corto.alto & Daudi Matisko @ Hoochie Coochie - Nov. 13

© Russell

corto.alto: Liam Shortall (trombone, bass guitar, electronics); Mateusz Sobieski (tenor sax); James McKay (guitar); Fergus McCreadie (keyboards); Graham Costello (drums) 

My first visit to Hoochie since the change of ownership and I was pleased to note the same ambience remains with both staff and punters.

I'd had varied reports about the band that is fast becoming a phenomenon, corto.alto, and wanted to see for myself if they were as good as folk said they were or would the Scottish band be beyond my ken? I'm most pleased to say  that what I heard, once my acoustically tuned ears became acclimatised to the loops and samples and electronic tiddly-om-pom-poms, was some great playing.

I say 'heard' as my vision was somewhat impaired by a guy who was built like a bricked outhouse obscuring my view of the stage and you don't tell guys of such physique to move it. In fairness to him, the room was so rammed that there was little space for him to move to. I should have listened to my mother and eaten my crusts!

I digress, despite the volume, there was no disputing the super-talent on stage. Fergus McCreadie I've heard in several different settings and he's never failed to deliver. His contributions varied from the wild and the wonderful to the mellow and the melodic.

On tenor, Sobieski was even wilder and equally wonderful making the excesses of most other tenor players seem tame by comparision.

Shortall, the laird of the clan, was solid on bass, and a fine trombone player with a dry tone that is more  like what you get from a valve trombone rather than the ribald slidery sounds of some players. Together, tenor and trombone made for a great front line. They'd go down well in a more  conventional setting but then it wouldn't be corto.alto!

McKay also kicked ass with some guitar blasts that said 'Move over Metheny tell McLaughlin the news'. A slight exaggeration perhaps but only slight.

On drums, Costello hit everything in sight whilst never losing the groove. His solo feature was an old school ten-minute workout that enabled the others to recharge.

This had been quite a gig. I went in fearing the worst and left after hearing the best! 

© Patti

Daudi Matisko (guitar, organelle, voice)

Earlier, by way of a complete contrast, Matisko brought the crowded room to a hushed silence with a solo set that centred around his bipolar condition, depression and a general picture  of gloom and ill-fortune.

Amazingly, between songs, he made the audience aware of these conditions injecting humour into the sadness even getting the crowd to singalong to a composition with naughty words!

His voice is pitch perfect and quite captivating. He went down well. Lance

Fool me As Many Times As You Like; King of Misery; Hymn; I am Grateful For my Friends