From its gentle, considered intro, rather like a lament, the music engages with some exquisite guitar playing, as well as emotive trumpet phases. The drums and percussion drive the music along at different beats; varying between slower to medium to more up-tempo.
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Pianist Colin Haikney, who sadly passed away last night, was all of that and more. When someone dies it's, seemingly, obligatory to say what a great musician he was, his dry sense of humour, a true gentleman - in fact everything but the truth!
Fortunately however, in Colin's case all those attributes are very much true and if there was ever a poll to find a musician who ticked all of those boxes then Colin Haikney would be up there in the frame.
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(Jazz North East/Jazz Co-op promotion)
Normally, a tenor, bass and drums trio would have me less than enthusiastic about what lay ahead - Sonny Rollins and Joshua Redman being notable exceptions. However, having reviewed Josephine Davies' recent album How Can we Wake? I knew what to expect - or so I thought!
That album was very much Indian related and perhaps the thinking was that even a jazz Indian variant might deter the punters or, more likely, it was due to the fact that bass and drums were different to the players on the album.
Louise Gibbs (vocal); Richard Wetherall (piano); Frank Griffith (clarinet/alto sax/tenor sax).Another delightful afternoon at Seven Arts in Leeds albeit, in my case I was watching from afar it nevertheless, still made for compelling viewing.
The programme was based around the music of Ellington and Strayhorn and I doubt if there's a singer alive today who can interpret the music better than Louise Gibbs who poured heart and soul into the lyrics, sometimes updating them and often slotting a scat chorus in.
Now that the combination of live gigs and livestreams are becoming the norm it is ever more likely that this is going to be the way forward. Let's face it, if you've splashed the cash on all this hi-tech stuff to enable you to reach the distant corners of the jazz empire you're hardly going to pack it away in the cupboard until the next lockdown are you?
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This one had 'all-star' written all over it. All-star on the 1960 Ellington 'Unknown Session' album, all-star here at Kansas Smitty's, fully six decades on. Giacomo Smith put together this evening's set list, playing something like eight of the twelve numbers from the original recording plus a good old good one.
He appeared in 46 movies, countless radio and TV shows and was eventually honoured with a star on the famed Hollywood Blvd. Walk of Fame.
Joe Webb (piano); Pete Horsfall (trumpet); Will Sach (double bass)
(Screenshot by Russell)
Humphrey Lyttelton;
Benny Carter Quintet; Tees Hot Club;
Richie Emerson's pick: Tubby Hayes; Gene Ammons Sonny Stitt; Sonny Stitt; Buddy Rich; Bill Evans with Stan Getz;
Esperanza Spalding;
New Releases: Lucien Johnson; Sarah Moule;
Radio 3 composer of the week - Mary Lou Williams;
Guitarists: Charlie Christian; Django Reinhardt -
Benny Carter; Barney Kessel.
I first heard Lafertin at the Breda Oude Stijl Jazz Festival back in 1981 where he was playing with Waso, a Belgium gypsy hot club ensemble. I was knocked out! Although I knew the music from the Django/Grappelli records this was the first time I'd witnessed that style live and I've been a fan ever since.
The All Party Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group Announces A Review Of Jazz In England
Following
an enforced delay due to the global pandemic and a year of unprecedented
change, challenges, and specific hardships for working musicians, the All Party
Jazz Appreciation Group (APPJAG) has commissioned
a Review of Jazz in England. The Review will be undertaken by APPJAG’s
Secretary, Chris Hodgkins, and an expert advisory panel, chaired by musician
and jazz educator Dr Kathy Dyson.
John Spellar MP and Lord Mann (Co-Chairs of APPJAG), and Alison Thewless MP and Chi Onwurah MP (Co-Vice Chairs of APPJAG), detail some of the review's objectives:
Ms Wexler hails from Los Angeles and is a mainstay on the Californian jazz scene. She also performs at major venues across the USA, including Birdland and the Blue Note in New York City, and she has sung in clubs and festivals overseas, such as the Montreal Jazz Festival and the Jazz Festivals in Tel Aviv and also in Dubai.
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A delightful gem that never allowed my my mind to wander, instead it tended to wonder! The sound of surprise was a constant which is the way all good art should be and this was an exercise in musical artistry.
