Yeah. OK. I like jazz. It was a 5 minute bike ride away. You're right. I didn't.
Mopti
Caps, beards and lumberjack shirts. Norwegian band Mopti started out with a dark hypnotic groove then overlaid it with declamatory sax/trumpet lines and guitar burps/beeps. Immediately I was in my own private space movie complete with evil Space Emporer and valiant heroes. There was also some intriguing bass playing with both hands being used to slide up and down the fingerboard. Never seen that before.
Laura Jurd Quartet
I really like Jurd's compositions. I like the mix of crazy jumbled noise and beautiful lyrical melody lines. It spills over into the improvising to create the impression someone talking to you, in a hard-boppish, good conversation, kind of a way. An echo of Lee Morgan, perhaps.
Achtuum
Despite the vaguely germanic name these guys are in fact French. Very French. I have no idea what bunch of heinous stereotypes exist in my head to make me think that of course the French go in for break-neck semi-fractured be-boppish stuff. I shall smack my own wrists for it. It probably has something to do with early exposure to Jean-luc Goddard films. The synchronicity between sax and trumpet required to achieve this effect was actually jaw dropping. It contained within it the luminous and humane seriousness of a dialogue between clowns. I'm not being disparaging. Once, long ago, I was in the clown army - fighting the forces of capitalism and injustice with no more than a red nose, a bunch of love and a basket full of blessed stupidity.
Kairos Quartet
First up - hats well and truly off to Corrie Dick who drummed with them on one afternoon rehearsal. I will write about the new album Everything We Hold soon. I promise. I am off work this next week. It's lovely. Go buy it. After the excitements of Achtuum and as a portion of the audience rushed off before their tfl carriages turned to pumpkins - it was gorgeous to slip into the warm waters of the familiar.
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Some gripes
I'm sorry. But as a music lover people continue to do things at gigs that mar the whole process.
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Sadly I spent some of the evening wishing for the Gig Bat (TM) as the persons at the table next to me insisted on chatting through sets, waving of arms, and ultimatley spilling of wine prior to disappearing before Karios 4tet made it to the stage. I know this is a social space, I know it's fun...but also out of respect for the musicians and those who came to listen to all of the music...STFU.
There also seemed to be annoying number of people intent on documenting everything in a way that meant I was constantly having to shift out the way to accommodate photographers and videographers. The way I see it, the audience are what make a gig - live music, jazz in particular, is by it's very nature ephemeral - that's the whole point. So please feel free to document away - but be discrete have a little more respect for the chumps in the audience who have paid to be there. We, the music loving audience, keep the entire caravan on the road because we want to be there listening to and sharing in what musicians have to say. The clown in me assures you that things do still happen even if they're not captured and distributed via the internet. The untweetable bits are often the best.
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