherence.

Adam Linson: bass and electronics
Rudi Mahall: bass clarinet
Alex Dörner: trumpet and electronics
Paul Lytton: drums

Previewing: Spitz Collective Sunday Nights at the Park Plaza SE1

2012-01-27T16:17:00.000Z

The Park Plaza Hotel in SE1 hosts Sunday night jazz, produced by Spitz Collective.

Saxophonist Pete Grogan (above - appearing this Sunday January 29th with Hannes Riepler – guitar- and Karl Rasheed Abel – double bass) writes:

For me, the great thing about the Spitz collective
is it's uniqueness in bringing together such a diverse collection of musicians and allowing them to share in their mutual love. Its very easy in London to feel the divide between musicians that is, to a certain extent dictated by geography if not by genre/sub genre etc.

The get-together's and 'plays' that we all have on a regular basis become locked into small groups of musicians simply because it's tough to travel the length or breadth of London to play for an hour so - it makes sense to do this with your neighbors. The Spitz blows this problem out of the water by inviting us all to come and play. It works out as a great way for us to meet and play with fellow musicians and combinations arise that otherwise would simply not happen. This alone means it never fails to be an enjoyable and exciting play. Thanks a bunch.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Saxophonist Pete Wareham (appearing on February 5th with Lewis Wright – vibes- and Tim Thornton – double bass) writes:

The Spitz Jazz Collective is a great thing to be part of as it has a relaxed, informal feeling to it and one regularly meets musicians of all ages who enjoy playing jazz in an untroubled, unaffected way.

When I turn up to play at the Park Plaza on Sunday evening I'm never quite sure who I'm going to be playing with as I know that whoever Jane Glitre has booked to play that night will be friendly and interesting musicians.

The trio gigs down there are always very enjoyable as one gets treated exceptionally well by the hotel itself, and the audiences are always enthusiastic.

Long may it continue!

spitz.co.uk

RIP Clare Fischer (1928-2012) - An Appreciation

2012-01-27T14:59:00.001Z

Composer/arranger/ pianist Dr. Clare Fischer died yesterday following a heart attack earlier in the month.

The track, In The Beginning from The Clare Fischer Big Band album, Continuum (Clavo Records) is nominated for a 2012 Grammy award in the Best Instrumental Arrangement category.

Frank Griffith writes:

Pianist, and composer/arranger, Clare Fischer, has died at 83. Originally from Durand, Michigan, he achieved a Masters Degree in Composition from Michigan State University before traveling with the singing group The Hi Los for 5 years. He then settled in NYC for several years before moving permanently to LA where he thrived for over 40 years.

His early collaborations were with leading jazzers of the day, including trumpeters, Donald Byrd and Dizzy Gillespie as well as moving on to Cal Tjader and George Shearing. Particularly noteworthy are his string arrangements for Byrd's 1957 LP, "September Afternoon" which were well ahead of their time utilising 20th Century string writing techniques brought about by Debussy, Ravel and Bartok coupled with modern jazz reharmonisations of standards like "Stardust", The Touch of Your Lips" and Ellington's "Moon Mist". Up until this point, string backings for jazz soloists were largely the preserve of things like Bird and Strings (Charlie Parker) which while being musical enough were quite conservative and predictable in terms of string writing. Interestingly, this album was not actually released by Warner Brothers until 1982!

Clare's 1960 album with Dizzy featuring Duke and Strayhorn material is also refreshingly forward thinking but in this case utilising a nonet somewhat based on the Birth of The Cool instrumentation. Another key album featuring his string writing was a 1963 date with San Francisco vibist, Cal Tjader, of songs from West Side Story. All of which contained provocative and ground breaking settings for strings and soloist.

Fischer's output of arrangements was huge and varied, the imprints he has left within jazz, but also on the evolution of Brazilian and popular music in general, are massive and unique. He collaborated with everyone from Hubert Laws and Vince Guaraldi to The Singers Unlimited and aforementioned Hi Los to singers Diane Schuur and Natalie Cole. Clare's collaborations with Pop icons Prince and Robert Palmer are unique and unparalled. The passage of time is bound to increase general awareness their significance.

His arrangements for Joao Gilberto's 1991 CD, "Joao" are state-of-the-art, with his treatment of Cole Porter's "You Do Somethng to Me" standing out. Its asymmetrical floating rhythmic effect creates a magical dynamic between band and singer mutually bouncing off of each other aboard a gently erratic wave.

Thank you, Clare for your gift and your rich musical offering to so many different musics. You will never be replaced or forgotten.

Frank Griffith.

clarefischer.com

Neil Yates - Five Countries

2012-01-27T10:10:00.000Z

Neil Yates - Five Countries
(Edition Records EDN1029. CD Review by Chris Parker)

The 'Five Countries' of the title refers to the various birthplaces, migration destinations and current homes of the three musicians involved in this project: trumpeter Neil Yates, classical guitarist Zsolt Bende and percussionist Cormac Byrne.

Yates, who plays flugelhorn, whistle and tenor horn, plus FX, in addition to trumpet, composed most of the music on this ten-track CD, and it ranges unaffectedly between softly pattering flamenco, traditional Irish music and folk-tinged jazz, Yates's pleasantly breathy playing tellingly complemented by Bende's gently propulsive but strikingly dexterous guitar and Byrne's skilfully chosen percussion sounds, which include bodhran and cajon drum.

The natural world is clearly the inspiration for much of the set, and 'Storm on the Irish Sea' begins with tempest effects, while 'Frozen Forest', 'Snowdonia' and 'Rainy Harbour' are all suitably atmospheric, Yates meditative or strident as required, Bende delicate or neatly brisk in support.

Another fine, carefully programmed and impeccably recorded album from Edition.

www.editionrecords.com

Honours refused. Humph (?) Garumph.

2012-01-26T15:31:00.000Z

A very surprising omission from the list just published by the Cabinet Office of people who refused honours in the years 1951-99.

The Lyttelton family have correspondence concerning one honour turned by Humphrey Lyttelton (1921- 2008) under the Callaghan government in the late 1970's, and also of a knighthood offered to him under the Major government in the early 1990's. Samantha nods in approval. A legend.

CD Review: Andy Sheppard/Michel Benita/Sebastian Rochford - Trio Libero

2012-01-25T21:09:00.000Z

Andy Sheppard/Michel Benita/Sebastian Rochford - Trio Libero
(ECM 278 6630. CD Review by Chris Parker)

Andy Sheppard first played with Algerian-born bassist Michel Benita in the 1980s, when the former was a Paris resident, playing with the performance big band Urban Sax, but all the members of Trio Libero, which is completed by drummer Seb Rochford, first performed together as part of a band celebrating the music of Serge Gainsbourg at the Coutances Jazz Festival in 2008.

Sensing a mutual compatibility, described by Sheppard thus – 'I just felt that anything was possible with these guys' – the Bristolian saxophonist 'locked the trio in a room for four days and said: "Let's just improvise together, record everything and see what we come up with."' In this way, they achieved an ease of interaction based on hair-trigger sensitivity to each other's playing that is apparent throughout this thoroughly absorbing album. Sheppard sums up their approach: 'Improvise, write it down, develop it, then replay the tune with fresh improvisation: a trio libero.'

This mix of spontaneity and familiarity infuses everything the trio play with improvisational tension, each player (as in many ECM productions) clearly having a firm grasp on the outline of each piece, but able to plot his own highly distinctive and original path within it. The resultant (largely rubato) music incorporates not only Sheppard's great strengths – a sure ear for an affecting melody, a sculptural approach to his saxophones' sound, an ability to move seamlessly between freedom and structure – but also Benita's extraordinary versatility and Rochford's uncanny ability to choose precisely the right cymbal/skin stroke to push the music along and subtly embellish the band sound.

The overall effect will perhaps remind many ECM aficionados of Paul Motian's various albums for the label, but Trio Libero's strength comes from the grace and elegance with which three utterly distinctive talents have been able to gel to form a unit that consistently lives up to its name.

Trio Libero will be touriing in the UK in May / ECM Records

BLINQ at Bedales School

2012-01-25T00:04:00.000Z

BLINQ: Brendan Reilly, Liane Carroll, Natalie Williams,
Ian Shaw. (out of shot: Gwilym Simcock)

The debut of BLINQ at Ronnie Scott's last August was one of my gigs of the year.

So, for the sheer pleasure of hearing them again, I've just driven down the A3 to Petersfield and heard their second outing.

No regrets. Only joy. For sheer exuberance, entertainment, collective madness, impromptu harmonizing.... this group (Natalie Williams, Liane Carroll, Brendan Reilly, Ian Shaw, Gwilym Simcock) may have its equals, but it certainly won't be beaten. They're fabulous. And already, from gig 1 to gig 2 the repertoire has expanded.

And if entertainment to keep the listener attentive through every moment of every tune is not enough, then those who love a piano, and their purely musical treats will have been knocked out too: to give just one example of many, the smoky magic which Simcock was conjuring up in a Scriabinesque, impressionistic, quiet preamble to Noel Coward's Mad About The Boy was something very special indeed.

Bedales School has a fine purpose built theatre with very good sound. Their next promotion is on 4th May - Abram Wilson's Septet featuring Peter King, Jean Toussaint and Winston Rollins.

Mark Murphy at Ronnie Scott's and Morley College

2012-01-24T11:51:00.000Z

Mark Murphy comes to town.

On 30th-31st January, Ronnie Scott’s will play host to one of the greatest jazz singers in the world today: 6 time Grammy nominated Mark Murphy,writes SARAH ELLEN HUGHES.

This return trip to London has been a long time coming – for the last three years Murphy has been very ill, his situation exacerbated by the fact that for two years he had been misdiagnosed with Alzheimer’s and placed on incorrect medication. Now, thanks to a re-diagnosis and correct medical care, a wonderful new agent and a new record (which was recorded whilst residing in a care home), Murphy can tour again.

He will be bringing with him George Mesterhazy, who was Shirley Horn’s pianist when she could no longer play the piano (Horn had to have a foot amputated following complications from diabetes.) In the past, Murphy has not been able to bring a pianist to London, so this will be something very special indeed.

I spoke to Gill Manly about his visit, as she has had a massive hand in organising his trips to London in the past.

They met in 1991, when Murphy was playing a gig at Pizza on the Park, and only two people turned up to watch – Gill and Ian Shaw! From that day they became great friends, Gill starting off as his fan, then his student, and then organising workshops for jazz singers when he came to town. This was before there was a plethora of excellent jazz courses available in this country, so singers such as Tina May, Christine Tobin and Anita Wardell would all come to Mark Murphy workshops for part of their education, surely helping them along the way to forging formidable careers themselves.

So, to take advantage of the fact that Murphy is such a great educator, Gill has organised an event which was initially intended to be a simple workshop – but because of Murphy’s profile and the fact that it’s been so long since he was in this country, it’s turned into an interview/demonstration/Q & A session which will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3’s Jazz Lineup.

Claire Martin will present the session, talking about his career, health and education, and inviting Murphy to sing a couple of songs and ‘demonstrate some of his teaching techniques for jazz singers.’

A panel of British jazz stars including Ian Shaw, Norma Winstone, Pete Churchill, and possibly Curtis Stigers, who is an ex-pupil of Murphy’s, (Cleo Laine has been advertised but unfortunately will not make it owing to illness) will each pose a question to Mark. This will focus on the development of jazz education and his role in the education of jazz singers, especially in London.

There are only 80 tickets – which are available for free to Morley College students, and only £10 to external visitors. It’s not just a singer’s event – horn players come down too! See a man who’s played with some of the greatest horn players in the world.

The event runs from 11-1pm on Monday 30th January at Morley College, Westminster Bridge Road, SE1. Tickets are available by pre-booking only. Email mmm@morleycollege.ac.uk to reserve a place.

Review: Rachel Gould

2012-01-24T09:17:00.002Z

Rachel Gould with the Renato D'Aiello Quartet
(Pizza Express Dean Street. January 19th 2012. Review by Sarah Ellen Hughes)

Rachel Gould is an American jazz singer, now resident in the UK having spent many years living in Holland. As such, the maturity and experience that she brings to her profession is considerable. A singer who has recorded with Chet Baker amongst others, proved at the Pizza Express Jazz Club, that she is up there amongst the best.

Gould was performing with an international quartet led by UK-based Italian saxophonist Renato D’Aiello, whom she met whilst singing in Europe. Their friendship has remained strong, and their rapport on stage showed the mutual respect they have for each other.

The quartet was fantastic: Enzo Zirilli, as always a force to be reckoned with at the drums; bassist Nicola Muresu with his nimble fingers. Renato D’Aiello was superb on tenor saxophone, his soloing terrific throughout. Boy, can he swing. And Bruno Montrone was a revelation at the piano, drawing lyrical horn-like phrasing out of the instrument, whether ballad or bebop. No wonder he’s hailed as one of Italy’s finest young players.

Gould, though, was the star of the show. Admittedly, I felt that she was not entirely comfortable at points – this may have been owing to her slight bashfulness and unassuming personality – but she certainly nailed the vocals. There was a touch of Carmen McRae about her, particularly in the swooping and soaring of phrases, the deeply resonant low notes and faultless diction. Gould's sprightly and sure-footed octave-hopping (I reckon the range is about three) in I want to be happy was particularly impressive.

Two tunes really grabbed me. A D’Aeillo original (instrumental) called Sea Goddess, was wonderful, and gave Muresu a chance to show off his fast fingerwork. Gould’s rendition of What is there to say, by Vernon Duke, was the highlight of the second set – a daringly slow arrangement impeccably delivered.

Now that she’s a resident here, I hope to be seeing Rachel Gould on our jazz stages much more.

Rachel Gould at jazzmasters.nl

CD Review: Andre Canniere Group - Forward Space (and this week's prize draw)

2012-01-24T09:08:00.000Z

Andre Canniere Group - Forward Space
(Whirlwind Recordings WR4619. CD Review by Chris Parker)

Written while trumpeter Andre Canniere was in the process of relocating from New York to London, the material on this album, which he calls his 'first major statement as a composer and bandleader', is appropriately dynamic and wide-ranging in both its musical styles and concerns.

Few record labels are as suitably named as Whirlwind -– previous releases include albums by Partikel, Phil Robson, Alex Garnett, Jeff Williams, Patrick Cornelius and Michael Janisch – and the sheer driving urgency of Canniere's music is what immediately impresses (the opening track, 'Crunch' derives its slightly hysterical, frenetic vigour from Canniere's reaction to the 'false sense of euphoria that existed leading up to the [2008 global credit] crisis').

Subsequent tracks, however, ring the changes between the imaginative originality of the title-track (perfectly described in the album's publicity material as 'Steve Reich typing Morse Code at a party while dancing to Parliament Funkadelic') and more contemplative, often downright wistful lower-tempo material ('Marshlands Blackout' was inspired by a visit to Canniere's childhood home in rural Pennsylvania, 'Song for J', on which Canniere plays trumpet, Rhodes piano, guitars and cahon, by his feelings for his son, Jonas). Forward Space is thus a perfect demonstration of the freewheeling energy that is generated from close association (Canniere's bandmates, guitarist Hannes Riepler, keyboards player George Fogel, bassist Ryan Trebilcock and drummers Jon Scott and Chris Vatalaro have all, according to Canniere, 'played an important role in developing these specific compositions in an organic and intuitive way' since the trumpeter's arrival in London in 2008).

An impressive debut from a technically assured, highly individual soloist and a gifted composer.

- Forward Space was successfully fan-funded via Kickstarter

- A copy of Forward Space is offered as the LondonJazz weekly prize draw, an exclusive for newsletter readers. The sign-up box is top left.

- whirlwindrecordings.com

"Book now for Stalin at the Ashmolean" - first Oxford Jazz Fest @oxjazz gigs on sale

2012-01-23T10:21:00.000Z

Couldn't resist the headline. Swedish vocalist Cecila Stalin will be singing in the Ashmolean Museum Dining Room on Thursday 5th April.

It's one of the first gigs announced and on sale for this year's Oxford Jazz Festival . Here's what else is there/ on sale so far:

Thu, 05 Apr Cecilia Stalin Quartet Ashmolean Dining Room 7.30pm

Thu, 05 Apr Adam Waldmann with The Spin Trio Spin Jazz Club 9pm

Fri, 06 Apr Larkin’s Jazz with Alyn Shipton Randolph Hotel 3pm

Fri, 06 Apr Abram Wilson 10 Year Anniversary Tour Randolph Hotel 8pm

Sat, 07 Apr Michael Janisch and the New York Standards Quartet Tim Armacost- sax, David Berkman - piano Oxford Playhouse 8pm

http://www.oxfordjazzfestival.com/

CD Review: Zoe Rahman - Kindred Spirits

2012-01-22T21:21:00.000Z

Zoe Rahman - Kindred Spirits
(Manushi Records manucd005. CD review by Chris Parker)

Since establishing herself as one of the UK jazz scene's most talented pianists in 2005 with her Mercury-nominated album Melting Pot, Zoe Rahman has steadily consolidated her reputation with a trio (plus guest Idris Rahman) recording from London's Pizza Express (Live, 2007) and a jazz/Bengali music fusion album, Where Rivers Meet.

