Monthly Archives: July 2009

Disc of the day: 21-07-09

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Trevor Watts: Deep Blue (jazzwerkstatt 084)
The German label again delivers with this solo set from a veteran of the jazz/world interface (indeed one of its early exponents) and one of the saving graces of that rather decayed South Coast town, Hastings.

For Deep Blue Watts multi-tracks his saxophones, percussion, piano and synth to create a rich, multi-layered  sound. It’s a bit like a richly woven cloth or African carpet. The references to that continent have always been there in Watts’ music and titles like Ghana Bop reinforce it here. The opener, Lace, is a tribute to the late, great Steve Lacey; it is a joyous piece. There is jubilation, too, in A Life’s Celebration, where Watts’s saxophone solo soars like a bird, before a gruff harmony part concludes it.

Watts has a high, singing sound on alto which verges on the shrill on occasions and often reminds me of  Abdullah Ibrahim and Don Pullen collaborator Carlos Ward.

It’s great the way electronic and recording techniques have freed the individual from the band should that individual so wish. The chance for a rounded musician like Watts to break free of the single-line instrument for which he is best known and create rich harmonic material over surging beats is a liberating one, and this music is liberating in every sense.

These jazzwerkstat CDs are available here.

Led Bib for Mercury Prize

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This just in from Fiona Wooton of PR crew Seb & Fiona:

Young British jazz band Led Bib were today announced as an ‘Album of the Year’ in the 2009 Barclaycard Mercury Prize. Led Bib are creators of a new euphoric jazz-rock sound that’s as brutal as it is seductive. They caught the ear of the Mercury judges with their latest album and third studio recording ‘Sensible Shoes’, which was released through Cuneiform Records on May 4th 2009.

The group’s bandleader and drummer Mark Holub gave this statement: “It’s all still sinking in and I don’t think anyone of us can believe it’s real. To be nominated for an award like this when you create more esoteric music, which usually operates out if the mainstream feels almost incomprehensible. We are just so overwhelmed and pleased and want to thank everyone who has supported us over the last five years!”

An unassuming quintet of Walthamstow based twenty-something friends, Led Bib is comprised of bandleader Mark Holub on drums, Liran Donin on electric and upright bass, Toby McLaren playing Fender Rhodes and piano and Chris Williams and Pete Grogan up front as the two duelling alto sax players.

Over the five years the group have played together they have torn apart the jazz world with their avant-jazz-euphoric-rock explosions of improvisation. Although they have received massive critical acclaim, larger recognition and a crossover into the mainstream has until now eluded them.

Their album Sensible Shoes expresses the realities and dreams of life living in London, seen through the prism of the member’s different cultural heritages from Edmonton and New Jersey to Israel. Their individual references peer out from the record with Metallica-like riffs and Northern Soul licks meeting New York Downtown influenced improvisation.

By making the Mercury shortlist the army of ardent fans who have championed Led Bib from inception can feel that justice has at last been served for the hard working quintet. And with an esoteric choice like Led Bib being nominated, dangerous music is back on the pop agenda.

A recent prediction in the Sunday Telegraph has proven to be somewhat prescient: “And if the Mercury Prize judging panel gives them the token jazz-act nomination- which is the least reward their third album Sensible Shoes deserves – bigger stages will certainly beckon.”

Led Bib Live Dates:
*August 2009 London date to will be announced imminently
8 September 2009 Mercury Prize announcement ceremony
2 October 2009 The Vortex. London, UK
14 October 2009 The Queens Theatre, Barnstaple, Devon
23 October 2009 Derby Jazz, Derby, UK
10 December 2009 Nottingham Jazz, Nottingham, UK

For more about the band, see their website here and for thejazzbreakfast’s review of the album go here.

Sara in the right kind of Jam

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Singer Sara Colman is performing music from her excellent album Ready at the Jam House in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter this evening.

The gig is free, courtesy of Birmingham Jazz, and with Sara will by bassist Ben Markland and drummer Carl Hemmingsley, who both played on the album, and Jami Sheriff on keyboards, who is a new addition to the band.

Ready is an outstanding collection of great songs, wonderfully sung. Sara’s interpretations of anything from jazz standards to more contemporary songs like the Stealer’s Wheel classic, Stuck In The Middle With You, as well as her own writing and that of one of her old singing partners in The Passion, Jacqui Dankworth, are always on the money. She’s a generous and assured live performer, too.

This gig starts at 9pm and there is just one set so don’t be late. You can find out more here.

No ordinary Joe, this one

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Doing that jazz singing thing is not a career for the young to take lightly – there are a lot of giants looming from the past to make your efforts seem modest by comparison.

And the same can be said for budding piano players.

But we are fortunate that some rush in where wise men might fear to tread, and the result is some very strong young singer pianists.

One of them is Joe Stilgoe, who is appearing at the Lichfield Garrick Theatre tonight as part of the Lichfield Festival.

“Like, say, Harry Connick, Stilgoe is a skilled pianist (not only in the sizzling, boppish mode he uses to embellish his own material, but also – as he demonstrated by inserting a stride-piano passage into Just One of Those Things – in other modes of the jazz-piano tradition, too) as well as a versatile and intelligent interpreter of standards; unlike many of his contemporaries, though, Stilgoe is also capable of writing smart, witty songs of his own…”

So writes Chris Parker of a Joe Stilgoe performance at the Vortex Jazz Club in London.

Joe Stilgoe is, we are told, a serious musician having fun. And it certainly seems that way. His singing, piano playing and sense of humour have made him a favourite at the UK’s top jazz clubs, where he regularly plays with his dynamic young trio.

His formidable piano technique (described by jazz singer Ian Shaw as “a cross between Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans and Les Dawson”) and vocal range (described as “wonderful” by New York cabaret legend Steve Ross) stem from a classical training starting when he was five.

His parents, both professional musicians, spotted his talent at the piano and encouraged him. Through his father, songwriter Richard Stilgoe, he began to learn and love the songs that made Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole and Mel Torme (all strong influences) famous. From his mother, opera singer Annabel Hunt, he learnt the discipline and understanding needed to tackle a career in music.

Following university, a year playing on cruise ships ensured that Joe learnt every song in every key. Back on shore, he played with anyone who’d take him, from backing a drag artist in Bournemouth to playing Christmas carols for lawyers. He has written two orchestral pieces performed at the Festival Hall, run a funk band, played drums in a pantomime, arranged and transcribed music books for Diana Krall and Jamie Cullum, and worked as a session singer and pianist.

He played a couple of very successful supper-club gigs earlier this year at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival, so is clearly a man on the rise.

The Joe Stilgoe Trio plays the Lichfield Garrick Theatre tonight at 8pm. Tickets from 01543 412121 or www.lichfieldfestival.org