Sounds from The Smoke

[Serial_Apologist]

"Way Out West presents
"Music of the Drum Composers @ The Bull's Head Wednesday 18th April
2018, 8.15 pm

Tonight's concert brings together a complete concert of compositions by master drummers such as Tony Williams, Elvin Jones, Kenny Clarke, Paul Motion [sic], Bill Stewart alongside classic tunes such as Seven Steps to Heaven by Miles Davis which feature the great drummers of the jazz tradition. Expect an incredibly swinging evening of jazz underpinned by a rhythm section featuring Way Out West member Gary Willcox - ".......a brisk, sensitive drummer capable of great dynamic and textural range........" Chris Parker, Vortex Review.

. Gary Willcox - drums
. Kate Williams - piano
. Tim Whitehead - tenor saxophone
. Chris Biscoe - alto saxophone
and special guests!

Tickets £10 advanced - £12 on door - (£5 students)

The Bull's Head
373 Lonsdale Road
Barnes
London SW13 9PY"

Gig blurb.

You don't know what you could be missing! Unfortunately I do since this clashes with my local gig, which also looks to be a good 'un.

[Serial_Apologist]

Last night's gig at the local Golden Lion featuring Satori - a trio consisting of tenor and soprano saxophonist Josephine Davies, Oli Hayhurst on bass and our old friend Paul Clarvis on drums - played a succession of originals by Ms Davies, a peppering of standards and a couple of plaintive ballads which imv brought out her best as a slightly Coltrane-tinged player. Her own compositions displayed unusual time signatures and variable tempi with ease, courtesy the rough-and-ready Clarvis machine, Hayhurst always dependable in support and good contrast in soloing. Josephine, who by the way is one of the participants on Pete Hurt's "A New Start", praised here by Ian, gained a Perrier Young Musician Award for her previous group with pianist Steve Melling, which we saw a few years back. She told me the trio only gets occasional gigs, and when asked why said that for London-based players it was part and parcel of the current situation of a surfeit of musicians chasing too many venues. Melling, like many until recently fairly prominent figures on the local scene, has moved away - in his case north; Hayhurst, noticeably much in demand from the number of advertised events with his name, has nonetheless also decamped.

Much to my surprise and delight, we were joined in the audience by the legendary drummer Trevor Tompkins, clearly a great buddy of Paul's; during the interval Trevor joined me out front, where he told me he was native-born to this district, and reminisced, pointing to various changes up the high street, and to where a girlfriend had once lived above one of the shops! Fiona emerged with alarm written all over her face to tell us the pub landlord had just informed her he was pulling the plug on the gig, unhappy it seemed with the low beverage consumption levels from the attentive audience at the bar. Fortunately he then quit the building and nothing more was heard, because had I been there there would have been a confrontation, and I would have wanted to know what sort of welcome his establishment would be gaining a reputation for. Sadly these people, so generous with their premises, hold the whip hand and have done as far back as one can remember, and this means Fiona can only be "diplomatic" and close the evening urging punters to get the word out and bring more in. To give an indication of the quality jazz on offer at the GL, Fiona - who btw is the partner of drummer John Webb, who starred (is not too strong a word) in Harry Beckett's and Graham Collier's bands in the early 1970s on John Marshall's recommendation - bought the piano used for these gigs, which is a permanent fixture at the venue; next month's advertised gig is that fine ex-Jazz Warriors pianist Alex Hutton's quartet with Josh Kemp on sax, Matt Ridley bass and the renowned Asar Sirkis, drums; and the one after that Trevor Tomkins leads a group including Dave O'Higgins, John Horler and Tim Wells on bass.

[Serial_Apologist]

The Tony Hymas/Daryl Runswick Big Band of 1974

Three tracks from the band's one outing, a BBC broadcast, are linked from Mr Runswick's website below, which I'm sure he won't mind me plugging on here. There are fine solos from Frank Ricotti on vibes, Ray Warleigh and Stan Sulzmann on reeds, Kenny Wheeler and Mick Pyne's trombone, the whole thing very much in then-Gary Burton/Mike Gibbs stylistic territory, powered along by the bustling drumming of Spike Wells, late of the late Tubby Hayes quartet and big band. I think Ian might appreciate these 4 tracks, which take about half an hour to play in their entirety:

http://www.darylrunswick.net/hymasdr74.html

[Serial_Apologist]

This is the latest samizdat from LUME - a co-operative of talented & committed young jazz musicians, some of them women you may not have heard about, who, to me, represent a continuation of the self-defining free/experimental end of British jazz that is most welcome. I crowdfunded their last release and the recording was made and posted within a month.

Click on the live samples here - (this is not Laura Jurd: special message to Ian ) - see what I mean?

http://www.lumemusic.co.uk

[Serial_Apologist]

Sloanes unsquared

To compensate for the running down in the number of gigs London has on offer at this time of the year, Cadogan Hall - Chelsea's top-notch venue, referred to in relation to the Proms on another thread - hosts a sequence of lunchtime drop-in freebies in the large licensed bar room, downstairs from the concert venue. These are always well-attended, religiously attentive gatherings, largely of an age demographic somewhat older than mine, making it essential to arrive a good half hour before the noontime kick-off; the venue is friendly, air-conditioned, and architecturally attractive in its old-world Edwardian charm, with food served before and during the halftime break in an adjoining room. The two I intend attending are:

Friday 13th July: Art Themen Organ Trio;

Friday 20th July: Martin Speake Quartet.

PM me if you're thinking of attending.

Serial.