Ballamy and Safir doodled around in a slightly free format offering tantalisingly fleeting glimpses of a tune that wasn't totally revealed until Shaw emerged from the wings to burst into What's New? What's new? well this certainly was. Shaw has an amazing range that, coupled with his ability to move from ppp to fff within a single beat, makes him just about unique.
There's also an excellent article by Alyn Shipton on Louis Armstrong. For my money, Shipton is the number one jazz writer/broadcaster around and, apart from being a fine bass player, his judgements are, to my way of thinking, a tablet of stone.
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If you plan to be there then advance booking is essential (see link below). Lance.
Groundbreaking ensemble the Apollo Saxophone Quartet is to premiere Journey to the Impossible, its unique set mixing music with “crazy and wonderful” films from the early years of the silent movie era.
Established in 1985 at the Royal Northern College of Music, the ensemble has made the largest single contribution to the saxophone quartet repertoire in the UK, commissioning and premiering over 100 works.
Journey to the Impossible, originally commissioned in 1998 by the Phoenix Arts Theatre in Leicester and one of the quartet’s most popular works, is now set to be streamed online for the first time via stream.theatre.
I’ve seen Ben Crosland perform in various groups over the years and would sum him up as ‘genial’ maybe human. He played with Waterman and Lodder in the trio Threeway, as the lynchpin of John Etheridge’s Trio North, leading an Octet for his Echoes in the Valley project from 2000 and many others. He fits this activity around the running of his Jazzcat record label and a career as a barrister in the courts of West Yorkshire. That’s barrister not barista - you’d want Crosland in your corner if you were trying to get off a life sentence.
*The renowned jazz festival returns with a series of live in-person concerts featuring Nubya Garcia, Nitin Sawhney, Penguin Café, Emma-Jean Thackray, Poppy Ajudha, Matthew Halsall and more*
With the help and support of fellow musicians, Erev has produced a beautiful album. Ari's compositional strengths and abilities seem to draw from an extensive knowledge of classical and jazz structures and forms; his playing showing an exquisite deft touch, bringing verve, vitality, sensitivity and sensibility to the music.
The album’s themes are concerned with personal feelings of love and affection for a place; be it shop, neighbourhood, community or country and people; be it family or friends. Memories and reflections are recalled with a great depth of feeling exemplified in the rich vibrancy of melody and harmony.
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International Jazz Day at the Globe (and throughout the world) is held annually on April 30. For Jazz Co-op the date is doubly significant as it was also the date when the first ever jazz cooperative was formed in the UK back in 2014.
Normally the occasion would be an all-day breakfast of jazz, jam and just about anyone who knew which end to blow through. However, this year, due to the pandemic, April arrived too soon and the spotlight was on a livestream from the Globe by Scottish band the Matt Carmichael Quartet which was duly covered by BSH.
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One of the good old good ones from the Joe Henderson pad, a number beloved of jammers and hard-boppers - Recorda Me got things moving. Lockett doesn't go along with the theory that less is more he's a firm adherent of the school that says more is more and, in his case it's true. He played it every which way including, most importantly, the right way. The crowd actually present showed their appreciation, after some encouragement, by applauding the solos. I'd begun to think they'd forgotten how to do so the doors having been closed for so long.
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Debra
Dara
Tucker (vocals); On various tracks: Cyrus Chestnut, Sullivan Fortner (piano);
Dezron Douglas, Vicente Archer (bass); Johnathan Blake, Joe Dyson (drums);
Giveton Gelin (trumpet); John Ellis (saxophone)
The worst thing about reviewing this album was finding biographical details – I had to resort to Wikipedia. The best thing was everything else, especially Ms Tucker's warm, expressive, voice, and her obvious genuine belief in what she was singing about.
