(Review
by Hugh C)
As in the manner of the so-called “Beautiful Game”, this event was
again in two halves. The stage was set
for two gigs with the Steinway grand to the left, double bass and guitars
centre stage, two drum kits and percussion on the right.
Tim Garland Weather Walker Trio
Tim
Garland (saxophones, electronics); Jason Rebello (piano); Yuri Goloubev (bass).
Despite the name of the trio, much of the set, although Garland’s
material, was not from the Weather Walker CD. Bright New Year, from Garland’s album One,
featured soprano saxophone. Rebello on
piano and Goloubev on bass took alternate solos, the other subtly underpinning
the soloist on their own instrument.
Ensemble passages were the focus for saxophone.
One token standard followed (Garland emphasised the importance of
playing the standards in his early days as part of Ronnie Scott’s house band): Irving Berlin’s How Deep Is the Ocean? –
or as Garland jested (“doing his bit for climate change”) “How deep is the
ocean now?” Goloubev’s solo bass
introduced the rhythm with subtle references to the melody, then added to by
Rebello on piano and finally the full tune with Garland on tenor.
The next two items were from the Weather Walker album and were
enhanced by the projection of Alastair Lee’s stunning videography onto the
cinema screen behind the stage. An
example of this can be seen here. The Snows They Melt The Soonest (based
on the North East folk song of the same name) featured Garland on tenor,
enhanced by electronics. Weather
Walker followed, featuring soprano this time. Samai
for Peace (from One) concluded the first half. In his “houskeeping” announcement at the
beginning of the show Stuart Johnson indicated where the fire exits were “in
case the band were too hot”, by the end of this final piece things were
certainly at an incendiary level!
Half-time: No orange segments,
but a welcome contribution to the fluid balance by replenishment of the glass
with another pint of Jazz Session.
Gwilym Simcock, Mike Walker and Friends
Gwilym
Simcock (piano, keyboards); Mike Walker (guitar); Yaron Stavi (double bass, electric
bass); Asaf Sirkis (drums); Bernhard Schimpelsberger (drums, percussion).
As well as new material that Simcock composed for the occasion, he also
explored some of their back catalogue. The first three pieces were segued - two
new compositions and a third from the back catalogue. Shines Upon Them commenced the
set. Yaron Stavi on double bass took
solos in turn with Simcock’s piano and Walker’s guitar. The two drummers were also let out to play
and Schimpelsberger took full advantage of the range of percussive
opportunities in his toybox laid out in front of him. All Along featured atmospheric
keyboard from Simcock and beautiful arco bass from Stavi, Walker’s
melodic guitar together with light drumming and delicate brushwork on cymbals
contributed to the mix.
Heuter Loiter was an altogether funkier
affair with rhythmic left hand chords on piano, great guitar licks from Walker
and fine electric bass from Stavi.
Sirkis and Schimpelsberger dueted in Indian vocal percussion – Konnakol
- and also with drum solos. Just to
See You allowed Schimpelsberger to explore his toy collection again. These both are Simcock/Walker compositions
from the second Impossible Gentlemen recording, Internationally Recognised
Aliens.
Another new Simcock composition, In The Know, followed a plea
from the composer to “Wish us Luck!”
Initially led by Walker’s guitar, the piano later took melodic lead with
both drummers in the engine room whilst guitar and bass took a metaphorical tea
break. After the regulation period the
guys re-joined the fray, Stavi having some difficulty rearranging the seven A4
sheets of music concertinaed on his music stand. The haunting It Could Have Been a Simple
Goodbye (dedicated to the memory of
John Taylor) returned a calm to the proceedings. Tuneful melodic guitar work was to the fore
in this Mike Walker composition, with assistance from Schimpelberger’s
extensive percussive armoury.
The band had by now been on stage for over an hour and it could have
been a simple goodbye - this piece was a fitting finale. However, an encore was offered with the
warning that “we are going to leave you with something disturbing. Dog Time delivered the goods, with a
strange time signature or signatures which contributed to the disturbance;
Yaron Stavi took up his electric bass and together with Walker, to the
amusement of the audience, created barking effects.
Hugh C
1 comment :
Both sets were fabulous, undoubtedly my gig of the year.
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