Geoff Winston's selection of 2010 live music

The exceptional, the provocative and the affirmative have been found in abundance at many extraordinary concerts in the past year. To pick out just a few of them is not to exclude the rest, but to give a flavour of the range and the world-class standards that we are fortunate to be able to experience on our doorstep - mostly in the confines of north-east London at trail-blazing venues Vortex and Cafe Oto, but also in the centre of town at concert halls - Barbican (drawing above in negative of Charles Lloyd Quartet- credit Geoffrey Winston), RFH, Kings Place and the Wigmore Hall.

So with a few guide-words, let's hear it for:


Raw Creativity: Bad Plus with Django Bates at Kings Place (November); an unparalleled whirlwind of ingenuity, inspiration and interplay, defying categorisation

Power and Glory: Hairy Bones at Vortex (March); the sensitivity of Peter Brötzmann's long-standing quartet with trumpeter Kondo, Nilssen-Love and Pupillo came through on both nights, even though their meal-ticket is power-play

Ensemble Extraordinaire: Vandermark 5 at Vortex (September); breathtaking dynamics, awareness and intelligence from Vandermark, Rempis and co; a few days later at Cafe Oto, Ken joined Brötzmann's Full Blast Trio for two sessions which never stood still for a moment

Delight: Martial Solal at the Wigmore Hall (November); this quasi-sacred space proved to be the perfect setting for pianist Solal's exceptional virtuosity, creativity and gentle musical wit

Joy: Han Bennink at Pizza Express, with Coxon and Thomas (May); master drummer Bennink sparkled, switching gleefully from utter precision to contained mayhem; at Vortex (October) the smiles from trombonist Ray Anderson said it all, with Bennink mucking in, away from the limelight this time

Another Plane: David Toop at the Whitechapel Gallery (September); a remarkable two-hours of tremulous sound explorations from Toop, Butcher, Durrant and Kolkowski

Class (I): Vijay Iver Trio (link is to Patrick Hadfield's review) at Vortex (August); with Crump and Gilmore, Iyer's sets had quality written all over them; solo, also at Vortex (December), Iyer's intensity and range were absorbing

Class (II): Charles Lloyd Quartet (link to Alison Hoblyn's review) at the Barbican (November): Lloyd's flow was perfectly complemented by the accomplished trio of Moran, Rogers and Harland

Co-operation: Leo Wadada Smith 's two nights at Cafe Oto (July) showed how the sensitivity of a key musician can bring out the best in his collaborators

Invention: Mats Gustafsson at Cafe Oto (April) created evocative soundcapes with Thomas and Wachsmann, and gave an outing to his vintage slide sax; at Vortex (November) he was equally inventive in The Thing's sets, which showed a welcome disrespect for musical boundaries

The Extreme: Lou Reed's Metal Music Machine Trio at The Junction, Cambridge, heard again at the RFH (April) were uncompromising and challenging - the bunker and the concert hall presented different ribcage-vibrating options and Reed, Calhoun and Kreiger battered the walls at the edge of the musical universe

Illuminating Interview: Seb's interview with Matthias Winckelmann (link to Neal Richardson's review)at King's Place (April); hearing Matthias tell his story helped give form to a label that one almost takes for granted. This could be the forerunner of a series - maybe other labels, producers, musicians ...

Great music, too, from, among others, John Tchicai, Mary Halvorson, Chris Abrahams, Andrea Belfi, The Necks, Alexander von Schlippenbach, Evan Parker, Paul Lovens, Tony Marsh, Steve Noble, John Edwards, Joe McPhee, Monty Alexander, Georgia Manci0, Norma Winstone, Brad Mehldau, Phronesis, Toshimara Nakimura, Rhodri Davies, Tyft, Buffalo Collision, Max de Wardener, Bad Plus on their own ... and averaging 8 or 10 quid to see world class music in its best format - the live performance - often in a tiny venue - this represents incredible value.

Thank you musicians, thank you promoters and venues. And best wishes for 2011.

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.

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