(Review by Steve T/Photos courtesy of Carlo Viglianisi)
The day I was reunited with my old mate Al Cohol. The day the focus
shifted from Empty Shop to the festival hub at Fowlers Yard, away from the
clutches of Carlo to his (if not silent then less noisy) partner Nick and
Festival Mistress-mind Heather Spencer, who had the initial vision of a
multi-venue festival of Jazz and other underground Black Music in the heart of
Durham, aimed at the student population and yokels young and old
alike.
But first a detour to the fabulous Miners Hall, hidden away in Durham,
yards away from where I grew up and yards away, in the opposite direction,
from a former home of a certain Lord and Lady; so good stock.
Essex girl via Durham Uni DJ WZK was doing some
amazing, seamless mixing. I remember when DJs were making tentative steps
towards this and it's moved on enormously.
Next a pop-up Early Bird
Band featuring FDT and Lawrence Brothers Dan and Ben. Older brother Dan got
the call at lunchtime and winged his way from Manchester with a final exam on
Monday, and it's acts of heroism like this that make small festivals so special
and Heather and Carlo were suitably impressed and grateful. A drummer proved
problematic but five minutes ahead, there was a choice of three, and a young
man from Gateshead, a regular of the Globe, fit like a glove (I was
notebook-less throughout the weekend so please feel free to furnish any names).
It was billed as a jam but only Early Jambone Bird James Metcalf
stepped up to play trumpet on a few. The set was fairly straightforward stuff
and these future stars can do this in their sleep, but it gave them a chance to
show off their chops, Francis playing seated with a much cleaner sound
than his general preference nowadays.
Budtet played a customary mix of instrumentals and the ladies splitting
vocals, Fiona fragile and sensitive and Jude assured with lots of
oomph and showmanship. They know what they're doing and do it well.
Then me. Never a happy DJ - I do it cos I have to, not cos I want
to - I played Jazz, funk, fusion, Latin and soul from the likes of
Esperanza Spalding, Return to Forever, Bataan, JBs, Sly and Family Stone,
Platinum Hook, Kool and his Gang, Fatback Band, Gilberto Gil, Roy Ayers and
Flowers, but didn't have time to go further into soul for my lot, or do some
West Coast Get Down for the Early Birds, or any reggae or Afro-Beat, which I
think have a place at a festival of this type.
Over to the Empty Shop for another jam session and this is about to get
embarrassing, but he probably played more across the festival than anybody else.
Tonight he found himself paired with an amazing alto player from Surrey via
Durham Uni who took it to the next level, Francis with nothing more than his
Gibson and an amp finding sounds from the next planet, together
making music which could be from the next century. Imagine what might have
happened if Hendrix had played with Bird.
DJ Mattu played a brief set including Thundercat and
some Hip Hop but taking DJing to a level of creativity and performance art
towards a whole new field of music.
I love festivals where you have to make choices - like Lance
missing Alphonse Mouzon to watch Dizzy - and I missed Group Theory and
Redemption Jazz at Empty Shop, and Lindsay Hannon and Bradley Johnson at the
Barber of Neville, but Sunday would present the trickiest choice of the festival.
Steve
T.
2 comments :
Another nice review Steve. I'm guessing the drummer from the Globe was Matthew Fairhurst, and the amazing alto player was Zach Fox (he is very good, 1st alto with DUBB).
Just been going through my stuff and was reminded I played a Pharaoh Sanders track. I wanted to draw attention to this because some people think you can't play Real Jazz as a DJ.
First time I heard Miles from the album Milestones was at a nightclub in Stockton. I've heard Mr PC, Art Blakey and there'll be others someone with a better memory than me could summon.
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