Duology: Michael Marcus (clarinet) & Ted Daniel (trumpet, flugelhorn & Moroccan flute) +2: Charlie Collins (drums) & John Jasnoch (electric guitar & oud).
Free jazz is an unpredictable art form yet it was odds on that last night's gig upstairs at the Bridge Hotel would be a winner.
Michael Marcus and Ted Daniel have been working together for some time (their debut duo recording 'Duology' was recorded in New York in 2006) and their offer to visit Newcastle as part of a UK tour was accepted without a moment's hesitation.
Marcus has performed on Tyneside in recent years in the company of free jazz veteran Sonny Simmons and here he was with another from the 'fire music' era of the New York loft scene - Ted Daniel.
The opening piece featured Daniel, unaccompanied, on Moroccan flute. A sensitive, single note fanfare reaching all four corners, it invited John Jasnoch to pick up the oud (for the first and only time during the performance), Marcus his Bb clarinet and the eccentric that is percussionist Charlie Collins to complete the quartet.
The two-set performance featured Marcus and Daniel reading written parts (yes, 'free' can incorporate written, structured elements!) with Sheffield's finest Jasnoch & Collins working sympathetically throughout.
Jasnoch is an unheralded talent - think Joe Morris (recently at the Cluny) and Bill Frisell - giving the impression that he is quite content to remain so (a guitarist's guitarist). Collins, a visually striking figure, is a great listener, responding to and influencing developments happening around him. Marcus and Daniel demonstrated a thorough understanding of the jazz vocabulary reaching back to the syncopated sounds of New Orleans through to bop and beyond. Ted Daniel played trumpet (open and mute) exhibiting a prodigious technique with lyrical passages reminiscent of Clifford or Miles and blistering valve work of which Dizzy would have been proud.
The Bridge Hotel is a great place to hear free jazz (Michael Marcus remarked afterwards:'Nice room') and it struck this listener that much of what was heard last night would have made sense to fans of Alan Barnes, Bruce Adams, Steve Waterman and the like.
The concert was an 'On the Outside' event presented by Jazz North East. The next in the series, again at the Bridge Hotel, on December 10th, features Calling Signals, a meeting of British and Scandanvian improv heavyweights including Frode Gjerstad and Nick Stephens. In addition there is an unmissable gig just across the High Level Bridge on Thursday 26th November in Gateshead Old Town Hall featuring the Profound Sound Trio (Paul Dunmall, Andrew Cyrille & Henry Grimes).
Russell.
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