A[n occasional] Jazz Blog

Dave Drake, Jazz Jam at the Alibi, prolonged absence

2012-01-29T21:08:00.001Z

Fresh sounds, new talent!
It's been a busy couple of months with work, then Christmas, so little time for blogging. Dave Drake Quintet at The Brunswick last Sunday was this year's first gig. Dave is a young (17) Brighton-based pianist who has been gaining a reputation around Brighton, playing at venues like The Brunswick, The Bristol and The Bees Mouth. I have been been impressed with what I heard so was keen to hear him playing with his own quintet. The band featured four other excellent young musicians - sax players Lucas Dodd (Alto) and Nadim Teimoori (Tenor), Sandy Suchodolski (Bass) and Billy Stookes (Drums) - all of whom play with Dave in the National Youth Jazz Orchestra.

They kicked off the set with Kurt Rosenwinkel's Chords (featured on Kurt's The Remedy). This is tricky, cutting edge modern jazz and the band delivered with confidence and verve, setting the direction of the repertoire that featured tunes by the Brian Blade Fellowship, originals by Dave that sat very comfortably alongside, and a couple of standards. The rhythm section was exemplary - really tasteful accompaniment. The two horns had distinct personalities though I could hear shades of Chris Potter and Mark Turner in both. Dave's piano playing really stood out for me. He really got inside the music - beautiful voicings (particularly on the bass solo on In a Sentimental Mood), singing along with his solos that sounded very melodic. The feel reminded my a of Bud Powell, though I think his conscious influences are probably more modern Brooklyn players like Aaron Parks. I love this type of repertoire and it's great hearing it played by such young UK musicians.

There was exciting interaction between the band. Lucas and Will have a lot of chops, probably the result of a few years of jazz education. Dave sounds like a rawer talent. It will be interesting to see how it matures. I hope he builds on his individuality if he goes on to study jazz full time. Interesting audience and not untypical of audiences I see in London - young jazz musicians on stage and an audience of older listeners. I hope Dave and his fellow musicians succeed in creating a new, younger audience for this music.

Jamming at The Alibi
On Thursday I attended and performed at a new jazz jam at The Alibi in Hove. It was a warm, friendly pub and there was good audience. Plenty of great music including, most intriguingly some poetry by David Thomas of Pere Ubu (70s Beefheart influenced punk band from Cleveland, Ohio). Against improvised background music he intoned paeans to the trashy underside of American culture - penitentiaries, highways and trailer parks, David Lynch, Jim Morrison, Beefheart, the beat poets.

The session aims to be welcoming to players of all abilities and is definitely worth checking out with or without an instrument. The next jam is on 16 February and there is a website here: http://jazzjamsessions.wordpress.com/

René Thomas: Live 1974

2011-11-29T23:34:00.001Z

Probably recorded in the last year of René's life, this is a typically intense performance by René in which he plays his compositions My Wife Maria and Theme for Emmanual and Jobim's Chega de Saudade (No More Blues). It's great that people are digging out and publishing these old videos as they have fascinating details. For example, he's playing a Guild (not is famous Gibson ES-150). He's got fairly light strings on, perhaps striving for a more rock influenced sound. He's dressed like a Sixties' man, looking slightly out of place with the (then) hip, hippy bass player. He's endeavouring to take the music to new places, particularly in the the cadenza sections. This makes him the hippest musician in the room.

Live: Bill Frisell and Louis Stewart

2011-11-25T18:00:00.005Z

Two very contrasting gigs this week. Last Sunday Bill Frisell mixed Americana with Philip Glass style minimalism with his 858 Quartet. I saw this line-up at the Village Vanguard where we were in the thick of the music in the small wedge-shaped venue. At the Queen Elizabeth Hall we sat high up with a very objective perspective on the music. Bill created blues, folk, bluegrass-style themes on his Fender Stratocaster accompanied by the minimalists interventions form Jenny Scheinmann (violin), Eyvind Kang (viola) and the very dynamic cello of Hank Roberts. The music moved quite slowly. It was like being mesmerised by a gradually changing kaleidoscope of sound. Pieces built up, grew in intensity and then died down again. No fast tempos, nothing really slow. There was compositional depth and it was musically very satisfying.

Support was from Scottish-based NeWt with its unusual line-up of drums, guitar and trombone. The trombone used effects to create some very deep bass frequencies and there was some rock-inspired guitar riffing. The unique combination of sounds made me sit up and listen. Like other contemporary British bands (Phronesis, Kit Downes, Portico) you couldn't easily hear the joins between the composed and improvised sections. Is this something that distinguishes modern European jazz? EST used this type of approach but Brad Mehldau, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Mark Turner, Jonathan Kreisberg seem to stick to the more traditional theme, improv, theme. The standard of musicianship and inventiveness was high and I'd like to hear them again.

On Wednesday night I heard Irish jazz guitar legend Louis Stewart at The Jazz Store. It's almost 20 years since I last saw him - Brighton Jazz Club at The Concorde. He kicked off with Alone Together and then went into Speak Low. He spun lovely, long flowing lines from his 1950s Gibson ES 175 (with a single P90 PUP). His pitch range seems very similar to the male voice and his lines seemed very in singable. They also had a spontaneous quality to them, nothing too arched or contrived. Spike Wells and Dan Shepherd played very tastefully on drums and bass. Roy Hilton's sold were very inventive and showed is mastery of bebop. The tunes were all standards (I didn't see any music all evening). In the second half they were joined by trumpeter Gary Kavanagh and singer Sarah Oschlag and Louis was able to show off some very tasteful comping.

I was really inspired by Louis' relaxed approach. Nothing seems forced or showy. Certainly something to aspire to. I'm looking forward to his gig at Wickwoods Country Club on Sunday.

Kineojazz announce Christmas gig featuring Charlotte Glasson Band

2011-11-09T23:24:00.002Z

Geoff Simkins Quartet at Hastings Jazz Club

2011-11-08T21:56:00.001Z

Enjoyable gig last night. Geoff Simkins was playing with pianist Nikki Iles, bassist Simon Woolf and drummer Martin France on the first night of a short tour. They're all great improvisers in their own right but the focus last night was on ensemble playing.

Highlights for me were the the head of Konitz' Subconscious Lee with Nikki playing an improvised counterpoint to Geoff's theme, a sensitive rendition of the waltz Elsa written by Earl Zinders and recorded by Bill Evans, Kenny's Wheeler's interesting changes on Kind Folk and Steve Swallow's mesmerising Falling Grace. On these numbers the quartet sounded like themselves - a distinctive and beautiful sound.

Further dates by the Geoff Simkins Quartet:

November

Fri 18 8.00pm Sheffield Jazz

Wed 23 8.00pm The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama

Wed 30 8.00pm 606 Club, London

December

Fri 2 8.00pm The Spice of Life, London

May 2012

Thu 10 8.00pm The Bonnington Theatre, Nottingham

REVIEW: Geoff Simkins Quartet , Sheffield Jazz, Millennium Hall - Lifestyle - Sheffield Telegraph

Barracuda live at The Hare & Hounds Worthing, 25th October 2011

2011-10-26T23:58:00.001+01:00

Barracuda is an organ trio featuring Simon Robinson on Hammond, Tony Shepherd on drums and myself on guitar. We played our debut on Tuesday at Worthing's Hare & Hounds. We really appreciated having such a warm and attentive audience.

Here are most of the tracks. Pretty guitar-heavy but they give a sense of how the trio works together.

The organisers do a great job of promoting local jazz and deserve all the support they can get. You can get an up-to-date gig listing here: http://worthingjazz.org.uk/index.php?page=events

More Jazz at Smalls, The Caxton Arms, Brighton

2011-10-15T20:57:00.000+01:00

Alan Barnes [multi-reed] is one of the most versatile and respected jazz players and composers in the UK. His album last year with Scott Hamilton, 'Hi-Ya' was received with great critical acclaim and was featured as one of the top ten albums of the year by jazz critics. This year he has repeated the feat, his collaboration with Ken Mathieson ‘The Glasgow Suite [The music of Benny Carter] has received sumptuous recognition - ‘’Barnes principally plays alto saxophone...his solos are excellent...surely this will feature in 2011’s album of the year poll...this is a real treat for all jazz fans’’ [Jazz Journal].

His optimistic and good nature seem to have 'magical' qualities. At the recent Titley Jazz Festival [Powys] – ‘’soon the grim clouds crowded out much of the failing light...after a superbly crisp 14 minute ‘Just One Of Those Things’, Alan Barnes’ opening number, things had considerably brightened...he seems to have permeated the whole festival’’ [Jazz Journal].

He had a long-standing association with the late writer/lyricist Alan Plater producing a number of jazz influenced shows and recordings. Alan also runs his own recording label and has featured with Harry Allen, Ken Peplowski and Warren Vache. He tours extensively and is much in demand at jazz festivals and concerts in the UK and abroad. It is a real pleasure to welcome Alan back to Smalls, where his great performance last year created an atmosphere that swung.

Alan is joined by the wonderful rhythm section of Terry Seabrook [piano], Piers Clark [rhythm guitar] and Steve Thompson [bass] who have done so much to enhance the quality of music at Smalls.

liz and dennis simpson

Blue Note cover art comes to life!

2011-09-30T12:52:00.000+01:00

I'm a big fan of the Blue Note cover art work of Reid Miles with photos by Blue Note co-owner Francis Wolff. This video brings some of those classic album covers to life. Amazing!

Bill Frisell & The 858 Quartet

2011-09-29T21:32:00.001+01:00

Really looking forward to seeing this band at The London Jazz Festival. Signs of Life is a kind of jazz/classical crossover inspired by the paintings of Gerhard Richter. Caught them at The Village Vanguard last year on a memorable Sunday evening. Interested in how they sound at The QEH. This video gives a wonderful flavour of the music and its background.

Peter Bernstein on listening at the start of tunes

2011-09-24T13:04:00.000+01:00

At the recent Barry Harris gig at Pizza Express I was really struck by the way that Barry would start a tune, unannounced then look up to see if bass player Dave Green had got it and Dave and drummer Steve Brown would just slide seamlessly in.

It's just about listening.

In this clip Peter Bernstein talks about starting tunes with no words spoken. Just listening and following, or leading the other musicians in:

If you can just learn to follow and say, "I hear what he's playing, I hear what key he's playing it in, and it's obvious what tempo he's playing it in (hopefully)," and go from there.

Jim Hall & Barney Kessell: You Stepped Out of a Dream

2011-09-22T08:00:00.000+01:00

It's ages since I blogged. Mostly because I've been busy, but also because I haven't had a great deal to write about. Barry Harris at The Pizza Express was superb, but that was the only significant gig I've been too for a couple of months.

This is a superb video of Jim Hall and Barney Kessell playing at the top of their respective games in the early 60s. There's not too much say about this, just listen to 6 minutes of bliss.

Joe Lee Wilson: A Celebration

2011-08-15T14:01:00.001+01:00

Radio Tribute to Joe Lee Wilson on Seahaven FM

2011-07-29T13:23:00.005+01:00

Keith B took over the Big Band spot on Seahaven FM last night and he devoted the second half to the music and life of Joe Lee Wilson. We chose choose that reflected the range of his singing style and were personal favourites.

Return of the Prodigal Son is a soul jazz track from 1969, not long after Joe Lee drew with Sly & The Family Stone in a national TV talent show. Sly Stone signed to Columbia and enjoyed huge commercial success. Joe Lee recorded for Columbia but they just sat on the tapes. A couple of singles appeared and disappeared (the first recording of He Ain't Heavy . . . He's My My Brother). The Return of the Prodigal Son is a big budget production (a nine piece band including Kenny Burrell and Kenny Barron) but first saw the light of day in Japan. Is this one of the Columbia tapes that they handed over to Joe Lee? Are there more out there?

How Deep Is The Ocean was recorded in Italy in 2008. Shows that Joe could still tell a story and move people with his voice.

Feelin' Good is from the album of the same name. A great session with Kirk Lightsey (piano), Steve Watts (bass), Julian Siegel (tenor), Dave Wickens (drums). Recorded in 2000 is shows Joe Lee on top form with a great band, caught at the end of a UK tour. This is Joe Lee at his most joyful and positive.

Jazz Ain't Nothin' But Soul was recorded is 1972 as a live radio concert at Columbia University. When is was released two years later (on the Livin' High on Nickels and Dimes LP) it became a hit for Oblivion records. It describes jazz thus:

Jazz is makin' do with taters and grits

Standing up each time you get hit

Jazz ain't nothin' but soul

Jazz is livin' high on nickels and dimes

Telling folks what's on my mind

Jazz ain't nothin' but soul

Not financially rewarding but a kind of truth. Joe would have established his NYC loft (The Ladies Fort) at this time and created many opportunities for himself and other musicians to entertain an audience. This song is another positive message from Joe.

You can hear the complete album here.

I Love You is from a 1981 session with guitarist Jimmy Ponder. Just the two of them. His voice is beautiful and the two musicians complement each other perfectly.

Goin' To Chicago (from Feelin' Good) is a straightforward blues. Joe Lee never considered himself a blues singer but he could certainly do justice to the blues, recalling blues shouters like Big Joe Turner.

Home in the Country (from Feelin' Good) was written by trumpet player and singer Kenny Dorham (KD). Joe Lee used to hand out in Tompkins Square Park with KD. Joe Lee was a country boy, raised a farm in Oklahoma, and this song talks about wanting to leave the city and get back to a home in the country. The story is dramatically told by Joe Lee with Kirk Lightsey:

The city's bright, bright like diamonds and hard like glittering stone

Ain't got some sweet place I can call my home

Your hair is soft, feels so fine, let's get out of New York City while we got time

I want a home in the country. Won't you come there with me.

Come to the country

Thanks to Seahaven FM for the opportunity to put some of Joe Lee's music on air and on the internet.

Joe Lee Wilson: December 22, 1935 - July 17, 2011

2011-07-19T20:57:00.006+01:00

Sadly, Joe Lee Wilson passed away on Sunday. He was an inspirational singer, human being and friend who spread a message of peace, love and joy wherever he performed. I'm sure he will be missed by all the musicians who had the good fortune to play with him and the audiences who heard his magnificent voice first hand.

Joe Lee Wilson at kineojazz in 2010 by Yari Fontebasso

Joe Lee's voice was a gift and he accepted it with humility. Here is his prayer of thanks from the song Thoughts of a Season:

To you, I'm extending this special blessing

To include my family and friends, fans and musicians, promoters and organisers, who have helped me throughout my long singing career,

from gospel to blues, from blues to jazz (or perhaps I should say afro-american classical music!).

I thank God the Creator for presenting me with a unique artistic gift

to bring peace and love into every community in every corner of the world

Thank you Jesus. Thank you Jesus.

Amen.

The Guardian has published a lengthy obituary that really does Joe Lee justice. Thank you John Fordham, Val Wilmer and The Guardian.

Photographs of Smithville at the The Brighton Bandstand

2011-07-15T00:05:00.006+01:00

Thanks to Paul Statter for these great photos. More info here.

Geoff Simkins with Terry Seabrook and Paul Whitten, The Snowdrop, Lewes, 11th July

2011-07-12T21:40:00.010+01:00

Brighton-based alto saxophonist Geoff Simkins was in his element last night - a small venue, an attentive audience and sensitive musicians to support him. It was the perfect opportunity to enjoy Geoff's music and reflect on the approach to improvisation that informs his teaching (there were several of Geoff's students in the audience, myself included).

Geoff's approach to approach to improvisation is consistent and purposeful. I'll try and summarise it like so:

The foundation of his flowing line is a long, even exhalation of breath - the breath vibrates the reed and the sax keys select the notes
Each breath lasts maybe 10 or so seconds, long enough to develop a melodic idea across quite a by number of bars (depending on the tempo of the tune) and across sections of the tune too
Each pause for breath is an opportunity to take stock, adapt the idea or perhaps change tack in response to what is going on around him or a new thought

The way Geoff develops musical ideas is significant to his style. Rather than following the chords changes and letting them dictate changes in ideas, he holds on to an idea (e.g. a short musical phrase) and adapts it to the new surroundings as the chords change. This might mean playing the same phrase but changing the pitch, sometimes fitting in with then new chord, sometimes deliberately at odds but ultimately seeking a resolution. The relationship between the notes is sometimes dictated by reason (actually, that idea will work in this context too) or art (if I play these notes against this chord it's going to sound quite unusual). Each breath is a thread that holds the ideas together.

