BillF Posted September 19, 2015 Report Posted September 19, 2015 Last night: Moulettes at Square Chapel in Halifax (deepest Yorkshire). (so rock'n roll)Marvellous 'rock' concert (for want of a better term) of young musicians. Two support bands - a singer-songwriter with band and a very in your face punky outfit. Both very accomplished musicians, entertaining if not music I'd want to take home.But Moulettes are special. Came across their albums some months back and was bewitched. Wondered how they would translate to live - the albums are intricate, layered affairs with rich orchestrations (from the band) and beautiful vocal harmonies. Well they pulled it off in spades. Hard to describe the band - they get called prog, folk and all sorts of things but nothing quite fits. Imagine prime era XTC with the ever-so-English harmony vocals of The Northettes (on the Hatfield and the North albums) but with a dose of Les Baxter orchestrations. Utterly distinctive instrumental line-up - subtle bass/drum support with up front electric guitar, cello, bassoon (yea, bassoon!) and an electric autoharp. And then those divine vocals. Main songwriter Hannah Miller made a lovely front person explaining the songs in a rambling way...how many bands take the ideas for songs from reading articles in the New Scientist?! A really distinctive band. Bugger all to do with jazz but those of a catholic taste with a penchant for the more melodic end of rock might well enjoy them. On extensive tour at present including Canada in late Sept/early Oct. Hopefully they get a bigger audience than in Halifax - about 50 people!http://www.moulettes.co.uk/ Really packin' those gigs in, Bev! Quote
A Lark Ascending Posted September 19, 2015 Report Posted September 19, 2015 Making up for 37 years of being too knackered for weekday gigs....and, I now realise, too knackered to give up a chance to recharge on a Saturday by driving a distance. Aim is one a week where possible while I've got so much going on within driving distance. Quote
kh1958 Posted September 20, 2015 Report Posted September 20, 2015 Residing in a very old strip mall in the midst of a modest residential neighborhood in South Fort Worth, the Keys Lounge must be a rather rare thing these days, an actual neighborhood blues bar. Normally, that wouldn't get me out of the house to drive 45 miles, but last night Guitar Shorty was performing there. For a number of years, Guitar Shorty lived in Houston and was a fairly regular performer in the area. A few years ago, he apparently moved to Los Angeles and has become scarce in these parts. This was part of a welcome return to Texas, including appearances in Houston, San Antonio, Fort Worth and Denton. A truly masterful blues guitar craftsman, Shorty is 76 now, but continues as strong as ever. The Keys Lounge proved to be a fine venue, with clear and not overloud sound. As usual, Shorty delivered in his two sets. Quote
Chuck Nessa Posted September 20, 2015 Report Posted September 20, 2015 Just back from a concert by Gebhard Ullman, Steve Swell, Fred Lonberg-Holm and Michael Zerang. Wonderful. Thanks to Lazaro for bringing the band to the neighborhood. Quote
Lazaro Vega Posted September 21, 2015 Report Posted September 21, 2015 Great to see you, Chuck. And thanks for the heads up on Roscoe this Sunday in Chi. Quote
Larry Kart Posted September 21, 2015 Report Posted September 21, 2015 Just back from a concert by Gebhard Ullman, Steve Swell, Fred Lonberg-Holm and Michael Zerang. Wonderful. Thanks to Lazaro for bringing the band to the neighborhood.Plan to catch them at Elastic tonight. Quote
