Jazz Workshop with the Bobby Avey Project incl. Ben Monder, Miguel Zenón, Jordan Perlson and Michael Janisch

Leeds College of Music, Leeds. Wednesday 10th December 2014

I attended an excellent workshop at Leeds College of Music yesterday led by pianist Bobby Avey with contributions from all of the band playing as part of his latest 'Authority Melts From Me' project including Ben Monder on guitar, Miguel Zenón on alto saxophone, Jordan Perlson on drums and joining them for the UK tour, Michael Janisch on double bass.

The workshop kicked off with the band playing the opening section of the 'Authority Melts From Me' suite. Avey then explained the background to the project, it being a suite for quintet inspired by the Haitian people who've persevered through a tragic history of colonialism, slavery, and foreign occupation. The suite focuses particularly on Haiti's slave revolt. You can find more on the general background outlined on his website. 

Avey then gave us an example of how Haitian Vodou drumming formed the basis of the rhythms of the suite. He played a short recording of some multi-layered rhythms he'd recorded at a Vodou Ceremony in the small village of Soukri (You can download these recordings). He explained how he transcribed the recordings to break the rhythm down, then giving some of these rhythmic parts to the piano, guitar and drums. He said that although it would be possible to accurately transcribe the time of the rhythms using complex subdivisions such as septuplets, the written parts would look a bit crazy and would be very difficult to play. To convey the essence of what he wanted, it made much more sense to pass the audio files to the players and get them to understand the vibe and learn them by ear.

Someone asked about harmony of the music. Avey noted that although standard western notation and chord descriptions are used to convey the information to the players, the music is coming from places outside of western functional harmony. An example given (if I'm recalling correctly) was a chord containing the notes F, F#, G and A. Avey noted that it's a valid and real sound, but describing it in terms of root notes, b9s, natural 9s etc. doesn't really make sense. It would have been great to have heard more on the harmony but this discussion came at the end of the first part of the workshop which rounded off with a take on 'On Green Dolphin Street'.

Following this, four of the LCM students bravely performed a version of On Green Dolphin Street after which the band gave some feedback. There was some really useful stuff here and it was interesting to hear pro musicians from other countries discussing  ways to learn and get better at jazz. It was reassuring that all of this resonated with what I've been taught, mainly by guitarist Mike Walker, but also tutors such as Les Chisnall and Iain Dixon.

Janisch emphasised the importance of practising switching between the two and walking four feel to the bassist and drummer . He got the players to play several choruses switching at the top of form from one to the other. It was noticeable how much focussing in like this improved the time and feel. I think it was Janisch that also stressed the importance of recording yourself playing and improvising as much as possible. Listening back to your own playing really highlights where your own weaknesses are and what needs addressing. For him, the listening back and learning process is almost half of his practice time. 

Avey noted that some of the improv was a bit meandering and ideas were not being developed. He suggested it can be a great idea to write a plan down for solos over a number of choruses to make sure there's some strategy and conscious development. Then see if you can play it. The plan could include all kinds of different ideas. It could be using a specific comping idea for each improviser, focussing on a scale pattern, specifically using repetition, playing quieter, louder, slower, faster and so on. Avey also emphasised the importance of transcribing solos to build your vocabulary and listening to different versions of tunes to build up reference points. He compared just using the Real Book to only reading the spark notes for Macbeth. Clearly you need to read/hear the originals to get deeply into the pieces, as only so much can be noted down on paper.  

Zenón noted that some of the players were struggling a little with technical obstacles. He stressed the importance of really working on and nailing the fundamentals, relating to the feeling players have when struggling to express themselves. There's no greater wisdom here than making sure you put in the hours of practice and don't try to be too advanced too early. 

Monder said he didn't feel the students were stating the harmony as clearly as they could in their improvisation. He mentioned that it's really important to be able to comfortably play all the chord tones of the sequence of a piece. On the guitar it's important to be able to do this in position in all the positions on the fretboard, though you may find you have to jump around the neck initially to get this down. He suggested the improvisers try playing two or three choruses based on chord tones before bringing in tension notes and other approaches.

We stuck around for the concert in the evening which was phenomenal. It's challenging stuff for sure, but really engaging if you focus in on it. Avey's approach to harmony is really intriguing and something I want to find out more about. All the playing was great, but I particularly enjoyed the gorgeous fluidity of drummer Jordan Perlson who was a delight to listen to.

The Sound of Silence

Alice Zawadzki + Silence Blossoms, Freedom Principle at the Sand Bar, Manchester. Tuesday 20th November 2012

A milk frother is not generally known for its rhythmic properties. Nor have walkie-talkies established themselves as a means to simultaneously bow and amplify a double bass as far as I'm aware. Nevertheless, these were just two of the many innovative approaches to sound generation brought forth by Sweden and Macclesfield's 'Silence Blossoms'. Comprising Gus Loxbo on double bass, guitar, voice, frother and walkie-talkies; Hanna Olivegren on voice and synthesiser, and a repatriated (at least for now) Sam Andreae on tenor sax, voice and electronics, this curious trio take poetry as the basis of most of their pieces. The words are under-layered with various blends of folksy harmony, lo-fi white noise, environment textures and a little free jazz abstraction.

Silence Blossoms (photo by Angela Guyton)

There's a danger of novelty leading to boredom with this kind of approach, but Silence Blossoms steered well clear of this territory, delivering a more or less perfect blend of sweet harmony and art noise. The stuttering echoes and earthy folk tones of first track 'Lady White' led into 'Not Waving But Drowning', probably the most conventional piece of the set. There was some lovely soulful playing from Andreae on sax here, accompanied by Loxbo's warm rounded double bass and Olivegren's deep sparse vocal. Some wonderfully vulnerable vocal harmonies from Olivegren and Andreae on final track 'King of Everything' rounded things off perfectly. This really worked.

