Sax Appeal - Derek Nash

Derek Nash

Sax Appeal

Alec Dankworth

Derek Nash - Alto Saxophone
Scott Garland - Alto Saxophone
Duncan Eagles - Tenor Saxophone
Rob Hughes - Tenor Saxophone
Bob McKay - Baritone Saxophone and Flute
Alec Dankworth - Bass
Rick Simpson - Keys

Scott Garland

Mike Bradley - Drums


Date - 27th October 2015

Venue - Twickenham Jazz Club, Cabbage Patch, Twickenham

Current Albums
Sax Appeal - FUNKERDEEN
Derek Nash - You've Got to Dig It to Dig It, You Dig?


Duncan Eagles

Derek Nash in concert
He is currently on tour with the Jools Holland R&B Orchestra until 2oth December 2015. More details at http://www.joolsholland.com
He does have a duo gig at The Cross Keys, 236/238 St Johns Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN4 9XD on 16/12/2015 - 20:15



Rob Hughes

The audience like Derek Nash, they quite simply like him as much as a person as they do a musician. To build this rapport with an audience isn't necessarily an easy thing to do and Nash never holds back in his commitment to a performance.

The tenors of Rob Hughes and Duncan Eagles (fresh off the plane from Partikel's epic tour of China) give us an early Jazz wedgie with the title track to Sax Appeal's latest album Funkerdeen.



Bob McKay

Blue for you feels its way through sleepy eyes into Sax Appeal's performance, Bob McKay wears the metaphorical pyjamas, stretching out his long limbs, propping himself on an elbow and fires up a little smoke. There is an epilogue to this song from Rob Hughes who puts the melting cheese on this morning fry up, a toasty delight, crisp and even. Eventually and unavoidably sinking teeth into much more meaty fare.

The optimistic Seville being the tune. An infectious march and leap, that spurred toes in the audience, from drum to bass, top to bottom, forward and back. Mike Bradley's hard persuasive beats, a beast happy in its sweating skin.

Mike Bradley

The stage was not only set for Jazz music but also the imminent World Cup rugby final, the crowd already full bolstered by Antipodean visitors dancing in the aisles and drinking champagne. The stage bulbs above Sax Appeal start to swing with the convection heat pulsing from the 5 strong saxophone line. Derek Nash's music never talks of empty landscapes it always speaks of people and to people. He is a showman in the kindest definition of the word, his music is a bus ride, a tram journey perhaps. It is about chatter and rubbing shoulders, the joy of being amongst other people. It seems obvious but that is why we come to clubs like Twickenham Jazz Club rather than watch our heroes on Youtube.

Rick Simpson

Sax Appeal aren't a one trick pony, neither in personnel nor subject matter. Derek Nash's Phoenix Suite is testament to that. No hitch kicks from Nash on this occasion, he instead leans back and calls like a howling wolf. Eagles takes up the challenge,  angular and sharp, he is both the builder of the song's motifs and its wrecker. You'll be unlikely to see a tattoo on Eagles knuckles but for this song his fists might well of spelt out Love and Hate. Ghosts, rather than make us dwell on death, awakened an interest in Rick Simpson and were the foundations for a wall of saxophone sound. Simpson was forever present, eventually pulling the teeth from the deadly big band saxes. His was a Hammond silt that eventually sieved out Derek Nash, like gold in a prospector's pan.

AL.

Derek Nash - The Spark

Derek Nash

Ever since I have been drawing Jazz musicians Derek Nash has been part of my sketchbooks but this is the first time I have been able to contain this exuberant performer within this blog. It is not only words that struggle to restrain his energy but also my sketches which never do justice to a dress sense that features a lurid line in flowery shirts and stage choreography that would be more at home in a Bruce Lee film.

Within 90 seconds of his entrance at the Twickenham Jazz Club (27/02/2014) he had already treated us one of his trademark hitch kicks. Luckily I sat next to Derek Nash's beautiful wife, Beverley, for the evening and she confirmed that Nash youthful dance moves do not cause him any injury, even as he skirts close to his half century.



