“Sounds like nothing you have heard before” is the sort of exaggerated statement we expect on publicity material, but when it is applied to the young quartet that started out busking on London’s South Bank and now regularly sells out concert halls around the land it all makes sense.
Portico Quartet
This makes describing the music of the Portico Quartet a little difficult. It’s a bit like hearing an indie band but without the vocals. The band members, with their check shirts and skinny jeans, could be playing rock, or folk, or Americana, or grunge. The influences they do bring to bear include minimalism, jazz and, increasingly, electronic music.
Having made their name featuring the percussion instrument called the hang, which makes a sound somewhere between marimba and steel pan, alongside bass, drums and saxophone, with their third eponymous album, just released on Real World to general acclamation, the use of, keyboards and laptops to widen their sound world has been really striking.
From a relatively intimate sound that felt most comfortable on a small area of pavement or in a relatively small club space, they have, like EST before them, cleverly adapted that sound and style to be able to fill big concert halls while at the same time not sacrificing the intimacy and approachability of their music.
So, the band is particularly compelling seen and heard live, and they come to Birmingham Town Hall on Wednesday, March 7, with Manchester trumpeter Matthew Halsall’s new trio in support.
The concert starts at 8pm, and £15 tickets are available from www.thsh.co.uk or on 0121 345 0600.
Another young band, a very different venue, but an equally intriguing gig – that’s Partikel at The Edge Arts Centre in Much Wenlock on Saturday.
Partikel is the London-based trio of Duncan Eagles on saxophone, Max Luthert on bass and Eric Ford on drums, and they bring this often challenging format right up to date with some odd time signatures made more accessible through the use of strong grooves with Latin and World influences.
The band has its second album, Cohesion, out on Michael Janisch’s Whirlwind label, and is touring the country expanding on it via lively improvisational interaction.
The Edge has a very good, intimate studio room with fine acoustics and it attracts an enlightened and enthusiastic audience.
For more information and to buy tickets for this gig which starts at 8pm, go to www.edgeartscentre.co.uk
And before all that, check out how jazz’s future is sounding at the Rush Hour Blues tomorrow evening, when the Birmingham Jazz Ensemble takes the stage.
BJE is the result of Birmingham Jazz’s educational work and the band has been working with trumpeter Abram Wilson.
The music starts at 5.30pm and entry is free.
The regular Thursday evening jazz sessions at the Yardbird continue tonight with the Chris Bowden Trio. Chris’s alto saxophone playing is a joy in any context but the trio format gives him even more room to stretch out. It starts around 8pm and entry is free.
Tuesday evening’s sessions at The Spotted Dog in Digbeth are continuing to attract some big names. Last week it was drummer Gene Calderazzo, and this week it is saxophonist Dave O’ Higgins. These days we usually get to hear Dave in the ranks of the BBC Big Band, so it will be real pleasure to experience this fiery player in close quarters.
Expect him to rip the roof off the place. It some time after 8pm, and a hat usually goes round. Find out more at www.cobwebcollective.com
Next Wednesday a bit of the Dorset coast comes to Lichfield in the form of the Philip Clouts Quartet. Clouts is from South Africa, which has probably given him a more acute, outsider’s view of the joys of the English landscape. His most recent album is called Sennen Cove and is inspired by the rolling hills and long beaches of the South West where he has settled.
With him are saxophonist Carlos Lopez-Real, bassist Alex Keen and drummer Laurie Lowe.
The band is at Lichfield’s Guildhall and starts at 8.30pm. Tickets are £12 and are available from www.lichfieldarts.org.uk
Dave O’Higgins will be playing at the Spotted Dog with a very interesting American saxophonist Eric Alexander. Perhaps not a big name but a fine straightahead player with a fine reputastion who should go down extremely well at the Spotted Dog session
Sennen Cove is a great cd- I was introduced to Philip via one of my best friends (from my london college days) jazz vocalist Julie Dunn, now living in nearby Yeovil. We played a duo at Bridport Arts Cafe last year, and I was struck by his musicianship.Philip and I are appearing as part of my band’s appearances on the second series of comedienne Morgana Robinson and Terry Mynott’s show ‘Very Important People’ (Ch 4- april- ish). I chose Philip as Tim Amann wasn’t available, and as we needed a blue note style pianist for my tune ‘Lion’s Den’, Philip was the natural choice. A great choice for a midlands gig, in fact ive been trying to get him up here for ages. If I’d I’d known sooner- I’d have programmed him at the Yardbird too.