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

[Joseph K]

My latest one was the Mike Stern/Dave Wekl band at Ronnie Scott's last night. It was good, but not as good as Dave Holland whose band I saw at the same venue last November. While Dave Holland erred on the arty side of jazz, with sophisticated pieces with innovative harmonies and arrangements, Mike Stern was more about the rock and pop side, and I wasn't expecting him to sing on a few tunes. Moreover, I'm not sure if people knew this, but a terrible accident a few years ago has left his picking hand quite contorted, and I'm not sure if his technique is 100%. Plus we got more of Dave Holland. But I guess Mike Stern was good in other ways. I am seeing Herbie Hancock in November and I would really like to see Kurt Rosenwinkel, though he seldom seems to come to this country. I'd also like to see Chick Corea.

[Serial_Apologist]

The last gig I/we (my mate and I) went to was Laura Jurd's trio with Ruth Keller on bass guitar and Corrie Dick, her regular drummer with Dinosaur, at The Vortex last Thursday. It consisted of a mix of her own tunes and standards. I'm afraid we left at the interval: Laura's a good trumpeter, with a likeable personality, but my problem was Keller's characterless sound and general approach on the bass guitar - an instrument that for me has to have something extra, especially if it is to replace the acoustic upright in a trio situation - and Corrie Dick's charmless drumming style. I had expected something a bit more adventurous to make up for the clever-clever over-predominant arrangements of Dinosaur, and it didn't happen for me. Others will now probably tell me I should have stayed on for the second half!

I have to say to Joseph that I haven't attended one of the high-prestige visiting American star gigs since seeing Wayne Shorter at the Barbarism in November 2006. For one thing they always seem too pricey; for another they usually sell out way ahead of the event; but for a third jazz as the convivial performance situation it should be in my view doesn't fare well in concert hall or stadium, it being an intimate transaction between musicians and musicians and audience. This is the irony for jazz, since the ideal club set up can never make up in shekels what it inevitably loses in bums on seats terms. When jazz has to cater for the capitalist spectacle phenomenon it tends to lose that connection that sustains the music's edge. Festivals are fine, because they allow as much informal contact between musicians and audience as the artists allow off-stage, and there are often a range of situations on offer, eg one main bandstand, which may be in a large marquee, and other events taking place around a building or neighbouring art centres, churches and pubs where musicians in attendance may congregate or sit in.

I did meet Mike Stern at one of the later Bracknells. He was sitting informally outside one of the bars with other members of his band, and I was able to go up and compliment him on their performance and ask him about having worked with Miles. A thoroughly friendly guy, typical American country boy to my way of thinking - floppy fair hair, ruddy complexion. I'm sorry to hear of his accident, and trying to think of another well-known player who injured his hand and effectively had to start all over again from scratch. His name will come to me...

[Joseph K]

Yes, I too saw Wayne Shorter at the Barbican - in 2011 IIRC. I was very far away and the experience wasn't a great one. But he came to Birmingham Town Hall the following year, I was closer, and I thoroughly enjoyed it - he produced such a beautiful tone, more so than any other musician I've heard.

The Herbie Hancock gig is pricey, you're right, but I managed to get a reasonable seat since I noticed it a few days before tickets went on sale.

I know what you're getting at about jazz being a convivial, intimate performance situation. My experience is that big venues are ok the closer you are to the stage... but, thinking back to Ronnie Scott's last night - it's not an unintimate place, but there were elements of spectacle to me... but maybe, it's possible to play well and produce good music in different settings, or not do, regardless of setting... I still would like to see Kurt Rosenwinkel though.

[Ian Thumwood]

Joseph

I think I have seen Wayne Shorter on something like 5 or 6 occasions including with the current quartet and a corrupted version of it that had Herbie Hancock and Dave Holland on piano and bass. I am always impressed by the interaction Shorter has with his musicians and would place Wayne Shorter amongst the musicians I would consider to be the most rewarding in concert. Chick Corea is another I have seen a lot of albeit in very different collaborations - the most recent being a few weeks ago where he resurrected his flamenco - based project. For me, the experience with Chick depends on the group you seem although I think he has a really personable rapport with the audience which usually makes for an enjoyable gig.

