Bristol African Music Festival, St George’s Nov 1

“The continent is too large to describe. It is a veritable ocean, a separate planet [...] In reality, except as a geographical appellation, Africa does not exist.” That verdict (Ryszard Kapuściński’s) sounds right, so I guess that means African music doesn’t really exist either. But here was lots of music from (some) different bits of Africa, and most of it enjoyable.

It was a day to dip in and out of – so much was missed while doing important things like eating. But two visits meant we caught Fidelis Mherembi’s (Zimbabwe) mbira outing, which was fine although it really is a limited instrument to my ears, Biran Seck’s soaring Senegalese vocal set, and the rock-star style kora playing of Mamadou Cissoko, again working from a Senegalese tradition.

Then back to Zimbabwe for Bulawayo and Cecilia Ndhlovu’s vocal and mbira exuberance. Like Seck and Cissoko’s sets, this featured lots of danceable stuff, but it would have been nice to hear a bit more without the throttle fully open. The result can be a bit one-dimensional, especially over a whole day.

Listening to singing in an unknown language is also an odd experience, I find. It shifts attention to other aspects of the voice, but denies the performer the benefit of the alchemy of  words and music which the best songs deliver. Some voices – Miriam Makeba, Pinise Saul – are so great that doesn’t particularly matter. The ones heard here, while great performers, weren’t quite that compelling.

So the good bits? Mainly the ones which demonstrated that there is more to “African” music than sounds which make you want to jump up and down. Some of Cissoko’s more thoughtful kora playing, especially in tandem with an ace flautist whose name I didn’t catch, the best of  Bulawayo’s set, which really came together on some of those dance numbers. And, much more quietly, the very first set of the day. That was the complementary duo of Kevin Brown’s guitar and Moussa Kouyate’s kora, playing that ol’ Senegalese blues. Dogged by tuning problems (Koras don’t take kindly to damp, so toting one round Bristol must be a drag), they nevertheless had some spellbinding moments. Starting with the best music meant they had a small audience – I guess they aren’t dancy-dancy enough to be thought fit for an evening slot. But their interwoven string sounds and soulful lines stayed with us for the rest of the day.

African Jazz All Stars, St George’s. Oct 22

A great line up, with Claude Deppa, Jason Yarde depping for Tony Kofi, Adam Glasser on keys, and LUCKY RANKU. They feature compositions or arrangements from quite a few of the personnel, and hence from different countries, but increasingly tend toward a Dudu Pukwana tribute band (a frequent associate when he was still around of LUCKY RANKU).

The noise they make is great, though nowhere near as supple or inventive in the rhythm department as the South African derived ensembles with Johnny Dyani and the (still with us, hurrah) Louis Moholo Moholo. The arrangements are mostly fairly simple, riff-based – but great riffs. Some of them were written by LUCKY RANKU.

First half is thoroughly enjoyable. But second set brings on Pinise Saul, who lifts the whole ensemble and has enough vocal power and charisma to light up a small town. A mystery why she isn’t a global star. And she works so well, after all these years, with LUCKY RANKU.

There’s something about the players with roots in township jazz which always gets me. If you had to choose just one kind of music to listen to for the rest of your life (don’t make me), this would be a strong candidate.

Most of them are gone now, which always upsets me to think about. But there is one guitar player left who has a style so distinctive – a bit like Abdullah Ibrahim – that while I’m sure others can do it well enough, they will always be described as sounding like… LUCKY RANKU.

I would (and have) pay to hear him play all alone. But seeing and hearing him in front of a band is better still. None of the records I know quite do justice to the man – a contrast with, say Ernest Ranglin who is comparably wonderful and appears on lots of great sessions. The South African Gospel Choir CDs come close, but still lack some presence, I reckon. In conclusion, I remain exceedingly fond of LUCKY RANKU. There were some very nice sounding players in the bar afterwards, but we had to move on – sadly for them, none of them were…

Kit Downes Trio, Be-Bop Club. Oct 16

Late with this one – not sure where the time went since. So briefly: almost didn’t turn out for another piano trio gig. That would have been a great mistake as they provided a real lift at the end of a heavy week. All young, college trained, and a good counter to the too neat idea that people who happen to have had formal study are somehow slavish products of a system. Sure, they will have heard similar things from regular tutors. Some make something more of that, some don’t. These guys do.

