Best of Intentions: Martin Speake Quartet

I'd been almost unaware of altoist Martin Speake until I saw him pop up on a Colchester Arts Centre Jazz Club flyer. I vaguely recalled seeing his name around here and there, but hadn't been tempted to rush out and see him thus far.

By a strange co-incidence I unearthed his 2002 CD Hullabaloo during one of my rummages in Ray's second-hand racks a few days later. It turned out to be rather good, so I persuaded Jazzy G to venture out to CACJC on 22 April, to catch Speake's quartet. 

If I'm totally up-front here, the fact that the line-up included Ethan Iverson of Bad Plus fame, and one of my favourite drummers in James Maddren might have swung it for me.

And what a good decision it turned out to be. Speake's tone on the alto is super clean, almost soprano like at times, yet warm enough to coax the latin vibes from Dancing In The Dark, an exquisite cover of what I'm informed (by Jazzy G, of course) is a Broadway show tune. Iverson was also a revelation on that number, a world away from my expectations with a solo that could've been by Danilo Perez.

The set showcased the latest release, Intention, with a few additional tracks thrown in. The CD was doing great sales by the end of the evening, as well it might - this was top class stuff. I hadn't encountered Fred Thomas before, but will definitely keep an eye out for this fine bassist. And Maddren somehow manages to grab beats you didn't even know were there, and make you hear them.  

Highly recommended - check out the album

Album review: Sons Of Kemet - Your Queen Is A Reptile

If you enjoyed SOK's previous releases (2013's Burn and 2015's Lest We Forget What We Came Here To Do) you won't be disappointed in this latest offering. We're in what is by now familiar territory here: two drummers pounding out polyrhythms, Theon Cross's tuba puffing some pretty wild bass lines and Hutchings's tenor ripping stacato riffs - a prevalence of rhythm over melody, but none the worse for that.

And this isn't 'just' more of the same. Hutchings mixes things up a little by subbing Moses Boyd, Eddie Hick for the usual Rochford/Skinner pairing, and adding Maxwell Hallet for the final tune here. Unless you're a connoisseur of the drum-kit, you might well be thinking, "So what?" at this point and, in truth, it's a subtle change of mood rather than a revolutionary overhaul. 

More to the point though, we get guest appearances from Pete Wareham and Nubya Garcia, providing a nice counterpoint to Hutchings on a couple of tunes, and the added vocals of Congo Natty and Joshua Idehen on three.

The album represents Hutchings's presentation of an alternative, merit-based monarchy of some well-known and less-well-known black women, ranging from the composer's grandma to historical figures like Yaa Asantewaa. (To my shame, and that of the history curriculum, I had to Google her.) 

The sleeve notes elaborate the theme, in case anyone had missed the point. 

So more of the same? Yes and no. Hardly a radical departure, but exciting stuff as always from SOK, and well worth checking out. 

I've somehow not yet caught a live performance (need to fix that sharpish) so I'll have to content myself with this video of SOK performing My Queen Is Doreen Lawrence. Amen to that.

Nordic jazz on steroids - Eyolf Dale

Watching Norwegian pianist Eyolf Dale and his band take their places, it occurred to me that this was the second octet I'd seen on this very stage in recent months. I briefly wondered if we're witnessing a resurgence of popularity in the 'big small band' format. I hope so. 

I had a formative experience watching the fabulous David Murray octet of the late 1980s - I was very young, okay - at the (now defunct) Norwich Jazz Festival with my Uncle Alan. Ever since then, I've always liked the balance of space to improvise and compositional posibilities offered by that size of outfit.

So, another octet, another unusual configuration - this time piano, bass, drums, vibes, tenor sax/clarinet, trombone, trumpet/flugel horn and... violin (!) all of whom had apparently arrived only 40 minutes previously, thanks to a delayed flight from Oslo.

This gig was the UK launch of the band's latest album, Return to Mind. It's fair to say, I had a bit of a preconceived idea of what we were about to hear. I wasn't particularly familiar with Dale's work, and had deliberately avoided listening to either of his Edition releases as leader on Bandamp before the gig. The first couple of tunes, Midsomer Gardens and Soaring, proceeded much as I'd expected. This was unmistakably Nordic jazz - beautiful, tinged with melancholy, evocative of wide-open landscapes and starry skies, Adrian Loseth Waade's violin adding Nordic folky touches. 

Things took an unexpected turn when the band played The Mayor. Its quirky melody, tempo changes and manic energy interplay of vibes with horns put me in mind of Frank Zappa, which I certainly hadn't anticipated. Dale had told us that the tune is a reference to his father-in-law; the man must be quite some character.