Alex Hutton- piano

The leg kicking opener soon became Ellington's "Just Squeeze Me" and we saw flashes of what has made Alex Hutton such a popular keys man at TJC. The perkiness of his recent engagement to singer Kate Winter saw his head bobbing between a pair of 'Harry Hill' style collars. Like virtually all piano players Hutton has an intensity in his gaze which is unnerving but his feet give us a clue to his more homely nature, as usual they were devoid of shoes while his socked feet jigged to each tune's melody.

Oli Hayhurst - Bass

 A favourite of the first set was Derek Nash's "Waltz for my father". With (bent) soprano in hand he painted us a colourful picture, this was a tableau of pure pointillist skill, like one of Seurat's Parisienne riversides. The small light dabs of Nash's saxophone taken in their entirety gave us a broad emotional vision of his father as we sat back and viewed it from a distance. Derek Nash is a closet culture vulture and in the break between sets divulged the sweet spots of a recent trip to Venice.

Asaf Sirkis - drums

"The Spark" of the night was rightfully reserved for a new tune of the same name. So new that Derek Nash crouched close to the floor, his chart just inches away from his face in The Bloomsbury's sombre lighting. It has a rolling lyrical quality that Alex Hutton exploited with a calypso breakdown which ultimately resulted in  Oli Hayyhurst's wonderful slow descent amongst the tumult. Hayhurst has an easy static style, often both eyebrow raised in inverted Vs, mirroring two gables on sturdy barn.



Kelvin Christiane - Tenor Saxophone

Even when Derek Nash is deep within a ballad he slipped in a leg kick or two, like an Uncle who can't resist blasting in a cheeky penalty past his nephew in the back garden. Asaf Sirkis on drums was the height of subtly and Mrs Nash was taken with his striking mallet work on Grover Washington's "Winelight". It's irresistible sexual beat inspired her to describe Sirkis as a "handsome Freddie Mercury".

Bobby Timmon's "Moanin" brought the tenor of Nash and TJC Maitre Kelvin Christiane together. The latter was surprisingly introspective but typically robust in his playing. He kept his eyes down, his body trapped between green and purple lights like he had been caught in a flickering Hitchcock film.

Derek Nash will forever be the scene stealer. How can you focus on anyone other than him when he not only plays his instrument with such aplomb but continuously looks like he's warming up in preparation for a football match. As well as his trademark hitch kick we were treated to the can-can leg flick, the bounce from foot to foot, a couple of knee bends and also the sweeping of his sax beside him like he was paddling a canoe against a strong current. Here's a musician who never stands still.

AL.

Terence Collie the Conkerer

Jac Jones - Tenor Saxophone

All too often we cannot see what is right under our noses and I'm as guilty as the next man. Last month (16/02/2014) I took the long train ride down to the south coast to see South West London's Prison Break at the Southampton Modern Jazz Club. Again it is with regret that I do not venture out enough to hear live music in these rich pockets beyond the M25.

A series of near misses had whetted my appetite for Prison Break, a long list of dates including Terence Collie on piano had evaded me but it was the boss of the SMJC, Ted Carrasco, that persuaded me to go the extra mile and see the quartet. For me it was a 4 tune set that chose equally from their 2 album/e.ps, "And Again" and "Doing Time".

Terence Collie - Piano

Straight-in was Jac Jones, thick and meaty on "Jinxed". An uncompromising gambit and a showcase for a talent that is unassuming, even apologetic in its demeanour. The Bent Brief, where the SMJC resides was modestly full, with an equal share of the sexes it was neither edgy nor buzzing but respectful.

