Storms/Nocturnes JLU 29.v.11

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

i am looking forward to this as i am already enamoured of the individuals making up this trio; Keezer piano, Locke Vibes, Garland reeds ... always interesting musicians i have not heard them in ensemble before

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b011j6kk

[Serial_Apologist]

Hmmm. Can't say Tim Garland has ever really *grabbed* me, but given the others involved, will definitely give this programme a go.

S-A

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

Tim Garland .... first encountered Acoustic Triangle [Garland Symcock Creese] at a week long piano thing at Uppingham School five or six years ago ... sound was gorgeous in the chapel ... and they created a string quartet arrangement with the Sacconi Quartet during the week and premiered it at the last concert ... great stuff it was tooo ... Garland is a an improviser of calibre and makes an excellent ensemble performer see here i have albums of his orchestral works and am impressed by his adventurousness .... e.g. Jubilate Deo

in other settings

Lighthouse Trio

Earthworks [met Symcock?]

it will be interesting to hear him in the company of experienced american artists ...

[Serial_Apologist]

it will be interesting to hear him in the company of experienced american artists ...

Chick Corea rates Garland very highly - as he also does Mr Simcock, I believe. <strokeschinsmiley)

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

.. at a rather sparsely attended concert last night by a university Wind Orchestra [excellent] i reflected that we are poor supporters of the lower echelons of artistic endeavour [see recent postings about the total silence surrounding the National Concert Band Festival and closures or funding cuts of Arts in Education Orchestra] in failing to support the large portion of the pyramid we fail to see the need for there to be rather a lot of quite ordinary music making and paintings, drama, novels etc that provide the absolutely necessary context for greatness ... i believe this is called the grassroots, but i mean rather more ... greatness will always be sparse and rarely encountered ... but we need artists like Garland because he is very good and hard to beat but not great in the sense of St Sonny or whoever, but he is necessary and actually rather good ... the Premier League is only just that because of the leagues below, and the conference below that and Hackney marshes and school teams etc ... it is the same in the arts ... i have become a believer in the emergence of talent upwards, not the magic appearance of divinity .... Garland may one day be truly great or seen as such who knows .... but he is i think formidable, adventurous and allows himself to fail ..that is good in my reckoning ... and part of the essential mass of activity if an art form is to survive .... i would much rather listen to music played at whatever proficiency or standard by people who mean it than listen to Mackerass phone in a performance of Brahms in the de Montfort

apologies S_A not really about liking TG's playing but i feel much better now! i confess that Simon Spillet fails to engage me but i would say that he is needed and should be applauded ... it must be that i am feeling that our culture is very threatened these days ...

[Alyn_Shipton]

When I heard this trio at Ronnie's I was blown away by how good they were. I have given only a handful of concerts five stars in the Times over the last twenty years but this was one. (Others include Stanko at Bath, Wynton at Jazz cafe, Mingus Big Band at Bath, EST at CBSO Centre, St Sonny at Barbican, Wayne Shorter Quartet at Symphony Hall.) You can't read the review online at the Times site unless you're a subscriber, but the nice folks at Lakeside Arts have posted a copy here: http://www.lakesidearts.org.uk/SiteD...ess%202011.pdf

[Ian Thumwood]

Calum

I agree with your assessment of Tim Garland. I first saw him with the group Lammas back in the late eighties and he then materialised very quickly in Chick Corea's band which played Poole Art Gallery a couple of years later. One of the best Corea gigs i've seen although I've seen a few by the pianist which has been full of electric bombast and not really appealed. I much prefer Corea's acoustic work and can see how a musician like Garland would fit in.

When this trio played Basingstoke a few years back I had to miss the gig due to work commitments but some friends told me that it was exceptional. It is funny that Garland had the lowest profile on the radar amongst all the tenor players who emerged in the UK in the 1980's such as Pine, Sheppard, Smith or even Iain Ballamy who always struck me as the most original. Andy Sheppard is great with Carla Bley and, I think, a bit maligned by some jazz fans but I think Tim Garland is emerging as the pick of the bunch.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

well blow me down with a feather we all missed the Parliamentary Jazz Awards! Not LondonJazz tho ...

lovely Garrick Sextet and no more worthy winner of a life time contribution than Coleridge Goode ...

thanks to JLU and JJ for letting us know ...

