BASS CULTCHA…. CONCEPT CLASH

Posted on October 20, 2012 by Paul Brad

Last week I had the pleasure of joining the panel for British Underground’s ‘Bass Culture Clash’ event at the BME in the o2. As our Word Sound & Power: Reggae Changed My Life  exhibition is currently in residence at the BME –  hopefully providing a valuable focus during Black History Month  it seemed appropriate to the organisers that Swifty or myself  should add our penny’s worth to the discussion. As my roots in the UK reggae scene go way back I readily accepted the task.

Word Sound & Power: Reggae Changed My Life at BME

While a previous Bass Culture discussion I’d experienced lacked a satisfactory focus this session was glued together by the very excellent Paulette Long. who has  along history in the industry and proved quite capable of making the audience sing the words to ‘Uptown Top Ranking’, ‘Cockney Translation’ and ‘Silly Games’.

Interestingly, it was a full house. The keen and predominantly young crowd was peppered with the odd veteran and activist from the UK reggae scene including Wozzy Brewster of Midi Company, Nick Page of Dub Colossus and Leroy ‘Lepke’ Anderson of DBC – the UK’s first pirate radio station dedicated to reggae music.

The panel itself was a revelation and featured several engaging  contributions from the perceptive new generation promoter Jack Robinson – who worked on the Dub to Jungle, Dub to Dubstep and the Outlook Festival in Croatia. The contemporary frontline was more than adequately represented by Ras Kwame who, following on from his BBC 1Xtra residency, is now devoting his energies to the new wave and his Electrobashy set-up.

http://soundcloud.com/orange-hill-productions/orange-hill-presents

Sitting comfortably alongside Ras Kwame was the inimitable Lady Chann who rose to notoriety on the UK dancehall scene through her involvement in Stonebridge’s Suncycle crew.  Raised in a reggae household amid record and speaker boxes, Lady Chann is not one to mince her words and she a gave the audience an insight into the journey that’s led to her emerging as a  full throttle UK dancehall MC.

Working the ‘Bass Culture’ concept to full effect was Mykaell Riley – former Steel Pulse vocalist and founder of the Reggae Philharmonic Orchestra. Today, Riley is engaged with academia and numerous off shoot projects and in a positive move,  Paulette Long quite quickly established that we were all on the same page when it comes to recognising that Jamaican music and culture provides the DNA for most contemporary dance music.  As such, we all agreed that respect is due to those underground forces that built the reggae nation.

It was therefore interesting to be engaging with three people who are working their respective corners from a totally contemporary perspective. From my point of view, the music remains very much in the margins. It’s impact on the mainstream is clearly evident and while Bass Culture, as a brand, may have it’s uses it’s no substitute for a well organised co-operative approach to promotion and marketing.

Seems to me that it’s hard to make a living in the cultural world these days. Everybody wants sump’m for nuthin’.  So, if you are going to donate your skills and your energy you might as well do it with like minded people who are looking to build a career that allows development and longevity!

Anyway, while  the session wound up with enthusiastically  received live sets from Natty, Lady Leshurr and the Rasites I’m going to wind up this piece with a snippet of old skool – post Two Tone – footage featuring the mighty Jah Shaka and the yout’ from the Metro Youth Club steppin’ in fine style. Bass Culture? For sure!

http://www.electrobashyrecordings.com/

http://www.myspace.com/ladychann

http://www.britishmusicexperience.com/reggae-changed-my-life/

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THE ART OF IMPROVISERS… LAST CALL for 7UP!

Posted on October 19, 2012 by Paul Brad

The Poster!

It was way back in the hazy mists of time that I initially encountered the art of what’s become European “improv”. I’m sure they didn’t call it that back then but it was a very feisty and British take on the Free Jazz of Ornette, Coltrane and Eric Dolphy. Being confronted by musicians like bassist Barry Guy, drummer Tony Oxley – his kit was something else – and Marxist Leninist trombonist Paul Rutherford was a challenging and mind enhancing experience. Basically, as musicians they were totally wayward. They had opted for life on the edge  but as a result  succeeded in creating a far reaching and radical alternative sound palette with their individual instruments.

7UP: Opening Night 2012.

Over the years there have been numerous  ventures that united this dedicated community of musicians  like John Stevens’ Little Theatre Club in Covent Garden, the Spontaneous Music Ensemble, London Jazz Composers’ Orchestra, Iskra 1903 /1912, the annual Free Jazz Meeting sponsored in Baden-Baden, the short-lived Musicians’ Co-operative, to name but a few, but it is a scene that has more often than not seen lean times in the UK.