Kindred Spirits draws on all the musical influences, from straightahead jazz (she cut her teeth in Clark Tracey's 2000s band) to the music she hears when visiting her family in Dhaka, that informed these albums, but adds another strand: Irish traditional music, experienced on Rahman's recent tour of the country that was her maternal grandmother's home.

Add the inspiration drawn from the 150th anniversary of Bengal's most celebrated writer/musician and Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, and you have an absorbingly multi-faceted set, beginning with the tumultuously robust 'Down to Earth', in which Rahman strikes sparks off her fiercely interactive rhythm section, bassist Oli Hayhurst and drummer Gene Calderazzo, and concluding with a characteristically irresistible Stevie Wonder tune, 'Contusion' but, in between, touching bases ranging from Tagore compositions featuring brother Idris's clarinets, Irish folk ('Butlers of Glen Avenue') and even the odd burst of free music ('Outside In'). Rahman, though, is very much her prodigiously gifted self throughout, whether throwing off alternately sparkling and thunderous runs, merging more delicately with her brother or guest Courtney Pine's playing on less overtly jazz-based material, or spinning compelling piano-trio jazz from her own infectiously lively compositions.

A rich confection of what Rahman simply describes as 'tunes that I love playing', Kindred Spirits provides what liner-note writer Julian Joseph accurately terms 'a powerful and fresh portrait of her combined English, Irish and Bengali heritage'.

Kindred Spirits was released on Friday 19th January. Tour Dates include Pizza Express Dean Street on February 6th and 7th.

Preview: Bob Van Luijt writes about Cuong Vu at the Vortex on Feb 20th

2012-01-22T21:00:00.000Z

Vietnames-American trumpeter Cuong Vu, with Dutch-based German drummer Yonga Sun and Dutch bassist Bob Van Luijt will be at the Vortex on February 20th, straight off a seven-date tour in the Netherlands, and just before a recording for Dutch TV.

Bob Van Luijt writes:

I first heard the music of trumpeter Cuong Vu in 2004 - I was just 18 years old - in the Dutch TV programme "Vrije Geluiden" (Free Sounds) and since then have followed Cuong's music, especially with the Pat Metheny Group - the albums Speaking of Now and The Way Up - as well as his collaborations with Bill Frisell and Jamie Saft. His beautiful lines and note choices combined with electronic effects are unique! I find that I get drawn in,both by the rougher edges of, and by the beautiful and the melodic in his playing.

The video above is of Cuong Vu at Berklee in 2010 with bassist Stomu Takeishi (recently in London with Henry Threadgill) and drummer Ted Poor.

Cuong Vu gave one of the most talked-about concerts at the 2010 Cheltenham Jazz Festival. John Fordham wrote in a Guardian review:

Vietnamese-American trumpeter Cuong Vu probably stole the day, with a thundering mix of orchestral electronic effects, flat-out improv of astonishingly assured audacity, unexpected dissections of a couple of standard ballads, and the raw power of a free-rhythmic rock trio.

Bookingss: www.vortexjazz.co.uk / more information at www.bobvanluijt.com

Live Music Bill passed in House of Commons/ RIP Etta James

2012-01-20T16:53:00.000Z

Two news stories broke simultaneously today.

AT LAST (1) . After years of fighting the disproportionate and unnecesary powers given to Local Authorities by the 2003 Licensing Act, Don Foster's Live Music Bill which removes the need for small venues to have licenses for events ending before 11pm has been passed. The devil will be inthe detail, and never underestimate the complexities and "transition provisions" yet to be dreamed up to complicate the system and make it more costly...but this is a victory, most notably for that completely indefatigable campaigner on the issue, jazz drummer Hamish Birchall.

AT LAST (2) RIP Etta James, whose death today at the age of 73 has just been reported. Sad.

Jack's been thinking... about voting for the Forge Venue

2012-01-20T10:04:00.001Z

The Forge Venue in Camden Town
Photo credit: Chris Huning

Our regular Friday column from trumpeter/ bandleader has a suggestion for who to nominate in the Parliamentary Jazz Awards (lists close 20th February). Jack writes:

Before you cast your vote in the venues category of the Parliamentary Jazz Awards, I’d like to draw your attention to the work being done at The Forge Venue in Camden Town.

While most London jazz gigs take place in the upstairs or downstairs room of a pub, or clubs where music seems to be little more than a soundtrack the comings and goings of waiters and barmen, The Forge is a rare breed: a quiet, dedicated arts space.

True, weekends see the large wooden walls slide back and open out onto the attached restaurant, but the respect for the music is always maintained. The venue is at its intimate best when in chamber hall-like small form. The impressively appointed wooden floor and spacious size provide a warm, generous acoustic, while unusually good lighting completes the sense that this is something special - real care has gone into the design and planning of this place.

Adam and Charlotte Caird are the pair who have shouldered the burden of planning, programming and maintaining this venue. They are both musicians –Adam a composer / pianist, and Charlotte a saxophonist – and their musical openness is one of the factors that makes The Forge such an important venue.

Their programming exhibits a bravery and trust that few venues can compete with. Focussing purely on the jazz side of things (which belittles the cross-genre importance of this place), The Forge has put on London debuts for many fantastic bands, as well as programming a myriad of things other venues fail to put on. It is worth noting a few: Joe Wright’s pioneering duo with drummer James Maddren had its first outing at The Forge, and Kit Downes made his prepared piano debut on the Forge’s Steinway with Shabaka Hutchings in 2011’s London Jazz Festival at the special request of The Forge’s Adam Caird (There's more on Kit’s blog). And a Jazzwise album of the year was recorded there.

The venue announced last month that Loop Collective are resident musicians for 2012, and the launch event of their residency series will take place on Friday 10 February 2012 , featurnig Rory Simmons' Monocled Man and Hanslip/Hurley/Sanders.

Other events to look forward to are Shabaka Hutchings' Sons of Kemet, as well as a new multimedia project emerging from the Royal Academy's jazz course.

Charlotte and Adam set aside a Friday night to put on my own big band a year or so ago when I was struggling to find venues to perform at, and the full hall turned a potentially nerve-wracking debut into an immensely rewarding and most of all encouraging experience.

London needs more places like The Forge, and The Forge deserves our ongoing support, and appreciation.
And here's the place you can show it

forgevenue.org.

Preview: Rob Garcia/ Noah Preminger at Servant Jazz Quarters/ Oliver's/ Spice

2012-01-20T09:33:00.000Z

George Crowley writes:

I’m looking forward to the opportunity to see some fantastic musicians unfamiliar to UK audiences next week, in the form of three gigs from the Rob Garcia / Noah Preminger Quartet.

Drummer Rob Garcia (Wynton Marsalis, Anat Cohen, Chris Cheek) has been a mainstay of the New York jazz scene for over ten years. Along with the highly lauded young tenor saxophonist Noah Preminger (Cecil McBee, Billy Hart, Fred Hersch) and Barcelona-based bassist Masa Kamaguchi (Paul Motian, Dave Douglas, Tony Malaby), he will be hitting London next week for three gigs as a leg of a European trio tour. On the London dates, they will be joined by Jim Hart on vibes.

Gigs like this always fill me with anticipation. Though Rob Garcia and Noah Preminger are regular collaborators in NYC, this line-up with Jim is an altogether newer thing. The prospect of witnessing musicians of a really high calibre playing and exploring together without a great deal of playing history provides, for me at least, a genuinely exciting and fascinating experience.

I’m particularly looking forward to hearing Noah Preminger. His album "Before the Rain" (Palmetto) was in no fewer than seven Best Albums of 2011 lists in the US. He has a lovely sound, an open approach and a knack for finding surprise in his lines and phrases, and I’m excited at the opportunity to hear him opening out on tunes in such great company. I don’t mean to ignore the contributions of the other members, but hey, I’m a tenor player! noahpreminger.com

Jim Hart is a musician who never approaches any playing situation with anything but an open mind and heart, and the remarkable ability to adapt and support to an incredibly high standard.

To anybody who’s feeling the January blues, and the urge to check out some great original music from some players they might not have previously been aware of, I couldn’t recommend these gigs highly enough – see you on Monday!

The Rob Garcia / Noah Preminger Quartet play at

- Servant Jazz Quarters in Dalston on Monday 23rd (NOT the Oxford as advertised)

- Oliver’s in Greenwich on Tuesday 24th

- Spice of Life in Soho on Wednesday 25th with vocalist JO WALLFISCH.

Musician biogs and more details at theoxfordjazz.com

St Paul's Cathedral. 12thJuly. The return of Garbarek/ Hilliard Ensemble

2012-01-19T09:58:00.000Z

Look up. Next Monday 23rd Jan, booking will open for the return of Jan Garbarek and the Hilliard Ensemble to St Paul’s Cathedral. They.ve been invited back for the 50th anniversary season of the City of London Festival.

Last time they were here was June 2009. They played a memorable 90-minute set. What they do works in the space. And large audiencesenjoy it. I can vividly remember Garbarek's mischievous smile as he sent out a "row of sonorous, low honking B flats, chasing each other around the cathedral. How satisfying as a saxophonist, how impossible to resist, to hit home hard , low and powerfully into every last corner of Christopher Wren's vast echoing masterpiece."

The date this year is July 12th. Here's a link to the COLF site.

Jazz Video Guy's Six Minute Report on JEN

2012-01-18T07:51:00.000Z

JEN is the Jazz Educators Network, who have just had their third annual conference in Louisville, Kentucky. JEN emerged from the ashes of the IAJE which filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy with debts estimated at around $1m in April 2008. An enthusiastic report, stressing the vital sense of community in jazz from Bret Primack.

Jazz Education Network

Dave Ohm at Ronnies

2012-01-17T13:53:00.000Z

Dave Ohm
Photo credit: Oleg Katchinski

Dave Ohm is in residency this week at Ronnie Scott’s Club. Georgia Mancio writes:
Drummer, bandleader and producer Dave Ohm has long been an unsung hero of the British jazz scene; a crime that seems to befall many other very fine players of the same instrument. For a change the billing is reversed as he takes up residence at Ronnie Scott's 16 -20 Jan to lead five different groups in the support slot opposite Carmen Lundy and James Taylor Quartet.

His recent work includes Gregory Porter, Karin Krog, Rebecca Parris, Dena DeRose, Wess Anderson and Benny Golson but his association with Ronnie Scott’s Club goes back over 15 years where he has performed many times with Claire Martin, Deborah Brown, Ian Shaw, Peter King and the Ronnie Scott’s Allstars.

A creative and musical drummer with an almost uncanny intuition, Ohm is at once a "powerhouse" (Time Out) and subtle storyteller. You can hear the Art Blakey and Elvin Jones dynamism, you will also recognise the crisp brushwork of John Poole and yet always unmistakeably his own sonic stamp.

His collaborators over the week will include: Nigel Hitchcock, Paul Stacey and Laurence Cottle (18 Jan); Ben Castle, Mark Edwards and Arnie Somogyi (17 Jan); Georgia Mancio, Nikki Iles and Julie Walkington (20 Jan) as well as some very special suprise guests. Who can resist?

ronniescotts.co.uk

Preview/Interview : Eddie Daniels

2012-01-17T12:07:00.002Z

Eddie Daniels

Preview/Interview: Eddie Daniels. Barbican Hall. Thursday February 9th 2012 by Sebastian Scotney

Benny Goodman, who commissioned a Clarinet Concerto concerto from Copland in 1947, once called the clarinettist Eddie Daniels “my successor”.

On a rare visit to the UK – the first for about fifteen years - Daniels will be performing the concerto with the London Symphony Orchestra, on Thursday February 9th at the Barbican, So let' be clear: we're talking about a performance of authority, legitimacy at an off-the-scale level. And - yes, still, at the age of seventy - serious chops.

The clarinettist has lived with the piece, thought about it, and performed it, for decades now. In a conversation which I had with the him by telephone at his home in New Mexico earlier this week, he launched straight in with how he will approach the work:

“We'll be opening the doors, we're letting Benny in”.

One part of the concerto where this will be abundantly clear is the cadenza. The concerto comes complete with a long, fully written-out solo cadenza section which links the movements. It has its problems. Classical players who follow it verbatim. struggle to find the right kind of freedom. For Daniels the constraints of it are different: he suggested to me that Goodman had already moved on stylistically from the primitive swing feel of that cadenza by the time the work was written. Daniels will be playing most of the original cadenza, but will be "peppering it with entrances or doorways for Benny to come in, in several places. "He [Benny]will go wild!" promises Daniels.

Eddie Daniels will also bring to the work the unique experience of having had several part-improvised concertos written for him, and collaborated actively and productively with their composers, something which didn't happen – for various reasons - with Copland and Goodman.

Daniels also brings a level of technique which will enable him to breeze through the screechily high parts of the Copland Concerto which Goodman disliked, and chose to take down the octave.

Carying forward that idea of legitimacy, Daniels also has it when it comes to the performance of the Leonard Bernstein work, Prelude Fugue and Riffs. Daniels also quoted to me something which Bernstein wrote – to a New York periodontist, about Daniels' album Breakthrough:

Dear Ron, Your friend Eddie Daniels combines elegance and elegance and virtuosity in a way that makes me remember Arthur Rubinstein. He is a thoroughly well-bred demon. Lenny

This "well-bred demon" has had an extraordinary career, and there is a substantial and valuable back-catalogue. An early record which is still getting played – two friends told me unprompted it is something they go back to a lot is a duo session on which Daniels plays flute, clarinet and bass clarinet with guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli from 1973 entitled A Flower For All Seasons on the Choice label, later reissued on CD as Blue Bossa.

As the years have gone on, Daniels in the conversational duo context has moved far beyond that. Bucky Pizzarelli was a fine swing/rhythm guitarist, but in pianist Roger Kellaway , with whom Eddie Daniels has recorded two albums – the latest recorded in the Library of Congress in February 2011, and attracting rave reviews , there is that sense of being able to travel anywhere. “Roger has the whole universe”, Daniels told me.

Daniels' recent work with the WDR Big Band with Mike Abene (the two have known each other since they were teenagers in the Newport Youth Band is vintage stuff. This live performace of Daniels' tune/arrangement "This Is All I Have" recorded live (!) deserves a play:

Daniels' visits to the UK have been lamentably rare in recent years. I remember him playing the Weber Quintet at the old Stables in Wavendon in the 1980's. Brian Priestley told me he has fond memories of interviewing him for radio when he visited the Bass Clef in London, again in the mid 80's . Daniels also recorded the album “Breakthrough” with which Larry Rosen and Dave Grusin of GRP with the Philharmonia, which launched the most visible phase of his career. Eddie Daniels reckons it's at least fifteen years since he last played here.

If Daniels was once capable of nailing everything as the perfect sideman - listen to him on Freddie Hubbard's Hub of Hubbard, or in the key albums of Thad Jones-Mel Lewis or Don Sebesky, or indeed on Billy Joel's album Nylon Curtain or Sister Sledge's hit I've got to love somebody ) these days he has earned the right to take absolute authority as soloist.

As clarinettist Paquito D'Rivera has said: “I would dare to say that his enormous contribution to the almost extinct art of Jazz-clarineting is so significant, that now we can even talk about the instrument as BE and AE (Before Eddie and After Eddie)."
So the end of the Barbican concert will be the moment when we can really celebrate the presence of a unique figure in jazz at the Barbican. Daniels says that condutor Kristjan Järvi has instructed him what he wants him to do in Duke Ellington's “Harlem” –

“I want you to come out, and just blow over it.”

When Daniels walks out on the stage at the end of the evening, his hand-built Morrie Backun clarinet in hand, this is the kind of invitation Eddie Daniels will, as ever, fulfil completely.

Barbican Hall , Thursday February 9th
London Symphony Orchestra
JOHN ADAMS The Chairman Dances
BERNSTEIN Three Dance Episodes from 'On the Town'
COPLAND Clarinet Concerto
MILHAUD La création du monde
BERNSTEIN (orch. FOSS) Prelude, Fugue and Riffs
ELLINGTON (orch. HENDERSON) Harlem

Eddie Daniels will also perform with the David Rees- Williams Trio at St Edmunds School Canterbury on Sat Feb 11th

www.lso.co.uk

Benefit gig for John Barnes - 100 Club 9th Feb Lunchtime

2012-01-17T09:46:00.001Z

There's a fundraiser for once ubiquitous baritone saxophonist/clarinettist John Barnes, organized by Alan Barnes.

