LOOSE TUBES
Live at the Herts Jazz Festival - 18th September 2015
'What is a Loose Tube?’ Overheard a woman asking her boyfriend in the queue for the bar before the concert. Didn’t catch his reply. Most people at the Herts Jazz Festival approached the Loose Tubes concert with a mixture of hope, anticipation and concern that a twenty five year gap would have eroded their invention, vitality and humour. The first chords of ‘Sad Afrika’ swept all that away, music that was exuberant, boisterous, diverse, unique poured out.In their first manifestation, all those years ago, we learnt that Loose Tubes seemingly revolutionary music would go anywhere, the tight big band clichés were cast aside. And yet immediately you knew it was music that you had always wanted to hear.
‘Sad Afrika’ which opened the concert it is a tribute to the music of South Africa and a reminder of the Brotherhood of Breath who challenged in the 1980s the way big band music should be played. The size of Loose Tubes (21 musicians) is a luxury. The sheer power at times takes the breath away. Another aspect is the voicing of the clarinet and the soprano and the flute blended together to give an acid edge. Dai Pritchard on clarinet and bass clarinet was at the core of the piece ‘The Wolf’s Dream and the Wild Eye’ that sounded like a wild Balkans village band as the clarinet and flute led saxophones indulged in call and response with the brass of the band.
‘A’ composed by John Harborne featured Chris Batchelor sounding like the fifties Miles with the band playing swaying soothingly behind him. Batchelor later played what was described as ‘brutalist trumpet’!
‘Nights At The Circus’ brought in what sounded like a happy ragtime band except the rhythms were hipper than most circus bands could grind out.
Eddie Parker introduced us to a mountain in the Himalayas ‘Sosbun Brakk’. Even said we would hear it. We did and we heard the sea in another piece.
‘Arriving’ played as an encore swung steadily behind Django Bates on his horn instead of the keyboard.
Ashley Slater introduced ‘Sunny’ by remarking that one reviewer had stated that it was a remake of a popular tune. The band were surprised at that news and then went on to demonstrate that only their idiosyncrasies could produce such music.
‘Sad Afrika’ which opened the concert it is a tribute to the music of South Africa and a reminder of the Brotherhood of Breath who challenged in the 1980s the way big band music should be played. The size of Loose Tubes (21 musicians) is a luxury. The sheer power at times takes the breath away. Another aspect is the voicing of the clarinet and the soprano and the flute blended together to give an acid edge. Dai Pritchard on clarinet and bass clarinet was at the core of the piece ‘The Wolf’s Dream and the Wild Eye’ that sounded like a wild Balkans village band as the clarinet and flute led saxophones indulged in call and response with the brass of the band.
‘A’ composed by John Harborne featured Chris Batchelor sounding like the fifties Miles with the band playing swaying soothingly behind him. Batchelor later played what was described as ‘brutalist trumpet’!
‘Nights At The Circus’ brought in what sounded like a happy ragtime band except the rhythms were hipper than most circus bands could grind out.
Eddie Parker introduced us to a mountain in the Himalayas ‘Sosbun Brakk’. Even said we would hear it. We did and we heard the sea in another piece.
‘Arriving’ played as an encore swung steadily behind Django Bates on his horn instead of the keyboard.
Ashley Slater introduced ‘Sunny’ by remarking that one reviewer had stated that it was a remake of a popular tune. The band were surprised at that news and then went on to demonstrate that only their idiosyncrasies could produce such music.
There are several leaders of the band. Django Bates was centre stage and frequently managed to play the keyboard one handed as well as signalling instructions to the band with the other. Eddie Parker resplendent in his striped pants frequently indicated the number of bars to the next entrance. Chris Batchelor kept the brass tight.
Everyone in the band seems to love and relish what they are doing. They play as if the years meant nothing. The collisions of musical styles, the unpretentiousness is undiluted. Ashley Slater’s dry off-centre humour is still an acquired taste.
‘Anarchic’ is one epithet applied to the band. Completely inaccurate! ‘Eclectic’ would be closer. ‘Unpredictable’ better. We have no idea what they will do next. They know. Jazz, often described as the sound of surprise, so often isn’t. Loose Tubes is the sound of surprise in abundance.
So, to answer the question: ‘What is a Loose Tube?’ Slater, at one point, described a piece of Django Bates as a ‘Nutriblast of music’. You could use this to describe the whole Loose Tubes music: a potpourri of marches, Irish dances, colliery brass bands, the Spanish tinge, reggae, kwela, New Orleans funerals, Chicago blues, Lester Bowie brass, Mingus rhythms, Carla Bley harmonies and Brotherhood of Breath wildness. All this swirled up into a musical juice of unique potency. The music is life enhancing and invigorating. We need this energy, optimism exuberance and joy at regular intervals.
Finally, thanks to Clark Tracey and his team for organising this. What a way to start a festival!
Flutes: Eddie Parker, Clarinets: Dai Pritchard Alto / Soprano saxophones: Steve Buckley & Iain Ballamy, Tenor Saxophone: Mark Lockheart & Julian Nicholas, Baritone: Julian Arguelles,
Trumpets: Lance Kelly Noel Langley , Chris Batchelor, John Eacott,
Trombones: John Harborne, Ashley Slater, Richard Pywell , Bass Trombone: Richard Henry Tuba: Dave Powell
Keyboards: Django Bates Guitar: John Parracelli, Bass: Steve Watts , Drums: Martin France
Reviewed by Jack Kenny
Everyone in the band seems to love and relish what they are doing. They play as if the years meant nothing. The collisions of musical styles, the unpretentiousness is undiluted. Ashley Slater’s dry off-centre humour is still an acquired taste.
‘Anarchic’ is one epithet applied to the band. Completely inaccurate! ‘Eclectic’ would be closer. ‘Unpredictable’ better. We have no idea what they will do next. They know. Jazz, often described as the sound of surprise, so often isn’t. Loose Tubes is the sound of surprise in abundance.
So, to answer the question: ‘What is a Loose Tube?’ Slater, at one point, described a piece of Django Bates as a ‘Nutriblast of music’. You could use this to describe the whole Loose Tubes music: a potpourri of marches, Irish dances, colliery brass bands, the Spanish tinge, reggae, kwela, New Orleans funerals, Chicago blues, Lester Bowie brass, Mingus rhythms, Carla Bley harmonies and Brotherhood of Breath wildness. All this swirled up into a musical juice of unique potency. The music is life enhancing and invigorating. We need this energy, optimism exuberance and joy at regular intervals.
Finally, thanks to Clark Tracey and his team for organising this. What a way to start a festival!
Flutes: Eddie Parker, Clarinets: Dai Pritchard Alto / Soprano saxophones: Steve Buckley & Iain Ballamy, Tenor Saxophone: Mark Lockheart & Julian Nicholas, Baritone: Julian Arguelles,
Trumpets: Lance Kelly Noel Langley , Chris Batchelor, John Eacott,
Trombones: John Harborne, Ashley Slater, Richard Pywell , Bass Trombone: Richard Henry Tuba: Dave Powell
Keyboards: Django Bates Guitar: John Parracelli, Bass: Steve Watts , Drums: Martin France
Reviewed by Jack Kenny