However, in 2012, we can give thanks that there appears to be a revival of interest in this practice, as exemplified by the young audiences in East London’s Cafe Oto who are savouring the explorations of musicians like Peter Brotzmann, Eddie Prevost, Black Top’s Pat Thomas and Orphy Robinson,  Alan Wilkinson, Steve Noble and Steve Beresford to name but a few.

Peter Ind by Gina Southgate

To celebrate this resurgence I wish to give props to a local exhibition – 7UP – which is  currently happening in the Gallery at the back of Stoke Newington library in North London. This is their 2nd year and I passed through the show yesterday  – rather late I’m afraid as it has already been running for a week – and encountered paintings inspired by improvised music (Gina Southgate) and visual art produced by artists who are primarily musicians.

In the visual mix we have a host of veterans and activists from the London improv scene including Paul Shearsmith, Marco Mattios, Gilles Leaman, Susan Lynch, Nick Lubran and Rob Mills. With this crew in the house an “Arts Lab” vibe is inevitable. Expect the unexpected when the forces at play gather.

A View Through A Bed Of Homegrown Percussion

I was touched by Paul Shearsnith’s homage to his beloved Volvo and the recordings of his replica car being used as a source of percussion. Bassist Marco Mattios is an accomplished and serious ceramicist and I was definitely intrigued by the images and process of Tale Of What! :

A score

Tale of What! – is an art/music project
Tale of What! – is a music derived from graphic art
Tale of What! – is machine drawings
Tale of What! – is improvised
Tale of What! – is collage

Poems are read and the shredded, placed a plastic bags, sealed and given to the listeners. There are seascapes and landscapes (one inspired by a Requiem as it was performed in the gothic atmosphere of nearby Abney Park cemetery). There’s a hint of darkness and a touch of the “outsider”.

Steve Williamson by Gina Southgate

Don’t expect the scale and polish of my previous post (Shepard Fairey). This is a show done by mostly by musicians who are exploring another dimension to their musical practice and, in essence, it is an intimate affair. That said, if you’re in the Stoke Newington area over the weekend there will be a steady flow of performances and live painting in the Gallery. There’s a portion of interesting work to browse through and you may even feel like making a purchase. I myself was drawn to a spontaneous painted image of saxophonist Steve Williamson.

7UP, The Gallery, Stoke Newington Library, Edwards Lane, N16 0JJ
Friday: 12-6 /Saturday 12-5 / Sunday 1 -5 

LIVE SETS: 2 till 4pm!

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Shepard Fairey’s Sound & Vision in London Town – Gotta Be Worth A Visit

Posted on October 18, 2012 by Paul Brad

Shepard Fairey, the much celebrated street /graphic artist behind Andre The Giant and  OBEY and that iconic Obama poster from the 2008  US election has rolled into East London to present Sound & Vision at StolenSpace Gallery at The Old Truman Brewery, London. It kicks off tomorrow (19th October) and is on until 4th November.

If you are familiar with the work that he included in his E Pluribus Venom Show in Brooklyn you will have high expectations of this exhibition. He is prolific, has a restless spirit and as expected he couldn’t resist getting out and about to stamp his mark on the city. Along with numerous appearances of his trademark stencils there are a couple of murals that are worth checking out.

Nice to see that he’s also got his brethren and collaborator Z-Trip in tow to supply the soundtrack to the artwork. In Fairey’s vision art and music are kindred spirits, and as the work began to develop, Fairey reached out to producer and DJ, Z-Trip to create a soundtrack that embodies the spirit of the show.

“Shepard does visually what I do musically.” maintains Z-Trip. “We have many of the same influences, it made perfect sense for us to collaborate on Sound & Vision, I was honored to do it.”

OK. I’m stoked. It looks good to me and I do respect the idea of “Manufacturing Quality Dissent”. Don’t sleep on this!

STOLENSPACE GALLERY, The Old Truman Brewery, Dray Walk, 91 Brick Lane, London E1 6QL

http://www.obeygiant.com/

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MASA SUZUKI: Zen & The Art Of Begging

Posted on October 10, 2012 by Paul Brad

Earlier today, I was thinking about the weather changing and how it gets tougher and tougher for the homeless.  Also, I was thinking about how, in these difficult times, so many of us are in danger of not meeting those extortionate rent payments or  those crucial mortgage payments. That,  in turn, led me to think about the sculptures, the wood carvings, of Masa Suzuki.