There was more sparkle up next in the lyrical piano of Terence Collie on "One Year On". Smooth and effortless, it was almost a homage to the engineer (and altoist) who originally helped record it at Clown's Pocket Studios, Derek Nash. Repeating melodies on saxophone cast salty waves over us and reminded us that the sea lurked somewhere nearby in the dark. It was Collie who started to shine through. He has a gaze that wilts you at a thousand paces when he is in the zone, the term furrowed brow does not do him justice, more corrugated in its intensity.

John Sam - Drums

My attention was taken by the night's drummer on "Prison Break Blues", whether this says more about his powerful presence than the tune I do not know. Joe Sam has a deceptively subtle edge for a man who looks like he has been in a few scrapes, but with a brow to match Collie you wouldn't want to get caught in a staring contest between the two.

Joe Sam - Bass

The most impressive tune was "Niner Blues" which features the rich and energetic bass of Joe Sam and just enough touch from brother John on drums. Deceptively mysterious with a whiff of North African wonder in sax melody it builds from a gentle Terence Collie solo until it couldn't contain itself any longer. Thrusting and direct by the end, the bass of Joe Sam had an earthy thumping tone like a 5 ton horse chestnut falling from a tree. If this tune was indeed a conker it would be far more than a Niner, it would be pickled in vinegar and baked in the oven before reaching triple figures at least. Collie has every right to prowl the playground with this tune in his pocket and a composition in a head that resembles the bronze patina of a prize nut.

A few more trips are planned to the SMJC this year, I see that Paul Jordanous plays there on the 22nd June. Unfortunately I'll be missing the TW12 Jazz Festival (3rd August) this year where you'll be able to hear Prison Break at their best.

AL.

Max Luthert - Shadows boxer

Max Luthert - Bass

Max Luthert stepped out of the shadows on the 14th October 2013 and recorded his debut album at Clown's Pocket Studio. With only a solitary composition to his name in "Assam" it was hard to know what to expect. Promise and curiosity were piqued with that lone addition to Partikel's second album "Cohesion" and with that mere glimpse we wondered what else lay under the surface of Luthert's iceberg.

Derek Nash

At the helm of the studio was Derek Nash, who has developed a close relationship with Luthert, and Partikel colleague Duncan Eagles. Where once Nash took a hands-on approach, even appearing on an early "Jazz Proof" album, he is now a fixer. Maybe tailor would be more appropriate, he stitches together these young players ideas, a nip and tuck here to create the stylish package that ultimately stands before us. In fact he was so relaxed he spent the morning session preparing sweet chestnuts for the freezer whilst repairing the odd Eagles dropped stitch.



Matt Robinson -
Piano

From old to new, Matt Robinson, is becoming a fixture on these South London Collectives and played an early role in "Grand Designs".


Duncan Eagles - Saxophone

Not a homage to the aspirational middle-class TV programme, but this was a little more Albert Speer, with the tune's compositional boulevards getting bigger and bigger after every vamp. Robinson scribbled all over Luthert's drawing board, creating a flourishing chaos that us humans seem to perfect.


Gareth Lockrane - Flute

The Saxophones of Seb Pipe (Alto) and Duncan Eagles (Tenor/Soprano) built the scaffold but they had deviated from architect Luthert's carefully drawn plans. "We're adding an extra note, but why are we both doing it?". To the untrained ear it was undetectable but obviously made all the difference as "Grand Designs" reached it conclusion like a teetering Tower of Babel. They stopped their construction luckily before the inevitable conclusion.



Seb Pipe - Alto Saxophone

"Edgewall" gave us a taste of what was to come, a surprise to me, for amongst the saxophone forestation here was the first dell. This glade became a clearing and broke out into the panoramic "Cloud On Cloud", a tune which represents Max Luthert's vision better than any. His spearhead on this and many other tracks was Gareth Lockrane on flute. The drums of Dave Hamblett provided the thermals and Matt Robinson a gentle breeze as Lockrane rose.