It's clear that Geoff does not always know where a phrase it going to end up before he pauses for breath. Occasionally it sounds like he thinking his way out of the situation he finds himself in without losing the plot - solving a logic problem. Geoff rarely loses the plot in musical terms. He admitted to me that he occasionally runs out of ideas before he runs out of breath. This relationship between the length of the breath and the length of a line is an interesting one, worth investigating, even on guitar or piano.

This is pretty hard stuff and few people can do it like Geoff. It takes a lot of discipline to hang onto and develop those lines. It may be habit by now, but it takes a lot of practice too. I think it was Al Cohn who said: "If I don't practice for a day, I notice it; if I don't practice for two days, the other musicians notice it; if I don't practice for three days, the audience notices it." Geoff must be pretty disciplined in his practice regime. It's not just doing the things he does so well, it's all the bad habits he avoids - for example, using ideas sparingly and not wasting them by throwing them away too soon.

The vehicle for Geoff's improvisation is standard and modern jazz originals with interesting chord sequences - How Deep Is The Ocean, Donna Lee, Passport/Anthropology, Sophisticated Lady, Little, Willie Leaps, Cherokee, I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face, Beija Flor a variation on All The Things You Are.

Some of these tunes force obvious comparisons with alto players who have shared his approach. I know Paul Desmond's version of I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face. Desmond has a beautiful tone and a rhapsodic quality to his lines. Geoff's tone is harsher and he often leans on the altered, non-diatonic notes which sometimes gives his playing a sardonic quality. He's perhaps closer to Lee Konitz but, to my ear, Konitz has a slightly mournful, elegiac quality. The truth is that it's unfair to label Geoff a "cool school" or Konitz/Desmond soundalike. Geoff's voice is is his own.

This was of course an ensemble performance and Terry Seabrook accompanied very sensitively and tastefully. The volume was just right and he kept to a path that complemented Geoff - mixing chords and lines, doing that six over four thing that pianists love. Likewise, Paul Whitten played very sensitively. His tone is sweet and woody - not too much bass or treble. I really like Paul's solo style. Unlike Geoff's, his lines are more like those you would want to sing. Where Geoff would quote a tune (Moondance for example), he will then play about with it. Paul just carries a nice melody without messing with it. I like that approach too.

I also liked the way they ended a few of the tunes. You could hear Geoff's final note dying away, Paul would bow a note in harmony, Geoff's note would reduce to a whisper then disappear.

Smithville on The Brighton Bandstand

2011-07-11T09:11:00.004+01:00

Thanks to the appreciative audience, photographers and passersby at The Brighton Bandstand yesterday. The weather was beautiful but it was unbelievable cold and windy for the musicians. Within minutes my fingers and strings seemed covered in a film of salt! Eddie Myer did a great job depping for Keith and everybody said it sounded surprisingly good (surprising for us because it sounded as though the music was being blown all over the place).

Thanks to Brighton Council for organising. Hope we can play there again.

Will Vinson, Pizza Express Soho, 6 July

2011-07-11T08:53:00.012+01:00

I was initially disappointed that Lage Lund was not able to make the Will Vinson gig last Wednesday. The brilliant young Norwegian guitarist was somehow indisposed (he went in a puff of on the verge of discovering a new close voice chord structure . . .). Still, we had Gwilym Simcock, brilliant young Welsh pianist, in his place.

Will Vinson is an English alto saxophonist who has been living in New York for over ten years, He's well respected, playing with Kurt Rosenwinkel and being a regular member of guitarist Jonathan Kreisberg's band. He's also one of the few young of alto saxophonists of note amongst the current crop - Perico Sambeat and Dave Binney are the only two other names that come to mind.

Form the first notes of I Am James Bond (hear it here), Will had a beautiful, clear tone. The intonation was spot on (sometimes alto players are a bit cavalier with their tuning). It had a direct, passionate quality to it. His soloing throughout was clear, intelligent and easy to follow. At times it reminded me of Seamus Blake (another passionate, clear communicator) and Mark Turner (physically and musically bobbing up and down the arpeggios). Though there are stylistic similarities, it's definitely an individual sound.

On a table a few inches from Gwilym Simcock, we could see him work his way into some very unfamiliar tunes. His playing was exciting, his fingers mesmerising, venturing into the unknown, finding plenty of interesting things to see. I liked the way he definitely plays lines, rather than textures. At times, Will looked on in awe, joking that the audience were showing a bit too much appreciation.

That said, Will was definitely centre of the band. I enjoyed his compositions and have bought his latest live CD The World (Through My Shoes) to get to know them better. The one familiar tone was Work by Thelonious Monk - a tune I like but not one I have ever heard live before. He also kept on top of everything. His playing was always thoughtful and expressive, if not as edgy as Gwilym's.

The rhythm section were a tight, singing unit. Jochen Rueckert (Drums) and Sean Fasciani (bass) were obviously familiar with the material and playing as one. Will is obviously a bit of a character - very sardonic: "I'd like now to welcome Gwilym Simcock back and as for the rhythm section - you're fired!"

The night was a really enjoyable introduction to WIll's music. I was very surprised that the Pizza Express was only half full ("We've just coming from playing in France - to audiences of 500 plus. Notice the heavy-handed reference to the size of the audience there . . ."). I hope that it doesn't put him off coming back. It was great having Gwilym but I would like to see him with Lage Lund, capturing the spirit found on his live album.

My Top 5 Organ Trios

2011-07-03T22:31:00.017+01:00

According to Wikipedia:

"An organ trio, in a jazz context, is a group of three jazz musicians, typically consisting of a Hammond organ player, a drummer, and either a jazz guitarist or a saxophone player."

Organ trios are one of the best units for a guitarist to play in. The organ and guitar sound well together - peaches and cream a friend once called it. The single note lines of the guitarist sit very comfortably on the chords from the organ without clashing. It's difficult (though not impossible) for a guitarist to play runs and chords at the same time. The organ can supply the chords (as a piano would) but the organ has the addition of the bass too. It's like a quartet with three instruments. The organ trio was great for clubs, notably in Philadelphia - loud yet intimate and low cost (not sure what the bass players thought of this).

This list is of my Top 5 organ trio, in no particular order, based on the ones I have listened to and enjoyed most - either live, on record or both. There are notable exceptions - Wes and Kenny Burrell with Jimmy Smith. Unfortunately, don't have any in my record collection, and perhaps I go for a slightly cooler sound . . .

Grant Green, J.C. Moses, Larry Young, a photo by georgeheid on Flickr.

Grant Green, Larry Young, Elvin Jones
These are Larry Young's first recordings and they show him applying the lessons of John Coltrane to the organ, notably on Talkin' about J.C. from Talkin' About. Grant is inspired by the young organist on some of the last recordings he made from Blue Note before returning with a new, funky style.

John Abercrombie, Dan Wall, Adan Nussbaum
I've been listening to these organ trio recordings (Tactics and Speak of the Devil) for about 15 years. They seem to be inexhaustibly interesting. I've always heard echoes of the Bill Evans Trio in them. They take the traditional organ line-up and update it. Some great interplay. Long flowing lines from Abercrombie. Plenty of listening going on.

Dr Lonnie Smith, Jonathan Kreisberg, Jamire Williams
Lonnie is a one-off. His sound has a broad appeal yet pushes the boundaries and he has a great choice in side men. I saw this band at Ronnie's a couple of years ago and then ago a couple of week ago. They've come a long way. They work brilliantly as a unit. Three very different personalities working as one. Plenty of spontaneity and very tight. It's a unique sound.

Grant Green Jr, Bernard Purdie, Reuben Wilson
It's a few years since I saw this band. Bernard Purdie is the one of the funkiest drummers in the world and this band captured the spirit of the early Sixties' chitlins circuit with the grooviness of the Motown and Atlantic soul recordings. Grant Green Jr can't help but sound like his father and they they had a contagious sense of fun.

Larry Goldings, Peter Bernstein, Bill Stewart
This has got to be one of the greatest organ trios of all time. These three do justice to the tradition and deliver the highest levels of inspired, emotive improvisation. I haven't seen the three play together but I have seen the DVD Peter Bernstein Trio: Live At Smoke. It's worth watching just to see Peter screwing up his face and squeezing out the notes from his guitar.

Smithville - more gigs!

2011-06-29T18:13:00.004+01:00

Following our debut at The Basement last month, Smithville have some more gigs. The first of these is at Brighton's beautiful bandstand on Sunday 10th July from 2:00 to 4:00 pm where we will be joined by guest bass player Eddie Myer. It may depend on the weather, so fingers crossed. Unlike Eastbourne bandstand where I did a season of gigs a few years ago, there is very little shelter from the elements.

Expect plenty of finger poppin' fun, funky grooves and organ-led mayhem.

Here's some more information on Brighton Bandstand along with a beautiful picture.

Brighton Bandstand

Kineojazz presents Dr Lonnie Smith Trio featuring Jonathan Kreisberg and Jamire Williams, The Basement, 18th June

2011-06-27T20:24:00.007+01:00

18th of June was a day to remember - for quite a few reasons.

Discovering we had been previewed by John Fordham in The Guardian Guide that morning and tickets were selling well
Arriving in the afternoon to discover that Dr Lonnie Smith's B3 had not been set up and setting up the B3 only to discover that it had no foot pedals and being told that we hadn't asked for pedals
Confirming with Dr Smith's agent in New York and drummer Jamire Williams that "Dr Smith needs pedals" (obviously!)
Ordering a Hammond C3 (with pedals) down from London at 4:00 in the afternoon for a 6:30 soundcheck
Discovering that we had been sent a piano stool instead of an an organ bench and Dr Smith patiently explaining the need for a bench (so his feet can hover above the pedals)
Dr Smith saying, "Don't worry, we'll find a way - we can make something!" And make it we did - the front of a drawer from an old chest of drawers, two high stools and a role of gaffer tape
Guitarist Jonathan Kreisberg saying, "We need to talk about that bench you made. I seriously think Lonnie is going to kill himself."
The C3 arriving just before the doors were due to open
Drawing a line under all of the above and just enjoying the gig

And what a gig. When you hear Dr Smith play the organ you are hearing an extension of himself. It's a beautiful sound and he tells his own story - with drama and intensity. He can played very, very quietly and suddenly play so loudly that you almost fall off your seat. Jonathan played brilliantly, virtuosically even. He brings brightness and colour to the sound. On the other side of the stage drummer Jamire Williams brings energy and fire. The audience listened closely to everything, the band received a well-deserved standing ovation and left The Basement in a state of near bliss.

There are various videos around on Youtube. I won't link to them hear as they don't really do the night justice. However, here are some great photos from the official kineojazz photographer.

Click here for John Fordham's "proper" review of Dr Lonnie Smith Trio at Ronnie Scott's two nights later.

The Roadrunners: The Never-ending Tour (continued . . .)

2011-06-09T23:07:00.001+01:00

11/06/2011 - The Master Mariner, Brighton Marina, 8:30 pm
17/06/2011 - The Duke of Wellington, Shoreham, 8:30 pm
24/06/2011 - The Ranelagh, 8:30 pm
01/07/2011 - White Hart, West Hoathley, 8:30 pm
21/08/2011 - Standup Inn, Lindfield, 8:30 pm
24/09/2011 - The Master Mariner, Brighton Marina, 8:30 pm
30/09/2011 - The Ranelagh, 8:30 pm
23/10/2011 - Standup Inn, Lindfield, 8:30 pm
26/11/2011 - The Master Mariner, Brighton Marina, 8:30 pm

Thoughts on Wes Montgomery

2011-06-08T17:30:00.028+01:00

There there are a couple of reasons why, as a jazz guitarist, I have mixed feelings about Wes Montgomery. Don't get me wrong, Wes was a genius. His reputation is well deserved and he set a benchmark for high standards in improvisation, not just on guitar but on any instrument. The Incredible Jazz Guitar is one of my favourite jazz guitar albums of all time. So what are my reservations and why.

1. Guitarists influenced by Wes often end us sounding more like Wes than they do themselves (if that makes sense). I loved the work of Emily Remler, and her original material in particular (the album Catwalk). On standards territory she gets a bit too close to Wes and perhaps away from her own approach. From Wikipedia, this quote from People magazine in 1982 sums up her dilemma:

"I may look like a nice Jewish girl from New Jersey, but inside I’m a 50-year-old, heavyset black man with a big thumb, like Wes Montgomery."

It can be really dangerous taking your influences too far. Much as many an alto sax player has never got beyond the influence of Charlie Parker, the danger with Wes is that once you're into him, you just can't get away from him. I think that George Benson took what Wes did and developed his own style but I've heard quite a few guitarists over the years who I think haven't managed to do this.

2. Wes's soloing is almost too exciting sometimes. What do I mean this? He plays really fast, he crams in a lot of ideas, you don't have a chance to absorb one before you're flying onto to the next one. This quote from Wikipedia just about sums it up:

"Listening to [Wes Montgomery's] solos is like teetering at the edge of a brink," composer-conductor Gunther Schuller asserted, as quoted by Jazz & Pop critic Will Smith. "His playing at its peak becomes unbearably exciting, to the point where one feels unable to muster sufficient physical endurance to outlast it."

I have to admit that, in part, this suspicion of Wes is partly envy. I'm not the only one. I remember reading a funny Jim Hall story about how he spent a day with Wes in San Francisco trying to get his thumb caught in taxi cab doors. Wouldn't it be nice to have his style down off pat? Wouldn't it impress other guitarists? That said, we're all individuals and following the muse means going where the music takes you. I often feel a stronger affinity to Grant Green. He digs into fewer ideas, leaves more space, constantly interacts with the rhythm section and, for me, has a stronger emotional punch (I'm thinking here of Idle Moments, one of my favourite jazz albums of all time). And he's a very exciting player without being overwhelming.

In recent years my own playing has moved more and more away from diatonic harmony as I stretch things further and further. In fact I've been going back to Wes and understanding more and more where his own harmonic sense comes from. In my last post I quoted Lee Konitz talking about slowing solos down. I've been doing this with Wes solos recently. Listening to them over and over on half speed before transcribing them. This gets around the Gunther Schuller problem of the solos being unbearably exciting because you can really listen to and absorb the idea. The solos sound brilliant at any speed, just a more manageable at a slower speed, giving you plenty to savour.

I can already feel the fear of Wes abating. It's just important that I steer away from his octave playing - that's his signature and his alone. Discuss!

Interview with Lee Konitz in JazzTimes

2011-05-20T16:50:00.001+01:00

Interesting interview of Lee Konitz by Ethan Iverson of The Bad Plus in JazzTimes. Lee is promoting the new recording with Brad Mehldau, Charlie Haden and Paul Motian. I'll be looking out for it. Here are a few extracts.
Ethan on how Brad Mehldau levitates above the harmony

Ethan: I’ve heard a lot of Brad over the years, so I know what he is capable of. On this record he’s levitating above the harmony almost constantly and in a fascinating way.

Lee: Can I interview you? How would you describe that?

Ethan: I think that Brad is very comfortable with the original harmony so that he can overlay, not just one degree away from the harmony and form, but two or three degrees away from the form. For example, suppose you’re playing in D-minor. Brad is comfortable not just playing in E-minor, but perhaps in F-sharp-minor and perhaps both at the same time, even though it’s still really D-minor. That may be b.s. though.

Lee: I’m sure it’s one of the possibilities. I just wonder how many of these possibilities are clearly outlined as possibilities or if he’s intuiting into that so ingeniously. It’s a combination of both, of course.

How Lee warms up the band before a gig

Ethan: I was really impressed when we played a gig together in Pori [Finland] last year. Before the gig you invited the band to your hotel room to sing and tap together. I’ve seldom been with other musicians who took warming up for the gig that seriously.

What's the intention of Lee's soloing?

Ethan: Is it a conscious decision for you how much abstraction or newness you’re going to put into an interpretation when you start? It’s very different to play the melody of a ballad or play very out on it, as you know.

Lee: I usually start out with the hope that it will go in a new direction. When it doesn’t, I try to make the notes as meaningful as possible. That means for me playing less to start out with. That has proven very effective for me.

On slowing down great solos

Lee: I have one of these little dictation machines, a $49 machine with digital pitch control and a bunch of tracks. I have Lester Young solos, Wayne Shorter solos from Live at the Plugged Nickel, some Jamey Aebersold records, some Warne Marsh. I can listen to it at the different speeds. I haven’t had that facility because I don’t use a computer.

Ethan: It’s fun to hear those solos slowed down, isn’t it? You can hear what the notes are, finally. What I find amazing with people like Lester Young or Warne Marsh, is that even when you take their fast lines and slow them down, it sounds swinging—it’s still so rhythmically accurate.