The obvious comparisons are with the Jarrett and Mehldau piano trios – and Downes proves there is plenty of mileage in that song-based, free-ish, equal opportunity trio. The music is wonderfully detailed and interactive, with real flair on show from all three players, but all displayed co-operatively – a genuine feel of collective music-making with ego under control. On reflection, a feeling which was somehow missing, for me, from the Bad Plus show earlier in the week. And they gave a real lift to the Be-bop club, with its intent listeners who you can somehow sense appreciating how good all this is even when they make no visible sign. The perfect silence behind the featherweight brush gestures of the rather wonderful James Maddren on drums really brings home how good a musical space this is, for all that it is one of the most nondescript back room of a pub jazz clubs in the land. Cabot Circus is smarter, sure, but when the music is this compelling the surroundings disappear of course, and all dissolves into the creative flow. And flow it truly did. If this is the future of jazz, it is in good hands. Their CD is terrific, too. But I can’t wait to hear them again in person.

Mike Collins was also impressed.

Roland Chadwick and Nick Linnick, The Prom, Oct 14

A late trip round the corner for the weekly dose of Prom goodness. And this was really exceptional – a guitar duo combining a virtuosic old master (Chadwick) with a young protégé/pretender (Linnick). The latter, just turned 18, is a remarkable player already. Not sure if he is from the area, but I’m guessing he is. Prodigious young musicians seem to grow up here like weeds from the pavement – though much nicer to see obviously…

Anyhow, this was all instrumental, and a reminder that the sound of two amplified acoustic guitars really needs nothing else. They played in complex unison with astonishing precision, then traded choruses gaily with great invention from both players. A great lift to the end of the evening, and another reason to be grateful for living on the Gloucester Road. Both these guys are worth looking out for: together they are really special. There’s quite a bit of them playing together  on YouTube, which confirms their rapport.

The Bad Plus, St George’s. Oct 12

Second sighting of this trio this year, after their warm-up for Charlie Haden at Meltdown. This longer outing was good, but confirms that their reputation is some way from their current playing. Not that they aren’t all good musicians (though keyboard player Ethan Iverson is plenty more interesting than his cohorts, to my ear). Just that having been touted as cutting edge, challenging, and – in the current critical cliché – reinventing the piano trio – they really aren’t any more. This was a perfectly competent double set of pretty straightforward piano jazz, in the main. Granted, there were some unusual items in the repertoire – Ligeti, Babbit, Ornette’s Song X  – but most of the pieces were by one of the three players, and passed by pleasantly enough without being particularly memorable.

The whole thing seemed a bit routine, in fact. I know they play together a lot – Iverson said somewhere recently that they do 150 shows a year. Maybe they all need to go and do stuff with other bands for a while, and rfefresh and renew. Or maybe they are just settling down into steady jazz playing, after getting an audience by persuading people they were somehow radical. The only vaguely out of the ordinary aspect of their current approach is the rather angular, and relentlessly unswinging drummer, whose work I happen to find more of an irritatation than a pleasure. Or maybe I just don’t get it?

GBH Big Band, The Prom, Oct 7

Round the corner for the GBH big band’s annual visit to a venue  more used to smaller ensembles. Always fun to see them squeezing into the Prom, with the front line sat in front of the stage in traditional small venue fashion. All standards, and arangements are pretty standard too, but a couple of good soloists, a fine rhythm section, and well-drilled section playing throughout. A spirited engagement with Mingus on the penultimate number confirms the most important thing about about this enjoyable outfit, and big bands in general – they make a jolly pleasing noise.

Peter King Quartet, Future Inns Jazz Club, Oct 4

A great deal of piano this evening, too, from the impressively virtuosic Steve Melling. He’s been a King regular now for years, and this is a superbly integrated quartet, driven by Martin Drew – irrepressible as ever on drums. And Peter King, 70 next year and fifty years this since his debut when Ronnie Scott opened his first club, was on fine form too. The club missed its first grand old man when Don Weller cancelled due to illness, but King did them proud. The same eager, forward-leaning stance as ever, same bootblack hair, same black shirt – and the same pungent, Phil Woodsian tone and unceasing flow of invention.

