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.

Frøy Aagre, Herbie Remixed and Drugstore Cowboy - London Jazz Festival days 2 & 3

Frøy Aagre, Ray's Jazz at Foyles, Saturday 15th November 2008.

I just made it to Ray's Jazz Cafe in time to catch the nordic sounds of the Frøy Aagre acoustic quartet, for a three track 26 minute taster, partly hosted to entice us to her gig at the Spice of Life with Kenny Wheeler. The first track, 'Long Distance', began with a traditional um-pah rhythm before shifting into a reflective and quite sparse folk conclusion. The mysterious arpeggiated piccolo introduction to second track, 'Cycle of Silence', had a distinct pensive and pleasing Garbarekesque ethereal quality. Industrial machine rhythm emulating piece, 'Factory', ended a charming, if frustrating, short set. As keen as I was to see the Spice of Life gig, it wasn't to be. A definite one check out again.

Herbie Remixed, Clore Ballroom, Southbank Centre, Saturday 15th November 2008.

Over then to the Southbank for 'Herbie Remixed', an afternoon of interpretations of Herbie Hancock tunes. The programme comprised of a series of up and coming young acts including 'Jazz Alive', 'Super Best Friends', Ping Lee's trio, 'Ran', and Manchester's own 'Riot Jazz'. It was a mixed bag for sure, with 'Ran' delivering a fifteen minute improvised funk groove that was especially lacking in ideas. Ten piece brass band, 'Riot Jazz', put in the most convincing performance, with some tight and well written arrangements including a convincing version of 'Chameleon', despite being a little rough at the edges themselves. Good efforts on the whole, but we await the finished products.

Drugstore Cowboy, Spice of Life, Leicester Square, Sunday 16th November 2008.

Classic Blue Note sounding stuff this, delivered with panache and buckets of energy. Branden Allen's 'Drugstore Cowboy' whipped up a veritable storm in the basement of the Spice of Life pub, the becoming atmosphere of which corrected our vision to the black and white of a fifties jazz record cover. The appropriately named opening track, 'Open Sesame', locked things into gear instantaneously, demonstrating a well rehearsed set by a group of players who clearly love playing. Suit, polo neck and plimsolled sax player Allen was on the mark throughout, and a real joy to listen to. Trumpet player, Quentin Collins matched Allen the whole way with his gritty bop lines. On 'The Misadventures of Duck Peter', Allen's already high intensity levels racked up an extra few degrees, the raised energy levels resulting in Allen shuffling around the small stage area with a dandyish quivering swagger.

The second set continued apace, keyboard player Ross Stanley's Hammond Organ placing the walking bass lines forcefully. Enzio Cirelli was quite something on the drums, his relaxed, but always driving swing feel matching the momentum of the horn players perfectly. Allen described the last tune, 'Unfinished Sympathy' as anthemic. I'm not sure I could quite tell why, as it's style seemed as much in the classic swinging jazz blues vein as much of the rest of the set, but with such a rivetting performance, no one was arguing. Compositionally, Drugstore Cowboy aren't tearing down any boundaries, but who cares when they do what they do so well?

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.

Bloggers Of The World Unite

I spotted a few weeks ago that Sarah Hartley of the Mancunian Way blog and Manchester Evening News was organising a bloggers social and trip round the MEN news room. Seemed like a good opportunity to meet a few MCR bloggers, so I signed up and went along last night. Great evening it was too, being described by Sarah as a "landmark media event". I was expecting 20 min dash round the building and off to the pub, but it turned out to be a properly organised event complete with tea and biscuits.

It was interesting to get an angle on the how the web affects MEN's timing of news delivery. Paul Gallagher explained that most news goes straight onto the website, but any potential exclusives are held over for the print addition so those sneaky folk at the nationals can't nab the story. So it appears that despite the impact of the web, the print edition is still seen as the key medium.

After the tour we had a discussion with the deputy editor Maria McGeoghan where we got an insight into what makes a good story. Certain issues such as the congestion charge and a recent story about two girls getting drunk on a plane are guaranteed to get people going and generate lots of comments. There was some talk about the pros and cons of blog moderation. One person suggested that the Guardian's policy of not moderating their 'Comment is Free' section has allowed it to become a "seething pit of hatred", damaging the Guardian's brand.

It was then off to the pub where we got a chance to have a chat. It was nice to talk blogspeak with justhipper and TheLedge from The Indie Credential, MartinSFP from 14Sandwiches, Joe Gravett, jonmford from Shoplifters, Craig McGinty of This French Life and also catch up with old mate Jon Clements of the cryptically named PR Media Blog. There was talk of a crimbo get together so hoping I can make that one.

