Review: Okkyung Lee (Cafe Oto and Vortex)

Okkyung Lee, Steve Beresford, John Butcher and Christian Marclay
(Cafe Oto, Saturday 21 May 2011)
Okkyung Lee, Phil Minton and Mark Sanders with Steve Noble and Alex Ward (Vortex, Sunday 22 May 2011). Reviews and drawings* by Geoff Winston


This was Okkyung Lee's Dalston weekend. The New York-based Korean cellist showcased her formidable talent with a mature confidence in two different contexts, alongside musicians drawn from the cream of the free-improv scene.

First she was heard in a quartet that has performed together once a year at Cafe Oto for the past three years - Christian Marclay, a frequent collaborator, Steve Beresford and John Butcher; and at the Vortex, coinciding with the launch of her studio album with Phil Minton - 'Anicca' (Dancing Wayang, vinyl only) - playing with him in public for the first time, joined also by Mark Sanders.

Lee is an improviser of acute sensibility, and in the range of her execution and interplay she gave the lie to her frequent casting as a dark, brooding, noise-oriented player. To each of the ensembles she brought a refreshing energy and clarity of musical vision, rooted in her classical background which she sensuously exploits in combinations of contrasting abstract and conventional techniques. She was, in this formidable company, both catalyst and complement.

At Cafe Oto each musician was pushed to the limit in duets and with the full quartet. Marclay was at his most intensely oblique, treating his turntables and array of LPs as one instrument to extrude peripheral glitches and dense washes of sound. Crackles and echoes coalesced in dramatic style, with glimpsed recordings of orchestral strings and florid piano providing uncanny juxtapositions with Lee's drawn, stretched and anguished cello.

Beresford, at one with his armoury of multifarious tabletop gizmos contributed elastic chameleon changes to the panorama - a fairground organ's chimes, springy bloops out of the 60s, a chunky hip-hop beat, interference, a distant radio signal. Butcher parped, lightly gargled through his soprano sax, tapped the mouthpiece and the keypads of his tenor and took his part in a melee of high-pitched cicada-like activity.

Marclay, in response to the heat generated, picked up two LPs and waved them, fan-like by Butcher to create a breeze and a rare moment of laughter, before all four joined in clattering rhythmic dialogue and a tense passage of delicate creaks, odd signals, scrapes, chimes and washes, ending with a final hovering breath.

At the Vortex, a stirring, focussed set from Alex Ward and Steve Noble set the tone for Lee's trio. Ward wrenched out the notes and flew all over the registers, forcing squealing echoes from a separated mouthpiece; Noble, in his element, slick, then bumping and grinding, changing mallets to utilise unconventional interfaces of materials, a constant dynamo.

Playing seated, the Lee/Minton/Sanders trio eschewed stillness, their two-number set a statement encompassing the underplayed, the distant, the underheard, with the visceral and the hauntingly immediate. Minton is about exertion, and the forging of languages - animal, human, the almost human - a vocal shaman, a sounding board for the emotions and the troubled landscape of the times. Lee caressed the body of the cello with fingers and hands, applied her bow in sweeps and light vibrating bounces, darted up and down the fingerboard, responding in kind to Minton's whistlings, gulps, intakes of breath, whooshes, muted cries and whispers. Sanders was inspired, intensely alert and engaged. He tinged tiny bells, pattered brushes, and found needle thin sticks to drag over the skins, ceaselessly filling out the rhythms with obscure percussive accessories, the perfect foil to Lee and Minton.

In a momentous passage they conjured up the ominous approach of an indefinable storm - from the disquiet of barely audible sound, Minton introduced a light breeze from the back of his mouth with Lee lightly rumbling in the deeper registers. Sanders struck a tambourine placed on the large cymbal. The threatening air brooked no relaxion; a natural and terrible vox emerged - sounds which found a coherence in those close to incoherence.

The rapt audience at the Vortex was treated to music deserving of 'sold out' signs, rounding off this short season of precariously balanced chemistry.

Images copyright Geoff Winston 2011. All Rights Reserved.

Saluting and celebrating the London Jazz Orchestra at 20

Vortex Sunday 22nd May, 4pm - featuring the music of Noel Langley
Vortex Sunday 26th June 4pm - Featuring the music of Scott Stroman

Congratulations to the London Jazz Orchestra on reaching the grand age of 20. The next two dates (above) are celebratory concerts. They will feature music by the Orchestra's two co-founders.

