The evening started with the best of intentions. Rather than go to see the Stan Tracey Octet with all the serious jazz fans I know, I took my family to see Jerry Dammers and the Spatial AKA Orchestra. The five star review in The Guardian had promised an accessible mixture of jazz, ska and reggae, ideal for the jazz resistant men in my life.
Well the concert started with ‘After The End of the World’ and went down from there. Too many songs were based on repetitive, monotonous grooves, with the undoubtedly talented musicians occasionally released for solos, with their attempts to releave the tedium occasionally resulting in ear splitting self-indulgence. Quite often, this was followed by the rest of the band joining in to create a cacophonous conclusion, which I quite liked the first time round, but then it got predictable.
There was no subtlety, even Ghost Town was too slow, and the Batman Theme was ponderous. So many talented jazz musicians grossly underused. After a long evening, it was quite a relief to hear we’d got to the last number Space Is The Place. Maybe we’ll get some interesting lyrics, I vainly hoped. Actually those were the entire lyrics, continually repeated for around 15 minutes, when the musicians eventually left the stage and carried on playing in the concourse. By the time we left, most of them were lying on the floor still grooving with ‘Space Is The Place’ around the Sun Ra-like Denys Baptiste.
They really should have made the effort to develop the song into something more meaningful. I managed it in a few seconds in the car on the way home.
Space is the place. It’s in your face. What a ...
Debra.
Pictures above are by official Sage photographer Mark Savage and are not for use in events unrelated to The Sage.
Pictures above are by official Sage photographer Mark Savage and are not for use in events unrelated to The Sage.
I missed this one Debra - look forward to hearing from others.
ReplyDeleteDebra, I too missed the Stan Tracey concert (I had a ticket) in favour of the Jerry Dammers' gig. I'm as a big a fan of Stan Tracey as anyone (I've heard him live on many occasions) but after much thought chose to go to the Dammers' gig. Why? Well, it was likely to be a one-off never to be repeated experience or as Lance said, a happening. It was a band full of top flight British players, the Sun Ra legend was another factor and it promised to be good fun. The Guardian's promise that it would be accessible, should, I suggest, have been read with caution - after all the words Sun Ra and accessibe are rarely written in the same sentence other than this one and maybe in the The Guardian! I agree that their was much repetition.To an extent this is what Sun Ra was all about - the trance inducing music (Space Is the Place) of the self-appointed alien mystic. All nonesense of course but good fun. Ghost Town is Dammers' own tune so I guess he can take it at the tempo of his choosing! If I hadn't gone to the gig I could never have imagined the stage set and costumes. You are right that the musicians weren't particularly stretched but they were more than willing participants. I bet the money was good! See you at the next Stan Tracey concert.
ReplyDeleteRussell
Shame Debra & Russell seem to have regretted going to this gig - I love Stan the man too, but I was charged with the fun of it all the way through and dancing to the chant in the main concourse to the end - with many others who appreciated this joyous tribute to Sun Ra. Having experienced Sun Ra's Solar-Myth Arkestra live over 20 years ago I wondered if Dammers could pull it off - for me he did. By the way, Herman Poole Blount may have been an American but just consider the achievement of a black jazz pianist & composer born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1914, who manages to maintain a fantastic Saturnian mythology around him and gain the respect of some of the best jazz musicians of our time - he died in 1993 and probably went to Saturn where he continues to run rings 'round the more pedestrian planets! There WAS more to those lyrics by the way Debra : "Space is the place WHERE space is the place" Poetry n'est-ce pas!
ReplyDeleteI can't agree - I loved this gig! Dammers has brought together a lot of serious jazz musicians, and he let them get on with it. Sure, they set up a groove - but what a groove! Too bass heavy for me, perhaps, but it sounded great. The soloing was excellent.
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