I have never seen Mike Stern's groups although I am sure he played guitar in an incarnation of "Steps Ahead" that I saw around 2002. They were ok although I think that Stern is probably a musician I would want to hear perform live as opposed to on disc where the output is somewhat over-produced. I like his work with Miles' "Man with the horn" which was much maligned at the time despite probably being the last really free-booting studio record the trumpeter produced.

As far as Kurt Rosenwinkel is concerned, I caught him in Vienne in the early 2000's when he first started to make a name for himself. The band included Joshua Redman and Brad Mehldau and the music had the kind of technical slickness about it that did not really connect. The music was typical of a lot of the bland stuff that was being produced about 10-15 years ago. I suppose that the line up was probably the closest contemporary jazz ever got to having a kind of "boy band" line up with the three principle soloists garnering a lot of publicity at the time. He is a musician who seems to dip in and out of focus for me and I felt that the music was very ordinary. His studio efforts are difficult to get hold off even though the recent "Caipi" received a lot of publicity including a number of pretty dodgy videos to accompany the music on this disc. I wasn't really enthused to check him out further after the gig and the tracks I heard from "Caipi" made me sort of write him off.

With regard to the younger generation of jazz guitarists, Wednesday was quite intriguing as the concert of John Zorn's music featured a number of guitar players. The first band featured a quartet with Miles Okazaki with flavour - of -the -month Mary Halvorson. I would have to say that HM was the principle interest for me as she is frequently cited as the most original guitarist of her generation. I really like her playing although I do feel that there is a lot of Philip Catherine underneath her originality and I think that her former teacher does not get the credit as an influence . Okazaki is another player worth checking out. I did not feel that he was any less impressive than HM. The other electric guitarist on the gig was Dave Fuczynski who, if you like Mike Stern, will probably be keen to check out. The trio with Medeski in organ and Ornette's former drummer Calvin Weston was pretty full on and I did not feel DF was anywhere as interesting as either Okazaki or Halvorson.

Of the five guitarist on the gig, the acoustic duo between Gyan Riley and Julian Lage was probably the highlight of the whole Zorn Bagatelle set. I felt that the audience appreciated their take on the music more than any other of the groups and despite Halvorson being heavily rated by the critics. Riley is more associated with his famous father Terry Riley. I felt that Julian Lage was more impressive than Halvorson and , on the evidence of last week, am really surprised that no one has really slated him on this board. I had no expectations about Lage and was pleasantly surprised how good he was. Lage is somewhere in between the mainstream and more outside approach whilst being extremely musical. I would certainly consider him a more interesting player than Rosenwinkel although I would be intrigued to see how he has matured as a player. I really like jazz guitar yet I think that there are players in the UK like Mike Walker and John Parricelli who are certainly superior.

Quite fascinating going to a gig with no expectations about particular players and being able to make your mind up about their work.

[Ian Thumwood]

This is pretty unforgiveable....

[Joseph K]

I felt that Julian Lage was more impressive than Halvorson and , on the evidence of last week, am really surprised that no one has really slated him on this board. I had no expectations about Lage and was pleasantly surprised how good he was. Lage is somewhere in between the mainstream and more outside approach whilst being extremely musical. I would certainly consider him a more interesting player than Rosenwinkel although I would be intrigued to see how he has matured as a player.

If by 'slated' you mean 'mentioned' I have mentioned Julian Lage on this board - just find the 'Contemporary Electric Jazz Guitar Player' thread to find that out. I've known and admired Lage's playing for a number of years now.

TBH, I am more interested in how both Lage and Rosenwinkel play standards than their compositions - in general; although, there is at least one composition of Rosenwinkel's I like - Zhivago (which IIRC, you also admire).

I've known also of Dave Fuczynski, but thanks for introducing me to the other unfamiliar names.