I met Masa through a good friend who was learning chen taijiquan and qi gong from him. On a visit to Masa’s studio, which used to be in Dalston, he had been blown away by Masa’s art works which employed traditional Japanese wood carving techniques. He urged me to check them out, which I did, and they left a lingering impression.

Above and below are some images from a series that he worked on. They range from 50 cms to 10 cms in height and are based on his observations as a spiritual Japanese person living in the inner city. This is what Masa had to say about his work.

“My more recent works relate to my interest in the homeless people who beg for money on London’s streets. I am very interested in them because I feel that they reflect one of the ironies of British culture. Their lives are supported by the Christian virtue of charity. In Christian cultures, it is a virtue to help those who are suffering and those who are poor. I too believe in this Chiristian virtue of charity which has indeed helped many people, but also realise that it can be problematic-there is the risk that beggars may use the money that they are given to buy alcohol or drugs, which may worsen their situation.

“After I came to London, I was very conscious of the presence of beggars holding out their cups for money on the street. Just after the war, people begged for money in Japan, just as beggars do now in London, but it was always unusual. They were mostly those who had lost parts of their bodies in the war and were very unlike the more healthy beggars I see in London. In Japan, in general, to receive something as a charity is regarded as shameful; In the West, the spirit of charity is regarded highly, or at least the activity of giving money to others in need. I believe this is because of the Christian religious beliefs that influence Western culture and society.

“”I am particularly intrigued by the way the beggars sit all day without doing anything else. They just sit still and beg. This reminds me of how the Zen monks spend their time. Monks seek enlightenment by sitting still for long periods as part of their practice in the temple, and they make their living through other people’s donations because their meditation is respected. The circumstances and differences between these two groups of people are great, but interestingly, there are similarities in the way they spend their time. By creating a work depicting beggars, I want to draw attention to the lowest class of people in society, and to place them in one of the most respected cultural contexts-the world of contemporary art.

“By placing my sculptures of beggars at art galleries or museums, where things are looked carefully, I would like the audience to have a think about what those beggars are thinking and looking in the streets since we usually tend not to take a look at them.”

Unfortunately, just as Masa Suzuki’s works were getting the attention they deserved he had to return to to his native Japan – his partner a victim 0f current immigration policies – and so it will be most interesting to see whether his London experiences work in reverse and temper his observations of Japan, of a people, mutilated by another nuclear disaster.

http://masa-s.co.uk/news.html (Hopefully Masa will update from Japan!)

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TRUTH & ART… Tunde Jegede, Diana Baroni , Derek Johnson & film-maker Sunara Begum

Posted on October 9, 2012 by Paul Brad

Tunde Jegede has just let me know  he’s about to give a series of performances  – starting tonight! –  as part of the launch of a new music documentary series, Truth and Art by the filmmaker and visual artist, Sunara Begum which includes a documentary on his work.

Other documentaries feature the amazing Argentinean singer, Diana Baroni and producer/guitarist, Derek Johnson. Diana is coming over to UK especially for a performance at Bolivar Hall, Venezuelan Embassy on 11th October and at the October Gallery on 12th October. Sunara herself has a new exhibition of photography and installation work connected to films and performances at St Martin’s-in-the-Fields on 9th October

I’m vibesin’ on this… check it out.

 

Truth & Art Film Launch + Performance
FRI 12TH OCT 7.30PM
OCTOBER GALLERY
24 Old Gloucester Street
Bloomsbury
WC1N 3AL
£12

Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/events/112513905568271/?ref=ts
http://www.facebook.com/events/230916497034369/?ref=ts
www.tundejegede.com
www.flavors.me/tundejegede

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WORD SOUND & POWER and the rise of “Bass Culture”

Posted on October 7, 2012 by Paul Brad

I’m on the panel for this Bass Culture event…. this coming Thursday at the BME in the 02…the 11th… if you fancy checking our Word Sound & Power: Reggae Changed My Life exhibition… this is most definitely a good opportunity… get there early and snap up a set of our freshly printed post cards…. nice!

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SOUNDS OF BRASIL 2012

Posted on October 6, 2012 by Paul Brad

This 33 track feast of radical, wayward and modern Brasilian music comes courtesy of Dave McLoughlin, who is something of a don on the Brasil music scene. Dave operates out of Brasil Music Exchange and works with my good friend and fellow  Brasiliophile, Jody Gillett.  Together, they make a rather formidable duo.  This selection is the basis for an up’n’coming Bandcamp version  – http://bit.ly/R7YQfV  and a physical promo CD.

