Just back from the jazz festival in Vienne. After last year's debacle, 2011 was an improvement although there were signs of increased commercially creeping in. I don't have time to go into detail but last night was definately the highlight with John Scofield's new quartet (Mulgrew Miller, Scott Colley and Bill Stewart) kicking the evening off followed by Marcus Miller leading a band that included Herbie Hancock, Sean Jones and Wayne Shorter re-exploring / re-inventing the Miles Davis songbook which was mesmerising even if the saxophonist didn't really contribute much - a lot of everyone solos/ no-one solo's kind of thing as the music segued between compositions. Most of the music came from the bassist and Hancock who never ceases to astonish with his choice of harmony. The charts were extremely inventive and the capacity audience seemed to appreciate the creativity.
Other stand-outs were Dave Holland's brilliant quintet with Chris Potter and Kevin Eubank's outstanding, Ahmed Jamal taking things much easier but with a sense of timing (Herlan Riley on drums was exceptional) giving a lesson in jazz phrasing and feel that was wholly absent from the previous set by Hiromi's trio even if the take on Beethoven's "Pathetique" sonata was charming and the solo "I got rhythm " fun. All in all, Hiromi had great technique but the music is totally cold - more Pokemon than jazz artist. Rhoda Scott and the gospel choir lived up to expectations. I find this organist to be a jazz musician who seems incapable of delivering a phrase that doesn't swing as hard as Lionel Hampton. Jamie Cullum demonstrated why he has very little to go with jazz even if he deserves A for effort as a entertainer and was probably the best attended gig along with Herbie and 80's pop chanteuse Cyndi Lauper who played a set of blues covers that came as a pleasant surprise even if "Girls just want to have fun" really got the audience going and "Time after time" demonstrated that the tune remains one of the best songs written in the last 30 years. Late 50's revival soul artist Ben L'Oncle did a set of original material as well covers of tunes by the likes of Stevie Wonder albeit there was a strong "time-warp" element in his set which combined with the notion of a French soul artist lest you scratching your head. A bit odd coming from someone in their twenties although the 22 y.o. singer Cecile McLorin-Salvant was perhaps no more retro her 1950's Betty Carter styled act backed by a pretty crummy French band of mainstreamer's.
Saddest moment of the festival was seeing Sonny Rollins shuffle on stage, bearly able to walk and deliver a first set that showed such a diminuation in what we have come to expect from this giant over the years that the audience sat in stunned silence for the first set. The second set picked up marginally but the band with Cranshaw, et al, was barely together and Rollin's was clearly struggling, the solo's often being limited to phrases in the theme being repeated over and over again. Guitarist Peter Bernstein almost saved the day although he was unable to lift the poignant nature of the concert where the saxophonist's tone seemed shot and the solo's struggled to get off the ground in even of a fraction of the exultant player of old. Rollin's is a gent and loved by the Vienne audience. I felt this was a very sad affair indeed.
Aside from Holland, Hancock and Scofield, the obvious highlight as far as most people attending the festival were concerned was the debut of the "Amazing keystone big band" who opened for a interesting but no quite so exciting re-creation of the Ellington meets Basie record. Consisting of a standard line-up of young , French jazz musicians this band ripped through a lot of standard jazz repertoire ("Dahoud", "Stomping at the Savoy, " "Born to be blue", "Mood indigo", etc, etcc) that was performed in the contemporary spirit of a band like Gerald Wilson's. The writing, which also included some terrific original material too, illustrated just how vital the big band remains within the jazz idiom and the freshness, invention, creativity and energy of this band was the talking point amongst everyone. Although this band was very much of our era, it ticked all the right boxes as to what great jazz should sound like in the 21st Century and, for myself and many others, they were far better than many big names playing at the festival. The Theatre Antique gig was followed by another a few days later in the jazz club which attracted a huge audience.
The Bunky Green / Rudresh Mahanthappa quintet was pretty full on and , I admit, I was a bit too tired to appreciate if fully. A torrential storm provented me catching Gretchen Parlato and the other gigs I caught in the club by French bands were okay too.