The Dappled Cat - The Music Place Jazz Summer School 2008

About two weeks ago I once again attended the annual Music Place Jazz Summer School hosted by the kind folk at The Cinnamon Club in Bowdon. It was another exhausting week of scales, arpeggios, triplets, grooves, vibes and mixed emotions. Don't get me wrong, it's a really great week but it can expose the raw side of one's ego when you realise what you (still) can't do, though it's all too easy to forget what you have actually learnt. I have to say I found this year quite a tough one as I wasn't really all that happy with my playing during the week. That's not to say I didn't have a good time and learn a good deal to boot. The evening jam sessions in particular were excellent, being expertly facilitated by Suzanne Higgins.

I had originally made the decision not to attend this year as I went on Mike Walker's fab guitar retreat in Andalucia, Spain. However my other 'arf, Jane has taken up jazz ivory tinkling and decided to do the course this year so I figured I'd go along partly to keep her company. The set up for most days is 'sectionals' in the morning which is based on your instrument, and ensembles in the afternoon roughly grouped by standard. The course tutors this year were Mike Walker (guitar), Iain Dixon (horns), Andy Schofield (horns), Les Chisnall (keys), Caroline Boaden (drums) and Alec Dankworth (bass).

Having been on the summer school before and having had one to one lessons from Mike, I suspected the guitar classes might be going over stuff I'm fairly familiar with but it was a pleasant surprise to find that he took a different tack this year. One thing that's been noticed is that the general standard has improved over the last few years and the bar has definately been raised. In the guitar class everyone had attended the course at least once before so we were able to look at some new areas including the finer subtleties of triplet swing feel. We went into this in quite some detail and it was clear there's a lot to getting this feel spot on. Mike employed the phrase 'Dave the dappled cat' to good effect to help master the timing of the swung '2 and' beat of the charleston groove landing on the word 'cat'.

Some interesting exploration of the melodic minor scale was very welcome too, with it's altered and lydian dominant modes useful over certain applications of dominant chords, and the Hitchcock/Debussy favoured mystical locrian natural two mode. For sure no one was left in any doubt as to how to swing the metronome on the 2 and 4.

There were some great players in my group for the afternoon ensemble sessions. This was good for keeping me on my toes and I was sometimes left for dead if asked to play the melody for a tune. Mike had us running down the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th notes of each chord of 'Solar' [I never got his "they say so-la in Liverpool" joke] and I came up with some particularly tasty 'clams' [= very wrong notes] when forced to improvise just using these notes of the scale. It's surprising sometimes how the slightest rearrangement of a scale or arpeggio brings you to a grinding halt. We did a lot of work on swing feel in the ensemble class as well, alternating between playing all of the '1 and a, 2 and a' triplet beats and then dropping playing but still feeling the 'and's to get the quaver swing feel.

The final evening of the week is always the school concert to which family and friends come. A nervous Jane did really well trading eights and fours on an Abdullah Ibrahim tune in Alec Dankworth's ensemble. In the end I think I chickened out a little by choosing to solo on the straightforward blues of 'Thing's Ain't What They Used To Be' a la BB King. Nevertheless it seemed to go down well so I guess it must have come across OK. The rather shattered tutors then sent us home with some mellow renditions of a few standards. Now it's time to practice...

This Charming Manchester - Manchester Jazz Festival day 9

So it was tears all round on Saturday 26th July for the last day of this years Manchester Jazz Festival. The sun hung in there again for first act of the day, the Tim France Quintet in St Anns Square. The festival guide promised "a no-nonsense straight ahead repertoire" and this is exactly what we got, delivered to the highest standards from some great Manchester players including Tim on sax, Richard Iles on trumpet, Pete Turner on bass, Eryl Roberts on drums and George King on piano. This was great stuff actually. All the playing was bang on providing us with a really entertaining start to the day. A particular treat was 'Fistful of Haggis', a Horace Silver style latin groove featuring some fab slurry mute trumpet playing from Richard. Other goodun's were Wes' 'SOS' and Julian Adderley's 'Jive Samba'.


Terri Shaltiel followed with some classic style powerful blues material mixed in with a few soul classics. She's a decent enough singer for this type of thing but some of playing was a bit rough at the edges and it didn't do a great deal for me.

On the face of it putting the Wizards of Twiddly in to close the afternoon looked to be a brave and foolhardy move by the festival organisers. Judging the book by it's cover you'd be forgiven for expecting a death metal set from this lot. Sure enough there was plenty of unabashed widdly twiddly playing and some was indeed on the heavy side but there was plenty of light and shade there as well. In the end I think a cross between the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Peter Gabriel era Genesis was fairly near the mark. Some curious almost folky melodies popped out amongst the politically motivated tunes such as 'Big, Bigger, Bigot'. Including this band was stretching the festival 'jazz' brief again but they succeeded in getting the Saturday St Anns crowd on their side. For pogo improvisations this band definitely have it.