Lee: They somehow slowed it down in their learning of the lines, and they’ve gradually sped it up as they felt each note. I think that’s the process.

kineojazz presents: Dr Lonnie Smith Trio, The Basement, 18th June

2011-05-19T16:48:00.004+01:00

web: www.kineojazz.com

tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/165121

Smithville debut at The Basement supporting Sue Richardson, 30th August

2011-05-01T16:34:00.010+01:00

We all had great time playing a varied set of memorable tunes:

Jeannine (Duke Pearson)
Joel's Domain (David 'Fathead' Newman)
Eternally (George Benson)
Mr Kenyatta (Lee Morgan)
502 Blues/Drinkin' & Drivin' (Jimmy Rowles)
Full House (Wes Montgomery)

People thought the band sounded great, particularly the combination of instruments - baritone, flute, organ & guitar. Hopefully a few more gigs on the horizon.

Thanks to Emily for the photos. Here's a video of Andy playing Eternally.

Really enjoyed Sue Richardson's set too. I particularly liked her flugelhorn playing. The band sounded great too - Andy William's long, flowing guitar lines, George Trebar's bass soloing, Sam Glasson's drumming and the very swinging piano style of Humphrey Lyttelton's pianist. Now what was his name?

Ascenseur pour l'échafaud - Louis Malle - (Elevator to the Gallows)

2011-04-28T11:23:00.006+01:00

I'd like to be in London for this:
JAZZ CONCERT
Music from Ascenseur pour l'échafaud and Orfeu Negro

4th May 2011
7pm for 8:30 pm
The 606 Club
90 Lots Road
London SW10 0QD
020 7352 5953

Miles Davis’ film music and improvisations for "Ascenseur pour l'échafaud"

http://www.soundonscreen.org/

Here's the beautiful Jeanne Moreau looking distracted while Miles' trumpet conjures up the mood of Fifties' Paris. It's a while since any of us had to pop into the local bar to see if anyone has called (25 years in my case!).

Thanks to the London Jazz Blog for highlighting this clip.

Kurt Rosenwinkel Quartet, Ronnie Scott's, 18 April 2011

2011-04-20T11:29:00.003+01:00

Photo from Kurt's website - http://www.kurtrosenwinkel.com/

The last time I saw Kurt he was with his standards trio, focusing on in depth interpretations of classic jazz tunes with a focus on chordal improvisation. This larger format (Aaron Parks on piano, Eric Revis on bass and Justin Faulkner on drums) showcased Kurt's compositions, his virtuosity and expressiveness as a melodic improviser and his ability to lead a band from the front. If the trio is at the George van Eps end of Kurt's spectrum (virtuosic chordal soloing, minimal effects), this quartet is at the Allan Holdsworth end (virtuosic single note soloing, an array of pedals).

From the drum intro to Our Secret World we could tell the this was going to be an evening of focused, energetic and intense music. I love the way that Kurt reinterprest and reinvents his compositions. Our Secret World is one of the intriguing tunes that made its debut on Heatcore. Comparing it to the version that Kurt played on Monday and the recent big band recording, it has matured considerably. Kurt's soloing had a deep yearning quality and within a few choruses he was really soaring, lines just flowing out of him. It lifted the music and, even though the material was probably unfamilar to most, it took the audience with him.

Kurt followed this with Deja vu, Safe Corners, A Shifting Design (and then I lost track). With each tune you could tell that Kurt was clearly aiming at something that he head in his head. By the the communication with the rest of the band and his comments about the (seemingly minor) inadequacies of the sound, he has the ears of a bat and just completey inhabits his world of sound. I like the way each band member has clearly defined roles (not always the case). Eric Revis take care of the bottom end with his bass. He doesn't try to play the bass like a guitar player (he didn't spend a lot of time at the dusty end) and he has a great groove. The young drummer Justin Faulker brought a lot of energy to the music and made sure that the collective sense of direction had some power behind it. Aaron Parks on piano never tried to compete with Kurt. He provided a lot of harmonic interest when comping and he solos had lots of space in them and interesting intervals (I made a mental note to check out some of his recordings).

Arrayed on the floor in from of Kurt were about 20 pedals and from where I sat it was really interesting to see how he userd them. He mixes the effects with a clean signal and is able to do things like hitting a volume-type pedal to sustain a particular note or chord, taking his foot off and them playing lines over the chord. Its totally built into his playing, as naturally as McCoy Tyner might use a piano sustain pedal. Seeing Kurt with his foot on the pedal reminded my at times of Jimi Hendrix - not just in terms of the effects but also in terms of the use of the band. Jimi usually told Noel Redding what to play (a lot of Eric's bass lines were composed) and Mitch Mitchell had the freedom to provide a lot of energy and interest (as Justin did).

The evening was all originals, I think, with the exception of one Mark Turner tune. It's difficult to say what his compositions are like. The majority of them I know through repeated listening. One point of comparison are the Wayne Shorter & Miles Davis tunes of the mid-Sixties. At times, I also thought of some of Led Zeppelin's more esoteric outings (e.g. Kashmir from Physical Graffiti). Obviously they are not easy to classify but they certainly acknowledge the jazz tradition in terms of their conception (heads, solos, the roles of the instruments).

A fantastic gig and great to see Kurt having an impact in the UK. He always seems to have had much wider acceptance in mainland Europe and had just come from 5 nights in Paris. Hearing this great New York band in Ronnie's made it feel like the Village Vanguard and, hopefully, it provided some influence and direction to some of the British musicians in attendance. This music is fresh, exciting and deep too. It's music I love.

Here is a review of the same gig from today's Financial Times.

Ronnie Singer

2011-04-17T21:10:00.005+01:00

I'm a big fan of René Thomas and in particular his later work from the Sixites and Seventies. In his early career he pretty much adopted the style of Jimmy Raney wholesale. Jimmy was a very cool guitarist who improvised brilliant melodic lines. He was a big influence on the the post-Django guitarists in France, notably René and Sacha Distel. An American with a style very like Jimmy was Jimmy Gourley, a who settled and made a career in France (there are plenty of videos on YouTube from French TV). In the Forties, the two Jimmys hung out in Chicago with another guitarist, Ronnie Singer, who was apparently the most gifted of the three.

Ronnie was never officially recorded and he died tragically young - just 24, he (a heroin addict) and and his wife committed suicide by asphixia in a gas oven. The three tracks here were recorded live c. 1950 and they show a confident and inspired soloist.

Note that the two Jimmys, René and Ronnie all played the Gibson ES-150 that Charlie Christian made famous with the Christian pickup.

I'd love to transcribe a few of Ronnie's choruses - in fact, I'll put that on the To Do list!

kineojazz - April and June dates

2011-03-28T19:45:00.005+01:00

Melvin Sparks RIP (March 22, 1946 - March 13, 2011)

2011-03-16T13:43:00.005Z

That great, funky guitarist died on Sunday due to complications associated with diabetes. This is a recent video of Melvin doing what he was famous for. There's also lots of great recordings to check our with Lou Donaldson, Lonnie Smith, Hank Crawford, Houston Person, Idris Mahammad, Bernard Purdie . . .

Link to Nate Chinen's New York Times obituary.

Jakob Bro: Weightless Film Trailer

2011-03-07T20:22:00.007Z

I"ve just been listening to Danish guitarist Jakob Bro's last CD, Balladeering. It's very much in the vein of Paul Motian's recent recordings (Jakob plays in Paul's electric band sometimes). The musicianship and musicality is of the highest order, as it should be with Paul Motian (drums), Lee Konitz (alto) and Bill Frisell (guitar) on the session.

The music is very laid back indeed. As Lee says at the recording session featured in the film, "I think it's established a very specific mood". There's lots of space with some lovely, light guitar twanging from Jakob and Bill, Paul's delicate drumming and Lee's alto sounding heartfelt.

The trailer (Part 1 of 3) gives a taster of the album. I particularly like the dialogue between mild-mannered Jakob and New Yorker Lee:

JB: Bill and I play the melody so you just . . .
LK: Fuck around
JB: Yeah . . .

Jakob seems to be an untutored musician but the following line from the Wikipedia entry rather gives the game away:

Bro has never received any musical training besides short periods spent at the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus, the Berklee College of Music in Boston and New School University in New York.

Well I wish that was the musical training I hadn't received!

BTW My daughter thinks one of the tunes sounds like this: Sufjan Stevens - Decatur

René Thomas with Eddie Louiss and Kenny Clarke

2011-02-27T23:26:00.002Z

Another great find, René playing his composition Meeting with some wonderful drumming from the great Kenny Clarke and great, single chorus of fours traded between all three. The band is on fire - about half way through traces of smoke appear from nowhere . . .

René Thomas - guitar
Eddie Louiss - organ
Kenny Clarke - drums

René Thomas - All Morning Long (Red Garland)

2011-02-27T23:13:00.002Z

Nice live recording of Rene on this blues from 1961. Gives me confidence that you don't have to play chord harmony in a trio format. Single notes played like this are just fine.

René Thomas (g); Benoît Quersin (b); José Bourguignon (d)
Recorded June 30, 1961, Comblain-La-Tour, Belgium

Jazz Guitar Celebration with Andy Williams in Hastings

2011-02-24T20:18:00.002Z

Tuesday night's gig in Hastings was fun. Roger Carey (bass) and Dave Trigwell (drums) were very accommodating and I particularly enjoyed listening to, and duetting with, Andy Williams. Andy is a fine, accomplished guitarist and his set nodded to such great guitarists as Django (a lovely solo arrangement of Nuages), Jack Wilkins (his arrangement of Chick Corea's Windows) and John Scofield (his composition Still Warm). The highlight for me was playing with Andy on the last two numbers - Skylark and Blues in the Closet. I didn't manage to record them, but I did manage to get the first set - Soul Eyes with Roger and Dave, then joined by Andy for How Insensitive (with a nod to Emily Remler and Larry Coryell) and a duet version of My Funny Valentine (Jim Hall and Bill Evans).

Recent gigs: Tony Kofi, Tractor Factor, Julian Nicholas

2011-02-18T08:54:00.008Z

It must be daunting playing with a pick-up rhythm section. Tony Kofi's band for Sunday night (13th Feb) at The Bruswick was Spike Wells (drums), Nigel Thomas (Bass) and Mark Edwards (piano). With Tony exclusively on tenor everyone was playing on top form but it was several numbers in, when they launched into Miles' Milestones (the older tune of that name) that the band really gelled. It's an interesting, intricate set of changes that Tony weaved in and out of with energy and grace. This was followed by a very funky version of Freedom Jazz Dance with some fine playing from Mark Edwards. Spike Wells was enjoying himself, chuckling as he played and Nigel Thomas laid down a very strong groove throughout, interacting beautifully with Spike and Mark. The second set kept the standard high with tunes such as Sometime Ago and Relaxin at Camerillo. Tony peppers his playing with quotes - Can't Buy Me Love cropped up several times - and a highlight was a favourite tune of mine at the moment, Jimmy Rowles' The Peacocks. A great gig overall and a really good turnout for a Sunday night. Worth looking out for his gig at the Brighton Jazz Club later in the year when he will be performing the music of Eric Dolphy with his own band.

The previous Thursday (10th Feb) I saw Tractor Factor at the tiny Bees Mouth on Western Road. The band is Luke Rattenbury (guitar), Tristan Banks (drums) and Andre Fry (drums). This was the band that appeared at the kineojazz event last year with Liane Carroll. They locked together into a very tight groove. Tristan laying down the foundations, Andre glueing the changes together with a very tasteful choice of notes and Luke bubbling away on top, providing the heads, funky rhythm guitar and some very percussive soloing. The band focused on getting stuck right into the guts of the rhythm. Of the material I recognised, there was one (possibly two) Ernest Ranglin tune, a Charlie Hunter tune and their take on Nardis. The fact that there were so many musicians in the audience, shows that the band is already highly respected by their peers locally. They deserve to be playing a lot more gigs.

The week before that (3rd Feb) I was amongst the well-heeled residents of Rottingdean for a Rottingdean Jazz Club gig with guest Julian Nicholas. The monthly gig is run by singer Imogen Ryall and pianist Rod Hart in a room above The Plough Inn. It's a fairly polite affair but some great playing from the whole band. Dave Trigwell played beautifully - his approach is almost balletic as it's graceful and refined - and Nigel Thomas played some very melodic bass solos. It was the first time I had heard Rod Hart and I enjoyed his playing a lot - reminding me at times of the West Coast bebop classicists like Hampton Hawes and the young Andre Previn. Imogen has the ability to make the words of a song matter, particularly on Kenny Wheeler's Everybody's Song But My Own. Julian Nicholas played tastefully throughout, although at times it felt as though he could have pushed it a bit further and broken through the atmosphere of polite dining. Imogen and Rod have done a great job of selling out the venue and it's worth checking out what else is coming up soon on their website: http://rottingdeanjazzclub.blogspot.com/

Kenny Burrell Trio - Jeannine

2011-01-21T22:58:00.004Z

Great version of the Duke Pearson classic by Kenny Burrell on a 1980s club date. Kenny's playing is distinctive and inimitable - downhome blues, bebop harmony, nice choice of chords to punctuate the soloing and that overdriven archtop guitar sound.

With Bob Magnusson on bass and the late Sherman Ferguson on drums.

NY Times article on Lennie Tristano's influence on musicians today

2011-01-09T18:48:00.009Z

Interesting article in the New York Times this week on the Lennie Tristano School and his influence on players like Mark Turner and Kurt Rosenwinkel. It's interesting how the issue of race is addressed (most of the Tristano school of players were white) and rhythm (he favoured a very staid rhythm section, despite the harmonic and rhythmic complexity of the written and improvised lines). This hasn't stopped Mark Turner taking the music as a starting point and addressing these perceived weaknesses:

“People thought it was cold,” Mr. Turner said.“The African diasporic rhythmic element was not there, not strong enough.” In his own music — notably with Fly, a leaderless trio that will appear at the Jazz Gallery on Tuesday — Mr. Turner set out to make an adjustment. “That’s something that I wanted to do, was bring that into the fold,” he said. “The harmonic information, the melodic information, all of that is so interesting, so why can’t it be brought into a warmer place rhythmically?” (He has a tune called “Lennie's Groove.”)

Growing up in Southern California, Mr. Turner discovered Warne Marsh and responded to the style. “It was almost like a no-no,” he said of his interest in the Tristano School. “No one was doing it, no one in the quote-unquote modern mainstream jazz world.” He responded to the articulate force of the music, but it was more than that: “Something about it spoke to my own personal life and upbringing, being a person of African descent brought up primarily in Caucasian neighborhoods. I felt I was going out on a limb, kind of like when I started listening to rock music and new wave and ska.”

It's great to see musicians like Mark Turner seeing how Tristano's approach can be made relevant to the 21st Century.

Here's Mark playing Lennie's Groove with Fly featuring Jeff Ballard on drums.

NY Times writer Nate Chinen continues his thoughts on his blog The Gig.

George Van Eps - I've Got a Crush on You

2011-01-07T20:55:00.002Z

This beautifully illustrates the approach described by Kurt Rosenwinkel in the quote below. This is real "lap piano" stuff. Literally "marvellous"!

Kurt Rosenwinkel, George Van Eps and Bach's fugues

2011-01-07T12:53:00.002Z

An interesting interview Kurt Rosenwinkel in the April 2010 edition of Downbeat. I am very intrigued by his playing of standards - both on the Reflections recording and having seen him live. He has a very dynamic approach to chord voicings, which he elaborates on in this extract:

Johann Sebastian Bach
Ask Rosenwinkel about his formative influences, and he’ll mention Kevin Eubanks, Pat Metheny, John Scofield, Bill Frisell, Tal Farlow and rockers Alex Lifeson and Jimmy Page. But his first-among-equals role model seems to be seven-string guitarist George Van Eps, whom he cites, along with the “Lute Suites” of Bach, as his source for creating multiple independent lines. “The possibilities that Bach’s music contains for the left hand are astounding—how it’s possible to play a fugue with three lines going in different directions at the same time, all contained within the finger mechanics of the left hand. George Van Eps was also dealing with moving lines inside of chords and cadences within a voice through left-hand finger mechanics. What he and Bud Powell have in common is a thorough and deep knowledge of the way that harmony connects in terms of the inner voices.”

Lennie Tristano: C Minor Complex

2011-01-03T19:58:00.001Z

Marvellous solo counterpoint from Lennie Tristano in his take on Pennies from Heaven.