Silence Blossoms rehearsing (photo by Angela Guyton)

Now based in London but no stranger to Manchester's music scene, Alice Zawadzki once again delivered an engaging set in the city last night, this time in trio formation with Stuart McCallum on guitar and Rosie Toll on Cello. Zawadzki rarely fails to impress, not only with her extensive range of vocal styles and strong technique, but also the way she manages to convey an authenticity and intimacy through the styles that make her performances consistently captivating. Whether it's a sephardic song, a portuguese tune, a rootsy blues number or some folk whimsy, she puts everything over convincingly and with real passion.

Alice Zawadzki with Stuart McCallum and Rosie Toll

A highlight was the self-penned 'Ring of Fire'. The track begins with a really strong tune sung by Zawadzki that opens out to an instrumental section allowing McCallum's modulated echo reverbs plenty of sonic space to breath, all backed by Toll's strong and unfussy cello parts. It's not all that often I can hear the harmonic subtleties of McCallum's expansive layering, so many thanks to Zawadzki's relatively sparse line-up choice, the sound man and an attentive Sand Bar.  Another very memorable gig. Hat's off to Freedom-Principle @ Sandbar.

Zawadzki is playing again at the Manchester Jazz Festival Re-Live MJF 2012 this Friday at Matt and Phreds. Take your opportunites when you can.

Follow Your Spine

Sheryl Bailey jazz guitar workshop sessions, North Wales International Jazz Guitar Weekend, Wrexham. Friday 19th to Sunday 21st October 2012

I'm just back from a really excellent weekend workshop co-tutored by New York based jazz guitarist Sheryl Bailey as part of the North Wales Jazz Guitar Weekend held at the Glyndwr University in Wrexham. Sheryl teaches at Berklee amongst many other places, and it was clear from the off that (not surprisingly) she really knows her stuff both about jazz theory and jazz history. I picked up some really useful things that I'll try to explain here. I should probably give a muso warning at this point that the post does get quite technical and assumes some knowledge of jazz theory and harmony.

First off I was really pleased to find that I'm not the only one puzzled why so many jazz guitarists roll their tone right back, in some cases completely off. Sheryl said many students at Berklee do this, but she doesn't think it sounds at all good and mutes all the higher end harmonics that give richness to guitar tone. I wholeheartedly agree! She also suggested that because the subtlety of tone is removed, mistakes are more easily covered up, so it's not a good way to go technique wise either.

Bop Improvising

The Saturday session was about approaches to bop playing. Sheryl emphasised that she isn't thinking about scales at all for this style of playing. It's all about knowing and being able to follow the chord changes or the "spine of the tune" as she referred to it many times. Improvised lines are based on using the arpeggio chord tones along with diatonic and chromatic approach notes. She outlined a good step-by-step way to get into this, which is first to play through the changes using voice led arpeggio notes, next bringing in approach notes to the arpeggio notes.  Voice leading here simply means playing the nearest note of the next arpeggio when the chords change rather than going back to the root note each time.

This principles were explained in application to a Bb blues. I wish I'd taken a photo of the board here, but as I didn't I've typed it out. The formatting was fiddly on the blog, so I ended up taking the photo below.  She said that when she sees a dominant chord she will think of its II minor chord as well as the dominant chord itself, and will use the arpeggio notes for both as the basis for the improvised lines. These would be the F-7 and Bb7 arpeggios over the first Bb7 chord of a blues. She also mentioned that it's good to set up the Eb7 IV chord in bar 5 with an altered sound over the previous bar 4, the same idea being used on the G7 in bar 8. There's also the possibility of using the arpeggios of the sub V chord and its associated II chord in all cases, such as shown in bars 6, 9 (not labelled), 10 and 12 (also not labelled). In the first instance, it's important for the chord tones to be played on the downbeat to give strength to the sound of the chord and the changes, but when you start to have a good handle on what you're doing, you can relax and play around with this to a certain extent.

Click photo to enlarge

Sheryl then outlined some next steps to add boppy melodic embellishments:

1) Add the chromatic note below each chord tone
2) Add the diatonic note above the chord tone
3) Combine (1) and (3)
4) 3 note chromaticism: 1 chromatic below and 2 above
5) 3 note chromaticism: 2 chromatic below and 1 above
6) 4 note chromaticism: 2 chromatic below and 2 above
7) 4 note chromaticism: 2 chromatic above and 2 below

By doing this you're not only adding more colour to a standard blues scale approach, but you're outlining the changes very clearly and sounding much more authentically boppy. Improvising in this manner can be done more or less unaccompanied when done effectively, the changes being clearly outlined. She mentioned that this approach was heavily used by people like John Coltrane and Sonny Stitt.

Additional to the II and V7 arpeggios, the VII and IV arpeggios can also be used. On the Bb7 for example, these would be D-7b5 and AbMaj7. This gives what she called the "family of four" substitution possibilities.

A further possible step is to bring in some melodic minor harmony, using for example FmMaj7, Bb7#11 and AbMaj7#5 arpeggios on the Bb7 chord of the blues progression. Another fairly out idea used by Pat Martino is to play the whole blues sequence a tritone above. She mentioned you may be pushing your luck to do this for more than a chorus though :).

We also got into the idea of playing dotted quarter notes over a 4:4 rhythm to give anticipation to chord movement. Sheryl mentioned that Berklee tutor Ben Wilmott teaches this stuff, his 'Time for the Future: Polyrythm in Harmony' book being a good reference for further study.

Drop Voicings

On Sunday we covered 'drop 2' and 'drop 3' voicings, much used by players like Wes Montgomery. A good exemplar of the use of drop 2 voicings is Wes Montgomery's 'Cariba' where the opening is played on a drop 2 F-7 and its inversions.

Drop voicings are where you drop the 2nd or 3rd note (voice) from the top of a voicing down one octave.  The left part of the photo below shows an example using a G minor chord and its inversions. You can (hopefully) see the first chord on the left is a standard R 3 5 7 voicing. Next to it is the drop 2 voicing where the second voice down from the top, i.e. the D note is dropped an octave down to the bottom of the voicing.