In the evening it was over to the festival one-off pavilion tent venue outside Urbis. The venue worked really well I thought and it was nice to be somewhere a little different. The sound and lighting was pretty good and I quite liked the feel of it. The first part of another double bill was a tribute to the late Emily Remler from guitarists Deirdre Cartright and Kathy Dyson. Despite being a guitar player myself I'm not normally a big fan of guitar duos but these two did have a certain something. The crowd seemed attentive and well disposed which made for a friendly atmosphere and a quite charming little set. I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed this one.

The final act of the evening was latin band 'Apitos' with it's 'Made in Manchester' set. I think this was a one-off festival special, the band normally going for an authentic latin thang. The gig consisted entirely of latin versions of Manchester pop and indie classics from the likes of The Smiths, the Happy Mondays and M People. Fun it was meant to be and fun it was too. Hearing a latin version of 'Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now' was certainly quite a strange experience complete with it's percussion breaks and the full works. It took them no time at all to get the dancing going and the band went down a veritable storm. This man was charmed too.

Flamenco Sketches - Manchester Jazz Festival day 8

Another Manchester regular, Paul Farr kicked off another not so regular even sunnier Friday morning 25th July with his cryptically named Paul Farr Band. This was another quite funky bluesy Scofieldly affair with some tasty 335 guitar playing of exactly the sort I like, nicely overdriven when appropriate and teasingly just sneaking off into controlled feedback sustain at Paul's leisure. There were some good tunes too though they were perhaps getting a little samey sounding over the course of a full hour.

This was the first time I've seen Neil Yates added to this band who's great line up consisted of Luke Flowers on drums and Sylvan Richardson on bass. Neil was using a delay unit very effectively to overlay multiple horn lines creating a horn section of sorts. He also providing some nice ambient drone layers to backdrop the guitar and some general swirling reversed and pitch shifted sound effects enhancing the overall aural pleasure. This really added to the impact of the band and the material. Probably the best guitar improvising came on a slow tune near the end that I wasn't so keen on overall but it provided a good foil for Paul to kick on. It was good to hear a band that seemed well rehearsed and really on it as well.

In the same spot a good few hours later the rather odd looking Crill Bones took to the stage with fake blood stained torn dinner suits. In the course of the set guitarist Jasper Wilkinson alluded to the stage attire hinting that the story behind it may be libelous so we'll have to imagine that one. Great fun they were too. Good time vibes with some nice grooves and decent lines and horn hooks over the top. Some nice and solid funky stuff too from Ollie Collins on bass, especially on a track featuring some Parliment style wah-wah sounds and a nice bit of improv. Jasper was a very entertaining frontman and quickly got the afternoon crowd on his side.

It was over to the Green Room for the evening double bill. First on was the solo piano of Robert Mitchell. Robert has a highly impressive and enviable technique but the material left me cold. It was harmonically very complex and too dense and rich I found. It's possible that it would reward repeated listening but was too much to take in one go. Even so I still think there was too little variation in the density and I was wishing for some of the sparsity and thoughtful note placement of Les Chisnall. That well worn adage comes to mind.

The second half of the bill brought a dramatic shift of gear with the shamelessly retro fusion of the Polo Orti Quintet. It was a loud and high energy set featuring some nice playing from ex Manchester based sax player Fermin Rivero, now based back in Spain. Well there was no disputing it was classic 70s jazz-fusion through and through and received a mixed response from the audience though many clearly loved it. I think again it could have done with a bit more variation in approach for me, particularly from Polo's keyboard sounds. He clearly loves his Herbie style synth tones and stuck with them for the whole set. An entertaining enough evening but I guess I probably wouldn't end up checking these acts out again I suspect.

Raw Power - Manchester Jazz Festival day 7

Back again to some real proper hot sunburny sunshine in St Anns square for day 7, Thursday 24th July. I've only seen Mrs Colombo once before and it was in this exact same spot two years ago. They were one of the better acts that year and I was keen to check them out again. On that occasion the line up included the excellent Sam Smith on piano but he's now based in London I believe and it was left up to the addition of Jo McCallum on sax to help fill the gap. There was interesting material here but the band seemed quite hesitant and the performance lacked a bit of sparkle. The material did also sound quite sparse without the keyboard though guitar player Jim Faulkner did his best to fill the gap. What I think was the newer material worked best, especially 'Vague', a King Crimson style guitar workout not dissimilar to Crimson's 'Ladies of the Road'. The pulled off a passing version of 'Prudence vs Provocation' but again it lacked the piano. Potential here but needs a kick up the proverbial.


My affection for 'The Blessing' is well documented on this blog and tonight at Matt and Phreds they again hit the spot, though I was a bit disappointed that regular drummer Clive Deamer wasn't in attendance. No big deal it turned out as the replacement (didn't catch his name I'm afraid) did a great job with some fab high energy beating of the beats. The raw bass riffing of Jim Barr was even rawer than usual and horn players Pete Judge and Jake McMurchie kept the energy levels high and momentum moving forward apace. If anything it was a sliver of a smidgen too raw, possibly from the extra force coming from the drums but still a great gig and another highlight of the festival.