Sounds from The Smoke

[Serial_Apologist]

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!

The odd thing is that it is probably only about 10 years since I was last addressed as "young man" by a lady of about the age I now am!

[CGR]

Looking at the London Jazz Festival listings for some mainstream, bop based concerts apart from Chris Ingham's Rebop which is already fully booked. Can't see anything else that I find attractive enough to make the day trip into London. Just the usual trendy stuff.

Anyone got any suggestions?

[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!

It would appear that some of the information re gigs from last year's LJF must inadvertently have go transcribed into this month's JIL listings - for which I am now in deep water for having put out. All very odd - I couldn't possibly have made this up!

Off now to hear Liam Noble at St James's Piccadilly.

[Serial_Apologist]

A change of pub management brings to a close one year's monthly local gigs at the Golden Lion in Sydenham, our nearest place for experiencing quality contemporary jazz. The final gig at this venue will feature a band led by the fascinatingly original straight-ahead tenor sax player Brian Iddenden, with that excellent guitarist Rob Luft, Nick Kacal - an unknown to me - on bass, and the wonderful Winstone Clifford, on drums. In the bid to make the occasion something of a farewell-cum-Xmas special, a tap dancing duo is also on the menu, The Bailey Brothers. No, not the famous (?) bunch from the late 1940s, but this young pair:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdNSr8IWJzo

In her newsletter, Fiona - who runs the gigs and happens to be the partner of drummer John Webb (Graham Collier, Harry Beckett recordings from the early 1970s) - gives us the identity of the contributer of anecdotes and nostrums known as The Padre, who turns out to have been Ralf Bates, the father of Django Bates! Sadly Ralf died back in October; I don't know if this is common knowledge in the "jazz community".

The future for the loyal following of some 20 years' duration that has moved from the Rutland Arms in Catford to the Golden Lion, (a pub incidentally made famous in the late 1980s by a still unsolved murder of a private detective, mired in allegations of undercover collusions, that took place in the car park at the back), will depend on Fiona finding a place answering to her own high standards, and needing to be in the Bromley area, so, if anyone has any knowledge of such a potential venue, please do let me know, and I will pass it on.

Fiona ends her news sheet with something overheard at one of Herbie Hancock's lectures on creativity, which she'll not mind me reproducing here:

"Herbie Hancock, couldn't think of an ending to one of his tunes once, so he asked Miles. Miles said: 'Don't end nothing'".

[Serial_Apologist]

LUME - the not-quite-all-female collective of some two years in the making - has two of its bands performing at Kings Place (Just around the corner from Kings X station) this forthcoming 13th March.

http://www.kingsplace.co.uk/whats-on/jazz/lume-entropi-and-sloth-racket/

Scroll down the page for two slips. People might remember that Dee Byrne's Entropi was featured on Jazz Now at the end of 2018. For me they are one of the best UK bands around at the moment.

I'm toying with dropping this thread. The idea has been to introduce new names I've come across who are active on the London scene at the moment, and give some profile of the sorts of music on offer, much as Ian does with his festival and occasional local reports, which I have found most interesting and worthwhile, but I rather think I may not have attracted the levels of interest I had hoped for.