Click photo to enlarge

The high, middle and low string tab chord shapes are given below the voicings on the photo along with all the three inversions.  These should be learnt for maj 7, minor 7, dominant 7 and minor 7b5 chords at first, then extending the principle to chords with added tensions later. This should be practiced on all three string groups.

She then explained how these voicings can be used to harmonise a melody line or solo (if you've got the chops ;) on the top string, with diminished chords being used to fill in any passing notes of the line. This isn't easy to do live in the moment of improvising, Sheryl reminding us how Wes was a monster player to be able to do this so well. This took us into a little work on melody notes over diminished chords whilst moving them up the fretboard in minor thirds (on the right of the photo).

Someone asked a question about tasty final chords for tunes, which got us into the idea of using the open strings of the guitar for tension notes to get some striking and strong sounds. Wayne Shorter's 'JuJu' is in a useful key for voicings using open strings, as well as being a good tune for practising whole tone scales.

Pluralities

The final part of the workshop covered what Sheryl referred to as 'Pluralities'. This is the idea that you have families of 'like chords' varied by the use of different notes in the bass. For example if you take a standard Cmaj7 chord and place an A in the bass you get an Amin7 add 9 chord. If you take the same Cmaj7 chord and add a D in the bass you get a D7sus9 13 chord. To get into the sounds of modes such as melodic minor, the same principle can be applied to Cmaj7b5 and Cmaj7#5 chords, a notable example being when an F bass note is added to a Cmaj7#5 chord to give the strange sounding F diminished major 7 chord (dimMaj7).  This sound is coming from the harmonic major scale and its modes.  I was interested to hear Sheryl say that the dimMaj7 chord is very popular with contemporary players in New York such as Kurt Rosenwinkel, Ben Monder and Adam Rogers. These players will typically use the dimMaj7 chord as a default I chord in both major and minor tonalities, it having an ambiguity that allows for its use in both situations.

So that was about it for Sheryl's sessions. Course leader Trefor Owen covered many useful pragmatic tips for the working jazz guitarist in his sessions, including things like bass line comping and Maj7 arpeggio lines for getting through the fast changes on tunes like 'Cherokee'. It was also great to hear Sheryl in concert on the Saturday evening. The jams as ever, were very useful, giving us the chance to play with the legendary Bill Coleman on bass along with Andy on drums.

A big thanks from me to Trefor, Maureen, Joe and everybody else involved in organising the weekend. They've been running for an amazing 12 years now. This one was the 18th weekend so far. Jack Wilkins is the plan for the next weekend, so all being well I'll pop along to that too. For now, there's plenty been added to the practice list.

Etherology

North Wales International Jazz Society Guitar Weekend, Wrexham, Wales

I had a really interesting time at the Wrexham jazz guitar weekend. The main attraction for me was the opportunity to learn from the ace british jazz guitar legend, John Etheridge. The first evening consisted of getting up and knocking out a standard with John and the fab Bill Coleman on double bass. I got up for ‘All The Things You Are’ and did a pretty decent job of it I think. He got us trading fours, which almost caught me out, but I just about got away with it.


The next morning we looked at approaches to chord melody playing, something I don’t do a whole lot of, but keep meaning to have a better look at. John suggested starting with the melody, and then adding the chord root notes. Next it’s a case of adding some chord fragments on the third and fourth strings where you can , but the melody and bass come first.

We then looked at the Joe Pass method. John mentioned that it’s very much a harmonic as opposed to melodic or rhythmic system. Joe Pass didn’t think in terms of scales at all, the system generally being all about chord substitutions, the tones from the chords, and passing notes as the basis for comping and improvising. John suggested that with bebop playing generally, it’s all about chord tones and passing notes, not scales.


On Sunday John talked about some of the improvisation techniques used by players such as John Scofield and Pat Metheny. One scalar approach favoured by himself and Scofield is the use of the half-whole diminished scale on static V7 chords, giving a strong sense of tension. Its sound is not dissimilar to the altered scale, but the natural fifth in the half-whole diminished works well on a static V7, as the flat fifth in the altered scale wants the V7 chord to resolve to its I.

He then talked about the use of primary triads built on harmonised scales. This approach is particularly useful in modal vamp situations such as on ‘So What’, where triads can be used to add interest to comping as well as in the improvising. He then explained the use of fourth or ‘quartal’ voiced suspended chords, and scales harmonised in fourths such as used on Miles’ ‘In a Silent Way’. He said that as long as you have a note from the relevant pentatonic scale on the top of a voicing, you can play pretty much any suspended chord voiced in fourths below, and the harmony will take it. This approach works well with modal vamps too.

To finish up, John summarised his practice approach to new scales and harmony:

• Get all the notes of the scale all over the neck
• Play the scales over a looped groove, such as using the Line 6 delay pedal or the iRealBook.
• Work out the harmonised triad chords
• Only when the above is mastered, bring in and practice non-scale passing notes
• Then put a sequence of chords together in a loop and run the scales together in the same area of the fingerboard
  

Having attended these schools a few times a number of years ago, I was fairly familiar with the material Trefor Owen covered. Having said that, the information on the use of the whole tone scale on V7 chords was something I was aware of, but hadn’t gotten around to looking at. Trefor also took us through some approaches to improvising on the changes to ‘Autumn Leaves’ and ‘One Note Samba’ type sequences.

At lunchtime each day there was a well organised jam in the bar which I had fun at, playing with Giles Barratt, backed by Bill Coleman and a drummer I have to confess I didn’t get the name of. On the Saturday there was a concert with John, Trefor, Andy Hulme, Bill Coleman, violin player Don May and the drummer. John’s playing was great, especially on his loop backed solo performance.

So that was about it. A great weekend and a few more tricks up my sleeve.

Swiss Precision Engineering

Nik Bärtsch's Ronin, Band on the Wall, Manchester, 9th March 2010

Mike Chadwick, promoter of the Band on the Wall introduced 'Nik Bärtsch's Ronin', saying he was well chuffed to get the band to Manchester for their first gig in the city, and we were too. T'was another grand night.