Familia Gangsters

Basically, the Brasil Music Exchange is a project conducted by BM&A (Brasilian Music & Arts) and Apex-Brasiland it’s mission is  is to stimulate activities and exchanges of experience in the global musical marketplace. With that in mind, don’t expect classic sambas or smooth jazz ‘n bossas or polished MPB this is the now- sound of indie Brasil.

In recent times the Brasil Music Exchange has forged links with British Underground, who were responsible for the “Bass Culture” foray into SxSW earlier this year, and somewhat surprisingly it appears that the Bass Culture concept is crossing borders and attaching itself to the musical hybrids of Brasil.

http://soundcloud.com/bm-a/sets/brazilian-bass-culture-beyond/

However, as you can hear from the tracks included in this selection there is a widescreen vision at work and I leave it up to you, the listeners, to tune in and decide which strand of  twisted sounds from modern Brasil will resonate with that elusive worldwide  audience once the Olympic ball gets rolling.

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SO LONG ERIC! Not Dolphy… Hobsbawm!

Posted on October 2, 2012 by Paul Brad

‘So long Eric’  was Charles Mingus’ tribute to the late great saxophonist/bass clarinetist Eric Dolphy and in this short piece I pay my respects the another revolutionary, another Eric – Eric Hobsbawm – who passed away a couple of days ago aged 95.

Eric Hobsbawm 1917 – 2012: Portrait by Gaby Wood

As an aspiring young painter and Marxist back in the early Seventies I found Eric Hobsbawm and EP Thompson’s approach to history and culture a revelation.  Thompson’s weighty Making Of the English Working Class  was an inspirational and essential read and as the years have progressed people’s history – culture and class – remains something of an obsession.

I expect little from our elected politicians who, on the whole,  tend to be devoid of any cultural depth but I definitely suffer ongoing frustration with the radical left’s inability to recognise the significance and vital importance of  culture  in relation to their economic strategies. It’s a frustration that has been allayed only by the contributions of a few, one of whom was Eric Hobsbawn.

I was moved by Jonathan Jones’ perceptive piece in the Guardian and was gratified by the way he clarified Hobsbawm’s radical, and largely unrecognised, contribution as to how we all perceive popular culture today. He was an heir to the ideas and concepts of Karl Marx but he was no “clunk click” Marxist.  He was a thorough and challenging thinker and you could do worse than delve into his four volumes on the History Of The World or seek  out his collaboration with George Rudé – Captain Swing.

Besides being a card carrying commie like myself Eric was a jazz-head. As ‘Francis Newton’ (named after a Communist jazz trumpeter who played on Billie Holiday’s ‘Strange Fruit’), he wrote a column every month or so for the New Statesman and he did it for about ten years. He was regular at the Downbeat Club in Soho during the Fifties and was no Philip Larkin. As a jazz journo he checked out one of the Duke’s last gigs in San Francisco and attempted to interview a catatonic Bud Powell in Paris.  Basically, Eric Hobsbawm  found that he could slip away from the rigors of academia and often fraught world of political activism into another world  – “no milieu is more tolerant than that of jazz musicians.”

Eric Hobsbawn was an unstoppable intellectual force and if he had no regrets about the political positions he’d adopted at different times I’d be surprised. Regardless of the times and the forces that railed against him and his comrades his intellect and passion drove him on. There was a humility about that generation of intellectual Marxists and I for one benefited from their openness and encouragement. So, right now, as I await a new generation of radical thinkers armed with the  ideas and the determination to inspire a generation I’ll doff my Baker’s Boy and say, ‘So long Eric!”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2012/oct/02/eric-hobsbawm-on-culture

Eric Hobsbawm · Diary: My Days as a Jazz Critic · LRB 27 May 2010 www.lrb.co.uk/v32/n10/eric-hobsbawm/diary

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Frederic Voisin & Durer’s L’Apocalypse

Posted on October 2, 2012 by Paul Brad

L’Apocalypse” a la cathedrale + Frederic Voisin

Just spotted this. In the past I have talked about this bold venture whereby my good friend Frederic Voisin has re-interpreted, image by image, Albrecht Durer’s L’Apocalypse.

However, looking at these images, they appear to be way bigger than the originals he showed in the Cathedral in Reims – and I’m getting a real sense of their power. According magazine piece I stumbled upon they will be on show  ” dans la salle des Ducs de Bouillon au château” from the 20th October to 4th November. I believe that’s in Belgium.

