“This night is the sort of thing I’ve wanted to be involved in for a long time,” says Jazz On 3’sJez Nelson.
While they considered calling the night “Jazz Snobs Eat Shit” Jez and his firm opted for a more sensitive and positive vibe whereby they can bring together bands and artists from different scenes, genres, cultures and generations. Their only watchword, says Jez, is “quality”.
During the Sixties this iconic West London theatre hosted live in-the-round TV music broadcasts of artists like T Rex and Jez maintains their sessions will be equally intimate and will feature 3 acts – a headliner, a brand new act, and a one-off solo spot. Between sets he will be chatting to the artists about whatever is on their mind and at the end of night he’ll be busting a little DJ set in the bar.”
The first night… this Monday! January 30th 2012… showcases a killing trio featuring award-winning vibes player, multi-instrumentalist and composer Orphy Robinson, saxophonist/composer Steve Williamson and keyboards/composer Pat Thomas.
Pat Thomas
Orphy Robinson
Steve Williamson
Kicking off the night at 8.30pm will be Jazz Ahmed (flugelhorn/trumpet player), Lewis Wright (vibes) and Dave Mannington (guitar) and they will be followed by a solo set from the Cinematic Orcghestra’s heavily respected guitarist & soundscaper Stuart McCallum.
Radio presenter, Jez Nelson has long been at the epicentre of the UK jazz scene and on the basis of a weekly diet of fresh CDs and excellent live gigs he maintains the scene here is in a really healthy state. The music is coming from all directions and as a reflection of this future sessions will include a host of new generation players.
Shabaka Hutchings and the Sons of Kemet with Seb Rochford, Tom Skinner (drums) and Oren Marshall (tuba), Jason Yarde’s Trio Wah, and Arun Ghosh Quartet are set to headline the February, March and April gigs.
Andrew McCormack and Flashmob feat. Ryan Williams, Rory Simmons, Will Collier and Nick Smalley will be joining in February and Dave Eliot and Shadow Writing will joining the line-up for March session.
Other artists onfirmed for future sessions include World Service Project, Brownswood signee Zara McFarlane and the mighty Finn Peters
As Jez says, “It’s only 7 quid to get in!”… so free your mind and your ass will follow!
For tickets call The Cockpit box office on: 020 7258 2925 (lines open 12-6 Monday to Friday) or buy online from tickets@thecockpit.org.uk.
The excitement around Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide Awards 2012 had been mounting for weeks… months even. Sold out well in advance and attracting punters and players from all over Europe the sense of anticipation was in the air as one entered KOKO to barrage of twisted synths, sub bass and clattering beats of Hudson Mohawke.
This former people’s palace with its warm, faded baroque grandeur became home to the Awards after it the outgrew venues like Cargo and the Garage and the crowd is clearly a reflection of the audience that Peterson’s, soon to be axed, BBC Radio 1 show has nurtured. There was the odd face in the house from those Talking Loud days but it was a new generation of youth attuned to joining the musical dots that packed the dancefloor and the balconies.
The Pyramids - Back In The day!
The Worldwide format consists of a brace of disparate live sets spliced with equally disparate DJ sets. Dimlite opened the live proceedings and following Hudson Mohawke came San Francisco’s Bay area veterans, The Pyramids with a deep rooted, global offering. Fresh from playing 2 sets at Cafe Oto, Idis Ackamoor and his multi-talented, multi- instrumentalist brethren, brought the spirit of dedication, creative freedom and resistance to a hugely receptive audience.
People kept asking me, “Who is DJ Lefto?” All I knew was he hails from Belgium is reknowned for his mixtapes and podcasts…. and on the night I seem to remember he played Art Farmer’s ‘Mau Mau’… it sounded g-o-o-o-o-d!
