Atzman is a performer, above all – never quite the same on record. If you don’t know him, Ian Storror has all the details here.

This wasn’t a bad way to start 2012′s live music. Nothing too intense – both bands seemed a little disconcerted by the absence of a proper PA down at the LeftBank, but the sound was fine where we sat. Maybe they like to play louder, but quite glad they didn’t. After an unadvertised set of songs from Rae, which also seemed a little tentative, there were short sets from the two co-touring jazz outfits. Redivider (their name mixes upper and lower case more but I can’t be bothered) were freer, as expected, World Service Project funkier and more arranged. Both very listenable.

Most striking, though, was when they came together for a couple of numbers at the end – a superband as World Service’s leader Dave Morecroft put it, tongue in cheek. Not far off, actually. Suddenly there were four horns in the front line, two saxes and two trombones, and a whole new sound, rich and satisfying. Both bands have their horns playing against each other a fair portion of the time, and the four did likewise, interweaving and swapping phrases with enthusiasm. When Redivider’s drummer/leader Matt Jacobson took over the kit the whole thing was even more energised.

It was a reminder how much of the routine stuff of jazz touring is confined to four and five piece bands – usually a couple of horns at most – and how much we miss that way in terms of musical possibilities. All down to economics, of course. But if the tantalising taste of Sunday’s short-lived seven-piece was repeated on other nights of this short tour perhaps the two bands will find a way to build on this collaboration of like minds? It would be nice to think so.

(links to both bands in the previous post)

Related articles

• Coming up – World Service Project/ReDiviDeR (bristoljazzlog.wordpress.com)

Morecroft’s own band are more of a known quantity, with one previous showing in Bristol which I wrote about back in 2010. It’ll be interesting to hear how they’ve come on since then.

Both bands appear at the Left Bank in Stokes Croft on Sunday night, for a modest £4.

They are competing with an Ian Storror promotion of The Pushy Doctors south of the river, first of a series of excellent gigs he has lined up. That is also very tempting, but I’m going for WSP, hoping that the Doctors will reappear soon.

Related articles

• World Service Project: Relentless – review (guardian.co.uk)

His archive is astonishing, so astonishing it now belongs to GettyImages. He did keep some prints, though, and recently donated a large collection to Amnesty’s Bristol bookshop on the Gloucester Road.

Many are too valuable to sell from the shop, and these are now being auctioned, on January 24th. There’s a lot of rock and pop, but some jazz too. I’ve seen them, and the quality is remarkable. I now own a fine print of this one, which will be adorning the living room as soon as it gets framed properly…

Details in the press release below.

Books for Amnesty Bristol

PRESS RELEASE

Important collection of music photographs to be sold at Dreweatt’s Clifton auction room on 24^th January 2012 on behalf of Amnesty International.

DAVID REDFERN

One of the most important photographers of jazz, blues and rock musicians over the past five decades, David Redfern (a long-time supporter of Amnesty) recently made a most generous donation of photographs and posters to the Bristol branch of Books for Amnesty. Most of the photographs are from his archive of pictures taken since the early ‘60s, many of which are signed by him, but the collection also includes several iconic images, amongst which is the famous shot of Mick Jagger wearing that ‘white dress’ costume at the now legendary 1969 Hyde Park concert, the first Pink Floyd line-up (with Syd Barrett), rare photos of David Bowie and an unusual picture of Count Basie lighting Princess Margaret’s cigarette. There is also a poster of the Bob Dylan photo shot for his Nashville Skyline album by American photographer Elliott Landy, which is signed and dedicated to David by Landy.

Numbering approximately 30 lots, with estimates ranging from £40-150 a lot,

the collection also contains early photos of  Michael Jackson; r & b singer Ray Charles; Chuck Berry; Johnny Cash; Gram Parsons; jazz saxophonist Zoot Sims and pop legend Dusty Springfield, as well as three very collectable New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival limited edition posters (framed and glazed) for the years 1983, ’87 and ’92.

Colin Richardson from Books for Amnesty Bristol, who knew David back in the ‘60s, said: “As the bookshop runs entirely on donations, it was particularly exciting to receive such a magnanimous one from David. This is a rare opportunity to buy some very sought after photographs by one of the most important music photographers of our time. We are hopeful that most, if not all, of the lots will sell, as the estimates are a fraction of their true value.”

