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

[Joseph K]

(If the Daisy George tracks in the link were typical, I would have had to endure that band before the main feature!)

Ah, that's a shame. They sound quite good to me, listening now - though not as good as they did live, where they were more punchy and with a harder groove...

[Joseph K]

Ant Law

Last night at the Albany Club, Coventry, the Ant Law Quintet played a gig that should have happened in 2020. The bassist and drummer were unknown to me and I have been unable to find out their names via a search engine but I do remember that they both had Dave as a first name. Otherwise it was Ivo Neame on electronic keyboard and Mike Chillingworth on alto sax. I was surprised to see Neame on electronic keyboard, but pleased because I like its sound and gave the band's sound quite a distinctive fusion-esque flavour. Aside from one contrafact called 'Tbilisi' (can you figure out what tune that might be based on? ) the band played exclusively new original compositions, and it was very interesting hearing how Law's music has evolved since the last record; I detect greater influences of rock, funk and blues, and it seemed like a single tune might slip effortlessly between funky unison-riffing (the electronic keyboard being particularly effective in this department) and colourful strange chord changes. Some nifty time-signature changes too. Law is still pushing forward harmonically and melodically and I'm certain some of his ideas in these areas are rather less than well-documented - I don't know, perhaps you could find some of them in Slonimsky's Thesaurus. And he's a great soloist who wears his deep and wide vocabulary lightly, coolly and judiciously; he switched between a clean and a warm, distorted tone as the tune would take him, and this was just one aspect of the tasteful straddling of different subgenres of jazz (you could say) from this gig. It was a great night.

[gradus]

Gaz Hughes's Art Blakey tribute group with Bruce Adams, Alan Barnes, Andrzej Baranek and Ed Harrison at Fleece Jazz last Wednesday - terrific playing,wonderful musicians all.
How Fleece Jazz has survived recent times I don't know, it is a labour of love, thankfully still well supported.

[Serial_Apologist]

Gaz Hughes's Art Blakey tribute group with Bruce Adams, Alan Barnes, Andrzej Baranek and Ed Harrison at Fleece Jazz last Wednesday - terrific playing,wonderful musicians all.
How Fleece Jazz has survived recent times I don't know, it is a labour of love, thankfully still well supported.

Nor I, out there in the wilderness of the Essex/Suffolk borderlands!

[Serial_Apologist]

Last night at the Albany Club, Coventry, the Ant Law Quintet played a gig that should have happened in 2020. The bassist and drummer were unknown to me and I have been unable to find out their names via a search engine but I do remember that they both had Dave as a first name. Otherwise it was Ivo Neame on electronic keyboard and Mike Chillingworth on alto sax. I was surprised to see Neame on electronic keyboard, but pleased because I like its sound and gave the band's sound quite a distinctive fusion-esque flavour. Aside from one contrafact called 'Tbilisi' (can you figure out what tune that might be based on? ) the band played exclusively new original compositions, and it was very interesting hearing how Law's music has evolved since the last record; I detect greater influences of rock, funk and blues, and it seemed like a single tune might slip effortlessly between funky unison-riffing (the electronic keyboard being particularly effective in this department) and colourful strange chord changes. Some nifty time-signature changes too. Law is still pushing forward harmonically and melodically and I'm certain some of his ideas in these areas are rather less than well-documented - I don't know, perhaps you could find some of them in Slonimsky's Thesaurus. And he's a great soloist who wears his deep and wide vocabulary lightly, coolly and judiciously; he switched between a clean and a warm, distorted tone as the tune would take him, and this was just one aspect of the tasteful straddling of different subgenres of jazz (you could say) from this gig. It was a great night.

Great report Joseph K - good to hear about this very gifted musician and what he's now doing.

[Old Grumpy]

Great report Joseph K - good to hear about this very gifted musician and what he's now doing.

Any connection?http://www.for3.org/forums/showthrea...t=Crowdfunding

[Serial_Apologist]

Any connection?http://www.for3.org/forums/showthrea...t=Crowdfunding

[Joseph K]

Great report Joseph K - good to hear about this very gifted musician and what he's now doing.

I've since discovered that the drummer was Dave Hamblett and the bassist was Dave Mannington.

[Serial_Apologist]

I've since discovered that the drummer was Dave Hamblett and the bassist was Dave Mannington.

Both are very very good - Dave Hamblett is very much admired by John Webb, who drummed for Graham Collier and Harry Beckett in the early 1970s on those great recordings and whom I know.

[Joseph K]

Both are very very good - Dave Hamblett is very much admired by John Webb, who drummed for Graham Collier and Harry Beckett in the early 1970s on those great recordings and whom I know.

[Joseph K]

Mike Stern

Last night I saw the Mike Stern band with Leni Stern also on guitar and a guitar-esque African instrument the name of which Mike told us but I can't remember, Bob Franceschini on tenor sax a bassist whose name I don't remember and Dennis Chambers on drums. It was really great, though I was a bit daft in that I didn't get my bottle filled with water as soon as I got in, so eager was I to get a good spot close to the stage, so my appreciation was dimmed a bit by the thought of 'I'm really thirsty'. However oftentimes the music was so great that I could forget about my thirst. First impressions were: Dennis Chambers really is a mofo! I mean, I already knew that from records but experiencing him live really is a different kettle of fish. And of course Mike is brilliant, really whipping the music up ecstatically and the audience into a frenzy. I think, personally, his genius best shines in the very lyrical way he plays standards like Stella, but then admittedly I am not that au fait with the many disks of his own compositions, and his really extrovert raunchy playing definitely owes something to his knowledge of standards, harmonically speaking. So, he didn't tell us any of the titles of the tunes, though there was one that was based around a blues but with lots of different changes, and to my immense pleasure (especially so since he didn't play this the last time I saw him) he ended the set with 'Chromazone', and I was stood next to a guy who videoed it! So here it is:

And the obligatory photo:

[Serial_Apologist]

The trip here to The Smoke was well worth the superhuman effort then, Joseph K - glad you enjoyed the gig so much. I only heard Stern "in the flesh" once before, which was with the Mike Brecker Band at the 1987 Bracknell Festival, one of the highlights of that year. Managed to get a few words with him in the inside bar later, and found him to be a really friendly guy, not at all " up himself", actually quite modest when asked about his early 80s work with Miles. Hard to believe he was born in 1953 from his appearance... which I can't help thinking is remarkably like Barbara Thompson's!

Thanks for posting those hot-off-the-selfie links!

[Joseph K]

The trip here to The Smoke was well worth the superhuman effort then, Joseph K - glad you enjoyed the gig so much. I only heard Stern "in the flesh" once before, which was with the Mike Brecker Band at the 1987 Bracknell Festival, one of the highlights of that year. Managed to get a few words with him in the inside bar later, and found him to be a really friendly guy, not at all " up himself", actually quite modest when asked about his early 80s work with Miles. Hard to believe he was born in 1953 from his appearance... which I can't help thinking is remarkably like Barbara Thompson's!

Thanks for posting those hot-off-the-selfie links!

LOL And yes, he does come across as very likeable. I forgot to add, after one tune he actually asked me how it was! I just smiled and nodded...

Also props to the opening act, St Barbe, who were pretty good...

[Ian Thumwood]

I was going to say, Joseph, fair play to you taking your granny to The Jazz Cafe

[Joseph K]

I was going to say, Joseph, fair play to you taking your granny to The Jazz Cafe

Lol.

For those interested, I found out the bass player's name is Chris Minh Doky and the African instrument Leni Stern played is the N'goni.