It's at the 100 Club on Thurs 9th Feb, start time 11.30am.

John Barnes has been a major figure on baritone saxophone, Downbeat Rising Star on the instrument in 1969, on the strength of an appearance he made at the Newport Jazz Festival.

John Barnes had a stroke while on holiday in Greece and then ensued an undignified scrap with a medical ensurance. After delays he is currently recovering in hospital in SW14.

The loyal and strong turnout which John deserves is promised. Here's the line-up:

Trumpets: Bruce Adams, Digby Fairweather, Rico Tomaso, Mike Cotton
Trombones: Roy Williams, Ian Bateman, Mike Hogh
Reeds: Art Themen, Julian Stringle, Robert Fowler, Ron Drake, Alan Barnes, Willie Garnett
Vocals: Val Wiseman
Guitar: Jim Douglas, Dominic Ashworth
Piano: John Pearce, Nick Dawson, Martin Litton
Bass: Dave Green
Drums: Bobby Worth

Plus other Special Guests

A new venture- Platform 33 (@cbplatform33) - Will Rixon writes

2012-01-17T09:36:00.004Z

This Thursday night 19th sees the launch of a brand new night – Platform33, run by Chloe Booker.

Chloe aims "to showcase the most interesting and exciting artists in an informal and fun way - removing the pretence and introducing the people and stories behind the arts. It will showcase the most diverse art forms."

The launch event this Thursday alone features an opera singer, a graffiti artist, a string quartet, a beatboxer a dj and ...WILL RIXON - jazz trumpeter.

Will Rixon will have 33 minutes on Thursday, to communicate on his own terms, to educate and to inspire the audience about jazz.

Will Rixon writes:

Here is a typical conversation for me:

Girl in bar: “So what do you do for a living?”
Will Rixon: “I’m a musician.”
Gib: “Oh right! So are you in a band?”WR: “Sort of. I play in a few bands, I’m a freelance musician.”Gib: “Do you play the guitar?”WR: “No, the trumpet. I play jazz mostly.”Gib: “Ah jazz, I really wish I was into jazz - but I just don’t understand it…”
Thes conversations set me thinking about how I could contribute to changing things, bringing people closer to understanding jazz.

Sometimes I talk about the process of improvising; explaining a bit about what is actually going on during a performance with a hope that it might help them enjoy the experience more. But the point it is not to try and make everyone a semi-jazz-intellectual, it is to excite them about the true purpose and meaning of the music. After all, it was the beat, the interplay between the musicians, the sensitivity and love I felt that drew me in at the age of 10.

For many people, the idea of jazz oozes sophistication and cool but when they turn on a recording they are met with a sound that is often esoteric and impenetrable so they give up. I can guarantee to any new listener that it’s not about trying to understand anything; it’s about being open. Jazz is more than a type of music, is an experience that you feel. It’s a palpable, live art form steeped in a history of old masters and technicians.

Jazz clubs are not simply places to go and listen to music. They are sacred places that give you the unique opportunity to witness moments of art unraveling. There is nothing like watching the process of 5 people move together, improvising a sound that has such a breadth of sincerity and maturity. Ears and minds are open. Added to that is the happiness I get from seeing a room of ordinary people feeling it, everyone on the same page. Each night is a party that celebrates the music and its depth ofemotion and empathy.

Complex things to master and to convey but so natural and powerful that it will be running through your body by the time you find your seat. If you simply wish to enjoy the music, forget 'understanding': leave the mystery to the participants - this takes years of dedicated and passionate practice. Everyone reading this has a responsibility.

Musicians don’t lose sight of your purpose. Jazz fans spread the word. And new fans, just take my word for it.

Platform 33 this Thursday 19th Jan is at the Upper Bar of Union Chapel, Upper Street N1.
£11 in advance and £15 on the door.

All profits are going to the NGO Thinking Development, which works with earthquake victims in Haiti.
Twitter: @cbplatform33
www.platform33.co.uk willrixon.com

Review: London Vocal Project

2012-01-16T06:59:00.001Z

London Vocal Project
(Kings Place Hall One, 14th January 2012, part of London A Capella Festival 2012. Review by Frank Griffith)

The London Vocal Project is an eclectic ensemble bridging a multitude of styles including Afrobeat, Gospel, 1970s Soul and post-war swing. The twenty strong choir boasted mostly women along with seven male singers which included their illustrious director, Pete Churchill singing bass.

Talk about a polymath, there is nothing that his guy (Pete Churchill) cannot do. His subtle, yet clear conducting while covering the bass parts were augmented by his frequent and detailed announcements describing the numbers and the choir's processes learning them. In addition, Pete's arrangements were widely featured varying from treatments of songs by Neal Hefti, Steve Swallow, Kenny Wheeler and Stevie Wonder. The music of Bobby McFerrin was also included to great effect.

The LVP featured a handful of soloists that brought alot to the party. These included Kwabena Adjepong 's passionate reading of Stevie Wonder's Love's In Need of Love Today while the choir "cooed and hawed" underneath. Newcomer Emma Smith also shone on Steve Swallow's folksy yet profound City of Dallas which closed their set with her repeated mantra of "sweet dreams when you sleep".

Not to shirk away from soloing chores himself, Mr Churchill offered his refreshing take on John Beasley's Lucky Old Sun (popularised by Ray Charles, apparentlly) that included a more than credible scat chorus or two.

A couple of points also worth noting are that the LVP make a strong visual impression as well. Their well themed oufittery- largely black with the odd addition ("oddition") of a white or red pastel along with red silk ties on the blokes gives off a distinct glow.

They are clearly engaged with the music and the audience with their subtle moving and grooving to the music without being over the top or distracting with it. Of equal importance of course is the wonderful blend they exact along with the immaculate control of pitch and articulation. This, coupled with thier flawless memorisation of lyrics and parts make the London Vocal Project a truly impressive ensemble. Bravo!

Londonvocalproject.com

Your Call, York Hall, Radio 3 and boxing

2012-01-14T12:39:00.000Z

Boxing poster from 1980
Source:www.londonexboxers.org.uk

If you turn on BBC Radio 3 early in the morning, the presenters trail a highlight coming up later in the programme. The announcement comes - intrusively - between almost every piece of music. They don't give an explanation: I guess you're supposed to already know what it's all about.

To this Londoner, clearly not in the know, and who drops the occasional "H" it sounds for all the world like YORK HALL, a 1200-capacity venue in Bethnal Green which also has a gym and a swimming pool, and which for generations (since 1929 in fact) has been synonymous with the aspirations of young boxers from the East End wanting to hit the big time. And each other. Something tells me that in the rarefied world of Radio 3 there are very few people interested in boxing. What can they mean? :).....

NEA Jazz Masters webcast

2012-01-13T22:12:00.000Z

The whole NEA Jazz Masters ceremony, held in the Rose Theater of Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York on Tuesday January 10th, celebrating Jack DeJohnette, Sheila Jordan, Von Freeman, Charlie Haden and Jimmy Owens is available as a webcast HERE

Review: Guildhall Jazz Singers

2012-01-13T13:28:00.000Z

Guildhall Jazz Singers / Stroman
(St Martin in the Fields, 10th January 2012, part of Brandenburg Spring Choral Festival)

The Guildhall Jazz Singers brought sounds of jazz, scat and gospel to St Martin in the Fields, their contribution to a predominantly classical program at the Brandenburg Spring Choral Festival.

Artistic Director Bob Porter introduced the concert with, “This may not be what you are expecting to hear in this setting,” but he’s a jazz fanatic, and thrilled to be able to broaden the festival’s programming to encompass this genre.

Led by Scott Stroman, himself singing in most of the numbers, the group entertained with an eclectic program, backed sometimes by a group of musicians from the Guildhall School.

The eight singers (some of whom aren’t actually first study vocalists) worked well together, delivering some superb tunes: a luscious a capella version of My Romance; a very jolly Button Up Your Overcoat. There were moments too for individuals to shine: postgrad student Martynas Vilpisauskas captivated the audience with his rendition of Skylark – complete with mouth trumpet solo.

The singers' sound didn’t carry very well in this vast building – I wonder if they might have fared better downstairs in the Crypt. I expect that the forthcoming jazz choirs (Surrey Youth Choir – 27th April, London Vocal Project – 16th March, Capital Connection – 16th Feb) will fare better in this acoustic.

Brandenburg Spring Choral Festival

John Ferguson (1932- 2011)

2012-01-13T12:09:00.002Z

John Ferguson
Photo credit: Antoinette Haselhorst

Jeanie Barton writes:

Generations of London’s jazz fraternity came together at Golders Green Crematorium yesterday to say goodbye to long time bassist and talented all-rounder John Ferguson.

Known more recently for his regular gigs with the Laurie Morgan Trio Downstairs at the King’s Head in Crouch End on Sunday afternoons, and the Friday afternoon sessions at the Spice of Life in Soho with Jack Honeybourne on piano and Dennis Smith on drums, John had a long and varied professional career.

Born in Glasgow on 2nd June 1932, he embraced his love of music by enjoying the vibrant local dance band scene; he learned trombone and had singing lessons with opera singer Queenie Hall, he also enjoyed ballroom dancing and took up tap dancing as a serious hobby. By the time he added the double bass to his arsenal John was in demand and became a professional musician. He was invited to join the Durham Light Infantry band and moved to London age 26.

After being spotted by Vic Damone among others, John joined a tour with Val Doonican and stayed with the band for 2 years, only leaving because he couldn’t stand to look at his cardigan any more… He continued to play in numerous ensembles and was with Dick Williams band “The Dick 6” to perform at the first Ealing Jazz festival - he continued to participate every subsequent year without fail.

John will be remembered for his sharp suits, his velvet voice and his cheeky yet shy demeanour. He was affectionate and occasionally grumpy but always great fun; every year he would enjoy going to play at Orpington Naturist Camp with Jack and Dennis and was the first to disrobe, halfway through their opening set, asking Dennis to hold his bass (only the bass) while he stripped off.

After a short illness John succumbed to mesothelioma cancer just before Christmas which was brought on by exposure to asbestos during building work in his youth. He will be sadly missed by his family, his lifelong friend Maurien Venables and by us all.

Jack's been thinking...about Birmingham Jazz/ Cobweb London nights

2012-01-13T10:51:00.000Z

Our Friday columnist, trumpeter/ bandleader Jack Davies writes about a new Sunday night gig at the Salisbury featuring emerging artists from the Birmingham and London scenes.

The Cobweb Collective and Birmingham Jazz both have well established jazz promotion pedigrees in Britain’s second city, and this Sunday sees the start of their new London night at Jazz @ The Salisbury.

The organisational team (including Ryan Williams and Hans Koller) state that the gigs at the Salisbury will “show the range and variety of the Birmingham scene”. No doubt these concerts will also start to create some cross-pollenation with the London scene – each gig will be a double-bill with one Birmingham and one London-based band.

Sundays seem set to be the busiest night of the week for small jazz nights – the North London Tavern’s programme continues to thrive, and Charlie Wright’s in Hoxton has also started a similar programme of bands from Birmingham and Leeds double-billed with new London-based projects.

The first of the Salisbury gigs presents the Birmingham-based drummer Jonathan Silk’s quartet, with a two tenor front line of John Fleming and Nick Rundle and Nick Jurd on bass. London will be represented by the great Alam Nathoo’s saxophone trio with Pete Ibbetson on drums and Marcus Penrose on bass.

Music will start at 8.30pm, and entry is only £4. The address: 1 Grand Parade, Green Lanes, Harringay, London N4 1JX
For completeness, other gigs on this Sunday are:

Trevor Mires Quintet + Tom Taylor Quintet at the North London Tavern
George Crowley Quartet at Charlie Wright’s Jazz Club

Parliamentary Jazz Awards - Nominations Open

2012-01-12T10:22:00.000Z

Nominations are now open (it's a public vote) for the Parliamentary Jazz Awards. Lists will close on February 20th. Here's the link . And here's who won last year. There's not been a press release yet (?) So, thanks to the sharp eyes of the Bebop Spoken Here blog, who spotted the announcement on the Scottish Jazz Federation's Facebook page.

Review: Denman Maroney, Tim Hodgkinson & Dominic Lash; John Butcher & Hannah Miller

2012-01-11T15:38:00.001Z

Maroney/ Hodgkinson/ Lash/ Butcher/ Miller
Cafe Oto 9th January 2012
Drawing by Geoff Winston. All Rights Reserved

Denman Maroney, Tim Hodgkinson and Dominic Lash; John Butcher and Hannah Miller
(Cafe Oto, 9th January, 2012; review and drawing by Geoff Winston)

The first musical event of the new year at Cafe Oto was a civilised affair, in the best sense of the word. In John Butcher's duo with Hannah Miller, the trio of Denman Maroney, Tim Hodgkinson and Dominic Lash and the final set which brought all five together onstage, any individual expression was for the benefit of the common good.

There was no showboating and no overtly dominant voices - it was a subtly balanced and democratic confluence of like-minded musicianship where instrumentation bordering on the unusual did not even raise an eyebrow - it was the right blend at the right time in the right place.

Before the commencement of the first set, John Butcher paused a couple of times to make sure that incidental sounds from the room were all but banished, so that the finely balanced tensions that he and Hannah Miller were to contrive could be heard by an undiverted audience. Miller and Butcher share a deep respect for their instruments which recognises few conventional boundaries in the quest for the lighter edges and the cores of expression. Phrases of fluent technique were gently placed in fields of more deviant explorations as if to offer faux reassurance. Butcher's puffs and punches of breath, clicks, hisses, rubbery squawks and sustained whistles were complemented by Miller, whose approach to the cello as both object and sonic vehicle saw her drag the bow down the fretboard with broad sweeping strokes, and grasp the strings to force out creaking strains. In the glow of the low registers she kicked out an intense drone and a glutinous flow of indistinct patterns which Butcher countered with sparks, wit and jabs, creating skeins of glistening indirectness.

The rich peregrinations of the trio started with an assertive force which was then dissipated and revisited. Denman Maroney, over from New York to reconvene with Tim Hodgkinson and Dominic Lash after their performance at The Stone in the autumn, has refined his technique of hyperpiano where the boundaries of the keyboard and the piano's inner workings are dispensed with. Despite the physical demands of this approach, which involves reaching to the innermost parts of the piano body and the application of a range of implements to its wires and structure, Maroney maintained a gentle underpinning role, intermittently introducing chimes, jangling, zither strums and grating sawing - sounds that might conceivably be echoes from the outer voids - and lightly percussive structures from the keyboard.

Hodgkinson added an exhilarating stream of expressive statement, on an elegant, skinny metal clarinet - briefly dismantled and reconstituted sans the lower part of the barrel - and a grenadilla wood clarinet, introducing a more rounded tone, to offer a combination of bright precision and abstraction.

Lash, alert and confident on a massive double bass, like Miller earlier, mixed dynamic rhythmic momentum with a process of divination for the tones which the instrument might reveal through bouncing the bow on the strings, tapping the body, or a flurry of pummelling with his thumb close to the bridge.

Together, always sharply attentive to the hints and phrasing in the air, they achieved an engaging equilibrium in their search for lost phrases and resonances.

Finally, the quintet followed the routes set out earlier, and saw Maroney become the third string player before returning to the keyboard, with the group balancing points of accent - jumps, hops, steps, scrapes and hiccups - with an egalitarian quest for anonymity and diversion, to foster an impressive benchmark for the year ahead in Dalston.

Denman Maroney - hyperpiano
Tim Hodgkinson - clarinets
Dominic Lash - double bass
John Butcher - tenor sax
Hannah Miller - cello

cafeoto.co.uk

CD Review: Machine Mass Trio - As Real as Thinking

2012-01-11T15:27:00.000Z

Machine Mass Trio - As Real as Thinking
(MoonJune Records MJR041. CD review by Chris Parker)

Anyone who's heard the fierce prog-rock/free-jazz mix that is DouBt (a trio made up of US-born drummer Tony Bianco, Belgian guitarist Michel Delville and UK keyboardist Alex Maguire) will know what to expect from this band, in which Maguire is replaced by multi-instrumentalist Jodi Grognard.

The tricksy time-signatures, blistering guitar solos and thunderous drumming of avant-rock are combined with flute-centred extemporisations (memorably termed 'shamanic soundscapes' in the album's publicity) and the odd passage of free improvisation (notably an eighteen-minute duo, 'Falling Up', from Delville and Bianco), but it is perhaps Bianco's musical creed – to be 'loose and tense, free and strict' – that most accurately pins down Machine Mass Trio's music.

