(Review by Russell)
Pianist Lucian Ban and viola
virtuoso Mat Maneri, on a short British tour to promote their new ECM release Transylvanian Concert (ECM 2313), were
greeted by glowering rain clouds on arrival in Newcastle .
The Recital Room in Armstrong Building ,
Newcastle University , elevates the Lit &
Phil’s intimate Loftus Room, by comparison, to stadium rock dimensions. A few
rows of chairs set-out, a makeshift bar set-up, would an audience materialise?
It did, in good numbers.
A short set by a quintet of local improvisers drawn
from the music department’s staff and student alumni led, nominally by Will
Edmondes (electronics), preceded the main event. A low-fi, low-key performance,
prompted by Edmondes’ low-wattage interjections promised to wake the reeds but
to no avail. Ban and Maneri listened intently - a feature of leftfield gigs is
musicians listening to their peers - then stepped outside for a pre-performance
fag. Bar sales ticked-over steadily, CD sales were brisk ahead of the
headliners’ set and as dusk descended Ban and Maneri assumed their respective
seats (piano stool and utilitarian stackable chair).
Leftfield, ‘out’ gigs aren't noted for their ferocious swing element. Well, the Downtown New Yorkers
know and love their jazz history. Twentieth century salon, European ‘art music’
is certainly key to the duo’s art yet a relentless swinging pulse frequently
surfaced. Phantasm (from Maneri’s
days with Paul Motian), Nobody Knows the
Trouble I've Seen (worthy of the admission charge alone) and Monastery defined a master class,
appropriately in the venerable seat of learning’s recital room.
Russell.
1 comment :
Wish I'd caught 'em in Derby now....
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