They call it 'zen funk', and I guess that's about right. I'm thinking the even meter lines of Steve Reich and Philip Glass sitting on a cool groove, so I reckon that's about the same kinda thing. If you're into your modes, think lots of dorian with a dash of melodic minor. Andi Pupato's especially esoteric percussion set-up was an impressive sight, and he made great use of the range of sounds, all seasoned with some tasteful reverb. The other worldly Nik Bärtsch looked suitably zen-real, swaying slowly back and forth as he tapped out the spatial piano patterns, sitting behind a carefully placed fluorescent water bottle. Björn Meyer on the six string electric bass was really something else kicking out his complex lines, but always with a great sense of feel and groove. Kaspar Rast's gorgeous lazy feel on drums meshed nicely with the bass, counterposing the tight piano structures and thus giving rise to Ronin's distinctive sound. Sha on bass/contrabass clarinet was perhaps a little on the quiet side to my ears to make a decent judgement of his input, but when I could hear him in the quieter bits, it added a useful layer of harmonic meat to Bärtsch's lines.

The subtle fluorescent green strip lighting effects were really quite engaging in a gentle sort of way. It's quite refreshing to see a bit of effort going into the presentation here, something you don't usually get on a 'jazz' gig. The sound also was really impressive again tonight. The deep bass thud from one of the drum percussion instruments really took your breath away, possibly being a shade too much for me, but it highlighted the power of the great sound system the Band on the Wall has to shift some air.

Top night. Nice one Mike C.

Some Other Time

Some Other Country, Band on the Wall, Manchester, 17th December 2009

We were treated to a bit of a one-off at the recently re-opened Band on the Wall last week in the form of a re-grouping of 'Some Other Country', a Manchester fusion band from the 1990s. The band are the stuff of myth and legend for those who weren't around to see them back in the day, the only documented references being from a passing mention on guitarist Mike Walker's website and in a wikipedia piece.

Well, what a great start, for this listener at least. The band opened up with a loosely improvised version of Miles' 'Shh/Peaceful', Roy Powell on keys dropping the distinctive chord sequence in to hook the tune down. It's great to hear this kind of vibe. If only we got more of it. A lovely piece of echo loop backed Rhodes introspection from Powell seduced us into 'Heavy Bastard' before Steve Gilbert on drums and Gary Culshaw on electric bass nailed a thick and tasty deep groove tight to the floor. Walker skanked, scratched and shimmied before laying some thick and creamy Boogied Bergundy 335 guitar on us. Feedback sustain guitar was the order of the day, Walker coaxing and stroking the sympathetic overtones with great deftness.

The last tune of the first set was another chunk of fusion-tastic goodness. The smouldering groove supplied by Gilbert was pure delight, providing a counterfoil to Walker's gnarling knitted lines. The Metheny-like lightness of the melody section gave Culshaw a chance to add some period flanged bass.

The sonorities of the Eno-style ambient synthesiser and guitar feedback shots on 'Fortune Cookie' wouldn't have been amiss on a prog rock album, though the raw piquancy of a few sharp ll and major 7 notes from Walker reminded us of just where we were. The track then opened out, and Walker provided enough feedback sustain delights to keep a Hendrix fan going through the dark winter nights.

The fast groove of the Powell penned 'Mump Beak' closed the set, complete with its keyboard stabs and clipped guitar riffing. Once again Walker turned the thermostat up a few degrees with an intense angular overdriven sortie. Powell retorted with some caustic synth lines, Gilbert and Culshaw all the while keeping the fire stoked in the engine room. Some sustained applause brought the band back for a reprise to end a touching and really quite heart-warming evening. It's really great to see this truly historic Manchester venue open again. The sound tonight was bang on, and there was such a lovely vibe in the house. Hats off and lets have some more please.

A photo of Some Other Country from back in the day:

The Ecstatic Kaleidophone

Tortoise + Cluster, Royal Festival Hall, London Jazz Festival, Sunday 22nd November 2009

Well what a treat and a half this inspired bit of programming from the jazz festival looked to be, and sure enough it didn't disappoint. I've been a big fan of both of these bands for a good few years. I was a krautrocker in my teens (and still am), so I've been up for a bit of Cluster since then. I picked up on Tortoise from my London days and have seen them three or four times, but not for a few years. I was actually quite surprised to see them playing such a big venue as the Festival Hall.

Via the wonders of Spotify I'd been able to check out Cluster's first record in over a decade, 'Qua' before the gig. Whilst Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius aren't exactly breaking new ground here, it is a fine record. With a combined age of over 140, there's a certain regal charm to their presence on the stage, but somehow the music they produced tonight didn't quite seem to grab me. Given the sound Cluster make, I'm certain its lack of impact wasn't helped by the low volume and constant distraction of having people walking past going in and out. The Festival Hall wouldn't allow this for classical concerts and most of the other jazz concerts, and I think the same respect should have been given to Cluster. Tortoise shuffled onto the stage to join them for last ten minutes which was a nice respectful touch.

The mutual respect was returned after the break when Cluster joined Tortoise for a short ambient jam before the set started proper. With our ambience quotas boosted, it was time for a kick, and Tortoise did the job with an incendiary version of 'High Class Slim Came Floatin' In' from their new record, 'Beacons of Ancestorship'. It's all there in this track, the twin drum driving groove, the square-on-the-beat arpeggiations, all topped off with a gorgeously fat moog lead line. Two changes of tempo, and we're into a surging Stereolab metronomic powerhouse ending much reminiscent of the anthemic 'French Disco'.

