What live music are you going to see tonight?

[kh1958]

Last night at the packed to the rafters Balcony Club, in an unfortunately rare of late home town appearance, the Lucky Peterson Band. During the lengthy second set which I attended, Lucky stuck to the organ throughout--presenting a loose set more on the soul and funk side than blues, with multiple guest vocalists (Tamara, Sheron Keaton, daughter). Meandering at times, but interspersed with outrageous and super intense funk and soul. A joyous musical experience.

[Kate]

Somewhere along the line, I was tabbed by the attending coterie to rent and captain the USS Unwieldy - the M1 RVAbrams behemoth (cringeworthy mixed military nomenclature) that will serve as kitchen, bedroom, taxi, toilet, and general flophouse for the festival. After a couple test drives, I've selected a smashing luxury model whose only apparent liability is the requirement for a petrol station every 37.2 miles. Anyway, I'll be taking off Tuesday while heading West along the compass - note this does not progress ME toward the ultimate geographic objective - for a pick-up in Louisville before returning East to Cincinnati and finally Charleston before a southeastern adjustment to Arrington.  Quick turn-around to Denver for Phish for a smashing Holiday (NOT in an RV!).  Red Bull would be an apropos sponsor to this junket!  I often wear a red or green Deadhook (after the site) tshirt w/ my first name across the back to facilitate recognition by members on GoGD boards...so, if you suspect it's me, introduce yourself!/peace, K

Edited August 22, 2016 by Kate

[Steve Reynolds]

On August 20, 2016 at 1:57 PM, Leeway said:

It is a win-win but I personally would go for option 2, if time permits. That sounds like a pretty interesting set. 

Stayed for Morris, Taborn, Parker & Cleaver

huge win - as good as the first 45 minutes were, the last 20 were trance inducing magic miracle stuff with WP playing mystery bowing stuff that only he can play. Cleaver's groove is the narrowing tightly defined and the deepest yet most subtly intense groove that exists in this music when he gets to that spot. He got there Saturday at about 11:05 P.M.

The whole night had both quartets pushing very hard against the boundaries of the acceptable with various levels of success. The breakthroughs and peaks were the highest I've heard probably in the last year. The struggles were real. Nothing easy with Tony Malaby. Lots of sweat and the ending of the set with Malaby, Morris, Parker & Drake with Hamid switching off the kit for the last 15 minutes or so surpassed in beauty and eventually in intensity to what happened in the first 50 minutes of intermittent struggle and ecstasy. Hamid & Tony pushed each other and the band very very hard. William didn't touch the contrabass and besides the shrill sounding shenai, his playing on the odd string instruments was stunning in their simplicity and sound. 

When Malaby (all tenor on this night) somehow found a way in to the quieter vibe at the end, him and the band found something that is now gone, lost but never forgotten. Mysterious, ingenious and complete and thoroughly surprising and breathtaking. Stunned to hear it. Shocked despite my huge expectations of what these guys do and what they play - all for the music - especially Joe Morris - all for the music - no ego to show what he can play. That is so very apparent but the results and experience is even greater than the sum of the immense parts. 

 

[A Lark Ascending]

Tony Kofi Quartet 'Homage to Ornette Coleman' (Bonnington Theatre, Arnold, Nottingham)

Tony Kofi (Alto Saxophone), Byron Wallen (Trumpet), Larry Bartley (Double Bass), Rod Youngs (Drums)

Excellent kick-off to the autumn season at Nottingham jazz (autumn already!). My spirits can tend to drop when I open concert programme brochures and see these homage/tribute to past musician/era type events. But actually going along can prove very rewarding (purists, of course, will grumble about once revolutionary music being turned into heritage music). Tunes drew off the 'classic' late 50s/early 60s records with all the expected favourites, all played close to the original arrangements with well drilled handling of the main themes. Rhythm section had that spongy, flexible, irregular regularity down to perfection. Kofi and Wallen are more hard boppish players and didn't try to imitate the unique styles of Coleman and Cherry in their voicings; just played with passion and an obvious love of the music. It's good to hear these tunes played live and in the moment. Makes you want to go back and play the original records again.      

My third concert involving Kofi this year - great to see this local Nottingham boy doing so well. Good turnout of greyhairs for the gig. 

