A couple of concerts and a couple of reviews November 21, 2009
Posted by byased in Concerts, Local Musicians, Media, Music but not jazz.add a comment
There are a couple of concerts on in Glasgow over the next few days which I haven’t mentioned yet.
John Williams and John Etheridge
On Sunday night, John Williams and John Etheridge are playing at the Old Fruitmarket. Just in case you’re in any doubt, this isn’t John Williams the film composer, but John Williams the guitarist. Williams is mainly a classical musician, although he’s musically fairly adventurous and has made forays into different musical territories through his work with Cleo Laine and as a member of late 70s MOR prog-classical abomination Sky. Etheridge has worked with a wide range of musicians in the jazz and jazz-rock world, including Stephane Grapelli and the Soft Machine. They will each be playing a solo set as well as performing as a duo. Details on the Glasgow Concert Halls site.
It looks like a must for all fans of serious guitar playing, although I do have my doubts about whether it’s the best venue for an event which will at least partly consist of solo acoustic guitar. The Grand Hall upstairs might have been a better bet.
Alyn Cosker
On Monday night, Alyn Cosker is playing at the RSAMD with the students of the RSAMD Jazz Ensemble. The concert starts at 6.30pm.That might not give you enough time to hear them and then get down to the City Halls to hear Brass Jaw, who will be performing in the Recital Room at 8pm.
Reviews
Kenny Mathieson reviewed Empirical’s Perth concert for the Scotsman. He was less impressed by them than I was.
Rob Adams enjoyed Mercy Mercy Mercy’s performance in Dundee.
Brass Jaw; Dundee Jazz Festival part 2 November 18, 2009
Posted by byased in Concerts, European Musicians, Local Musicians, Media.add a comment
Brass Jaw
The “quite simply stunning” Brass Jaw are interviewed on the BBC’s London Jazz Festival blog. Topics discussed include their London appearances and meeting Sonny Rollins. I wonder if the BBC know that part of the URL for the article is “festival-on-the-move-with-bras.shtml”?
They are playing in Glasgow, at the City Halls Recital Room, on Monday 23rd (an 8pm start).
Dundee Jazz Festival
Brass Jaw also have a gig on Thursday night as part of the continuing Dundee Jazz Festival. Phil Mason’s New Orleans All Stars are playing elsewhere in the city at the same time.
The closing weekend features a couple of Scandinavian acts. Singer Josefine Lindstrand, who has worked with Django Bates and Uri Caine and was voted Jazz in Sweden’s Act of the Year for 2009 has a concert on Saturday night, while saxophonist Frøy Aagre is playing on Saturday. (If you don’t know much about her – and I must admit I don’t – there’s an article about her on the London Jazz site). Salsa Celtica play the Caird Hall on Friday, and on Sunday local band the Sellars Brothers Quintet will be sharing a bill with the Dundee University Big Band. Details of venues and prices for all shows are on the festival’s web site.
Empirical, a Big Guitar Weekend, and the Dundee Jazz Festival November 11, 2009
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Empirical
Empirical are playing the Recital Room at the City Halls on Saturday night. The band came to prominence a couple of years ago with a very good debut album (here’s a review). Since then, the line-up has changed significantly, with only two members of that quintet – alto player Nathanial Facey and drummer Shaney Forbes – in the current version of the band. The rest of the group is now made up of bass player Tom Farmer, pianist George Fogel and vibes player Lewis Wright. Their Glasgow date is part of a tour promoting their second album, Out’n'In. It too has been getting good reviews (eg in the Guardian and All About Jazz). Their current music is a tribute to the Eric Dolphy – the album includes versions of “Hat and Beard” and “Gazzeloni” from Out to Lunch as well as originals inspired by Dolphy. Here are reviews of recent live shows from Birmingham and Gateshead; and here’s a clip of them, with guest Julian Siegel, on the video section of their web site. They go on to play Aberdeen, Perth and Stirling, but don’t seem to have an Edinburgh gig lined up.
This seems as good a place as any to link to this wonderful YouTube clip of Eric Dolphy playing “Meditations on Integration” in Charles Mingus’s band. Magnificent stuff.
Big Guitar Weekend
The RSAMD is hosting a “Big Guitar Weekend” festival of (as the name might suggest) guitar music this weekend. It looks as if it covers a wide range of styles of acoustic guitar music (just don’t expect any howling feedback-drenched shredathons), with the performances most relevant to a jazz audience being the Scottish Guitar Quartet on Friday 13th at 9.30pm, and Martin Taylor playing as part of the Guitar Label showcase at 7.30 on Sunday. Videos of them, and some of the other participants, are available on the video page of the Big Guitar Weekend web site.