Bianco, as at home with free players such as the late Elton Dean and Paul Dunmall as with more overtly structured music, underpins everything the trio plays with his bristling, urgent yet unfettered drumming, providing the perfect launchpad for the solo flights (on both conventional and synth guitars and, occasionally, bouzouki) of Delville, while Grognard completes the sonic pattern with everything from tenor saxophone and flute to bass clarinet and electronics.

Admirers of Delville's acclaimed quintet the Wrong Object, as well as aficionados of progressive rock and free jazz, will all find something to enjoy in this multi-faceted, vibrantly powerful album.

www.moonjune.com/

Jeanie Barton's new Monday jam!

2012-01-10T22:55:00.001Z

Kai Hoffman went along on Monday to Jeanie Barton’s new Jam, and writes:

Attention all singers and instumentalists! The lovely Jeanie Barton’s brand new jam session, just a few minutes walk from Holborn, is the best place to be every other Monday night.

Starting at the reasonable hour of 7:30pm, Jeanie would like to welcome instrumentalists in the first set and vocalists in the second to join her wonderful , full rhythm section of Joe Bickerstaff on keys, Jason Simpson on bass and Sophie Alloway on drums - every other Monday.

For those of you who like a pint of real ale, The Enterprise is a great pub – with plenty of space to spread out and get comfortable and a really nice atmosphere, a good selection of independently brewed beers and a rather impressive cheese board (though they could’ve done with
supplying some more biscuits…!). Go check it out – it’s free entry and runs until pub closing.

Details on Jeanie's website

Every other Monday Evening from 7.30 p.m. Next one January 23rd.
The Enterprise pub , 38 Red Lion Street, Holborn - London WC1R 4PN

RIP Ed Renshaw (1981-2011)

2012-01-10T22:46:00.000Z

Sad to report the death of guitarist Ed Renshaw, a guitarist able to play in a broad range of contexts from work in Alec Dankworth's Spanish Accents band and with Tony Coe, to classical repertoire and flamenco. His work abroad had taken him to Vienna, working with Peter Herbert and Franz Koglmann, and to the Loelner Philharomnie. Sandy Burnett writes: "he was a supremely talented jazz and classical guitarist. He was young - born in 1981 - and had been suffering from depression."

His funeral is next Thursday 19th January at Hither Green Crematorium at 1 45pm , followed by a service of remembrance at St Alfege Church Greenwich.

Review: Houston Person

2012-01-10T10:01:00.000Z

Houston Person
(Ronnie Scott's, 9th January. First night of two. Review by Chris Parker)

'As full-bodied and comforting as home-baked apple pie' is the late Richard Cook's description of Houston Person's saxophone sound; a review of his latest album, So Nice (HighNote, 2011), compares it with 'mom's meatloaf'. Inasmuch as these similes attempt to convey the comforting, warm-hearted and effortlessly accomplished nature of the South Carolina-born tenorman's art, they are spot-on, but they also point up a problem: like home cooking, Person's musical confections can all too easily be taken for granted.

It was therefore extremely gratifying to witness the genuine affection and respect with which this performance was greeted by a full Ronnie Scott's on this, the first of a two-night residency in which Person is backed by a sparky and responsive UK rhythm section: pianist James Pearson, bassist Sam Burgess, drummer Shaney Forbes.

Person, although his roots are in organ-centred R&B, is also a matchless interpreter of standards and jazz classics from both the swing and hard bop eras, so it was unsurprising to find him beginning his first set with Duke Ellington's 'Do Nothing Till You Hear from Me' and visiting the work of the likes of Horace Silver ('Juicy Lucy'), Benny Carter ('Only Trust Your Heart') and Johnny Griffin ('Sweet Sucker') -– not to mention show tunes such as 'Who Can I Turn To?' and 'The Sunny Side of the Street' – thereafter.

Arguably more important than the matter, though, is the manner of his playing: to a bluesy integrity resulting from his immersion in music forever connected with Gene Ammons, Stanley Turrentine et al., Person has added a burnished sophistication, an assured elegance and poise that have rendered his recent HighNote discography an object lesson in unfussy, no-gimmicks music-making.

In addition to a velvety, intimate ballad technique (explained by his close attention to the meaning of his songs' lyrics, exemplified here by his spoken introduction to the Leonard/Martin classic 'Why Did I Choose You?'), Person also possesses an ability to imbue up-tempo material with an irresistible wailing intensity, so his crowd-pleasing bluesy numbers (in which Pearson in particular got the chance to show off his considerable chops) provide welcome variety to his judiciously balanced sets. Add to his musical prowess a genial stage presence and a ready wit, and you have that increasingly rare bird: a peerless musician who is also a thoroughly engaging entertainer.

ronniescotts.co.uk

Muddy Waters Jr./ Mud Morganfield - This Week's LondonJazz Prize Draw

2012-01-08T22:31:00.000Z

On Saturday January 28th, Boisdale Canary Wharf welcomes a visitor to London from Chicago's West Side, Larry "Mud" Morganfield, eldest son of Muddy Waters - the man who gave the Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton respectively a name and an inspiration for life.

Morganfield will be appearing with Steve West Weston on blues harp and Mike Hellier on drums. Boisdale are offering a lucky LondonJazz winner a great prize for our first draw of 2012: not just a pair of tickets, but a Boisdale dinner too.

I spoke to Morganfield on Sunday as he looked out of his window onto the Chicago's famous El, and talked about his famous dad (1913-1983). Muddy Waters used to by his son a drum kit every Christmas.

Morganfield was born in 1954, has done a variety of driving jobs in the haulage industry, but the uncanny resemblance of his voice to that of his much revered father has been turning heads in recent years. Morganfield has become a regular fixture at the Chicago Blues Festival, and a number of American sites are suggesting that his time in the spotlight has now really come.

Morganfield told me that is about to release a third album in March on Severn Records, produced by Bob Corritore (who also plays blues harp), and recorded in Chicago, Son of the Seventh Son, which he told me is his best yet, and of which he is particularly proud. The new album features Kenny Smith, (son of Willie Big Eyes Smith) on drums, Rick Kreher and Billy Flynn on guitar, Barrelhouse Chuck on keyboards.

Newsletter readers know the form. Email me to put names in the hat!

www.boisdale.co.uk/ www.severnrecords.com/ / www.mudmorganfieldsite.com/

Book Review: Norman Granz by Tad Hershorn

2012-01-08T08:47:00.000Z

"Norman Granz. The Man Who Used Jazz for Justice" by Tad Hershorn
(University of California Press. 2011. 470pp. Book Review by Sebastian Scotney)

Nobody ever matched the dominance and the success in the promotion and recording of jazz which Norman Granz (born in Los Angeles, 1918, died in Geneva 2001) axhieved in his heyday.

In 1954, it was estimated 500,000 people attended the shows Granz put on; he was also responsible in that year for around half of the new jazz records released in the United States. He built up his first record company -Verve – and sold it on for substantial profit to MGM in 1960. He then devoted his energies to Pablo, which Fantasy Records bought off him for a tidy sum in 1987.

A substantial biography - which this is - attempting to describe and explain the uniqueness of the Granz phenomenon is welcome, and overdue. Tad Hershorn's book “Norman Granz: The Man Who Used Jazz for Justice” has resonances well beyond jazz, first as an in-depth study of a fiercely determined man with a deep trust in the correctness of his own instincts; second as a many-faceted portrait of a life fully lived; and finally as an analysis both of musical and social trends of the second half of the twentieth century.

Granz's unashamed instincts were to want the mood to be “up”, “producing highly charged concerts that […] expected the musicians to stand and deliver in a competitive format”, according to Hershorn. But it was a positive environment. Clark Terry in his recent autobiography remembers that the Granz infuence produced a lot more than just team ethos and camaraderie, remembering a strong spirit akin to being with a family during the long periods which Jazz at the Philharmonic (JATP) spent on the road.

Granz was early to spot the potential of magnetic tape recording and of the LP. His drive and determination were to ensure the survival of recorded legacies for Art Tatum, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson and Duke Ellington. He also took a broader interest, and made room at his labels - if they wanted it -for artists less in tune with his personal leanings, such as Lee Konitz.

Hershorn sees more in Granz than just the successful entrepreneur. The biographer puts his cards squarely on the table on the front cover, in the book's subtitle: “The Man Who Used Jazz for Justice”. This is incidentally not Hershorn's own phrase, but was originally the headline of an article in the Washington Post by Nat Hentoff from 1994. Hershorn explains: Granz's commitment to racial justice “resonated with me”. Granz's refusal to tolerate segregated audiences and his early espousal of an anti-racist agenda are seen as the backbone of Granz's principles, the beliefs he put into action throughout his life. Hershorn maintains that “America would have moved far more quickly toward racial equality” “if [others] had been as willing as he to lead by example”.

That's the American perspective. The British perspective which emerges from the book is somewhat less pretty. Although Granz was eventually to build firm friendships over here and have one of his homes in London, his early attempts to bring JATP to Britain put him up against the UK Musicians Union, described as the “bane of his life" by Hershorn, who catalogues no fewer than eight instances of its obstructiveness.

Perhaps, incidentally, it was Granz's experience of being blocked so often in the UK which led to him, much later, to seek to level the score against the British establishment: Granz secretly bankrolled the 1967 London run of Rolf Hochhuth's controversial play Soldiers, in which the controversial charge is levelled at Churchill that he was responsible for the death of Polish Prime Minister Sikorski in an aeroplane crash in 1943. When the National Theatre's board bowed to political pressure and turned the play down, Granz quietly stepped in to support Kenneth Tynan.

A possible low-point of Granz's attempts to bring tours to the UK came when he threatened to cancel a tour if immigration officials did not withdraw their initial insistence that Ella Fitzgerald should be subjected to the indignity of a body-search at Heathrow Airport.

Granz's last-minute threats to cancel individual shows or whole tours become something of an angry shout chorus running right through the book. The promoter's tendency to be uncompromising and irascible comes across clearly. Hershorn does not attempt an explanation of the character, but concludes: “That he could be at once so calculatedly entrepreneurial and so staunch an upholder of human welfare and dignity remains the unsolvable riddle of his life”.

There is plenty of evidence of a Granz's savagely competitive streak, whether applied to playing or watching tennis, or developing an encyclopaedic knowledge of the finest restaurants. There may even be hints as to where his unshakeable confidence in the rightness of his judgment came from: when Granz sold Verve for $2.8 million, he made a point of taking the cheque to show it to his mother. "I always knew you were lucky," she smiled.

Granz had an absolute belief that musicians of all races should be treated with dignity and respect, that they should be well-paid and should stay in good hotels. Indeed, his generous support of people he believed in, and of their families, is well documented throughout the book. For instance, he gave money to Charlie Parker's mother so that the alto saxophonist's body could be flown home for family burial in Kansas City; having built a firm friendship with Pablo Picasso, Granz took out a full page ad in the French weekly L'Express for an open letter to Georges Pompidou, arguing that the President should give his support to a state-funded museum in honour of the artist; he was even insistent on paying Hershorn's hotel expenses when the biographer visited him in Switzerland.

Hershorn is a self-avowed Granzophile. The book is detailed and carefully crafted, with virtually 400 pages of text, and has been a long time in the making. Hershorn traces his first interest in his subject to the mid-1970's when he wrote record reviews of new releases on the Pablo label, and took photographs of musicians, which Granz was to use on record covers. Hershorn then wrote the first ever postgraduate dissertation about Granz in the 1990's, with another one to follow for good measure.

The book, partly built on these, represents a thoughtful, necessary, even vital addition to the history of jazz.

The biography Norman Granz received support from the Roth Family Foundation.

University of California Press

CD Review: Ivo Perelman Quartet - The Hour of the Star

2012-01-05T12:35:00.000Z

Ivo Perelman Quartet - The Hour of the Star
(Leo CD LR 605. CD Review by Chris Parker)

São Paulo-born saxophonist Ivo Perelman has made a series of albums with their titles taken from books by Clarice Lispector – this is the fifth such – and the late novelist's intense psychological studies are described by him as 'powerful agent[s] for expanding the human mind'.

Certainly, the six tracks on this vibrant, consistently affecting album (their evocative titles ranging from the unequivocally emotional – 'A Tearful Tale' – to the slightly more ambiguous 'Whistling in the Dark Wind' or the abstract 'As for the Future') are both subtle and wide-ranging, Perelman's saxophone playing versatile enough both to rise to free-for-all climaxes and fade to delicate intimacy as required.

His bandmates (pianist Matthew Shipp, bassist Joe Morris, drummer Gerald Cleaver) perform throughout with hair-trigger sensitivity, ensuring that, whether Perelman is incorporating hints of melody or time playing into his improvisations, or simply raising the music's temperature to boiling point, they are with him every step of the way, Shipp alternately swirling and percussive, Cleaver considered but fiercely propulsive, Morris full-bodied enough to ground the band sound, yet lithe enough to help whip it to frenzy if need be.

In short, this is improvised quartet music at its most effective, skilfully balancing all its elements: structure and abstraction, uninhibited solo freedom and tight group interaction, unfettered power and thoughtful restraint.

leorecords.com

Review: NYJO at Ronnie Scott's

2012-01-05T11:09:00.000Z

NYJO
(Ronnie Scott's. 3rd January 2012. 2nd night of 3. Review by Sarah Ellen Hughes)

Sir John Dankworth famously said of NYJO, “Forget the word 'youth', this is one of the best bands you will ever hear,” an apt tribute for a band that’s as innovative and important as this. Innovative for the fact that the entire program, save two tunes, was either arranged or composed by current or past members of NYJO; important for creating such opportunities in a young jazz musician’s development, something that isn’t necessarily available in other big bands in this country.

For two hours the orchestra delivered a punchy programme, entertaining a packed house with the best of this country’s young musicians.

Particular highlights were a beautiful arrangement of I Loves You Porgy, opening with a beguiling texture of vibraphone, guitar, muted trumpet and flute over which the alto solo soared. A high tempo Lady Be Good allowed the band to show their own appreciation for their colleagues with cat-calling for some particularly tasty solo breaks.

One thing worth mentioning was the superb sound, which isn’t easy to achieve with the Ronnie’s stage squeezed full to bursting with musicians and instruments (even the MD had to stand on the floor). Quite often a big band can be too loud, but on this stage it was perfect – probably thanks to founder Bill Ashton’s son Miles on sound.

In this 25-strong band, each and every member made a valuable contribution, but there were a few stand-out individuals who deserve a mention: lead trombonist Callum Au, who has a bright future as a composer – possibly a film scorer if his arrangement of Something’s Coming is anything to go by; Lucas Dodd – a terrific solo on Caravan; Nadim Teimoori – whose tenor solos rose up above the band while still responding to their every twist and turn; drummer Scott Chapman – playing some impossible rhythmic solos and driving the band throughout; and the charming flute of Helen Wilson.

There weren’t a lot of songs – only two shouts each for the female and male vocalists – which isn’t surprising with only enough room for 13 tunes and so many musicians to feature. But the few we got were a treat. Kwabena Adjepong – with a luscious low range and faultless delivery surely is a star in the making. Emma Smith really stole the show with an irresistibly funky Feeling Good.

Over the last year I understand that NYJO has been exploring new repertoire and branching out in its collection of music. One focus for Musical Director Mark Armstrong is to include tunes from other big bands’ pads, the choice last night being Groove Merchant: a Jerome Richardson tune from the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis big band which was brilliantly suited to this orchestra, the sax section making child's play of the challenging soli section.

As well as other orchestras’ music, NYJO has commissioned several works from leaders of the UK jazz scene.

We heard Hush by Nikki Iles – a haunting waltz drawing out textures and voices that aren’t often found in a big band. Beautiful. This was possibly in part owing to the fact that NYJO unusually employs a permanent French horn player and flautist, which, when added to the regular guitar, vibes, and array of woodwind available in the sax section, means that you can create something rather special.

The printed program promised another two new commissions from Julian Joseph which I’m sure could be the start of something good.

Overall, a superb night of big band jazz proudly showcasing the individual and collective talents of a unique institution in British musical life.

nyjo.org.uk

Happy 70th John McLaughlin

2012-01-04T09:22:00.000Z

When I heard John McLaughlin at North Sea Jazz last year I wrote (in a Festival round-up for the JazzFM website) that the Doncaster-born guitarist " looked fulfilled, in his element, complete." Happy 70th. You can send him a message on his Facebook page (which is also the source of the picture above).

Preview: The Brandenburg Spring Choral Festival

2012-01-02T16:03:00.000Z

SARAH ELLEN HUGHES previews the 43-event Brandenburg Spring Choral Festival 2012. 2nd Jan - 28th April at various venues across the capital, with significant jazz content, notably the London Vocal Project - above with Bobby McFerrin in May 2010): .