Edited August 26, 2016 by A Lark Ascending

[sidewinder]

On the box - I will digest the Quincy Jones 'Prom' in HD via IPlayer routed through the hi-fi. Better than the real thing (and cheaper ).

[kh1958]

Last night, at Poor David's Pub, Guitar Shorty appeared, who's now almost 82 years old. The victim of a recent robbery, where his van containing all but one of his guitars and other equipment was stolen, the veteran bluesman is back on the road thanks to a gofundme benefit. The acrobatic feats are long gone, but his guitar craftsmanship remains undiminished. This was one of the best sets I've ever heard from him. Very intense and fortunately before a packed club.

[king ubu]

impressions on my four days at the wonderful Festival Météo in Mulhouse (in addition, it was a pleasure to meet OliverM and his wife there, would have been great to have more time to talk, of course):

:: Wednesday 24th ::

afternoon (at L'Entrepôt):
- Zeena Parkins solo - harp & electronics ... and histrionics - great stuff!
- Clayton Thomas/Anthea Caddy - bass & cello used to produce sounds that reminded me of LaMonte Young and other drone music

evening (always at Noumatrouff):
- Louis Minus XVI - a french quartet of 2 sax, elb, d - rhythmically fun, punchy stuff, but the honking macho saxophones got tiring after a while
- Sophie Agnel/Joke Lanz/Michael Vatcher - Agnel's carte blanche trio in its first performance that worked out amazingly well - her on piano, inside and on keys, Lanz doing some extremely well-fitting sampling and other turntables stuff, and Vatcher on drums/percussion - was pure joy seing them react to each other and to their own performance, big grins all around
- The Thing & Joe McPhee - "ladies, motherfuckers, jazzfans!" - that was Mats Gutafsson's welcome message to kick off a high-energy set, him on tenor and baritone, McPhee on tenor and pocket trumpet, Ingebrigt Haker Flaten on double and electric bass and Paal Nilssen-Love on drums ... extremely concise, to the point, yet with lots of room for blowing - two highlights in a row, quite exhilarating really

:: Thursday 25th ::

children's concert (short solo sets at Bibliothèque Grand'Rue, 11:30)
- Per-Ake Holmlander - a fun bit of solo tuba ... he ended with a high-speed version of Dollar Brand/Abdullah Ibrahim's "Jabulani"

noon (12:30, always at Chapelle Saint-Jean):
- Alexandre Babel solo - a short percussion set - seemed to lack direction or purpose or focus - the sounds themselves were interesting but not quite enough to keep the attention up

afternoon sets I skipped for once (Hélène Breschand in duo with Kerwin Rolland - harp and effects, and then Mathias Delplanque, more electronics in solo), did some sightseeing around Mulhouse instead and took a much-needed nap

evening:
- Agustí Fernández/Kjell Nordeson & dieb13 solo - two half-sets, first a duo of piano and drums/vibraphone, which was pretty great, as I hoped it would be, Fernández being one of the most amazing free form improvisers of these times ... then a DJ set, not quite up to Joke Lanz the night before, but still good ... he sampled Ornette's "Lonely Woman" for a moment, and added some more jazz that I didn't recognize, it was pretty good really
- Mats Gustafsson Nu Ensemble - the piece they performed was announced by Gustafsson as an homage to Little Richard ... which only made sense insofar as singer Mariam Wallentin - fine voice, but somewhat of an accent - sang bits of blues and r & b clichés most of the time ... McPhee was on board again, so was bass clarinetist Christer Bothen - whose noon solo gig I had missed on Wednesday, he played after a duo set by "Luft" which consists of Gustafsson and Erwan Keravec on bagpipes, but it was too early for me to catch -, then Anders Nyquist was on trumpet, Holmlander on tuba, Fernández on piano, Haker Flaten and Jon Rune Strom on double basses, Nordeson and Nilssen-Love on drums, and dieb13 on turntables again ... I enjoyed the variety of the music, was expecting more of a blaringly loud blow-out, which it was clearly not ... it was well-paced and kept me interested all the way through, the only thing I found a bit annoying was Wallentin's accent ... if they include blues-clichés as vocals, if they want to pay respect, why not have her sing in her own language? I dislike that we live in the age of "everybody thinks s/he can speak english" ... would be a nice language, but people don't give a shit, yet it has to be english nonetheless, all of the time
- Ventil - an Austrian quartet - rather quintet if you include the video artist - doing more drone or rather semi-drone sounds ... it was loud and intense, synths and guitars with effects, and hard-hitting beats ... but after 10 or 15 minutes, I had quite enough of it and went outside where you could still hear it, but without your guts being shaken through ... I actually do like that feeling, but this was just not really my stuff