Dundee Jazz Festival
Martin Taylor is also appearing at the Dundee Jazz Festival, which starts on Friday the 13th and ends on Sunday 22nd. He’s at the Apex Hotel on the opening night alongside singer Alison Burns. Other acts on the opening weekend are Ken Mathieson’s Classic Jazz Orchestra (Saturday evening) and local trad band The East Coast Jazzmen at lunchtime on Sunday. Wednesday 18th sees a gig by Mercy Mercy Mercy, a new band put together by Colin Steele and Martin Kershaw to perform music by the Adderley brothers. This should be interesting, particularly if, like Kershaw’s earlier Charlie Parker Project, they do new arrangements of the pieces rather than simply playing them the way they were done on record. Full details of these gigs, and the rest of the programme, on the Dundee Jazz Festival web site.
The Necessity of Pluripresence* October 28, 2009
Posted by byased in Concerts.add a comment
There are a few interesting gigs coming up in the next week or so. Unfortunately, to get to all of them you’ll have to master the art of being in two places at the same time.
The RSAMD is putting on two concerts featuring the RSAMD Jazz Ensemble with guests.
On Thursday 29th they are joined by trumpeter American trumpeter Marvin Stamm. Stamm’s an unfamilar name to me, but he’s got a solid track record stretching back to the sixties. He’s been a member of the Stan Kenton, Thad Jones-Mel Lewis and George Gruntz bands as well as having an established career as a session player.
On Tuesday 3rd November, they are performing with altoist Nigel Hitchcock and trumpeter Ryan Quigley. According to the brochure with came out a few months ago, American trumpeter Wayne Bergeron was to have been the guest soloist, but this seems to have changed, at least according to the RSAMD web site.
On Thursday 5th, you’ve a dilemma.
- The Portico Quartet, with their unusual soprano sax, bass and two hang line-up are playing at the Arches, supported by the pop band Sweet Billy Pilgrim (presumably Kurt Vonnegut fans). The concert is being put on by the Arches themselves, rather than by one of the regular local jazz promoters. It will be interesting to see how the audience at this differs in size and in age and gender from the audience at a “normal” jazz concert at one of the city’s usual jazz venues. Doors open at 7.30pm.
- Half an hour later and half a mile away, Belfast guitarist Mark McKnight is playing at the City Halls Recital Room, leading a quartet of Ross Stanley on organ, Will Vinson on sax, and James Maddren on drums. McKnight and Vinson have both played Glasgow fairly recently, with Konrad Wiszniewski and Jonathan Kreisberg respectively, and are well worth hearing.
There are also a couple of decent-looking afternoon pub gigs on at the weekend. Guitarist Alan Sweeney’s Quintet is playing Brel on Saturday, starting at 3pm, and the Strathclyde Youth Jazz Orchestra have their monthly residency at West on Sunday, starting at 2pm. Admission to these is free, although obviously it’s good manners to buy some beer or soft drinks.
*Today’s big word. It means “Presence in more than one place at the same time”, according to Collins English Diction
Two Festivals: Lockerbie and Skye October 20, 2009
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There are a couple of interesting jazz festivals on in Scotland this weekend. They both run from Friday 23rd to Sunday 25th.
Lockerbie
The Lockerbie Festival, which started in 2006, has now established itself on the Scottish jazz scene.
My pick of this year’s concerts would be:
- Gigs by Tony Coe, one of the greatest UK reed players, who’s capable of playing straightahead swing, free improvisation, and anything in between. He plays in the opening gala concert on Friday, and in a quartet with American pianist Bill Carrothers the next day.
- Three shows by the aforementioned Bill Carrothers, a marvellously lyrical pianist with a gift for digging up old tunes and doing something inventive and contemporary with them. On Saturday, he’s doing a trio set at lunchtime and an early evening quartet set with Tony Coe; on Sunday he’s playing in a quartet with Scott Hamilton.
- A gala opening-night concert in the Town Hall, where Tina May and American trumpeter and singer Duke Hietger will be performing a set based on the Ella Fitzgerald – Louis Armstrong collaborations of the fifties. They’re backed by a band which includes Tony Coe on clarinet and Ronnie Rae on bass. The support acts are Rossano Sportiello playing stride and swing piano, and Tipitina playing New Orleans-style rhythm and blues.
Scott Hamilton and Duke Heitger pop up in a selection of different line-ups across the weekend, the Temperance Seven play the main Saturday night concert, and Paul Towndrow plays a lunchtime Sunday show in a band lead by Dumfries drummer John Lowrie.
Full details of these and the other concerts on the Lockerbie Jazz Festival site.
Skye
This is a new event to me, although it’s apparently been going since 2007. Nigel Hitchcock’s Quartet, Sophie Bancroft, the Rhythm Kings, and Gina Rae with the Euan Burton Trio are all playing a series of gigs across the island between Friday and Sunday, ending up with a Sunday night jam session in the Royal Hotel in Portree. Details on the Skye Jazz Festival web site.