The LJO at the Vortex is probably (any other contenders please speak up ) London’s longest-running residency*. Noel Langley and Scott Stroman started the LJO in 1990.

Scott writes: "after 6 months (!) of rehearsals with members including Kenny Wheeler, Ian Carr, Chris Biscoe, Norma Winstone, etc. We did our first gig in the QEH in 1991, and started our Vortex residency the same year." Scott also remembers his wrangles with the Home Office to get leave to remain in the UK from this time.

(*) Pedantic footnote (I know you lot): it has not been completely continuous - there was a hiatus, as this review from John Fordham from January 2009 makes clear.

www.vortexjazz.co.uk

Review: Big Air

Myra Melford

Big Air
(Vortex, 2nd May 2011, review and drawings by Geoff Winston*)

This could have been the Big Air tenth anniversary tour - it is ten years since this formidable transatlantic quintet were first brought together by the foresight of what was to be an award-winning BBC commission. Intelligent polyphony is the rich seam which runs through their material.

Whether from the Brits - Oren Marshall's rasping tuba, and the scintillating brass/reeds duo of Chris Batchelor and Steve Buckley reunited from their Loose Tubes days, or the Americans - Myra Melford, one moment punishing the keyboard, the next caressing it, and drummer Jim Black, beady eyes on everybody, laying down the funk and changing gears effortlessly - there is rigorous poise in their invention, and a deep care for their musical craft.

Borrowing humorously, they opened with 'All Good Things', a dead ringer for a jumping Mexican brass band - military drum rolls, high brass and knowingly hesitant bass clarinet, with Marshall's pumping tuba plotting the foundations - it could have been festive Oaxaca.

The second set opener also borrowed, respectfully - this time from Ornette's phrasing and alto tones - before Marshall's solo took off in to an other-worldly tundra, with only amplified breath to define the landscape, and Jim Black chipping in invisibly to lubricate the sound. Melford's solo was both cerebral and physical - lightly skipping from note to note then drenching the keyboard with chordal runs at breakneck speed, right hand in freeform cartwheel mode.

Steve Buckley and Jim Black

Buckley's authority and precision on both alto and skinny bass clarinet, was a perfect foil to Batchelor's deft, Spanish-toned hints of Miles. Somehow, after the crazy histrionics of an escalating, distorted tuba solo they all managed to wind down into a mellifluous restatement of the theme of 'Hole in the Pocket', Black's sticks just glancing the cymbals. Encoring on 'One Way Only', the rangy Buckley knelt down to the mike with penny whistle, mimicked momentarily by Batchelor on mute, to an assured backdrop of driving, syncopated rhythms, and a big-band arrangement pulled out of nowhere.

The same sense of enjoyment all the way through was shared by the musicians and by their appreciative Bank Holiday Vortex crowd.

Personnel: Chris Batchelor: trumpet; Steve Buckley: alto saxophone, bass clarinet; Myra Melford: piano; Oren Marshall: tuba; Jim Black: drums

Big Air's CD is on Babel

(*)Drawings copyright Geoff Winston 2011. All rights reserved.

Review: Han Bennink

Han Bennink Trio and Steve Noble
(Vortex, Friday 22nd April 2011, review and drawings by Geoff Winston*)


Han Bennink (above left) and Steve Noble (right) are both drummers who can play it absolutely straight or wheel off at a tangent.

Their sprightly snare drum duet saw Bennink set a hard, metallic tone, using his sticks on the chair and drum body, then his booted foot on his drum. He whistled nonchalantly, brushes in action, while Noble tapped a massive tuning fork resting on his snare. Noble added a small hand held cymbal and a maraca to vary the range, with a short, hard-headed mallet scraped slowly across the drum skin to produce an eerie, wailing sound. Never to be outdone, Bennink put one stick in his mouth, hitting it with the other, and in their short, final piece ended by hitting the piano strings.

For the Trio's single 40 minute set, Bennink sat behind his full kit, brushes setting a good, driving pace, and then fell back to let his his young cohorts map out the ground. There was a feel of the wartime night club as they manipulated and extended the centrepiece of the set, Charles Trenet's 'La Mer' (apparently written on toilet paper on a train by Trenet!).