The Brandenburg Spring Choral Festival 2012, named after two instrumental ensembles performing in it - the Brandenburg Sinfonia and Brandenburg Baroque Soloists - is a major season of choral concerts, focussing mainly on the choral tradition of St Martin-in-the-Fields (the ‘geographical, artistic and spiritual heart’ of the festival, says Director Bob Porter), with a series of nine main concerts including performances of Mozart’s Requiem, Rachmaninov’s Vespers and Allegri’s Miserere.

This annual voice celebration has its focus on concerts at SMITF but, owing to the growing popularity of vocal music, has fairly exploded in size in its third year. At inception in 2010 it was a festival of 7 concerts, designed to give performance opportunities to visiting choirs with whom the Brandenburg groups play.

This year, 43 concerts have been scheduled encompassing all sorts of vocal styles - jazz featuring the most heavily, save classical. In addition to St Martin's it has six "satellite venues": the National Portrait Gallery, St Clement Danes church, the Queen’s Chapel of the Savoy, the chapels at King’s College London and Lincoln's Inn Fields, and St John’s Waterloo.

The jazz portion kicks off with The Guildhall Jazz Singers led by Scott Stroman on 10th Jan, followed by the Royal Academy of Music Jazz Singers led by Pete Churchill (two performances: one at SMITF on 1st Feb and one at the National Portrait Gallery on 6th April).

The Addison Jazz Choir and Capital Chorus will be delivering a programme of gospel and big band inspired music, in a programme entitled “Barbershoppers v Jazzers.” This is at St John’s Waterloo on Saturday 14th April. There is also a performance of Ellington's Sacred Concert on April 27th.

I have seen the Guildhall Jazz Singers once before, performing “A Soulful Celebration,” - the jazz interpretation of Handel’s Messiah. There were some exciting moments and, although I thought it was very ambitious for such a small group, there were some great voices on show, and I’m looking forward to seeing them performing a different set.

For me the highlight of the jazz offering will be the London Vocal Project, led by Pete Churchill at St John’s Waterloo on Friday 16th March. Delivering not only immaculate vocals, the LVP are an inspiring choir, with a groove-based gospel-style repertoire. Seeing is believing with this group - I’ve been overwhelmed at their live performances.

Pete Churchill wrote a major feature for us about the London Vocal Project in November

www.brandenburgchoralfestival.co.uk

Tickets from www.smitf.org or 020 7766 1100

The LondonJazz Dave Douglas Interview

2011-12-31T12:45:00.000Z

Dave Douglas builds to blazing, glorious conclusions - both above (with Brass Ecstasy) or in an interview ( below, with Jack Davies asking the questions for us ).

Douglas describes eloquently the joys of music, and particularly of working with young musicians. Dave Douglas will be the first jazz International Artist in Residence at the Royal Academy of Music, a residency culminating in a concert on Thursday January 26th. He is clearly looking forward to taking on that new role:

Jack Davies: Your career has been characterised by a series of disparate projects. How have you gone about binding these together to create a cohesive musical narrative?

Dave Douglas: Thanks, Jack. I like working on music a little bit every day, and I like playing with a lot of different personalities. I suppose I also have something I am looking for in writing music, but I'm not sure I could put it into words. But the thing that keeps me creating and dreaming up new projects is the joy of hearing something fresh and feeling like I haven't repeated myself or anyone else. And that the music connects. The search is for each day to be able to find a new way to say 'I Love You,' or whatever it is one would like to say. I think you'd find a lot of artists of all varieties agreeing with that feeling.

JD: In an environment economically and politically dominated by the church of Marsalis, you have forged your own path. Has that been a difficult process?

DD: I've never felt that any path was dominated by the church of anything. Economy, Politics: other than as one more source of inspiration for the work, they have never been an impediment to the work of a musician. The harder thing is to figure out who you are and then figure out to express that in music. That's the work. I can honestly tell you I have never experienced this dominance of Marsalis that you describe. I think it is a sad misperception and an exaggeration in writings about jazz and new music.

JD: Some European jazz is moving further away from the US jazz tradition. Your music seems to be influenced by that of both continents - how important is tradition to you?

DD: I am definitely an American and I feel consciously that my music is American Music. That is simply a limitation of who I am and where I am from. But I don't feel my nationality as a heavy policing against loving and learning from music around the world.

As to the different question of how important tradition is. Tradition is all we have. We don't have the future yet, only the past. So my feeling is it is incumbent on us to learn as much as we can from the music that has been made.

JD : You wrote recently that when composing it is important to step back and assess whether a work is coherent and clear. Do you tend towards compositional distillation and simplification?

DD: That's a great question, Jack. As the years go by I do more and more revising and distilling. I don't necessarily feel that distilling is simplifying. In fact, I find that cutting away written notes, especially in the case of writing for improvisers, can make a piece deeper and more complex. It's figuring out WHAT to cut that's the crux of the game, isn't it? In my residency at the Royal Academy we will be doing a lot of cutting, a lot of refining to make ideas as clear as they can be. Sometimes it's good to use more erasers than pencils.

JD: Finally, in the past you have largely avoided being a member of a conservatoire's teaching faculty, but you have recently been appointed International Jazz Artist in Residence at the Royal Academy of Music here in London. What excites you about, and what do you hope to achieve in this new post?

Thank you, Jack. I learn so much in working with young musicians, but I've never worked within a set curriculum.

What I hope to achieve is an honest, open conversation about our likes and dislikes, about our working methods, about what's funny and what's tragic and how we can really share that through music. I don't have all the answers but I have a lot of experience grappling with the questions. I see young musicians break through into new territory all the time, so I hope to learn just as much as they do.

For me the most enduring challenge and the deepest source of satisfaction is working with music. That is why it is such an honor and a thrill to be Artist in Residence at the Royal Academy of Music.

Working with young musicians always elicits a refreshed view of the perennial mysteries and joys of music making. I am honored to be invited to share my experiences and thrilled to get to play in this company. In addition, to be associated with a program that has such close links to Kenny Wheeler (through the Kenny Wheeler prize, the Kenny Wheeler archive etc) is both elevating and humbling. I look forward to a residency filled with exciting music and engaging conversation. Thank you.

Bookings for the Dave Douglas Concert

Rudy Van Gelder to be honoured at Grammy Awards

2011-12-30T09:57:00.000Z

That legend among recording engineers, notably of countless great albums for Blue Note, and thereafter for CTI, Rudy Van Gelder is to be homoured at the 2012 Grammy Awards. He will be given a Grammy Trustees Award for "Special Merits" alongside the 91-year old composer Dave Bartholomew and a posthumous award for Steve Jobs at a private ceremony the night before the main Grammy awards night, which will be in Los Angeles on Feb 12th.

Roger Odell of Shakatak writes...

2011-12-28T09:13:00.000Z

Duo Music Exchange in Shibuya, Tokyo where "Meet the Shakatak", above, was filmed in in 2005 - has a capacity of 1350. They've just played the Abai Kazakh State Opera and Ballet Theatre in Almaty in Kazakhstan. Shakatak don't normally play venues quite as small as the Pheasantry in Kings Road. Roger Odell writes about Shakatak's 2011 and looks forward to New Year's Eve:

After a 30-plus year career, Shakatak are still going strong and if anything are busier than ever.

Looking back over 2011, we started the year with some UK dates including our annual visits to the Pizza Express jazz rooms at both Maidstone and Soho, and were off to Japan for concerts in Tokyo and Osaka at their prestigious Billboard Live venues. We had full houses for our show at The Stables in Wavendon and at the New Wolsey Theatre in Ipswich, recorded live by BBC Radio Suffolk.

In December the band has headlined at the Penang Island Jazz Festival and we're back from a concert on the 19th at the Opera Theatre in Almaty, Kazakhstan, which surpassed our expectations.

It's great to be ending 2011 back in the UK on New Year's Eve in the more intimate surroundings of The Pheasantry.

shakatak.com

Pheasantry bookings at Pizzaexpresslive

RIP Sam Rivers (1923-2011)

2011-12-27T13:15:00.001Z

Saxophonist/ flautist Sam Rivers died yesterday, in Florida where he lived,
at the age of 88. Peter Hum of the Ottawa Citizen has assembled a collec,ion of Youtube clips. I just can't get Beatrice out of my head this morning, and I don't think I ever will. RIP.

Deirdre Cartwright: looking for more groups

2011-12-26T10:43:00.000Z

Deirdre Cartwright

Deirdre Cartwright writes:

- Blow the Fuse is looking for more groups for short first sets for our next season at the Vortex.

-Running from January to May we’re putting on some new things and we’d be very interested in hearing from groups/musicians that we haven’t programmed before. Only stipulation is that the group must feature or be led by a woman instrumentalist...

-The season begins Tuesday January 10 with an evening with the cult dance band the Electric Landladies - Unplugged aka Acoustic landladies!

-Their Christmas gigs were sold out, now is your chance to see their alternate pop reality. Amy Winehouse, Patti Smith, Steppenwolf and the Rolling Stones reimagined. (Laka Daisical vocals/pno, Sarah P vocals/perc, Deirdre Cartwright guitar, Diane McLoughlin sax, Alison Rayner bass/voc, Ann Day drums)

Interested? Please contact Blow the Fuse (preferably with a YouTube link) at
info [at] blowthe fuse [dot] com

CD Review: Lisa Mezzacappa & Nightshade - Cosmic Rift

2011-12-24T09:23:00.000Z

Lisa Mezzacappa & Nightshade - Cosmic Rift
(Leo CD LR 613.CD Review by Chris Parker)

Bassist Lisa Mezzacappa is a resident of San Francisco, and this richly atmospheric album marks the debut of her quintet Nightshade, a band completed by clarinettist Cory Wright, electric guitarist John Finkbeiner, electronics operator Tim Perkis and vibraphonist/percussionist Kjell Nordeson.

The quintet operates in a musical area straddling free improvisation and contemporary classical music, and much of the material here springs from responses to the work of visual artists Yehudit Sasportas (based in Tel Aviv and Berlin) and LA-based Edgar Arceneaux, but if this makes their music sound overly cerebral or strictly programmatic, it's misleading, for what immediately impresses about Cosmic Rift is the extraordinary rapport between the participants.

Indeed, such is their apparently instinctive agreement on overall tone and approach that Perkis, on being told the quintet's name after the band's first rehearsal, said: 'How did you know to call us that?' Nightshade conjures up thoughts both of crepuscular gloom and, perhaps peripherally, of the poisonous plant, and there is indeed a dark solemnity to both Mezzacappa's pieces and her intriguing arrangements of Frank Zappa's 'The Eric Dolphy Memorial BBQ' (the quintet's use of clarinet and vibes particularly apposite here) and Messiaen's 'Regard de l'étoile', but leavened as it is by Perkis's skilful use of electronics, Finkbeiner's scrabbling guitar, and Nordeson's extraordinarily resourceful utilisation of percussion and vibes, the band sound is varied enough to sustain and ultimately richly reward listeners' attention throughout what is an absorbing, imaginative and wholly original set.

leorecords.com

CD Review: Denman Maroney - Double Zero

2011-12-24T09:17:00.000Z

Denman Maroney - Double Zero
(Porter Records PR4063. CD Review by Geoff Winston)

Denman Maroney is a New York-based pianist and composer who deals in complexities and subterfuges. He subverts the piano with a range of techniques and physical interventions that he terms 'Hyperpiano', evolved after a formal musical education which brought him into contact with Bill Dixon, Jimmy Garrison and Morton Subotnick, amongst others.

This solo concert performance, comprising the uninterrupted nine movements of Double Zero, took place in 2008 at New York's cutting edge music venue, Roulette, temporarily located in SoHo, prior to its recent move to the refurbished Memorial Hall in Brooklyn, and was, incidentally, Maroney’s ninth appearance at Roulette since 1982.

The pristine mix captures all the nuances and ambiguities of Maroney's performance and, apart from the applause at its conclusion, there is no hint of the audience's presence. Maroney utilises a range of implements applied to the strings and innards of the piano to create a lush mesh of sonorous suggestions, intermittently in unison with conventional keyboard technique.

Maroney's masterly control of the interaction of copper, steel, ceramic and plastic tools with the piano wires evokes the lightly metallic and the lyrically atmospheric. The complex temporal layering that he enacts singlehandedly - in the manner of Nancarrow's player-piano pieces - is a stunning achievement.

Interviewed at The Stone, he referred to this aspect of his composition: "There is a score, all this music is quite precisely notated, actually ... [there] are usually several layers of time, which is common to almost all the music I write, and that just reflects my view that that's the way life is!"

The richness of the layering contributes to the impression that the uninitiated listener might have, that Maroney has a small ensemble at his disposal, with a vigorous slide guitarist, an extreme string section, and a light percussionist as well as the pianist, all working in unison. The colours and moods of Double Zero indirectly suggests the stratospheric, the steelyard, the power station and electronic transmission wires, along with damped rhythms, chimes, creaks and whines that elude definition. That they are all orchestrated and performed by Maroney alone in this rigorously constructed imaginative voyage, is a major achievement which Porter and the Roulette have succeeded in committing to CD with exemplary dedication.

Recorded 13 March 2008 at Roulette, NYC as part of the Interpretations series. Mixed at Roulette studios by Jim Staley and mastered by John Guth.
porterrecords.com / www.denmanmaroney.com

Kylie on Blossom

2011-12-22T12:03:00.000Z

Alyn Shipton has co-produced tonight's tribute by Kylie Minogue to Blossom Dearie. BBC Radio 2. 10pm.

Interviewees:

-Annie Ross
-Dave Frishberg
-Bob Dorough
-Will Friedwald
-James Gavin
-Dame Cleo Laine
-Spike Wells

Remember April

2011-12-21T21:39:00.001Z

The 606 hosted a Queensland Flood Benefit back in April. And a video got uploaded...that's some line-up of London's jazz singers, all in the same place on the same evening!

Trudy Kerr had written us a preview for us explaining what it was all about.

Radio 3, 11pm on Christmas Day - Peter Pan by the late Michael Garrick

2011-12-20T23:15:00.000Z

Gabriel Garrick directing the Peter Pan Suite
Maida Vale Studios, 19th December 2011
Photo credit: Sisi Burn. All Rights Reserved

No fewer than three readers who were at the recording of Michael Garrick's Peter Pan suite at Maida Vale have written in to say how special it was.

"It lifted me out of a really stinking bad mood", wrote one. "A magical interpretation of J.M.Barrie's classic tale, with a sprinkling of stardust from Julian Joeseph at the piano", another. Get thee to a radio...

Jazz Line-Up, BBC Radio 3. Christmas Day, 11pm.

2011 - Geoffrey Winston's selection

2011-12-20T16:35:00.001Z

Peter Brötzmann
Drawing by Geoffrey Winston, February 2011. All Rights Reserved

Geoffrey Winston writes:

There has been an avalanche of tremendous music in 2011 at London's most adventurous and committed jazz/new music destinations, the Vortex and Cafe Oto, and at other offbeat and high profile venues.

This selection, I hope, will give a flavour of the riches that were on offer.

- Craig Taborn's solo piano sets at the Vortex had a sprinkling of magic about them, articulating the essence of what makes great live performance so compelling. With his virtuosic expression came both a rare tension and clarity, and his near foetal posture as he drew closer to the keyboard spoke volumes about his relationship to the piano.

- This was a fitting complement to Matthew Shipp's earlier trio performance at the same venue where, in the company of Michael Bisio and Whit Dickey, Shipp subversively reinterpreted the mainstream in a rushing stream of invention.

- When the eleven-man Brötzmann Chicago Tentet settled in for 3 nights at Cafe Oto, its massed firepower constantly shifted gear with synchromesh fluency, such that it became a near-Ellingtonian spectacle where musicians, all of whom qualify as leaders in their own right, were happy to subvert their egos to Peter Brötzmann's gently directorial impulse in a continual blaze of wonderfully painted sound strokes and washes.

- A few nights earlier Peter Brötzmann and Keiji Haino gave an astounding two and a half hour improvised concert - the perfect balance of two masters - which saw the guitarist head into the viscerally abstract and Brötzmann, on brass and woodwind, echoing, then leading off from Haino's initial statements, before they duetted with a joint imagination that kept reconstituting itself as the ideas kept on flowing.

- Christian Marclay's graphic score, 'Manga Scroll' was interpreted by improvising singer Phil Minton with breathtaking and electrifying immediacy. Minton makes no concessions to convention as his inspired and illuminating delivery took in all kinds of peripheral and unexpected sound articulations which linked the primeval and the inchoate to the emotional and expressive. Steve Beresford completed the triumvirate, turning a tabletop of gizmos into a giant keyboard, while Marclay nudged the proceedings with abstracted fragments emanating from a bank of Calofone turntables.

