It's becoming increasingly futile to
second-guess what to expect at gigs, but there was never any doubt in my mind
I'd be going to this one.
His My East is Your West is one of the finest albums I've ever reviewed
for Bebop Spoken Here, but it came with scant information (actually none if I
remember correctly).
I was expecting a tabla player so
wasn't sure whether Sorathy was the drummer or the person rapping at the front
of the stage: when Trilok Gurtu played the Sage with Paulo Fresu and Omar Sosa,
he had various Indian percussion instruments incorporated within his standard
kit.
The rapping was not of the typical American variety nor the original DJ/ toasters of Jamaica at the turn of the seventies, but of the British variety and specifically the British Asian variety, but with a distinctly Gil Scott Heron influence, further suggested by his splendid beard and hat.
When he left the stage after the
first piece, I wondered if he would return with a pair of tablas but it quickly
became apparent that the drummer - unassuming behind his kit at the back of the
stage - was nobody's sideman.
He was aided and abetted by a sax
player to his right, sometimes heavily distorted and sometimes clean, and
keyboards to his left playing lots of sounds, though managing to avoid some of
the excesses of some electronic-soul outfits.
The dapper rapper would return for
some more topical spoken word about Boris' Britain, but my enduring impression
of this gig was without doubt the astonishing prowess of the leader, the latest
Asian percussionist I've come across whose abilities just seem to be off any
scales we may have grown accustomed to.
Extraordinary.
Steve T
PS: The Sage is a fifty mile round trip for us so it's sometimes difficult to get there in time during the week. When we got there we found out John Pope was the support act doing a solo bass piece.
PS: The Sage is a fifty mile round trip for us so it's sometimes difficult to get there in time during the week. When we got there we found out John Pope was the support act doing a solo bass piece.
Since I often struggle to maintain
interest with trios, unless there's a Hammond or one of them is singing, we
decided not to go in in the middle of the set.
However, the lady sat next to me told
me he'd done a great job keeping it interesting with entertaining
announcements, plenty of variety and some bow work and actually singing on the
final piece and apparently he has a fine voice.
Any more north east jazz musicians
with something they'd like to tell us?
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