Pianist Simon Toldam was deliberate and lightly restrained on the Vortex's Steinway which, earlier in the day, had been appreciated for its rich sonority by Roedelius. Joachim Badenhorst was similarly withdrawn on B flat and bass clarinet - which he often played in its higher register - and tenor sax which he pushed into trills and gargles as Toldam brushed light chains on and off the piano strings. Bennink, ever the showman, threw his sticks out of their plastic bag which he promptly absorbed into his repertoire, clattered a structural steel column, sat on the floor to play one of the venue's marble-topped tables and returned to his snare front of stage onto which he hoisted a bentwood chair before the trio ended on a subdued note with clarinet in Giuffre mode and Bennink raising his sticks to his head in antler style!

New arrivals were, not unreasonably, nonplussed when turned away at ten o'clock, on being told it was all over for the evening.

*Drawings copyright Geoffrey Winston 2011. All Rights Reserved

www.vortexjazz.co.uk

Preview/ Interview - Han Bennink Trio

Geoff Winston previews the Vortex appearances of the Han Bennink Trio - with Belgian reeds player Joachim Badenhorst and Danish pianist Simon Toldam - at the Vortex on Friday 22nd April and Saturday 23rd April.

In Bennink’s musical career spanning over 50 years, this trio is the very first which carries the Dutch drummer's name, and now performs regualrly, which says a lot about his feelings for the way the musical collaboration has taken shape.

The trio came into existence when Bennink met the two other, much younger players in Banff, where he and Misha Mengelberg were teaching on a summer course. He then invited them in November 2008, when he won the European Jazz Award, to perform with him for the first time in Vienna, since when they have released their debut album, Parken (ILK Music), in 2009.

Geoff Winston tracked down Han Bennink in Texas, on tour with the Instant Composers Poll Orchestra in the USA:

LondonJazz: What makes London a different place to play your music compared to, say, Amsterdam and other cities?

Han Bennink: It doesn't make any difference to me as long as the concert is going well.

LJ How did you meet Simon Toldam and Joachim Badenhorst and decide to invite them to perform with you?

HB I met them in Banff, and they made such an impression on me that I thought if I ever had a chance to put a group together
these are the musicians I'd like to play with. I thought they were really good.

LJ: How will you prepare for the Trio concerts at the Vortex with Simon Toldam and Joachim Badenhorst, and also the two drum duets - with Steve Noble and Terry Day?

HB: No idea, because I improvise. I don't prepare.

LJ: Is the Trio's music based on written scores? Are the pieces written by individual members of the Trio or are they collaborative efforts?

HB: Some are, some pieces by Joachim, some by Simon, and improvisations.

LJ: You are a very disciplined and technically meticulous musician. Do you have a practice regime?

HB Oh yes I have a practice regime but I'm not spilling the beans !

LJ Which other instruments do you play apart from percussion, and do they help you in the processes of composition?

HB I messed around on a couple of instruments but I now mainly play snare drum. I used to play on c-soprano saxophone, (I like melody instruments),
the one Evan gave me but it belonged to my brother anyway. But Evan had borrowed it for about 25 years and then he gave it back to me.

LJ : Do you have time to listen to other music, recorded and in performance, and, if so, are there any particular musical threads which interest you at the moment?

HB: When I'm home, yes. These days I listen to a lot of classical music - such as Messiaen, Ligeti, Charles Ives. I love Schubert.

LJ Are there art movements or individual artists that you feel you have a natural affinity with or have had an impact on you?

HB: Sure. Picabia, Man Ray, Kurt Schwitters, Max Beckmann, Cy Twombly, Max Ernst, Marcel Duchamp...

LJ: What are the constraints that you impose on yourself as a musician and on the musicians you play with?

HB Many, for example playing only a snare drum. And I like to hit the drums either once in an hour - or a million times in a second...

LJ Thank you!

vortexjazz.co.uk

Drawing of Han Bennink copyright Geoffrey Winston 2011. All Rights Reserved

Change of programme for tonight at Vortex

The Vortex writes:

Unfortunately, due to the tragic turn of events in Japan over the weekend, Toshinori Kondo (above) is unable to make it to the Vortex for his two night residency which had been scheduled for tonight (Monday 14th March) and tomorrow (Tuesday 15th March). He is safe, and fine.

We hope to rearrange these sessions for later in the year.

On the plus side we will still be going ahead with two hard-hitting nights
of free improv from N.E.W. (Monday 14th March) and Matthew Bourne -piano /
Sean Noonan - drums (Tuesday 15th) . Tickets are available at £8.

www.vortexjazz.co.uk / 020 7254 4097.

