Following hot on the heels of Jazz North East’s Sunday night performance with Let Spin at Bobiks, this evening saw a special event, in the form of a studio live recording before a limited audience. This was the brainchild of Wesley Stephenson, director and promoter of Newcastle Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music, and the first of, hopefully, a long series of live recordings of musicians ‘passing through’ the area, but making time to record their current work. For an extra day in their busy travel arrangements, it’s a win-win for performers and record label alike.
So, first up as a trial for this series, and directly between Glasgow and Groningen, Raymond MacDonald and Sia Xray stopped over at Blank Studios in Newcastle to set-up, rehearse and catch their breath before the evening recording session at 8pm. We were delighted to be part of this – two sets up close and personal, in a space especially set up with limited seating, ambient lighting and plenty of room for the duo to perform in ideal conditions.
We were treated to two delightful sets of slowly unfolding ambient sounds, some previously recorded but treated during the piece by Xray, others provided by her guitar, with MacDonald playing along or over the top of and inspiring the ambience through his sax or occasional piano playing. A wonderful evening, with a delighted audience leaving after some discussion of how thrilling it had been, and how much it was enjoyed.
A few of us ‘passed by’ the Control Room where John Martindale (recording engineer at Blank) was quickly checking the recorded tracks. To hear a few short extracts played over studio-quality speakers was a further joy for the evening, raising expectations for the final results through NEWJAIM Recordings. Thanks John for letting us eavesdrop on the duo’s (and yours) ‘work in progress’ . Overall, the evening was such a unique treat, with many more similar treats surely to follow. Keep up the good work Wes! Ken Drew (All photos © Ken Drew)
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