Music / ambient music
The week in Jazz Nov 20-26
In the John Carpenter film The Thing is a shape-shifting alien death force that emerges from the frozen Arctic waste to cause maximum devastation. It would be pretty mean to force any comparison with the power-jazz trio of the same name (The Exchange, Thursday 23) though they have blasted their way from the chilly Swedish climate to shake up the front ranks of contemporary European jazz. Like US piano trio The Bad Plus they use a combination of free-blowing audacity and a judicious and surprising choice of left field rock source material. with Mats Gustafson’s raucous and relentless saxophone a constant adrenalin rush. The gig – a nice collaboration between The Exchange’s Fat Paul and the Colston Hall – also features intriguing Turkish psych-improvisers Konstrukt and local improv heroes Calcine Quartet.
Audio-visual explorers Adrena Adrena
If experimental drumming is your thing The Thing’s Paal Nilssen-Love is only one of many tempting performances this week. Tuesday’s set from fusion rockers In Zaire (Cube, Tuesday 21) gets a support slot from Atatat, solo drummer Joel Barbara’s distinctively driven combination of electronics, vocal randomness and live percussion, while Café Kino (Saturday 25) welcomes Japanese stick-wielder E-Da Kazuhisa as Adrena Adrena, performing to Daisy Dickinson’s compelling videos projected onto a large white sphere.
Bassman Riaan on his way uphill
Bristol’s ubiquitous uber-drummer Matt Brown is in a more conventional jazz context, however, in bass-player Riaan Vosloo’s Uphill Game quartet (Canteen, Sunday 26)that also features Get The Blessing’s horn pairing of McMurchie and Judge. Riaan’s fine tone and stylish approach make this a top class affair, as is another bass-led band coming to The Bebop (Friday 24), namely the Greg Cordez Quintet. Composer Greg recently released an excellent US-recorded CD Last Things Last and now he’s airing his closely constructed lyrical pieces with a Bristol line-up that also includes Jake McMurchie alongside fellow saxophonist Sam Crockatt with Steve Banks’ guitar and Mark Whitlam on drums.
is needed now More than ever
Ben Thomas heading for the The Fringe
You may have heard Welsh sax player Lee Goodall playing with pianist Mike Collins but he returns to the Fringe (Wednesday 22) with trumpeter Ben Thomas in a tasty quintet that also boasts the excellent Jim Blomfield on piano. Ben’s known for experimentalism, lately seen performing collaborative ‘duets’ with painter Robyn Muse, while Lee’s sound is steeped in influences from his early year’s working in the New York jazz scene.
Dutch originality from Kapok
One gig really doesn’t belong here on grounds of time or place – Dutch trio Kapok will be appearing at Widcombe Social Club, Bath, on Monday 27. It certainly deserves a mention, however, firstly because they really are original in sound, with Morris Kliphuis using more effects pedals on his French horn than many guitarists muster, and secondly because, by next week’s bulletin, it may be too late to get a ticket. The venue is a smartly refurbished space a short stroll from the station that promises to provide a new home for jazz in the city.
Psychic-cello warrior Rotten Bliss
And, finally, another couple of Saturday night ambient experiences that might tempt the exploratory-minded when The Cube sees solo guitar-electronicist Stereocilia launch new album Hive Mind, with support from ‘psychic-cello warrior’ Rotten Bliss while over at the Unitarian Chapel in Brunswick Square the highly spontaneous Bristol Ambient Ensemble will be weaving electro-acoustic soundscapes from their collective imagination.
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