What was the latest Jazz gig you've been to?

[Joseph K]

Do local pub jam sessions meet the criteria for inclusion under this thread?

Yes.

[Serial_Apologist]

We went to Cafe Oto last Wednesday and saw two improvised sets. Alexander Hawkins was on first and gave us solo piano of mind-blowing virtuosity and intensity. Alex is in the free tradition and has his own unit of youngish musicians playing complex compositions that include pre-structured context and open blowing, well as being Louis Moholo Moholo's now regular pianist, matching his unstoppable energy in ways comparable with the duets between Cecil Taylor and Tony Oxley of a few years back as probably no one else here now can. Unaccompanied, the nearest with whom to compare might be Keith Tippett, and the experience is likewise physically if not emotionally as overwheming; but it was certainly draining. On Wednesday he improvised out of an initial sequence of hard-struck single tones, gradually building an sweeping edifice of interweaving lines with stabbing left hand chords and clusters into climaxes of monumental power, returning for a short third go consisting of fast repeated arabesques interwoven between the hands with constantly shifting accents and emphasis, like a more interesting since unpredictable version of early Steve Reich or Terry Riley - an exercise demanding intense concentration and stamina, in which he was at his closest to Keith Tippett's investigations of such areas. Unlike Keith, and many other free pianists, Alex does not resort to playing on the inside of the instrument, as in plucking or ad hoc preparing the strings, though he does make use of the middle pedal in the manner notably exploited in Boulez's Second Sonata (IIRC) of sustaining sonorities while playing against these free of sustain, exploiting the piano's bodily acoustic reverb under the lid. All the work seemed freely improvised, but in the link below he finds his way into and out of the well-known standard "Take The A Train":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiRrRKWSeHs

Second on was the now established trio of Dutch-based tenor saxophonist and clarinettist Tobias Delius, bassist Olie Brice and drummer Mark Sanders. Brice is asociated with the now-defunct Loop Collective, Sanders well known for his work with John Tchicai, Roscoe Mitchell, Evan Parker, Paul Dunmall and Yah Wobble. From hearing a single track some years back I had Tobias down as an interesting post-Ornette type player, whereas he is more in the high energy area, and closer to our own Alan Wilkinson. He could be what Alan might be were he to diversify away from his alto and baritone saxes, though Alan haas turned of late to bass clarinet. Possibly I was already too bombed out by the Hawkins set to have properly engaged, but with Olie's over-amplified bass, added to his penchant for concentrating on the lower registers, purposively hinting from the start at strong stuff to come, the musical content of what followed was largely obliterated on me - although my companion (who suffers from partial deafness!) said afterwards he had enjoyed it all. This for me was not helped by the unrelenting hyper-elaboration of Mark's drumming, even when the music obviously wanted to ease into something closer to straight medium-fast swing tempo towards the end of the first set of 40 minutes' duration. Here to offer some idea is a short, dare I say comparatively restrained example of the trio:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LKy7kQez1I

[Serial_Apologist]

Thank you to our host for transferring the previous post from the What Jazz are you Listening to Now thread, where I had posted it in error.

[CGR]

Alan Barnes Octet & Josie Moon performing Requiem

I don't usually go to these sort of 'concept' gigs. I prefer straight jazz gigs. But with Alan Barnes, Gilad Atzmon, and other top players I couldn't resist.
Some of the poetry was rather naf and predictable, but the music was ok.

I would have loved to have heard that band play a normal jazz gig !!!

[Serial_Apologist]

My last one was Andrea Vicari's trio fronted by tenor player Duncan Eagles at The Oval Tavern in Croydon, last Tuesday lunchtime. At one point Andrea announced, "You're probably getting tired of original compositions by now, so we're now going to play a standard", followed by a jazz-rocky "Milestones". Duncan Eagles played great, if rather low in the mix, and I was able to go up at the end of the gig, introduce myself, compliment him on his playing and the CD he recorded about a year ago (a track was broadcast on J to Z), and let him know I used his name in my "The Eagles Has Landed" heading to that particular week's advance notice of broadcasts.

This month it's the London Jazz Festival: I always give the big names a miss these days, nevertheless I've listed 16 gigs on my wish list - of which I'll probably manage half. If anyone's coming up this way, PM me.

[Ian Thumwood]

Just got back from the Turner Sims where I saw Ingrid and Christine Jenson lead the "all star" Whirlwind big band. The venue was about 25% full and the small audience appeared to be to be really unengaged with the music. I must admit that I did not have great expectations of this gig beforehand although I love big band jazz. Unfortunately other than the closing version of Carla Bley's "Lawns" and a cover of a Joni Mitchell peace, the gig only caught fire on the penultimate number where the band seemed to wake up and start to pack a punch.