Michael Kiwanuka followed – with a band. He’s come along way since I saw him open up for Owiney Sigoma at Cafe Oto. He’s notched up numerous high profile gigs and a BBC Sound of 2012 Award. Having been championed by Peterson , the crowd was well attuned to his songs but sadly his band lacked basic musical power. Still, it’s early days and I pray that the space which this gracious young man now occupies will allow him to shape a live setting that can lift and energise the dynamics of his songs.
The Worldwide Awards were preceded by a Gil Scott Heron tribute from two bold 15 year olds, Joey and J’Danna, who brought the house down.
JOEY – Revolution (Gil Scott-Heron Tribute)-to be released by 2morrow’s Victory Records
J’DANNA – Winter in America (Gil Scott-Heron Tribute) – to be released by 2morrow’s Victory Records
This year’s award was a funky springy thingy designed by Ada Chinonye Chime and it was dished out to those who won the categories: Track Of The Year: Adele – ‘Rolling In The Deep/Jamie XX mix’, Best Album: SBTRKT, Jazz Album: Matthew Halsall, Label: Brainfeeder, Play More Jazz: Machinedrum, Worldwide Session: Michael Kiwanuka, Lifetime Achievement: Idris Ackamoor. It was nice to see Jay Electronica in the house.
JAMIE XX: Track of the Year: Adele - Rollin' In The Deep Rmx
Thundercat’s set was guaranteed to be high point of the night and as one young lady put it… “Nice that it superceded all the hype!” The three piece was supplemented by a couple a backing vocalist but, in reality, it was all down to the keys, drums, and Thundercat’s 6 string bass and vocals. Though tagged as modern ‘Fusion’ these guys create a sound that’s hard to categorise. The ebb and flow of their music goes from sweet and relaxed to an the energy level that is way up on the scale. They can play! The drummer, Chaun Horton, was tremendous, battering his kit and laying down a powerful rhythmic bed over which Austin Peralta was able to let off free flying flurries of sound and Thundercat himself could let off!
Their set totally confirmed the Brainfeeder label should be on all our watch lists and the same has to be said for the next act – SBRKT. Let’s bid welcome to another, hard to categorise, nu-skool propducer who’s seductive , collaborative and song-led offerings earned him the vote of GP and the Brownswood Message Board boys for his groundbreaking album on Young Turks. In fact, judging by the response from the mosh-pit the people are already down with SBTRKT…. Big Time!
I couldn’t be there but it was down teenage Canadian jazz’n’hip hop threesome – BadBadNotGood – to polish off the live proceedings. Fresh from mashing up the 700 strong crowd at the Awards pre-party at XOYO the word is that the trio continued as they left off the previous night… but with shades of MccCoy Tyner . BadBadBad!
As I can’t think of another one-off, annual event that comes close to the Worldwide wards in encompassing a truly radical alignment of eclectic, creative, cutting edge music from the rapidly shifting world of global dance culture. It’s a bold venture that’s free of invasive sponsorship and it really does provide a powerful snapshot, a marker in time, as to the evolution of the music itself and I have to doff my cap to GP, his hard working crew (Simon, Peggy et al) and the Worldwide family itself.
Right now, it’s all downhill to the summer and the World Festival in Sete. Book that flight right now!
Walter Hugo – Muse 2011 50cm x 40cm Glass plate ambrotype Courtesy of the artist.jpg
Alchemy is a chemical process imbued with magical power associated with transmuting a common substance, usually of little value, into a substance of great value and it’s this mystical medieval practice that has provided Photo50 curator, Sue Steward, with a methodology on which to base her selection for The New Alchemists – a visual highpoint within the barrage of imagery on show and on sale at this year’s London Art Fair.
In a previous life Sue was a co-conspirator of mine on the global music scene. She contributed to Straight No Chaser magazine and penned the globally acclaimed book, ‘Salsa – The Heartbeat Of Latin America’. However, having spent years as a picture editor she has now been reborn as a writer, broadcaster and curator of photography.
