What live music are you going to see tonight?

[Steve Reynolds]

OK

a few shows above

Tamarindo w/Malaby, Formanek & Waits

a couple/three photos of Malaby's Apparitions band with Ben Gerstein on trombone, Formanek w/Billy Mintz and Randy Peterson on drums - front to back

Hamid Drake & Ramon Lopez - duel drummers of Turbine

Joe McPhee, Ken Vandermark & Mat Maneri

Tom Rainey & Mary Halvorson (Ingrid missing off to the right!)

and 2/4ths or 3/4ers of Dragonfly Breath

Weasel Walter on drums with Paul Flaherty on tenor & alto and Steve Swell on the trombone (C. Spencer Yeh missing on the right!)

[jlhoots]

Paul Flaherty & Joe Maneri - separated at birth & by about 20 years!!

[A Lark Ascending]

Tim O'Brien at the Greystones, Sheffield

First stumbled on O'Brien headlining a night at the Cambridge Folk Festival with his sister and band 20 years back and have more or less kept up with his records since.

Wonderful performer able to charm a crowd all by himself for a couple of hours (with some vocal help from his partner on a few songs). Bluegrass slanted Americana - songs from that tradition and originals. Superb guitarist (he talked at length about Doc Watson, a big influence). Also played mandolin and, best of all, scratchy/scrapey old time fiddle. Delightful concert played to an enthusiastic sell out audience. 

[king ubu]

11 hours ago, jlhoots said:

Looks like Joe Maneri - but he wasn't born 1948 & he's dead.

 So - I don't know.

that was just what I thought

[A Lark Ascending]

Malija - Liam Noble (piano); Mark Lockheart (saxophones); Jasper Hoiby (bass) at Bonnington Theatre Nottingham

Beautiful concert from this UK jazz super group (I know, jazz is a small pond and British jazz even smaller, but...). Intricate original compositions - not the standard circling of 12 or 16 bars but a real sense of variation being written into the music. Then, improvising that didn't just happen with the soloist in the spotlight - Noble in particular seemed to be in constant flux even when Lockheart was to the fore. Reminded me of (and almost certainly inspired by) the Giuffre trios of the 50s and 60s.

All carried out at a quiet to moderate volume which allowed all the instruments to be heard in a beautiful acoustic. The word 'energy' gets bandied about in approval to a lot of jazz; well this group are in a different area. Passion, yet, but they never felt the need to flex their chest wigs. A shoe-in for ECM, I'd have thought (though Edition records seem to be colonising that area quite nicely in the UK).

On tour all over the UK in the next few months. Highly recommended.    

Edited February 5, 2016 by A Lark Ascending

[king ubu]

Mulatu Astatke last night, at Moods in Zurich, Switzerland (my home town ... well not quite, but I grew up 25 km outside of it) -- great that Alexander Hawkins (who's playing piano and keys) had me put on the guest list (almost didn't work out), as some 80 minutes before the concert, there were huge queues already and it was so sold out, they had to send people away again!

Either way, the line up was: Mulatu Astatke (vib, perc, wurlitzer), Byron Wallen (t), James Arben (ts, fl), Alexander Hawkins (p, keys), Danny Keane (cello), Neil Charles (b), Tom Skinner (d), Richard Olatunde Baker (perc).

Guess Astatke himself was really the weakest link of a fantastic band that was really tight from the git-go although it took two or three tunes for the room to really start moving. They did one continuous set that turned out to be really long (didn't check the time, but it must have been around 100 minutes) and by the end, the place was cooking. I enjoyed the solo contributions by all the guys a lot, most notably Wallen on trumpet (he had several spots) and Danny Keane on cello. Arben was terrific on tenor, for one long solo he built and built and ended up kinda chanelling the great Gétatchèw Mèkurya. Alex had just one real piano solo but he made the most out of it, later on he was heard prominently on keys (they should have brought in a real B3, but the stage was crowded already). The rhythms by all were really tight, not just the hook-up of Charles/Skinner/Baker (with the cello meshing in, too), but the keys and vibes and horns as well. So I ended up enjoying it as much for the group effort it was as for the contributions by each of the musicians on stage.

Had another chat with Alex afterwards and he kindly signed some CDs for me, too (and had Charles and Skinner sign the trio disc from last year, which I like a lot ... the other one I brought along is maybe my favourite of his, the solo album "Song Singular").

[BillF]

Saw this fine Anglo-American hard bop sextet at Southport today.

L to r: Frank Basile, Osian Roberts, Steve Fishwick, Jeb Patton, Matt Fishwick, Peter Kam.

[king ubu]

next big event ... programme isn't out in details but it's on their website since yesterday, flight and hotel are booked and I'm excited -- even more so as I only know since yesterday that Adasiewicz, Edwards and Noble will be there!