2010/2011 - looking backwards, looking forwards

2011-01-03T14:30:00.002Z

2010 was a year of change for me, with major events in the areas of listening, learning and playing live jazz. It was quite a feat posting to the blog more than occasionally and highlights included:

Playing with Joe Lee Wilson and, in particular, the first kineojazz gig sharing the stage with Martin France, Steve Watts and Terry Seabrook. Playing with Joe Lee inspired me and helped me play above myself.
The few days I spent in New York visiting jazz haunts (Smoke, The Village Vanguard, Arturo's) and art galleries and, in particular, hanging out and playing with Joshua Breakstone - another great inspiration.
Brad Mehldau playing solo piano at The Wigmore Hall was intimate and intense and the moment when he played Waterloo Sunset towards the end of the encores at sunset on a Friday night was magical.
The organ trio gig at The Snowdrop with Terry Seabrook and Dom O'Meehgan was the point in which I started applying some of the new compositional approach I have been working on in a live context.
All of the kineojazz gigs but the last one of the year in particular because it felt as though we knew what we were doing and there was a great atmosphere.

I also really enjoyed the jam on my birthday the other day, Geoff Simkins' Saturday classes at Sussex Uni, listening to Brad's Highway Rider on CD and live, the Tuesday jams at The Brunswick, Martial Solal, LIam Noble . . . The list goes on. Interestingly I did fewer gigs that in the previous eight years, but seemed to enjoy the ones I did more.

Jam Session

I hear that gigs are currently thin on the ground, although I have a new regular Sunday afternoon gig at The Master Mariner with Jeff Howlett. It's good to see that lack of gigs is not putting people off playing. Hopefully, The Brunswick and Bees Mouth sessions will continue to thrive and shortly will be joined by The Jazz Store on a Wednesday night.

For 2011 I predict much more jamming and a rise in old-fashioned patronage to keep jazz musicians going during these austere times. And by the end of the year, I anticipate pub landlords, concert promoters and club owners falling over themselves to book jazz musicians to play to packed houses . . .

Claire Martin at the Basement Brighton 9th December

2010-12-15T21:26:00.005Z

The final kineojazz gig of the year was, along with the first Joe Lee gig, my favourite. A very good turn out and very relaxed atmosphere. The kineojazz team (Steve, Ela & myself) sort of know what we're doing now so fewer last minute panics. Lovely first set from Alice Hawkes and her band and it got a deservedly warm response. Claire's sets were given an additional lift by the presence of Gareth Williams on piano and expansive, swinging drumming from Ian Thomas. As ever, Laurence Cottle and Jim Mullen were on fine form. One highlight was a Claire accompanied solely by Jim Mullen with Close Enough For Love. Jim then left the proceedings and hopped onto a train back to London . . .

Nothing yet planned for 2011, but kineojazz will be taking stock over the hols and considering some surprises in the new year.

Claire Martin

Alice Hawkes, Martijn van Galen, Tim Slade

Congratulations Joe Lee Wilson!

2010-12-05T11:04:00.009Z

Joe Lee performing at The Basement this year

On November 14 sometime Brighton resident and living legend Joe Lee Wilson was inducted into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame. Joe Lee hails from Bristow Oklahoma before he moved to Los Angeles to study singing with, among other, Mario Lanza. He then made his reputation touring the West Coast before becoming a leading light in the New York loft scene in the Seventies.

Organisers tracked down his whereabouts through the kineojazz website and Joe Lee was there to receive the award in person, along with legendary composer Lalo Schiffrin. Inductees included:

Jay McShann Lifetime Achievement Award: Lalo Schifrin
Living Legend Award: Sam Rivers
Jazz & Blues Inductee: Joe Lee Wilson
Jazz Inductee: Artt Frank (Bebop drummer)

It's good to see Joe Lee getting some well-deserved recognition. Congratulations Joe Lee!

kineojazz Christmas event - next Thursday, 9th December

2010-12-02T19:09:00.000Z

Just a week until the next kineojazz event - a Christmas special (how appropriate in all this snow) and our last one this year. Claire went down a storm when she was with us back in June. Once again she has the fantastic guitarist Jim Mullen and virtuoso bass player Laurence Cottle. This time she is also joined by Ian Thomas on drums and Gareth WIlliams on piano. Claire's website has christened The Basement "Brighton's hippest music space".

Supporting Claire will be a set from local pianist Alice Hawkes and her quintet, including ace trumpeter Martijn van Galen.

Full details on the kineojazz website: http://www.kineojazz.com/ This includes photos and videos from all the previous gigs.

Tickets online from: http://uk.brownpapertickets.com/event/138771
Or, from theDome booking office, New Road, Brighton, 01273 709709

Nigel Price Organ Trio, The Brunswick, Brighton

2010-12-01T16:54:00.006Z

Nigel Price

Surrey-based guitarist Nigel Price was on fine form on Sunday night on this last date of his national tour. The guitarist was in classic organ trio format, ably supported by Matt Home on drums and Pete Whittaker on Hammond C3 organ (+ rotating Leslie). With a set largely inspired by the classic bop guitar of Wes Montgomery, Nigel demonstrated fiery virtuosity, sensitivity and and strong musical intelligence.

The tone of his archtop guitar (made by Lewes luthier Charlie Crabtree) is very like Wes, though he picks rather than playing with his thumb. With thick strings and a very low action, be plays with real grace and dexterity, caressing the strings and strumming harp-like harmonics. He can also get from A to B with a speed and energy that makes you listen with wonder.

The tunes he chose included Wes' funky bossa Road Song and Four On Six, Freddie Hubbard's Up Jumped Spring, Blossom Dearie's Sweet Georgie Fame (also covered by the late Emily Remler), Ellington's Prelude to a Kiss, Stanley Turrentine's arrangement of Love for Sale and an original funky tune in the style of Dr Lonnie Smith called Wavy Gravy.

Pete Whittaker on Hammond C3

Matt Home is a no frills drummer but with a really solid sense of time and great swing. I particularly enjoyed Pete Whittaker's hammond playing - really cool, nicely place phrasing and nothing too fussy. A contrast to Nigel in the right way.

One person described it as being like Ronnie's forty years ago. Close your eyes, listen hard and you would find it difficult to spot many traces of any jazz that had emerged in the last forty years. How is it different? Like Jim Mullen, Nigel peppers his playing with the blues-rockisms of Sixties guitarists like Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton. This may be a British thing a as guitarists like Peter Bernstein, Kurt Rosenwinkel and Jesse van Ruller seem to have purged their playing of these sort of clichés. That said, that blues feel is something that hooks in the ears of the non-jazz audience and, as such, I think it serves its purpose well. The other minor niggle I had was the frequent use of diminished chords as passing chords - "cheap glue" as Geoff Simkins is always reminding his students, quoting Peter Ind.

Nigel has a nice line in patter, paying tribute to the guitarists of past and present (Wes, Kenny Burrell and the Irish guitarist Louis Stewart), explaining the derivation of tunes and how he had changed them (e.g. moving from a 4 feel to a 6 feel) and generally drawing the audience into the music. I was really to discover where the name of Wes' arrange of the chords of Summertime came from - Four on Six is not some reference to the time of the tune but simply a reference to four finger on six strings. Of course!

Film Review: Chico & Rita, Duke of York's Picturehouse

2010-11-21T10:32:00.014Z

Great jazz films are all too infrequent. Animated films about jazz non-existent. Chico & Rita is a full-length animation set against a background of Havana and New York in the Forties and Fifties set to a soundtrack of Be-Bebop and Afro-Cuban rhythms. If you like be-bop, you'll love Chico & Rita.

Chico is the best pianist in Forties Havana, playground of the American rich. He plays the local clubs and gets a break when he sits in with Woody Herman's Four Brothers at The Tropicana to sight read Igor Stravinsky's Ebony Concerto. He meets the beautiful Rita, a nightclub singer. The couple spend a passionate night together before being disturbed by Chico's lover. The women fight and then both walk out on Chico. This is the start of a fifty year on-off romance. Rita finds fame in New York shows and Hollywood movies. Chico becomes a leading pianist playing with the likes of Dizzy Gillespie and Ben Webster.

Fiction and reality merge. Chico and his agent are in a Harlem club with Cuban percussionist Chano Pozo (who wrote Dizzy's hit Manteca) when he is gunned down by a drug dealer he has accused of selling him oregano instead of weed. This is based on fact. They walk into a club to hear Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk playing. Rita goes to the Village Vanguard to listen to Chico playing with Ben Webster. Chico is busted when drugs are found on him after a raid on a club and he is deported to Cuba where the revolution is in full flow.

The film was directed by Oscar winner Fernando Trueba (Belle Époque) and leading Catalan designer Javier Mariscal. Mariscal created the "look" of Barcelona in the Eighties and Nineties - his illustrations making it looking like Havana on The Mediterrean. His images dominated the Barcelona Olympics (remember Cobi the dog mascot and those cartoon city maps?). The movements of the characters are life-like (based on live action) and there is a sensuality about the dancing and sex scenes that is really unusual for animation. There is plenty of action - car chases in huge Buicks and Cadillacs, police raids, fight scenes - and wonderful cityscapes of Havana, New York and Paris. Though an animation, it is definitely aimed at adults.

Plenty of great jazz too. As well as the classic be-bop recordings of the era (Blue Monk, Manteca) Chico sits in a bar playing Bud Powell's beautiful Celia (the theme of the film is a tune Chico writes called Rita). Ben Webster playing in The Vanguard is actually Jimmy Heath and Nat "King" Cole is sung by his brother, Fredy. The music was written by Cuban bandleader, pianist and composer Bebo Valdés, who lived through the period and, like Chico, spent time in the States and Europe.

Obviously this was not a film created for jazz fans. It has the production values of a box office hit and pretty much any adult could enjoy the love story, the music, the action and the scenery. It may also change people's perception of Cuban music as it places Cuba at the cutting edge of modern jazz in the Forties.

Stan Getz "Dum! Dum!" featuring Renè Thomas, Eddy Louiss, Bernard Lubat

2010-11-20T20:00:00.006Z

Thanks to Niall for sharing this wonderful clip featuring Renè Thomas performing with Stan Getz. This band made one of Stan Getz's best live recordings - Dynasty - and was clearly a very tight outfit when they made this TV appearance. Renè's solo starts at about 5:06. It's only very short but it moved me. I hope some more clips like this turn up.

London Jazz festival: Brad Mehldau & Martial Solal

2010-11-17T14:01:00.013Z

Two contrasting gigs this week - Brad premiering Highway Rider with the Britten Symphonia at The Barbican and Martial Solal solo at The Wigmore Hall.

I'be been enjoying the Highway Rider record a great deal recently. It describes a metaphorical journey from, and eventually back to, home. Each piece along the way opens up and explores a world of sound and emotion - strong melodies, interesting tones, great interaction. It's an intimate chamber piece with the small orchestra used to add texture or describe a dimension of the music that wouldn't be apparent through a regular jazz group.

On stage it took on a different character. Broadly the same music but in a huge concert hall. Some great playing and interaction from Brad on piano, Larry Grenadier on bass, Jeff Ballard & Matt Chamberlain on percussion, and Joshua Redman on saxes. But the Britten Sinfonia stood out as being under utilised, spending much of the performance waiting patiently for the next orchestral contribution. I really liked the textures from the orchestra when it did contribute, particularly the bassoon, and along with some fairly standard American film score writing, there was some really interesting stuff, particularly one piece of rising & swirling atonality that must have had our poor traveller very confused and disoriented.

Highway Rider an ambitious piece of music and one that is typical of Brad Mehldau. He loves making jazz modern and relevant (with his covers of Radionhead, Nirvana, Nick Drake etc.) and he also likes to dive into the romantic tradition (the Highway Rider concept is similar to Schubert's Winterreise). His music is often personal and intimate but then he brings it to a large stage with an orchestra. Perhaps on some levels he was less successful but I would happily sit through the set several times over in order to appreciate the richness of what I was hearing. Themes are still popping into my head and I will continue to enjoy the recording for some time yet.

Frenchman Martial Solal was occupying the solo piano spot of the stage of The Wigmore Hall where I had seen Brad in early summer. Very sprightly and virtuosic for his 82 years, Martial treated us to a set of, largely standards such as There's a Small Hotel, Softly As In A Morning Sunrise, Cherokee, Have You Met Miss Jones, Body & Soul and Tea for Two ("One that I wrote on the train over from Paris this morning," he quipped). This was no ordinary set of standards. Much of the music was very free time-wise and, after playing a fragment of melody, he would dive into the cracks between the chords, do some exploring, and then continue where he left off. He clearly loves ideas and has a great sense of humour. Introducing All The Things You Are ("Here is a tune you all know - how many of you know the words?") he then played that first very familiar note of the melody, held it for 15 seconds before playing the second note, holding it for 10 seconds, going off on an excursion a and then coming back for the third note. When he has enough of improvising he would play the head and suddenly break off, often before the end, standing up from the piano as if to say "Baah, I've had enough of this!".

Once I has stopped playing spot the tune I was very happy to let myself be overwhelmed by the music of the piano in that beautiful hall, much as you might be overwhelmed by a landscape, a film, pleasant aromas and powerful emotions.

Portrait of Martial Solal in The Daily Telegraph

Ed Cherry Trio "Mogadishu"

2010-11-14T12:47:00.001Z

Great Guitar/Organ Trio playing from guitarist Ed Cherry. The balance of tones from drums organ and guitar is just right. Everyone is grooving along, doing their own thing yet keeping their ears wide open. Everyone gets a chance to stretch out without any one instrument being too dominant.

I've only got a couple of tracks recorded by Ed so it's time I did some more investigating.

Ahmad Jamal - Spartacus Love Theme

2010-10-31T20:44:00.003Z

A beautiful interpretation of the tune. Not too sentimental (it's a pretty sentimental tune), but one that captures an occasional mood. I also like the Bill Evans, Terry Callier and Frank Harrison versions but this one is new to me.

Gigs: Full Circle (Brighton) and Seamus Blake (London)

2010-10-31T20:22:00.005Z

Another busy week in which I managed to catch a couple of gigs. Last Sunday was Joss Peach and Full Circle at The Brunswick in Brighton. The trio featured Joss on piano, bassist Terry Pack and Dave Trigwell on drums. Overall, the music has a relaxed feel, hooking into modern pop by reinterpreting the likes of Sting, Massive Attack and a haunting version of Tainted Love featuring vocalist Rachel Munro ("A song about a failed relationship. Maybe you've had one, or maybe you're sitting next to one now!"). There was plenty of space in the music and Dave Trigwell played sensitively with (to him) some unfamiliar arrangements. I liked the overall sense of space in the music - space to think, reflect, enjoy. Perfect for a Sunday evening. Interestingly, the largely groove-based set did not lend itself to any startlingly solos. The one standard they performed was Clifford Brown's Sandu. Joss played with a lovely, light Wynton Kelly feel and his solo deserved the applause it received. Overall, Full Circle has a distinct identity and, evidenced by the good turn out, quite a few fans. The climax was fitting - everyone in the room got to play percussion - it's great to be treated as a part of the music, rather than just a passive listener.

My first visit to the 606 club in London. A nice space to listen to jazz - the sound is good, you're physically close the musicians. Leading NYC tenor saxophonist Seamus Blake was playing a guest spot with musicians he had only met that day. American band leader Michael Janisch, who I last saw performing with George Garzione, is a muscular bassist - fantastic chops, Mingus-like sound and beautiful note choices. Ernesto Simpson is a fine Cuban drummer who inhabits the beat, playing both sensitively and with intensity but never playing loudly. Seamus played with conviction and focus. A big tone, thoughtful choice of notes and and that ability to communicate directly to the audience through the horn. That left Phil Robson on guitar and Alex Garnett on tenor. Alex provided most of the arrangement- broadly bebop in influence - but his playing suffered next to Seamus. He can play fast (as in lot of notes) but he didn't seem to have a lot to say. Phil Robson can also play lots of notes but I didn't get a strong sense of Phil as a person through his music. The Cuban-American trio definitely made the evening for me. I'd like to hear Phil Robson again, playing his own music perhaps. I would have loved to have heard Seamus play some of his own compositions (I've been listening to his Live in Italy record, which has some great tunes on). A minor niggle - I felt lucky to have caught him at all.

Patronage in jazz?

2010-10-18T22:31:00.005+01:00

A number of recent experiences and encounters have highlighted to me the sad fact that gigs for the jobbing jazz musician are currently in short supply. As one recently said to me, the regular pub and function gigs are few and far between, although the specialist jazz gigs, though few, are better than ever. My one regular jazz gig is now under threat because the pub has changed hands and the entertainment budget slashed. What's the motivation for a promoter to put on a jazz gig. A love of the music? Yes. A desire to make money? Most definitely not.