- Peter Evans joined Okkyung Lee and Evan Parker for a rivetting evening which mixed highly attuned ensemble and duet sequences with inward-facing solo extemporisations. Evans employed the principle of the trumpet's mute with vision and temporarily dismantled his instrument to give voice to a purely breath-driven passages while Lee sensuously elicited timbres, tones and percussive notes from her cello and Parker skated to fill in with sparkling soprano trills and a full tenor roar.

- The year wouldn't be complete without mention of a wild card - the massive achievement by highly accomplished saxophonist, Andre Vida, who gave 403 half-hour performances - nine a day - as the improvising performer in Anri Sala's film and sound installation at the Serpentine Gallery. I saw the first, the penultimate and one other of the improvisations which Vida made against Sala's film and the soundtrack of Jemeel Moondoc, filmed whilst playing alto sax suspended from a bleak tower block in Berlin. Vida's stamina and mental resolve were unflinching, his technical depth and range were impressive, making each session a uniquely enriching experience for the gallery's visitors.

There were other memorable performances - Lean Left, Aaron Goldberg Trio, Eugene Chadbourne, The Thirteenth Assembly, Mainly Other People Do the Killing, Archie Shepp and Joachim Kühn, Wadada Leo Smith,Henry Grimes, Keith Rowe, to name but a few - all of whom deserve more than a mention.

A huge thanks to the musicians, the promoters and the venues for bringing this to London’s table. Good wishes, in any key, for the year ahead!

2011 remembered - by Sebastian Scotney

2011-12-20T15:53:00.000Z

Ruth Goller. Photo credit: Richard Kaby

LONDONJAZZ'S YEAR

- In January 2009 I set out to convey the endless vitality and 24/7 buzz of London's live jazz scene. Because both are there in such abundance, LondonJazz has worked. QED.

-We are not far short of 750 pieces in this, our third year- plus we have an active and mostly civilized comment forum under many posts.

- Brilliant contributions have come in from all sides - Geoff Winston and Chris Parker have been prolific throughout the year.

-We had 100,000 page views in November.

-We produced 25 London Jazz Festival reviews, covering 30 gigs- I wrote just two of them, so that makes twenty-eight gigs covered by others.

-Gifts come in too: we've had newsletter prizes for our readers from thirty-five different partners.

THE MUSICIAN'S VOICE, THE AUTHENTIC VOICE

The internet shortens communication chains. Musicians have responded amazingly to the invitation to get involved, and have written when they've wanted to tell people something. The voice from the participant on the stand is the authentic voice. It breaks down the barriers, it brings people in. And that is why it is of such value.

Just a few examples of who's been writing:

- We had Jamie Cullum looking forward to being "spanked..and inspired" by Liane Carroll and Ian Shaw.

- Liane Carroll and Ian Shaw wrote about each other.

- Nick Smart wrote about the Kenny Wheeler Celebration at the Jazz Standard in New York.

- Stan Sulzmann wrote about one of the most significant composition projects of our time (He didn't call it that, I did.)

- When Kai Hofmann wrote about Fran Landesman, little did she know she was describing the great singer-lyricist's last appearance.

- Pete Churchill wrote touchingly about the excitement of working with the London Vocal Project:

The secret of our cohesiveness is that LVP is more than a choir – it is a meeting place for people who have found that they like to spend time together. And I believe that the music we make benefits from this sense of community… all the eating, drinking, baking, laughing and crying we do together is reflected in how we sing as an ensemble. In a world where people seem to be trying to spend less time together, it is a rare thing to find an ensemble that have invested so much time – regular time – in each other.

- Back in March, Fran Hardcastle guest-edited for us, and her intervention produced no fewer than twelve wide-ranging pieces by women writers in celebration of International Women's Day. They included a fabulous, truthful, completely unsolicited piece from Ruth Goller.

GIGS

From my own experience their have been lots of powerful experiences. Here are just four which spring to mind out of many:

- I loved the white heat of Malcolm Edmonstone's re-creation of Donald Fagen's Nightfly album back in February.

- I got so carried away by Kenny Barron in The Very Thought of You I found myself getting all Pseuds Cornerish with a Rilke sonnet.

- The debut performance by BLINQ in the Britjazz festival in August was astounding.

- I've been lucky to get to a number of festivals this year. I shan't forget New Orleans singer/pianist, and heir to Donny Hathaway, Davell Crawford at Inntoene in Austria.

THE SENSE OF COMMUNITY

Gigs bring people together. They reinforce the sense of community and common purpose. But in this context, how can one not also feel deeply the sudden loss of inspiring musicians, people who had given their all to make life more complete for the rest of us.

- We miss Richard Turner and Graham Fox intensely, deeply, because they have both departed from us far too young.

- I was also deeply moved by the tributes which came in for Gordon Beck and Michael Garrick.

Thank you everyone who's been involved for supporting LondonJazz in 2011.

Chris Parker's 2011 CD Round-up

2011-12-20T14:38:00.002Z

Chris Parker's 2011 Round-up .

Chris has sent in a "list of ten UK releases, in no particular order, plus an eleventh for good measure, plus three CDs from the rest of the world that have given an old man a great deal of pleasure this year." The links are to Chris's reviews - he has produced over seventy reviews for LondonJazz this year.

Top Ten releases (UK artists, in no particular order)

Kit Downes Trio: Quiet Tiger (Basho SRCD 34-2)

Eclectica!: Flight of Fancy (MGPCD004)

Julian Siegel Quartet: Urban Theme Park (Basho SRCD 35-2)

Impossible Gentlemen: Impossible Gentlemen (Basho SRCD 36-2)

Simon Allen Quintet: Any Minute Now (SACD001)

John Surman: Flashpoint (Cuneiform Rune 315)

Howard Riley: The Complete Short Stories (NoBusiness Records NBCD 21–26)

Stan Tracey Quartet: A Child's Christmas Jazz Suite(ReSteamed RSJ111)

Mike Gibbs: Here's a Song for You (Fuzzy Moon FUZ005)

Joe Harriott: The Joe Harriott Story (Properbox 160)

Plus the eleventh:

Phil Robson's The Immeasurable Code (Whirlwind, WR4620), writes Chris, "was also one of the year's most satisfying releases, and gets to stand on its own like this because I didn't review it myself." The link is to Tom Gray's review.

Three more (non-UK) that couldn't be left out
Keith Jarrett: Rio (ECM 277 6645)

Iro Haarla Quintet: Vespers (ECM 274 3616)

Wadada Smith's Organic: Heart's Reflections (Cuneiform Rune 330/331; my CD of the Year)

“Embrace our handicaps, and use them, and go beyond them...” (Ben Okri)

2011-12-20T13:59:00.000Z

The Dune Website has a touching story today from the father of an autistic boy about the power unleashed by the Denys Baptiste album Let Freedom Ring with Ben Okri.

The full story is here

Review: Caro Emerald

2011-12-20T07:25:00.001Z

Kai Hoffman heard Caro Emerald at Shepherds Bush Empire last Tuesday December 20th:

Having been asked to learn a Caro Emerald tune - "That Man" - to perform at a private party earlier this year, I was curious to hear more. So I jumped at the opportunity to hear the 30-year old Dutch
singer (real name Caroline Esmeralda van der Leeuw) at Shepherds Bush Empire last week.

"That Man" has a great, "Sing, Sing, Sing"- Charleston-type of feel, in combination with the modern mixing and samples - which sounded fun, retro and hip all at the same time. Naturally, anyone who is bringing vintage style to a wider public also gets my vote!

Emerald and her band played to a sold-out audience at Shepherds Bush Empire. Some of her other songs felt a bit underpowered, but "That Man" had exactly the right kind of snappy slickness, and immediately had the crowd dancing and enjoying themselves. With 1.8 million Youtube hits, the song looks set, deservedly, to become a repertoire staple.

caroemerald.com

Peter Bacon's Countdown to Thursday

2011-12-19T14:48:00.000Z

Peter Bacon, who writes/edits the Jazz Breakfast blog and contributes to the Birmingham Post, tells me that he will be launching the final top ten of his "Festive Fifty" first thing this Thursday morning 22nd. Congratulations Peter. It's a major endeavour! Here's the countdown from 50 to 11, just the album names. On Peter's site every one is linked to a review:

50 Denys Baptiste Identity By Subtraction (Dune)
49 Jacqui Dankworth It Happens Quietly (Specific Jazz)
48 Corea, Clarke and White Forever (Concord)
47 John Scofield A Moment’s Peace (Emarcy
46 Ma The Last (Loop Records)
45 Julian Lage Gladwell (Emarcy)
44 Neil Yates Five Countries (Edition Records)
43 Seamus Blake Quintet Live At Smalls (Smalls Live)
42The New Gary Burton Quartet Common Ground (Mack Avenue)
41 Paolo Fresu Mistico Mediterraneo (ECM)
40 Mark McNight Organ Quartet featuring Seamus Blake
39 Mason Brothers Two Sides One Story (Archival Records)
38 Eliane Elias Light My Fire (Concord)
37 Phil Robson The Immeasurable Code (Whirlwind Recordings)
36 Kairos 4tet: Statement of Intent (Edition Records)
35Wadada Leo Smithâ€™s Organic Heart's Reflections (Cuneiform Records)
34 David Binney: Graylen Epicenter (Mythology)
33 Francois Couturier Tarkovsky Quartet (ECM)
32Tom Harrell The Time Of The Sun (High Note)
31 Donny McCaslin Perpetual Motion (Greenleaf Records)
30 Marilyn Mazur Celestial Circle (ECM)
29 Steve Coleman's Five Elements The Mancy Of Sound (PI Recordings)
28 Empirical Elements Of Truth (Naim Jazz)
27 Giovanna Pessi/Susanna Wallumrod If Grief Could Wait (ECM 277 7197)
26 Kit Downes Quiet Tiger (Basho)
25 Marcin Wasilewski Trio Faithful (ECM)
24 Stefon Harris, David Sanchez, Christian Scott Ninety Miles (Concord Picante )
23 Magnus Ostrom Thread Of Life (ACT)
22 Marius Neset Golden Xplosion (Edition Records)
21 Kurt Elling The Gate (Concord)
20 Gwilym Simcock Good Days At Schloss Elmau (ACT)
19 Dino Saluzzi/Anja Lechner/Felix Saluzzi Navidad de los Andes (ECM)
18 Branford Marsalis/Joey Calderazzo Songs Of Mirth And Melancholy (Marsalis Music)
17 Enrico Rava Quintet Tribe (ECM)
16 Craig Taborn Avenging Angel (ECM)
15 Meadow: Blissful Ignorance(Edition Records)
14 Charles Lloyd/Maria Farantouri Athens Concert (ECM)
13 Yellowjackets - Timeline (Mack Avenue Records)
12 Vinicius Cantuaria and Bill Frisell - Lagrimas Mexicanas (Naive)
11 Brad Mehldau - Live In Marciac (Nonesuch)

CD Review: Frank Harrison Trio - Sideways

2011-12-19T11:33:00.000Z

Frank Harrison Trio - Sideways
(Linus Records LDCD01. CD Review by Chris Parker)

Pianist Frank Harrison is probably most often heard in Gilad Atzmon's Orient House Ensemble, in which he plays both acoustic and electric instruments, but leading his own trio (as documented by Basho on the impressive 2006 album, First Light) he plays only the former, alongside bassist Davide Petrocca – who has replaced Aidan O'Donnell from First Light – and drummer Stephen Keogh.

It's worth stressing at the outset that this is very much a trio outing, Harrison's mellifluous, lyrical playing (tellingly leavened by vigorous, occasionally even tumultuous power where appropriate) interacting impeccably with the sonorous, full-toned Petrocca and the dexterous Keogh (the latter's contribution to a band perfectly summed up by US saxophonist Charles McPherson: 'He's not just a time keeper, but is a rhythmic co-creator as well').

This said, however, it is Harrison, at once lucid and elegant, but with an ability to imbue everything he plays with affecting tension, frequently released in sparkling, intense runs, who sets the tone of both the standards ('Autumn Leaves', 'How Long Has This Been Going On', 'You and the Night and the Music') and originals (not to mention an intriguing closer, the traditional 'Riddle Song') on this absorbing and musicianly album, the music from which can be heard on a UK trio tour, to take place in February 2012.

Tour Dates:
3 Derby Jazz
4 Cheltenham Jazz Club
5 Herts Jazz Welwyn Garden City
6 Jazz Hastings
8 PIZZA EXPRESS DEAN STREEET
9 Watermill Jazz Dorking
10 Fleece Jazz, Leavenheath, Colchester
17 Wakefield Jazz Club
29 St Michael at the North Gate Oxford

FrankHarrison.net

Three-gig round up

2011-12-18T23:32:00.003Z

Friday 16th December - Township Comets at Cambridge Modern Jazz
Saturday 17th December - Abram Wilson's New Orleans Christmas at Kings Place Hall One
Sunday 18th December - Sound Generation Christmas Party. Sam's Brasserie, W4.

Press play. This short clip from the Vortex last weekend (festival directors please take note/ marquez ce nom/ eine Band in Erinnerung zu bringen!) gives a sample of the Township Comets' sheer verve and energy,and of what a resoundingly strong trumpet-player Chris Batchelor is. The Comets, who focus on the music of Dudu Pukwana were at Cambride Modern Jazz in the Hidden Rooms in Jesus Street. The club was welcoming its new piano, the money raised from donations, notably a charity gig at the 606, and Cambridge-born Adam Glasser absolutely did justice to the occasion. Saxophonist Jason Yarde and trombonist Harry Brown completed a powerful front line Dudley Phillips in a Robin Hood hat was impeccable, and Frank Tontoh on drums was sensitive but also gave the fireworks when required.

Reuben James, Alex Davis, Abram Wilson, Myrna Hague
Jason Marsalis, Dave Hamblett. Kings Place Hall One
Photo Credit: Roger Thomas

On Saturday I was at Abram Wilson's "New Orleans Christmas," bringing good music and a thoroughly good and warm vibe to Kings Place Hall One, with Jamaican vocal legend Myrna Hague, highly impressive Birmingham pianist Reuben James (check him out here) Alex Davis on bass and guest drummer Jason Marsalis, joined at the end by Wilson's regular drummer Dave Hamblett. They were playing new music, and the confidence and the extroversion grew righly, greeably, through the course of the evening. Everything Wilson does with this group is based on dialogue and communication rather than display, and is all te better for that. As MC, poet, singer, composer (perhaps above all as composer), and as an ebullient presence on the London scene, we are truly blessed to have our very own resident New Orleans trumpeter.

Sunday night was a party. Sofia Wilde was out celebrating a successful year for her promotions company Sound Generation. Michael L Roberts and Elisa Caleb were singing Christmas songs with an orchestra called Jo Caleb. Guests Fran Hardcastle and Esther Bennett completed the line-up.

The range of gigs on offer is astonishing. Any of these three evenings would be thoroughly recommendable, for the positive energy and life-affirmation at it heart, the reality of invention, of interaction. of involvement in particular strands of the music, of generous spirits and open minds. Joy.

CD Review: Sector7 - The EP

2011-12-17T11:03:00.001Z

Sector7 - The EP
(SaySo Records SEHSO02CD. CD Review by Chris Parker)

Close-harmony jazz singing, whether (apparently) straightforwardly exuberant (Andrews Sisters-style) or self-consciously hip (à la Manhattan Transfer) is a relatively rare treat these days, so Sector7 are a breath of fresh air.

This five-track EP sets the vocals of Sarah Ellen Hughes, Emma Smith, Kwabena Adjepong and Shakka Philip against a tidy, discreet jazz trio (pianist George Moore, bassist Tim Thornton, drummer Andy Chapman), and stylistically embraces everything from touching traditional material ('She's Like the Swallow'), a standard (Gershwin's 'But Not for Me') and a couple of contemporary songs (Silje Nergaard's 'Be Still My Heart', Stevie Wonder's 'Superwoman') to Chick Corea's tricksy classic 'Spain'.

The harmonies/arrangements range from rich and lush to relatively adventurous, but it is arguably the quality of the solo voices that really grabs the listener, the various singers agile enough to negotiate all the twists and turns of Corea's enduringly popular tune, but warm and affecting where required (the Nergaard and – flawlessly sung – one of the pop Mozart Wonder's loveliest tunes from his richest 1970s vein).

The vocal forces on display here are impressive, and the manner in which they are deployed, whether to emphasise their contrasts or the ease with which they can be blended, equally so. A great calling card for an outfit that Ian Shaw has described as 'possibly the most exciting thing to happen to the London jazz vocal scene'.

