Review: Tommy Smith's Karma

Review: Tommy Smith's Karma
(Pizza Express, April 28th 2011, review and photos by Roger Thomas)

In the photo I tried to capture one of those contempative, meditative Zen moments, with Tommy Smith crouching hidden next to the piano, musing as the band played on. I smiled as the thought came to me that perhaps he's been overcome by thoughts of his own Karma. Looking around at the audience, that mood had communicated to them, people were still, transfixed, caught in their own inner thoughts.

This show was dedicated to the performance of tracks from his latest album, Karma. Jazz improvisation, and sounds reminiscent of Weather Report were mixed with Indian rhythms, the rituals of Japan, but there is also a chilled urban feel, tasteful electronic keyboards and funky/hip-hoppish drumming.

The arrangements were thought-provoking and showed a great understanding of how to combine all of these disparate elements. Smith has written specificially for musicians whom he knows well - which added to the distinct character of each composition.

Tommy is now the musician's musician, at least to judge by the number of colleagues who were not just present, but were also clearly showing their appreciation of, and admiration for this new project. They weren't alone in that: this is one album I will definitely be buying.



Personnel: Tommy Smith - Tenor sax, Shakuhachi; Steve Hamilton - Piano/Keyboards; Kevin Glasgow - six string bass guitar; Alyn Cosker - Drums.

Karma is on Spartacus Records

Review: Daryl Sherman

Daryl Sherman Trio
(Pizza Express Dean Street, 26th April 2011, Review by Frank Griffith)

Cafe Society comes to Soho. New Englander, and now NYC-based jazz chanteuse and pianist Daryl Sherman, brought her own blend of that culture to Soho's Pizza Express on Tuesday.

A frequent visitor to our shores since 1999, her trio, consisting of Howard Alden on guitar and Brit bassman Dave Green, had previously racked up many seasons at Pizza on the Park, Hyde Park's recently closed venue. As a result, she has migrated to the flagship venue for modern jazz, Pizza Express, Dean Street. The lighting, table layout, room shape and general ambiance were much more conducive at the POTP for the song and storytelling kind of menu that this artiste delivers.

Sherman's chat and anecdotes contribute nearly as much to the show as do the actual songs and jazz. The seamless segue and interplay between these two elements works wondrously in her hands. The audience is simultaneously entertained, and educated about the lives and classic offerings of the British and American songsmiths.

Hailing from Woonsocket, Rhode Island, Daryl has deep roots in thism nusic. Her father, Sammy Sherman, a restaurateur, doubled on trombone and violin. She forged longtime musical associations with other jazzers from that area such as Dave McKenna, Ruby Braff, Harry Allen and the sadly missed cornetist, author and general knower of all things, Richard Sudhalter.

She took the theme of April songs for a medley ("I'll Remember April" and Bill Evans' "In April"). Another sequence, interspersed with eloquent anecdotes, consisted of four Johnny Mercer songs in succession, including "Jeepers Creepers" and a pair of his Dream titles, all of which were sung with aplomb.

At one point Daryl rose from the piano and took centre stage to deliver a heart-rending reading of Burton Lane's "Too late Now". Her eye contact with the audience, body language with the band and general stage presence had risen in exponential proportions. Perhaps having freed herself from the piano helped her up the ante in attaining a poignancy in delivery, a touch of magic..

Sherman also writes well-crafted and characerful trio arrangements which leave plenty of space for solos. She is no mean pianist, both as accompanist and soloist. Her vertical "hopping in place" motion in time to the beat is a sight to behold-which is in keeping with her scamp-like improvisations mixing light asides and riff trading with Alden and Green. both of whom are driving soloisits in their own right. Dave Green's bass feature, Oscar Pettiford's "Laverne Walk," was a worthwhile diversion from the songfest, as Green put Alden and himself through their paces on this rarely heard jazz classic.

Cafe Society indeed. A dying art to some perhaps, but in Ms Sherman's case, in ever so able hands. A true celebration of melodies, language and songdom.