The centre stage twin drumming is a key part of the Tortoise sound, and one they make work so well. Drum duties are shared more or less equally by John McEntire, Dan Bitney and John Herndon, with the deep groove pulse being at the heart of many of the tracks. It works brilliantly on everything from the packing case thrash of 'Northern Something' to the narcotic shambling haze of 'Monica', the latter tune being mesmerically phenomenal tonight. Doug McCombs keeps the bass backbone true and Jeff Parker fills in with guitar sheen, overdrive bite and metrical synth lines in varying mystical proportions. This is no fixed configuration however, with all players sharing rhythm, lead, harmony and textural tasks to cook up the timbral alchemy. They make the punk clatter of 'Yinxianghechengqi' sit side by side with the mournful latino twang reverb of 'The Fall of Seven Diamonds Plus One'. The cymbal splashy fast shuffle groove of 'TNT' was, as usual, messianic, and 'The Suspension Bridge At Iguazú Falls' a marimba-vibraphonic delight. At times this felt like an illicit kaleidophonic ecstasy.

They encored with a mature and graceful take on the majestic 'I Set My Face To The Hillside' that oozed pure solar coziness, following up with a punchy quarter/triplet fooling 'Charteroak Foundation' to conclude a dream-like evening. Quite brilliant stuff. Truly a dream come true.

'Monica' live in Barcelona:

Overtone Patterns

Dave Holland, Chris Potter, Jason Moran & Eric Harland Overtone Quartet, London Jazz Festival, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Friday 20th November 2009

One can be forgiven for being a little awed by the sense of presence when the stately Dave Holland takes to the stage. This man is ex-Bitches Brew era Miles after all. He introduces the band in such a relaxed and self assured manner, you know this guy knows what he’s doing. Holland then headed us straight for saxophonist Potter’s composition ‘Outsiders’. A great start too, loosely hinting at the lilt and circular lifting sequence of Corea’s ‘500 Miles High’. There was some lovely lyrical playing from pianist Moran, and an immediately seductive deep fine groove from drummer Harland. The bass and drum introduction to Holland’s ‘Walking the Walk’ was a gorgeous treat with some fine sprinkle washes of Fender Rhodes keyboard setting up a bluesmeister bass solo. Holland combines a strong weighty pulse with a precise articulation that ensures every note counts.

The Harland composed ‘Patterns’ hosted the first appearance of some metrical trickery, albeit being well disguised by the loose grooved drumming. The intensity slowly upped and upped, giving Moran and Potter the opportunity for some fearsome trading spurred on by the rhythmic surge. A track from the classic ‘Conference of the Birds’ album, ‘Interception’, took us into hardcore fast manic angular territory, Potter at times squawking through both soprano and tenor sax simultaneously. It takes quite some listening to this, but respite occurred with a two-note groove lockdown giving us a temporary breather. Some fluid side stick drumming accompanied by a quite overwhelmingly fast and precise bass section was a marvel. The aural space then opened out to expose a rumbling low kick drum thud, this clearing the path for a relentless and highly percussive drum solo from Harland.

We were eased down gently with the introspective encore track, ‘Sky’. Some gentle bowed double bass, decorated by sympathetic brush and bell strokes from Harland calmed our neural firestorms, and readied us for the journey home. Exhausting at times, but well worth it. You know your world is better for it.

A Little Ray of Charles

A Tribute To The Music Of Ray Charles: Sassoon, Bentley And Friends, Cinnamon Club, Bowden, Manchester, 30th November 2009

I couldn't make it to this one, so here's a guest blog post from the lovely Mrs Ring Modulator:

The Cinnamon Club provides a rather unlikely location for catching up with some of the local jazz talent. The large hall often echoes to the sounds of cha cha chas or waltzes, with the ever-popular ballroom dancing classes. But it was recently turned over to an evening paying tribute to the legendary Ray Charles. For those who attended the Manchester Jazz Festival, there was a similar event in St Ann's Square, which went down a storm. This was essentially a repetition, but being covered, there was no change of any other kind of storm dampening the scene.


The evening commenced with a set by Jem Sassoon and Paul Bentley, long-time collaborators. They have an album coming out and they ran through some of the classic tunes that they have recorded, including 'Amazing Grace' and 'I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel (To Be Free)', which is the TV theme tune for the Film programme lately hosted by Barry Norman. This was fairly standard fayre. It got the evening going nicely, but was a little tame for me. However, the highlight was our first taste of the full compliment of musicians on a rockin' version of the 1970s Spiderman cartoon theme tune. I used to watch the cartoon when I was young, and the theme tune was really the best thing about it.

My biggest gripe about the evening was the very long interval. We started thinking we might give up and go home when the band eventually appeared at about 10.30. It was worth staying for. The arrangements by Iain Dixon were really superb, sometimes giving the impression of a much larger horn section that the two saxophones, trombone and trumpet and achieving a fine balance between all of the component parts of the band. I particularly enjoyed 'Let the Good Times Roll' and the whole thing stepped up a gear when the backing singers came on to give a particularly fine performance on 'Hit The Road Jack'. One of the highlights for me was Mike Walker's guitar solo on 'Heat of the Night'. The sound was beautifully sweet and immense and the playing was, as usual, awesome. But all of the musicians really gave it some and their enjoyment of the music really came across to a very receptive audience.

Mind the Gap (or the Sea of Subjectivity)

Tord Gustavsen Ensemble, RNCM, 21st October 2009

Concert going is a funny thing. You bring yourself to it, you the subject. It's swimming in a sea of subjectivity. It's part where you're at, the day you've had, your specific brain chemistry at this moment that is you. So relating meaningful expression is probably somewhat futile.

... but still we try. If there's any hope of sense and meaning, it's lost in the deferring / differing context [différance even]. We fall through the cracks.

And then there's the gap to mind. The physical gap, phenomena versus the ever elusive, always shirking away, end of the rainbow noumena. We never get there. The mental gap, the psychological gap, the sensual gap...