Perhaps we need to start thinking differently about how we support jazz through these hard times. Public arts spending is being comprehensively reviewed, but there are other ways of supporting the arts. . . old fashioned private patronage. In the 18th and 19th Centuries European aristocrats patronised composers such as Mozart and Beethoven. More recently, and closer to home, Geoff Simkins mentioned to me some BBC World Service staff up in Hampstead who used to club together and get jazz musicians to perform in their homes. Perhaps we need to see more private patrons of jazz.

I came across this video of of David Newton & Bobby Wellins playing "Out of Nowhere" in a private house concert earlier this year on the LondonJazz blog. If I could afford to live in a house with those beautiful windows, I would be tempted to fund my own jazz season. Some beautiful playing from both and perhaps some inspiration for an aspiring jazz patron. Any takers?

Ken Peplowski, The Caxton Arms, 7th October

2010-10-08T18:51:00.008+01:00

Last night's gig with US reeds player Ken Peplowski was "a swingin' affair", as Frank would say. Joined by top local players Steve Thompson (bass), Piers Clark (guitar) and Mark Edwards (piano) in an all-acoustic setting, Ken wowed the packed basement of the The Caxton Arms with a stream of swing classics. On his clarinet, the style was very much Benny Goodman. Beautifully executed heads and solos on tunes such as Moonglow, Avalon and Charlie Christian's A Smooth One. His tenor playing is very smooth and melodic, like Lester Young. I particularly liked his rendition of Ike Quebec's Jim Dawgs (based on I Got Rhythm changes) and Body and Soul.

Of the other musicians, Mark Edwards showed what a versatile player he is. Although I have heard him playing hard bop, modern jazz and gospel, he was equally at home playing in the pre-bop style of the Thirties and Forties. As an inventive soloist, he stood shoulder to shoulder with Ken throughout. Steve Thompson's bass was brushing the ceiling but this did not effect his bass playing in any way. He swung hard and played some lovely solos. Piers Clark has honed a rhythm guitar style that makes him sound as though he has been catapulted forward from the Thirties in a time machine. He played impeccable four to the bar throughout and, with no drummer, added a nice brushes and hi-hat feel to the sound. Ken was careful to give Piers a few solo choruses here and there and he filled them with some nice chord melodies.

It was great hearing a completely acoustic band. The ears get used to it in no time at all and the sound was rich, full and subtle. Ken sounded most beautiful on his solo version of Duke Ellington's Single Petal of a Rose.

Ken demonstrated a ready wit and shared plenty of banter and anecdotes with the audience. This crowd-pleasing style of swing is clearly his core repertoire, though there's an interesting profile here saying that he is equally at home playing Ornette Coleman and The Beatles.

The evening was a successful start to a season of jazz events with name musicians and a local rhythm section, the next being trumpeter Enrico Tomasso on October 21. The venue is called Smalls, like the Greenwich Village jazz club, but some thought needs to go into making sure it can fit the eighty odd audience comfortably. Standing through two sets can be tiring and getting to the bar was challenging!

First review of kineojazz gig with Liane Carroll and Luke Rattenbury

2010-10-07T19:41:00.006+01:00

Great 5* review of last week's gig in the Brighton Evening Argus.

"The Basement is a great jazz venue"

"Liane Carroll certainly filled that space. Irrepressibly larger than life and with a wicked sense of humour, her personality came over with a voice that was consistently powerful and agile and held the whole audience – ranging from a 75th birthday to a surprisingly large following of guys in their 20s – spellbound."

"[Of the LR Trio] There was musical playing from all three, including some notably lyrical bass solos."

Once again it was a pleasure to work with Steve and Ela in organising the event. Each one gets a little easier and we always learn plenty along the way . . .

Looking forward to the Latin Night with Ela's Remember April bossa nova band and Terry Seabrook's Cubana Bop on 17th November.

Two great videos of guitarist René Thomas

2010-10-01T23:56:00.013+01:00

With the The International Jazz Quintet on Belgian TV in 1962: Bobby Jaspar, tenor sax, flute; Amadeo Tommasi, piano; René Thomas, guitar; Benoît Quersin, double bass; Daniel Humair, drums. This is the band that toured and recorded with Chet Baker.

Great soloing from René - heavy strings, a thick pick and some wonderful sweep picking.

Live at the Snowdrop, Lewes, 20th September

2010-09-24T01:14:00.003+01:00

It was an enjoyable gig at the Snowdrop on Monday where I was playing in the classic organ trio format with Terry Seabrook (organ) and Dominic O'Meehgan (drums). Terry comp'ed in the classic organ style of the likes of Brother Jack McDuff and Jimmy McGriff with his soloing style being more reminiscent of the modern jazz stylings of Larry Young (as witnessed on the fantastic Unity album). Dominic combined the fire and energy of Art Blakey with the polyrhythmic dexterity of Tony Williams.

I recorded the gig on a little Edirol digital recorder. The tracks below are just a representative selection from the set.

Moanin' - Rhoda Scott 1972

2010-09-19T14:41:00.001+01:00

Thinking of tomorrow's organ trio gig with Terry Seabrook reminded me of this great clip of Rhoda Scott. That's a great groove for just two people!

Kit Downes Trio, Brighton Jazz Club, 10th September

2010-09-12T16:09:00.018+01:00

Being nominated for the Mercury Music Prize as this year's token jazzers doesn't seem to to have done much to Kit Downes' confidence. The pianist seemed genuinely surprised and humbled by the warm reception he got at the Brighton Jazz Club on Friday. One imagines that in the extremely unlikely event that he had won the top prize, the Trio would have been ill suited to playing the main stage at Glastonbury because the music is intimate and, as such, more suited to the small jazz club.

The band have a classic piano jazz trio set-up, Kit to the left and drummer James Maddren to the the right with bassist Calum Gourley acting as a kind of fulcrum between the sparring partners. Kit is not a flashy player. There's a fragility and thoughtfulness to his playing and, rather than creating strong solo lines, he uses the piano to create textures. Drummer James Maddren, who last impressed me at BJC with alto saxophonist Geoff Simkins, plays with great freedom and a wonderful sense of dynamics. He can go from quiet and controlled to loud and surprising very quickly, but always tastefully. I love the look on his face as he plays - transported to some place inside the music. Interestingly bassist Calum Gourley played strong melodic lines on his solos, by way of contrast to Kit.

The set was made up almost entirely of Kit's compositions. The tunes that stood out were Skip James - a piece that conjured up an eerie Texan landscape, like Ry Cooder's score to Wim Wenders' Paris Texas - and Jump Mitzy Jump as it reminded me of our kittens when they have that five minute frenetic burst of activity. The compositions are strong enough to make me want to get to know the records. In terms of comparisons, a bit of EST and a bit of Brad Mehldau, though less intense. One thing that intrigued me about the tunes was where the composing ended and the improvising started. I thought the same thing with Phronesis earlier in the year. You can't see the joins but you want to be reassured that the bulk is improvised.

It can be tough presenting entirely original, unfamiliar compositions to an audience. It was therefore something of a relief mid-way through the second set when they went into a beautiful, understated version of the standard Skylark. The melody of that tune is so strong, they didn't have to do much with it. It was like listening to the blooming of a flower, time-lapse style.

It was of no surprise to learn that the three shared a house as students. They played without music, seemed very supportive of each other and the music had the good humour of mates playing together. They didn't seem at all surprised that they weren't the victors last week. I think it would take quite a lot to distract them from their current path.

Here's a video of Kit Downes talking about and playing Jump Minzy Jump.

New Kurt Rosenwinkel record out next week!

2010-09-03T16:35:00.006+01:00

I'm very excited by the prospect of a new Kurt Rosenwinkel record which showcases his compositions in an orchestral setting. Kurt is a brilliant guitarist but what I like most of all is the depth and originality of his tunes. The influences are almost untraceable - european classical and folk, science fiction, hip-hop, pop, world music and jazz. They just seem to be the product of a massive musical imagination, intelligence, intuition and a big heart. Admittedly, his style may not be as easily accessible as, say Brad Mehldau, but I've found it rewards repeated listening.

The album was recorded with the Orquestra Jazz de Matosinhos (OJM), a Portuguese big band, and is released on the independent WOM label. You can catch some pre-release excerpts here. From what I've heard so far, it sounds great and is probably one of Kurt's most accessible recordings.

Brunswick Jazz Jam Session, Hove, Tuesday evenings

2010-08-27T16:42:00.007+01:00

Paul Richards has made a real success of The Brunswick Jazz Jam on Tuesday evenings. It was packed this Tuesday with a good mix of musicians and general listeners. Paul is great at encouraging people to take part and he has managed to established a very relaxed atmosphere where people are not scared of joining in. The high level of interest in the session and the high standard of talent on show bodes well for the future of live jazz in Brighton.

Jamming at The Brunswick by Monika Henter

Paul himself is a fine guitarist. He plays a nylon-strung Godin guitar and uses a classical right hand technique which gives him a very pianistic approach - chords, arpeggios and single note lines - and a beautiful tone. He is certainly one of the best jazz players I have heard live in this vein (Pat Metheny does it brilliantly and I saw Charlie Byrd many years ago, but he was past him prime).

I got to play with some great musicians - Paul, Charlotte Glasson (sax and flute), Eddie Myer (bass), Wayne McConnell (piano) and a young drummer called Peter Adam Hill. The photo is from the Brunswick Jazz Jam facebook group (which is worth joining for details) and was taken by Monika Henter.

Herman Leonard: March 6, 1923 – August 14, 2010

2010-08-22T19:46:00.008+01:00

Lester Young by Herman Leonard

Herman Leonard died last week. Photographers like Francis Wolff, William Caxton and Hermann Leonard pretty much created the image of jazz in the 'Fifties and 'Sixties on the East and West Coast of the US. These photos took on a new life when jazz was being re-discovered in the 'Eighties when they also became synonymous with a particular type of advertising (remember "yuppies"?).

The photo above is from a nice little movie short he made that I saw on Channel 4 years ago and have on a fading video somewhere. That's Lester Young beneath the pork pie hat.

Here's an obituary in Slate: http://www.slate.com/id/2264119/.
And a BBC audio slideshow: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-11000692

kineojazz - Autumn/Winter 2010 Programme!

2010-08-20T18:20:00.013+01:00

Preston Park velodrome in the snow

The kineojazz team (Ela Southgate, Steve Rayson and I) has just finished putting together a programme for the autumn. Like the Joe Lee Wilson and Claire Martin gigs we will be once again using Brighton's best (IMHO) jazz venue - The Basement.

In choosing artists to put on we have aimed to combine the local angle, those who have a national reputation, strong jazz pedigree and an ability to appeal to a broad audience. Here is the full list of gigs:

Thursday 30th September: Season Kick Off!
LIANE CARROLL TRIO with support from Luke Rattenbury Trio
Pianist/Singer Liane is from Hastings, has won many top awards and is known for her passionate live performances. Guitarist Luke Rattenbury is a regular on the Brighton and promises an exciting jazz/latin set with top class comrades Tristan Banks (drums) and Andre Fry (bass).

Wednesday 17th November: Latin Jazz!
CUBANA BOP with support from Remember April
Terry Seabrook has refreshed his Cubana Bop line up but it's good to see tenor saxophonist Ian Price is still in the band. Ela's Remember April will augment their distinctive bossa nova stylings with some three-part harmonisations from Ela, Rachel Dey and Sara Oschlag.

Thursday 9TH December: Christmas Special!
CLAIRE MARTIN with support from Alice Hawkes Quartet
Claire is back with her band featuring fantastic guitarist Jim Mullen. Alice Hawkes plays some tasteful piano with a band that features Py (tenor and soprano sax), Tim Slade (double bass) and Graham Allen (drums). Expect some modern jazz standards and orginal compositions.

If you haven't been before the kineojazz nights are definitely "an event" (rather than just another gig) and makes for a great night out.

You can find full details on the kineojazz website: http://www.kineojazz.com/.

Blues in the Closet: Treatment of the Blues

2010-08-13T21:17:00.006+01:00

Two versions of Oscar's Pettiford's Blues in the Closet. Jim Hall is not really know for his blues playing. On this version he never moves that far away from the tune but takes a few tips from his ex boss, Sonny Rollins, and deconstructs it in various interesting ways. It's Jim at his best - spontaneous, thoughtful and witty. Attila Zoller, not exactly a conventional player himself, also plays with a lot of freedom, spinning some really interesting, swinging, bluesy lines lines. I'm impressed that both players can play so freely in front of TV cameras, but then they have a wonderful rhythm section to support them - Red Mitchell on bass and a very familiar-looking drummer (Daniel Humair I think). If only there was a jazz version of Later with Jools Holland . . .

I like the Bud version of the tune too. It's played quite slowly but is beautifully ornamented and quite Monk-ish in places.

A Portrait of Grant Green . . .

2010-07-23T21:43:00.005+01:00

Grant Green by Francis Wolff

Looking cool, nonchalant, laid back, sharp, confident, assertive, on it . . .

Pepper Adams: BOSSANOUVEAU

2010-07-17T15:31:00.003+01:00

Pepper Adams (1930-1986) aka "The Knife". What a wonderful player!

Jazz Fiction - some personal favourites

2010-07-16T17:23:00.013+01:00

Haruki Murakami - South of the Border, West of the Sun (1992)
Jazz hardly features in this novel, but the protagonist runs a successful jazz club (as Japanese writer Murakami did himself) and it features Ellington & Strayhorn's Star Crossed Lovers, which represent the doomed love affair explored in the
book. Hajime is an only child in post-war Japan who develops a close relationship with Shimamoto, another only child, through spending afternoon's after school listening to her father's record collection. They drift apart but he reappears years later, when Hajime is a husband, parent and successful jazz club owner. The love they have is strange, irrational and intense and comes very close to jeopardising his marriage. After a strange kind of consummation, she disappears forever, leaving him bereft, until he slowly works his way back to his wife, who has been standing patiently by, and a new life. The book has a melancholy feel to it, a sort of 2:00 am jazz club ballad feel. When a friend introduced this book to the book club I belong to, the men liked it, the women didn't. It captures a very masculine sentimentality - Shimamoto never seems real, she's not rounded in any way. That said, it somehow captures some aspect of the male mid-life crisis very poetically, even musically.

Geoff Dyer - But Beautiful: A Book About Jazz (1991)
English writer Geoff Dyer takes the bare facts of some well-known jazz stories (Lester Young court-martialed by the Army because of an inability to cope with a racist Drill Sergeant, Chet Baker's teeth knocked out by an angry drug dealer in a San Francisco diner, Art Pepper sentenced to five years in prison on a Heroin possession conviction) as his themes and then creates his his own version of them. The jazz musicians are artistic giants. On Thelonious Monk; "Whatever it was inside him was very delicate, he had to keep it very still, slow himself right down so that nothing affected it." On Ben Webster; "He carried his loneliness around with him like an instrument case. It never left his side." He creates an imaginary jazz world out of music, photos and stories. The book is beautifully written - every word carefully chosen - and is made more remarkable by the fact that the writer hadn't even visited America when he wrote it.

Antonio Munoz Molina - Winter in Lisbon (1987)
Probably my favourite jazz novel. Jazz pianist Santiago Biralbo is the house pianist of the The Lady Bird jazz club in San Sebastian. He falls in love with the mysterious and beautiful Lucrecia, the wife of an American art dealer. The love is obsessional and doomed and, straight out of film noir, takes place in clubs, taxis, after dark, in a discrete cafe on the hill overlooking La Concha, the beach at San Sebastian. The plot involves gangsters, guns, heroin, booze, years of waiting, and a car journey through the night from San Sebastian to Lisbon. In Lisbon American musician Billy Swann is in a psychiatric hospital. Santiago toured Europe with him for many years as Tete Monteliou, would have toured with the visiting Amercan greats like Lionel Hampton. The descriptions of Santiago on creative flights at the piano are the best I've read. Parts of it are like South of the Border, West of the Sun (mysterious women who are more figments of the imagination than real). The book started life as a film script and a film was made with Dizzy Gillespie as Billy Swann. Dizzy also recorded the sountrack. The film never went on general release (I'd love to see it), though you can pick up the CD. Antonio Munoz Molina is one of Spain's finest writers and this is probably the one of the best-written novels with a jazz theme.

James Baldwin - Sonny's Blues (1957)
A black school teacher in Fifties' America tells the story of his younger brother, Sonny, a Charlie Parker-loving bebop pianist and drug addict. As a schoolboy he decides he wants be a jazz pianist and there are some great descriptions of his single-minded practising:

He'd play one record over and over again, all day long sometimes, and he'd improvise along with it on the piano. Or he'd play one section of the record, one chord, one change, one progression, then he'd do it on the piano. Then back to the record. Then back to the piano.