Daryl Sherman's next London appearance is at The Pheasantry in Chelsea on 5th May. Bookings at pizzaexpresllive.co.uk

Review: Stiefel and Simcock/ Herman and Cawley

Left to right: Simcock, Herman, Cawley, Stiefel

Piano Duets: Christoph Stiefel and Gwilym Simcock/ Yaron Herman and Tom Cawley
(Pizza Express Dean Steet, April 16th 2011, early set. Part of Steinway Two Piano Festival. Review by Jeanie Barton)

This was an ear expanding yet nostalgic evening for me. The four-hand configuration could not help sounding like Rachmaninov (his massive hands were able to cover the interval of a thirteenth on the keyboard - a hand span of approximately twelve inches). During the late 90s I listened to little else, and this evening’s pairing of Christoph Stiefel with Gwilym Simcock and Yaron Herman with Tom Cawley reignited my piano passion.

The first set saw Christoph Stiefel (from Zurich) face Gwilym Simcock (from Bangor). They proceeded to blur the lines between classical and jazz with Gwilym’s composition These Are The Good Days. The rolling rhythmic keys somehow evoked Europe and Russia’s romantic masters; this might have been down to Christoph’s national identity (coincidentally during the 30s Rachmaninov made Switzerland his home, he also wished to be buried there although his death during the second world war made this impossible) or by Gwilym’s own influence of classical composers like Maurice Ravel and Igor Stravinsky. They share a love of experimental technique also; Christoph bowed a string which sounded rather like a raw violin or fiddle and Gwilym’s percussion inside the piano frame added tension and a contemporary edge to the instrument. Another number saw Christoph lay a straw on the stings to create a harpsichord effect which bought to my mind Nina Rota’s score for Fellini’s Il Casanova - an eerie sound.

In and Out of Order by Christoph employed a technique called Isorhythm (where the same rhythmic and tonal pattern is repeated) in this case in 6/4 time, upon which Gwilym layered a heavy R&B groove, somehow making the piano frame sound like a double bass. There were also moments of sensitivity with a drop of pace when both pianists seemed bird-like, communicating with soft feathery touches. It appeared that a lot of rehearsal had gone into this presentation, only being able to communicate with their eyes, shoulders and heads, they never the less played complex changes and rhythms simultaneously.

Tom Cawley - like Gwilym Simcock - first attended Chetham’s music school in Manchester and then the Royal Academy of Music; Yaron Herman is an Israeli who studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston and now lives in Paris. Their set opened in a contrasting gentle style with Yaron’s Blossom. Evocative of music from the early 19th century it built with Michael Nyman-like intensity before ebbing back to a genteel waltz. Tom voiced their concern that Gwilym and Christoph would have been rehearsing so his and Yaron’s response was to buy matching T-shirts so they at least looked as one. They did blend superbly but in more of a call and response way than with intensive layering, however they did shell each other, Yaron taking the outer register of keys and Tom filling the mid range or vice versa, there was more of a sense of improvisation and space and their communication was evident in their super-mobile faces, which also added to the duet’s comedy.

They were very inventive too, employing more contemporary techniques; creating dead key knocks by muting the strings with their palms also Yaron sang along, somehow making kazoo-like noises. Quotes were exchanged from I Loves You Porgy and Get Happy, with Gospel enthused harmonies and Latin/Salsa grooves. Their last number, Radiohead’s haunting composition No Surprises, had the audience in raptures. I felt it took me full circle, sounding strangely like the close to the second movement of Rachmaninov’s second piano concerto.


Pizza Express Live

DVD Review: Branco Stoysin Trio - Live at the Pizza Express Jazz Club, London

Branco Stoysin TrioLive at the Pizza Express Jazz Club, London
(Sun Recordings DVD BST-SR 24597-D1, DVD Review by Chris Parker)

Taking its material from just two of Branco Stoysin's six Sun albums, 2003's Heart is the Bridge and 2007's Quiet Stream Breaks the Rocks, this DVD documents a 2008 concert by the Serbia-born guitarist and his rhythm section, six-string bassist Leslee Booth and drummer Buster Birch, at London's Pizza Express jazz club in Dean Street, Soho.

Appropriately enough, given the consistently non-grandstanding nature of Stoysin's art – he eschews many of the contemporary guitarist's showier characteristics such as a reliance on electronic gadgetry, bursts of feedback, lightning runs or sudden changes of tone and texture, relying instead purely on unfussy dexterity, rhythmic subtlety and a keenly melodic ear for his effect on audiences – the filming is spare, even basic in its almost unblinking focus on the trio.

The result is an entirely faithful record of a Stoysin performance, taking in everything from individual takes on the blues ('Miss D') and burnished ballads ('Mahogany Won't Die'), to folk tunes ('Shana, Darling') and highly personal meditations on recent Serbian history ('Bridge in Heart, Heart is the Bridge', which uses the destruction of a Danube-spanning bridge in Stoysin's home town of Novi Sad as a metaphor).