Review: Dunajska Kapelye

Dunajska Kapelye
(Vortex, Dalston, February 23rd 2011, Review by Tim Woodall)

Here was proof that there is more to gypsy jazz than Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli. London-based five-piece Dunajska Kapelye played tunes from Turkey, Macedonia, Hungary, Russia and Transylvania – as well as a few Hot Club de France numbers – at a sold out, packed Vortex last night.

The inspiration behind this far-reaching passion for gypsy music clearly begins with Piotr Jordan, who put this group together with help from the Vortex. (Dunajska Kapelye are regulars at the club’s monthly Gypsy / East European Night.) A slight, bespectacled figure and seemingly diffident stage presence, the Polish violinist is a remarkable bandleader. He plays with sinewy virtuosity but, unlike so many gypsy jazz violinists, doesn’t dominate the texture with continuous speedy solos.

He is more often cajoling his colleagues – guitarist Jez Cook, Zac Gvirtzman on accordion, Raph Mizraki on double-bass and supporting violinist Flora Curzon – with high register effects and encouraging head nodding. Everyone gets the opportunity for a short solo, but the focus with Dunajska Kapelye is on ensemble playing, whipping easily between runaway, foot-stomping swing and the mournful hush of the ballads.

Cook’s guitar and Mizraki’s bass form the band’s core and combine to bring out the jazz manouche flavour. Cook’s presence is unobtrusive to the point of reticence, but the few licks he allowed himself channelled Reinhardt’s spirit, while Mizraki switched between slap-bass brilliance and solid accompaniment.

Gvirtzman’s fractured, creative accordion playing (and indeed Jordan’s style of fiddling) moves the band’s centre of gravity eastward and to the Balkans, from where the majority of the night’s melodies originate. From melancholic Russian songs (one of which was sung with soul by Gina Boreham) to Transylvanian folk themes, all gypsy life was here.

Dunajska Kapelye put out an album in 2009, and there's another on the way, apparently. Whether either of these CDs can match them live – with the audience dancing, whooping and clapping – I doubt somehow, but they will certainly be worth a listen.


Dunajska Kapelye's Myspace

Next London gig: Green Note, Camden, Sunday March 20th

Dunajska Kapelye's 2009 CD on Bandcamp

Review: Matthew Shipp Trio

Matthew Shipp

Matthew Shipp Trio
(Vortex, Thursday 17 February 2011, review and drawing by Geoff Winston*)

Very, very ... jazz; that was the overriding impression. Shipp's trio walloped the packed Vortex with two richly rewarding, high energy sets which wove obliquely in and out of the standards repertoire. Given Shipp's recent well-publicised diatribe one is tempted to say, too, "almost very Jarrett", because it was as though he was intent on confounding expectations. Many were expecting a left-field and abstract proposition, and, frankly, we got a lovely reinterpretation of what mainstream could mean – close in proximity to the way Keith Jarrett can conceive his music and present it, but with a specifically Shipp cast to it.

Both sets were straight through, non-stop journeys in which Shipp built dense and demanding improvisations with a rhythm section with whom he shared a telepathic rapport. They've played on and off together for getting on for twenty years and this paid off - each was stretched - no coasting and no hesitation. From a quiet, yet angular piano passage, bassist Michael Bisio joined with restraint, then drummer Whit Dickey came in really tight and they took off in a well-meshed, almost mainstream flow - "almost" keeps cropping up, because, despite the homage to the repertoire, it was a consistently idiosyncratic take, which maintained a freshness, eschewing any hint of complacency.

Whit Dickey

Shipp's rocking, stroking arm action seems to lift complex, pattering runs from the keyboard, but also the convincingly military-style marching chords of "Johnny Comes Marching Home." Shipp would drop his head right down, spectacles off, Miles-style, in concentration, and Dickey, with torso virtually static, also adopted a head down posture as his arms did the work, whether quietly on cymbals or a powering tempo in synch with Bisio's physical, hands-on technique. Bisio hammered his bass so hard at one point that it raised the spectre of a forefinger flying across the room; his was such a varied way of working the bass - sometimes held at forty-five degrees as the bow both scraped and stroked the strings, at others he'd clasp it close, hunched over as he picked out the notes - reminiscent of David Izenzon's range with Ornette's trio.

Shipp drew the trio along, through textures and layers - dwelling for some time on 'Green Dolphin Street' and 'Tenderly' both just recognisable, yet unmistakeable, and - possibly - Coltrane's 'Spiritual', letting in reflections of Tyner, with whom Shipp shares affinities, then hints of Red Garland and Monk, even Dolo Coker.

