Michael Janisch - The Whirlwind hours

Michael Janisch - Bass and Boss

"'Tis now the very witching time of night"
the young man next to me said. I knew his face, he was not the over dramatic kind, but right now he was serious. This would be a contest, a reckoning, not physical in the pitbull kind but a battle of nerve for each performer.
In the den of the Pizza Express, Soho (08/03/2013) all the empty tables were slowly occupied by the guns-for-hire. They checked each other out with furtive glances and if they recognised each other, they acknowledged the fact in muted greetings.

The man they all wanted to impress held the microphone and introduced himself as Michael Janisch. Just like many a leader this man had charisma and that fervent edge that means he is always one step ahead of the pack. This was going to be the first night of many he explained, a chance for collaboration and expression every Friday night from 11am to 3am at Pizza Express......
and the reason why all the jazz mercenaries present wanted to be part of Janisch's gang?
In 18 months he has attracted a skilful and cutting edge group of players to his South London stable. They are creating exciting and ground breaking music that is casting waves of improvised sounds around the globe.



Phil Robson - Guitar

Musicians nervously tested the valves of their trumpets and over-worked hearts knowing if they impressed.... then Janisch's appraising eyes would be on them. The basement at Pizza Express very much resembled a western saloon too, with the late opening and free entry there were groups of inebriated hired-hands, releasing the acrid stress that comes from being under London's cosh all week. Not much drink was spilled though as the tension was lanced with the quartet's opening tune.

Zhenya Strigalev - Sax

They all looked nervous on stage. This was the start of a new era and the Whirlwind Hours were starting to tick. Only History will judge if this late night hangout will be a breeding ground for talent. The 'Man in Black' was Phil Robson, his back pressed against the piano, he had no where to run so he played for his life. Zhenya Strigalev  tilted back his head and played his saxophone like a circus performer swallowing his sword, his Lee Van Cleef eyes unnerving us as he scanned the room through those meagre slits. Gene Calderazzo was very much the urban cowboy with dark wooly and white specs on drums.

Gene Calderazzo - drums

The night developed with musicians taking their shot and having fun too. Lets not forget that the chance to play with the best is a kick of adrenaline for us all. Notable participants were Partikel's Duncan Eagles and Jeff Williams who played Monk's Rhythm a Ning and Jerome Kern's I'm old fashioned.
There's nothing old-hat about these regular Friday nights so give it a go, whether performer of listener alike.
All the details are here.

Duncan Eagles - Sax

Over the coming weeks I'll be sketching on a regular basis and busy preparing for an exhibition at Whirlwind Recordings Festival, Kings Place in October 2013. Where you will get a chance to see these paintings and the musicians performing too.

I didn't make it to the 3am close because I had a 9.5 mile walk awaiting me the next morning to help launch my second book Patternotion. I knew though that the Whirlwind hour will strike once more in Soho and that the jazzslingers will be back in town.

I'll be there when the bell tolls.

AL.

Ben Castle and Will-o-Wisp

Ben Castle - Saxophone

I just had to close my eyes after 90 minutes of Ben Castle and Makoto Kuirya's set at Pizza Express last Friday (08/03/2013). The last hour and a half had been a frenzied scribble of scratches, sweeps and dots. The music had captured my soul and replaced it with an overflowing voltaic pile of Jackson Pollock energy.

I had a wonderful view courtesy of my hosts Mike and Gail Watts, who had bagged a central table. They had discovered Castle at Nottingham's Splendour Festival, he was dressed as a matador and playing with the idiosyncratic Duke Special so they did not know quite what to expect. It is true, even in more conformist attire, he is hard to categorise as a player and person. I suspect he does not know himself, he is an excellent player and is probably having the time of his life playing and exploring the boundaries of his musical playground.

Makoto Kuriya - piano

He is modest and easy going, deliberately stepping out of the limelight during the performance to support others. I'm sure his generosity encourages advice from all quarters, to play this, try that, jam with me and change your style. His foundations run deep though (he was anchored by his father's sax in hand), and his strong grounding allows him to express and explore without restraint. Who else could slip a Minogue melody into proceeding while wearing his Mountie striped trousers with such dead-pan cheek. The future changes from day to day for Ben Castle, the next day was a visit to the Maida Vale studios with his piccolo and then further afield to finish an album project of Pop tunes in a 30's jazz style with two other singers.

What had brought me to a state of near exhaustion was Makoto Kuriya on piano. He was an untamed ethereal force whose speed and execution was hard to mirror with my pad and pen. His lightweight frame bounced in and out of his chair, frequently his left hand kicked back like he was a rodeo star bucked by the piano's ferocity. His mouth was continually animated, it bit, chattered and snapped at imaginary 'amuse-bouche' that floated in front of his starving eyes. Even without sketchbook in hand it was hard to keep up.

