Loose Again

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

Loose Tubes re-unite for anniversary gigs

ole

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Loose Tubes re-unite for anniversary gigs

ole

The Horror, the Horror....

Conrad ~ Heart of Crassness.

BN. not a fan.

[Ariosto]

Loose Again

Loose Again - and I thought you were reffering to my last visit to the loo ...

[Tenor Freak]

Excellent

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

er given the misapprehensions above was that a dump or the news you are referring to Tenor Freak?

cafe cognac eh ......

[Tenor Freak]

It was the fact that a news had reached me about the Tubes' reformation.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

It was the fact that a news had reached me about the Tubes' reformation.

My feeling was and is that they were much better apart. Together, on my one horrible encounter, they were like a bunch of borish drunk students, in the bar and on stage. Hey, look at us, aint we wacky.

I could have cheerfully punched one of them. Hard. OK then, A. Slater. A Twat.

BN.

[Tenor Freak]

My feeling was and is that they were much better apart. Together, on my one horrible encounter, they were like a bunch of borish drunk students, in the bar and on stage. Hey, look at us, aint we wacky.

I could have cheerfully punched one of them. Hard. OK then, A. Slater. A Twat.

BN.

That's odd, because they spoke very highly of you...

[MrGongGong]

I could have cheerfully punched one of them. Hard. OK then, A. Slater. A Twat.

I'm going to tell him that
and I think he would find it amusing

[Tenor Freak]

Seriously though, they've had a big influence on British music...I think I've had lessons from most of the sax section, and one of the singers in the band I play in was taught by Chris Batchelor, and that's only two people out of thousands working out there. They had a sense of wanting to get things done and go their own way, not just copy the Americans

[Tenor Freak]

I'm going to tell him that
and I think he would find it amusing

Please let us know what his reaction was

[charles t]

Bruce: Speaking of Brit Jazz from lo, decades ago - I have been (re)listening to Amalgam...in particular a 3CD live set: WIPE OUT, circa between 1978-1980. The group led by Trevor Watts, of course with Keith Rowe, guitar, Liam Genockey, drums and either Colin McKenzie or George Lyle, bass.

This set was released by FMR Records in Essex (about 2007).

What made it personally memorable for me is at the time I was in the process of ordering, the guy from FMR volunteered to carry the (relatively heavy) set with him on his flight to New York and then mail from there - in order to cut down on the postage.

Talk about English courtesy!

Anyway, WIPE OUT is wild stuff...as contemporary sounding now as back then. Trevor Watts is as vital to the listening experience, in intensity, as say, Eric Dolphy - on this set.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

In my day top British modernists would drink their half pint of Scotch in the interval, slowly adjust their cashmere roll necks, mumble "see you 'Arry" and quietly return to the stand.

Not act like Engineering students on a rugby tour.


O the Shame! Bring back National Jazz Service.

BN.

[Serial_Apologist]

Bruce: Speaking of Brit Jazz from lo, decades ago - I have been (re)listening to Amalgam...in particular a 3CD live set: WIPE OUT, circa between 1978-1980. The group led by Trevor Watts, of course with Keith Rowe, guitar, Liam Genockey, drums and either Colin McKenzie or George Lyle, bass.

This set was released by FMR Records in Essex (about 2007).

What made it personally memorable for me is at the time I was in the process of ordering, the guy from FMR volunteered to carry the (relatively heavy) set with him on his flight to New York and then mail from there - in order to cut down on the postage.

Talk about English courtesy!

Anyway, WIPE OUT is wild stuff...as contemporary sounding now as back then. Trevor Watts is as vital to the listening experience, in intensity, as say, Eric Dolphy - on this set.

There was a blistering live Jazz Club broadcast of around that same time, introduced by Charles Fox as The Yorkshire Suite, of which someone donated me their cassette recording - Trevor, McKenzie, Rowe, John Stevens and Liam Genockey! On the other side was another of Peter Brotzmann, Harry Miller and Louis Moholo. You know what? I lent it to someone, forgot who, and never got it back.