So what of the Tord Gustavsen Ensemble? Well, you know, I don't know if I know. I was lost in all the above. The first twenty seconds were suitably delicate. But the gap was wide tonight, and I fell down much of the time. Gustavsen's thing is languid and diffuse. It's his thing, it's part of the appeal. The breathy song introductions stage an unconvincing reverence. Much of it is good I think. 'Being There' was there, but the piano needs much more space in this sound, as so much effect is in subtle specific nuances. The meanderings of sax player Tore Brunberg sadly rode roughshod over these, masking and obliterating the fragile piano textures and harmony. There was an interesting solo from double player Mats Eilertsen with some nice fast argeggiated plucked chords resonanting with distinctly folk tones.

At some points the TG Ensemble visibly kicked, Gustavsen swaying and sliding across the piano stool in seeming abandonment, but the aural effect was, even then, surprisingly restrained. There was just about enough energy to rouse a few genuine post solo rounds of applause here and there. Drummer Jarle Vespestad played his part, tinkling, tapping and scratching in all the usual places. It adds to the overall wash, but doesn't engage much despite a tasteful, if reserved, solo.

A not unpleasant evening but as I say, lost in the gaps.

September in October

MusicMusicMusic, Nefertiti Jazz Club, Gothenburg, Sweden. 16th October 2009

In another one of my occasional reports from further afield, I caught the really rather fine MusicMusicMusic last night at the splendid Nefertiti club in Gothenburg, Sweden. This piano led trio is headed up by the suitably quirky looking Fabian Kallerdahl on the grand piano and Zawinul style mono synth. He looks a little like a cross between Monk and Bugge Wesseltoft, and that’s not a half bad pass at describing the music neither.

The group have a fine sense of swing when the mood takes them, and there’s plenty of satisfyingly chop and change metrical trickery in just the right amounts. I particularly loved drummer Michael Edlund’s groove, especially on the last track that reminded me of the grace of later Talk Talk (soz dunno what the song was called, my Swedish isn’t up to it). Double bass player Josef Kallerdahl was bang on too, favouring the use of a bow for many of his high register solos which worked a treat. The last song before the encore was a real nice n’ tasty rework of the funk soul classic ‘September’ that went down famously with the packed Nefertiti. The club has a great vibe too. Well worth a visit if you’re in this neck of the woods.

Madhouse Back in the House

Mike Walker Sextet, Band on the Wall, Thursday 8th October 2009

The occurrence of a welcome return to the newly reopened and refurbished Band on the Wall happened last night for an initially somewhat phased looking Mike Walker with his Sextet. The place doubtless now has a different atmosphere, one which Mike admitted threw him for a song or two, with him having many strong memories of the place in its previous less reverent guise.

Mike showcased much of the material from the 'Madhouse and the Whole Thing There' album, as well as material from last year's Manchester Jazz Festival commission, 'Ropes' and a couple of new tunes. The set opened with a familiar cover of Steve Swallow's 'Ladies in Mercedes'. Keyboard player Malcolm Edmonson's synth was a bit plinky for my taste on this whilst the overall sound was bedding down. A fast angular take on 'Solar' followed to warm things up. Mike announced that the next song, 'A Real Embrace' was for Annie, his mum, the solo guitar introduction of which was really quite familially moving. A gorgeous duo version of 'Clockmaker' from Mike and Les Chisnall on the grand piano was wistful and reflective in a suitably autumnal way. The pace and fire then upped for a complex new song, 'Laugh Lines'. Some fast bop playing from Iain and Mike hit the sweet spot, and the closing unison head was delivered with satisfying precision.


The expansive 'Madhouse and the Whole Thing There' track opened the second set. This is a personal fave of mine, and it gives Mike a great opportunity to stretch out and blow with real force. Others at the Band on the Wall last night clearly agreed, as this track was the best received track of the night. The time signature metrical tricks of 'EAminG' gave drummer Pat Illingworth a chance to earn his money and kept double bass player Steve Watts honest to boot. I wasn't entirely convinced by this track so I will reserve judgement for another hearing. The unison horn and guitar line did have a certain digital pitch shift quality not unlike our blessed ring modulator. The keyboard strings worked best on a charming version of 'Wallenda's Last Stand', the parts sounding convincing capturing the wind gust effect that knocked poor Wallenda off his rope for the last time. Les Chisnall was once again a delight on this one. Some more bristling fire storm guitar from Mike finished a fine evening on the, once again, wrong footing meter of 'Dad Logic', and the encore sweetness of 'Safe Home' sent us home with smiles on our faces.

P.S. Despite a bust amp requiring a loan replacement from a local mate, last night's gig at The Continental in Preston (Sat 10th October) was phenomenal. Mike was a good as you'll ever hear him, particularly on the 'Madhouse and the Whole Thing There' track. Really glad I made the effort to go. The Continental's a great venue as well.

Strathclyde University Big Band featuring Mike Walker

The Cinnamon Club Lounge, Bowdon, Friday 13th March 2009

I was a little on the late side making it down to the The Cinnamon Club to be met by a packed house for the Strathclyde University Big Band featuring guest star Mike Walker. Very glad I did too, as it was a fab night with a great buzz.


The second set kicked off with a personal fave, the perennial classic 'Maiden Voyage'. I thought the horn arrangements on this one slightly odd, but it featured a kicking solo from the ever reliable Mr Walker, and got the set off to a driving start. The funky 'Chameleon' was delivered with panache, the dual guitar attack of guitarist Nigel Chadwick and Mike Walker giving the tune a swaggering kick. Nigel treated us to a tasty overdriven solo that Mike picked up and rounded off with gusto. 'Work song' was another hard swinging treat, the rich and punchy horn lines hitting the spot nicely. The dusky tones of vocalist Stephanie Lawrence were a great addition to some vocal led tracks that went down especially well with the club lounge audience I felt.

After the big band set, Nige Chadwick invited us local jazzers to an after hours jam, so I joined in along with Jamie Saffers, Frank Le Bass, Bennet Longman and a few of the horn players fom the big band. It was a tad rough at the edges, a beer or two having dimmed the brain cells somewhat, but I think we knocked out a half decent version of 'All The Things You Are'. All in all it was a great night and I'm sure owner Neil Hughes will have been well chuffed with how it went.