:: Friday 26th ::

children's concert:
- William Parker - he was great with the kids but in fact hardly played ... he had with him a pocket trumpet, a shakuhachi and the silly red/black-painted bass that he seems to take with him when traveling, alas on that instrument he produces no sound at all, no volume, no body, no resonance, just flat tones that die as soon as he plucks or bows them - anyway, it was great how he got some of the kids to interact, but doing a kangaroo jump in 7 - "hap-py hap-py kan-ga-rooh" and then right back to 1 with no break - proved a little too complicated

noon:
- Joachim Badenhorst - next highlight there ... the young Belgian clarinet player did a wonderfully haunting set, using some loops early on, playing clarinet, bass clarinet and tenor - of the church concerts I heard - I missed but the first with Luft and Bothen mentioned above - easily the best

afternoon (Église Sainte-Geneviève)
- Áine O'Dwyer - church organ (and bells) ... a meditative, slowly-evolving, captivating set ... there were drones again, long-held single notes or chords, but also intense parts, she ended it by coming down the stairs and dancing - turning around herself - through the aisles all the way from the back to the alter, clanging a bunch of long bells ... at the beginning, the also threw down the sheets of music from the gallery, on which the organ is placed
- Mike Majkowski - another solo, this time on double bass ... alas not on the level of the organ set, lacking ideas and coherence, it felt like stitched together fragments, sometimes even as if he was practising ... which could be a great thing of course, but alas it was just so-so

evening:
- Hamid Drake/William Parker/Pat Thomas - while I'm no fan of William Parker's, when he's alongside Hamid Drake, he can do no wrong, I guess ... his bass still didn't sound - all there was was amplification -, but this trio set with a piano player so far completely unknown to me, Pat Thomas, was very good indeed - powerful, and when Drake changed to his frame drum and started singing, Parker switched to gimbri, and it got truly haunting ... however, that gimbri sounded about as great as his bass - I really don't get the point about William Parker, I guess, but I'll keep trying)
- Green Dome - this was Zeena Parkins's big project, with two bearded contemporary hipsters on piano/effects and drums, funny enough both called Ryan ... didn't really work for me, was too much after the effect, also probably too notated to really allow the music to loosen up and breathe some - but her solo set was really good, and I'm glad I kept through this one too and stayed on for the closing set of the night ...
- Zeitkratzer: Lou Reed "Metal Machine Music" Parts 1-4 - now this was the odd one out that no one could really tell how it would end up ... Zeitkratzer is a mid-sized ensemble led by pianist Reinhold Friedl I guess, and he was after all the one that had most of the work in this amazing 66 minute set ... Frank Gratkowski - hey, where's my sheet music? - was on clarinet, Hild Sofie Tafjord did her best - wasn't always enough, I thought - on french horn, Hilary Jeffery was on trombone, them lined up between the piano on the far left, and the drums in the middle of the stage, played by Maurice De Martin, on his right there were four strings: Ulrich Phillipp on double bass, Elisabeth Fügemann on cello, Burkhard Schlothauer on viola and Lisa Marie Landgraf on violin ... the music was reminding me again of minimal music, I thought of various recordings of "In C" in the process - the horns and strings kept on churning out the same notes again and again, with some slight changes, some short soloist escapes by the trombone, the horn, some fills by the drums to add to the steadily prodding, walking, stomping beat ... the piano was playing around wildly for much of the duration though, as if forming a kind of counterpoint or anti-thesis to the rest ... this was, I guess, the unexpected - at least from my side - highlight of that night

