Catching up December 2, 2009
Posted by byased in Live reviews, Local Musicians, U.S. Musicians.2 comments
For a variety of reasons – including sheer laziness – I haven’t posted much recently. So this is just a brief catch-up.
Brass Jaw
Brass Jaw’s concert last week was excellent. I think having a trumpet in the line-up, rather than being a straightforward sax quartet, allows them to have a variety of tone colours in their repertoire which differentiate them from any of the all-sax bands (although there doesn’t seem to be as many of them around as there were in the 80s). They played a wide range of music, with lots of originals but also versions of pieces by Gershwin, Horace Silver, Sonny Rollins and Duke Ellington. Allon Beauvoisin on baritone basically stuck to providing the bass line, with Konrad Wiszniewski, Ryan Quigley, and above all Paul Towndrow all contributing some excellent solos. They had to revamp their running order when Towndrow was having problems with the F-sharp key on his alto, but it didn’t seem to phase them too much, possibly because, as Towndrow joked, “F-sharp’s an over-rated note anyway”. There was a healthy number of people in the audience, which was good to see as the last couple of jazz shows at the Recital Room were rather poorly attended.
Fuller review from Euphbass, who also has a video clip from one of their other tour dates.
Judy Carmichael
I was out of town visiting relatives when stride pianist Judy Carmichael made her appearance at the City Halls. I regret having to miss it, but sometimes these things can’t be helped. Euphbass was there, as was Alison Kerr for the Herald, and they both seemed to enjoy it.
100 not out
This is apparently my 100th post on the blog. Just thought I’d let you know.
Sheila Jordan bigs up Brian Kellock November 15, 2009
Posted by byased in Local Musicians, U.S. Musicians.add a comment
… in an online interview for the BBC. Roger Spence gets a namecheck too.
International Guitar Night; Strathclyde Youth Jazz Orchestra September 24, 2009
Posted by byased in Local Musicians, Music but not jazz, Musicians from elsewhere, U.S. Musicians.add a comment
International Guitar Night
Those of you who aren’t going to one of this weekend’s British Jazz Showcases might be interested in the International Guitar Nights which are on at the City Hall this Saturday and Sunday. There are three guitarists playing, American Brian Gore (who came up with the guitar night idea), Lulo Reinhardt (Django’s grandson), and Itamar Erez from Israel. Not strictly jazz, but close enough to possibly be of some interest to jazzers. The concerts start at 8pm, and tickets are £14. International Guitar Night web site.
Strathclyde Youth Jazz Orchestra
There’s an article about the Strathclyde Youth Jazz Orchestra in today’s Herald:
The band’s alumni include Ryan Quigley, Laura MacDonald and Alyn Cosker. And it’s good to see a couple of stalwarts of the older generation of Scottish jazzers, Bobby Wishart and Stewart Forbes, get mentions. Maybe not major figures, but the type of good solid professionals who’ve helped keep the music alive and have done solid work in jazz education.
Michael Janisch Purpose Built Quintet September 21, 2009
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Recital Room, Glasgow City Halls, 13th September 2009
I’m fairly recently back from holiday, and struggling to catch up with a load of post-break stuff, so this review is a bit late and a bit less substantial than I’d like it to be. Sorry.
Janisch’s quintet was a mixture of British players (Jim Hart on vibes and Paul Booth on saxes) and Americans (drummer Clarence Penn and trumpet and flugelhorn player Jason Palmer). Penn was the big name in the band, but it was Palmer who most impressed me. He’d a lovely tone, used mutes and half-valving in a way which was simultaneously ultra-traditional and ultra-contemporary, and, most importantly, didn’t seem to be copying any of the obvious models.
The music, predominantly Janisch compositions, was a bit more adventurous and out than a lot of contemporary post-bop, but it never turned into fully-fledged free jazz. There was nice variety to it. Different sections used different permutations of band members. Janisch switched between acoustic double bass and bass guitar; Palmer played a fair amount of flugelhorn; Paul Booth played alto on one piece rather than his usual tenor; and Penn used a variety of different sticks and brushes to add colour to the music. If I’d one criticism, it would be that some of Janisch’s compositions were less memorable than others, but overall this gig was more about the playing and improvisation than the tunes. And his best pieces, for instance “Adelante” and “Lost Creek”, are very good indeed. An excellent start to this year’s Jazz International season, although I thought the turnout was slightly disappointing.
Euphbass was also at the concert, and has a review here. She’s also tracked down coverage of a couple of other dates on the tour: the Newcastle (from “Bebop Spoken Here”) gig and the one in Fishguard (from Ian “Jazzmann” Mann). There are also some photos from their Epsom show on the London Jazz Blog.
… but Some Guests are More Special than Others. August 24, 2009
Posted by byased in Concerts, Local Musicians, U.S. Musicians.1 comment so far
Details of the Autumn concert schedules in Glasgow are beginning to emerge. I’ll take a more general look at them later. For now I’ll just mention a couple of projects involving major American musicians working with local bands. It’s traditional to refer to temporary collaborators as “special guests”, but these guests are more special than most.
Tommy Smith and the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra are bringing Smith’s former employer Gary Burton to Scotland to do a short tour. They will be playing music by Wayne Shorter in specially-commissioned arrangements by a variety of people including Mike Gibbs, Florian Ross and Michael Abene (who runs the WDR Big Band in Cologne). They are at the RSAMD in Glasgow on Saturday 12th September. Tickets are available from the RSAMD web site. Details of the other concerts, in St Andrews, Edinburgh, Stirling and Gordonstoun(!), can be found on the SNJO site.
The Burt-MacDonald Quintet have a history of collaborating with other musicians from the free-er areas of jazz, including recording with Lol Coxhill and Keith Tippett. They pull off something of a coup in October, when they are performing with the great American improvising pianist Marilyn Crispell. According to Crispell’s web site, the concert will consist of a solo set by her plus a set with the band. She’s playing a few other concerts in the UK, notably at the On The Outside festival on Tyneside, but this Glasgow performance (City Halls Recital Room, October 13th) is the only one to feature the Burt-Macdonald group.
Crispell is one of the major figures in contemporary improvisation: whether she’s playing in a dense dissonant style, or more lyrically, she’s always worth hearing. I have fond memories of her 2000 gig with Gary Peacock and Paul Motian at the CCA (when it was in its temporary home at the Maclellan Galleries). It will be interesting to hear how well this collaboration works: Crispell’s intensity isn’t the most obvious match for Burt-MacDonald’s distinctive blend of catchy melody and free improvisation.