It was pleasure to catch up with her at Photo50 and she was bubbling over with excitement at the response to the show and ready to impart all kinds of insights into the works of the 12 photographers she had chosen as her New Alchemists.
All the people in the mix were chosen because “their work transcends the print” and focuses on alternative techniques and approaches that allow them to move into new dimensions that re-present the art of photography to the viewer.
Handbag + White Rose Corset
Enthusiastically, she guided us through the work Joy Gregory and her Objects of Beauty series and ghostly images of Handbags that were inspired by her visits to the townships in South Africa.
Sue immediately bundled us into the space showing a short film of Walter Hugo in action. His punky attitude is a compelling collision of modern scientific knowledge and deep, dangerous old school techniques. Sue is a fan… a big fan… and I definitely want to see more work by this man.
Politics and photography have long gone together due to the immediacy and impact of reportage and in this show we found two ends of the conceptual spectrum explored.
Opting for a return to a hands-on analogue approach we found Veronica Bailey creating a modest installation that explored and illuminated the front line experiences in conflict of American journalist, Marguerite Higgins. Meanwhile David Birkin‘s Profile & Embedded Series took grainy old photographic images from Korea, Nagasaki and Iraq and combined them with numeric digital codes based on personal info about the victims of the conflicts. It was an interesting piece that took some unravelling and made me wish that the titles had been less conceptual and more upfront politically.
Esther Teichmann‘s fantastical landscapes, based on family photos, somehow reminded us of Peter Doig’s show at the Hayward and if nobody forked out $3200 for a piece by Michael Wolf – whose Real Fake Art combined shots of Chinese copy artists with their reproductions of works by Lee Freidlander and William Eggleston – I would gladly find a safe wall space and look after them until a buyer comes along.
The London Art Fair is an expensive visual jumble sale where everything’s on sale from Sheppard Fairey to Miro ( with whole bunch of unknowns in between). Basically, it’s about art as investment but despite all that Sue Steward’s informed choice of artists at Photo50 will ensure that the ideas and images of these New Alchemists will continue to resonate with this viewer in months to come .
Since Big Ben struck midnight on New Year’s eve and the South Bank lit up large in anticipation of the Olympics on the East-side, it seems that Jamaica has thrown up a daily dose of evocative bass-ical vibrations into this scribe’s regime. To tell the truth, I’ve been on a mission with regards to 50 years of Jamaican Independence for a good while now and and while a couple of very sweet ideas have sadly failed to manifest, right now, a bunch of projects are fast become a reality. From Punch Records to Dune Music to British Underground at SxSW… Jamaica 50 is happening.
Firstly, I have to say that since the early Seventies, reggae music has underpinned a good portion of my life. It has shaped me as the person I am. Reggae confronts us with history, mystery and prophesy. It forces us to think, to evaluate our past in relation to our future. It has beenan enlightening experience, one that led me to encounters with visionaries like Bunny Wailer, Michael Smith, Dennis Brown, Pablo Moses, Mutabaruka and Peter Tosh amongst others.
Globally we have witnessed a reggaematic revolution and while the hedonism that is dancehall / bashment may have prevailed in recent times the Rastafari laid down a solid foundation based on equal rights and justice! In 2012, the legacy of slavery and the subjugation of African people at home and abroad continues but as Jamaica prepares to celebrate 50 years of Independence they are finally seeking closure on their colonial past.
Following the blood letting that surrounded the Dudus Coke fiasco, the JLP Prime Minister Bruce Golding was forced to resign. What followed was a General Election that was held at the end of December. Jamaica elected its first woman Prime Minister – Mrs Portia Simpson Miller of the socialist People National Party. Known to her supporters in the PNP as Sister P, she pledged, in her inaugural address to the nation, to sever Jamaica’s umbilical link to the Queen Of England.