Maybe, there’s a gallery curator out there with serious vision who can bring this amazing set of works to the UK.  Let’s hope so.

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WORKING FOR THE CREATOR: Marshall Allen & The Sun Ra Arkestra… Live….

Posted on September 30, 2012 by Paul Brad

It doesn’t seem right that nigh on 20 years have slipped by since that natural mystic and astral traveller,  Sun Ra, left us for other worlds.

However, the spirit of Sun Ra is alive and kicking, as the full house at the Barbican’s Transcender Festival testified. An audience that reflected all walks of life gathered to hear the Arkestra that 88 year old alto saxophonist, Marshall Allen,  has kept alive since taking the reign from tenor saxophonist, John Gilmore, who tragically  died from emphysema in 1995.

It was down to the dreadlocked  Chicago based techno visionary  Jamal Moss aka Heiroglyphic Being to introduce the 11 piece ensemble with a reading of Ra’s poem, ‘Astro Black’ and the music that followed took us deep into the jazz tradition and then out out beyond the stars.

There were familiar faces in the ranks of the Arkestra like baritone player Danny Ray Thompson,  who doubled up on flute and bongos,  and the alto saxophonist and congalero, Knoel Scott, and believe me this posse of glittery, caped crusaders can swing. They conjured up shades of a wayward Fletcher Henderson orchestra in full flight in Kansas City and then gave us a taste of the speedy, agile be bop lyricism born of Dizzy and Bird. The Arkestra love to take a riff and work it and on this night, unable to resist the groove, Scott, who is well into his mid fifties couldn’t help but bust a set of capoeira moves including  a couple of heart-stopping cartwheels across the front of the stage!

Sun Ra Arkestra, Cafe Oto, London, England, 14 April 2010

It was scheduled as a game in two halves and as we headed toward the end of the first set my initial frustration with the all too polite volume was waylaid by a gathering momentum and futuristic intensity. Our appetites had been whetted and based on past experiences it could only get better.

As Jamal Moss’ turntablist and digital innovations took take shape in the foyer between sets one erudite associate mused, “This is cool but there’s a danger of it becoming a distraction.” And on that note we headed back into hall to await the return of the Arkestra.

As I had no serious intention of writing up the session, I do not have the benefit of  copious notes.  That was the task of  my journalistic neighbours, who were there there to scribble  comprehensive pieces for The Quietus and http://www.jazz.com. I was simply there for the music.  However, as I now feel motivated to write something please forgive me if I present what transpired in a somewhat random fashion.

Marshall looks more and more like an aged wizard and he was clearly at the helm of the Arkestra.  I have to pay tribute the ongoing physical  impact of his inimitable technique on alto sax and his dexterity on his antiquated electronic valve instrument was enormously effective. His space age volleys of sound furthered Ra’s dedication to electronica and provided the perfect foil for the shards of synth that pianist Farrid Barron dropped into the mix.

The musicianship in the Arkestra is flawless and their choice of compositions  ranged over a host of Ra classics from ‘I’ll Wait For You’ to ‘Angels & Demons At Play to ‘I Am Gonna Unmask The Batman’ and ‘Cosmos Song’. James Stuart’s fluid tenor solos would have benefited from a touch more volume while trombonist Dave Davis and the trumpet duo of Cecil Scott and Fred Adams constantly delivered alternatively lyrical and rapid fire solos. In the absence of  that legendary thunder drum, the surdo of Elson Nascimento added welcome weight and momentum to the rhythms and colours of the Arkestra’s dynamic trap drummer  Craig Haynes.

Behind the Arkestra, amid the ever shifting shapes and colours of the light show, images of Sun Ra came and went and he would have been proud of what his disciples continue to do with his substantial musical legacy. When Marshall Allen and the Arkestra tackled Louis Armstrong’s ‘When You’re Smiling’ they had the whole of the Barbican smiling along with them. They maintain a long lasting and deep faith in the vision of their mentor and while they continue to explore the creative limits of the cosmos there is a warmth, humour and genuine devotion to the music that guarantees –  once they’ve done a full circuit of the hall – a standing ovation.

When Knoel Scott auditioned for the Arkestra back in July 1979, Sun Ra said to him,  “If you want money fame or fortune, you don’t want to work with me. This is the Creator’s band and I work for the Creator. The Creator will pay you but if you want money fame or fortune then this is not the band for you.” Thirty years later he and his brethren are still working for the Creator. Ra lives. Long live Ra.

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