[Ian Thumwood]

You've got to love Loose Tubes. Coming to jazz in the early 1980s I grew up with the mistaken belief that British jazz was totally inferior to American musicians. My initial interest was with big band jazz from 20's / 30's / 40's where finding British recordings that matched the same standard as even run-of-the-mill American jazz musicians was an almost impossible task. When I first heard Spike Hughes' American recordings I was staggered than anyone from the British Isles could be so good yet by the time I had moved on to Miles, Monk, Hampton Hawes, etc, etc I found that there was so much great American jazz and players who were still around at the time (whether it was Lionel Hampton, Count Basie, George Russell or Don Cherry) that I had no interest in anything recorded in the UK.

I suppose my perception changed around 1985/6 when I first became aware of Loose Tubes. There was a lot of publicity around their music at the time and when I acquired their first LP I was staggered at the sheer originality of the music. They rapidly became a big favourite of mine. The next two LP's were even better and catching them perform live in Southampton for the first time was an incredible experience. Looking back, I can appreciate Bluesnik's colourful description of the band as engineering students on a rugby tour. This is very apt but, for me, this is a good thing. I really feel that Loose Tubes kick-started jazz on the UK and captured the imagination. Prior to their arrival, my knowledge of "great" British jazz was that it was broadly limited to Tubby Hayes and Joe Harriott but given that so much jazz from this era was not available at the time, I only had the word of people who either had their records or who had heard them perform live. Loose Tubes were a living and vibrant new sound which seemed a necessary and appropriate departure from the kind of jazz listened to by my peers.

The lively spirit of their music was refreshing but , at the same time, there were other musicians in the States who had a similar kind of approach to jazz. No one ever accused Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy of behaving like students nor slagged off the equally rebellious "Downtown" musicians in New York such as John Zorn, Microscopic Sextet, Bobby Previte, Bill Frisell, etc, etc. I think Loose Tubes were part of a more liberal approach to jazz at the time that rebelled against the "New Neo's" even if you could see antecedents in bands such as Mike Westbrook and Brotherhood of Breath. Looking back, the 1980's were probably an era where the changes in jazz started to ferment at a faster rate at any other point in jazz's history. This was the decade where jazz went global and the music found new ways to express itself as Hard Bop and Free Jazz started to run dry of ideas. The 80's were a decade when musicians took stock of jazz' history and find new ways of regurgitating it so that jazz became considerably richer in the follower thirty years. Historically, it will prove to be as important as what went on in the mid 40's and bands like Loose Tubes may sound of their era but they will be seen as part of a scene which threw off the slough of the influence of Coltrane and Miles, etc to achieve something that was no longer derivative. This is why they are so significant to the UK jazz scene as they rapidly made bands who aped the jazz of the 1950's seem irrelevant.

I would have to say that there is probably a degree of nostalgia in the fondness for Loose Tubes that I share with Bruce. That said, they were a band that made you feel proud of the UK jazz scene as well as opening the doors for many, many jazz musicians in the UK who followed in their wake. Even today, they remain hugely influential whenever big bands are assembled in this country. I would also argue that they also helped shine a light on an earlier generation of British jazz musicians and probably inspired many fans who grew up exploring jazz in that decade to look back towards the music of Tubby Hayes, Stan Tracey, etc, etc. I strongly feel that my generation of jazz fan would never have explored these kinds of musicians had we not encountered Loose Tubes first of all.

It is not true that jazz began in the UK during the course of the 1980's and there were many players like Courtney Pine who worked hard to give jazz a bigger profile. Not everything that has followed on has been good. Loose Tubes played great charts and had a roster of fine soloists. They also took to the stage with boisterous energy that blasted away in Tarrentino fashion the snobby attitude towards jazz that had engulfed the music since the late 40's. They tried to return the music back to the people without letting the integrity slip. Years ago this board Trevor Cooper would almost weekly trumpet the endeavours of a roster of has beens and journey men from the history of British jazz and although I would concur that there were quite a few musicians who had been unjustly over-looked (Wilton Gaynair, Pat Smythe, etc, etc) , it is not unreasonable to say that most were in thrall of their American counterparts. By and large, they offered little that was original and setting aside the obvious examples, most were little more than an average photocopy of what was happening on the other side of the Atlantic. Loose Tubes, more than any other single band, changed this perception and, for once, gave the Americans something to think about. Perhaps that weren't producing the jazz of our father's generation yet they were producing a new jazz that would help define jazz for the next 30 years - surely something to be lauded as opposed to those who looked to replicate the glories of jazz musicians from the previous 30 years!!

Rant over.......