The auction takes place at 10.30 am on Tuesday, January 24^th at the Apsley Rd., Clifton saleroom room. Viewing days are Saturday 21^st, Monday 23^rd and the morning of the sale.

All proceeds from the donated lots will go to the human rights organisation, Amnesty International UK.

ENDS

Notes to the Editor

For more information about this story, please contact Colin Richardson on 0117 977 0122

For more information about theauction room please visit www.dnfa.com

For more information about David Redfern, please see: www.davidredfern.com/biography

For more information on Books for Amnesty Bristol, please visit www.booksforamnestybristol.org.uk/

So I’ll not be blogging every gig from now on, which has come to seem less personally pointful, as well as time-consuming. Options from there might be a) try and develop something more comprehensive about jazz in Bristol, but that would be even more time-consuming, or b) confine entries to diary style notes of things heard, with occasional longer reflections on stand out gigs, and maybe some gigs of the week if the mood takes me.

I’m going for b), with one possible addition. If anyone else out there fancies posting a note of a jazz gig in or around Bristol for the benefit of the (rather small!) readership here, feel free to send it to me, and I’ll put it up if it seems to fit – and my criteria there are pretty loose except that I’m more interested in hearing explanations of why stuff might be good than the opposite.

Meantime, here’s looking forward to Tord Gustavsen, Trio Libero, Roberto Fonseca, Neil Cowley, Kairos 4tet, Marius Neset, World Service Project, Pushy Doctors, Ambrose Akinmusire (bit a a coup for Colston Hall that one), and more!

The ones that come to mind include John Law’s trio at the Bear (twice), June Tabor (a repeat from 2010), Phronesis (ditto), Paul Lewis playing Schubert, and Phil Robson’s IMS quartet, The Impossible Gentlemen, and Henry Threadgill. The total knockout, though, for me was Joe Lovano’s set at St George’s – an astonishing evening of concentrated music making from a true master.

Sets which had lots to savour, if not quite scaling those heights throughout, were numerous – Marius Neset, Ute Lemper, Stian Carstensen, Django Bates, Mike Westbrook’s Blake project, Storms/Nocturnes (Keezer, Locke and Garland), Angela Hewitt, Ralph Towner and Paulo Fresu, Kit Downes Sextet, Josh Arcoleo, Emily Wright’s band, and more.

And, in the year which saw the demise of our shiny new Bristol jazz club at Future Inns (though not of Ian Storror’s enterprising promotions), a word for one of the city’s more durable assets. We probably saw Andy Sheppard in more different contexts than any other musician this year – Trio Libero at Cheltenham, a quartet playing Coltrane ballads at St George’s, solo on the same stage, guesting with John Parricelli at Future Inns and with the wonderful trio The Pushy Doctors. Every one of those sets was superb, and showed what a consistent and creative player he is. I imagine he’ll be touring more this year to promote a new Trio Libero album from ECM (though they are also booked at St George’s), but it is great to have him in the city…

Yuri Goloubev is an ideal partner on bass, a slight over-amplification at the start being corrected after a few songs, so we could appreciate his beautiful tone properly, as well as perfect note placement and rythmic infallibility. Long-time associate Asaf Sirkis is a wonder, sticking to brushes most of the evening, and using a quiet touch even when he turned to sticks apart from a couple of solos – probably not necessary, but quite enjoyable if only for his blindingly fast technique.

But Law is the real marvel of the group. Even on the Bear’s not exactly plush sounding piano, his touch and taste shine through. He  loves to build slowly from simple beginnings, often Jarrett-like vamps or Mehldauesque counterpoint (with nods to Bach from time to time, of course). A mixed programme, mainly his own tunes, with a few standards – Nick Drake’s River Man surely counts as a standard these days: does anyone play any of his other songs? It appeals t0 Law, I guess, because it is a real song, as are many of his own pieces, albeit sans lyrics. The beautiful Chorale in the second set and his occasional sax partner Nick Sorenson’s The Journey Home, an appropriate encore, were particularly nourishing, but this was an evening of simply delicious music making from a West Country resident who tours constantly – playing the Vortex in London tomorrow – but happily plays plenty of local venues as well.

