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Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival 2009 July 30, 2009

Posted by byased in Concerts.
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This year’s Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival gets underway on Friday 31st. As with the Glasgow festival earlier in the year, there are few international stars), but the overall programme looks very strong. Most of the big names are in the bluesy part of the festival: Eric Burdon, Jack Bruce, and TV pianist Jools Holland

One of the strengths of the Edinburgh festival is the variety of music covered, from classic old-time jazz to the avant-garde, with a good dollop of blues thrown in as well. There are also four geographic strands: Danish jazz (Chris Minh Doky, Sinne Eeg, Peter Rosendal), Norwegian jazz (Morten Gunnar Larsen, Elephant9, The Thing), French jazz (Sophie Domancich, Jacques Louissier, Baptiste Trotignon) and Scottish jazz (Colin Steele, Konrad Wisniewski, Carol Kidd).

What would I be spending my money on if I was in Edinburgh? Probably some of these:

  • Atomic (All-star contemporary Scandinavian quintet, which includes Magnus Broo and Paal-Nilssen Love)
  • Enrico Pieranunzi (a trio concert, plus one of music by or based on Scarlatti)
  • Joe Temperley and the EJF Orchestra play Duke Ellington (your chance to hear Temperley and Bobby Wellins in the same band)
  • Makoto Ozone (with his big band, and in a quartet with Tommy Smith)
  • Dick Hyman (in various contexts)
  • Barbara Morrison (doing a series of gigs)
  • Roy Hargrove (with an acoustic quintet, not his funk band. There’s an interview with him in today’s Herald)

Full details on the Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival site.

Jazz on the River July 24, 2009

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The Ferry in Glasgow is putting on a mini jazz festival, Jazz on the River, next weekend:

  • The Ryan Quigley Big Band, Friday 31st, 8pm
  • Courtney Pine, Saturday 1st, 8pm
  • Phil Mason All Stars, Sunday 2nd, 2.30pm

I can’t remember the Ferry putting on much jazz in the past, so I hope this is the start of a trend. The Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival is on at the same time, and it looks as if they’ve been canny enough to invite over a couple of acts who are playing there.

The Phil Mason show is billed as “Trad in the Sun”: let’s hope that’s not over-optimistic.

Ticket details and further information on The Ferry’s web site. (And if you’re not familiar with Glasgow, yes, it is an actual former ferry).

Graeme Stephen July 23, 2009

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There’s an interview with guitarist Graeme Stephen in today’s Herald.

Mike Walker and the NYJOS July 17, 2009

Posted by byased in British Musicians, Concerts, Local Musicians.
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The marvellous guitarist Mike Walker is currently doing a mini-tour of Scotland with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra of Scotland. They’re playing arrangements from his album Madhouse and the Whole Thing There.

The Perth date was tonight, and the two forthcoming ones are:

  • Edinburgh, Queen’s Hall, 18th July 2009
  • Glasgow, Old Fruitmarket, 19th July

Both gigs start at 7.30pm.

I won’t be able to get to either of them. Drat!

You can find out about Mike Walker at his web site and about the National Youth Jazz Orchestra of Scotland at the National Youth Orchestras of Scotland web site.

Update

Gunter Sommer and Raymond Macdonald July 5, 2009

Posted by byased in British Musicians, European Musicians, Live reviews.
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Tron Theatre, 27th June 2009 (afternoon)

This was the first concert in a series of German jazz concerts organised with the assistance of the Goethe Institut.

I don’t listen to much free improvisation, so I don’t really know how to judge this in approved improv terms. Is it a form of jazz, or has it developed into a form of its own – non-idiomatic improvisation, I think the term is?

First up was a Gunter Sommer – Raymond Macdonald Duo. They played five or six pieces, each of which developed the opening idea in a fairly coherent manner, with obvious interaction between the two musicians. It wasn’t cold abstract music: there was an obvious element of humour and play to it. Jazz kept threatening to break out, but never quite did. I got the impression that Sommer would be an excellent straightahead jazz drummer if he chose to be, but that wasn’t his plan. (Later on, in the discussion, he said something along the lines of “I was playing Black American music, but I wasn’t a Black American. I felt like a thief”). On the jazz – free improv axis, the set was less jazzy than Fred Anderson and Hamid Drake’s “Together Again”, but more jazzy than Joe McPhee and Paal Nilsson-Love’s “Tomorrow Comes Today”, if that’s any help.

After the end of the set, Gunter Sommer gave a talk on his own musical past, and on the free jazz scene in the old DDR. He was interesting, amusing and spoke pretty good English. The BBC should get him to do an edition of Jazz Library, or at least interview him for the Jazz House.