In summary, the better jazz this year now seems to have been coming from the generation of the likes of Hancock, Holland , Potter and Scofield who have certainly eclipsed the more senior players. However, the likes of Mahanthappa and Keystone suggested that initiative may soon be with those players now in their thirties.
Other stand-outs were Dave Holland's brilliant quintet with Chris Potter and Kevin Eubank's outstanding, Ahmed Jamal taking things much easier but with a sense of timing (Herlan Riley on drums was exceptional) giving a lesson in jazz phrasing and feel that was wholly absent from the previous set by Hiromi's trio even if the take on Beethoven's "Pathetique" sonata was charming and the solo "I got rhythm " fun. All in all, Hiromi had great technique but the music is totally cold - more Pokemon than jazz artist. Rhoda Scott and the gospel choir lived up to expectations. I find this organist to be a jazz musician who seems incapable of delivering a phrase that doesn't swing as hard as Lionel Hampton. Jamie Cullum demonstrated why he has very little to go with jazz even if he deserves A for effort as a entertainer and was probably the best attended gig along with Herbie and 80's pop chanteuse Cyndi Lauper who played a set of blues covers that came as a pleasant surprise even if "Girls just want to have fun" really got the audience going and "Time after time" demonstrated that the tune remains one of the best songs written in the last 30 years. Late 50's revival soul artist Ben L'Oncle did a set of original material as well covers of tunes by the likes of Stevie Wonder albeit there was a strong "time-warp" element in his set which combined with the notion of a French soul artist lest you scratching your head. A bit odd coming from someone in their twenties although the 22 y.o. singer Cecile McLorin-Salvant was perhaps no more retro her 1950's Betty Carter styled act backed by a pretty crummy French band of mainstreamer's.
Saddest moment of the festival was seeing Sonny Rollins shuffle on stage, bearly able to walk and deliver a first set that showed such a diminuation in what we have come to expect from this giant over the years that the audience sat in stunned silence for the first set. The second set picked up marginally but the band with Cranshaw, et al, was barely together and Rollin's was clearly struggling, the solo's often being limited to phrases in the theme being repeated over and over again. Guitarist Peter Bernstein almost saved the day although he was unable to lift the poignant nature of the concert where the saxophonist's tone seemed shot and the solo's struggled to get off the ground in even of a fraction of the exultant player of old. Rollin's is a gent and loved by the Vienne audience. I felt this was a very sad affair indeed.
Aside from Holland, Hancock and Scofield, the obvious highlight as far as most people attending the festival were concerned was the debut of the "Amazing keystone big band" who opened for a interesting but no quite so exciting re-creation of the Ellington meets Basie record. Consisting of a standard line-up of young , French jazz musicians this band ripped through a lot of standard jazz repertoire ("Dahoud", "Stomping at the Savoy, " "Born to be blue", "Mood indigo", etc, etcc) that was performed in the contemporary spirit of a band like Gerald Wilson's. The writing, which also included some terrific original material too, illustrated just how vital the big band remains within the jazz idiom and the freshness, invention, creativity and energy of this band was the talking point amongst everyone. Although this band was very much of our era, it ticked all the right boxes as to what great jazz should sound like in the 21st Century and, for myself and many others, they were far better than many big names playing at the festival. The Theatre Antique gig was followed by another a few days later in the jazz club which attracted a huge audience.
The Bunky Green / Rudresh Mahanthappa quintet was pretty full on and , I admit, I was a bit too tired to appreciate if fully. A torrential storm provented me catching Gretchen Parlato and the other gigs I caught in the club by French bands were okay too.
In summary, the better jazz this year now seems to have been coming from the generation of the likes of Hancock, Holland , Potter and Scofield who have certainly eclipsed the more senior players. However, the likes of Mahanthappa and Keystone suggested that initiative may soon be with those players now in their thirties.
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