Revew: Kit Downes Quiet Tiger CD launch

Kit Downes Trio plus Allsopp/Arceleo/Dennefeld (Kings Place, April 9th 2011, photo credits for full group - above - and Kit Downes - below: Roger Thomas)

When a musician has become unquestionably and indispensably a part of the UK's musical landscape, it is useful to have the memory jogged, to be reminded what it's like to hear him for the very first time.

The thoughts of a reviewer for the Hamburger Abendblatt, who had just heard the Kit Downes Trio in Hamburg, and who was completely bowled over, bring a useful sense of perspective:

" Kit Downes is the most impressive jazz pianist from England since John Taylor, and it's a heck of a long time since [Taylor] came onto the scene."

The German critic declared himself under the spell of the sheer range of influences which Downes has made his own as composer, making every bar "exciting and impossible to predict," his "wonderful economy" as a pianist, and the telepathic communication of the three trio members.

Downes has added three melody instrument players to his regular trio with Calum Gourlay and James Maddren: James Allsopp -bass clarinet and tenor saxophone - Josh Arceleo, tenor sax - and Adrien Dennefeld - cello.

These instrumentalists are rarely called on to function as a traditional jazz "front line." Instead, Downes savours the textural and expressive possibilities of having these extra voices. Indeed he sets out his stall from the very first few bars of the CD, and with its title track which was the opener last night. In "Quiet Tiger" itself, Allsopp, Arceleo, and Dennefeld provide lush tonal colours, a shifting, brooding polyphonic backdrop to Downes freely melodic excursions.

Downes also knows he can rely on these players' impeccable intonation and sensitivity to balancing and blending, in search of the expressive. Other combinations give very different possibilities: in "Owls" inspired by the films of David Lynch, bowed cello (Dennefeld) and double bass (Calum Gourlay) brought spine-tingling spookiness. Allsopp's armoury of extended wind techniques was also used to expressive effect. He produces either loud and soft multiphonics and also - not at the samr time - circular-breathes the bass clarinet. He also can shift easily- when called upon - from being a textural voice to being the leading incantatory voice which the others all follow.

Another feature of this performance which reinforced the direction Kit Downes is taking is that the narrative arcs, the concentration spans are getting longer. The tune "Jump Minzi Jump," rearranged for the sextet format, used to be angular and to dart back and forth. It now unfolds much more naturally. On a number of occasions, the band would grow the sound over a long section, constantly accreting new layers and new tensions to it. The listener gets a satisfying sense of architecture, of big shapes being formed.

But perhaps the most fascinating revelation, a leap, a change in in just a matter of a few months has been the development of drummer James Maddren. He still has his characteristic watchfulness and astonishing responsiveness. But what seemed new to me was the sheer rhythmic freedom he now has in this group. The three players of the trio can now go, separately it seems, miles away from the contours of a tune and then suddenly rejoin in an instant. A moment like this happened just after the tricksy head to "Fritzi Patzi."

The music of last year's Mercury Prize nominee is neither flamboyant nor attention-craving, that is simply not Dwnes' way; but it does speak increasingly for itself. And on the evidence of Saturday's concert at Kings Place, to launch the new CD "Quiet Tiger," it is developing in new and fascinating directions.

Mike Westbrook at 75

One of the great composers of our time, caught yesterday afternoon by the lens of photographer Roger Thomas: Mike Westbrook, preparing for his 75th birthday concert, including the world premiere of The Serpent Hit, in Kings Place Hall Two.

Review: Peter Edwards Trio/ Binker Golding Quartet

Peter Edwards Trio/ Binker Golding Quartet
(Kings Place, March 19th 2011, in The Base series, Review and photos by Roger Thomas)


Well, on Saturday at Kings Place, it was all about Dune Music . Two of its proteges were being featured, namely Peter Edwards and his Trio followed by Binker Golding with his Quartet.

Kings Place billed the event as "Nu Beginnings," and although these two both missed the gestating Teen Warriors phase they have clearly benefited from the Tomorrow's Warriors nurturing and their ethos of 'from the cradle to the stage'.

It's Peter Edwards - piano that first takes the stage featuring Max Luthert - bass and Saleem Raman - drums. They hit us with an Edwards composition Byron's Blues. No formal introduction, but I guess that was to affirm that they understand and acknowledge traditional things.

By the third song things had warmed up for Peter to now borrow from a distant Caribbean heritage another original composition, Mas Calypso. You can hear the transposition of the piano into steel pans with percussive octave lines creating a happy carnival atmosphere with Max providing a bumptious swing and Saleem the joyous skip. Oh yes, there is a lot of jigging in seats now!