5 Nights with Peter Brötzmann – 75th Birthday Anniversary

March 6–10, 2016 at Parton, To Tu in Warsaw, Poland

▂ Peter Brötzmann – tenor / alto saxophone, b-clarinet, tarogato
▂ Alexander von Schlippenbach – fortepian
▂ Han Bennink – perkusja
▂ Heather Leigh – slide guitar
▂ Jason Adasiewicz – wibrafon
▂ John Edwards – kontrabas
▂ Steve Noble – perkusja
▂ Toshinori Kondo – trąbka

http://pardontotu.pl/?event=5-nights-with-peter-brotzmann-75th-birthday-anniversary&event_date=2016-03-06

[Steve Reynolds]

Wow

plus the *great* Toshinoru Kondo is there!!

I wonder if Parker, Drake and Kondo with Peter re-form Die Like a Dog Quartet for the celebration. One of my missed dreams!

[A Lark Ascending]

Fay Hield and the Hurricane Party in Manchester.

Only saw this lot in November but I had a gap on my trip here so thought I'd go again. New album launch - came out today. Although there was a fair overlap with the last time there were some differences in songs chosen, more from the new album. I've seen some major names 15 years apart still doing the same songs...and the same jokes! 

Really nice 30 minute talk prior to the concert where she described how she came into folk music ("I wasn't a cool kid. Mum was a Morris dancer - I was known to go to school in my Morris kit.") On her album sleeves and publicity she's always portraye as a moody, dark-eyed beauty, looking slightly unhinged on a moor as if she's lost Heathcliffe. In person she's a delightful, warm and very funny dark-eyed beauty whose enthusiasm for music just engulfs you.

[king ubu]

19 hours ago, Steve Reynolds said:

Wow

plus the *great* Toshinoru Kondo is there!!

I wonder if Parker, Drake and Kondo with Peter re-form Die Like a Dog Quartet for the celebration. One of my missed dreams!

Not on this occasion ... but yeah, I'm really looking forward! So far definitely my most extense and expensive concert trip, but I'll have the days to roam through the city (though with what's currently going on there, I'm not all that comfortable about that, honestly).

[uli]

hopefully by march 19 it will be warm enough for me to leave the house

[alankin]

I'm going to Saturday's concert:

Saturday-Sunday in Philadelphia | The music of John Zorn!

Ars Nova Workshop presents:

Saturday, February 20 - 8:00pm
JAMIE SAFT TRIO performs JOHN ZORN’S MASADA
with Jamie Saft, Fender Rhodes; Trevor Dunn, bass; Ben Perowsky, drums

+ HOLLENBERG-MILLEVOI QUARTET performs JOHN ZORN’S BAGATELLES
with Matt Hollenberg, guitar; Nick Millevoi, guitar; Johnny DeBlase, bass; and Jeff Eber, drums

Ars Nova Workshop is pleased to present four extraordinary ensembles performing the work of maverick composer John Zorn over two nights. Tonight, Jamie Saft Trio and the Hollenberg-Millevoi Quartet!

“I used to look at composing music as problem solving. But as I get older, it’s not about problem solving anymore. There are no solutions, because there are no problems. You just turn the tap and it flows out.” -John Zorn

Johnny Brenda’s, 1201 N. Frankford Avenue
$15 / $25 for both nights

Details and ticketing: http://www.arsnovaworkshop.com/events/jamie-saft-trio-john-zorn’s-masada-02-20-2016

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Sunday, February 21 - 8:00pm
CLERIC performs JOHN ZORN’S MASADA
with Matt Hollenberg , guitar; Dan Kennedy, bass; Nick Shellenberger, voice + keyboards; and Larry Kwartowitz, drums

+ URI CAINE performs JOHN ZORN’S MASADA
Uri Caine, Fender Rhodes

Ars Nova Workshop is pleased to present four extraordinary ensembles performing the work of maverick composer John Zorn over two nights. Tonight, Cleric and Uri Caine perform the music of John Zorn's Masada!

Zorn began composing Masada in the early ’90s, exploring his own roots and expanding the idea of Jewish music through a songbook that linked the language of klezmer and the rollicking free-jazz of Ornette Coleman. Now totaling 613 compositions, the Masada Songbook is a masterwork of overwhelming proportions.

Johnny Brenda’s, 1201 N. Frankford Avenue
$15 / $25 for both nights

Details and ticketing: http://www.arsnovaworkshop.com/events/cleric-john-zorns-masada-02-21-2016

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

http://www.arsnovaworkshop.org/

[Steve Reynolds]

My wife has not been feeling well so I wasn't sure I would leave her alone tonight but she is feeling a bit better so it looks like tonight @ 8:00 & 10:00 @ The Stone:

Darius Jones: alto saxophone

Sam Newsome: soprano saxophone (never heard him live)

Cooper-Moore: organ (never ever heard the great man on organ - besides loving to hear Darius Jones live in this little room - Cooper-Moore is why I am going)

Chad Taylor: drums

 

[Steve Reynolds]

Second in line. Band warming up. Sounds like funkified in/out groove

just a little bit fired up - first live show in over a month 

[A Lark Ascending]

Alexander Hawkins Ensemble at the North Wall Arts Centre, Oxford

Alex Hawkins (Piano). Neil Charles (bass), Otto Fischer (electric guitar), Jason Yarde (reeds), Dylan Bates (violin) and a drummer whose name I've unfortunately forgotten (Tom Skinner was unavailable).