:: Saturday 27th ::

noon:
- Clayton Thomas - another double bass solo ... though Parker only had played one short final piece on bass actually ... Clayton Thomas had been heartily recommended to me by a friend from Berlin who has heard him often while he was still living there, as the duo with Anthea Caddy gave really no idea at all how he was as a bass player, I was very curious, and the solo set indeed turned out pretty well ... he used the bow, different kinds of mallets and drumsticks and other objects and put together a really nice set that had the focus and successfully managed to create those larger arcs that Majkowski didn't really achieve

now this was a very busy closing day (which was why I skipped the children's concert by the same Erwan Keravec on bagpipes ... heard a few tones while passing by the library, which is right next to the chapel) ... at 14:30, there were two events, an open air concert and a short conference with Roscoe Mitchell - I picked the later, and it was pretty interesting actually. Alexandre Pierrepont, who has written a book on the AACM, did a (rather too long) introduction and then started asking a few questions (thankfully mostly just in english) and it was pretty interesting to hear Mitchell talk, though it was all a bit on the polite side (except for an Italian lady in the audience that kinda implied AACM had a racist policy going on) and Pierrepont could have really prepared a few more focussed questions to not just have Mitchell talk some (which was nice enough, he has plenty of stories to tell and is willing to share his insights, too - after all he is teaching as well)

afternoon (at La Filature) - just one set:
- Der Verboten - this is a quartet that took shape at Météo a few years ago, if I understood correctly - Franz Loriot on viola, Antoine Chessex on tenor sax, Cédric Piromalli on piano and Christian Wolfahrt on percussion ... they performed a long-form improvisation in the wonderful room with its very fine acoustics ... glad I rushed there, it was excellent

evening (there was a free concert at 7 p.m. first, then the main event, as usual at 9):
- Native Instrument - Stine Janvin Motland on voice and electronics and Felicity Mangan using field recordings and adding more electronics - this turned into an almost danceable set, many of the older jazzheads disliked it, many left even though it was just 30 minutes short ... the duo kinda attempted to adapt vocally and electronically the sound of their nature, one being from Norway, the other from the land of OZ - the resulting soundscape was a times almost danceable, and really interesting

- Sonic Communion - the main event, pt. 1 - this is a collective of Jean-Luc Cappozzo on trumpet, Douglas Ewart on various horns and little instruments - sopranino sax, wooden flute, bells, english horn ..., Joëlle Léandre and Bernard Santacruz on double basses and Michael Zerang on drums ... they struck a chord together - or rather more than just one, and a free one, too, of course ... a lovely set that to me showed with ease how naturally European improvisers and American jazzers can find together and create something that is common - I guess in this case it was mostly the French fitting into a kind of AACM/Chicago frame, but that was done without them negating their own voices ... as for voices, of course Mme Léadre did some singing in the end, and it got quite hilarious indeed - dada lives!
- Roscoe Mitchell Trio - the main event, pt. 2 - actually, together with The Thing/McPhee the concert that made me book a hotel and a festival pass ... Mitchell again teamed up with two Europeans, two brits this time, namely Mark Sanders on drums and the one and only John Edwards on double bass - best bass player there is currently, for any kinds of free and energy playing ... Mitchell had with him his alto, soprano and sopranino saxophones, and he was fully THERE from the very first second, not dominating, not imposing, but just THERE, with the brits giving him great support and getting their solo and duo spots, free-wheeling and driving the music hard, while Mitchell engaged in his circular-breathing for long stretches ... they even came back for a short encore, and one needn't be afraid that the level went down, they just picked up again where they had left off and added a couple more minutes - stellar closing concert to a mighty fine festival

And on Saturday, another former concert-going friend, now in a wheelchair and alas not in a condition to attend concerts regularly, passed by to say hello (and spend some time with other friends, they're all a couple of decades older than me and have attended concerts together since the seventies) and asked me if I would go to Willisau next week and told me there was a John Zorn special ... indeed, six bands on Saturday afternoon and evening, starting out with the mighty Masada itself ... so on the train back home, I booked a room and bought tickets online ... damn!