This was a sophisticated set of reflections and explorations, with a serious dip into the jazz bag, and a sometimes playful selection - we had the marching song and a jig. It’s as though Shipp wanted to show how he could get to grips with the jazz legacy and reshape it in his own way. Different to Von Schlippenbach, for instance, whose spikey, nuanced approach exhibits more obvious light and shade, Shipp's concert was more outwardly ‘conventional’ if you took it at a superficial level, but very deeply worked and actually quite a major rethink of how to deal with the whole structure of the standards. It was quite an achievement. And very single-minded in a Trojan Horse kind of way!

By the end of the evening they were really moving assertively in a warmly flowing dialogue - more lava than river!

(* Images copyright Geoffrey Winston 2011, All Rights Reserved)

vortexjazz.co.uk

Jamie Cullum Interview

In advance of this Friday's benefit for the Vortex in Margate, we interviewed Jamie Cullum(Photo BBC)

Are you looking forward to this Friday’s Vortex Benefit in Margate?

Truthfully it's my first time in Margate! It was David Mossman who called me up and asked if I would be interested in helping the festival and the Vortex. David is a tireless and important figure for British Jazz and I would never be able to turn him down. I love the Vortex and without it the British Jazz scene would be much poorer. It is a fearless music venue and hub for the best we have here.


Have you worked with Ian (Shaw) and Liane (Carroll) before?

I know and love both Ian and Liane very well. I would also call them influences on me. Both musicians are singers who go way beyond singing the song, though if called upon they can "torch" it up with the best of them. Ian, Liane and Claire Martin showed me early on that choosing a repertoire as a singer was of the utmost importance. Turning up with the same tired arrangements of the usual standards is no way to make your mark. Through them I learned the importance of crate digging for great songs and then putting your big muddy footprint all over them. They are incredible world class singers. I've shared the stage with them many times and its always an education for me. Come Saturday after the gig I shall be scuttling back to the woodshed.............spanked and inspired!


What’s coming up in your Tuesday BBC Radio 2 show?

The radio show has really become a part of my life. It is an honour to have a such a big platform to play jazz. Credit to BBC Radio 2 for not messing with the playlists. They are totally open and supportive. We have Kurt Elling in session in a couple of weeks which is so exciting for me. Also we are trying to get other shows to start injecting a little jazz into their playlists - The Bad Plus, Gregory Porter and Sara Mitra could end up getting air time elsewhere on R2.

At the Cheltenham Jazz Festival I’ve heard you’re doing a solo performance ? Is that true? What are the challenges?

I always like to do some solo shows when I'm between albums. It really helps me think differently about what I'm doing. At the moment I'm effectively staring in front of a blank sheet that needs new songs on it for album no.6. Playing solo is a huge challenge for me and that can only be a good thing!

Thanks, and enjoy Margate on Friday.

BOOKINGS FOR FRIDAY's SHOW

Review: Evan Parker/ Django Bates

Django Bates Beloved Bird Trio and Evan Parker
(Vortex, January 27th,2011, review and drawing by Geoff Winston.)

“There’s been a misunderstanding" said Django Bates – we thought we were guests of Evan, and he thought he was a guest of us … and we’re still trying to work it out!” Bates explained the evening's conundrum to the audience as his ‘Beloved Bird’ Trio – Petter Endh (bass) and Peter Bruun (drums) completed the first of the evening’s fizzingly empowered improvisations with Evan Parker.

The opening number had offered a series of false ‘natural endings’ followed by manically energetic resumptions, then moving through a few bars of gospel call and response, and rounding off delicately. Taken as a whole, the first set was a performance of swerving pace and sheer concentration, but also of shades and nuances. The four musicians would raise the stakes aggressively, and then let sounds fleetingly and gently float. It was mesmerizing.

The second set kicked off with ‘Plan B’, which Django imagined is what the punters (all very happy and demonstratively enthusiastic throughout) may have been expecting – the Trio performing their interpretations of Charlie Parker, a project which was a happy by-product of a teaching assignment at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen coinciding with a Parker celebration in the same city.

For ‘Scrapple from the Apple’, ‘Hothouse’ and – as Django put it, “the hard one” - ‘Moose the Mooch’, which ended on a crazy latin carnival tone – a sort of Monty Alexander on speed, Evan Parker sat to the side and took it all in, reflecting Django’s stated aim of ‘not putting a … saxophonist in the position of having either not sound like Charlie Parker, or to try to sound like him!"* They just flipped in to this quite different jazz vocabulary, offering pure and authentic bebop mainstream phrasing as part of their revealing deconstructions.