Jim Faulkner Quartet featuring Steve Berry

I made it down to the Sand Bar last night to catch the 'Jim Faulkner Quartet featuring Steve Berry' at one of the Sand Bar Jazz evenings. It was good catch Jim properly for the first time in some ways, as I've only actually seen him play twice before, both at the Manchester Jazz Festival with Mrs Columbo. Last year's said gig was a little tentative, but last night's was a much stronger performance.

There were more well worn standards than I was expecting, but they were delivered with enough force and freshness to give the tunes life. Steve Berry was ace on the double bass as expected. Ed Kainyek on sax was more upbeat than he can sometimes be, and Rob Turner on drums responded to the energy levels well. Jim goes for quite a classic forties/fifties'ish clean guitar sound (tonight at least), and is great at interspersing his lines with chord fragment comps that sound quite Joe Pass inspired. There's not much in the way of milking the single notes with string bending or overdrive, but that's all fine with me. Probably the best performance came on the self-penned 'Stuck in a Lift', with Jim really kicking in and pushing the solo's momentum sweetly. He didn't exactly sell the tune to us, describing it as 'MOR' if I recall, but it had far more grace and power than that.

Sibongile Khumalo & Jack DeJohnette’s ‘Intercontinental’ - London Jazz Festival day 8

Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, 21st September 2008

The surfacing of stellar talent Sibongile Khumalo by drumming legend Jack DeJohnette is something to be grateful for. Tonight’s concert provided an opportunity to air their ‘Intercontinental’ project, the result of a collaboration founded during a residency at Aldeburgh in Suffolk, an unlikely setting for the development of some unlikely music.

It’s easy to have preconceptions about South African jazz. Surprising it may be then, that ‘Priestess Mist’, the opening piece of a truly incredible concert, would be perfectly at home on a classic 1970s Krautrock album by the likes of Neu!, or the very early Kraftwerk. Jack DeJohnette opened the evening by taking a handheld microphone close to his cymbals, then lightly tapping them to amplify the complex harmonics and create a ghostly texture. Sax player Jason Yarde then added some Steve Reich-like ambient loops triggered from his soprano and Byron Wallen’s trumpet.

The second track launched with a skull slicing art noise terror attack, envelope filter and ring modulator effects liberally applied by Yarde. The track initially had a distinct avant-garde classical feel, which then mutated into a latin groove, Khumalo’s vocals clearly echoing Flora Purim from the first ‘Return to Forever’ album. The sound space then hollowed out, leaving Khumalo scat vocal drumming along with DeJohnette’s high tempo triplet-within-triplet side stick improvising.

Khumalo composition, ‘Little Girl’, began with a neatly executed descending chord sequence over a classic swing feel. Initiated by some unpredictably placed heavyweight accents from DeJohnette, the track evolved with the aid of a Coltrane inspired scalar blitzkreig from Yarde. Pianist Billy Childs’ ‘Hope in the Face of Despair’ was a good vehicle for his outstanding technique, the tune's rich harmony nodding to the sound of the great musicals. Every piece tonight consisted of several parts, this one shifting through some contemplative phases leading into DeJohnette’s centrepiece solo. His magnetic centrifugal pulse underpinned some subtle improvising on the base elements of snare, hi-hat and kick drum. It was a lesson in how to do things your own way.

An incredible solo from Khumalo, combining jazz, classical and operatic elements to phenomenal effect ended the last track, and brought the Queen Elizabeth Hall to its feet for a standing ovation. We were left quite in awe.

Review reproduced courtesy of the London Jazz Festival and Jazzwise Magazine.

Ben Allison’s ‘Man Size Safe’ Quintet - London Jazz Festival day 7

Pizza Express Soho, 20th November 2008

An intriguing band name for starters. “Apparently Dick Cheney has a man size safe in his office, something I find both comical and scary” bandleader and double bass player Ben Allison informed us. 'Man Size Safe' is Allison’s folk americana outlet, with tonight’s set featuring most of the tracks from their new album, ‘Little Things Run The World’. Totally engaging the tunes are too, capturing the audience's attention within seconds of the first track’s slouchy groove shuffling itself into the air space. It was heartening to see guitarist Steve Cárdenas embracing unextended open string chords, all too often dismissed as ‘cowboy chords’ by some jazz guitar players. The harmonic progressions were deceptively sophisticated, leading us down well trodden folk and country music paths before yanking us sideways, and prodding us with angular stabs.

Sax player Michael Blake excelled on the twitchy ‘Respiration’, his nervous squeals instilling a real sense of fear and foreboding. We were taken down gently by the sparse blues beauty of ‘The Language of Love’, this time trumpet player Ron Horton taking his chance to snarl his spurned love story at us with some fine edgy playing.

‘Roll Credits’ reaffirmed the influence of modern americana songwriting on the group sound. Paul Cárdenas’ guitar once again surprised us with a cross between a slurry John Scofield and the clipped rock n’ roll of Scotty Moore. It’s great to hear music clearly operating within the jazz/improvisational space, but without feeling the need to be reverential of the classic American songbook and swing/bebop.

The band closed with a track taking the group’s name, ‘Man Size Safe’. The tune switched between a neat metrically placed melody line, and some majestic free funk. The lithe grooves shimmying out from the limbs of drummer Michael Sarin were reminiscent of the Cinematic Orchestra’s Luke Flowers at his best. A tasty and most satisfying accompaniment to a spicy Pizza Americana.

Review reproduced courtesy of the London Jazz Festival and Jazzwise Magazine.

Rudresh Mahanthappa's Codebook plus Arun Ghosh - London Jazz Festival day 3

Purcell Room, Southbank Centre, Sunday 16th November

London based Manchester exile Arun Ghosh has had quite a year, releasing his debut album ‘Northern Namaste’, and being selected for the ‘Take Five’ artists development scheme. As a new batch of ‘Take Five’ musicians get ready to carry the torch this week, we reaped the rewards of this year’s scheme tonight at the Southbank Purcell Room.