I regret that most of the names in this band were totally unknown to me. I have read SA's comments about some of the players in this line up but just felt that the solos were even less appealing than the arrangements which sounded like Kenny Wheeler's writing but without the tunes. It was all really uninspired. The pianist Alcyona Mick had bags of technique but nothing to say with it. Her solos were the most interesting element, although more so when playing unaccompanied. I thought than Rachael Cohen was the best amongst the saxophone solos although you could take your pick amongst the others as to who was the least inspiring - probably toss up between Tori Freestone and Josephine Davies , both of whom were pretty ineffectual in my opinion. These are just factory / conveyor belt musicians who play like robots. Davies contributed an arrangement too. I wont be inclined to investigate her music! To be honest, both of these players would have been roasted by most of the high school players I caught at Vienne in the summer and almost certainly by some of the soloists I have heard with the Southampton Youth Jazz Orchestra. I did not think Christine Jenson was much better, to be honest. As someone who is passionate about big band jazz and gets to hear quite a lot of this kind of music, tonight was pretty poor.

The band was led by ex-pat bassist Michael Janisch whose Whirlwind label had a stand outside where they were giving the CDs a hard sell. Despite being told that I would be really amazed by this band, I would have to say they sounded like a big band that had been assembled especially for a tour. They sounded ragged on occasions and were not helped by the drummer Klemens Marktl who did not provide the drive that a band of this size needed. I thought Ingrid Jenson had a great technique but maybe the arrangements were not the best format for her talent. In my opinion, I think she was probably a cut above the likes of Yazz Ahmed or Laura Jurd yet I still found listening to her brand if jazz a cold experience.

I find this kind of big band jazz a serious let down. You hear this time and time again in British jazz. The best that can be said about the scores was that they were "worthy" but the whole gig smacked of musicians who have come out of musical college with incredible technique but who have nothing to say with it. I cannot imagine any of these arrangement will be revisited after this tour and I never felt I was listening to something that was any more than perfunctory. The music just passes you by and without decent themes or riffs to latch on to, you start to notice things like the inability to built up to a shout chorus or to frame solos in a fashion that generates excitement. There were moments which built up to a climax and then the next passage would take all the wind out f the sails of the music. Most of the arrangements were written by Christine Jenson. This kind of stuff should be bread and butter to jazz writers in 2019 yet I felt that this was another instance where I think it is easy to kid ourselves at how good the current British scene is as well as the fact that some big names musicians from across the pond might not actually be saying a lot either. In summary, the result was markedly lower than my expectations.

[CGR]

he whole gig smacked of musicians who have come out of musical college with incredible technique but who have nothing to say with it.

Isn't that just so true about many younger jazz musicians playing today.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Isn't that just so true about many younger jazz musicians playing today.

I think you could remove the words "younger", "jazz", and "today", and still be left with an ages-old phenomenon, CGR.

[Serial_Apologist]

In contrast with Ian's experience - which I would probably have concurred with, had I been there at Turner Sims - last night's Trevor Watts Quartet gig at the Purcell was a maelstrom of fury from the start, if not all the way through, where in places decks were cleared and interesting rhythmic interactions took flight spontaneously. Trevor's quartet is effectively an extension by two of his now long-going duo with his friend from the early days of Moiré Music Veryan Weston on piano, by the addition of John Edwards on bass and Mark Sanders, drums, but with no diminution in terms of compromise; if anything a ramping up of the sheer power potential.

The problem for me was either from one of two causes. Either the acoustic set-up at the Purcell is unsuited to notching up p.a. volume levels to the point where detail is rendered inaudible, or that in performances such as this, appreciation depends less on detail than taking on the full force of what is coming, a sign in the foretelling (as in the Coltrane Detroit set on youtube from 1965 on the What Jazz Are You Listening To? thread); or, I am just unused to such levels of intensity being coupled with complexity, having been coached into complacent listening ways. Weston is a Cecil Taylor "disciple", arguably our equivalent of people such as Alex Schlippenbach and Marylyn Crispell, with an equivalence in stylistic range judiciously deployed in his case to non-pastiche ends, so this had nothing in common with Moiré's quasi-minimalist globally multi-sourced funk. Suggestions of resolution in terms of rhythmic or harmonic closure was largely scotched, right up to the final moments of the two-part concert, where Weston cleared space at his end for a broken boogie-vamp to lay down a pattern for Watts to soar up to bat frequencies over. It was straight in, no doubts at all, from each start - no silence pending the spirits to descend upon with their blessings; Edwards - so brilliant at turning on a halfpenny - and Sanders were there basically to provide a virtually non-stop surge of momentum without rhythmic or even pulse dimensions: neither took unaccompanied solos - the performance followed the old SME principle of either everyone playing at the same time or someone briefly dropping out, but notched up as far as energies seemed to allow: Trevor Watts is, after all, now 80, and I for one can't think of many at his age who are physically capable of sustaining comparable levels of energy and commitment.

Oh, there were a couple of minor chords - I heard them in the second half.