 

(lest someone asks, I did take a frew - crappy, as usual - snapshots, but not from all concerts ... no time yet to sort them, might add a few later on, but next weekend I'll be busy in Willisau, not sure I find a moment before that)

[Steve Reynolds]

Thanks very much - I think Hamid knows you. He was speaking of looking forward to the trio show with WP & Pat Thomas

fwiw I've had similar feelings regarding William but a few disappeared a few times during some of the 4 sets I saw with him. The best set for him might have been when he did not even play that red & black bass. There was a portion on that "silly" bass when his bow playing blew my head out late Friday night after 30-40 minutes of me struggling to *hear* him on that red/black thingy.

yes Edwards is the greatest - me needs to see him live - one day - but you also did see the *great* Mark Sanders who in that format with a burning Roscoe Mitchell, it sure must be something to experience!!! I did get to see him once way back in May 2001 with Evan Parker (plus Tim Berne & Drew Gress) / it might have been the start of my mantra to "never leave before the second set" as that second set at The Knitting Factory remains one of those memories - as faded and as long ago as it was, it some respects, I'm still hearing it.

as Mr. Evan Parker said to us before the first set, "We will know by the second set of we have a band"

I sure think they had one but I can't think of when they would have ever played together again. I've not seen Berne that often since (I often feel about him as I feel about William!!), but that night he played toe to toe on alto with Evan Parker's tenor!!

 

btw - your write-ups remain the highlights of this site/board, yet it reinforces how so many continue to miss out on what made and makes jazz/improvisation truly great / the live experience. Nothing compares. I LOVE my recordings that I can play any time I like, but nothing compares the ultimate true sound of surprise.

Edited August 29, 2016 by Steve Reynolds

[king ubu]

Thanks, Steve! Sanders was very good indeed, but I think I ever so slightly prefer Steve Noble (who, together with Edwards, forms my favourite rhythm section for this kinda energy music, no matter if it's American or European). And I'm really, really looking forward to hearing Edwards in solo for the first time, next Saturday (though I do have to get up early to be there at 11 a.m., or rather somewhat before as I prefer to sit in front if possible). I have seen him several times this year (he played four or five sets at the amazing Brötzmann party in Warsaw in March, before that I heard him with Decoy & Evan Parker, then in Ravenna with Moholo's 5 Blokes, and now again in Mulhouse and then in Willisau ... he is quite busy, really).

As for Parker, I keep trying ... this was the third time I heard him - I reported about last year's Unerhört festival, here in Zurich. He was devastatingly boring I found, when playing solo, but then he was pretty fine (still playing with that no-body-no-sound though) a few days later in trio with Oliver Lake. I also see what records he's on (I love some of them, such as Taylor's Feel Trio 10 CD box) ... I'll keep trying but I don't have high hopes.

The entire Météo festival was immensely enjoyable! I should definitely try and make it a habit to be there (it takes me about an hour longer to get to Mulhouse than to go to a concert in town ... and tickets are so nicely priced, compared to what concerts cost here - Willisau will really tear another hole in my budget, but I need to see that series of Zorn concerts).

[OliverM]

Great write-up Flurin, thanks for posting your impressions here first and so quickly! (it was also really nice for us to meet you, and we hope there will be other occasions).

Opening the festival was a concert at 6 pm in the city's tourism office, the French based Japanese drummer Yuko Oshima had invited the aforementioned Frantz Loriot and cellist Anil Eraslan for an improvised set on what was apparently their first meeting. The set was very focused and intense, and Yuko Oshima seemed to be playing her life here, surprising a large part of the audience who were maybe expecting a more chamber like atmosphere.

That first Chapel concert (Luft and Christer Bothén) was also a personal highlight of the festival for me. As Gustafsson mentioned after the concert, the acoustics were such in the 15th century building that the slightest small inflexion on the saxophone came out very distinctly. While he started powerfully on the baritone, he then switched to a small predecessor of the saxophone -- so I was told -- on which the notes are played by a vertical sliding pitch lever (I would do better in posting a picture here). The association with Keravec's playing on the bagpipes was excellent, the instrument was less loud than what it is generally reputed to be and the two combined greatly. Mats then introduced Christer Bothén to the public in a very respectful way, showing that he is not only a great musician but also a great organizer in this field of music. Bothén who had sojourned in North Africa in the early 1970s had then connected with Don Cherry in Scandinavia. He started playing on the Guembri and then stayed on the bass clarinet before calling on the two other on stage for some trio playing. Joe McPhee was sitting on the front row for this concert.

About the Pat Thomas, WP and Hamid Drake trio, you are right Steve, it really showed on their expressions that they all had been looking forward to playing together. After playing their last note, they looked at eachother to confirm that the enthusiasm had been shared. I was very happy to see Pat Thomas in this configuration.

Also, before the Sonic Communion concert started, there were very strong laughs to be heard behind the curtain, which I think were mostly Douglas Ewart's, what a great spirit in his playing and his communication with Joelle Léandre was a pleasure to watch.