Dave Hamblett - drums

"Pacific Before Tiger" starts with a downy burr like Luthert's chin, soft and gentle but degenerated into more familiar Partikel territory with some spikey saxophone whiskers. There were 4 more tracks recorded, "Orbital", "Quiet December", "Metro Moodie" alongside a spanking new composition. You'll have to wait to hear those when the album comes out in 2014.

I'll be writing some more about them in my Album Inspirations too, because Max Luthert has put the artwork in my ink stained hands.

For now Luthert is back in the trio spotlight as Partikel traverse the windswept Scottish Highlands as part of their Autumn Tour. His music though still lurks in the sweet shadows and rather than it being thrust out, it is us who shall be pulled in.

AL.

See Partikel tonight in Edinburgh (1st Nov) and Fife on Sunday (3rd Nov).

Partikel Cohesion - Album Inspiration

Front cover of Partikel's 2nd Album

After a month away from the Art and Jazz worlds it's good to be back. August was spent in France with a little bit of sketching, a generous amount of wine and plenty of swimming with the family. This year amongst the live sketches will be stories about the album artwork too. Mostly my own because I have access to the hidden artwork that never makes it to the public domain but hopefully other artists that I admire.

Today we start with Partikel's second album Cohesion that was released on Whirlwind Recordings in 2011.

A large part of my work portfolio is from musicians commissioning album artwork. The form of these album vary depending on the clients desires, their music or the label's in-house style.

Partikel in the studio

The most straightforward album covers start and end with images of the musicians themselves, either done in the studio or live at a gig. Of course working at gigs is exhilarating and the paintings have a life of their own. When working in the studio, it is invariably in booths, where the musicians are isolated from one another but occasionally (and more enjoyably) they record as an ensemble, where I can be inspired by their interactions and sound.

Cove

As an artist the creation of new work is always an exciting moment. Not only the birth of the music but the concepts and images inspired by its final form. I start to familiarise myself with the material and group by attending both gigs, rehearsals and of course the recording session. Then once the tracks have been honed to an acceptable level, usually post-mixed but pre-mastered they are sent to me. I sit in my studio and listen all the way through the CD and make written notes. These are sometimes gibberish, occasionally beautiful in form but always helpful in visualising the music physically. The notes are easy to carry around, meaning I can flick through them, jogging the memory when a blast of inspiration hits.

In this case I worked from a recording of a Partikel rehearsal, the day was 29th April 2011, our street was closed because of the Royal Wedding and below is what started to appear.

The Blood of the Pharoah
deep dangerous
luring-lure
wander – looking up and down
rings – strong earth colours
aboriginal dots
swirls – torque
lazy waft the breeze
punkawallah
slits of exoticness in between
Kew Gardens
Kisses through white painted wood
moving through the grass
gentle smooth

The Optimist

Rhythm
talking sweet, talking and talking
forgetting the time, then there's things to do
-when I'm having fun – we roll and pitch
There's that tune again
The best in front of the TV
I look out at the dust – or
maybe its the morning -
still there's a busy-ness
Bouncing.
The clothes go round and
round in the machine -
still wet when they come
out – I lay them on me
to keep cool – look like
a doll---dress me up, cheerful -

Room

Stretch it out
Birds in cages waking -
animals at the zoo -
I can hear the pelicans
the elephant is rolling around
the boar snuffing and
an animal rutting, rubbing,
picking, hitting all awakening
Food, Food, Food, Food
its around
eat in quiet

Grubs, insect crawling around
why can they escape
rattle the cage
wild lament
smell of the wild still
They wont take it from me.
I can still feel
Stretch out and taste the sun

The cages of Madame Gruszewski

'Room' ended up being the most creative of Partikel's tunes for me, creating several threads I wanted to pursue. The most effective was a group of cages I found and drew in the village of Cambieure in France, where I have my studio. These cages belonged to the wife of the Mayor, Mr Jacques GRUSZEWSKI, and I remembered seeing them there whilst completing a commission of his rose garden and house.