8. Esperanza Spalding – Radio Music
Society (2012)
(Press release)
‘A near perfect vocal-jazz album’ ★★★★✰ John Eyles, AllAboutJazz
‘I reviewed this back in February and it has been on my car stereo ever since and it has been a long time since any CD has lasted that long – that’s how good it is! Words, music and voice are just so compelling…This is an equilateral triangle that is perfectly balanced – words, music, voice.’ Lance Liddle, Bebop Spoken Here
‘Moule captures every nuance of the late great lyricist’s words…touchingly…candidly and always unerringly…beautifully set by Simon Wallace’ ★★★★ Dave Gelly, The Observer
‘A terrific central performance by Moule, who sings throughout with complete conviction and technical command, not to mention freshness and insight’ ★★★★ Peter Quinn, Jazzwise
‘A quietly authoritative jazz singer with no time for fake sentiment. Moule is the perfect storyteller’ Clive Davis, The Sunday Times
6. Dave Holland – Extensions (1990)
Having had the opportunity to listen to ‘Another Land’ Holland’s imminent release on Edition Records I dug this out as it also features Kevin Eubanks on guitar with the quartet being rounded out by Steve Coleman (alto sax) and Marvin ‘Smitty’ Smith (drums). Listening to it, it’s hard to believe that this was another short term project assembled for an album or tour as the band sounds as if they have spent years in each other’s company; the interplay between the sax and guitar is almost telepathic as they play with, between and around each other and when they drop back it’s apparent that Holland has been a rock solid foundation all along; Smith adds colour and fills and revels in the freedom he’s allowed. And that’s just the first track. Whilst the pace may vary across the rest of the album the quality never drops.
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I remember the disappointment when I first heard JATP at Newcastle City Hall back in May 1958. This was going to be something, I thought, and it was. How could it not be with Stan Getz, Sonny Stitt, Coleman Hawkins, Dizzy and Roy Eldridge on the bill?
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 (Press release) Thursday 30th September - Sunday 3rd October (Exhibition Preview and Warm Up: Saturday 25th September) A multicultural mélange celebrating the rich tapestry of improvised music
from the UK Jazz scene.
In 1995 the original Newcastle Jazz Festival closed it’s doors, leaving a
void in the city, until Newcastle Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music was
launched for the first edition in 2017. |
3. Charles Mingus – The
Black Saint and the Sinner Lady (1963)
Back in my cycling days, jazz was never far from my mind. In my very early days as a teenager, on club runs, we used to sprint for signs. As we went hell for leather to be the first into Morpeth I'd be pedalling to the tune of High Society. I always came, at best, second, maybe future track champion Vince Burns was hearing Scrapple From the Apple.
The reason for this, seemingly unlikely post, springs from a Twitter (Tweet?) by Paul Edis promising to deliver an article on the relationship between music and exercise - in Paul's case jogging - as well as a book by someone else on the relationship between jazz and cricket.
1. Paul Chambers – Bass on Top (1957).
This is a joyous, tight, swinging collection of covers (with a Chambers original added for the CD reissue). Chambers is ably supported by a crack quartet of Kenny Burrell (guitar), Hank Jones (piano) and Art Taylor (drums). By this point Chambers was a member of Miles Davis’ group and, along with Red Garland and Philly Joe Jones, he made up The Rhythm Section who ‘met' Art Pepper the same year that Bass on Top was recorded. Chambers bows his bass through two tracks, the stately Yesterdays and the more upbeat The Theme (the Miles Davis tune). Throughout the album the bass is mixed so high and so far forward sometimes feels that Chambers could be behind you. There is no doubt about whose album this is.On today's edition (May 19) of Radio 4's Life Changing series, presenter Jane Garvey asked Tony Kofi: Is there any instrument you would have rejected? Banjo? Pausing a moment, saxophonist Kofi replied: Er...banjo! Russell.
This quote from KT Reeder is interesting, controversial and must surely provoke some further comment: "The idea of teaching somebody to improvise is just bloody ridiculous. In this country jazz has been appropriated by universities. They have jazz courses, and they churn out people who have a degree in jazz, which makes me feel very nauseous, the idea that you can be trained to do jazz." - (Giant Steps by David Burke).
This is something I, as one who struggled through various teach yourself jazz tutors as well as gleaning 'knowledge' from semi-pros, regarded this as the way to go. I mean, did Louis or Bird go to Berklee or Julliard? No, they went to the School of Hard Knocks before graduating to the University of Life.
Following an exceptional digital edition last year, the 29th EFG London Jazz Festival returns to live audiences with a programme of highest quality live performances by an electrifying line up of global stars, special collaborations, new commissions and the finest and freshest music from the UK.
We are back with the complete experience of living London to the fullest, with a city-wide selection of venues, clubs, partnerships as well as creative engagement projects, talks and free-stages, whilst retaining our commitment to our nationwide and global outreach through our digital work.