As if to chastise us for shaking our bodies so much, Peter switches the mood from the vibrant and sunny to an abrupt and sombre Dark Sunshine. The thought-provoking piano lines at one stage gives way to a short slightly melancholy bass solo complimented by some light stick work from Saleem. Such was the mood it immediately brought to thought—for me at least—realisation of all the crazy things happening around the world at this moment. Great crowd control Peter. Better watch out that you're not drafted to perform these duties for the State (smile).

Peters mastery of moods continues with the more upbeat Safe And Sound which in itself was a sort of microcosm of moods as piano pulses out phrases that help launch Max and Saleem to some great crescendos and subtle moments of release.

We are again brought back to ground level by a fresh interpretation of Body And Soul which I was hoping would be on the CD (The Peter Edwards Trio) that was on sale in the foyer but alas not—well it is an EP and not a full album after all. Let's hope one is in the pipeline, from this performance I reckon it would be good listening.

The second half of the evening started unannounced with Binker Golding and his Quartet walking calmly onto the stage. With Rick Simpson - piano, Dave Hamblett - drums and Pete Randall - bass taking their places. They were greeted with a warm applause as Binker counted off Mr. KK an original composition dedicated to the late Kenny Kirkland. This energetic piece showed how they all gelled as a communicative unit.

With everyone settle in by the third song we were treated to a rendition of Ellington's Don't Mean A Thing followed, by again delving deeper into the old masters catalogue, a most adventurous arrangement of Beethoven's Sonata no. 30 Opus 109. I'm not 100% sure if this was a Binker Golding arrangement, but if it is then hats off to you mate. This adaptation to a jazz setting showed great ingenuity, I'm sure Ludwig would have approved.

Now I'm beginning to think there might be a little conspiracy going on in the Dune camp to jolt the audience as much as possible. A if to wake us from the reverie of Opus109, the stark contrast of Blind Man Stomp takes us along a path with Binker playing a flurry of 4th intervals on sax where you can imagine the possible staggering of a blind man on a dance floor with some excellent interplay between Dave Hamblett and Pete Randall.

Still with foot on the gas, Maenads—another Golding composition—launches us into the mythological world of Dionysus and his voracious groupies. With some Coltranesque 'sheets of sound' coming from Binker complemented by the high energy vamps of Rick Simpson and occasional section of just sax and drums debaucherous scenes and bacchanal fill my mind at which point. I checked for all the exit signs as looking around it seemed to me that the audience were ripe and ready for some bacchanalia, more than I can handle in one night.

Goodness me Binker, what on earth were you thinking of when you composed that little ditty!!

Well at least he did spare a thought for the state of the audience by finishing off the set with a very calming rendition of Simon & Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water, just what was needed to help us all recover from the previous frolic.

It was an excellent night all round. It was full of surprises and drama which has left me thinking less in terms of Tomorrow's Warriors but in view of the writing and arrangement abilities displayed I see more possibilities of a Tomorrow's Leaders.

Review: Kristjan Randalu

Kristian Randalu
(kings Place Hall Two, February 26th 2011, part of Eesti Fest)

Pianist-composer Kristjan Randalu, born in 1978, is an Estonian. But like the internationally-minded, strategically-placed small country he comes from, his life and his musical career from its earliest days have been outward-looking rather than national..

Both his parents are classical pianists, who emigrated. He studied as a youngster in three cities in Germany, and then in London and New York He has the accolade of having been invited twice to study at the elite Mancini Institute in California. He has been a finalist in the Monk Competition - where he came to the attention of Herbie Hancock who described his piano playing as “dazzling” - and was a prize-winner in Montreux.

On Saturday he performed a solo piano concert on the final night of Eesti Fest, a celebration of Estonian culture at Kings Place curated by Fiona Talkington. He told the sizeable audience in Kings Place Hall Two that he had last played a solo concert in London nine years ago when he was studying briefly at the Royal Academy of Music.

The first piece, Confidants, written at that time, showed some hallmarks of his style when playing solo. He thinks intensely, in long paragraphs, draws the listener into his narratives. His playing has melodic arcs, but there are often rebellious inner voices which develop a life, a repeat loop of their own. Once established, the repetition and accumulation of these ideas is what gives forward motion, and provides the material he works with, and against.

He seems to think polytonally. I was left to wonder if Russian composers like Prokoviev and the composer/pedagogue Kabalevsky aren’t somewhere deep in his musical consciousness. Randalu’s childrens’ songs are not gentle, they have that similar polytonal bite.