The story shows what a massive, all-consuming commitment it is to give yourself to jazz:

I had never before thought of how awful the relationship must be between the musician and his instrument. He has to fill it, this instrument, with the breath of life, his own. He has to make it do what he wants it to do. And a piano is just a piano. It's made out of so much wood and wires and little hammers and big ones, and ivory. While there's only so much you can do with it, the only way to find this out is to try; to try and make it do everything.

Though of its time, this book provides a real insight into one of the most fertile periods in jazz. It was no longer popular music, it was an art that demanded dedication and sacrifice. It get's right inside the appeal of jazz to both a musician and the audience.

Mike Outram ~ The Electric Campfire

2010-07-16T09:15:00.001+01:00

Mike Outram is one of the UK's most interesting jazz (funk, fusion, whatever) guitarists. He also has a website packed with interesting resources - lessons, live recordings, videos, blog posts and more. His most recent posts is 19 great books about music, musicians, artists and the creative process, most (in fact, all) of which I haven't read and would like to check out. I won't re-publish the whole list here but will be be looking out for writings by Aaron Copland, Paul Morley and Leonard Bernstein. I'm also going to compile a list of my own favourite jazz-related books. Watch this space.

“Use ideas sparingly”

2010-07-09T19:50:00.007+01:00

This isn’t a blog entry more an aide memoire. This is probably the most useful piece of advice I have taken away from Geoff Simkins Saturday workshop (thank you Geoff) and one that only hit home in the last few minutes of the last workshop of term.

I’m hoping it’s a piece of advice I can keep with me. When I play live, I often try to keep at least one piece of advice in my head, such as:

Project the sound like a trumpet

Play clearly and confidently

Hold onto that feeling

Play with conviction

Hold onto ideas, don’t let them go

Make the music dance

Make the music smile

Remember some of things I have learnt

Forget all the things I have learnt

Play with an open heart

Enjoy it

Don’t forget the audience

Don’t forget the other musicians

Play for myself

Play for the one person who is listening, and now

Use ideas sparingly!
This has to be the antidote to simply throwing in every musical idea that comes into your head when soloing. Take an idea, explore it and develop it until you can’t think of anything more to do with it and a new ideas pops into your head. I just need to remember this.

time will tell: conversations with paul bley by norman meehan (Berkeley Hills Books, 2003)

2010-07-09T19:45:00.013+01:00

I really enjoy Paul Bley’s playing from early recordings like Footloose and Closer to his later solo work. There is openness, accessibility and originality to his playing that is his own. time will tell: conversations with paul bley gives us an insight into the world view of an uncompromising artist. His opinions on jazz and improvising are boldly stated. He describes himself as “preaching American Iconoclasm”. In this respect he is like the philosopher Nietzsche, another iconoclast (very influential in America) and, like Nietzsche he often talks in aphorisms. Just as his music is “composition in real time”, his opinions seem thought through and thoroughly “composed”.

Working professionally from the age of 14, Paul Bley sought out and played with the giants of jazz – Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins, Ornette Coleman. These characters were pugnacious like Bley himself, who describes epic on-stage musical battles between Titans such as Sonny Rollins and Coleman Hawkins (“It was like a prize fight, and I was trying not to get hit by the blows that had gone astray”). The book is peppered with fascinating, often funny, anecdotes that shed light on their approach to jazz. It also has the best elucidation of Ornette’s approach that I have ever come across and detailed analysis of some of Paul’s landmark recordings.

For this blog entry, I’ve pulled out some quotes that I believe offer valuable, even useful, insights into jazz improvisation and the jazz life by a master improviser.

On improvisation, composition and performance

I don’t think musicians can study improvisation very well, but they can certainly study composition. (p.7)

Improvisation is composition in real time. (p.8)

When improvising you don’t have an opportunity to lose your train of thought. (p.8)

When improvising is done correctly it will sound like it was composed. (p.8)

Each of my recordings is an opus number . . . dictated by the year, month, day and hour it was recorded. (p.8)

The way to learning how to make music is to find an audience. Anything you learn by yourself in a private room is useless, because when you play for another human being there is feedback . . . The purpose of playing music is communication. (p.35)

There’s an argument here for completely avoiding improvisation in your practise regime. After all, wouldn’t the time spent playing along to Jamey Aebersold & Band in a Box be better spent transcribing and writing solos and compositions and developing the technical facility required to realise compositional ideas instantly? If the purpose of music is communication, the performance is what matters and this is perhaps the only time that true improvisation should take place.

On practising

The jazz world likes mistakes because you can hear the musicians correcting. In the classical world there is a willingness to rehearse pieces until they are perfect. How do you get to Carnegie hall? Practice. But that’s not the way to get a jazz reputation. The more daring you are as a jazz musician, the more engaged the listener is. (p.9)

The whole idea of getting it right first time is a jazz aesthetic. (p.9)

There is a basic advantage in not being able to play well, in that if your music is very simple then you are less likely to play bad notes. The more notes you play the more likely you are to play a lot of bad ones. By limiting your choices you improve the result of the music . . . (p.57)

A scale is an ugly thing and it’s a very bad discipline to expose yours ears to bad music in the name of technique. (p.57)

Like me, a lot of poor musicians will be heartened by the thought that “there is a basic advantage in not being able to play well.” I like Paul’s sense of humour – he was a child prodigy and probably had much of his piano technique sorted by the age of 14. That said, isn’t it a common complaint that many college educated jazz players sound too schooled? And that schooling can be the enemy of jazz? Put the word “daring” into context – the more practised you are, the more difficult it is to reach the outer edges of your technique. Alternatively, perhaps you can only really be daring if you only ever improvise in performance and otherwise steer clear of it. If you really believe that improvisation is instant composition, you’re going to eschew all of all those clichés you have picked up and just follow the logic of your musical ideas.

As for scales, they teach you to get around the instrument comfortably but perhaps they should be abandoned in favour of exercises and studies that at least sound beautiful (e.g. Bach, Kreuzer, Tristano).

On having a musical purpose

You can’t see where you are unless you are working 5 years ahead of yourself, looking back from where you are now. (p.13)

Bird said “I’m never here, I’m always there.” (p.13)

Paul Hindemith said you have to be able to see the whole thing in a single flash before you start to play. It doesn’t come from nowhere, it comes from an idea you have before you play of what you would like to get done, and there is the whole piece before you play it. (p.15)

These ideas are obscure and difficult to grasp and, at this point, we may be in the rarefied world of the bona fide genius. That said I know from other experiences in life that the logic of a series of actions is only clear in hindsight: for example, I work to a strategy and objectives and I jettison both during their execution only for them to come back into focus at the end of the process – that’s what I was doing all along! I also know that it is possible to conceive of the outcome at the moment you embark on something; from my commercial experience this means being able to envisage a clear outcome to a project of creative endeavour at its inception. Surely with experience and discipline we may know in an instant how the seed of an idea may grow, blossom and bear fruit in the course of a few choruses? If I sit down and transcribe a Dexter Gordon solo, it has a formal perfection to it that makes it appear pre-conceived. Presumably, this is the same with traditional sculpture – Michelangelo could not edit the sculpture of David, only realise it or abandon it.

On being original

The code of ethics for being a player is not necessarily acceptable at the family table. (p.22)

Whatever it takes for you to play better is important enough for you to go after by any means required. That means lie, steal and cheat. It means putting your spouse out to work, getting them to sacrifice their life for you, if what you are attempting to accomplish is of use to whole group of people – an ethnic or geographic or philosophic group. (p.22)

Yes, I can just imagine the conversations over dinner . . .

On Bill Evans and the problem of tone

I’m an antagonist of Bill Evans, unlike most pianists who are devoted fans of his playing. If I go to a pianists house and there is a Bill Evans record playing while he is making coffee, my first thought is to open the window and chuck it out, for his sake, for her sake. (p.24)

So we are talking about tone. You see, the audience only responds to tone. It does not respond to intelligence, it does not respond to ideas, and ideas are the main premise of what I like to think I am doing. But the audience [ . . .] only responds to tone and sound. There are also people who respond to the tone and sounds of Luciano Pavorotti, or Yo Yo Ma. These tones and sounds are trance-like, hypnotic, and so the audience loses track of any intellectual engagement they may have had at the start of the performance, and are completely taken into this universe of sound, which hypnotise the listener into a different place. (p.24)

Bill’s work stopped at a crucial point, and yet we consider him a master. It was because his tone was so beautiful that he captivated people. (p.26)

Among Modern jazz fans, who hasn’t been seduced by the sound of Bill Evans, and isn’t it a great thing to have about the house when you are cooking, eating, drinking or doing the washing up? It doesn’t demand that you engage with it. But isn’t part of the enjoyment of music sensual as well as intellectual? This is a tricky one. Sonny Rollins’ tone is rough hewn and unsentimental (full on, no vibrato), Bill Evans’ is delicate and beautiful (crepescular, impressionistic like Ravel, Debussy, Satie). Is this a Great Schism? Are they mutually exclusively? Can you not enjoy both the sensual and intellectual in jazz? Hmmmm . . . What do you think?

Note that for all the apparent knocking of Bill Evans, Paul holds him in the highest regard and on George Russell’s Jazz in the Space Age recording was horrified to find that Bill could play Paul Bley better than Paul Bley!

On moving and singing whilst playing

Lennie Tristano . . . said that if you are busy kicking your legs in the air and screaming while you play, you are putting your energy in places that are not exactly related to what you are trying to get done. So it is important to put all your energy into what is happening. And not just sing while you play, but make your playing “singing like”. (p.32)

Perhaps he has a point, but one lost on Bud Powell, Keith Jarrett, Glenn Gould. . .

Thanks to saxophonist Andy Pickett for introducing me to this fascinating book. If you don't have any Paul Bley recordings, please buy some. Here is one, Mr. Joy from the Turning Point record with Gary Peacock (bs) and Billy Elgart (dr), recorded in 1964:

Joshua Breakstone on Creativity

2010-06-19T08:50:00.001+01:00

Terry Pack Quartet, Hare & Hounds, Worthing, 14 June

2010-06-15T13:48:00.004+01:00

Bass player Terry Pack and his quartet got into a relaxed groove in front of a warm and appreciative Hare & Hounds audience last night. Kicking off with Sam Rivers' classic Beatrice, tenor saxophonist Rob Leake demonstrated a rich tone and ear for a melodic line. The band moved onto several of Terry's compositions and arrangement form his Terry's CDs What Happens Now (2006) and Palimpsest (2010). The compositions were underpinned by Terry's solid and elegant bass grooves overlaid with some great soloing from Rob and from pianist Joss Peach. Joss doubled on percussion and his piano playing also had a strong percussive element to it - well-placed, interesting notes, some bluesy inflexions, phrases being taken "out". A special mention should also go to youthful-looking drummer Dave Cottrell - his playing is very sparky as he listens and reacts to what is going on around him. Of the arrangements, Terry takes a well known jazz tune (Blue in Green, All Blues, Nardis, How Insensitive, Sting's Fragile) and superimposes it on a funky, latin or jazzy groove. It makes for a pleasant, relaxed, warm summer evening's listening and one the audience clearly enjoyed.

Claire Martin sings "But not for me"(George & Ira Gershwin)

2010-06-12T21:03:00.001+01:00

John Harris Trio,"You would be so nice to come home to"(Cole Porter).

2010-06-12T20:08:00.003+01:00

Recorded at The Basement, 02/06/10 by Niall Burke.

Brad Mehldau, Solo Concert, Wigmore Hall, 4 June

2010-06-06T21:10:00.017+01:00

Seeing Brad Mehldau around the corner from the Wigmore Hall, he looked distracted, as though he'd gone out from some air and forgotten how to get back to the artists' entrance. Which jazz musician wouldn't feel distracted at the thought of a solo recital in a classical music venue?

Brad began his set with the opener from his new record, Highway Rider - John Boy ("after Johannes Brahms and John Boy Walton"). The piece set the mood for the evening - bubbling left hand patterns, strong melody in the right hand and a restless creativity at work in the improvised sections. Brad and the enormous Steinway filled the stage and, although we were at the back of the gods, we could see and hear everything. The sound that filled the hall was beautiful - rich and subtle, bringing out the full range of ideas Brad worked through in the lower middle and upper registers.

Brad's approach brings together his key musical influences: the many years of piano lessons studying the classical canon and, presumably, German romanticism in particular; the jazz standards he has dedicated much of his professional jazz career to (No Moon At All, Get Happy, How Long Has This Been Going On, My Favourite Things); and his passion for the best in modern pop and rock (Tom Waits' Martha, Jeff Buckley's Dream Brother, Nick Drake's Day Is Done).

He made the most of playing solo in that he was able to take the improvisations where he wanted to go without worrying about leaving the rhythm section behind. My Favourite Things probably went furthest out, using the simple melody to explore some dark and sombre place in the way the Mahler might. Fragments of the melody appeared in odd places, were transformed, transfigured and transmogrified. Completely caught up in what he was doing, slowly rocking back and forth, he seemed to hold nothing back.

I've heard Brad solo on his Tokyo record and have seem him live on quite a few occasions. What I liked about this performance was the heavy pounding of the left hand has been replaced by something altogether lighter and more subtle. As left hands go, it has to be one of the best in jazz. Each hand is separate character with distinct personalities, constantly at play with each other. The articulation is consistently beautiful and clear, as though he has worked hard to eliminate any possible weaknesses in his technique. That said, at no point is the playing flashy or the musical choices kitsch.

Within an hour the set was over. It was clearly not enough for the audience, or for Brad, as we were then treated to six or seven encores (we lost count) and were given almost and hour's more music. And the highlight of the encores was a version Ray Davies' Waterloo Sunset that made the hairs stand on end - summer evening, London, twilight, "Terry meets Julie, Waterloo Station, every Friday night". Perfect.

ERSATZ: Alex Wood Hall, Norfolk St, Cambridge (early 1980)

2010-05-25T17:41:00.006+01:00

Photos courtesy of Suzanne Mcdonald-Walker

John Harris, (DJ) Harvey Bassett, Adrian Tierney-Jones, Hugh Ashton

Adrian (foreground), John (background)

Link to previous ERSATZ post

Video of Bobby Wellins: It Never Entered My Mind

2010-05-22T12:48:00.005+01:00

Niall Burke filmed It Never Entered My Mind at the recent Brunswick gig reviewed below. Sublime.

Some reflections on the New York trip

2010-05-21T17:11:00.004+01:00

New York is small and densely packed. All the players I saw were energetic and decisive. Just because you're playing in a small place - Smoke, Vanguard, Smalls, Arturo's, Earl's front room - doesn't mean you shouldn't play your ass off. The standard of people like Peter Bernstein and Joshua is something to aspire to and to prevent me from getting complacent. There's no shortage of things to practice and master. It would be good to go back annually to be reminded of the intensity of players in that environment and to have the opportunity to play with some of them.

It's a competitive environment. It must be hard earning a living just by teaching and playing. New York has a great history of jazz but with the ever increasing expense of living in Manhattan, more and more players must be leaving for Brooklyn, Jersey, upstate, Europe. It's no longer possible to be "livin' high on nickels and dimes" in the way Joe Lee did back in the day. Fashion, art, media. finance and tourism seem to typify New York now. Hopefully jazz will always have a home in New York, though you wonder what will happen to The Vanguard when Lorraine if no longer around. New York seems an exceptionally safe place and all the people we met were polite and helpful. It's not longer the big bad place that it was - certainly welcoming if you can afford it.

New York Trip - Day 4

2010-05-18T14:24:00.012+01:00

The first stop was the Flatiron buildings for photos, then a trip up the Empire State Building for panaromic views of the Island. Back at West 26th Street, a block from our hotel, is The Jazz Record Centre, an Eight Floor apartment packed with vinyls, CDs, DVDs, posters and bookers. We spent a good hour browsing before I settled on three CDs (as vinyl is not an easy option when flying) - a recording by New York guitarist Peter Leitch, a Joe Lee Wilson recording featuring Japanese guitarist Ryo Kawasaki (who also played in the Gil Evans orchestra) and the latest Brad Mehldau double CD featuring Joshua Redman.

In the afternoon we met Joshua outside the Public Library with mother & daughter artist team Bea and Adrienne who we had met at the house party on Saturday, for a subway trip to Coney Island. Coney Island is on the brink of a major redevelopment to convert it from Brooklyn's version of Hastings/Margate/Blackpool to exclusive beach side condos. We stopped at Nathan's hotdogs for a snack (clams, hotdog, fries) and then wandered the boardwalk past the ghosts of the amusement park: Shoot The Freak (which involves shooting a live midget with a paintball gun; the Cyclone, a wooden rollercoaster reputed to be the scariest ever; and the huge Wonder Wheel, big wheel with sliding cars. Like the Empire Diner (which closed at the weekend), a piece of history about to disappear.

