I’ve been rather neglectful of some of the pages on this blog, so thank you to new commenter Mike Collins for reminding me of the In the speakers list of CDs that keep returning to my kitchen hi-fi.
The additions to In the speakers and Take-outs are modest at present but I’ll be giving them more attention in the days to come…
And many thanks to you all for reading thejazzbreakfast in 2011. I really appreciate it. May some of your dreams come true in 2012.
There’s been a lot of jazz about in Birmingham and the Midlands in 2011 in the way of smaller pub gigs but a little less in the way of big concerts. Much credit for the former is due to the Cobweb Collective musicians who have been putting on weekly gigs at the Spotted Dog in Digbeth as well as The Yardbird, and have now added The Drum as a venue as well. Birmingham Jazz had to conserve their funds so reduced their programme in order to preserve their high standards.
The long-established Birmingham International Jazz Festival blanketed the city with jazz for free in the summer, while the two youthful festivals, Mostly Jazz and Harmonic, grew even stronger.
I didn’t manage to get to as many gigs as I wanted, but here are the 10 ticketed events I got the most from in 2011, in date order:
Steve Lehman Octet, CBSO Centre: The chance to hear what is going on at the cutting edge of jazz in New York, from a composer who allies some of the preoccupations of contemporary “classical” music with the instrumentation, energy and rhythmic feel of jazz, leading a band that included some of the hottest players around.
Chris Speed with Uri Caine (Picture: Russ Escritt)
Uri Caine meets Mahler, Birmingham Town Hall: There is nothing superficial about Caine’s amalgam of canonical notes on the page and exuberant, spontaneous creation, certainly not when the connections are made so deep down in the roots of the music. He and his musicians leave specific genre way behind, reminding us that great music is just that.
Hans Koller Sextet, CBSO Centre: The London-based pianist and composer has close ties with Birmingham, coming here once a week to teach jazz students at Birmingham Conservatoire, and many were in the audience. If they were there to learn more from the master, the rest of us were educated and entertained in equal measure, too. Jazz that’s cliche-free.
Ralph Towner and Paolo Fresu: The Edge Arts Centre, Much Wenlock: If no one could quite match Towner for a personal sound, Paolo Fresu does pretty damned well. Like the guitarist, the trumpeter speaks so naturally through his instrument, with great taste, great subtlety, and with a quiet fire. And the fairly intimate nature of the venue was just right.
Sid Peacock’s Surge, MAC: This band and this music has a clear musical lineage – that tussle of order and chaos and riding the balancing line between them was a crucial feature of the Charles Mingus band, is there in Hermeto Pascoal’s music, and fed the exhilaration in Loose Tubes. Peacock is upfront and honest as a disciple of Django Bates, and to prove it Django was there as special guest.
The explosive Marius Neset
Marius Neset Quartet, Earlsdon Cottage, Coventry: I have never before witnessed a horn player with quite the sophistication of timing, rhythm and attack that the 25-year-old Norwegian displayed here, not to mention the power and exhilaration with which he filled the room. With Anton Eger on drums, Jasper Hoiby on double bass and Nick Ramm on piano, this was my gig of the year.
Percy Pursglove’s Enchanted Heart, Harmonic Festival, MAC: The Harmonic co-director was playing trumpet and sometimes double bass with his good friend, pianist Hans Koller. It was all acoustic and intimate. The friendship really does make a difference to the music – it goes deeper. And it enchants the heart.
Food, Harmonic Festival, MAC: Drummer Thomas Stronen is simply fascinating to watch, and inspiring to listen to, as he alternates between taking stick to vellum and fingers to drum pads and dials, building a vast percussion edifice that seems to fill the room and encase all within it. Saxophonist Iain Ballamy decorates the space with his great saxophone sound and then manipulates it into washes and bleeps.
Kairos 4tet, The Edge Arts Centre, Much Wenlock: The recent MOBO winners played to an appreciative audience in this acoustically rewarding space. Surely the most selfless bandleader around, perhaps saxophonist Adam Waldmann feels that he has had his slice of the action composing these pieces, so his supremely accomplished mates – Ivo Neame, Jasper Hoiby and Jon Scott – took the solo honours.
Meadow, CBSO Centre: Meadow is a refreshing take on the trio format, saxophonist Tore Brunborg, drummer Thomas Stronen and pianist John Taylor appearing happy to forego a bass-player and explore the different dynamics that sets up in a band. All three are powerful melodicists and explorers of the textural nuance, and it felt like an honour as well as a joy to be able to hear them in musical conversation.
Sad to hear that the great saxophonist and composer Sam Rivers died on Monday.
