Tim Garland's Northern Underground Orchestra

Caught the 9th gig in the tour of this great band. Went to the rehearsal session first, followed by excellent tapas across the road, a drink with mates and then into the gig. Gwilym Simcock on piano. It was good to hear him after all the hype. Every bit as good as he is cracked up to be. Can't remember the names of most of the soloists and had not seen most of them before but some stunning and original playing. Paul Booth was a real treat. The singer, Hannah Jones, was phenomenal, expressive, soulful. The second she started you knew she was going to be good. The music was loud and bursting with energy.

Went on to the Brighton Jazz Club after to catch the end of Alan Barnes playing the clarinet and cracking jokes and, of course, the fantastic Jim Hart on vibes. The music was so quiet that you I had to ask the person next to me to stop breathing during the solos. Got there in time to hear the last couple of tunes and Barnesy thanking the audience for being so quiet and spurning The Northern Underground Orchestra to see him. Thought it best not to say anything.

A night to remember. I love living in Brighton.

Robert Wyatt does it again - Comicopera

Wasn't too sure on first listening. This is not background listening and deserves your full attention. I said ATTENTION you at the back. Been listening again and it has blown me away. It is as dark as Rock Bottom but more sparse. Twisted ear writes a very good review of the first two parts.

http://www.twistedear.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1176&Itemid=31

However the third part is more jazzy with coruscating layers that build beautiful soundscapes, again as per Rock Bottom. Fragments harps back to one of the first songs in part one. It is only just over a minute long but leaves you crying for more.

Robert is a unique voice who can rip your heart out with the beauty of his music. Not to everyone's taste but give it a good try before dismissing or you may be overlooking a treasure that will bring joy.

Martin Drew / Mornington Locket at BJC

Fantastic gig last night at the Jazz Club. The opening number had Martin playing some really creative driving drum lines. Jeremy Brown, on bass, was up to this fantastic band. Mornington was on top form playing some great Coltrane style lines that I love and Steve Melling was really rocking, playing some very long and grooving solos. Bliss. What I would give to play like that.

Brighton Jazz club - New Venue

The BJC has now started up at the Komedia in the North Laine. The acoustics are good and I like the atmosphere, especially now the air is clean. It also gets the benefit of the Komedia publicity machine which will make a fantastic difference. The BJC has been a well hidden secret treasure ever since it moved from the original Concorde by the pier.

Gilad Atzmon - Refuge - 5 stars

Saw Gilad at the first gig of his new tour at the Brighton Jazz Club last week. He uses a lot of electronics for this album and it sounds great. He had some problems getting the sound right due to an horrendous crackling noise which resulted in a near riot and him finishing the first set acoustically. He was not phased at all (I would have died). It made me realise just how much mental energy and confidence he has. Have three of his previous albums and don't really listen to them much. Bought the latest album - Refuge - on the strengths of the gig. Refuge is due to be issued on 1 October. Gilad was saying that he thinks this is his best album to date. I have to agree. By a long mile. It really is up there with the best contemporary jazz. Great tunes, some fantastic soloing and really good arrangements and great band. Am playing constantly at the moment. This one gets 5 stars from me. Buy the CD here http://www.gilad.co.uk/

Robert Wyatt

Was Robert Wyatt the most influential progressive / jazz rock musician of the 60's?

"Soft Machine were never a commercial enterprise and indeed still remain unknown even to many listeners who came of age during the late '60s, when the group was at its peak. In their own way, however, they were one of the more influential bands of their era, and certainly one of the most influential underground ones. One of the original British psychedelic groups, they were also instrumental in the birth of both progressive rock and jazz-rock. They were also the central foundation of the family tree of the "Canterbury Scene" of British progressive rock acts, a movement that also included Caravan, Gong, Matching Mole, and National Health, not to mention the distinguished solo careers of founding members Robert Wyatt and Kevin Ayers." AMG.

http://wm04.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:gifuxqr5ld0e~T1

Robert's music continues to be blindingly beautiful. His new album, Comicopera, comes out next month. I have pre-ordered it.

