JAZZ IN THE ROUND @ THE COCKPIT THEATRE
Gateforth Street, London NW8 – November 30, 2015
Gateforth Street, London NW8 – November 30, 2015
Headliner: Food - Iain Ballamy (tenor/soprano saxophones/electronics), Thomas Stronen (drums/percussion/electronics)
Duo: Grew and Watts – Stephen Grew (piano), Trevor Watts (soprano/alto saxophones)
Opening Band – J -Sonics - Mike Flynn (bass guitar), John Newey (percussion), Gabor Dornyei (drums), Andy Davies (trumpet), Matt Telfer (tenor saxophone), Clement Regert (guitar)
There are so many things to love about the Jazz in the Round Series. I absolutely subscribe to its core values which cherish diversity, all-inclusiveness, tolerance and the belief that jazz is, and indeed should be, a very broad church. Since I attended my very first J.I.T.R a few years back I have witnessed the very best quality free jazz, free improv, bebop, post bop, hard bop, swing, world music, Latin, Afro-Cuban, groove, punk jazz and more. Quite often students strut their stuff whilst up and coming young bands are given important exposure. However, there is always a place for well-established bands and veterans to deliver their message too. In such a febrile environment the young can learn from the old, the old from the young in a state of glorious inter-communication. J.I.T.R’s latest event typified its eclectic ethos. Youth might not have been to the forefront on this occasion but the three sets could not have been more different.
Duo: Grew and Watts – Stephen Grew (piano), Trevor Watts (soprano/alto saxophones)
Opening Band – J -Sonics - Mike Flynn (bass guitar), John Newey (percussion), Gabor Dornyei (drums), Andy Davies (trumpet), Matt Telfer (tenor saxophone), Clement Regert (guitar)
There are so many things to love about the Jazz in the Round Series. I absolutely subscribe to its core values which cherish diversity, all-inclusiveness, tolerance and the belief that jazz is, and indeed should be, a very broad church. Since I attended my very first J.I.T.R a few years back I have witnessed the very best quality free jazz, free improv, bebop, post bop, hard bop, swing, world music, Latin, Afro-Cuban, groove, punk jazz and more. Quite often students strut their stuff whilst up and coming young bands are given important exposure. However, there is always a place for well-established bands and veterans to deliver their message too. In such a febrile environment the young can learn from the old, the old from the young in a state of glorious inter-communication. J.I.T.R’s latest event typified its eclectic ethos. Youth might not have been to the forefront on this occasion but the three sets could not have been more different.
Happy and infectious grooves characterized the short opening set by J-Sonics, an intensely vibrant group collective led by Jazzwise’s magazine’s editor Mike Flynn on bass guitar. Together with his rhythm partners of the mag’s editor in chief Jon Newey on percussion and Hungarian Gabor Dornyei behind the drums, a rock solid foundation was created for the front-line of Andy Davies and Matt Telfer, enhanced by the guitar of Frenchman Clement Regert, to spin their funky lines. The band’s composing duties are shared between Flynn and Regert. First up was Flynn’s driving “Sing Your Own Anthem”. Weldon Irvine’s mid-tempo groover “Mr Clean” with its Breckerish trumpet/tenor unisons got the feet tapping whilst Regert’s “Twelve Neighbours” kept up the heat with some unexpected rhythmic twists and turns.
Grew and Watts could not have been more different from the groove of J-Sonics. Stephen Grew and Trevor Watts are two of the world’s greatest free improvisers and this relatively new collaboration reaped huge rewards. Grew is equally at home on electronic keyboards as he is on acoustic piano but it was the latter that was on display this evening. He has a formidable technique, his touch light as a feather. His fingers fly, scurry and cascade in mesmerizing atonal adventures in spontaneous conversations with Watts’ breathtaking saxophone coruscations. His occasional
forays into the innards of the piano and elbow clusters only serve to enhance the total aural experience. The union of two masters of the avant-garde is clearly a match made in heaven.
forays into the innards of the piano and elbow clusters only serve to enhance the total aural experience. The union of two masters of the avant-garde is clearly a match made in heaven.
Iain Ballamy is one of the most brilliant, eclectic and deepest thinking saxophonists on the planet, his musical tentacles spreading far and wide. A founding member of the wonderfully anarchic Loose Tubes, he loves to collaborate with others in a rich variety of settings (June Tabor and Huw Warren in the genre-busting folk/jazz trio, Quercus; Gareth Williams, Steve Watts and Martin France in the post-bop outfit Anorak; Norwegian accordionist/multi-instrumentalist Stian Carstensen in Little Radio for example). He is also up for collaborating in more ad hoc situations (I was delighted when he agreed to join me for my 60th Birthday Concert at the Purcell a few years back). Tonight it was yet another Ballamy incarnation that was on display - Food. This Anglo-Norwegian jazz electronica ensemble was formed in 1998 and began life as a quartet. It now operates as a duo but suffers not one jot from the paring down of forces.
The set was a smorgasbord of electronic effects, drum grooves, live sampling and looping lyrical saxophone lines. Long-time collaborator Dave McKean’s subtle sepia-toned moving images, projected from a large screen at the back of the venue, mirrored the flow of the ever-changing soundscape: a swirling whirlpool, an empty ocean, bleak landscapes of gnarled trees, sad seals on a lonely rock. We had to wait until near the end of the performance for humanity to enter the picture, a naked young woman leaving her library for the mysterious dark of the forest…life gives way to death as we see her lying prostrate on the cold earth. Enigmatic, complex, challenging, compelling and deeply disturbing, sound and image worked together in perfect synchronicity.
As the year draws to a close it is fitting to reflect on the superabundance of jazz talent in the UK today and to applaud the efforts of Jazz in the Round in spreading the gospel. A huge thanks must go to Sean Corby for his inspired programming , Jez Nelson for being such a genial host and a font of so much knowledge, artist in residence Gina Southgate for her brilliant sketches of the musicians in full flight, Chris Phillips and Alex Watson for spinning the discs, Steven Cropper for his great photography and to everyone else behind the scenes who help to make the series such a success. Long may it continue.
Reviewed by Geoff Eales
Photographs by Steven Cropper
The set was a smorgasbord of electronic effects, drum grooves, live sampling and looping lyrical saxophone lines. Long-time collaborator Dave McKean’s subtle sepia-toned moving images, projected from a large screen at the back of the venue, mirrored the flow of the ever-changing soundscape: a swirling whirlpool, an empty ocean, bleak landscapes of gnarled trees, sad seals on a lonely rock. We had to wait until near the end of the performance for humanity to enter the picture, a naked young woman leaving her library for the mysterious dark of the forest…life gives way to death as we see her lying prostrate on the cold earth. Enigmatic, complex, challenging, compelling and deeply disturbing, sound and image worked together in perfect synchronicity.
As the year draws to a close it is fitting to reflect on the superabundance of jazz talent in the UK today and to applaud the efforts of Jazz in the Round in spreading the gospel. A huge thanks must go to Sean Corby for his inspired programming , Jez Nelson for being such a genial host and a font of so much knowledge, artist in residence Gina Southgate for her brilliant sketches of the musicians in full flight, Chris Phillips and Alex Watson for spinning the discs, Steven Cropper for his great photography and to everyone else behind the scenes who help to make the series such a success. Long may it continue.
Reviewed by Geoff Eales
Photographs by Steven Cropper