Evan then rejoined the Trio for a final extended extemporization - which included Django on tenor horn, splitting the quartet into brass - and rhythm sections, and a meditative encore. A wonderful range of body language reflected their individual approaches. Django’s arms traced Escher-like perpetual motorway flyover patterns as he reached back and forth, over and under across the keyboard. Bruun was ever fluid, in constant motion as he subverted the drummer’s role, lifting the cymbal off its stand and placing it on the tom, or holding the stick plumb-vertical on the tom, while maintaining a calm demeanour. Endh, by contrast, was inwardly focused, his face taut in his solo as he compulsively exorcised an obsessive rhythmic pattern, with deft accents from Bruun. Parker, for his considerably expressive light and shade, and fluent bluff and bluster, was very much a physically self-contained and undemonstrative figure, yet he reached out to and led the trio into a rich framework, in similar fashion to the way Django set markers for the Bad Plus in his collaboration with them last November.

This was an evening when mutual respect led to fine moments of intangible, unspoken, mystic communication.

(*) From Django Bates' interview with Ethan Iverson for BBC Jazzon3 reproduced HERE
www.vortexjazz.co.uk

Review: Phil Robson's IMS Quintet

Phil Robson's IMS Quintet
(Stables, Wavendon, January 18th 2011)


How easily we take some things for granted. Improvising musicians of the quality of Phil Robson's IMS Quintet will invariably give the listener the chance to be present at the very moment of creation. But to attend the first performances of new compositions by this newly-formed band felt like a special privilege.

The event took place, in low-key fashion, in the small second hall of The Stables in Wavendon last night, but the ripples about this project are bound to spread. There are several more performances - including next Monday 24th and Tuesday 25th at the Vortex. BBC's Jazzon3 - good call - will be recording the second night for later broadcast.

I take it as very good news indeeed that there will be a recording. Because Phil Robson's music, on a first hearing, always gives me that feeling I haven't yet heard right the way through it to the other side. Yes, there are moments of beauty, external allure, yes there is variety. But there is also a depth which brings one back wanting to revisit, to hear more and more. Robson as a player always leaves space for the others, and his compositions as improvising vehicles also give room for stories to be unfurled by soloists, for nice surprises to happen through interaction in the moment.

The compositions stretch from a floaty, dreamy ballad called "A Serenade" featuring the intertwined and exquisitely matched voices of Gareth Lockrane on bass flute and Mark Turner on tenor saxophone, to the ferociously polyrhythmic "The Immeasurable Code," - Lockrane on piccolo this time, Turner on soprano - which contains a message in Morse which Phil is not disclosing. The pieces veer from the busy multi-layered waltz "Fire and the Drum" to a lively Billy Strayhorn tribute entitled "The Instant Message." Challenging, fascinating stuff.

Further contrast in each set came from compositions from Gareth Lockrane ("Dark Swinger") and Mark Turner (new/untitled). Lockrane's piece was an uptempo burner, in which one moment stays in my mind. The first soloist was Mark Turner, who started sotto voce and detached, but proceeded to fly, his fascinating lines untrammelled by any technical restrictions. Lockrane looked on, and smiled. The price of the ticket is worth it just to hear Turner play. There cannot be a more completely equipped yet utterly musical saxophone player anywhere in the world.

But Turner also catches the ethos of this band. Maybe there will be more extroversion as the tour develops. What caught last night the ear was the unselfishness of the playing. Drummer Ernesto Simpson has worked with the likes of Arturo Sandoval and Dizzy Gillespie, and clearly has the ability to unleash a tsunami of sound. But last night he was fitting under Mike Janisch 's solos in a way which left that fine, expressive, and yet immaculate bassist all the freedom and space he needed.

Another remarkable feature of the performance was the manner in which this band ends every piece. These five musicians bring astonishing mutual respect and responsibility. Can five members of a band really all simultaneously be first-take perfectionists and completer-finishers? They were last night.

The IMS Quintet is a catch-it-while you can situation. I can only describe this group as unmissable.

Remaining dates


19th Jan -Birmingham Conservatoire

20th Jan - Bristol - Future Inns

21st Jan-Fleece Jazz , Stoke by Nayland Club, Essex

22nd Jan -Millenium Hall Sheffield

23rd Jan -Derby Assembly Rooms

24 & 25th Jan -Vortex Jazz Club

26th Jan -The Hawth,Crawley, West Sussex