[Joseph K]

This is pretty unforgiveable....

Eh, it's not bad, harmonically and rhythmically more interesting than much pop/rock, as you might expect...

But this kind of exciting live improv is what I'd want from seeing Rosenwinkel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaRP63rx5vk

[CGR]

Greg Abate at the 606 down in Chelsea on Saturday evening.

A stonkingly good exhibition of hard-bop sax playing. Just a couple of originals set amongst two sets of standards. It was brilliant.

[Constantbee]

... For one thing they always seem too pricey; for another they usually sell out way ahead of the event; but for a third jazz as the convivial performance situation it should be in my view doesn't fare well in concert hall or stadium, it being an intimate transaction between musicians and musicians and audience. This is the irony for jazz, since the ideal club set up can never make up in shekels what it inevitably loses in bums on seats terms.

I’m inclined to agree It just that hardly any venues seem to fit the bill these days. Don’t know whether anyone picked up on what Claire Martin was saying about the UK jazz scene on J to Z (1 June): ‘There’s a shortage of suitable venues for young jazz performers in the UK today ... ’ or words to that effect. Claire herself appeared later last month at the National Early Music Centre, York. Well, an artist of that calibre would sound great just about anywhere of course, it’s just that I wouldn’t go out of my way to see her somewhere like the NEMC because the ambience would be wrong somehow IMHO. Others would doubtless disagree.

[Serial_Apologist]

I’m inclined to agree It just that hardly any venues seem to fit the bill these days. Don’t know whether anyone picked up on what Claire Martin was saying about the UK jazz scene on J to Z (1 June): ‘There’s a shortage of suitable venues for young jazz performers in the UK today ... ’ or words to that effect. Claire herself appeared later last month at the National Early Music Centre, York. Well, an artist of that calibre would sound great just about anywhere of course, it’s just that I wouldn’t go out of my way to see her somewhere like the NEMC because the ambience would be wrong somehow IMHO. Others would doubtless disagree.

I think one has somehow to try and "bracket out" the venue and if possible concentrate on the music - which is likely to vary according to the "spirit of the place" in Jellicoe's term for landscapes! I remember John Surman speaking ofthis when his playing at the top end of the baritone sax register was described by an interviewer as "innovative". Surman answered that firstly he had chosen the baritone because other innovators had monopolised the tenor (this was in the 1960s), but that far from innovating, he had deployed the upper reaches of the baritone's reach in order to cut through the noise of the pubs and clubs he was then playing! He then went on to describe museums and art centres where the ambience promoted atmospheres of deep concentration, in which it was lovely to hold an audience's attention by delaying pregnant pauses that set up what followed magnificently.

There was a very good example of this for me at altoist Mike Chillingworth's gig at Morley College on June 28 in the theatre there. The gig has just commenced when I arrived and I was silently indicated a nearby seat at the near end of the row. Although this may not be my ideal jazz experiencing situation - it can be a bit intimidating, and I would prefer a quiet club or pub audience which can "convivialise" in the break, or outside joining the smokers - but there is a case for different ways of experiencing the music akin to a form of secular worship, even though any interval encounters do then tend to be on tiptoe terms!

[Joseph K]

... he had deployed the upper reaches of the baritone's reach in order to cut through the noise of the pubs and clubs he was then playing!

One interesting moment at the gig I went to last weekend wasn't during Mike Stern's set at all, but the opening warm-up set. People were applauding the guitarist's solo, including someone emitting a high-pitched loud 'woo!' - the tenor saxophonist came in on exactly the same note as this 'woo', giving me at least the impression that it was prolonged longer than it actually was...