Add caption

It was the choice of Partikel's Duncan Eagles, Max Luthert and Eric Ford and we developed it further into the cover and back listing too. The upside down tulip inspired by Blood became the CD image and it went into production under the close scrutiny of Whirlwind Recording's Michael Janisch.

Favourable reviews followed and the rest is history.... or not quite.
The trio are hitting the road once again before recording their 3rd album with new and old material alike. Starting with an appearance at the Whirlwind Jazz Festival on the 10th October and finishing with a string of Scandinavian dates in December 2013.
See more on their website.

AL.

Samuel Eagles - Summer Noir

Samuel Eagles -
Saxophone

Yesterday (19/06/2013) I was lucky enough to be at the point of creation when Samuel Eagles stepped into Clown's Pocket Studio in Kent to record his debut album. It's too easy to be over dramatic and of course these new tunes have been bubbling away in Eagles' life for sometime and hadn't just materialised as we would like to imagine in our romantic zeal



Ralph Wyld -
Vibraphone

Most Jazz musicians balance a quiet studious demeanour and an on-stage persona. Quite often there is a downtime bon-viveur air about them too that is instantly affable. Samuel Eagles possesses the former attribute in spades, he most  definitely is a thinker and introvert. Whether due to his youthfulness or circumstance I do not know. He doesn't control the stage when leading his quartet and often steps aside to let others take the limelight.





Eric Ford -
Drums

The affection I have for Eagles is a British kind of affair, that of the underdog and unassuming flair but on first hearing the music I am transported to the Continent or at least that taste of Europe that once seemed so exotic to us. 50 Pound Friendship is a case in point, the hints of darkness rest like the deep shadows cast by a southern sun, punctuations. Eagles is conversational but as an eavesdropper in a French New Wave film. If he is going to be one of the autuers of this new romantic sound then it is the space he evokes that will be his signature.

Expecting a spikier introspective sound I was totally switched 180 degrees upon first submersion in this music. It is that type of noir that isn't American in its violence nor Germanic in brooding dark percussion but a has a lightness with its devil may care of the French. Ralph Wyld epitomises this sound on vibraphone and it is easy to cast off your inhibitions and skinny dip in his melodies. Remembering Myself is an exponent of this serious happiness where Saxophone and Vibes ride the melodies together. They flirt in the dabbled shadows of the plane trees, perhaps Spanish this time, with a splash of Gaudi architecture peaking through the heat haze.

Fergus Ireland -
Bass

Ferg Ireland (bass) plays a strong swinging role on The Place I Live and Eric Ford (drums) calls a ripping 'Ferocious' once the track has been completed. He should have yelled 'Yabba Dabba Do' as the tune has more than a hint of 'The Flintstones' theme.

After casting off his trademark cowbell, Ford is the driving force on the Outsider and I get the chance to hear Smells Like Summer before I have to leave the session, apt subject matter as we feel the warmth on this June day. The doors to Derek Nash's studio are open and his wife, Beverley, tends to the their garden as I disappear into the Kent landscape.

What the rest of the session reveals I will have to wait to find out. I am a little tentative because Samuel Eagles is not a natural leader of men but maybe he might just be one of those inspirational figures that lets his creativity do the talking.
By the time this album sees the light of day, nights will be drawing in and Samuel Eagles' taste of Summer Noir will be only refuge for our blue sky optimism.

AL.

Ollie Howell: Safe in Derek Nash's hands



Derek Nash, Mark Perry, Matt Robinson, Ollie Howell, Max Luthert & Duncan Eagles

Before the quintet arrived on Day 2, I spent some time with Derek Nash as he ate his porridge and prepared for the day ahead. We all know him from Jools Holland's Rhthym and Blues Orchestra, and as the front man in Sax Appeal and Protect the Beat but I hadn't known of his early days as a sound engineer at the BBC. This made perfect sense as the Quintet arrived and Derek patiently honed the recording. He unselfishly contributed his ideas and shared his knowledge with the assembled band, but never dominated Ollie Howell's overall concept.