Larry Kart Posted September 22, 2015 Report Posted September 22, 2015 (edited) Just back from a concert by Gebhard Ullman, Steve Swell, Fred Lonberg-Holm and Michael Zerang. Wonderful. Thanks to Lazaro for bringing the band to the neighborhood.Plan to catch them at Elastic tonight.Very fine. A well-honed group by now -- Lonberg-Holm and Zerang contributed tellingly. The relationship between Swell and Ullman is something else -- very together at times but when they pull apart, so to speak, it's like they're still connected by elastic bands (no play on the name of the venue intended); one can almost see where these stretching lines of force are, and their existence becomes part of the dialogue. P.S. It may seem like I’m describing in the “elastic bands” business something that’s fairly common among groups with two alert horn players, but the sense that something like this was going on here was notably vivid, I thought. Picked up up a couple of CDs, Ullman’s Mingus tribute and another Ullman with Swell, a bassist, and B. Altschul. Was tempted to buy one of just about everything, but my wallet was on pause control. Ullman is an agile, clever player — at once free and not that free (he has his patterns, which are again seemingly clever, perhaps a bit clockwork-like), but those patterns are then handled (at least when he interacts with Swell) in a relatively free and alert to the context manner. All that strikes me as coming from a rather European sensibility — perhaps, because it’s on my mind after sampling some early '50s Hipp recordings, like a distant offshoot of Hans Koller. Edited September 22, 2015 by Larry Kart Quote
A Lark Ascending Posted September 25, 2015 Report Posted September 25, 2015 Georgia Mancio and Alan Broadbent with Oli Hayhurst and Dave Ohm in NottinghamVery nice 'mainstream' vocal concert without a standard in sight. Mainly Broadbent compositions with lyrics by Mancio with a few that were written the other way round. A short tour leading to a recording very soon. Quote
Leeway Posted September 27, 2015 Report Posted September 27, 2015 Evan Parker - Ned Rothenberg Duo - Union Arts, Washington, DCSaw Parker-Rothenberg duo last night. Evan played soprano and tenor (of course). Ned played alto sax, clarinet, shakuhachi, and bass clarinet in varying combinations with Evan. Some fireworks, but the performance struck me as geared towards rapport and musical expressiveness. A treat. Quote
Leeway Posted September 28, 2015 Report Posted September 28, 2015 The Thing - Bohemian Caverns, Washington DCPassion, energy, commitment, fun, and a total kick-ass performance. Two very hot sets. Quote
mjazzg Posted September 28, 2015 Report Posted September 28, 2015 The Thing - Bohemian Caverns, Washington DCPassion, energy, commitment, fun, and a total kick-ass performance. Two very hot sets. Sounds like The Thing. Glad you enjoyed them. Overdue a visit to London Quote
Chuck Nessa Posted September 30, 2015 Report Posted September 30, 2015 Not tonight, but Sunday - We continue to be in awe of Roscoe Mitchell following his "extravaganza" at the MCA in Chicago. He and his amazing musicians presented lot of music to digest in one day. His band(s) included Hugh Ragin, Tyshawn Sorey, Craig Taborn, Kikanju Baku, James Fei, William Winant, Jaribu Shahid and Tani Tabbal. Steve Lake was there recording it for ECM. We can hope for a fitting document. Quote
colinmce Posted September 30, 2015 Report Posted September 30, 2015 Not tonight, but Sunday - We continue to be in awe of Roscoe Mitchell following his "extravaganza" at the MCA in Chicago. He and his amazing musicians presented lot of music to digest in one day. His band(s) included Hugh Ragin, Tyshawn Sorey, Craig Taborn, Kikanju Baku, James Fei, William Winant, Jaribu Shahid and Tani Tabbal. Steve Lake was there recording it for ECM. We can hope for a fitting document.Awesome Quote
A Lark Ascending Posted October 2, 2015 Report Posted October 2, 2015 (edited) Engine Room FavouritesAt Seven Arts, Leeds(not my picture - from a previous performance)Martin Archer - sopranino, alto & baritone saxophones; Mick Beck - tenor saxophone, bassoon; Laura Cole - piano; Corey Mwamba - vibraphone; Graham Clark - violin; Seth Bennett - bass; Peter Fairclough - percussion; Johnny Hunter - percussion; Walt Shaw - percussion; Steve Dinsdale - percussionArcher, Mwamba and Fairclough were known to me and I have a feeling Graham Clark is the chap who used to play with String Driven Thing and, for a time, Van Der Graff Generator in the 70s; the rest, as far as I know, are local musicians. [Edit: wrong - the violinist was Graham Smith!]One set of large ensemble, structured but freeish jazz in the 'Ogun' tradition. A second set of more indeterminate structure - Archer described it as consisting of three distinct layers, one layer consisting of a five part composition that could be played in any order though the musicians playing that layer had to agree before. Can't say I could pick this out but it made a fine noise. Great closing version of Julius Hemphill's 'The Hard Blues'. Peter Fairclough (who I know from his work with Keith Tippett) was a clown throughout, swapping drumsticks, bothering the other percussionists and generally not playing the po-faced 'serious' musician. Archer has a very odd onstage presence...and looks like a smaller Eric Morcambe!10 musicians on stage. 