Afterthought: Standing room only at the Bear is great to see, and keeps happening, but does  make one miss the slightly more ample proportions of the short-lived Cabot Circus club, which seated, what, about 70 at a pinch? A shame the city lacks anywhere where people will actually listen (no chatter at all at the Be-bop club, which is a big bonus for a pub gig these days) between the 40-odd capacity there and the 200 seat hall at Colston…

Until someone else chances promoting a larger space, though, great to enjoy the fact that the modest profile of jazz means you can enjoy hearing world class musicians in a such a small room. The economics are rubbish, of course, but the listening is fantastic.

Read what Andy Hague has to say about them, here.

Details from Venue here.

(Oddly, there’s nothing about it on the Museum’s own website, but Shipp’s site lists it as a date, so it looks like it checks out.)

Which was great, but means, those reviews for LondonJazz aside, too much music to write about. So, as usual mainly for my future reference, a few things seen, with minimal comments.

Blazing Fiddles – Colston Hall.

Actually we went to see this on the Wednesday night before LJF, on a last minute whim. And the four (sometimes five) fiddle players exploring Scottish tradition were great. Their unison playing was something to marvel at, and the various solo features  full of wonderful, heartfelt music.

Friday, LJF  Siegel/Noble – St James, Piccadilly

Friday I was in London alone, and caught Julian Siegel and Liam Noble in St James Piccadilly at lunchtime. They pulled in about 300 people (entry was free), and played a bunch of tunes from Siegel’s CD Urban Theme Park which I took home. Without the bass and drums from the quartet, who contribute a heck of a lot to the recording, this was still fine music – Noble’s use of the Church’s pretty Fazioli piano and Siegel’s lovely bass clarinet resonating with the Church’s echo especially well. Also caught a little of Phil Bancroft’s project on the South Bank later, another free gig which was packed out – to the extent of needing crowd control! – but had to peel off to meet folks. Then Jeff Williams in the evening, as reviewed separately below.

Saturday, LJF

The day was spent in keen anticipation of Henry Threadgill. But in the day we caught some long stretches of the Adventures in Sound sessions in the QEH foyer, with the impressive stuff from Dave Kane, the always remarkable Paul Rogers and, particularly beguiling, a duo from vibist Corey Mwamba and Robert Mitchell on the piano. They successfully avoided Burton/Corea territory, partly by use of the bow on the vibes, but mainly just by being original.

Leg-stretching while this was going on allowed a sample of the other radio three session being recorded simultaneously in the Clore Ballroom – brief, but long enough to establish that Trish Clowes’ excellent Tangent are still developing their delivery of her excellent compositions.

Sunday, LJF – Arild Andersen, QEH.

Threadgill on Sat evening and Ornette to come on Sunday was *almost* enough music, even for me. But couldn’t resist buying late tickets for Arild Andersen and the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra in the afternoon at the not very full QEH. This was the orchestra’s ECM tribute, playing arrangements of pieces by ECM artists for big band. Some, such as K. Wheeler’s Heyoke, worked perfectly, others not so well, though the band performed them all immaculately. The deal with SNJO, at this gig anyway, seems to be very much Tommy Smith and his band – he took nearly all the horn solos – but the main delight was hearing Andersen, freed of rhythm responsibilities by the presence of the admirable Calum Gourlay, taking the lead and many solos on all the tunes. Hard to think of anyone better to front an ECM repertoire band, and he did the occasion proud. A deeply wonderful musician.

Brass Jaw, Colston Hall, Friday 25th Nov

And a final mention for the first gig back in Bristol, an hour’s fun from Brass Jaw down in the uncongenial space (musically speaking) of the Colston Hall foyer. They just about overcame that handicap with their engaging set of mainly hard bop standards. A few foot-operated percussion instruments have crept on to the stage since I last saw them. Seems to me like a mistake – they just thump away in the background. Face it, guys, there’s no ryhthm section! Making a virtue of that, as they do the rest of the time, with the baritone sax punching out the bass, works better. At their best, they sound like the World Saxophone Quartet without the free bits, and with one alto replaced by a trumpet. Which is to say, not half bad.