[Ian Thumwood]

I think that the problem with a lot of the younger players is that the technique is at a much higher pitch than even about 30 years ago but there is a massive disconnection with the emotional level. The music does not really communicate and, in fairness to the generation of players like Watts, I think the need to comminicate was a far greater priority back in the day. I have been to number of gigs lately where the music is clever yet is totally unabsorbing. It is something that I feel is becoming more prevalent and have noticed the same thing at most of the gigs I have been to at Turner Sims where the musicians performing are generally in their twenties and thirties. I had the same experience with the Swedish big band who performed last year where the writing for the orchestra was tedious at best. I felt the same last night. I does not just manifest itself with big bands although I think that there is a big problem there insofar that everyone seems to think they can write for a big band and they can't. The groups last night was pretty forgettable but the problem was that it was not a regular working band. There are so many really good big bands and people writing for them these days that those which misfire seem to stand out. The bar that has been set for big bands is now so high you can almost guarantee that hastily organised ensembles are going to frequently fall down in comparison with groups that have been working together for a longer period or where there is more of a culture for this type of thing.

[gradus]

Ben Holder at George Double's Hadleigh Jazz Club gig. If you've never seen or heard of Mr Holder, remedy the situation when the opportunity occurs, you won't be disappointed.

[Joseph K]

Last night I saw the pretty much newly-formed super-group Ozmosys, comprising Rachel Z on keyboards, Omar Hakim on drums, Kurt Rosenwinkel on guitar and Linley Marthe on bass guitar. After a feeble and pretentious opening act, it was great hearing this group - their opening number, like much of their music, features catchy tunes reminiscent of rock or pop, but with sophisticated harmonies and odd time signatures. Their melodic and harmonic style I found to be quite original. And some acoustic problems in the opening tune (not being able to hear Rachel Z's keyboard solo properly) were solved for thereafter. They covered the Weather Report tune 'Sweet Tooth'. This was good fusion - and I enjoyed Kurt Rosenwinkel's contribution, the guitarist whose presence was my main reason for going to this gig.

Tonight: Herbie Hancock. But there's some free music before that, I believe...

[Serial_Apologist]

Last night I saw the pretty much newly-formed super-group Ozmosys, comprising Rachel Z on keyboards, Omar Hakim on drums, Kurt Rosenwinkel on guitar and Linley Marthe on bass guitar. After a feeble and pretentious opening act, it was great hearing this group - their opening number, like much of their music, features catchy tunes reminiscent of rock or pop, but with sophisticated harmonies and odd time signatures. Their melodic and harmonic style I found to be quite original. And some acoustic problems in the opening tune (not being able to hear Rachel Z's keyboard solo properly) were solved for thereafter. They covered the Weather Report tune 'Sweet Tooth'. This was good fusion - and I enjoyed Kurt Rosenwinkel's contribution, the guitarist whose presence was my main reason for going to this gig.

Tonight: Herbie Hancock. But there's some free music before that, I believe...

All being well () I should get to bump into you this afternoon at the Barbican for the Tomorrow's Warriors set on the freestage - provided I don't have to endure an experience with rail travel such as last night's. That I was just in time for the start of the Way Out West's splendid dedicatory gig to 1960s Blue Note recordings plus three numbers from the ECM Belonging quartet of the early 1970s in part 1, followed by British jazz composers in part 2, was down to my racing up and down stairways and escalators, trying to circumvent previously unnanounced closures, for which I had done prior homework by checking the TfL site. Trombonist Nick Mills announced and in some instances led ensembles ranging from voice and piano (Nette Robinson giving moving Norma Winstoneesque treatment to a Mike Garrick Shakespeare setting with the promising young Tom Millar on piano) to small big band covers of Kenny Wheeler, Mike Westbrook, Chris Biscoe and Stan Tracey - in the latter case a nice arrangement of "Cockle Row" from "Under Milkwood" which I don't think was Stan's. Ms Robinson doubled on arrangements for the occasion as well as on tenor sax, and is missus to Tony Woods, alto player (mainly) also featured as composer and soloist; the kudos in soloing terms though went to Chris Biscoe (as it always does), Pete Hurt (particularly on soprano), trumpeter Steve Fishwick - who imo deserves top recognition for both his exquisite tonal control from top to bottom, and an improvising approach whcih seems to translate Tristano or early Konitz ideas to the instrument, and Oli Hayhurst on bass. The Polish Centre basement venue is stylishly appointed, with pictures of Polish jazz musicians around its walls, and has friendly Polish staff on hand to recommend NOT choosing the Polish brand of lager on offer (!)

One amusing incident amid the nightmare of getting to the place was, on finding myself jammed into a packed Piccadilly Line tube destined for Heathrow, being offered a seat by a young women, whom I was truthfully able to tell, "This is the first time anyone has thought I looked old enough to need to sit down!" It was an offer I gratefully declined: she was one of a group of four young women and one young man I'd taken to be Brazilian since they were talking in Portuguese, and I had been looking down at her and thinking how attractive she was!

[Joseph K]

Hopefully you'll have a better experience with rail travel today, SA. Having had my fill of the Tate Modern, I'm currently sat on a bench in the outside part of the Barbican.

[Serial_Apologist]

Hopefully you'll have a better experience with rail travel today, SA. Having had my fill of the Tate Modern, I'm currently sat on a bench in the outside part of the Barbican.

I'll probably be there not long after 4, assuming all goes OK and the walk from Farringdon takes under 10 minutes, tell-tale black polo neck an'all - I'll be on the look out for you near the Free Stage.