Available from sarahellenhughes.co.uk

RIP Bob Brookmeyer 1929-2011

2011-12-17T07:27:00.000Z

Sad to report the death on Thursday in Grantham, New Hampshire of popular valve trombonist, composer and educator, the superbly mellifluous Bob Brookmeyer, a few days short of his eighty-second birthday .

His work with Gerry Mulligan, Jimmy Giuffre and Clark Terry from the 1950's onwards is an essential part of the history of the music, and he also leaves a massive legacy as influence and teacher of important composers of our time: Maria Schneider, John Hollenbeck, Darcy James Argue.

The clip above from the 1990's with Jim Hall is a BBC recording from Bath. His last visit to the UK was unforgettable: as artist-in-residence at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival in 2007. RIP.

A few Christmas gift ideas

2011-12-16T13:28:00.001Z

Just a few ideas for gifts....

1) Sardinian guitarist Peo Alfonsi's CD Itaca (EGEA) recorded in 2008 and issued in 2009 ticked quite a few of my boxes when Icaught up with it a couple of months ago. Alfonsi caught the ear when he appered in duo with Al Di Meola at Union Chapel earlier in the year. The CD is beautifully played, recorded, plus some lovely landscapes are lovingly photographed and the whole thing is stunningly packaged. And for clarinet nerds, Gabriele Mirabassi is absolutely the business. The distributor assures me that Amazon have copies

2) We had a good old whinge last year that Penguin had published The Penguin Jazz Guide by Brian Morton and the late Richard Cook was published without an index. Penguin have done a reprint with one. Make sure you get the version with 768 pages and not the first print with only 730.

3) Something seasonal. I don't seem to tire of Carla Bley's 2009 album Carla's Christmas Carols. Here's our review

4) Feeling flush? A Ronnie Scott's membership costs £175.

5) Feeling less flush. How about six quid (or just £4 for download)? Chris Parker tells me this morning that he's enjoying the new EP from Sarah Ellen Hughes' Sector 7.

Please feel free to add recommendations!

Charlie Butler Mortlake under threat of demolition

2011-12-16T11:24:00.001Z

The new owners of the Charlie Butler pub in Mortlake which hosts jam sessions want to demolish it and are seeking planning permission to develop the site for residential units. Details of the proposed scheme are on the Richmond Council website .

Robin Beynon has written:

You may have heard that there is a Planning Application in to the Council to demolish the Charlie Butler pub, where we have had a very successful open mike session every Monday for the last 15 months.

Young’s Brewery sold it this year, the new owner obviously only buying it as a development opportunity. Over the 18 months, the new landlord has turned it around to make it a very successful venue, particularly for aspiring and mature musicians…

The only case for getting the Application refused is on the “Change of Use” from a Public House (drinking establishment - Class A4) to Residential (Class C3).

I would be grateful if you would be prepared to support the opposition to the Planning Application to demolish the pub, on the grounds that it is an important community facility.

The important thing about Objectors is that they should either live or work in the Borough of Richmond upon Thames – so anyone outside the borough must qualify their objection by saying, for example, that they are musicians who use the facility – and don’t want it removed. (Otherwise the Council will ignore the objection.)

So, below is the link to the web site (ref: 11/3819/FUL) – objectors should click on the button which says “object”, and say their bit…

http://idoxwam.richmond.gov.uk/WAM/createComment.do;jsessionid=5C90EE42431B83A0DBA956DFF972A571action=CreateApplicationComment&applicationType=PLANNING&appNumber=11/3819/FUL

Hoping you can help!

Robin Beynon
robinbeynon [at] blueyonder.co.uk

Jack's been thinking about...Three Wishes

2011-12-16T10:08:00.000Z

Our Friday columnist Jack Davies writes about pianist Tom Taylor's initiative to ask jazz musicians for their THREE WISHES

Between 1961 and 1966 the wonderfully named Pannonica de Koenigswarter (more commonly known as “Nica” of ‘Nica’s Dream’) compiled what was to be come the book “Three Wishes”, later edited by her great-niece and published in France in 2006.

Pannonica had a disarmingly naïve premise: to ask jazz musicians what their “three wishes” would be. The result is insightful and intimate, and a revealing document of the US jazz scene of the early 1960s.

Inspired by this concept, pianist Tom Taylor has embarked on a 21st-century version, focussed initially on the London jazz scene. Fittingly for this modern update, Tom is using a blog format – updating it each time he gets a response from one of his wish-makers.

Tom is one of the most broadly grounded musicians I know, and one of my favourite young UK pianists. He was originally classically trained, before later studying with Liam Noble, and this has given his playing a constant sense of structure and shape. His playing is always interesting, engaging and unpredictable.

Tom states his aim in starting the blog: “I thought that it would be interesting to do a modern version, in blog form, for our generation of jazz musicians. To see how different or similar the wishes of a 21st century jazz musician are, as well as to capture some element of the personality of what is such an exciting scene.”

So far, Tom has had responses from saxophonist Martin Speake, pianist Liam Noble and trumpeter Nick Smart (whose wishes include that more Pandas would fancy each other!). He has also opened the floor, inviting responses from jazz musicians of all ages. Tom’s adoption of Pannonica’s innocent approach has already coaxed out touchingly honest answers. It will be very interesting to watch this project unfold.

Tom Taylor's “3 Wishes” blog

Wynton Marsalis named CBS News Cultural Correspondent

2011-12-16T08:40:00.000Z

Wynton Marsalis in Glasgow 2010
Phto credit: William Ellis

Here goes with the Press Release: (Full Text)

Wynton Marsalis, internationally acclaimed musician, composer and educator, has been named Cultural Correspondent for CBS. It was announced today by CBS News Chairman and 60 Minutes Executive Producer Jeff Fager and David Rhodes, President, CBS News.

In this role, Marsalis will provide insight into a broad range of cultural and educational developments on CBS THIS MORNING and CBS SUNDAY MORNING. His first CBS News appearance will be on Monday, Jan. 16, 2012, as the nation observes Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday

COMMENT: YES! The jazz musician's voice is the not-from-the-bulllshit-zone, non-Autotuned, unpranked, disintermediated , authentic, generous-spirited voice. EXACTLY what the media needs in an era where trust has broken down. In the UK we had Humph. We now have Jamie. And are immeasurably better for it.

Review: Henry Grimes at Cafe Oto

2011-12-15T16:16:00.001Z

Henry Grimes / Paul Dunmall / Roger Turner
(Café Oto, Monday 12 December 2011. Review and drawings by Geoff Winston)

Still waters run deep. There is something special about Henry Grimes. It's in his eyes. It's in his playing. It's in his poetry. Determination and belief are embedded in his bearing, yet there is a poignant, distant aspect to his gaze, hinting at an entirely different landscape, reflecting, maybe, his hand-to-mouth existence, working as janitor and labourer, and sustained by writing poetry during all those years. Then, suddenly, he'd beam with great warmth at the end of a set, when he allowed his concentration to relax.

Tracked down in 2002 by long-time fan, Marshall Marrotte, after 35 years away from the music he played with Ayler, Rollins, Cecil Taylor, Monk and a host of other key players in the 60s, and encouraged by William Parker, who donated bass and bow after Margaret Grimes had put out the call, Grimes has thrived ever since. Asked about the years in the wilderness, Grimes rationalises obliquely - "I stopped playing in order to eyeball my own perspective better." *

This was an evening of contrasting sets, the first with Henry playing solo on bass and violin, the second, a renascence of The Profound Sound Trio (recorded by Porter Records in 2008), with heavyweights Paul Dunmall on saxes and Roger Turner, taking over Andrew Cyrille's spot on drums.

Henry Grimes's performance was a meditation on the double bass - no more, no less. He worked with the instrument, bringing out its rich, chestnutty resonances right from the start, exploring its possibilities with a quiet clarity of intent. A combination of his huge experience and a wonderful openness.

In preparation for the performance, Grimes, wearing a jet black headband and elegant grey attire, sat at the back of the stage, attuning himself with the room and the arriving audience. His onstage entrance revealed a diffidence, a shyness, in the delivery of one of his poems, before he picked up the bass (not his now legendary green 'Olive Oil') and his first pizzicato notes resonated marginally with the onstage snare, before the drum was attended to - in an interesting parallel, just as the musical bass notes in Anri Sala's recent film installation intentionally caused a snare drum to vibrate in the Serpentine Gallery.

The pace was even, there were no pyrotechnics, nothing gratuitous. No licks, no riffs, no easy catch phrases - just Grimes plucking or bowing the instrument. With strong, nimble fingers, which he'd always exercised throughout the lean times, he communicated a deep inner equilibrium, a rare link with a darker, personal zone, where words are left behind. And that steadiness has always been with him, as clarinettist Perry Robinson has recalled: "Henry said that when he played he used to imagine himself walking on an endless conveyor belt, just constantly moving forward at a regular pace. ... It’s a magic momentum that’s always moving; you’re walking, but at the same time you’re being conveyed because the rhythm is carrying you." **

Grimes thinks in structures, and hints of Bach - linking back to Grimes's classical training at the Juilliard - reconciled his innate feel for abstraction with a gently expressed mathematical precision.

In an exquisite interlude, Grimes, on violin, was joined by singer/voice artist, Elaine Mitchener, for a glittering, exotic musical conversation, a complex, witty emotive discourse, close to the high-pitched calls of animals and birds - their second performance together - the first one having been the night before in Ghent, Belgium (with David Toop).

With Turner, who turned from power percussion to the softest of touches with mallet and brush, and Dunmall, whose muscular delivery drew on Rollins and Coltrane, Grimes quickly found his level. Their thunderous opening threatened to engulf Grimes, but he quickly responded as the sound levels were adjusted. When they picked up the pace, Grimes defined the rhythmic route. Intense passages, recalling Ayler’s groups, were interposed with muted pauses where each played off the other. Dunmall's light soprano sequences and Turner's games with hand-held cymbals were the counters to the hardball assaults, and gave Grimes the space to make his core connections right down in the depths of the music.

Henry Grimes: double bass
Paul Dunmall: tenor and soprano saxophones
Roger Turner: percussion
Guest: Elaine Mitchener: voice

* ' A fireside chat with Henry Grimes' by Fred Jung at All About Jazz, 13 November 2003

**Perry Robinson: 'The Traveler' by Perry Robinson and Florence Wetzel

henrygrimes.com

Congratulations Claire

2011-12-15T12:37:00.001Z

Claire Martin receiving her OBE from Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace yesterday. Some things are just meant to happen.

Westminster lifts parking threat- till March

2011-12-15T12:14:00.000Z

The campaign to get Westminster to think again about their proposed tightening of parking restrictions on Sundays and weekends is a LONG SLOG, but they have responded by delaying application again till March,having already postponed it once by a month back in October. Phew.

Bassist Paul Moylan was the first person I was aware of back in July to draw attention to the effects of the decision. Also I think it wasanother bassist Simon Little who set up the frst petition, which we covered in August.

But it does look as though former Rambert Dance board member and Westminster Council Leader Colin Barrow has his sights firmly fixed on the extra revenue, and assumes the council will eventually get its way. This one ain't over yet.

Book Review: Pat Martino with Bill Milkowski - Here and Now!

2011-12-14T11:14:00.000Z

Pat Martino with Bill Milkowski - Here and Now!
(Backbeat Books. 208pp., £16.99)

The blurb of guitarist Pat Martino's autobiography describes it as 'remarkable … extraordinary and revealing', three adjectives that might lead seasoned observers of the jazz memoir to expect something along the lines of Art Pepper's Straight Life or even Charles Mingus's Beneath the Underdog. Instead of the often downright lurid sensationalism of such accounts, however, Here and Now! is replete with mature and considered reflection on life, music and the healing power of love. Indeed, so mellow, thoughtful and non-judgemental is Martino that his account is occasionally characterised by the deliberately uncontroversial blandness associated with mainstream showbiz memoirs, or (to cite a jazz example) Duke Ellington's Music is My Mistress.

Willis 'Gator Tail' Jackson (one of Martino's first employers) is 'something else'; Wes Montgomery 'great … magic … a sorcerer'; Joe Pass 'someone I greatly admired … a special person'; Joey DeFrancesco 'an incredible player and a lovable person' – it is almost a relief to find that, during the recording of a project with which Martino was always uncomfortable (Blue Note's All Sides Now), he 'lost control and literally turned the table over' in his anger at the recording's producer Matt Resnicoff (although he later apologised).

The book's saving grace, though, is its heart-on-sleeve honesty. Martino's story – supportive but strict Catholic Italian parents, professional musician in his teens, a series of acclaimed albums culminating in the still-underrated fusion classic Joyous Lake, near-fatal aneurysm resulting in memory loss, followed by slow recovery, happy marriage and triumphant return to his current status of universally respected guitarist and music theorist – is an unequivocally heartening and inspiring one, and he relates it with patent sincerity.

True, it is somewhat slight (Martino's contribution actually makes up only about half the text; the rest is provided by journalist Bill Milkowski's judicious insertions of other musicians' accounts and the occasional square-bracketed piece of factual information, plus nearly fifty pages of tributes from other guitarists and interviews with film maker Ian Knox and neuropsychologist Paul Broks), but none the less moving and uplifting and – perhaps most importantly – it simply demands that the reader re-examine an extraordinary body of work produced by a unique individual.

Backbeat Books

CD Review: Aquarium - Aquarium

2011-12-14T10:48:00.000Z

Aquarium - Aquarium
(Babel BDV1195. CD Review by Chris Parker)

John Taylor (who should know) calls this album from pianist/composer Sam Leak's band Aquarium 'a set of absorbing compositions', and goes on to highlight 'excellent playing and interaction … intelligent use of space, colour and dynamics'.

Variety and freshness do indeed characterise Leak's pieces: the album begins with a quietly arresting chimer, almost minimalist in feel, and touches a satisfying number of musical bases thereafter, including Jarrett-like singing lyricism (Leak heads up another quartet dedicated to playing the US pianist's music), passages of fiercely interactive free playing, splashes of tasteful funk, hints of Shorteresque terseness, etc.

Such a wide-ranging remit might have resulted in glib superficiality, but the quality and commitment of Leak's bandmates (reeds player James Allsopp, bassist Calum Gourlay, drummer Josh Blackmore) ensure that all the musical territory he opens up is thoroughly explored, Allsopp in particular providing a series of powerful yet sensitive solos on both tenor and bass clarinet.

With Leak himself a more than worthy addition to the UK's current crop of talented young pianists, and his rich and varied compositions receiving scrupulous attention from a whip-smart, versatile band, this is an extremely auspicious debut.

www.babellabel.co.uk

Ronnie's in March

2011-12-13T17:28:00.000Z

It's definitely worth a sneak peek into Ronnie's schedule for March

- 4th and 5th Charlie Haden's Quartet West
- 16th and 17th Chris Potter
- 19th and 20th Marcus Roberts
- 26th Ambrose Akinmusire

Last Prize Draw of the Year - Tulipa Ruiz. And thanks!

2011-12-13T10:30:00.000Z

The last newsletter of 2011 goes out tomorrow, and with it the last prize draw of the year (Tulipa Ruiz at Cargo next Monday- scroll down for a video) . I'd like to thank all thirty-five (I hope I haven't missed any) suppliers of Prize Draw prizes in 2011. It's been a pleasure to work with you! Here's the list

AirMTM
Babel Label
Barbican
Basho Music
Bloomsbury Publishing
Charlie Wright's
Dune Music
ECM
Edition Records
Forge Venue
Green & Fortune
Green Note
JazzFM
Kai's Cats
Kings Place
Jazzizit
Linley Weir
London Jazz Festival
Loop Collective
Nadworks/ JoeLocke.com
NYJO
Pizza Express Live
Provocateur Records
Riotsquad
Ronnie Scott's
SixtyOne
Sotto Voce Festival at Cafe Oto
Sound Generation
Splashpont Digital
Target Live
Trio Records
Vortex
Warner Clasics and Jazz
Whirlwind Records

PRIZE: Tulipa Ruiz live in concert at Cargo Bar next Monday 19 Dec 2011.
Direct from Sao Paulo, she’s on a European tour, backed by a tight-knit band driving out rock, pop and electronic grooves. Her debut album Efêmera (2010/ Totolo / Harmonia Mundi) won Rolling Stone Brasil’s Best Album of 2010.

Live Music Now is auditioning. Closing date is January 12th

2011-12-12T09:53:00.000Z

Brazilian singer guitarist Gustavo Marques has given over 100 perfromances
for Live Music Now. Photo Credit: Elisabeth Blanchet

Live Music Now, with a 30 year history, and the largest provider of live music to the UK's welfare, educational, justice and health sectors, is auditioning to recruit musicians for its London branch. Live Music Now supports musicians at the outset of their careers. The application deadline is 12 January. Auditions will be held on 23 and 24 February.