When he took a sweetly nostalgic melody, The Homeland Song, by that towering father-figure to current Estonian composers Heino Eller (1887-1970), Arvo Part’s teacher, it was the asymmetries that he brought to the surface. He would leave a world which was uncannily reminiscent of Finzi or Ireland behind, and get into a wilder outdoors with Mussorgsky. His right hand would suddenly skitter off, in the manner of the butterflies in Grieg’s Lyric Pieces, but finding some nicely jarring colour-clashes.

Randalu often adopts the static head horizontal posture at the piano characteristic of Bill Evans. His eyes look down fixedly at his hands - perhaps he likes to keep a watchful eye on that cat's cradle of anarchic inner voices.

Randalu doesn’t either gift-wrap or deliberately state his endings. Having – very convincingly – drawn the listener in to his narrative, his way is often to leave the last idea hanging in the air, like a question, a trait particularly noticeable in “Regnana.”

The solo piano recital is an ultra-demanding format where there is no hiding-place. Randalu may not have either the showmanship or the flamboyant insouciance of the Finn Iiro Rantala, he may not have as many gears either pianistically and emotionally as Gwilym Simcock, but he constructed an interesting and varied programme which held the audience's attention throughout, and thoroughly deserved the sincere applause it received.

But what I found most fascinating was that Randalu’s personality and his heritage mean that his music and its inspiration do come from somewhere else. There is clearly a steadily growing and individual voice here. I’d be fascinated to hear him next in a context requiring interaction with other musicians, and see the sparks really fly.

Liane writes about Ian..Ian writes about Liane

(Ian Shaw and Liane carroll. Photo credit: Corrie Scott, at the Holders Season, Barbados)

Ian Shaw and Liane Carroll will be performing in the Saturday night Base series at Kings Place on March 26th. They've written for us about the joys of performing as a duo together:

Ian on Liane . . .

Liane Carroll and I met on a train bound for some festival gigs. The year was 1492. We locked horns over many many things. Large gin and tonics in sunny French festival hotels were the ordre de jour. Our first musical collision was in a motel in Le Mans. There was a piano, we were keeping the bar open in a most unFrench way..and that was it. She wailed an Ellington and a Laura Nyro and my eyes filled with tears at the brittle beauty of her musical and emotional honesty.

Twenty odd years later we are often together, crashing each other's band sets, doing two Steinway, four handed shows, singing with big bands, guesting on each other's albums. These times with Liane are so brimmed with "moment" they keep me as sharp as a Sabbatier. To accompany her, in a pianist role, is fulfilling beyond measure. We hear the same stuff, the same harmonic nuances...and it is always, for me, a rare and beautiful thing. It never goes wrong, and in its often shabby-round-the gills form, it gives me energy and reminds me why I do my job.

Liane on Ian . . .

When I was a child, certain music would make me "fizz", Usually, it was sweeping orchestral scores, raging big bands and wonderful singers that you KNEW were singing from the bowels of their joy, pain, love, despair etc. I used to fantasize that when I was older, I would be lucky enough to sing and play with such orchestras, big bands and singers, and practiced every day, pissing my piano teacher off because I was more interested in jazz than classical, which she would equate with having to have me exorcised, or something equally as blinkered and patronising, but I never swayed.

Then 20 years ago I had a brief encounter on a train to Le Mans with a man whom, to this day, I believe is the very best of ALL that made me fizz. Ian Shaw is not only one of my dearest friends, but a revolutionary who breaks down all musical barriers, and just happens to make the most wonderful noise I've ever heard. I am honoured and privileged every single time we play together, and I don't ever want it to stop.


Boooking for the Base at Kings Place

Ian Shaw will also be performing songs from his new Abbey Road Sessions CD (Splashpoint) at the Pizza Express Dean Street on March 9th and 10th - pizzaexpresslive.co.uk

London A Cappella Festival Preview

That's Spain. On a quieter note, try this:

The window looked out onto a pattern never-ending,
A flower and trees and little pathways far descending
To the garden far below us, the pavilions in the sunlight
Where the Peacocks proudly grace the scene.


Norma Winstone first recorded these evocative lyrics to Jimmy Rowles' tune "The Peacocks" for the first time on the album "Well-Kept Secret" in LA in 1993, with Jimmy Rowles himself at the piano. The song, called "A Timeless Place" is becoming less and less of a secret...almost a standard.

It will form part of the Swingle Singers' closing concert of the London A Cappella Festival on Saturday January 15th, with Winstone herself as guest soloist.