We ended up in Brighton Beach, or Little Odessa, packed with Russian shops and restaurants and used as a location in The French Connection. We found a very good Russian Restaurant - no frills, Russian clientele - bought some vodka at the liquor store and had a delicious (& very cheap) meal of dumplings, herring, mackerel, stuffed cabbage, pureed aubergine, coffee cake and Napoleon cake.

Back at the hotel we bid farewell to our host, to the D'Angelico (which I have grown very attached to) and then headed out to Dylan Thomas' favourite watering hole, The White Horse tavern, for a nightcap. I'll certainly miss Joshua's warmth, his anecdotes & sharp wit.

New York Trip - Day 3

2010-05-17T13:55:00.005+01:00

The day began with a jog through Greenwich Village, around Washington Square Park and then up 5th Avenue to Broadway. I stopped and looked up and was stunned by the sight of the Flatiron Building. I thought it would be impressive but I hadn't expected it to be beautiful. It is very ornate, as though the whole building has been carved and decorated. At the top are two carved figure peering over the ledge, giving it a human sense of scale. The geometry is extraordinary as you can see all the facades of the building from a single perspective.

During the morning we made our way towards the Brooklyn Bridge, taking in Little Italy, Chinatown, Tribeca and plenty of ornate, cast iron buildings. It was another beautiful warm day with a slight breeze. Brooklyn Bridge gave us some great views. But how rusty the bridge is! Unlike the Forth Road Bridge,which is in a constant state of decoration, the Brooklyn Bridge doesn't look as if it's been touched since the Forties. It gives it an elemental feel.

Early afternoon was spent exploring Brooklyn Heights taking in the architecture and the views of Manhattan. Keith found himself a new car - one of the Motor City's finest from the Fifties, a pristine Ford Thunderbird. Back on the island, we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing on a bench in Washington Square Park taking in the chess players, the live jazz and the residents.

Late evening we headed off to The Village Vanguard to see Bill Frisell with his 858 Quartet featuring Eyvind Kang on viola, Jenny Scheinman and Hank Roberts on cello. Before the set started I popped out to the "rest room" and peered into the famous office-cum-dressing room where I saw Bill bent over the guitar in his lap, silently cleaning his strings (weirdly recalling a dream I had 18 or so months ago where I went backstage at The Barbican to meet Bill in his studio/loft something like the Vanguard's office). The music was a strange mix of country & western and chamber music; Bill leading the band with a twangy Telecaster through largely (possibly completely) composed charts. There were C&W waltzes mixed with more classical-sounding influences like Steve Reich and John Adams. Jenny Scheinman did some great soloing in the last piece and very quickly it was over. It was strange & interesting hearing on consecutive nights Bernstein, Breakstone & Frisell - very contrasting players; Peter & Joshua heavily engaged in the jazz tradition of improvisation over changes but with very different, singular voices, and Bill coming from somewhere entirely elsewhere (at least on this gig).

The sound in the Vanguard was great. Like being inside the Flatiron building, it is a wedge shape with the band at the sharp end. This means that you're pretty much guaranteed a great sound wherever you are. Lorraine Gordon was in attendance and we had a brief encounter with her - "Are you staying for the next set. No? Then drink up . . .". It's that approach that has kept the place in business for so long.

It was then off to Smalls and back to Arturo's for a final drink. Both featured singers (possibly a Sunday thing). I decided to forego the jam session at Small as it didn't start until 1:30.

New York Trip - Day 2

2010-05-16T14:40:00.006+01:00

The day started with another hearty breakfast. This time in the West Village. We spent the morning exploring the Village and stopping bar famous landmarks: The Village Vanguard; the Cafe Wha! where Jim Hendix started his career; St Christophers' Street where the cover of The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan was shot; Jim's Electric Lady Studio; Bob's House, where we spent a relaxing hour in the Cafe Dante opposite. There were plenty of photo opportunities - I wished I had brought Joshua's guitar case as a prop.

Looking at the map I could see that Bond Street was not far from Washington Square. Bond St was the location of Joe Lee Wilson's Ladies Fort loft the 1970s. Joe Lee rented the club when he won $5000 on a horse race and decided to invest it in five years rent on a place for jazz artists to perform. Through the club Joe Lee became a well known figure on the New York jazz scene, and many jazz musicians in NYC still remember it and Joe Lee. I have seen one photo of Joe Lee standing outside it so I had some idea of what I was looking for. Much of Bond St has been redeveloped so I was ready to walk away disappointed, until I realised that the street continued West across one of the avenues. After a few minutes I found a spot that looked close. I popped inside to a design store and, after enquiring, they sent me downstairs to the studio of fashion designer Tunji Dada. We wandered inside, found Tunji and, yes, there it was - The Ladies Fort. Tunji new all about it having met Joe and Jill a few years ago when Joe Lee's documentary was being filmed. Tunji was very charming and delighted to meet us and chat about Joe Lee and the history of the place. It was great finding Joe Lee's place, poignant too. Tribeca Arts Centre currently has a serices of concerts called Lost Jazz Shrines celebrating Ali's Alley, Sam River's Studio Rivbea (also on Bond Street) and Barry Harris' Jazz Cultural Theatre. It's a shame that The Ladies Fort wasn't on the list.

The afternoon was spent on the Staten Island Ferry before hand back to relax ready for the evening. We then head up to the NY Port Authority and took a bus out to Ridgefield Park, New Jersey, home of bass player Earl Sauls. This was a great evening. I got to hear Joshua's trio in Earl's front room! The third member of the band is a brilliant drummer called Jakubu Griffin, son of free jazz trombonist Dick Griffin and until recently working in Las Vegas with the liked of Stevie Wonder, Chaka Kahn, David Cassidy and Sheena Easton (remember her?). The Trio burned their way through a number of tunes before taking the tempo down for a beautiful Soul Eyes (which I managed to catch on video) and a Barry Harris tune I have been listening to a lot recently, Lolita.

In second set I got to play a few tunes with the band - Blue Monk, Have You Met Miss Jones & Stella. It was inspiring playing with and listening to musicians of such calibre. Earl did some wonderful soloing, with lines and rhythms stretching way out. We met some real characters at the party and got a lift back to Manhattan with drummer David and his wife Peg in an ancient Buick that John had driven up from Arizona (over 3000 miles). They dropped us in Washington Heights and travelled the subway almost from one end of the Island to the other. The evening ended in a bar next to the Chelsea Hotel.

New York Trip - Days 0-1

2010-05-15T13:15:00.004+01:00

My first view of the famous Manhattan skyline was from the plane. In the hazy distance it sat suspended in the air like a vision of Avalon.

After a good flight, coach and shuttle to our hotel in Chelsea, we hooked up with Joshua Breakstone. Joshua introduced me to my companion for the trip, a D'Angelico New Yorker guitar - a gift to Joshua from D'Angelico that, I was told, had been coveted by the likes of Jimmy Bruno and Pat Martino. We then drove downtown to Greenwich Village, passed famous jazz clubs like The Village Vanguard and The Blue Note before arriving at our destination - a funky little Italian called Arturo's which featured a jazz trio squished around a piano. By the time we got to bed, Keith and I had been up for 24 hours . . .

Friday morning began at the famous Empire Diner for a huge breakfast that set us up nicely for the day. We then went uptown to the Museum of Modern Art where we two fascinating and contrasting exhibitions - a retrospective by performance artist Marina Abramovich called the Artist Is Present (the artist is in fact present, along with a large number of naked men and women recreating installation pieces from her past), and an exhibition of Cartier Bresson photography. We then strolled up to The Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, gaping at the skyscrapers (I kept on think of the line "canyons of steel" from the song Autumn in New York) and enjoying a stroll through a very sunny Central Park.

Highlights at The Met included the exhibition of their Picasso collection and the beautifully arranged collection of modern art - huge rooms exhibiting de Koonings, Warhols, Barnett Newmans and the like. After about three hours we ended up on the roof with a huge, intricate bamboo sculpture and wonderful views across Central Park.

We then headed all the way downtown to the curious mix of glamorous high fashion and wholesale meat market that is the Meatpacking District. From here we made our way up on to former raised railway line that has been transformed into an urban park called The Highline. This has to be one of the most laid back places in Manhattan - people reading, picnicking, chatting, strolling among beautiful flowers and grasses. This led us eventually to a pier on the Hudson where we say on a disused lightship (The Frying Pan) drinking beer, eating burgers and watching the sun set over New Jersey.

Our final stop of the day was Smoke, a small at the upper end of Broadway where guitarist Peter Bernstein was playing with legendary Milers Davis drummer Jimmy Cobb, Richard Wyland on piano and bassist John Webber. Although I know Peter's recording well I have never seen him live. He told us it was years since he played in London but would like to get over there with the trio he has with Larry Goldings and Bill Stewart. I recognised a number of the tunes from his recent Live at Smalls release featuring the same band. The band played really well - Jimmy Cobb with his trademark "no frills" approach, Richard Wylands with a lovely laid back feel and Peter with his great, blues inflected lines. Bassist John Webber probably got the loudest applause for the night for his solos - he seemed to really play out of himself, with imaginative lines and great dynamics in his soloing.

Needless to say, I went to bed shattered.

Jim Mullen - Rhythm Changes Solo

2010-04-27T22:50:00.004+01:00

Here is guitarist Jim Mullen in full flight soloing on I Got Rhythm chord changes. Notice that extraordinary right hand technique - yes, he's speed picking with his thumb! He's fond of the odd quote - my favourite here being "If I Was a Rich Man" from Fiddler On The Roof at 1:40.

Kineojazz presents Claire Martin, 2nd June, The Basement

2010-04-27T22:46:00.004+01:00

Following on from the success of the Joe Lee Wilson/Remember April event, we have organised a gig with Claire Martin. Claire lives in Brighton but has an international reputation as one of the finest jazz singers of her generation. For this gig she has a great band consisting on Jim Mullen (guitar), Laurence Cottle (bass) and Ian Thomas (drums). Here is the flyer for the gig:

[Click to enlarge)

Claire will be supported by my own Trio featuring Keith Baxter (Fender bass) and Tony Kenyon (drums), with guest singers Jon Gilhooly and Ela Southgate.

Tickets from The Dome Box Office (01273 709709). Full details of the gig here: http://www.kineojazz.com/ - the site includes links to photos of the Joe Lee Wilson/Remember April gig.

Bobby Wellins with the Terry Seabrook Trio featuring Spike Wells & Dan Sheppard, The Brunswick, 18 April

2010-04-19T22:38:00.012+01:00

Introducing the first set tenor player Bobby Wellins explained that he hadn't played in a while before delivering a blistering set of Thelonius Monk classics, segueing from Straight No Chaser to In Walked Bud to Monk's Mood and on though tunes such as Little Rootie Tootie and Blue Monk. In all, almost an hour of non-stop jazz.

There's something about Monk's tunes that encourages improvisers to take on Monkish qualities - thoughtful, surprising phrases, large intervals, dissonance. They all steered away from the obvious notes - Bobby Wellins never loses his fantastic sense of swing, pianist Terry Seabrook releasing a tumult of ideas, bassist Dan Sheppard developing interesting melodic ideas and drummer Spike Wells throwing in rich, complex rhythmic patterns. Collectively Bobby rightly referred to the band as "great improvisers".

The second set kicked off with My Funny Valentine as a waltz, moving to Green Dolphin Street and Mad About the Boy (according to Bobby, written for Douglas Fairbanks Junior by Noel Coward). One of my favourite tunes of the evening was the ballad It Never Entered My Mind, a song of solitude and regret played from the back of the stage, sans mic, by Bobby, with the acoustic sound of the sax reflecting the fragility of the lyric ("And once you told me I was mistaken/That I'd awaken with the sun/And order orange juice for one/It never entered my mind"). He also did a great, upbeat version of Neil Hefti's theme from Neil Simon's The Odd Couple with Walter Matthau as Oscar & Jack Lemon as Felix (Oscar: I know him. He'll kill himself just to spite me. Then his ghost will come back, following me around the apartment, haunting and cleaning, haunting and cleaning, haunting and cleaning...).

From the photo you'll see that I had no view of the drums. I did however have the delightful sight of Bobby and Terry looking on at Spike as he delivered another knock-out solo, a look that I can only describe as pleasure mixed with pride mixed with the anticipation of more pleasant surprises to come.

It was a great gig ending with Bobby graciously thanking the audience for turning up to watch the boys "fight the good fight". What's more, it was free!

Just one negative - the use of the PA. Why would you want to chuck the bass, piano and sax through PA speakers in such as small venue? My experience of The Brunswick and similar venues is to get the sound guy to make minimal us if the PA for essentials such as voice, horns and piano if required. Musicians of this calibre can find their own balance and no one turns up to a gig like this expecting to be shouted at.

Reflections on Joe Lee Wilson at The Basement

2010-04-17T13:47:00.008+01:00

[Photo by Emily Harris]

Thursday's gig with Joe Lee was a great success. We knew the pressure was on when the tickets sold out almost a week before leaving many people ticketless and, presumably, disappointed. However, from the moment Ela's band Remember April went on we would tell that the evening was going to be special.

Having played with Joe Lee a few weeks' earlier, he had clearly gained in strength and confidence in the couple of weeks spent in Paris, which included gigs with the New York band Spirit of Life.

Terry Seabrook and I had had a chance to run through a set with Joe Lee but the gig was the first time we had played with the fantastic rhythm section of Steve Watts (bass) and Martin France (drums). Like Terry, Steve has toured often with Joe Lee over years, and Joe Lee was very happy to be surrounded by such familiar faces. For my own part, it was the best band I had ever played with!

With fifty years of gigging behind him, Joe Lee knows how to the attention of an audience and he won them over from the moment he stepped on the stage. Though looking a bit frail, he has a big soulful voice and he chose material that was very accessible including standards (Violets For Your Furs), gospel (May The Good Lord Bless and Keep You) and hard bop classics (Song For My Father).

Following the gig I had lots of feedback from people who may not typically go to a jazz gig - "beautiful", "excellent", "enjoyable", "life affirming", "a great gig". This was testament to the hard work promoting and preparing for the gig by Steve Rayson of Kineo, Ela, Terry Seabrook, Jill Wilson (Joe Lee's wife), the staff of The Basement and, of course, Joe Lee Wilson.

The next Kineojazz gig is Claire Martin on 2nd June supported by the JH Trio plus guests. Tickets (£15) available from The Dome - better get in there early!

Phoenix Gallery Brighton - Dream Home "Housewarming Party" 23rd April

2010-04-06T22:06:00.004+01:00

A "Housewarming Party" for an exhibition at The Phoenix Gallery on the theme of Dream Home has had artist & vocalist Jonathan Gilhooly, bassist Keith Baxter and myself scurrying around looking for off-beat tunes to perform. We have a growing list including: Roxy Music's In Every Dream Home a Heartache; Robert Johnson's Come on in my Kitchen; Tom Waits' What's He Doing in There; and standards such as A Cottage For Sale, You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To and On The Street Where You Live from My Fair Lady. For the time being we've decided against The England World Cup Squad 1970 hit - Back Home, but then again . . .

The Housewarming Party is on the 23rd April and you can "meet the artists, explore the house and experience a number of impromptu performances throughout the evening."

More info on the Phoenix Gallery Website. The image above is from Gary Barber.

April 24 - June 6. 2010

Late opening: Fri 14, Sat 15 & Sun 16 May until 9 pm Apr 24 - Jun 6, 2010

Daily opening: Tue - Sun 1 am - 5pm

ERSATZ: Smile in Shadow

2010-03-30T22:55:00.011+01:00

Not jazz exactly, but . . .

Formed in 1977, ERSATZ was a notable Cambridge punk band whose contemporaries included The Soft Boys, The Waves, The Zeds and The Sinix. From 1979 to 1982 the final (and probably best) incarnation played regularly at The Midland Tavern off Mill Road, a haven for punks and rastas. Influences on the band were diverse - Kraftwerk/Krautrock, Brian Eno/Roxy Music, The Lovin' Spoonful, The Doors, John Coltrane, free jazz, Parliament/Funkadelic, The Pop Group and The Clash. The sound was dense and intense and we referred to it as The Ersatz Wall of Sound - somewhere between John Coltrane's later period and Phil Spector. I joined in 1979 and this 1980 single on the band's Leisure Sounds label catches something of the full-on, liberating, swirling quality of the live sound, which we achieved through throwing cymbals downstairs, layering feedback from guitar and bass and generally improvising in Cambridge's Spaceward Studios.