Assistant Director Ann Marie Boyle says: "We warmly welcome musicians from ALL genres to apply."

Guitarist Maciek Pysz writes

“LMN provides me with paid performances opportunities, and I play for people living in challenging circumstances - older people, children with special needs.

I have been working with LMN for 6 months now, and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to grow as a musician and who wants to share their music with people who really need it. I have learnt a great deal about approaching different audiences - it's a new situation every time and you have to be prepared to be creative and able to come up with new ideas very quickly! Establishing a good rapport with the audience and communication are key to making those concerts successful.

I have found these audiences very receptive to jazz, a lot of them are familiar with the older jazz standards repertoire. They also very much enjoy interacting with us and respond enthusiastically to improvisations. Many members of the audience have come up to us and said we made their day or made them feel better and this is really rewarding! I think Live Music Now does a fantastic job.”

For more details go to the LMN website or contact annmarie.boyle [at] livemusicnow.org

To donate and support LMN's work FOLLOW THIS LINK.

2011 Peter Whittingham Award Winner Roller Trio

2011-12-11T14:26:00.000Z

The 2011 Peter Whittingham Awards have been announced. Winners are Leeds-based Roller Trio.

Roller trio are: saxophonist James Mainwaring (saxophone/electronics), Luke Wynter (guitar) and Luke Reddin-Williams (drums). A debut album on F-IRE next year. The award will support The band will use their award a video project with film-maker Ray Kane, and a tour. The next London date is on March 28th at the Vortex.

- A Development Award goes to Chaos Collective, (Laura Jurd, Elliot Galvin, Corrie Dick)

- A Commendation goest to Ayanna Witter-Johnson.

HERE'S THE MBF PRESS RELEASE

ROLLER TRIO AT SOUNDCLOUD

CD Review: The Great Wee Band - Light Blue

2011-12-10T10:18:00.000Z

The Great Wee Band - Light Blue
(Trio TR589.CD Review by Chris Parker)

The Great Wee Band (christened thus after an early gig by guitarist Jim Mullen) exists to play what might be termed classic jazz (standards, established jazz originals, the odd in-band original in keeping with same) in a dignified, thoughtful but none the less virtuosic and vigorous manner.

In addition to Mullen's cultured, classy playing, this album showcases the burnished, full-toned lyricism of Henry Lowther's flugelhorn and the pinpoint accuracy and fluency of his trumpet playing; the unobtrusive but impeccable bass of Dave Green, and the tasteful propulsiveness of drummer Stu Butterfield (plus the elegant saxophone of Stan Sulzmann on three tracks).

The material ranges from out and out classics (Ellington's 'Prelude to a Kiss' a ravishing opener beautifully interpreted by Lowther, Gershwin's 'I Loves You Porgy', standards such as 'I Wanna be Loved', 'You're My Thrill' and 'For Heaven's Sake') to slightly less well-trodden ground (Monk's title-track, Ahmad Jamal's 'New Rhumba'), plus compositions from Johnny Mandel ('Emily' and Henry Mancini ('Dreamsville'), but what is more important than the matter is the manner of the playing.

As the cover's photographs suggest, this is a band that is totally at ease with itself and its remit, which is to address the core jazz repertoire employing core jazz values: total familiarity with the material that in no way compromises freshness and originality, mutual responsiveness and respect, all the qualities that add
up to merit that rarely applied adjective, 'musicianly'.

Light Blue is available from Trio Records

Messiah: A Soulful Celebration

2011-12-07T08:10:00.000Z

Malcolm Edmonstone , with the Guildhall Jazz Choir, Jules Jackson and Andrew Bain plus guest Jacqui Dankworth had a triumph last night with a fresh new performing edition of eleven numbers from the classic 1992 album. A virtually complete Dankworth dynasty was in the audience. A hugely successful collaborative evening, but it is impossible not to give special mention to a double limelight-grabbing role for Becca Toft on clean-as-a-whistle high baroque trumpet and exhilarating mains-powered soul vocals.

Review: Aaron Goldberg / Reuben Rogers/ Eric Harland

2011-12-06T15:05:00.000Z

Aaron Goldberg / Reuben Rogers/ Eric Harland
(Pizza Express, Dean Street, Sunday 4 December 2011; review and drawing by Geoff Winston)

Aaron Goldberg recently asserted that "the way... communication happens on the bandstand really is a great model for how communication ought to happen in the rest of the world, and you can see that bands that really get along onstage always move an audience."* His tremendous trio with Reuben Rogers and Eric Harland is a shining example of this principle in practice. That the three of them made the time to play together in the intimate surroundings of the Pizza Express was a mouthwatering prospect.

Goldberg's credentials are impressive and take in four years of touring and recording with Joshua Redman, six months with Wynton Marsalis's quartet, and various collaborations with Kurt Rosenwinkel; he's also performed with many other jazz notables including Betty Carter, Al Foster, Freddie Hubbard and Madeline Peyroux.

The rhythm section of Rogers and Harland was seen at the Barbican a year ago as members of Charles Lloyd's breathtaking quartet, and the keen anticipation that marked their return with Goldberg was amply rewarded. They, too, have strings of impeccable credentials and are two of the most in-demand musicians around.

The mutual respect and camaraderie that these three exceptional musicians have fostered over the 10 years they have worked together underwrites every aspect of their performance. It is a team game, but it is not competitive, it is supportive, and this is what made it such a special experience for the receptive audience at Dean Street.

They enjoyed a kinetic, probing dialogue, asserting each musician's independence within their integrated platform. Themes rooted in the popular and jazz repertoires were thoughtfully stated and, just when it seemed that a closing passage has been reached, the trio turned a tune on its head and used it as a springboard to head off into open-ended zones where their interdependence encouraged new iterations of the initial statements. Not without discipline - quite the contrary - their schooling and experience has ingrained an understanding of the "language of jazz" and a rigorous mastery of their instruments - prerequisites to the fulfillment of Goldberg's "dream of becoming an improvising jazz musician for a living"*.

There was a positive tension in the ways that they played out the challenges they set themselves. Concentration and an alertness to every nuance and movement allowed the freedom to explore. It was far more subversive than it seemed on the surface. Even the principle of the solo was subverted - unusually, at no point were the mooring ropes cut; two musicians were always there in the background, in unison, just dropping in a beat or a note or a minimal statement of a song's structure to give skeleton support to the musician in the spotlight, following every note with a smile. When Rogers took a seat, holding his bass by his side as Harland flew into an intense percussive flow, he remained fully engaged, offering, with Goldberg, a pattern of judiciously placed notes to light the way.

It was a case of 'less notes, more happening' for much of their dynamic ninety minute set - there were no signs of embellishment, nothing florid, even when the pace changed from the purely melodic to a racetrack speed. Material was drawn from the albums 'Home', 'Worlds' and 'Bienestan' - which Goldberg, with his broad agenda, described as "an imaginary country ... in the recesses of your mind - [where] only good things happen ...". The haunting Manhã de Carnaval (from Black Orpheus), with its touches of bossa and an initially spare interpretation saw both Goldberg and Harland negotiate daunting rhythmic conundrums - going in and out of temporal step, but never losing it for an instant.

Goldberg is a deliberate player, yet he spared the Steinway, and spun off into bright, beautifully controlled flights, pushed to the limits, his light touches complemented by Harland's brushes and taps and Rogers' supple, muted bass lines. As Harland touched the cymbals with a soft mallet and then held them to let them shimmer, Goldberg reached in to the back of the piano to add timbres. Harland patted the toms, Rogers bowed, keeping in with the piano and took out the next number with a diminuendo after a lively brush with calypso.

Rogers burst into a mellow, plucked solo, whooped, "Hey, Aaron Goldberg," before they unleashed Wonder's 'Isn't She Lovely?' in its full glory from a spacious, lingering starting block - and then left the audience hanging on an extended silence - which, by then, they'd learnt was not the conclusion - and closed this great set with a bluesy hint woven in to its fabric.

Harland engaged informally with young musicians after the set to discuss the importance of learning from previous generations of jazz musicians, a generous, open gesture which summed up the spirit of the evening perfectly.

( * Josh Jackson interview with Aaron Goldberg on WBGO for NPR, February 2011)

CD Review: Geoff Eales and Isorhythm - Shifting Sands

2011-12-06T10:16:00.000Z

Geoff Eales and Isorhythm - Shifting Sands
(33JAZZ226. CD Review by Chris Parker)

As pianist/composer Geoff Eales explains in his liner notes, this is the fusion album he has been waiting nearly 30 years to make, since fronting the self-explanatory Electric Eales band in the early 1980s.

He also explains that 'isorhythm' refers to a 'principle of construction where a fixed rhythmic pattern undergoes a series of melodic transformations throughout the course of a piece', but knowledge of all the above is by no means essential to appreciation and enjoyment of this fiercely lively, intelligently programmed album.

Eales is a keen and astute observer of the contemporary jazz scene, and he has hand-picked something of a dream band for this project: guitarist Carl Orr, saxophonist Ben Waghorn, electric bassist Fred T. Baker, drummer Asaf Sirkis and guest violinist Chris Garrick. He has also provided said band with a series of pleasingly varied, gutsy but subtle pieces, incorporating telling traces of so-called 'world' music (Sirkis particularly suited to these) but mostly drawing on the strengths of fusion music: bustling or anthemic themes, hard-hitting solos, thunderous climaxes, all held together by Eales's powerful acoustic piano or rattling fender rhodes.

Orr and Waghorn (the latter doubling effectively on bass clarinet) contribute spikily mesmerising and swaggering solos respectively, and the rhythm section is impeccable, Sirkis once again proving that he is one of the most sensitively propulsive percussionists in the music, alert to every rhythmic nuance yet also capable of delivering straightforward punch and drive where necessary.

Eales, a wide-ranging career (embracing everything from work on cruise ships to playing behind the likes of Shirley Bassey) behind him when he began making unalloyed jazz albums in the early 1990s, is a thoroughly mature and versatile musician, and this vibrant album is a welcome addition to his impressive discography.

Available from Proper Music

Blue Train Jazz & Blues Bar Opening Night Report

2011-12-05T07:45:00.001Z

Al Cherry, Rob Mullarkey, Natalie Williams, Phil Peskett
Opening of Blue Train, 2nd December 2011
Photo credit: Gary Fox

Zena James reports on the opening night at the Blue Train Jazz & Blues Club, 56 Stamford St, London SE1 9LX:

London’s newest jazz & blues venue has arrived. Less than 10 minutes’ stroll from Waterloo, this compact club has plenty of potential and genuine warm enthusiasm.

Easy to spot with its bright blue neon frontage, a packed Blue Train pulled out full steam ahead on opening night and jazz-soul vocal star Natalie Williams and quartet made sure it stayed that way. From the engaging R&B vibes of You Send Me to the groove-laden 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover, this was the perfect choice of band for a celebration that sought to get a crowd on-side.

A cheerful, slightly overwhelmed young team, spearheaded by attentive owner John Dignam and entertainment manager, ex-NYJO trumpeter Ray Butcher, guided guests on arrival swiftly towards drinks and contemporary big band sounds in the upstairs bar (formerly an Indian restaurant). With waitress service, candlelight, a satellite screen to beam up the action from the jazz room beneath to non-paying upstairs customers (curious decision), cool metallic high cocktail tables and chairs, a low level comfy seating area and a late closing time - it bodes well, though it might benefit from more soft furnishings to soak up the boomy acoustics. Billed as ‘the restaurant’ with music duos Monday – Wednesday 6.30 – 9.30pm, it doubles up happily (and better in my view) as an atmosphere-setting bar.

The dark downstairs main music room is billed as ‘the jazz bar’ but was in fact the restaurant on opening night. Seating around 50, this former conference room is pretty intimate when full and wouldn’t look bare with 25 guests. A quirky Tapas-only menu cooked up by an ex-Gordon Ramsay chef ranged reasonably from £4.50 for fried Whitebait to £7.50 for beef fillet. And so to the music. The minimal stage is so far equipped with a Brodmann Baby Grand piano and house sound system, but there is talk of bringing in a house kit for (grateful) drummers (no car park and a narrow get-in).

From the outset, amidst a persistent excited chatter, Natalie Williams, Al Cherry, Phil Peskett, Rob Mullarkey and Martyn Kaine had a challenging night ahead. Opting for (possibly not their original intention) full-on soul & pop classics but only scarce glimpses of jazz (apart from a randomly popular rendition of Nature Boy), the expertly-delivered mainstream upbeat sets were one giant crowd-pleaser. Competing throughout with a few sound system issues and a VERY spirited audience, Natalie and her faultless soul-soaked vocals did an admirable job of keeping the energy train rolling. But the sheer volume of chatter suggested little respect in the room for her craft or the band’s collective swathes of talent and experience.

This may well have been an opening night one-off and could be eased in future by a gentle pre-gig club announcement, but is potentially a recurring challenge for busier nights at the Blue Train. Attentiveness and ‘jazz-familiarity’ of the guests it ends up attracting are still an unknown quantity and it’s a tough one at this stage for the club or interested artists to predict. In short, the band played what they knew would suit the room, but possibly not what the club ultimately wants to be known for long-term. Ray Butcher has booked well-established (mainly vocal) London-scene artists for the first month’s programming with an apparent vision to broaden this out to further-flung, less London-centric talent as the club develops.

It is as yet far too early to judge whether we have a true jazz club alternative joining the ranks of Ronnie’s, Pizza Express Dean St, the 606 and the Spice of Life, characterised by respect for the artists, or whether populist soul & blues and happily chattering crowds become the Blue Train’s way forward. Both are fine and are perfectly viable business options, but let’s hope it’s the former. Good luck, Blue Train.

Blue Train Jazz & Blues Bar

Review: The Magic Band

2011-12-03T16:15:00.000Z

The Magic Band
(Scala, Wednesday 30 November 2011; review and drawing by Geoff Winston)

The Magic Band, includes three stalwarts from Captain Beefheart's various original Magic Bands of the 60s and 70s, and impressed because of their musicianship and discipline, and the authentic, fresh sounding interpretations of the Beefheart canon. They avoided the pitfalls of being a homage or tribute band, imposing their own character on the material drawn from the breadth of Beefheart's creative output.

John 'Drumbo' French is very much the mover in forming this 5-piece, as are ATP, who have also released their CD, Back to the Front, on their own label. He joked that they'd looked for venue in a 'small town' since playing at The Garage two years ago and they then proceeded to balance the poetic - 'Steal softly through sunshine, steal softly through snow' - with the spikey, driven rhythmic engine which makes the case for Beefheart's strong affinities with Ornette Coleman.

Ornette was one of Beefheart's major influences, particularly in composition and also his approach to the various saxes that he played, and this seam has been maintained faithfully by the band - not an easy path to follow. Certainly it is not the way of least resistance, so it was gratifying to witness their commitment to the quirky, complex structures and the balancing act that it requires to succeed.

Rockette Morton excelled with a bass solo that powered along with real intent and then melded in to a phenomenal guitar and bass trio with Feelers Rebo's equally astonishing creative slide guitar and Erik Klerks' spiralling, energetic fretboard drive, leading into Blows Its Stacks. 'Drumbo' has adopted the role of singer, harmonica player, occasional drummer - he briefly took over the drum stool from the solid Craig Bunch - with respect and enough distance to avoid being a clone of the Captain. His delivery owes much to Beefheart's, but he qualifies this with both humility and unbridled enthusiasm, so comes across as a disciple, spreading the word - he defended their corner, "We are The Magic Band - we miss him, but the music lives on!"

The audience were devotees, some young and pogoing, others who would have seen the band in their original incarnations; they recognised favourites all the way through - Clear Spot, Abba Zabba, the iconic Electricity ("Eeeee-lec-triciteeee"), Bo Diddley's Diddy Wah Diddy, the chunky Nowadays a Woman Gotta Hit a Man, and a tremendous Big-Eyed Beans From Venus - weirdly otherworldly - to mention only a few. The surreal poetry and the jerky, rhythmic concoctions blended with the raw blues in an irresistible concatenation for almost two hours.

The only minor reservation was with the mix which over-amplified the bass and pedal bass drums. And thanks to the Captain Beefheart blog which has posted an autographed setlist from the night.

The Magic Band are an important link in the chain which binds together much of today's experimentation and crossover between the adventurous ends of the rock and jazz spectra - they'll be back next year and well worth seeking out.

Denny 'Feelers' Rebo: slide guitar and guitar
Mark 'Rockette' Morton Boston; electric bass
John 'Drumbo' French: vocals, harmonica, drums
Eric Klerk: guitar
Craig Bunch: drums