Been listening to the Cecile McLorin Salvant gig on the new "Sounds " format. There is an old cliché that the pictures are better on radio but in this instance it really helps not having to watch Salvant whose theatrics on stage are intensively irritating. It really makes me quite hostile towards her music and the effect is even more over-the top than someone like Dee Dee Bridgwater who has a similar effect on me. The spontaneous nature of jazz sits oddly with this more theatrical style but listening on the radio the result is really enjoyable. I still think she overdoes the mannerisms but there is no faulting her musicianship. It is odd to hear the influence of Betty Carter in CMS's performance and I felt her signing in this gig was more risky than anything I had heard her do previously. For the first time, she felt like a genuine jazz artist to my ears as opposed to just another girl singer. Quite impressed with this concert which reversed my previous perception although there are still moments where her approach is a bit extreme.
Oddly enough, Aaron Diehl is pretty impressive in this band too. I saw him a Turner Sims about a year ago and felt he was massively under-whelming and easily on a par with Laura Jurd and Yazz Ahmed as players who enjoyed favourable media coverage but were a disappointment in concert. I am usually at odds with SA with his perspective on British musicians as I just feel that the US scene is edgier - as long as you listen to the right stuff. With Diehl, I just wondered whether he would cut it in the UK scene, not only because he seemed so retrospective but also because he did not seem to be that good at it on that night in question. I felt that he would have been cut by most "name" jazz pianists in the UK and quite a few who are under-appreciated. He seemed really over-rated on the basis of that gig but the Jazz Now broadcast put him in a much more favourable light. Nice to hear him launch in to a spot of stride, too. On the radio he seemed pretty snappy and more accurate as a piano player even if very conservative. I was reminded a bit if Hank Jones although without the latter's economy and conciseness of playing. Again, nice to be proved wrong about my perceptions of this pianist. In the context of an accompanist, he was excellent. Bits of classical also thrown in to the mix.
I know he has been featured on JN recently, but for young up and coming pianists "in the tradition", the one to watch is Christian Sands who is the antithesis of the most retrospective style of playing that has been fashionable since 1990s with Brad Mehldau.
Seems that no one else has an opinion of this set!!
Oddly enough, Aaron Diehl is pretty impressive in this band too. I saw him a Turner Sims about a year ago and felt he was massively under-whelming and easily on a par with Laura Jurd and Yazz Ahmed as players who enjoyed favourable media coverage but were a disappointment in concert. I am usually at odds with SA with his perspective on British musicians as I just feel that the US scene is edgier - as long as you listen to the right stuff. With Diehl, I just wondered whether he would cut it in the UK scene, not only because he seemed so retrospective but also because he did not seem to be that good at it on that night in question. I felt that he would have been cut by most "name" jazz pianists in the UK and quite a few who are under-appreciated. He seemed really over-rated on the basis of that gig but the Jazz Now broadcast put him in a much more favourable light. Nice to hear him launch in to a spot of stride, too. On the radio he seemed pretty snappy and more accurate as a piano player even if very conservative. I was reminded a bit if Hank Jones although without the latter's economy and conciseness of playing. Again, nice to be proved wrong about my perceptions of this pianist. In the context of an accompanist, he was excellent. Bits of classical also thrown in to the mix.
I know he has been featured on JN recently, but for young up and coming pianists "in the tradition", the one to watch is Christian Sands who is the antithesis of the most retrospective style of playing that has been fashionable since 1990s with Brad Mehldau.
Seems that no one else has an opinion of this set!!
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