 I watched the charming lady (Sarah Hadland) opposite me, as her eyes darted in hypnotic spirals. I asked her at the interval what she thought of the performance, "I'm desperate to see what's on his chart. I can't believe there's any notes written down at all. He's so free, physical and dynamic, like the flow is more important than the direction".
Understandably he is a hard man to capture and remains a will-o'-the-wisp type player that will take many viewings to trap in my artistic jam jar.

Arnie Somogyi - bass

MK's compositions were not my favourites of the evening though. That dubious honour goes to Arnie Somogyi and his tune 'JJ' which starts with a throbbing bass line and flows beautiful into lyrical swing.

I had a particularly bad view of drummer Bence Bolygo but could hear he was travelling at a good mph, there was no chance of any Salford traffic warden giving him a parking fine for nodding-off.

Bence Bolygo

Now it might look like I was falling asleep in the last 30 minutes but my body had taken an assault to its senses. The pure speed of Kuriya's playing had rendered my sketching hand exhausted and useless. Sometimes you've just got to give in to the music and listen. Shutting down all other senses....and....listen.

Still listening.....

AL

Me listening
Photo Mike Watts

Partikel : Harnessing Eric Ford

Eric Ford - Drums

I know Partikel and their music more intimately than any other Jazz trio in London, if it wasn't for them I wouldn't be writing this now. Many years ago I accompanied my friend and guitarist Richard Savage to the infamous Jazz Jam at Kingston's Grey Horse. As we entered, our eyes were assaulted with a vision straight out of Star Wars' Mos Eisley Cantina band, imagine Duncan Hemstock mid-clarinet solo and you've got it!

As I returned week after week I started to draw the house band, Partikel, and the motley crew of jammers. Eventually I tried to draw their new (replacement) drummer Eric Ford and capture his Yoda like persona. I realised then that Ford is as enigmatic as a Jedi Master.

Cast yourselves light years ahead and I was once again in front of Partikel last Tuesday (05/03/2013) at The Amersham Arms, New Cross with the rest of the S.E. Collective audience.
In the years in between I have spent a considerable time listening to and drawing Duncan Eagles, Max Luthert and Eric Ford. I have dissected their work to create album covers and their tunes have inspired many an animation.
So here in the present they appeared before me. It was a night of new and old material, all superbly executed with passion and verve.



Max Luthert - Bass

Running full pelt through their first tune 'Restless Child' they immerged the other side in Luthert Land, and his signature tune 'Assam'. The crowd were particularly appreciative of Luthert this night. He is the most laid back of the band, considering he is a 10 cups of tea a day connoisseur, I would hate to think what would happen if he stopped imbibing the caffeinated drink, the result would be the first prone bass player in history. He must of been playing well to have caught the eye for he is a modest man for the shadows, like so many bass players.

Duncan Eagles is the ultimate pro and one of London Jazz's great facilitators. He was exemplary tonight if not a little aggressive in his delivery. With something to get off his slim chest I checked my usual Eagles indicator, the left shoulder, like a barometer in changeable weather, spits and starts when Eagles is 'in the groove'.
 Damn!
I was side on so couldn't measure the degree of tilt adequately. I looked for new indicators. I've never seen him blow so hard and his face turned a cherry red. In fact he was blowing so hard his slow-slung hipster jeans nearly fell off his narrow hips. He excelled on both tunes 'The Landing' and 'D to the G'.


My favourite tune of the night is a mysterious one.

Duncan Eagles - Saxophone

I hope you all get the chance to hear it one day. I first heard it in Derek Nash's studio last year during the notorious Mark Perry Experiment session. Why and what the experiment was I never found out but imagine a child with ADHD and who'd eaten a pack of blue smarties then that would be the excitable trumpeter Mark Perry.
His group (Eagles, Luthert, Leak and Nicholls) was bolstered by the small matter of Gareth Lockrane on flute and they created the most brilliant tune called 'Barter's Band' together. It is a swinging joy and provides you with a melody that kicks like a mule for the week to come. There are rumours that this experimental brew (including Ola Onabule on vocals) may be released into the world sometime soon.

Partikel were fantastic tonight providing us with all the proof why they are one of Michael Janisch's leading lights at Whirlwind Recordings. I dearly hope the talk is true and a third album is in the pipeline.

I was pleased with my night's work, at last, I captured a likeness of Eric Ford, that quizzical look when he is pleased with his cow-bell skills or he has battered the audience with a particularly loud solo.
He still remains an enigmatic figure on the London circuit and if Partikel want to take the next step in their development they'll need to harness the force of nature that is Eric Ford.