From here on, the band really began to stretch out. There was some great interplay between all the band's musicians, justifying Dale's undoubtedly partisan introduction that they are the best musicians he knows. André Roligheten on tenor and clarinet, and Hayden Powell deserve special mention.  Norwegian-American Rob Waring, who has returned to his ancestral home, even helped with my ongoing therapy to overcome vibraphobia - is that a thing?

All in all, not the night I'd been expecting, but what a gig! For once, the words blown away express genuine loss for words.

Unfortunately, this seems to have been the only UK date in the tour, so you'll need to travel to catch the band any time soon. At the risk of rubbing salt in, here's that YouTube vid again:

Bit of a splurge!

I've heard lots of jazz fans of a certain age (i.e. older than me) talk about the heady days of Ray's Jazz Shop, when Ray still owned it. I only found out about and visited the old Ray's, in its Shaftesbury Avenue location, a couple of times before it was bought out by Foyles bookshop. I vaguely remember punters hunched over racks packed with vinyl, but it doesn't hold a nostalgic place in my heart, because I never really spent much time there.

Since its relocation to Charing Cross Road, new Rays  does seem to have been relocated, remodeled and reduced - in fact it seems to get a little smaller each time I go there - and now primarily stocks CDs. Not being a vinyl devotee like Jazzy G (I don't have the space or spousal agreement to store it) that last bit doesn't stress me too much, and the shop's still worth a browse. There's a wide selection of new releases and older stuff, plus a fair-sized chunk of second hand CDs, many of which seem to be very recent promo copies. 

Whenever I'm 'up west' with a bit of time on my hands I head in there and have a rummage in the second-hand section. Sometimes it doesn't turn up much, but yesterday's trawl uncovered some rich pickings:







Some recent and recent-ish releases here, plus some older stuff - just things that caught my fancy. 


I can't believe I hadn't already got the Alice Coltrane or EST in my collection! 


I got a bit carried away and splashed out on the new Sons of Kemet release while I was there.

Life gets in the way...

... or, to be precise, the need to earn a crust is getting in the way. 

I was planning to catch Kristian Borring, a guitarist who's been intriguing me for a while, at the lovely Colchester Arts Centre Jazz Club this coming Sunday. I'd bought tickets upfront, too.

Alas, as one who languishes in the gig economy (now there's an irony) I'm forced to take some work on next week, under pain of not being offered any more by this particular exploitative... ahem, entirely reasonable and ethical organisation - not to mention my partner's heavy hints about my contribution to the household budget. Double alas, the parlous state of our public transport means I need to travel down to Maidstone on Sunday night, suffering the usual weekend engineering works that can turn the simplest journey into a homeric epic, if I'm going to get there on time.  

Looks like Jazzy G will have to go it alone. At least I've got tomorrow night's Eyolf Dale album launch gig to console myself with - of which, more later.

Meanwhile, here's a taste of Kristian Borring to be getting on with:

Been there etc.

I'm a sucker for a good cause, so yeah, I splashed-out.


Besides, this is the old design, no longer available!

Quiet Thunder

Whoa, check this out:

The Wonder Trail album launch gig is 3 May at Kings Place. 

I'm probably going to have to completely mash-up my diary, and take endless grief from my partner, but I'm planning on getting there. 

It'll be worth it.

Return to Mind album launch

Eyolf Dale, Kings Place, 4 April.

According to his label, Edition Records: 

'the poetic and expressive... Norwegian pianist Eyolf Dale has confirmed his promise and reputation as a strong band leader, creative composer and an expressive soloist with a taste for melodies and interplay that summon powerful musical imaginations. With the launch of his new album Return to Mind, Eyolf has developed his elegant and warm sound into a divine and powerfully emotive sound... Eyolf Dale is vital rising star of the highly creative European Jazz scene.'



The usual label promo hyperbole notwithstanding (Edition Records do produce some consistently high-quality music) this should be a great gig. 

Tickets are still on sale.


And here's a youtube preview:

Circuits Bent

Elliot Galvin: The Influencing Machine album launch, 21 February 2018, the Vortex.

I first came across the phenomenon that is Elliot Galvin live at Dinosaur’s Together As One album launch, and in this trio form warming up for jazz supergroup Aziza at the Cadogan Hall. I was duly impressed on both occasions. 

Add in the social media build up and the pre-release promotion on bandcamp for The Influencing Machine, and I’d whipped myself up into a something of an anticipatory lather ahead of this opener to the trio's promo tour. 

I’m happy to report that I wasn’t disappointed. 

These three startling young musicians delivered a blistering, interval-free set, showcasing the whole album. As I often find myself saying, if you haven’t heard it yet, put it on your shopping list.

