LONDON JAZZ FESTIVAL 2014 - THE FINAL CONCERT
Sunday 23rd November 2014
Soundprints
Soundprints opened the final concert. Created by trumpeter Dave Douglas and saxophonist Joe Lovano three years ago, the thinking behind the group is playing pieces written or inspired by Wayne Shorter. Like Shorter they have moved beyond the tired routine of theme - solo - solo - theme - out. Their work is a conversation. No one dominates but the constantly excellent drummer Joey Baron almost takes over. Nobody enjoyed this segment more than Baron. Effervescent Joey was remarkable all through the set and way that he worked with Linda Oh and piano player `Lawrence Field was reminiscent of the rhythm section that Miles Davis had in the mid-sixties: Tony Williams, Ron Carter, Hancock. They listened, they changed tempo, they drove hard, they laid back.
This is a great working group that is extending the style of the Blue Note period into this era.
Sunday 23rd November 2014
Soundprints
Soundprints opened the final concert. Created by trumpeter Dave Douglas and saxophonist Joe Lovano three years ago, the thinking behind the group is playing pieces written or inspired by Wayne Shorter. Like Shorter they have moved beyond the tired routine of theme - solo - solo - theme - out. Their work is a conversation. No one dominates but the constantly excellent drummer Joey Baron almost takes over. Nobody enjoyed this segment more than Baron. Effervescent Joey was remarkable all through the set and way that he worked with Linda Oh and piano player `Lawrence Field was reminiscent of the rhythm section that Miles Davis had in the mid-sixties: Tony Williams, Ron Carter, Hancock. They listened, they changed tempo, they drove hard, they laid back.
This is a great working group that is extending the style of the Blue Note period into this era.
Charles Lloyd
We are running out of giants in jazz. Maybe, for younger musicians, some good will come out of that. What it does mean is that now the qualification as giant is easier to obtain. If you are living and still playing when you are in your seventies then you are well on your way, especially if you can mythologise part of your life and garnish it with a smattering of Californian spirituality so that if anyone criticises your work they are made to feel as though they are spitting in church.
The Wild Man Dance Suite that Charles Lloyd played included, as well as his usual quartet, Socratis Sinopolous from Greece playing lyra and from Hungary cimbalom player Miklos Lukacs. Why? The Suite has recently been played without them. The sad thing about the music played at the Barbican was that it paid little heed to the traditions and unique qualities of the two wonderful instruments or the players. They were just a bolt-on. Their addition did not make much musical sense. Exotic ingredients but the food would taste much the same without them. Probably gives a PR opportunity for someone to write about Lloyd ‘journeying into new musical landscapes’.
The new pianist, Gerald Clayton, fits into the quartet better than Jason Moran did. You always got the impression that Moran used the gigs to fill the gaps between his own projects. Clayton has a delicacy about his playing that suits the elegiac moods that Lloyd frequently tries to achieve. Bassist Joe Saunders was unfortunate in appearing shortly after Soundprint’s Linda Oh who was superior in both fluidity and projection. Often drummer Eric Harland seemed in bullying mood. For long periods he would be content to fill in delicate rhythmic figures and suddenly thunder the kit into life. He seemed fascinated watching the cimbalom player particularly when Lukacs was being percussive.
Editing the suite would increase its impact. Lloyd’s playing is not as energetic as it was and the unique tone is still there but what he lacks in vitality he makes up for in ‘profundity’.
Click below for video links for
Soundprints at Vitoria-Gasteiz Jazz Festival
Charles Lloyd in Milan
Reviewed by Jack Kenny
We are running out of giants in jazz. Maybe, for younger musicians, some good will come out of that. What it does mean is that now the qualification as giant is easier to obtain. If you are living and still playing when you are in your seventies then you are well on your way, especially if you can mythologise part of your life and garnish it with a smattering of Californian spirituality so that if anyone criticises your work they are made to feel as though they are spitting in church.
The Wild Man Dance Suite that Charles Lloyd played included, as well as his usual quartet, Socratis Sinopolous from Greece playing lyra and from Hungary cimbalom player Miklos Lukacs. Why? The Suite has recently been played without them. The sad thing about the music played at the Barbican was that it paid little heed to the traditions and unique qualities of the two wonderful instruments or the players. They were just a bolt-on. Their addition did not make much musical sense. Exotic ingredients but the food would taste much the same without them. Probably gives a PR opportunity for someone to write about Lloyd ‘journeying into new musical landscapes’.
The new pianist, Gerald Clayton, fits into the quartet better than Jason Moran did. You always got the impression that Moran used the gigs to fill the gaps between his own projects. Clayton has a delicacy about his playing that suits the elegiac moods that Lloyd frequently tries to achieve. Bassist Joe Saunders was unfortunate in appearing shortly after Soundprint’s Linda Oh who was superior in both fluidity and projection. Often drummer Eric Harland seemed in bullying mood. For long periods he would be content to fill in delicate rhythmic figures and suddenly thunder the kit into life. He seemed fascinated watching the cimbalom player particularly when Lukacs was being percussive.
Editing the suite would increase its impact. Lloyd’s playing is not as energetic as it was and the unique tone is still there but what he lacks in vitality he makes up for in ‘profundity’.
Click below for video links for
Soundprints at Vitoria-Gasteiz Jazz Festival
Charles Lloyd in Milan
Reviewed by Jack Kenny
