Women Make Music @ the Bridge Hotel, Newcastle - May 8

(Review by Steve H/Photos courtesy of Ken Drew)

Jazz North East presented a trio of duos in their latest Women Make Music series.

The evening began with the wail of a police siren as Diachronicx incorporated live samples into their new project The Great City. I must admit that Heller’s interaction with the Apple Mac whilst simultaneously putting over deep and meaningful lyrics was a bit of a distraction which was a shame because her singing coupled with Steve Glendinning’s guitar was excellent.

The last time I saw Beatrix Ward-Fernandez she was playing my favourite jazz instrument the Theremin. On Sunday night, she teamed up with Linda Kemp in Thermal Threshold. The two women sat on the floor with violins before them. Rather than using conventional bows the strings were strummed with an assortment of small chains and needles. With the addition of electronics and voice a hypnotic musical soundscape was created. It took a while to get into but by the end of the performance most of the audience, including myself, seemed to be quite enthralled.

The final duo of the evening saw Newcastle’s own rising saxophone star Faye MacCalman team up with veteran virtuoso percussionist Charlie Collins. The pair produced a fabulous improvised set. Collins entrancing the audience both visually and audibly with his wide assortment of instruments - the favourite of the night seemed to resemble a circular open aired birdcage. MacCalman played both clarinet and saxophone with great aplomb - the ranges of tones and sounds she is able to produce are awesome. The pair seemed to combine effortlessly to round off a thoroughly diverse interesting and entertaining evening.
Steve.

Diachronicx: Gabriele Heller (voice & samples), Steve Glendinning (guitar).

Thermal Threshhold: Beatrix Ward-Fernandez, Linda Kemp (violins, voice, electronics)

MacCalman/Collins: Faye MacCalman (saxophone, Clarinet),  Charlie Collins (drums)