While the UK gears up to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, in Jamaica it’s … “Babylon, your Queendom is falling…”
Last week, sitting at my kitchen table, with pencil and paper I traced a web of connections which started in Jamaica and grew organically between UK based musicians, singers, producers, record labels, record shops, distributors, sound systems and their operators, poets, writers, journalists, film makers, photographers, journalists… five decades of growth… five decades of evolution that span the birth of Ska and the post jungle and dubstep offerings of Digital Mystikz. There’s way more to this picture than Island records and Bob Marley. No disrespect to either but the balance definitely needs to be recalibrated.
From Birmingham, the city that’s poised to host Usain Bolt and his record breaking Jamaican Olympic team mates, comes the ever consistent Punch Records. Straight out the starting blocks in February 2012 they hit the road with the radical Jamaica Party that builds on the Dub To Jungle and Dub to Dubstep tours. Once more it aims to edu-tain and unify the JA rooted sounds of jungle, dubstep, garage and grime. In the mix – Channel One, Top Cat, The Heatwave Crew, Mungos Hi Fi,RoxXxan, Lady Leshur, Rtkal , Mala, Coki, The Bug and FlowDan – and it’s heavy.
Activism is synonymous with Punch Records and a whole bunch of events are in the pipeline including a tours with Yellowman and the Mighty Diamonds. It’s most warming to see that they are also sponsoring a tour with local deep roots veterans Steel Pulse whose ‘Handsworth Revolution’ album was a landmark in the evolution of UK reggae music. The band will feature the including original line-up from ‘Handsworth Revolution’ including Mykael Riley – The Preacher – who went on to form the innovative Reggae Philharmonic Orchestra. Their radical stage show, complete with string section, was way ahead of its time and definitely influenced Jazzie B’s vision for Soul II Soul.
Today, as and academic, Mykael Riley champions the concept of an all-embracing contemporary ‘Bass Culture’ with a DNA that’s clearly Jamaican. The influence of Jamaica is obvious to those of us that have grown up with it but in this era of disposable digital culture it’s vital that a new generation are given the reference points that will allow them to savour the depth of their culture… a culture constantly in the making. While, I personally tend to sidestep categories that lump things together, ‘Bass Culture has captured someone’s imagination and British Underground will be taking Riley and the ‘Bass Culture Forum’, along with Gappy Ranks, Rasites, Little Roy, Natty, Lady Leshur, Kenny Ken and Sound Clash along with the tour host Ras Kwame (BBC Radio 1 Xtra / Orange Hill/Electrobashy Records) – to SxSW in Austin Texas in March and to Brasil later in the year.
It’s becoming increasingly clear that around the country a number of disparate community based organisations are hosting an impressive array events. Birmingham, Bristol and Nottingham are looking real good. In London the National Museum of Popular Music (02) is planning a Bob Marley exhibition. Meanwhile over in the north west London the duo from Dune Music , Gary Crosby ( RFH’s Artist In Residence) and Janine Irons are working on Lively Up!. This is a comprehensive and ambitious programme that will tour the nation and in the mix is a radical, urban and orchestral arrangement of The Wailers’ classic ‘Catch A Fire’ album by Jason Yarde. A Joe Harriott project called Parallel which will pair the saxophonist’s music with the works of an as yet un-named contemporary visual artist. Singer, Zara Macfarlane(Brownswood Records) will be hosting a children’ project called Mango Spice and Jazz Jamaica will be doing what they do best with Tighten Up!. Tomorrow’s Warriors join forces with Perry Louis’ Jazzcotech dancers in Stepping Over – the ska shuffle to steppers. There’s also a most interesting cross generational, evolutionary project called Roots & Reminiscences.
So far, there’s no news from the major players, the cultural institutions with the real dosh – South Bank, Barbican, V&A, Tate, Serious et al – so the bigger picture continues to evade us us.