10 people in the audience! How do have the spirit to keep on? I'll go and see Archer's curious projects again - he operates from Sheffield which is rather nearer than Leeds (especially when they close a stretch of the M1 at 11.00 pm for roadworks and you have to negotiate darkest Wakefield trying to remember if your diversion is the yellow square or the yellow triangle). Edited October 2, 2015 by A Lark Ascending Quote
StarThrower Posted October 4, 2015 Report Posted October 4, 2015 Larry Coryell is playing at a bar literally 1200 feet from my house Sunday night.I might as well pop in and enjoy the performance close up. Quote
kh1958 Posted October 4, 2015 Report Posted October 4, 2015 This evening, at the Allen Public Library, sarod master Pandit Debojyoti Bose with Abhijit Banerjee on tabla. Quote
BFrank Posted October 4, 2015 Report Posted October 4, 2015 Larry Coryell is playing at a bar literally 1200 feet from my house Sunday night.I might as well pop in and enjoy the performance close up.Sounds WAY too convenient to pass up! Quote
BillF Posted October 4, 2015 Report Posted October 4, 2015 Richard Wetherall Trio at Malcolm Fraser's house this afternoon. Quote
Van Basten II Posted October 5, 2015 Report Posted October 5, 2015 Patty Griffin tonightShow got cancelled health reasons , hope she gets well soon. Quote
Clunky Posted October 7, 2015 Report Posted October 7, 2015 (edited) Marshall Allen with Magic Science Quartet , Edinburgh Film House 6th October. Performing sound track to silent film Oedipus by Ka. Henry Grimes (bass) Avreeayl Ra (drum,percussion, various small wind instruments) Ka (piano , shaman drum). Photo taken in available light from the screen. curtain call below. Edited October 7, 2015 by Clunky Quote
niels Posted October 8, 2015 Report Posted October 8, 2015 Tonight Almeida/Klein/van Duijnhoven at Brebl Nijmegen. They just released quite an intersting album on Clean Feed so looking forward to this one. And than tommorrow also Brebl with Ingrid Laubrocks Ubatuba (with Rainey and Tim Berne amongst others) Quote
Larry Kart Posted October 8, 2015 Report Posted October 8, 2015 Tonight at Elastic Arts in Chicago:THURSDAY OCTOBER 8 | 9:00 PMBallrogg & Branch/Jackson/Kessler/Hunt $10 A double bill featuring a first time grouping of Chicago regulars, and the Scandinavian powerhouse trio Ballrogg. 9 PM : BALLROGGKlaus Ellerhusen Holm – reedsDavid Stäckenas – guitarRoger Arntzen – bass 10 PM : BRANCH/JACKSON/KESSLER/HUNTJaimie Branch – trumpetKeefe Jackson – reedsKent Kessler – bassSteve Hunt – drumsTAGS: Improvised, Improvised Music Series, Jazz, Music 3429 W Diversey #208 Chicago, IL 60647 Quote
Larry Kart Posted October 9, 2015 Report Posted October 9, 2015 (edited) Tonight at Elastic Arts in Chicago:THURSDAY OCTOBER 8 | 9:00 PMBallrogg & Branch/Jackson/Kessler/Hunt $10 A double bill featuring a first time grouping of Chicago regulars, and the Scandinavian powerhouse trio Ballrogg. 9 PM : BALLROGGKlaus Ellerhusen Holm – reedsDavid Stäckenas – guitarRoger Arntzen – bass 10 PM : BRANCH/JACKSON/KESSLER/HUNTJaimie Branch – trumpetKeefe Jackson – reedsKent Kessler – bassSteve Hunt – drums Excellent set from Jaimie Branch – trumpetKeefe Jackson – reedsKent Kessler – bassSteve Hunt – drumsIt should not be forgotten (and/or it should be shouted from the hills) that Steve Hunt is one terrific drummer. The way he got inside what Branch and Jackson were playing/thinking was hard to believe. Kessler was in fine form, too. Edited October 9, 2015 by Larry Kart Quote
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