The plans of mice, men and Jo oft gang awry.
So my idea to write something about all the gigs this year has got to the stage where a little catching up needs doing.
Metamorphic - Vortex 24th February 2013
I'll say it, I'm not massively into jazz vocals. I like them well enough but they're not generally my first port of call. My big thing is for instrumental jazz. And I have to admit to having a bit of a bug bear that aside from a few notable exceptions - the main role women have in jazz is as singers - which seems a little limiting to me given the panoply of things out there to hit, blow, pluck and scrape. And men can sing jazz too - though it seems the don't get the chance that often. So I was on the look out for female instrumentalists to go and see and so jazz pianist Laura Cole and the plentiful stuff on soundcloud had me going to see this band. I have to say I came out of this gig thinking that Kerry Andrew might well be a vocalist I will seek out in future. The compositions from the forthcoming album Coalescence are fascinating little narratives that mix spoken text with singing. Kerry Andrew's voice is rich and clear and her delivery is focused and unpretentious.
Metamorphic Are.
Kerry Andrew, vocals
Laura Cole, piano/composer/arranger
Tom Greenhalgh, drums
John Martin, tenor
Paul Sandy, bass
Chris Williams, alto
I wussed out of going to Snorkel as the second part of the double bill. Due to some mortgage issues I'd not slept very well over the weekend and decided that it was better to go home before I fell asleep and to not spend an entire week regretting going out to a gig on a Sunday night.
Compassionate Dictatorship - Vortex 5th March 2013
I've waffled before about compassionate dictatorship when I saw them in January. Enjoyed this again. Bought the album. Once again was feeling like I could just, you know, really do with a bit more sleep.
Sons of Kemet (+the Industrial Tubas), The Forge Camden 15th March 2013.
Reeds (Shabakah Hutchings) + 2 drummers (Seb Rochford, Tom Skinner) + Tuba (Oren Marshall) + 6 more tuba players. So that's 7 tuba players on the stage at the same time. The basic line up is energy enough with two drummers and the New Orleans vibe provided by (oversized) tuba for bass. Shabakah's playing (tenor and clarinet) covered the whole range from dancingly fleetfingered clarinetism to stonking/screaming tenor improvisations. At one point I thought that the energy rolling of Rochford/Skinners kits might actually mean that Shabakah needed tethering down the groove was so hard. And Oren Marshall's elephant tuba holding it all together. The 7 tubas - like a whole herd of elephants singing for joy together. The whole thing at once (seriously 7 tubas?) bizarre and yet deeply deeply righteously right.
And all finished off with By The Rivers of Babylon like you've never heard it before. Can you play a low A flat? Says Shabakah to the massed ranks of tubas. Yes they can - a low humming noise (those elephants again) over which Shabakah then takes the melody and so so gently spins it into a spellbinding improvisation. The tubas pick up on what is happening and start to add harmonies and the drummers a steady gentle pulse. A testament to the power of yes. Yes, we can put 7 tubas on stage. Yes we can take something and run with it.
And now looking back already I can nod nod nod my head and know that this is going to be one of my gigs of the year. Because even thinking about it leaves me with a big dopey, I saw 7 tubas playing jazz on the same stage, grin!
