David Birchall
(guitar); Caroline Kraabel (alto sax); Richard Harrison (drums/percussion)
Photos © Richard Morris
The latest in the monthly concerts of improvised music curated by Nick Branton. and held in a beautifully quirky place on the road immediately behind St Luke’s bombed out church (bombed out in World War ll). Artefact is a café, vintage furniture shop and intimate music and arts venue that hosts a huge variety of events.
A very experienced trio in the world of improvised music. Caroline, originally from the US but who now resides in London has developed a style based on extended techniques and acoustics. She has worked with Robert Wyatt, Cleveland Watkiss, Pat Thomas, Shima Kobayasi and many more top international musicians as well as conducting and playing devised pieces with the London Improvisers Orchestra. David Birchall is a guitarist, teacher, free improviser, composer and organiser living in Manchester. Richard Harrison, also from Manchester, is a drummer and percussionist known for his dynamic, free-flowing style and his work in experimental, jazz and indie music.
Ruta
Di (guitar, voice); Jakub Cywinski (double bass); Giovanni Crescenzi (elec.
bass); Finn Genocky (dms); Alan Short (flute, alto sax); Duncan Eagles (tenor
sax); Leo Richardson (baritone sax)
When Words Are No Longer Enough
Sometimes music has a way of saying
things that words simply cannot. And that's very much the thinking behind Onwards
& Upwards, the third album from Lithuanian-born, London-based
guitarist, vocalist and composer Ruta Di. It's a fascinating collection that
brings together contemporary jazz, soul, rock and the folk traditions of her
homeland, but there's a rather touching story behind it all.
Welcome Concert
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| © Patti |
Look Left: Live Jazz – Debut EP Launch
Marina Josephina + Kate Bond + Frannie Mac at PILGRIM, Newcastle.Thursday 19 November, doors 7:30pm, £8–10, 14+. Teesside neo-soul singer and BBC Introducing North East One to Watch Marina Josephina brings a 10-piece jazz-soul band to the Pilgrim Quarter, with an acoustic set from Kate Bond and support from Frannie Mac.
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| © Richard Morris |
Apart from on the trad nights, a septet is
probably the largest ensemble to feature at the club. Most of the musicians were
familiar faces although it was the first time I had seen Mike Smith. Seven fabulous
musicians, several of them bandleaders, composers and arrangers in their own
right. To say that they are the crème de la crème of the north west’s jazz scene
would not be an understatement. Save for Neil, who is local, they had travelled
from Liverpool, Manchester and Shropshire.
Mike,a multi-instrumentalist with saxophone being his primary instrument, I’d seen with Antony in the Stray Horns in September. As well as bread and butter function gigs he tours with Elkie Brooks, Martin Fry and ABC and Echo and the Bunnymen amongst others. The repertoire for this concert consisted of some great jazz standards plus some compositions by Misha Gray who invariably comes to concerts with not only his electronic keyboard but also his piano stool packed with sheet music.
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| © Dave Sayer |
Jasmine
Myra (alto sax); Jasper Green (piano); Ben Haskins (guitar); Sam Quintana
(bass); Alice Roberts (harp); Rianna Henriques (tenor sax, flute); Joel Stedman
(flutes) George Hall (drums)
Some people round here
have mithered on about the paucity of jazz at The Glasshouse in recent years,
yet here we are for number one of two on consecutive days, both in the small
Hall. Fergus McCreadie tomorrow, Jasmine Myra tonight. Myra’s music has been described as having a
spiritual element to it and, indeed, blessed are they who find themselves in
Sage 2 tonight for they are spared the horror of Queen Orchestral which is
befouling the air of the big hall next door. It will take some cleaning to get
rid of the stench of Fat Bottomed Girls.
Back in Sage 2 we open with Reflection, a wide-ranging ‘reflective’ piece which builds as congeries of delicate notes on guitar, harp and piano infringe on space that is slowly and steadily filled as the piece evolves and the waves of music fall and flow with greater force; English Country pastoral. A lovely sound. Echo has marginally more urgency and a fuller sound as Henriques’ tenor and Myra’s alto intricately interweave in duet. Reverie opens with pointillist harp notes and bass and guitar attach themselves, piano is folded into the blend. Myra’s solo develops themes, lifted onwards by the guitar’s delicate, dancing run of notes. Two flutes and the alto together provide a fuller, richer sound.
There's a fair chance you've heard Noel Langley
without necessarily knowing it. His career has taken him through the
wonderfully inventive Loose Tubes, the London Jazz Orchestra and sessions with
artists including Radiohead, Adele and Lou Reed. Then there's his acclaimed
production work with Yazz Ahmed. That's a considerable amount of music made in
the service of other people's ideas. Syzygy, only his second album under
his own name, brings his own story into focus, and what a fascinating story it
is.
For a musician accustomed to leading trumpet sections and working alongside some of the biggest names in music, Syzygy is a surprisingly intimate affair. It's an album that seems less concerned with demonstrating technical brilliance than exploring the emotional possibilities of sound, silence and the musical conversations that happen somewhere in between.