Industrial Zen - John McLaughlin

What an album. Found it a bit dense the first time that I listened to it. He uses lots of patterns in an even meter which can mean that it sounds mechanical. You could say appropriate for an album of this title. It is one of those albums that benefits from lots of listening. Most of the tracks are dedicated to significant people. e.g. Michael Brecker, Wayne Shorter, mostly musicians but even the Dalai Lama gets a look in. If you want to develop your ear for altered scales then To Bop or Not to Be (great title), which is the tune dedicated to Brecker, is superb. This may become one of my favourite all time albums.

There is a mailing list dedicated to discussion of John McLaughlin's music.

http://mailman.cs.cf.ac.uk/localpages/one-word/about.html

This link is a Jazzwise review http://www.jazzwise.com/news/item/1624

Avishai Cohen - live album

Just bought ACs new live album. No new material, apart from a cover of Caravan where he has changed the time signature which makes it a bit different but does not really add that much more interest to what is already a really good and versatile tune. How many people have covered Caravan and developed interesting arrangements? I love Chucho Valdes version of it on his brilliant New Conceptions album. Anyway, back to AC's new album. The real treat is it comes with a DVD of the gig which is in a New York jazz club. Unfortunately there is an interview with the musician which is pretty embarrassing. A mixture of inflated ego and implications that some supernatural force is working through him. Lets keep superstition out of music. Good music does lift the mood and takes you to another place but please, lets not get superstitious about it.

John Zorn - Acoustic Ladyland

Listening to Acoustic Ladyland reminded me of seeing John Zorn at the Crawley OutsideIn festival (run by Serious Productions) a few years ago. That really was thrash jazz. 30 seconds seem to be the average length of a tune, all at breakneck speed with lots of screaming from John's sax. Soooo I checked him out on YouTube last night. Naked City stuff pretty similar if slightly longer than what he was doing when I saw him. What I really liked though was his Mazada stuff. Mostly seemed to be impros on single jewish/gypsy scales with JZ arranging on the hoof. Would like to do some of this sort of stuff.

Progressive Rock and Modal Jazz

Listening to some progressive rock recently. As with Zappa there are lengthy and yet interesting solos on one chord. Often the music stays in one key and develops rythmical riffs with increasing variations. The effect is often quite hypnotic. In the fusion category this effect / method is common as well and makes the two styles very similar. Not unsurprisingly really. Fusion proponents would be Steps Ahead and the Brecker Brothers. Zawinul often develops in this way. For me the skill is in making the solos interesting through rythmic variations and developing the licks. It is also common for the band to interact more than in mainstream jazz (this point may be more debatable). I would also argue that progressive rock and modal jazz are more European than American. American standards tend to be AABA in form and follow some very predictable (cliched?) patterns of choruses and single solos. The European tradition of clasical music tends to favour length and development through movements. Kenny Garrett's Wayne's Thang is very modal, 3 chords only. His version on YouTube is lengthy but keeps the interest because of the developments in the soloing as well as the hypnotic effect in the repetitions. Some people are derogetory about this form of soloing as it does not require the ability to modulate over frequent changes. However developing a good modal solo requires greater skill in phrasing to retain the interest.

Saw Avishai Cohen last year at Ronnie's. I had heard NuNu from his Continuo album on Radio Fip. (At that time it was broadcast in central Brighton. It is the best radio station I have ever heard. However, after about 8 years of broadcasting some idiot reported it to the registration authorities. About 50% jazz. Mixes all music types so you might have some French accordion music followed by jazz followed by reggae followed by classical followed by salsa, etc. I plan to buy one of those systems that broadcasts internet radio around the house so that I can continue to get it as life is not the same without it.) That was the first time I had heard of him. Loved the groove and time signature as well as the strong melody so bought the album. Loved the album so went on ebay and bought all of his other albums. Every one is a gem. Have been listening hard to Colors (sic) recently and the band I am playing with at the moment have had a go at Smash which is from Continuo. When seeing him live bought his song book. Cohen played with Chic Corea for a while as his bass player.