[Serial_Apologist]

Frank Harrison, Gilad Azmon's regular pianist - appears at our local jazz haunt tonight with the same bass player as here, who's a regular with Tim Richards (Spirit Level etc), but a different drummer, Will Glasser, who I think is S African. I'm on a mission to "convert" a number of residents at this address by enticing them to go. Neo-Bill Evans in a nutshell, like so many, but I think Frank does it well. Here's a sample of him from 4 years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WaY3W98FnM

[Lat-Literal]

Frank Harrison, Gilad Azmon's regular pianist - appears at our local jazz haunt tonight with the same bass player as here, who's a regular with Tim Richards (Spirit Level etc), but a different drummer, Will Glasser, who I think is S African. I'm on a mission to "convert" a number of residents at this address by enticing them to go. Neo-Bill Evans in a nutshell, like so many, but I think Frank does it well. Here's a sample of him from 4 years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WaY3W98FnM

How did this go, please, s-a?

My memory's not bad.....I see the name Gilad Atzmon, probably controversial, I might even have argued, not sure - and remember Calum with affection.

[Serial_Apologist]

How did this go, please, s-a?

My memory's not bad.....I see the name Gilad Atzmon, probably controversial, I might even have argued, not sure - and remember Calum with affection.

Standards throughout the evening - more conservative jazz than expected, but very well done, and went down a storm with the regulars. Oh, and Will Glasser (pronounced GLAZER I understand) was sensational, especially in one drum solo that went on longer than expected, pianist's hands "meaningfully" poised above the keys).

[Serial_Apologist]

The 2018 London Jazz Festival kicks off this coming Friday (16th) and features many of "the usual suspects", including Dave Douglas (QEH - 16th) Bill Frisell (solo) (Cadogan Hall - 18th) Bobby McFerrin (Barbican, ditto) Sheila Jordan (Pheasantry, Chelsea, ditto, + 19th) Archie Shepp (Barbican -19th) Stanley Clarke/Headhunters (RFH - 20th) Incognito (Hideaway, Streatham - 23rd) Mike Stern (Ronnie Scotts - 24th) Monty Alexander opp Jazz Warriors Female Front Line (final day: Cadogan Hall -25th).

Others may be attracted by the following: Soft Machine (Borderline, Soho - 16th) Nikki Iles Jazz Orchestra (Vortex - 16th) Dave Liebman with Marc Copland (Soho Pizza Express. 17th) Windrush - a Celebration (Barbican - 17th) Candace Springs (QEH - 17th) Kirk Lightsey (Live at Zodol, Soho - 18th) Avishai Cohen Trio opp Trish Clowes (Barbican - 24th) Jah Wobble's Invaders of the Heart (The Cockpit (Jez Nelson's manor) - 24th) Abdullah Ibrahim/Ekaya (Barbican - 25th).

There are quite a lot of cancellations this year, which might be ominous, given the timeline for booking for such a prestigious event. For some reason I had the impression that Sonny Rollins and Herbie Hancock were to be key featured as part of the festival - dunno where I got that idea. Precise details can be found below:

https://serious.org.uk/images/images/EFG_Full-listings_v2.pdf

There are a few lead-up gigs too this week: I've just managed to miss Nikki Iles' Trio at the beautiful Wren church of St James in Piccadilly, a lunchtime freebie, where Norma Winstone is appearing with her regular ECM trio with Venner and Gessing opposite a quintet tomorrow at 7.30. Liam Noble does a freebie lunchtime solo set there on Friday, which I shall not miss - make sure the bike tyres are properly pumped up!

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Not Sonny...

"Can you tell me more about how it felt when you understood that you couldn’t play the saxophone anymore?
A while back, I was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis. I’d play and I’d get really sick after. So I said, “Oh shit, I can’t play my horn.” I went through a period of depression; I was really low. I’d been on this life quest to try and fulfill my potential with music, and not being able to play anymore meant I wasn’t going to get a chance to do that. But I eventually came out of my depression when I realized that rather than being depressed I should be grateful. I had an opportunity to live a life as a musician, which I always wanted to do..." - Interview in "The Vulture", December 2017.

[Serial_Apologist]

Not Sonny...

"Can you tell me more about how it felt when you understood that you couldn’t play the saxophone anymore?
A while back, I was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis. I’d play and I’d get really sick after. So I said, “Oh shit, I can’t play my horn.” I went through a period of depression; I was really low. I’d been on this life quest to try and fulfill my potential with music, and not being able to play anymore meant I wasn’t going to get a chance to do that. But I eventually came out of my depression when I realized that rather than being depressed I should be grateful. I had an opportunity to live a life as a musician, which I always wanted to do..." - Interview in "The Vulture", December 2017.

Wise as always, Sonny advances a message we can all adjust with re advancing years: eg painful joints and muscles, intermittent tinnitus in danger of becoming everyday, nostalgia combined with memory lapses, ideological rigidity, urine retention, diminishing, er, libido.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Yeah, but the free bus passes! And lately, being called "Sir" in British supermarkets. It's the white hair...

[Serial_Apologist]

Yeah, but the free bus passes! And lately, being called "Sir" in British supermarkets. It's the white hair...

It must be your air of incorrigeable authority, Bluesie. The only time it happened to me, instead of the usual "yeah?" was from the restaurant car steward when I was travelling back from Bristol on the Great Western. I happened to be wearing a formal suit - but that was only down to it being the one item I had left after everything else had been packed and dispatched for my move!

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

I got off a bus yesterday just as a crowd of six form girls were fighting to get on. One of them, I assume a Prefect? said, "Wait everyone! There's a man trying to get off!". I could sense she was about to say "old man", but I gave her my Benny Goodman death-ray look. Cheek.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Yeah, but the free bus passes! And lately, being called "Sir" in British supermarkets. It's the white hair...

I'm a few years yet away from my Bus Pass, but I have noticed that shop assistants have started calling me "love" again - something that hasn't happened since I was about 12!