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

just listened with great enjoyment to the Trio on iPlayer and plan on a more attentive listen as well [reading the papers innit]

[Serial_Apologist]

just listened with great enjoyment to the Trio on iPlayer and plan on a more attentive listen as well [reading the papers innit]

English jazz (very much in the wake of Azimuth) from a 2/3 American group. In Tim Garland I hear that cross between Tony Coe and Stan Sulzmann, with an added dash of Jan Garbarek common in our players at the start of the 90s (Tommy Smith, Andy Sheppard, Ed Jones....even Mike Brecker succumbed if you listen to Wheeler's "Double Double You"), that I remember being struck by back in the days of Lammas. Keezer sounding very much in a John Taylor mould - those Bridge/Ireland like harmonic steps, cadences resolving onto a false bass that opens unexpected possibilities. Good feeling music, with my only carp being it couild be a bit, er, breathless in its enthusasm. Audience lapped it up though, as probably would I had I been there. While I can't stop smiling, isn't it time to celebrate the underacknowledged influence of John Taylor, John Surman, Kenny Wheeler, probably in compositional ideas above all, on some of the best jazz to flow both sides from the pond.

S-A

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

yep S_A and i am sure Mr Garland would agree with you

[charles t]

I firmly believe that U.K. tenorists can hold their own in any imaginary (Global) ranking.

Speaking of John Taylor, just discovered his duo recording with Charlie Haden: Nightfall.

Akin to finding an obscure baseball card.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

high praise Chas ....

[hackneyvi]

I've just heard the first track and this is music of real grace and energy with some wonderful individual moments; the piano and vibraphone were gorgeously integrated, full of elastic work and even tiptoed glitter.
2nd track - was less sure of the cliche subversions/comedy in the second piece but then the sax and vibe do lovely things, the pianistic cornering is a pleasure. These are clearly 'whole' pieces so I must go back.
3rd - Her Sanctuary - Rattles of so much music; Ravel? Dance bands? The heartiest syncopations. I've never heard a vibraphone so clearly fill/surplant the role of rhythmatist/a drummer before. Oh, lovely to its conclusion!
4th - Ambleside Nights - The theme itself seemed a little bit Weather Report/Birdland but I loved the solos, particularly the piano but vibe, also.
5th - Sword of Whispers - Lovely statement of the theme. I've never before understood that a piano/vibe can 'be' bass and drums plus so much else.
6th - Ripertoli - a puzzle at variance from the rest; the piano lumbered in some bombast at the middle and thereafter plenty long doodle-wanders.

Besides the last, what pleasure! These are undiscovered countries to me and wonderful additions to my musical pleasure. Thanks, Calum.

I can see why Serial Apologist chooses contemporary jazz over much contemporary classical. I compare the bleak presentations of the London Sinfonietta at the weekend with this music and the classical works are useless irrelevance where this has enormous interest, heart and life. Music of skill and complexity and spontaneity.

[Serial_Apologist]

I've never heard a vibraphone so clearly fill/surplant the role of rhythmatist/a drummer before. Oh, lovely to its conclusion!

[...]

I can see why Serial Apologist chooses contemporary jazz over much contemporary classical. I compare the bleak presentations of the London Sinfonietta at the weekend with this music and the classical works are useless irrelevance where this has enormous interest, heart and life. Music of skill and complexity and spontaneity.

I completely agree with the latter statement, and would have said precisely the same thing, but you've said it better. You write well, hackneyvi, and maybe should consider taking up a bit of journalism and reviewing youself, yeah?

As to the earlier comment, there is an argument to the effect of, why not let vibes etc just be vibes, rather than trying to take on all the 'absent' roles? There can be value in letting unspoken spaces be, characterising the uniqueness of the instrumentation by as it were playing to it, and allowing the listener's imagination do the filling, in the way Azimuth for example would. This goes back to my earlier remark about over-enthusiiasm, and though it is a fairly minor point, I did feel a tendency in this group to want to fill in every available space.

S-A