However, in the meantime I shall return to my memories of record buying, cricket matches and sound clashes and a short stint in the cells at a police station in Hinkley. That “map” of UK reggae is coming along but we’ve had to separate off the Sound Systems onto an island of their own… it’s work in progress. So, now, along with graffix don gorgon, Ian ‘Swifty’ Swift, we are in the process of visualising large walls and spaces upon which to transfer the said information and pondering a set of iconic boof ‘n’baff ‘n’ biff style speaker boxes that can double up as a web of information which can be exhibited and scrutinised and added to by those who may know better.
So, until soon, and in the words of Ivan O’Martin… “I was here but disappear!”
Following on from his most excellent tribute to the late great Gil Scott HeronL, comes the latest episode of Planetaria on Seeks Music. It dropped on New Year’s Eve and at the helm is digital artist/film maker – the mighty Kam Bhogal. Heartical & Rootical…. 88 majestic cuts…. enjoy!
Above:The man Kam Bhogal? No star! The man called King Tubby aka Osbourne Ruddock & the spirit of the original dub master is alive and well in Kam’s mix! Love this shot by Pressure Drop legend Dave Hendley. It was lifted from the cover of ‘Whip Them King Tubby!’
The DEEP JAZZ QUIZ was posted on Dec 15th and as I’ve said… a lot of the answers to those deeper questions were to be found in the back issues of Straight No Chaser…. others, are for some people, common knowledge… hope you had fun…. taking it from the top…
Roy Ayers & Lester Bowie : Having seen the bombings of the churches in Nigeria this Xmas I was reminded of the Roy Ayers interview where he told us that traveling in the north of Nigeria in the bus which carried Fela & Egypt 80 was stoned as they passed through some towns.
Ron Carter : Loved seeing him play in the Red Hot sessions
Q Tip: Q Tip & Esperanza… gotta be good!
Check La Rima: For sure.
Drums: Bohannon… Bohannon
Jazz Funk / Southern Freeez : Sound of London 1981
Eagles: I now need to dig ‘Thembi’ out and spin it…
Paul Horn / Inside (The Taj Mahal): That came out of a very difficult interview with Pharoah… he was “not qualified” to answer most of my question and was on the verge of nodding when I ashed him how he got sounds from the horn when not blowing…
John Coltrane’s band circa ‘Ole’ : Terry Callier in the Brownswood studio … one revelation after the other
David Crosby: Terry Callier was the catalyst for The Byrds…. he introduced David Crosby to Jim McGuin who, at that time, was playing with Miriam Makeba. Deep.
Mike Nock: Brother John…. tune ... and one GP’s fave players.
Louis Armstrong: Check The Drum magazine for the pic we ran in Chaser.
Duke Ellington: Respect was due!
Dizzy Gillespie: Rude bwoy!
Reid Miles / Alfred Lion : Blue Note!
94.2 : Chris Phillips can still sing the Invicta jingle.
Val Wilmer: Great photographer and ‘As Serious As Your Life’ is one unique and compelling read… free jazz and the Loft scene… big respect.
Sam Rivers: Sadly Sam Rivers just passed away … 86 years old…. he and his wife Beatrice were the foundation of the NYC Loft Scene… check out those Wildflowers albums
750cc Kawasaki: Lester traded in his 650 BSA for a state of the art water cooled Japanese bike.
Thelonious Monk : The film: Straight No Chaser… the opening shot in the club… stubbing out his cigarette as he’s playing…
Gato Barbieri / Argentina : Love that album… and the Flying Dutchman LPs.
African Rhythms Club: Randy’s biography….essential read… an illuminating and fascinating lifethat will have you seekin’ out his albums.
Terminal Island: The authorities wanted to throw away the key to Flora’s cell… thanks to John Lennon’ s lawyer they couldn’t!
Just come across this up ‘n’ coming film , ‘The Black Roots Of Salsa: The Emancipation of Rumba’, which is due out in 2012 and set to be shown at AFRO-CUBAN SALSA CONGRESS 2012 : 8TH – 10TH JUNE 2012 in Ireland!