I spoke to Clare Wheeler, who is one of the Swingle singers, who are curating the second festival, after a very busy and successful debut festival in 2010. Last year's festival consisted of British groups, this year there are groups from Belgium (Witloof Bay) and Sweden (The Real Group), and the festival will also have educational and community events. The Real Group, I read, do a great version of Bill Evans' Waltz For Debby.

Incidentally, she also told me about the power of Morningditty, which is a Facebook group and a Twitter topic. The invitation for the Swingles to perform at the Royal Command Performance (think Regent Street and tuition fees demonstrations....) came because of it.

MORE DETAILS OF THE LONDON A CAPPELLA FESTIVAL SITE

London Jazz Festival (28) Review: TheBad Plus and Django Bates

The Bad Plus
(Days 1 and 3 of Kings Place residency, part of London Jazz Festival, Thursday 18th and Saturday 20th November 2010; review and drawings by Geoff Winston)

The Bad Plus delivered two greatly different concerts at either end of their 3-day residency, which speaks volumes for their collective level of confidence and imagination. Ethan Iverson (piano) , David King (drums) and Reid Anderson (bass) made themselves at home at Kings Place, and presented a series of events to celebrate their first ten years. Their powerful opening concert showcased their most recent album, Never Stop (Emarcy) the first they have released containing only original tunes. On the final night they teamed up with Django Bates for an extraordinary, uncategorisable improvised set.

Going back to the 1990s, Iverson sowed the seeds which formally became the Bad Plus at the turn of the century. Since then the three have given great dedication to the evolution of their trio, and steered a course which combines virtuosity with a bubbling inquisitive streak and a magpie sensibility. Assiduously refusing to be pigeon-holed they hover over the pools of anthemic pop, flamboyant classical and ardent minimalism, yet can always be tracked back to a jazz grounding. This wide-ranging referencing disguises their discipline and command, a trait which can wrong-foot the uninitiated.

The first night was very much about the trio. The Bad Plus responded to the space and exceptional acoustics of Hall One by treating it almost as a studio. Cheered by a dedicated audience as they took to the stage, they kicked off with the deliberate, solo bass intro of 'Let Our Garden Grow' which let in a diversionary, simple piano melody and saw King, as ever, grappling with the possibilities of percussion, scraping the end of a drumstick on a cymbal, beating a child's toy containing bells, or very quietly brushing the drum kit with his hands.

The dramatic 'And here we test our powers of observation' followed, before easing in to numbers from the new album. Their choppy changes wove a melodramatic and melancholy filmic backdrop which might have been a journey across the American continent, taking in the moods and cultures of the midwest, from which they hail. I was reminded of the Jacques Loussier Trio; Anderson as Michelot, Iverson as Loussier ... they have that ability to mine the popular and the classical from a jazz perspective.

'2PM' - 'tea time?' Iverson ventured mock-resignedly, perhaps because he was in London, was dedicated to Paul Motian, with a jaunty theme (almost 'Secret Love') and a piano deviation so offbeat it might have been 'Chopsticks' at one point. 'People Like You' and the unrecorded 'In Stitches' were memorable for their poignancy and quiet composure, qualities which infused much of their intense two-hour set.

It was in the setting of unbridled improvisation with a musician whom they all admire, but had never previously performed with, Django Bates, that they showed the other side of their musical personality. Closer to Iverson's and King's sorties with Buffalo Collision, they generously gave both house room and the initiative to Django in a one and a half hour roller-coaster ride where all four had to be at the peak of their improvisational game, lest they should drop the meteorically fast-travelling baton.

It was a remarkable dialogue of pure invention, dynamic discord and constant movement. For a spell we might have been in a Stockhausen concert where they juggled with crackly electronics and absurdist interventions, with Iverson bouncing on his piano stool to add creaks to the sonic texture. Gershwin, Rachmaninov and Art Blakey were always just round the corner, too.

Django's frenetic electric keyboard work was dazzling, changing pace and tone by the minute, augmented by his tenor horn and synthesised vocals - a great foil to Iverson's florid restraint on the acoustic grand, King's meticulous, madcap drumming collages and Anderson's ventures in to the percussive as well as the more conventional potential of the upright bass. All of which didn't stop them leaning in to a rich blues segment, beautifully held. Visually, too, Django's orange button-down shirt provided contrast to Iverson's formal monochrome, and when he launched in to one lavish solo, the Plus ground to a halt to just watch and delight in his invention.