Here is a photograph Russ Escritt took of him on his visit to Birmingham with his Rivbea Orchestra in 2004.
The New York Times Obituary is here.
OK, so it’s not as extensive as Peter’s but here’s my 5 CDs of the year and 5 gigs of the year (both in no particular order) followed by reflections on a few of the sadder moments of 2011.
The CDs (/Vinyl…)
What Is The Beautiful? – Claudia Quintet (Cuneiform): Hollenbeck’s at it again with his own distinctive style of composition, this time based on the poetry of Kenneth Patchen. The more I read about where he gets his compositional ideas from, the more I love the music!
David Binney (Picture: Russ Escritt)
Graylen Epicenter – David Binney (Mythology): Another epic from Mr Binney. Who’d have thought pairing Brian Blade and Dan Weiss on drums together would work so well? Vocal feature Home (Gretschen Parlato) never fails to hit the spot, too.
Alive – Phronesis (Edition): Bass man of the year Jasper Hoiby’s trio lost eccentric showman drummer Anton Eger for this recording, but gained one of the world’s finest in Mark Guilliana. Exceptional playing all round.
Golden Explosion – Marius Neset (Edition): Once again, unfathomable technical ability from 2/3 Phronesis plus Django Bates and Bandleader/Composer Marius Neset. Technical yet musical. Full marks.
Things Will Be - Example Of Twelves (Impossible Ark): Sending this record to me on Vinyl was a very good move by bassist/bandleader Riaan Vosloo. That aside, the record is still probably the ‘hippest’ I heard all year with superb writing and performance throughout.
Gigs
Django Bates & the TDEs – Cheltenham Jazz Festival (30/04/11): This seems to be on most people’s list (if they were there). Django’s subsequent gigs with Beloved Bird Trio at Cheltenham and Stratford Circus in November could also easily have made the list.
Steve Lehman (Picture: Russ Escritt)
Steve Lehman Octet – CBSO Centre (21/01/11): This was genuinely the only gig of the year where I didn’t understand what was going on. Lehman’s study of Spectral music has led him to create a spell-binding set of compositions performed by the hippest guys on the New York scene.
Martin Speake Trio feat. Jakob Bro & John Hollenbeck – London Jazz Festival (13/11/11): Surreal surroundings in Greenwich Maritime Museum (including bright autumnal sunlight) plus three exceptional musicians playing highly improvised music = good times.
Jim Black (Solo) – Birmingham Conservatoire Recital Hall (01/02/11): Even the non-drummers in the audience came away astounded by the musicality and variation displayed by Jim Black, proving that the drum kit can be equally melodic as percussive. Music colleges can be a tricky place to play, with high levels of cynicism and close scrutiny, but Black’s world-class performance triumphed here.
Neon Quartet – The Forge (21/10/11): Two firsts for me, both of which were highly anticipated. One was to see Neon Quartet (comprising of four of my favourite musicians in the world, with three of those sharing composing duties), the other was to witness a gig at the beautiful new(ish) venue, The Forge. Suffice to say I wasn’t disappointed with either.
On the sad side of 2011
Losing Tony Levin, a man with unrivalled energy in performance, the hardest swing you’ve ever heard and a kind heart to match. Tony was a true inspiration and is sorely missed, but leaves us all with a legacy of a lifetime of great music and inspirational teaching (even if he didn’t realise he could teach!). “It either swings or it doesn’t.”
Westminster Council’s ongoing attempts to enforce night-time parking charges in the West End. This could severely affect already dwindling audience numbers at Jazz gigs in the capital, most of which struggle to survive already, let alone the thousands of other businesses that will be affected. Don’t be stupid, Councillors!
Finally, the sad news that the Yardbird have stripped the Cobweb Collective of their flagship Thursday night sessions at the venue. For a decade, the venue (including The Stage and other previous incarnations) has played host to some of the world’s finest bands/musicians thanks to the Collective’s networking capabilities. Surely a shot in the foot for Birmingham’s ‘Jazz’ bar?
Find out more about JJ Wheeler at his website here.
They’re in at last – the top ten of the Festive 50 – and this retrospective re-listening is a welcome reminder, as it is each year, of what a rich, dynamic, hugely varied and rewarding musical world we are living in.
After all the attempts to be objective and weigh new recordings up against the rest of what’s out there and the musicians’ previous output, on looking back I go with my gut instincts and rely hugely on which discs have spent most time in the player and which ones have brought the broadest smiles of satisfaction.
See what you think – and please add your own favourites in the comment box at the bottom of the page. The complete Festive 50 is here.