Excellent evening of Alex's more composed music. The first half was an hour long suite of intricate and highly varied pieces. Ended with a short Elmoic, a tune that would get to No. 1 if there were ever a left-field singles chart. Second half had a 30 minute piece, much looser in composition with longer, more pronounced solo features. I particularly enjoyed a long sequence with an intricate piano solo, building up the tension and then leading into a demonic violin solo. The main concert ended with an utterly beautiful slow ballad [edit: subsequently tracked this down as "So Very, Know" off 'All There, Ever Out'] - short, light touches from the musicians, utterly perfect. A nice Steve Lacy tune as an encore. 

Superb musicians all round but a special mention for guitarist Otto Fischer - I've been struck by him on album and he really caught my ear here. Non-musicians like myself can usually only describe musicians by comparing them to others on the same instrument. I can't think of anyone who sounds quite like Fisher - there's a fluid, agile lightness in his playing that compels you when he's featured but you're often strongly aware of him when he's playing underneath the rest of the band. 

Well worth the 5 hour round trip to see the ensemble (even the bizarre diversions off the motorways on the way back that took me into the rural badlands around Lutterworth and Nuneaton! Britain is currently a building site.).    

They are at Cafe Oto in London on 28th - highly recommended. 

Edited February 22, 2016 by A Lark Ascending

[Steve Reynolds]

Edited February 21, 2016 by Steve Reynolds

[Steve Reynolds]

It's about 11:00 and we've heard almost 2 hours of funked out organ jazz with a Darius Jones outside screaming edge with fine performances all around and THEN Cooper-Moore takes organ playing to another planet. People yelling. Darius yelling. People probably crying. I'm yelling. Somehow it gets better. The man is a fucking lunatic genius. 

Second set was the first set backwards yet all kinds of mixed up. Atonal abstract sections changed, solo orders and heads all kinds of altered. It might all have been genius. Certainly one great CD is the whole thing mixed, matched and edited to present the coolest of cool. It was also pretty damn loud - Newsome used a microphone for his soprano but as some know, Darius Jones doesn't need one even with that screaming bass infested groove monster organ licks the master was manipulating and delivering from that crazy beautiful sounding machine he rolled into the little room last night.

[relyles]

I was fortunate to be third in line in back of Mr. Reynolds at the Stone Saturday night, and then a couple seats to his left in the first row for the intense musical experience of Darius Jones' Shades of Black. Darius Jones and Cooper-Moore were everything I expected them to be, but Sam Newsome was a revelation for me. I knew of him and heard some stuff he was on, but this was my first time hearing him live. For someone who first hit the scene as essentially a straight-ahead dude, he has evolved into quite an adventurous player. Very impressive.

In addition to Steve, it was also good to see Clifford Allen again.

Definitely worth the 2 1/2 hour drive from CT!

[Michael Weiss]

On February 7, 2016 at 11:12 AM, BillF said:

Saw this fine Anglo-American hard bop sextet at Southport today.

L to r: Frank Basile, Osian Roberts, Steve Fishwick, Jeb Patton, Matt Fishwick, Peter Kam.

Mike Karn

[BillF]

10 hours ago, Michael Weiss said:

Mike Karn

Thanks for the correction. He played fine bass and his tenor playing was mentioned, too.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

On 2/7/2016 at 11:12 AM, BillF said:

Saw this fine Anglo-American hard bop sextet at Southport today.

L to r: Frank Basile, Osian Roberts, Steve Fishwick, Jeb Patton, Matt Fishwick, Mike Karn.

It blows my mind to realize that Jeb Patton is now over 40. I remember seeing him as "a kid" playing with Jimmy Heath back in the 90's. How time flies.

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

pat martino is at the absolute top of his game rt now, after last nights show i really have to think he might be the best jazz guitarist working today

[robertoart]

5 hours ago, chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez said:

pat martino is at the absolute top of his game rt now, after last nights show i really have to think he might be the best jazz guitarist working today

He still sounds great when I watch him on YouTube there are some crazy but fascinating documentaries on him that are accessible on the tube and Vimeo etc. One is an investigation of creative people who have suffered traumatic brain surgery. 

[A Lark Ascending]

Maz O'Connor at the Greystones Sheffield

Young up-and-coming folk singer - beautiful voice (her diction often brings back the ghost of Sandy Denny), very strong songwriter, lovely stage personality. Mostly previewing her new album with a few songs from her first two. Had the audience eating out of her hand. Saw her last year playing solo at Sidmouth, tonight she had a double bass player and fiddle/banjo/pedal-steely-sort-of-thing as well. The bass was especially effective in adding colour and rhythmic drive to the songs. Suspect she'll be a major player on the folk scene within a few years - just hope she doesn't get grabbed for the mainstream. She's got the talent and the looks for cross-over.

Edited February 26, 2016 by A Lark Ascending