The Vortex’s intimacy as a venue provided the perfect setting, allowing Galvin to interact with a rapt audience, explaining some of the inspiration behind his compositions, and expounding the virtues of circuit bending by way of a Dora the Explorer keyboard – wow!

At times Elliot appeared like a youthful mad scientist; yet his toys-atop-the-Steinway approach never felt forced, or gimmicky, or obscured his formidable piano technique. Mixed in with the quirky sound effects, tempo changes and bursts of sonic craziness was some stunningly beautiful playing. Indeed, this is a band chock-full of youthful virtuosity. Corrie Dick, introduced by Elliot with the prefix “amazing”, responded to his bandleader’s spikey improvisations with mesmerising technique behind the drumkit, while Tom McCreddie spun basslines threading through the space between - I love those percussive breaks he delivers – and electric guitar excursions.  

The InfluencingMachine is out now on vinyl, CD and download, and there are still a few dates of the tour left. 

Catch them if you can. Your circuits will be bent for ever more. 

Spellbound

If all the column inches allotted to Yazz Ahmed’s second release on Naim records were laid end to end, they’d reach from here to her Bahrain birth place and back. Okay, so I just made that up, but La Saboteuse does seem to have caught the interest of professional and amateur critics alike, occupying acres of print and megabytes of cyberspace.

Considering this, finding something new to say about it is no easy task, but I feel compelled to write about it anyhow. Prior to hearing it, reviews I’d read universally piled on the acclaim. Despite my scepticism of extravagant praise, I have to say that it’s all fully deserved. If you haven’t heard this album, you really, really need to get hold of a copy.

On the strength of reviews, Yazz’s previous Finding My Way Home album and, of course Jazzy G’s recommendation, I caught her King’s Place septet gig last November. It became my highlight of a day crammed with stand-out London Jazz Festival performances. I joined the back of a long queue for signed copies of the album afterwards, and it’s been a frequent flyer on my Hi-Fi since.

The recording gets about as close to capturing the live vibe as a studio album can, but these aren’t brash, in-your-face tunes; they’re quietly seductive. I defy anyone to hear the beautiful Bloom, and not be beguiled. Yazz’s Bahraini-British influences shine through melodically and rhythmically with electronica adding additional atmospherics.  An unusual line-up (piano/keyboards, vibraphone, guitar, percussion, bass, drums, trumpet/flugel horn) leaves a surprising amount of space for improvisation, thanks to some inspired arrangements. The addition of Shabaka Hutchings’ bass clarinet provides the perfect counter to Yazz’s long, exquisite horn lines, and Martin France’s frenetic drumming somehow emphasises the subtlety of the overall sound.

This is an exotic, heady mix that insistently, inexorably reels you in. I put on La Saboteuse while working, only to find myself listening intently to its complex layers without realising I’d forgotten what I was supposed to be doing.

La Saboteuse casts a spell, and you’ll be glad you were caught in it. Highly recommended. 

Influencing Machine album launch

Looking forward to next wednesday's (21st) gig from the Elliot Galvin Trio (Elliot Galvin, Tom McCredie, Corrie Dick) at the Vortex. This is the first of two nights launching their latest album, The Influencing Machine.

Should be a scorcher.

Crossed 'bones

So Jazzy G and I met up at Gillette Square for another heady night in Dalston. Annie Whitehead is a towering figure in UK jazz, but one I'd somehow yet to catch live, so I was raring to go.

As usual, our not inconsiderable proportions suffered the Vortex's legroom-not-included philosophy, but I can live with that when the music's top quality. 

First up, Rosie Turton's Quintet. The unusual line-up - with Turton's trombone and Joanna Burnheart's violin out front - set an intriguing, trance-like vibe for the evening, and Twm Dylan delivered that rarest of in-gig occurrences, a broken double-bass string! What with swirling, Tyner-esque piano work from Maria Chiara Argiro, and Jake Long's choppy drums, I'd very much like to catch this band again for a full night's performance.

The vibe delivered by Annie Whitehead's Blow The Fuse Allstars couldn't have been more contrasting, and not just because of the leader's more throaty tone on the 'bone. The band paid tribute to recently-departed Hugh Masekela, Deirdre Cartwright's guitar providing a soaring township-jazz sound, and to the late Rico Rodriguez with a warm rendition of his (4:4 time) Take 5 re-write. Alison Rayner (double bass) treated us to an original tune and Winston Clifford was a force of nature on drums as always. 

Rarely have I seen a band obviously enjoying themselves quite so much, and it was impossible not to feel the same.

Unknown jazz fan subjects blog-reading public to personal views!

I'm live. Or live-ish. 

This is the first post of my new blog. I hope you like it. Check out my About page for a flavour of what it's all about.

News and reviews to follow.