May the force be with them.

AL

Both barrels from The Twelveheads

Peter Ibbetson - drums

Last Tuesday (05/03/2013) I witnessed the birth of a new band, it wasn't a difficult delivery, in fact no gas or air was needed and we smoothly entered a new era for the SE Collective's Peter Ibbetson. The new arrivals were 'The Twelveheads' who broke their waters at The Amersham Arms in New Cross, London.

This is a new monicker for the quartet who I had seen under their previous name, Pseudonym, just a few weeks earlier (November 2012, Spice of Life).
The S.E. Collective at the Amersham Arms have built a hard and cutting edge reputation in their brief history and this was another rapier like thrust into the soft underbelly of the London's music scene.

Although it's been through lean times, we have a nimble and expressive group of old and new Jazz musicians writing and performing some fantastic new material during Britain's darkest days of austerity. Capitalising on the appetite for fresh and original tunes Ibbetson was recording the night's endeavours with the help of Alex Bonney, who hid in the shadows, illuminated only by the glow of his laptop.

Alam Nathoo - saxophone

It was a patient and measured start that sucked the air from the venue itself (I Hate Nostalgia, I Want Nothing To Do WIth It.), creating a build up of latent energy that left me emotionally thirsty.
Then we felt the pumping rhythms of Alam Nathoo and the wafting & sweeping of Tom Challenger (Tenor) saxophones on 'All That Was, and How It Is Now'.

Nathoo is soft shouldered player, giving no indication of his power and intensity from the outside. Again Challenger has a disarming and prepossessing demeanour that is more Teddy bear than Grizzly. Although both took the spotlight on regular occasions  their power was at its greatest when working together. They elevate their performance not by competition but by nurture and building upon each other successes.



Tom Challenger - Saxophone

Entering the middle phase of the recording and Ibbetson's beats pulsed from his electronic box. They we're evocative and subtle throughout. For example in a composite of 'You Never Listen' and '51 Rue Cler' the electronic sounds we're reminiscent of a bell, perhaps warning you of an incident in a distant (mental health) ward. Ibbetson was restraint itself throughout, developing beautiful layers through scratches and washes. Although physically in the background he's very much the leader, both conducting with a lone hand at one point, and more commonly with eyes full of intensity.

At last we passed half-way and the quartet let rip with the bouncy melodic 'Here Comes Mylo'', a tune about an excitable dog. Apologies for this ham-fisted metaphor but 'The Twelveheads' were let of the lead, Challenger leaned back like he was begging for treats, Ibbetson's sticks rapped a barking beat, Tom Framer on bass wagged his shaggy tail and like a mischievous hound Nathoo pissed up the legs of the audience with devilish charm, and even cracked a smile at the end.

Tom Farmer - Bass

On the last tune of their recording Nathoo and Challenger again worked so well together under Ibbetson's direction. Both took turns building up the structure of 'Too Much To Think' until they then smashed their creation down with  both barrels of their collective saxophones.

Like many a musical evening we leave the venue picking through the pieces of our memory, humming the shard of
a tune or recreating a slideshow of images to replay in the future. The snapshot I'll leave with is not an image of Peter Ibbetson's first musical baby..... but of his twins, Challenger and Nathoo, crying in honeyed harmony. Don't take my word for it, look out for the CD that will grow up to be one of the 'big boys' of the Jazz playground.

AL

Foreign Slippers - Gabi Froden and Phil Wilkinson

Gabi Froden

Beauty and the Beast took to the Water Rats stage on Wednesday this week (27/02/2013) in the guise of Gabi Froden and Phil Wilkinson from Foreign Slippers. This was not a reincarnation of the musical that left London's West End in 1999 and now had returned to downtown King's Cross. Nor a hard worked metaphor, that reflects the attractiveness of the duo themselves, although each was bathed in contrasting lights that emphasised their differing roles.

The Beauty..... the voice of Froden.

The Beast...... the dark electronic beats of Wilkinson

It was a night of juxtapositions. Gabi Froden was glowingly beautiful under the red spotlight but her lyrics have a chilling and melancholy feel at times. She has a deadpan relationship with her audience and you cannot help but be captivated by her Scandinavian delivery. Like the mouse that is being toyed with by the cat, you know you are in her thrall although within a playful grasp. But unlike the mouse you never want to escape.
Froden bookended the night's performance on guitar but spent the majority on keys.