I was on the same train back to Paris as some of the musicians -- Léandre, Zerang, Ewart and Sophie Agnel, and had a chance to thank some of them one last time. Michael Zerang was transporting Joëlle's bass, that was my last sight of Météo. I also hope to come back!

 

 

Edited August 29, 2016 by OliverM

[king ubu]

Oh yes, that was indeed Ewart with that extremely loud voice and laugh!

Too bad I had missed the Luft/Bothen concert, but that's how it goes ...

The Pat Thomas solo disc I already played btw, it's fine indeed!

[Kevin Bresnahan]

George Garzone is playing at the Sahara Jazz Club in Methuen, MA tonight. I've managed to catch him the last few times he's played there and it's always interesting to see/hear him play this club as it compares to his gigs with The Fringe. At the Sahara, he's straight down the middle. Nothing like his work with The Fringe.

[Chuck Nessa]

Heading to Chicago for the Jazz Festival in the morning. Delivering a box of Ira Sullivan's cd to him at the Jazz Showcase and then on to catch the end of Carla Bley's version of the Liberation Orchestra. Later in the weekend, delivering a box of lps to Mars Williams - the artists are the best salesmen. Plan on catching old friends Alvin Fielder and Kidd Jordan at Constellation. It will be a busy weekend.

 

 

 

[Hardbopjazz]

Joanne Brackeen Quartet, at Dizzy's Club Coca Cola, NYC.

[kh1958]

This weekend at the Bedford Blues Festival, which features a Main Stage and a small stage, which alternate sets.

On the Main Stage, I failed to locate any happy musical experiences, as the performance ranged from the decent (Janiva Magness, you really need your organ player back) to the appalling (Stratoblasters, are you really a blues-rock version of Spinal Tap?). Tommy Castro, you sounded pretty good compared to the Stratoblasters. I'm not sure why Trombone Shorty and Dr. John were headliners at a blues festival, but I gave them both a try. I'm afraid I failed to make it through any complete sets of the main stage acts.

The small KNON Stage was a bit of a different story. There I found three top notch bands, far superior to the name acts. On Saturday, Tutu Jones and His Twisted Soul Band put on a blistering, if too brief, set. Sunday, there was the unique East Texas blues of E.J. Matthews, on acoustic guitar and vocals, playing all original material and sounding like Howlin' Wolf's illegitimate grandson, and featuring a brilliant lead guitarist who made me momentarily forget the main stage tiresome guitar wankery. Finally, a fine set from Bnois King made the experience worth the trouble of driving to Bedford.

[mr jazz]

I saw Janiva recently and thought the same thing but enjoyed her opening set for the great Charlie Musselwhite who was in terrific form.

[skeith]

I saw Bobby Watson at Smoke in NYC on Friday.  He's a favorite of mine.   I had not seen him in a while and was shocked at how much weight he had put on and how much he had aged.   Did not affect his playing however which was ....forgive the pun....smokin'... and he had Curtis Lundy and Victor Lewis so it doesn't get better than that  and some young pianist whose name escapes me but seemed very talented.

[HutchFan]

On 9/3/2016 at 9:22 PM, Hardbopjazz said:

Joanne Brackeen Quartet, at Dizzy's Club Coca Cola, NYC.

Jealous!  

1 hour ago, skeith said:

I saw Bobby Watson at Smoke in NYC on Friday.  He's a favorite of mine.   I had not seen him in a while and was shocked at how much weight he had put on and how much he had aged.   Did not affect his playing however which was ....forgive the pun....smokin'... and he had Curtis Lundy and Victor Lewis so it doesn't get better than that  and some young pianist whose name escapes me but seemed very talented.

Jealous (again!)!  

 

[A Lark Ascending]

Saw Watson a couple of times in the olden days - in Nottingham in the 80s or early 90s and at Cheltenham in the late 90s. Blistering concerts in both cases. 