This film is a historical journey into dance and Afro Cuban culture and like the clave itself it seeks to provide a foundation that underpins all the contemporary musical manifestations in Havana from Timba to Rumba. The trailer is smoking. There’s a real energy at work. A lot of energy. Ache!.
‘The Black Roots Of Salsa: The Emancipation of Rumba’ is Real Life production by Christian Leibich, Adonis Panter Calderon and Ismaray Chacon ‘Asparina’. It released via Attic Indendent Production in Switzerland (http://www.atticindependent.ch/)
Canongate Books, Book Slam and XL Recordings come together to celebrate the life of radical poet, novelist and musician, Gil Scott-Heron at the launch of his posthumous memoir, The Last Holiday.
The event takes place at the wonderful people’s palace that is Wilton’s Music Hall in East London on the 19th January. It will include a one-off back-to-back set from DJs Jamie XX and Gilles Peterson who will play a musical tribute to Gil. The line-up also includes dynamic new generation poets Kate Tempest and Ben Mellor. The session will also provide an opportunity to see interviews and rare film footage of Gil.
TICKETS GO ON SALE: 5th January!
For more on Gil Scott-Heron including a short film of part of the last interview he did before he died and to check out exclusive readings from The Last Holiday go to http://www.canongate.tv
Just realised that everybody has stopped working… long time!
So, in an attempt invoke the reflective spirit of the festive season, the earth energy of the winter solstice and that essential message of “Peace on earth and and good will will to all men” – and women! – I bring you this little indo-jazz offering from Arun Ghosh’s Soundcloud site.
It features Arun on clarinet & piano and Rastko Rasic on darbucka, castanets & cymbals.
Back in the day… way back in the day…. I met a young DJ Shadow at the Blue Note Club in Hoxton Square. He was working with an even younger James Lavelle, who at that time was scribbling a column for Straight No Chaser magazine and conspiring with Swifty to create the highly individual look of his most excellent Mo’Wax imprint. If I think correctly, it was Shadow’s first London show and he was sharing the honours on the Technics with Tokyo’s deep and deadly DJ Krush. It was, if my herb addled memory serves me well, a ground breaking, ram jam session that I’m sure is firmly imprinted in the minds of those hip hop heads who were there.
DJ Shadow & DJ Krush at the Treasure Island Music Festival 2009
In more recent times, I’ve been made aware of Shadow’s musical adventures by Ross Allen, another former Chaser contributor, who has worked with Shadow, on the A&R front, on and off over the years. And so, when I heard he was playing a set for Boiler Room TV (respect to the BPM) which coincided with a globetrotting tour and the release of his new album, ‘The Less You Know The Better’ , I was most curious.
Fortunately for us, Boiler Room Tv is a most organised bizniz and if you tune to http://boilerroom.tv/dj-shadow-30-min-mix/ you can watch and listen to a most radical and free style set that takes it back to Shadow’s “essence of dj’ing”.
Plum Publications
Excellent resource for run by Ted & Debbie in California, both long time martial arts practitioners…. lots of books, dvds etc with informed reviews based on experience.
SUPA DUPA rare 'n' old skool Nigerian Ju Ju, Fuji & hi life…
Just haul up the the groovemonzter, log on & stream the majestic sounds of Sir Shina Adewale, Dr Orlando Owoh, King Sunny Ade, Cardinal Rex Lawson, Queen Oludunni Decency, Tunde Nightingale, Alhaji Sikuru Ayinde Barrister…. wonderful!
the blue moment
Richard William’s exellent reflections on the world of music and….
Plum Publications
Excellent resource for run by Ted & Debbie in California, both long time martial arts practitioners…. lots of books, dvds etc with informed reviews based on experience.
“This night is the sort of thing I’ve wanted to be involved in for a long time,” says Jazz On 3’s Jez Nelson.
ancienttofuture.com 