Much of day 2 was spent listening and discussing how the music was developing. Even though Howell had a handful of charts for everyone there was a healthy jousting for interpretation.
As they prepared to record Angry Skies a conversation unfolded -
MP - Lets talk concepts
DE - lets do 8 bars each then I'll hint at the tune & then play the tune
MP - Who's going first
DE - I like those chords
MP - We can probably mess it up
DE - I can do 8, you can do 16, I do 16, then we'll not know what's going on!
MP - I come in whenever I want to come in!
DE - Are you angry?
MP - I'm going to go mental on the D Free!!!!!!!

I don't want to give the impression that all discussions we're about serious music concerns. One of the hot topics was Christmas food and we were treated to Giles Coren style dissection of Sainsbury's Boxing Day Lunch Sandwich by Matt Robinson. A little research reveals he is one of the team behind the popular Christmas Sandwich Review Website.

Before leaving for the day I sketched the recording of 19th Day, a tune Howell had penned on his 19th Day in his hospital bed and dedicated to the trumpeter Sam Palmer.

The music has now arrived in my inbox and I'll be getting some images together for the CD so keep an eye out in 2013 for The Ollie Howell Quintet and the album that will be 'Sutures and Stitches'.

Alban

Ollie Howell Quintet debut - Day1



Ollie Howell - drums

Just a few short days after Ollie Howell won the Peter Whittingham Development Award I was lucky enough to find myself at Clown Pocket's Studio with his quintet. I'd only sketched Ollie once before (Hideaway's Monday Jam) and to my embarrassment knew nothing of his tunes. As Ollie started to warm-up he explained to me why I'd been kept in the dark.
Since meeting his mentor, Quincy Jones, in 2010 his life has been punctuated with several operations, lengthy hospital stays and periods of recuperation. To my surprise he was remarkably positive about the experience -

" I found new inspiration for my compositions, and was writing in a very different way to how I previously had done. Now the compositions mean much more to me than just notes and chords. Many of the tunes that will be on the CD were actually written in my hospital bed!

The music chronicles a really life-changing point in my life, but it is also a statement about how positivity and determination can overcome anything."



Matt Robinson





Max Luthert

 It is one of the perks of an artist's job that I can attend these recording sessions and familiarise myself with the music and the musicians. Derek Nash's excellent studio is split into 3 main rooms/booths and so I worked my way through them listening and sketching. Another member of the quintet I'd never heard before was Matt Robinson. He was crammed behind Derek's Steinway which was bizarrely covered in a Zebra skin style rug. His style was laid back and understated but as the intensity increased he asserted himself on the compositions and his tongue flicked out of his mouth like a rudder in a stormy sea.

On Bass, Saxophone and Trumpet were Max Luthert, Duncan Eagles and Mark Perry who have become regular collaborators in recent years.
 In fact Mr Luthert and I are showing our first film together at the British Shorts Exhibition in Berlin (Sputnik Kino) this January.


Mark Perry

 
Under the dramatic studio lighting Luthert came alive as the first tune of the day, World Apart, kicked into life. I was sealed into the booth and could hear through the triple glazed glass as Mark Perry cried "I'm going to go mental at the end of my solo". And he did.

I then ventured into Eagles and Perry's lair. Perry has a perpetual twinkle in his eye and with Eagles maintained a constant double act throughout the next hour. He joked (or declared) " I play the first 8 bars of what Ollie's written and then ignore the rhythm and the chords and play whatever I want."


Duncan Eagles

 Duncan Eagles, was physically under the weather but I knew he was on top musical form when his left shoulder bucked into life like a kicking mule. A great indicater of his dedication and commitment to the music.
We then spent many hours as Derek Nash masterfully carressed the quintet recording. Day 1 resulted in 7 tunes - World apart, So close so far, Later on, They, Dear old Stockholm, Hollow Victory and Beyond.

I'll be writing up Day 2 tomorrow.

Alban