Phil Wilkinson lingered in the blue shadows cast by Froden but should take just as much credit for the night's excellent performance. For this duo it was an opportunity to warm-up and energise new material ahead of a tour with FOY VANCE, starting tomorrow at Newcastle's Cluny.
Tour dates here.
Wilkinson's brave electronic beats were at their most effective during 'Road to Ruin', the sound of them crunching and spitting out at us. Musically it was an almost tactile path through Blake's 'And did those feet in ancient time'.
Froden's voice was the rolling hills of a 'Green and pleasant Land' and Wilkinson's cloud of beats erupted from those 'dark Satanic Mills'.
Froden and Wilkinson weren't persistently at loggerheads either, their voices regularly combined creating smooth folk landscapes.

Mike Watts

Amongst the Water Rats' Greek columns we heard some modern material too, including 'Sleepwalker', written by Wilkinson. Earlier in the evening Gabi admitted to me that she finds it hard to accept Phil's ideas when first presented to her -

"I'm very critical at the start when Phil conjures up a new song for us. I find it very hard to own a song that I haven't written but eventually I fall in love and it becomes part of my identity too".

I had been invited this evening by a 'Face', as they say on the circuit. Whether I have achieved that honour yet I do not know but this face belonged to Mike Watts, who as a supporter and photographer of live music is a regular on the folk circuit and beyond. He is a man (usually with his wife Gail) that can be seen at many venues, listening to any genre, but with a keen ear for the New.
He has followed the progress of Gabi Froden (particularly her collaborations with Duke Special) for a while and gave me an insight into the music.

"When she takes the high notes her voice retains its fine quality but with a touch of vibrato, it just has that accuracy and tone! The most memorable night was at Belfast's Waterfront where she sang Ruby Murray's 'Jimmy Unknown' in front of two and half thousand people with a 26 piece orchestra behind her".



Phil Nelson -
First Column Management

Both Mike and I left a healthy crowd at The Water Rats with Foreign Slippers and their manager Phil 'Leveller' Nelson. I never know whether this nickname was earned because of his previous management fame or because he has that imposingly strong demeanour. Answers on a postcard...

 Although Mike and I got lost on the way home, I know we'll find each other again soon. I'm his guest at Ben Castle's gig at the Pizza Express, Soho on 8th March.

Your next chance to see/hear Foreign Slippers here in London is on the 13th March at the Islington Assembly Halls. See if you can resist the potent wave of Gabi Froden's voice and Phil Wilkinson's dark beats.

AL

Bethany Jameson - Racing Pulses

Bethany Jameson

Mr Rainlore has just written a review of Bethany Jameson's Cabaret Vérité Live At The Royal National Theatre Foyer, South Bank, London SE1, Sunday 3rd February 2013.

Read it here -
LINK HERE to Rainlore's World Website

Chico Chica - Cult Classic

Tom Hannah - 'A Scientific Fact'

We didn't see the best side of the genre hopping trio Chico Chica this week (19/02/2013) at The Green Carnation, Soho. In fact it was very hard to see any side of this dynamic group of multi-instrumentalists. Through no fault of their own they performed in a state of near darkness, illuminated only by a throbbing kaleidoscope of colour projections. They worked hard to make it an enjoyable night for the motley crew of foreign drifters and snogging fellas who were enthusiastic about the night's entertainment. More than once I heard a 'So cool' in a thick Spanish twang.

It was mostly latin and jazz standards with Barbara Snow's rendition of 'Berimbau' a stand out. As professionals they had assessed their audience, jettisoned their own tunes and adapted the repertoire. Perfectly correct, but it left me frustrated when we saw glimpses of their originality and brilliance later in the evening. When we did get the chance to encounter the full Chico Chica experience I was spellbound.

The night hinged on one tune. Tom Hannah stood up, dusted himself off and with microphone in hand started with spoken word. The deep green light bounced off the chartreuse walls and Hannah's happiness monologue interrupted Soho's murmur of murky gossip.

Barbara Snow

The tune, 'A Scientific Fact', expresses Hannah's own view that it's "daft that people use science to state the obvious". He was sensational as he subsequently dropped his microphone and hit the dancefloor with a flurry of finger-clicks and moonwalks. By stepping out into the audience he made us all uncomfortable and equally mesmerised, and it was only after the finale when Tom Hannah sat down that you realised you hadn't blinked for a full 5 minutes. There's every chance that this routine will become a cult classic in the style of Christopher Walken's cameo in 'Weapon of Choice' (Fatboy Slim).

Alas the brightest star in the evening quickly diminished,
but there is good news on the horizon because Chico Chica are busy preparing for a new album (their 2nd). In fact Barbara Snow has written more than 20 tunes in preparation, so my desires will be fulfilled.

Hilary Cameron

How I wish I could have heard these original compositions at The Green Carnation. I did though find comfort in the voice of Barbara Snow, the dancing of Tom Hannah and the hypnotic eyes of Hilary Cameron.

AL