Booth and Birch are characteristically supple and sympathetic throughout, and Stoysin's playing might have been specially designed to illustrate the wisdom of the aforementioned South Slavic proverb hedescribes as a 'source of inspiration and encouragement': 'A quiet stream breaks the rocks'.

Available from JazzCDs.co.uk

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

Review: Kenny Wheeler Quintet

Kenny Wheeler, Jon Irabagon, John Taylor, Michael Janisch, Andrew Bain
(Pizza Express Dean Street, February 16th 2011, first night of two)

This gig was always going to bring out the best in every player right from the start. Jon Irabagon had written a preview for us saying how much he was looking forward to playing with both Kenny Wheeler and John Taylor. It was the kind of gig which musicians had depped out their other work for, just for a chance to be in the audience. Or in two cases scampered down the whole length of the M1 to get to. It was the kind of gig where a drummer (in this case the ultra-responsive and creative Andrew Bain) will sit down at his kit, roll his shoulders and survey the scene…. and find he doesn't have to look beyond the second row of the audience for inspiration - because he's looking straight out at Peter Erskine.

With two exceptions, the tunes were by Kenny Wheeler. Each one of these tunes, with their quirky asymmetries, their irresistible lines, their uplifting sadness has the sheen and durability of a unique diamond. This is music which will still be played in a hundred years' time. The musicians know what a privilege it is to share this music with its creator. You can absolutely feel that sense of occasion, right from the very first note.

Just one example: "The Jigsaw" last night was pure joy. Wheeler and Irabagon followed each other in canon in the tune, then in his solo Kenny Wheeler first toyed with the sinuous melodic figures in the tune, then started to stretch the intervals like elastic, reaching up, extending. Then John Taylor's solo was the poetry of absolute rhythmic freedom. This was musical completeness.

This was the first time I had heard Jon Irabagon live. It is in the nature of the modern player to have absorbed a wide range of influences, but Irabagon knows how to portray voices which are so contrasting, they almost seem compete with each other for attention. The crowd seemed to take him best to its heart when he was at his most Breckerish, constructing and firing off a profusion of shapes and patterns. But wait, that's just part of the story: there is an Albert Ayler in him who demands to have his say. And maybe even a gutsy Bennie Wallace too. I felt like an autograph-hunter wrong-footed by finding I'd been given more than one signature. He’s Othello, but here he is as Iago too. This is definitely my problem rather than Irabagon’s. At a first hearing I know that I've heard a lot of different parts, and not yet identified the sum of them, the whole. Which is to say that Irabagon is a fascinating saxophonist who absolutely deserves to be heard.

Bassist Michael Janisch had assembled this fabulous project. Mike deserved every whoop of applause which greeted the end of his bass solos. Contributions like his - both as bassist and as producer - to the musical life of our great city are beyond price. The same quintet is at the Pizza Express tonight. Don’t miss it.

www.pizzaexpresslive.co.uk

This week's Prize Draw: Jonathan Kreisberg Quartet

This week's prize draw for newsletter readers is a pair of tickets for the top New York quartet of Jonathan Kreisberg (guitar), Will Vinson (alto saxophone and piano), Hans Glawischnig(bass) and Mark Ferber (drums) at Pizza Express on Wednesday March 2nd.

I vividly remember being bowled over by the subtlety and occasional gentleness of Kreisberg's playing as part of Ari Hoenig's group at Road Trip in Shoreditch, and on that groups CD, Berts Playground. Here are some other plaudits off Kreisberg's website. Glawischnig, originally from Graz, has quite some pedigree too...

Road Trip. ...Shoreditch. March 2009. ...It was my tenth review for this site.... How time flies!

pizzaexpresslive.co.uk

UPDATE: Downbeat's 150 Best Jazz Rooms

UPDATE: HERE'S THE VORTEX PROUDLY DISPLAYING ITS BADGE!



(Back to our original story) Congratulations to four London clubs -

- Ronnie Scott's, Pizza Express Dean Street, 606 Club and Vortex -

all four appear in Febuary 2011 Downbeat's list of the world's "150 best jazz rooms." There are only 28 listed outside North America. (And on the subjects of jazz - and getting a room - the photo above was taken at Jazz Alley in Seattle, also listed by Downbeat, by Jenny Jimenez)