Brecker's Pilgrimage

Bought the album through Amazon. I can see the progression from his work on albums like Saxophone Summit. I listen to Brecker more than any other saxophonist / musician and I recognise all his licks now. This is an album of extreme virtuosity, as I would have expected, but I need to listen to it a lot more before I start to enjoy the tunes.

Acoustic Ladyland

Just bought Last Chance Disco from e-music!!!!!!!!!! What an album. Described as punk jazz in some places but not as frenetic as some of the thrash jazz that was around about 10 years ago. Great tunes and great playing. Seb Rochford (F-Ire Collective, Polar Bear, etc.) driving some fantastic drums and great raunchy sax playing from Pete Wareham. A really dirty distorted sound. A kind of heavy metal jazz. This album will appeal to rockers as well as jazzers and so it is not surprising that the band has a massive following from outside the jazz world. WE NEED MORE OF THIS.

Liebman - some more

Thanks to Graham who has quite a few Liebman albums. Look forward to some listening. Who are the top saxophonists of the 20th Century and why? Parker, Coltrane, obviously. Brecker, Liebman, Lovano. Tubby Hayes, ????

Ian Carr's Nucleus

Just been listening to first track of disk 2 on the sampler Breaking the Barriers of Jazz (1997) which I picked up for £10 in Turkey at Easter, Carr's "Gestalt". Almost 12 minutes long with a time sig that goes something like 4,4,4,3. Tricky if not watching for it. It is a real cracker with some great playing by both Carr and Brian Smith on Saxes. But what really hits my buttons is the bass playing. A rock solid walk that just dominates the whole track. It is obviously live though there has been some post gig mixing in the studio (according to the notes). Haven't listened to Ian Carr before, which is a bit of an omission in view of the fact that I read his biography of Miles years ago. Anyone got any recommendations about his best albums for further listening?

Dave Liebman

Have been listening to him playing soprano on a couple of tracks on "Breaking The Barriers of Jazz ". Great stuff. Does anyone have an opinion about which is his best album?

Mike Manieri - Wanderlust

Steps Ahead is one of my favourite bands. The combination of Manieri's compositions and Breckers solos is blinding. Just downloaded Wanderlust from eMusic. (Albums are so much cheaper than buying on hard copy means it is affordable to buy and try). Solo album of Manieri's from 1981. This album has Brecker on it. Sarah's Touch is recorded on one of the Steps albums. Bullet Train is pretty good and has a latin groove. Arrangements are interesting and some of the effects.

Pip Pyle's BASH @ Brighton Jazz Club

Saw Alex McGuire (one of the UKs great jazz pianists) with Pip Pyle's BASH at Brighton Jazz Club last night (http://www.brightonjazzclub.co.uk/ ). Had not read the write up so was not expecting straight ahead jazz rock. Not what Alex has done on the many previous times I've seen him. So 70s and so bloody good. Really rocked with some great solos. Looked up Pip Pyle on http://www.allmusicguide.com/. Had not heard of him before despite being into the Cantabury scene. His compositions were really interesting and enjoyable and the band was tight with strong communication between them. There were some complex time sigs which really rocked. Have gone to my http://www.emusic.com/ account and downloaded an album by Pip - Equipe Out (2000). Really good. Emusic is great for listening to short snatches before buying. I have had to buy so many albums without listening to them in the past and ended up with lots of stuff I don't like.

Alex told me that "just before we left Groningen, I realised I had too much luggage. Pip had travelled relatively light, so I asked him to take a very heavy pair of brogue shoes of mine with him to Paris where I would pick them up at a later date (we were due to go to Montreal via Paris in a few weeks time) Cut to Paris - Apparently, whilst they were taking Pip's body to the morgue, they realised that he needed to be wearing shoes. Somebody was dispatched back to the hotel where he had died and shoes were obtained. These turned out to be my brown brogues!! So Pip was buried in my shoes!!!! Well, he did say he'd look after them for me...........and I guess he kept his side of the bargain!." Alex has been playing with Hatfield and the North for a while now. Can't find any of their stuff to download. Anyone else have any of their albums?