Ghosh took to the stage with his trademark swagger and launched into a fierce solo introduction to ‘Aurora’. As the band joined in however, the track was missing some of its usual impact, essentially due to the absent piano and saxophone heard on the record and previous gigs. Special guest Corey Mwamba's vibraphone provided tonight’s chordal architecture, the soft attack of which lacked the depth and punch of the piano, but he played with great charm and energy. After a few tunes my ears did adapt to the altered sonority, but there was a little too much timbral overlap with Ghosh’s clarinet.

Nevertheless, the bengali scale based ‘Deshkar’ and ‘Bondhu’ tunes were, as always, truly joyful and uplifting. New track ‘Mint’, a collaboration with composer Fumiko Miyachi, commissioned for tonight as part of the SPNM Shorts scheme, was largely successful having a noticeably different feel to the rest of the set, the chords and rhythm being more in a classic pop vein.

Dr Das’ electric bass playing was a little woolly and unsubtle compared to the double bass we often hear in Ghosh's line up, but it played its part adequately. Pat Ilingworth on drums had a lightness of touch that synched quite exquisitely with Rastko Rasic’s darbuka. By the second half of the set the band had staked out their turf, and we were treated to some forceful playing all round. Mwamba almost fell over backwards at one point with the momentum of his improvising.

Saxophone player Rudresh Mahanthappa’s ‘Codebook’ acoustic quartet was an altogether different affair. The opening ‘Killer’ was true to its name, being a full on attack reminiscent of the sixties avant-garde. The drumming of Dan Weiss was about as un-grooved as it’s possible to get, but his in-your-face machine gun snare was highly engaging nonetheless. ‘Playing with Stones’ was the only overtly indo-jazz track, being surprisingly similar to Arun Ghosh’s ‘Deshkar’. The most effective piece was the sax and piano duo track ‘Common Ground’, with Vijay Iyer‘s impressionistic piano flourishes complimenting Mahanthappa’s outfield sonic excursions perfectly. It was hard to judge the complex double bass playing of Carlo de Rosa in the aural mush.

Much of the material was fast, free and busy, but fundamentally lacked impact for all its bluster and bravado, often being indistinct and overbearing. Many made for the exits, and in all honesty I wasn’t entirely unsympathetic however uncomfortable that always feels. Codebook provided a few moments of insight here and there, but on the whole they weren’t a good buy.

Review reproduced courtesy of the London Jazz Festival and Jazzwise Magazine.

The Andy and Jo Show

I made an all too infrequent trip to the cosy and lightly regal Cinnamon Club lounge bar on Friday 24th October for a second hearing of the Andy Schofield Jo McCallum Jazz Orchestra. The evening gently geared up courtesy of the Jamie Safirrudin Quartet. Their set consisted of bunch of well trodden standards delivered with a youthful vigour often missing from renditions by more seasoned players. An assured 'Canteloupe Island' hit the spot pretty sweetly, and a cruising version of 'Maiden Voyage' maintained it's forward momentum, ably assisted by some fullsome improvising from Jamie on the keys.

The Andy and Jo Jazz Orchestra immediately kicked with a distinctly stronger performance than the previous one at this same venue. There was some powerful and tightly meshed horn line playing on a great version of brother Stuart McCallum's 'Austin Flowers'. The arrangements in general really captured an authentic vintage big band sound as well as any I've personally heard. There was an abundance of cool muted trumpet lines evoking a real forties feel, with the Cinnamon lounge enhancing the ambience.

The band didn't wallow in its nostagic moments though, and confidently sailed us through a fifties'ish 'Round Midnight' with some classic Cizerace Chisnall improv on the piano. Onwards then into the seventies for a Starsky and Hutch like '6.49am'. The impertinent bass honks emanating from the horns of Suzanne Higgins and Sam Andreae were most welcome. Richard Iles' 'Silence Again' sent us home with a suitably local hug.

Nothing But A Dreamer

I'm still not sure about Brad Mehldau. Courtesy of the 'Write Stuff' scheme I got another chance to see the Brad Mehldau Trio at the Barbican in London on Monday the 20th Oct. I saw this same trio with Larry Grenadier on bass and Jeff Ballard on drums at the RNCM about a year ago and I preferred this one for sure.

Brad cuts a graceful figure, politely bowing his head to receive applause with his trademark self-assured calmness. The trio hit an easy feel straight from the off with a delicate groove on the first track, 'Dream Sketch'. A early highlight was the jammed ending to the latin 'Samba Amour'. It's straight and simple chord voicings outlined an enticing seventies style repeating sequence that left plenty of harmonic space for some really expressive improvising from all the players.

My main problem with Brad's playing generally is that it can be overly dense, both harmonically and rhythmically, often leaving little room for anything else. This problem was in evidence tonight, but about half the material worked well for me. A definate plus point is his penchant for interpreting tunes from well outside the jazz sphere. A version of Sufjan Stevens' 'Holland' was another high point from a generally mixed affair.

Ring Modulator Visits The Deep South

Well I missed out on the MCR Blog Awards this year, but this has been made up for by successfully winning a place on the 'Write Stuff', an initiative between the London Jazz Festival, Serious music producers, BBC Radio 3 and Jazzwise magazine. The scheme "aims to give aspiring music writers the opportunity to work with professional journalists to improve their writing skills, receive insights into career paths and develop an understanding of jazz criticism". It looks like it will be really useful to someone such as myself.

So I went down to the Barbican a few days ago for the initial meet and greet session with Cameron Reynolds from Serious, writer and broadcaster Kevin LeGendre and the other seven students. We all got on really well from the off and it looks like it's going to be a great experience. Afterwards we were given our first journo perk of a guest spot for the Brad Mehldau gig straight after. We'll also get to see and review gigs during the London Jazz Festival, so I hope manc jazzers won't be offended by my widening of the ring modulator frequency range for that week. It's all in a good cause.