Request: Count Basie.
Patti Durham makes her selection and talks about the Mike Durham Classic Jazz Party.
Dean Stockdale; Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong; The Fat Babies; John Lewis & Sacha Distel; Count Basie.
New Release: Paul Edis.
DownBeat Reader's Poll: Branford Marsalis Quartet; Chick Corea.
Kathy Lyon; Anita O'Day.
Repeated Tuesday 8:00pm.
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| (Photo © Emile Holba) |
The first half of his set saw Hussain, the critically-acclaimed Indian tabla master, collaborate with sarangi player Sabir Khan, wowing his audience at the RFH.
They explored tabla repertoire passed down to Hussain by his father and guru, Ustad Allarakha Qureshi (1919-2000), popularly known as Alla Rakha. Rakha specialised in Hindustani classical music and was the accompanist of choice for sitar guru Ravi Shankar. Rakha greatly helped to popularise the tabla with audiences outside of the Indian sub-continent.
Hussain and Khan tackled the four movements of an absorbing raga which encompassed several spirited improvised passages. The four movements comprised Peshkar; an improvisation on established Kaida themes; a combination of Chhand, Chalan Gut and Parans (the latter two being 300 year-old traditional compositions); and a combination of Rau and Relas.
Ferg Kilsby (trumpet); Josh Mitchell-Rayner (keyboards); Stan Woodward
(bass); King David Ike-Elechi (drums).
No poncey flugelhorns or drum brushes for these guys. Trumpet used
effects pedals more than he used his solitary mute which lay forlornly on the
floor of the stage for most of the gig.
A mix of originals interspersed with numbers by Monk, Donald Byrd, Roots and Radiohead as well as a take on My Favorite Things that placed Coltrane's version closer to that of Julie Andrews than to what was happening on stage at Hoochie.
An album which was made during lockdown by this Vancouver-based husband and wife in their home studio. We get nine jazz standards, Stevie Wonder's song You and I, plus two originals, Don't Know How To Love You and Impossible Love. And a fascinating CD cover showing not herons as expected, but a couple of spotted beasts. The artwork is by Vancouver artist Joe Average and is entitled 'Unconditional Love'.
Four Play Blues is the title of one of the original compositions by four musicians who call themselves “Four” and who are currently playing regularly at The Exchange in North Shields….As well as this original we were treated to a selection of standards by four musicians who are gaining quite a following at this converted police station in Bedford Street.
THIS THURSDAY - A young quartet from Newcastle Upon-Tyne spreading the sound of modern, creative improvised music in the North East.
You will most likely have seen tonight's guest performer sitting in the trombone section of some of the many big bands that are to be heard in the North West area. I recall seeing him in the Ron Hayes Band, the Shades Jazz Orchestra and Swingtime - to name but three. It has been a while since I heard him playing in a smaller unit and I was curious to learn what tunes he had selected for his performance. They were in the main, standards plus a number written by Sonny Rollins - Alfie’s Theme for the film Alfie which was a big hit for Michael Caine.
I've heard many duo recordings over the years but this is the first time I've been confronted with a double bass duet. And, if that weren't enough, the two players have opted to tune their instruments to A432 as opposed to the current standard pitch of A440.
A432 was in general use until Mozart's time and there was a general belief, I kid you not, that A432 had a healing effect on the listener's body. Perhaps if Mozart had stuck with the old tuning he'd have lived longer.