Ryan Quigley Quintet (Bonnington Theatre, Arnold, Nottingham)

Ryan Quigley (trumpet); Paul Booth (tenor sax); Geoffrey Keezer (piano), Michael Janisch (double bass), Clarence Penn (drums)

Now why have I never heard of Ryan Quigley before? Everyone else is a household name (well, a jazz household name). Absolutely superb trumpet player. Fabulous evening of Jazz Messenger-ish hard bop but some really nice ways of varying the choruses; also didn't have everyone soloing on everything - a fair bit of thought put into which player would be highlighted in each tune. Geoff Keezer was outstanding - heard him a few times back in the early noughties but he'd not stayed on my radar. His solos this evening were thrilling. Quigley, an Ulsterman, has a good sense of humour too; another band who really communicated their enjoyment of the playing. 

Another good turnout at the Bonnington. The raffle made £75 (invested into booking future acts). Bet they don't have a raffle at the Village Vanguard. 

Proper review here from an earlier gig:

 https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/sep/06/ryan-quigley-quintet-review-pizza-express-jazz-club

[BFrank]

Saw Julian Lage with his trio tonight. A brilliant guitar player, but I felt an emotional disconnect with the music. All technique and very little heart.

[BillF]

3 hours ago, A Lark Ascending said:

Saw Watson a couple of times in the olden days - in Nottingham in the 80s or early 90s and at Cheltenham in the late 90s. Blistering concerts in both cases. 

Ryan Quigley Quintet (Bonnington Theatre, Arnold, Nottingham)

Ryan Quigley (trumpet); Paul Booth (tenor sax); Geoffrey Keezer (piano), Michael Janisch (double bass), Clarence Penn (drums)

Now why have I never heard of Ryan Quigley before? Everyone else is a household name (well, a jazz household name). Absolutely superb trumpet player. Fabulous evening of Jazz Messenger-ish hard bop but some really nice ways of varying the choruses; also didn't have everyone soloing on everything - a fair bit of thought put into which player would be highlighted in each tune. Geoff Keezer was outstanding - heard him a few times back in the early noughties but he'd not stayed on my radar. His solos this evening were thrilling. Quigley, an Ulsterman, has a good sense of humour too; another band who really communicated their enjoyment of the playing. 

Another good turnout at the Bonnington. The raffle made £75 (invested into booking future acts). Bet they don't have a raffle at the Village Vanguard. 

Proper review here from an earlier gig:

 https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/sep/06/ryan-quigley-quintet-review-pizza-express-jazz-club

Ryan Quigley plays a lot around here. Did I hear he was Liverpool based? Pity this area isn't included in his present quintet tour. Last saw him in Wigan in a hard bop quintet called The Jazz Worriers , before that in a quintet led by Coltrane-influenced tenorman Benn Clatworthy.

Edited September 9, 2016 by BillF

[A Lark Ascending]

1 hour ago, BillF said:

Ryan Quigley plays a lot around here. Did I hear he was Liverpool based? Pity this area isn't included in his present quintet tour. Last saw him in Wigan in a hard bop quintet called The Jazz Worriers , before that in a quintet led by Coltrane-influenced tenorman Benn Clatworthy.

Yes, I was talking to one of the organisers last night who reeled off his achievements. He's been to Nottingham Jazz several times before it seems. I keep reasonably up-to-date on what is taking place in Britain but somehow I've missed the name completely.

Don't know about Liverpool - he seems to have strong Glasgow connections (he said he grew up there - joked about how his parents moved him there from Ulster to get away from the sectarian divisions. Referred to Glasgow as Belfast-lite!). I think he is on the staff of a music college there. 

Benn Clatworthy opens the Sheffield season at the end of the month with John Donaldson, Simon Thorpe, Matt Home. £5 introductory gig! You wouldn't get a pint for that in parts of London! 

[BeBop]

Steve Coleman celebration at The Stone.

[BFrank]

Seeing Pat Metheny at SFJAZZ tomorrow night. Haven't seen him in over 30 years and have heard good things about his new quartet. So I figured I might as well see what he's up to.

[kh1958]

Last night, Eddie Gomez Trio at the Kitchen Cafe. A small acoustic venue with very clear sound. Eddie Gomez sounds, of course, like Eddie Gomez, a fantastic bassist. His trio included a couple of UNT professors, Stefan Karlssan on piano and Ed Soph on drums. The piano was rather firmly in the Bill Evans vein--mixed emotions about the pianist, who didn't really grab me most of the time. Still it sounded pretty good overall, and Eddie Gomez sounded great. And the sound at the club was quite pleasing, so a nice experience.