To round off proceedings, a session with Seb Rochford and Leafcutter John in Hall Two saw them in a more relaxed mode after their earlier exertions.

Thursday was an evening of brilliant poise and balance. Saturday was a total, special, one-off. The two combined were a great adventure


Jazz on 3 will be broadcasting the Saturday concert on January 17th 2011.

Your Ship Comes In

Jim Mullen, the most poetic of guitarists, will be celebrating his 65th birthday this Saturday at Kings Place (a Spitz promotion) with a great young band. LondonJazz newsletter subscribers can enter a prize draw for a double prize. We are not just offering two free tickets for the concert. The superb Rotunda restaurant at Kings Place has also stepped in - thank you - and offered our winner and his or her guest a free meal either before or after the concert.

Here's Kurt Weill's My Ship. The floating of the melody is gorgeous. Classical music enthusiasts will appreciate the passing nod to Mozart's G minor Symphony. Jazz nuts will pick up "It might as well be Spring."

And if there is a techie out there.... who can tell me how the hell I can stop my Dell laptop transposing Jim down a major third into Db, you're my new best friend!

The King of Kings Place

Here's David King, drummer of The Bad Plus, caught in full flight by the lens of Tim Dickeson at Friday night's London Jazz Festival gig with Wendy Lewis. At least one stick got broken and flew across the stage.

A wonderful, quieter moment came later when the trio and Lewis sang unplugged, a capella, in four-part harmony, to pindrop silence in the pristine acoustic of Kings Place Hall One, this couplet from Neil Young:

Keep me searching for a heart of gold.
And I'm getting old.

London Jazz Festival Preview (12) The Bad Plus Kings Place Residency

Reid Anderson, bassist of The Bad Plus (centre in photo above, with Dave King and Ethan Iverson), whom I spoke to this afternoon while he was on a train heading southwards through upstate New York , has a specific reason to be looking foward to the final night of the group's three-night residency: Saturday 20th in the stunning ultra-clear acoustic of Hall One of Kings Place. This gig will be the first time the band has ever shared a stage with Django Bates.

All three members of the band, Anderson told me, have known and admired Bates' music for many years. Ethan Iverson has even interviewed Django Bates for BBC Jazz on 3 (transcript here). But Saturday 20th will be that unique occasion: a first musical meeting, when musicians are psyching each other out on stage.

The first night of the residency will be the trio, featuring tunes from their new CD (on EmArcy), Never Stop. The new CD is different from the others, in that there are no re-treatments of other music, all the tunes are originals. But the sheer range of material is impressive, and that in itself makes the album a compelling listen. With the Bad Plus, the band means each tune to haveits own character and personality, normally with a back-narrative.

A track which caught my curiosity on Never Stop was "Bill Hickman at Home." On the album, this tune gives a prominent role to a very out-of-tune piano, on which Iverson seems to get have a particular affection for the sourest notes. Anderson explained that it was a spontaneous decision to use this piano- it happened to be in the studio. But the idea, the gag, fits completely with the variety, adapatability and eclecticism that define The Bad Plus's musical identity.

Anderson explained to me that a lot of what thegroup does has a "cinematic intention." Bill Hickman, as car stuntman on some of Hollywood's iconic films is part of their cultural heritage. And yet he was known as a loner and recluse. The "intimate, saloon-bar, raggedy feel" seemed to go with the territory. Another interesting character is Beryl, the awkward high school girl in the frantically but infectiously energetic "Beryl Loves to Dance."

The second night here at Kings Place will see the band sharing the stage with Wendy Lewis, with whom they recorded the album For All I Care (Heads Up International ) in 2008, with tunes including Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb."

I asked Anderson about the fortieth birthday which he celebrated three weeks ago. Apart from it having been a good excuse for a party, it seems something he takes in his stride: "It certainly isn't weighing heavily on me." The collective momentum behind the band is very powerful indeed,as it has been since they started. There is such a strong, shared purpose, "we believe in doing it our own way."

I also talked to Tony Platt, who produced the CD "Prog," today. He told me that he likes to explain what The Bad Plus do like this:

"They're like the Marx Brothers. One of them starts a gag. They pass it on to each other. Then they all get together for the punchline. There isn't any sense of competition. They don't out-jazz or out-anything each other."

It's that cinematic theme again. "We like Tony's description." Anderson told me.

People scanning the listings for highlights of the 2010 London Jazz Festival, then these three gigs in Kings Place Hall One should already be on the short-list.

http://www.kingsplace.co.uk/

An in-depth review of Never Stop by Pamela Espeland is HERE