King is a surviving master of the high bebop style, with few equals, but is much more than a mere stylist. Sometimes he goes through predictable moves, but any evening is puctuated by real flights of improvisational surprise. Highlights came in the second set with a Coltrane-inspired mini suite/medley, with Melling again to the fore but King successfully conjuring the spirit of (early) ‘Trane even though sticking with his faithful alto. Great stuff, and followed by his favoured solo vehicle, Lush Life, wrung to death, but in a  good way. Then home to sleep, and prepare for another week of fiddling with words. But most of the standing room only crowd remained for the last little bit. The Cabot circus club has achieved lift-off. Looking forward to lots more nights like this.

Paul Lewis, St George’s Oct 2

Another brilliant solo recital from Lewis after last season’s Schubert fest, again overcoming doubts about the appeal of going to hear someone work through stuff which will be basically the same as it has been thousands of times before. It is worth doing when it it can be done with as much flair and attention to detail as this.

The main event was the Diabelli variations, which I admit tries the patience a little. It is the greatest piece in the piano repertoire, apparently (Alfred Brendel via Wikipedia). Not sure about that. Lewis brought out its intermittent playfulness, and elements of parody. But parts of it sounds somewhat like parody Beethoven. Was he having a laugh at listeners’ expense? Something about working up 33 variations invites that suspicion. All terribly brilliant, I’m sure, but just slightly hard to take seriously. The inherent seriousness of the recital room – reinforced by the vaguely religious ambience of a deconsecrated space – makes one wish for something a little more irrreverent. Singing along with the simple bits, perhaps? Throwing in a few more variations in more modern styles to carry on the enterprise? Maybe a job for Uri Caine.

The opening Shubert impromptus were fab though. Didn’t know them before, loved them, and want to know them better. The third and fourth of the set were particularly fine, and the piano rang out in the space of St George’s as if the pieces were newly minted. Music which lasts – historically and for each new listener.

Mike Collins Trio, Prom, Sep 28

In a slightly difficult position on this one. The piano player also blogs about jazz in this neck of the woods, but from a musicianly point of view. So who am I to comment on his efforts? Although, having made a living from writing off and on for three decades, I am not shy about having an opinion, I do think one ought to be wary of non-players’ opinions about music. Add to that feeling a tinge of envy for people who can actually do it, and a darker shade, always in my head somewhere, that if I haven’t exactly wasted my life, a life in which one does not make music is in fact wasted…

Well, put that feeling back in its box, along with the continuing puzzle of why humans love music who cannot produce it. This was a pleasant and involving evening’s music-making to listen to. An electric piano tuned to sound as near to acoustic as possible, which always seems second best but avoids relying on dodgy instruments I guess. A player who, I would say, has a particular ear for a melody – both the choice of pieces (Jarrett, Shorter) and the way they are delivered. The treatment is thoughtful, never flashy, and thoroughly absorbing, the support from regular drummer and depping bass player unfailingly sympathetic. And, to allow another small outbreak of wistfulness, it did make it look a lot of  fun to make music – certainly more fun than to write about it. Thanks Mike (no, really).

Geoff Gascoyne Quartet, Future Inn, Sep 27

An evening that warmed up well as it went along. The first set fit the preconception I arrived with: this lot would be firmly in the zone which seems defined by the Chop House’s booking policy – conservative but classy. (Seems sensible – they aren’t going to put on Evan Parker or Lol Coxhill in a hotel lounge.) But there were already touches of something more interesting. Leader Gascoyne on bass and drummer Sebastian de Krom are the kind of rhythm section usually described as immaculate, no small thing, and launched some resourceful solos from Tom Cawley on piano. He’s a recent addition to the band, I think (new album has Jim Mullen, a very different player) and his cohorts enjoyed him enjoying himself.

Then the second set yielded some really excellent moments, notably Andy Panayi’s flute solo and Gascoyne and Panayi again – back on tenor – on Charlie Haden’s lovely ballad First Song. Taking on a Haden tune as a bass player denotes a certain confidence – and worked beautifully. There was also a cameo from Damon Brown, sitting in the audience with trumpet about his person, on his favourite Joyspring, which added nicely to the mix.

Audience still not huge, but the place is settling down very nicely – and brings us Peter King, with Gascoyne again, Steve Melling and the ever reliable Martin Drew on drums next week. Brilliant musicians all. Like I said, conservative, but classy.