[Serial_Apologist]

Last night I attended a gig at the recently refurbished upstairs room at the Oxford pub in Kentish Town. A stone's throw from the train (for which read "railway") station catering both for National Rail and Underground services, this once comfortably upholstered venue hosted monthly gigs by the Loop Collective of young London-based and educated jazz musicians, who upped their entry charge to a tenner. Whether this or musical policy was responsible, few, usually around a dozen, would comprise audience attendance, although the music was adenturous and promising; many in the audience were friends and other musicians, however. The interior decor has been drastically gutted, from the homely armchairs and double light wall fixtures to bare wooden floor, chairs in rows with only two leather armchairs, to only three wall fixtures which pretend to be flickering gas mantles and a couple of bare chandeliers, plain off-white walls compared with the previous rich-textured wallpaper, and the on-door entry charge reduced back to £8.

The previous hosts would start the music at 9 pm, and it would generally be over around 11, so I could just make it for the penultimate Thameslink back to Herne Hill to get me hom before midnight. Last night the music had been going for half an hour, and all was over by 10.15. Onstage was a trumpet, alto sax, string bass, drums quartet led by a young trumpeter called Miguel Gorodi, with Sam Braysher on alto sax, a different bassist from Calum Gourlay (advertised) but just as good, and on drums Dave Ingamells, who's been around on the local scene for some years now. The style of the music was firmly ca. 1950 West Coast Cool School, a sequence of rather lesser known standards, tunes by Basie, Coleman Hawkins, Tadd Dameron and Warne Marsh. Miguel Gorodi and the bass player - whose name I omitted to note down - were the more characterful of the four players - the bassist soloing with much wit, incorporating unexpected quotes from eg Ring A-Ring A-Roses of all things, and a clear tone; Gorodi adopting a contemporised Chet Baker approach, viz a way with suddenly speeding up over a steady tempo but managing to slot back in, which, while obviously a distillation to a T of more radical approaches to creating tensions, betrays a degree of calculation that can tease as opposed to threaten or draw into its own orbit, notwithstanding its charms, or the personable qualties of their maker - young jazz musicians are much nicer people than were my generation. Braysher is really the foil man here, providing familiarity and dependability - there is nothing suggestive of anything having advanced in the music beyond about 1950; but his solos were generally the shortest apart from the drummer, who got just a couple in.

If the new musical policy is devised towards a more mainstream (in the old sense) audience, then by whatever means or networking, it has worked, assuming last night was anything to go by: the seating capacity had been probably doubled from that of the previous incumbents; every seat barring one of the two armchairs - to which I was quietly ushered, poor old geezer that I probably now am! - being occupied, and few leaving during the halfway break. In a way the performance of Warne Marsh's "Marshmallow" was, for me, indicative of a more conservative policy: the odd intervallic departures from the original on which it is built, with melodic cells built on fourths, was pretty much ignored in the improvisations, which made over-frequent references to "Cherokee", its basic chord sequence. The programmed line-ups are smaller and less adventurous than those of the "Loopies" and their friends and associates. Nevertheless, I happen to like Jim Mullen, who is joined next Monday by the excellent Hammond organist Ross Stanley (who also plays piano, and they now have an upright piano there), backing the singer Zoe Francis, who is actually rather good - and that's coming from a non-vocalist afficionado!

[Joseph K]

Not about the latest jazz gig I've been to but rather to let people know about a forthcoming gig with the for me heretofore unknown free improvising group of Kurt Rosenwinkel, Bandit 65. There is also a masterclass with Rosenwinkel at Ronnie Scott's around lunch time on the 24th. I probably won't catch these gigs though, tempting as they are...

https://www.ronniescotts.co.uk/performances/view/5392-kurt-rosenwinkel-bandit-65?fbclid=IwAR1_GK10SSNxwQMI_jGO1QwnpNpUhz3l_faSm_gaCWWVy8IHPBsCTIoydZU#

[Old Grumpy]

Francis Tulip/Xhosa Cole Quintet @ Ushaw Jazz Festival this afternoon - organised and curated by one of the the jewels in the North East's jazz crown, namely Paul Edis. A great gig featuring expert saxophony from BBC Young Jazz Musician Xhosa Cole and comparable guitar playing from Francis Tulip.

Also looking forward to tomorrow evening's offering by the Buck Clayton Legacy Band.

OG

[CGR]

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