The single was pretty well received by the music press (Single of the Week in Sounds). John Peel played it on his UK and BBC World Service shows and took time to come to Cambridge to join us for tea at Hugh's flat. We felt like a gang for while and the music got tighter, funkier and spacier. Inevitably we drifted apart musically before shooting off in diverging directions.

At the time of the recording, brilliant tearaway drummer Harvey Bassett was 15. He went on to become a DJ legend at the Ministry of Sound as DJ Harvey and now lives in Hawaii and performs in LA, NYC, Miami etc. as Harvey's Sarcastic Disco. Singer, songwriter and guitarist Adrian Tierney Jones went on to become Assistant Production Editor of the NME and is now an acclaimed beer writer. Bass, synth and keyboard player Hugh Ashton emigrated to Japan where he works as a journalist and novelist. I played guitar, went on to work on an early "world music" project called Somewhere In The Office with the likes of guitarist Mark Graham, drummer Tony Shepherd, jazz saxophonist Kevin Flanagan and bass-playing satirist Chris Morris before leaving the country, thus avoiding much of the 1980s.

The Leisure Sounds label also released CDs and cassettes by the likes of The Dogma Cats and Boo Hewerdine (of The Bible).

Here are reasonable quality MP3s of the A and B sides.

A: Smile in Shadow

B: House of Cards

Liam Noble Trio, Brighton Jazz Club, 26 March

2010-03-29T21:56:00.009+01:00

Liam's Noble's presentation of the work of Dave Brubeck was notable for bringing some of Brubeck's lesser know tunes into the spotlight and for blending the Brubeck sound with his own. It was also a performance by the Trio that was designed to delight and entertain.

The opening Give a Little Whistle from "Dave Digs Disney" showed that Liam Noble shares some of Brubeck's compositional approach to improvising. That said, it soon became clear that he has his own distinctive approach with balanced phrases, a dynamic left hand, modern-sounding harmony and a collective sense of improvisation.

Of those lesser know tunes, I particularly enjoyed Autumn in Washington Square, suffused with autumnal melancholy and with some particularly sensitive playing by Dave Whitford on bass. I think La Paloma Azul is a Jazz Record Requests perennial favourite, a simple, memorable Mexican folk tune which featured a very melodic bass solo from Dave.

There was a sense of balance across the Trio. Liam's playing was nicely balanced by Dave Wickens' inventive use of what Liam called his "scrapyard cum drumkit" - regular drumkit augmented by a teapot (for the delightful sound of pouring tea, of course!), an assortment of bells, chimes, wood blocks and more. In the middle of the two, Dave Whitford acted as a kind of fulcrum. There was as sense of the three musicians having equal air time.

With the better known tunes - Take Five, In Your Own Sweet Way, Blue Rondo a La Turk, The Duke - Liam approached them from a distance. He would start with an improvisation with just a hint at where he was going and then work himself towards the inevitable conclusion. I was glad that these tunes weren't the focus of the set, because it would have taken the focus away from the Trio's collective playing. At its best it was quite a long way from Dave Brubeck - somewhere around Paul Bley territory.

In all, a great gig by a great band led by a distinctive pianist who, judging by his amusing line in patter, clearly cares that the audience finds a way into what he is doing. It was also good to see the Wickens/Whitford rhythm section back after another recent great performance with Kirk Lightsey.

Around Joe Lee - documentary on Joe Lee Wilson

2010-03-20T20:08:00.007Z

This is the opening for a recent documentary about Joe Lee Wilson by Yves Breux and Brad Scott. The film follows Joe Lee in Paris, New York, Oklahama and Brighton, UK.

15 April 2010 - Joe Lee Wilson at The Basement, Brighton

2010-03-09T19:24:00.012Z

I've just been working with friend and ex-workmate Steve Rayson of local e-learning company kineo and singer Ela Southgate to promote a new jazz event at a new venue. The 15th April sees legendary singer Joe Lee Wilson performing with support from Ela at upcoming arts venue The Basement in the North Laine.

The aim is an event with broad appeal for all-comers. Joe is a unique voice and his music is strongly inclusive. This is his first major gig for some time. Details on the flyer below and from the website - http://www.kineojazz.com/ (going up in the next day or so). Hopefully, we will be putting on the event regularly. Watch this space for more . . .

[Click images to enlarge]

Tickets £10 - Tickets can be purchased on the door, or in advance from The Basement, 24 Kensington Street, (01273 699 733) & The Dome Booking Office, 29 New Road, (01273 709709).

As a warm-up Joe Lee will be performing at The Coach House (22 Walpole Road, Kemptown BN2 0EA) this Sunday 14th March, 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm. He will be performing acoustically with myself and Terry Seabrook on piano.

Phronesis, Brighton Jazz Club, 5th March

2010-03-06T18:18:00.023Z

Phronesis was an enjoyable end to a busy week. Three versatile musicians making subtle music that drew in the smallish crown at the BJC. Jasper Høiby is the bass player and composer, joined by a versatile Ivo Neame on piano and interesting American Mark Guiliana on drums. It's a piano trio with a difference - it's led by the bass player.

Jasper's compositions tend to start with oddly angular bass patterns in unusual times - there was a lot of quiet counting going on the audience. They would moved through a number of sections of a varied tempos, seamlessly combining written and improvised parts. The compositions are structured but give the individual musicians maximum ability to improvise within the given structures. Having recorded a live album over the previous two evening, they seemed to have nailed the demanding arrangements. Mark Guiliana excelled at making the difficult time signatures flow naturally, generating constant rhythmic interest. Ivo Neame added tonal colours and textures.

There were a few points of reference. Jasper's bass patterns suggested Dave Holland but with a distinctive jerkiness and angularity. The compositions suggest EST in places (particularly the double bass and piano unison lines). I liked their understanding of dynamics in volume and intensity. If I have one minor niggle it's thats all the compositions flowed along at medium tempos (some very slow or very fast tempos might have helped me avoid the 90 second "power nap" I took during the last number!). That said, I look forward to hearing the forthcoming live album and would love to see Ivo Neame and Mark Guiliana in other contexts.

Here's a short video introducing Phronesis:

Booker Ervin's Freedom Book

2010-03-02T21:03:00.008Z

Yesterday morning at some unearthly hour I heard Booker Ervin's Freedom Book for the first time. I was gripped from the first note. What a brilliant album and what a inspiring bandleader and saxophonist! This an album I will play a great deal in the coming weeks and months.

Inevitably this led me to YouTube where I unearthed this gem. The lineup seems to be:

Kenny Drew - piano
Booker Ervin - tenor
Edgar Bateman - drums
Eric Dolphy Nathan Davis - flute
Pony Poindexter - alto
Ted Curson - trumpet
Jimmy Woode - bass

The band is playing Milestones (and dig the TOTP camera zooms in the last 20 seconds).

John Clarke talks jazz guitar on Skyline FM

2010-02-24T22:03:00.006Z

I"ve just been listening to friend and fellow "ace" jazz guitarist John Clarke as a guest of Andi C's The Fret Connection show on Skyline FM, "local radio for the southern parishes". Between ads for taxi firms, jewellers and mobile discos, John was playing tracks from his favourite post-1980 guitarists.

John is a big fan of Mike Stern and John Scofield but where our tastes really converge is with Peter Bernstein, Jonathan Kreisberg and the Dutchman Jesse van Ruller. Each track was chosen with care and designed to demonstrate the range of contemporary jazz guitar players. Interestingly, the more recent guitarists seem to hark back to an earlier age - I can hear Django Reinhardt in the playing of both Kreisberg and van Ruller.

John got into jazz guitar at university back in the Sixties and cut his teeth on the South London jazz scene with pianist Roger Simmonds, with whom he still gigs and records. John has some really nice original recordings on myspace site.

As a longstanding member of the Southern Jazz Guitar Society, John pointed out that it's unlikely that you would find a Southern Jazz Saxophone Society. Yes jazz guitarists like to listen to other jazz guitarists because, well, few other people will! The SJGS meet monthly in Romsey and every few months features a concert or workshop by name guitarists such as Nigel Price, Sid Jacobs and Mike Outram.

Here is John's sensitive interpretation of the standard "This Is Always" on his wonderful, old Gibson L7 and a Jazzamp.

George Garzone: Pizza Express London, Dean Street, 16th February

2010-02-17T13:24:00.002Z

Tenor saxophonist George Garzone was making a rare appearance in London. George is know primarily as an influential teacher (Mark Turner, Joshua Redman) with a heavyweight conceptual approach - The Triadic Chromatic Approach. That said, the performance was anything but academic. With a tone straight out of Coltrane George played with real intensity, spurring on his rhythm section of powerhouse drummer Pete Zimmer (US based) and muscular US bass player Michael Janisch (London based) towards jazz mayhem. In the photo (we were sitting by the drums) you can see how he leans into the rhythm section as the solo increases in intensity - at one point his arm was touching the crash cymbal, at another is almost knocking Michael's right hand. Quite an intimidating approach - certainly causing the rhythm section to sweat! Highlights for me were Naima and Invitation, both played with feeling and invention. A great show of improvisation in a friendly, intimate venue.

Stephen Longstreet's Jazz Illustrations

2010-02-13T19:46:00.004Z

In the Eighties' I was living in Barcelona, where I picked up a Spanish Encyclopedia of Jazz published in 1963 (a translation of a German book published in 1957). It's a pretty comprehensive encyclopedia for its time but what is most striking about it are the wonderful illustrations by Stephen Longstreet. Here is a selection.

The trumpet under his arm

Guitar

You can fine out about the late Stephen Longstreet at the Stephen Longstreet Website.

Pat Metheny's Orchestrion: The Barbican, 10th February

2010-02-11T22:39:00.011Z

The perpetually youthful Pat bounded on in trademark trainers, jeans, big hair and grin looking like he had just stepped out of Wayne's World (Garth's genius older brother?). He kicked the show off with a couple of numbers from his recent excursions with Brad Mehldau, playing first a Baritone Guitar (possibly, I was in the gods and had forgotten my opera glasses) and then his Picasso guitar, a weird beast with two necks and multiple sets of drone strings. The music was beautiful and inventive and his solo guitar filled the huge acoustic chamber that is the Barbican main hall. He then moved on to his PM signature archtop with some modifications that meant, somehow, he could accompany himself with a set of finger cymbals. Not quite the mechanical orchestra everyone was expecting. However, on the fourth number the coloured sheets that formed that formed the backdrop fell away to reveal something that resembled a cross between some Victorian fairground exotica and the Starship Enterprise.

Physically, the orchestrion is several cabinets contain instruments that are struck (symbols, drums), those that are blown (bottles) plus some standalone instruments (grand piano, marimba, glockenspiel). Pat played the Suite that he had recorded for the Orchestrion album in which he was accompanied by the orchestrion. The suite itself was classic Pat Metheny group, rather than Pat in jazz improvisation mode. The emphasis was on orchestration rather than improvisation but, slowly, the nature of the orchestrion was revealed. Just as player pianos were driven by piano rolls, the orchestrion was driven by arrangements driven, presumably, from a computer (as opposed to steam). However, the guitar also drove the instruments, so that Pat would play a melody on the guitar and, simultaneously, it would be played on the blown bottles. It was possible to see what was being played when because each time something was struck or blown, a little light would go on.

The suite seemed, largely, to be driven from a pre-written score. However, Pat then moved onto creating some improvised music which helped the audience understand what was happening. To summarise:
- Pat created a looped phrase on the guitar (e.g. a set of chords)
- Then created a looped melody to be played on top of the chords
- He then used the guitar to create a percussion loop
- He the added another looped melody (e.g. grand piano)

In recent years, I have seen quite a few gigs where guitarists use loops in similar ways (Bill Frisell, John Scofield, John Paricelli). Pat Metheny uses the loops to drive analogue instruments which is both "different" and"interesting". Yes, the orchestrion looks like it came from the fevered imagination of a Victorian inventor (or genius teenager in Metheny's case) but the saving grace was that it was, after all, Pat Metheny. His music is distinctive and extraordinary. The wide open melodies evoke the wide open spaces of the mid-West where he was brought up. The melodies are American, rather than African-American, and they they have an all-embracing, inclusive quality. You can whistle the themes (as the person next to me insisted on doing) and he has that Mozart-like ability to spontaneously create music that just sounds right and always managed to avoid (just) sounding cliched or sentimental. The charm of his on-stage persona matched that of his music.

The audience lapped up what they saw and heard and the performance was made more accessible by Pat describing the genesis of the idea and how he realised it. The technical difficulties of getting guitars to trigger solenoids that then hit instruments in real time is mind boggling (technicians were constantly hovering around the edges, adjusting things). Pat admitted that he had sleepless nights worrying about all the things that could go wrong. Well, for the last number they did go wrong. The orchestrion packed up. "Helpful" suggestions came from the audience - "Reboot it!", "Try switching it off and switching it on again". Pat was embarrassed but charmed the audience by his response and to encore with just solo guitar was nothing less than the audience expected. The orchestrion is a folly, in the best sense of the word, but the challenge of making it work was one that Pat Metheny had set himself, not one that that audience had expected.

John Turville Trio: "Midas" reviewed

2010-02-07T22:10:00.005Z

I saw the John Turville Trio at play to a small audience at The Brunswick in Hove a couple of weeks ago. It was a great gig from of trio of young and very talented musicians, part of a tour to promote a new recording - Midas. Unusually, the gig consisted almost entirely of original compositions (pianist John Taylor's Ambleside being the exception) so I thought I would check out Midas to get to know the material better.

The cover (above) is an impressionistic black & white photo of a very dark, rain soaked city street, late at night, possibly London, with spots of light radiating from the street lamps and reflected in puddles. It's seen from the point of view of a driver in a recently parked car. Perhaps John and the band arriving back home after an inspired performance waiting for the rain to let-up, making the casting the grim urban scene in an almost romantic light. For the Romantic poets the imagination was like a lamp that illuminated the material world. It would be fitting if it were the spirit of English Romanticism that pervaded this recording, because the overall sound is clearly not American.

The standard of individual muscianship here is very high as is the standard if interaction between the three members of the Trio. The recording has some very distinctive tunes, the first of which is the opener First Flight. The tune has a rolling feel, making me think of early Paul Bley. The tempo drops right down giving the first solo to bass player Chris Hill, a bluesy feel that he passes on to John, then the tempo is back up to the original pace. John's soloing suggests Keith Jarrett, playing inside, outside and around the changes. Drummer Ben Reynolds provides a whole range of colours to vary the accompaniment. The strength of the band's musicianship is shown by the ease with which they handle the odd time signatures and tempo changes.

All Or Nothing At All is a favourite standard of mine and has been covered in recent years by some of my favourite musicians including Kurt Rosenwinkel, Mark Turner and Jonathan Kreisberg. This is a slow-ish taken on the tune in a straight four time with plenty of space. I like the way the bass holds everything down with some well chosen root notes. It is the restraint that John shows that really makes this work. In fact, it reminds me very much of the slightly ironic approach pianist (and friend of John) Frank Harrison has towards standards.

For the title tune, Midas, the Trio is augmented by singer Brigitte Beraha. Her breathy, worldless vocals bring a muted Miles Davis feel to the proceedings, particularly on her improvised solo towards the end of tune. Brigitte also features on the Trio's cover of Nick Drake's Fruit Tree, part of which she sings in unison with the bass. This tune has the "English" feel you would associate with Nick Drake - very different from Brad Mehldau's take on Drake's Riverman. Waltz for Bill Evans is a homage, showing that John is intimate with Evans' repertoire and, hearing this tune live, it came pretty close to a performance by one of the early Bill Evans Trios. Albaicin is named after a district in Granada, Spain. What works really works well here is the sense that the three musicians are finding their own paths through the piece but, at the same time, are complementing each other. This is the type of playing you only really get in a trios. I particular like the drum solo towards the end, played over a repeated riff on the bass and the pianist's left hand. The final tune is Ellington's Solitude, once again featuring Brigitte on vocals accompanied solely by John's piano. The treatment brings the tune across the Atlantic with Brigitte's distinctive, English diction.

Overall, an accomplished debut by three young musicians who perform at a very high standard. They deserve a large audience for their music, but where was the audience when they played in Hove. It will be interesting to see how the band develops in the coming years, particularly as it's not the best of times to be starting a career jazz.

Gabor Szabo - Stormy

2010-02-03T15:34:00.003Z

Some pure listening pleasure on a grey Wednesday afternoon. Even when playing a throwaway pop song like Stormy, Gabor has his very moving and intense Hungarian thing going on.

Doug Payne's Gabor Szabo website

Jeff Howlett Trio stretching out on Blue Monk

2010-01-24T17:51:00.002Z

The Round Georges, November 2009.