The Posies - Buzzing Solid States

Ken Stringfellow

The Posies
Jon Auer - guitar, vocals
Ken Stringfellow - guitar, vocals, keys
Frankie Siragusa - drums

Date - 6 April 2016
Venue -  100 Club
Current Album - Solid States (Release April 2016 on Lojinx)

Frankie Siragusa

Upcoming dates
15 April – Mejeriet, Lund, SWEDEN
16 April – Monkeys, Hamburg, GERMANY
17 April – Tavastia, Helsinki, FINLAND
19 April – Kafe Antzoki (small room), Bilbao, SPAIN
20 April – Sala Arena, Madrid, SPAIN
21 April – Razzmatazz 2, Bacelona, SPAIN
22 April – Loco Club, Valencia SPAIN
23 April – Sala Budokan, Cartagena, SPAIN
24 April – Sala Malandra, Sevilla SPAIN
 
When the Posies long time drummer, Darius, died suddenly and unexpectedly last year, Posies founding members Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow were devastated. Hard as it was to continue without such a close friend and great musician, the moment called for a reinvention. SOLID STATES is their 8th album that charts the dramatic changes in their lives, music and evolution of the band. The Posies retain their legendary melodic abilities, their trademark vocal harmonies and their lyrical agility.
 
The multi­year gap between albums has been spent in countless other projects that now bring new skills and experiences to the latest manifestation of their sound. Their raison d'etre as ever rests on their desire to take risks and keep on exploring, wherever that may take them
 

Jon Auer

The Posies are the sweet and the sour, the voice and swathe of guitar. They are the itch you feel in your fingers when you see a bacon slicer, that whirring steel upon steel sound, that desire to reach for the meat, and also to touch the blade. The two bar fire gently warms with a molten glow and despite it's soothing orange you know its buzzing electricity stokes a shock with a sickening kick. Irresistible, curious, reminiscence and through angry melted tears a wash of the future.

AL.

The President Lincoln - 100 Club

Pete Fussey

Alex Maws

The President Lincoln
Alex Maws - lead vocals & guitar
Pete Fussey - guitar
Lee Norton -  keyboard
Cliff Annicelli - bass
Kevin Hutchins - drums
Mo Doshi - backing vocals

Kevin Hutchins

Date - 6 April 2016
Venue -  100 Club
Current Album - The Sinking of The President Lincoln (2013)

Mo Doshi

The President Lincoln began as a lo-fi and lo-budget recording project of singer-songwriter Alex Maws who recorded "The Sinking of the President Lincoln" on his laptop in the spare room of his London home. For the better part of a year, Maws mostly recorded alone, but aided by a cast of 24 contributors who have never all been in the same country at the same time, let alone in the same studio. Collaborations took place over email between musicians in London, England; Austin, TX; Los Angeles, CA and Asheville, NC.



Lee Norton

The President Lincoln has grown from a “recording project” into a proper band. Maws has recruited a lineup of musicians (some British, some American, of course) to figure out how to play the songs live. The core lineup of The President Lincoln now consists of guitarist Pete Fussey (who also played on the recording), keyboardist Lee Norton, bassist Cliff Annicelli, drummer Kevin Hutchins and backing vocalist Mo Doshi.

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Cliff Annicelli

A whirlpool of defiance spins in our eyes as the alien ray-gun of Maws and Fussey pins the audience with their truth serum shots. This is the honesty and the romance of The President Lincolns, the revelations that are shared on the far reaches of the football field, curtained behind nervous Leylandii.

This Could Be Our Country is a land held up by buzzing pillars of slots and arcades. It is an in-between world that is neither field green nor field grey. On the map it lies between generations, between sexes, an oasis, like a faded English Las Vegas.

AL.

Maciej Grzywacz & Nigel Price - Twin peaks

Maciej Grzywacz

Maciej Grzywacz - guitar
Nigel Price - guitar
Kelvin Christiane - tenor saxophone and flute
Richard Sadler - bass
Noel Joyce - drums
Lesley Christiane - vocals

Noel Joyce

Date - 22 March 2016
Venue -  Twickenham Jazz Club
Current Album Maciej Grzywacz - Solo (2015)

Nigel Price

Maciej Grzywacz is a guitarist and composer who hails from seaside resort of Sopot in Poland. He earned his music laurels from both the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, Poland and the Higher School of Music in Munich, Germany. In addition to numerous concert and festival appearances in Poland, Maciej has toured in Canada, Israel and several countries in Europe, including Germany, France, Austria, Russia, Sweden, Finland, Bulgaria and Romania. He can now add England to this burgeoning list of nations after being the chosen recipient of the yearly cultural Jazz exchange between Twickenham Jazz Club and Poland.

 



Kelvin Christiane

Maciej Grzywacz has five albums as a leader to his credit - "Solo" recorded entirely on classical guitar, “Black Wine” with american drummer Clarence Penn and bassist Yasushi Nakamura, "Things Never Done" which features renowned New York trumpeter Avishai Cohen, "Forces Within" with Canadian drummer Tyler Hornby and "Fourth Dimension" with alto sax player Maciej Obara.

 

Maciej received a “Fryderyk”, Polish award nomination in the Jazz Album of The Year category twice.  He is a faculty member at Academy of Music in Gdansk, Poland.

 

Richard Sadler

A night dominated by the twin peaks of guitarists Maciej Grzywacz and Nigel Price although my sketch pad can never resist the walking totem of the moustachioed and besatcheled Richard Sadler.

 

Price toyed with us, his mouth opening and closing like the chomp of a Hungry Hippo, musical marbles poured out, cascading down the hill into the audience's laps. It was our job to keep on our toes, navigating Price's dexterous feints and jabs.

 

Faces of Nigel Price

Maciej Grzywacz is a roller skater, a glider, he sways in and out of Price's obstacles, rising above the plane on which our everyday ears twitch and stretch. Kelvin Christiane was full of capers, back to a carefree groove after months ploughing the winter furrow.

 

Always we were drawn back to the interplay between Grzywacz and Price. The former sang a light and soulful song while Price dug into clods of earth. Although the rise of Maciej lifted the spirits it was the lure of getting your hands dirty with Nigel that appealed to the filthy hearts of Jazz.

 

AL.

Lesley Christiane

 

 

Tony Kinsey - Embroidery Suite

Tony Kinsey

Chris Biscoe

The Tony Kinsey Big Band
Tony Kinsey - leader, composer, arranger, drums
Andy Panayi - saxophones
Sam Mayne - saxophone
Jimmy Hastings - saxophone
Vasilis Xenopoulos - saxophone
Chris Biscoe - baritone saxophone
Tony Fisher - trumpet
George Hogg - trumpet
Guy Barker - trumpet
Steve Fishwick - trumpet
Mark Nightingale - trombone
Duncan Campbell - trombone
Ashley Horton - trombone
Bill Geldard - trombone
John Horler - piano
Andy Cleyndert - bass

Duncan Campbell

Date -11th March 2016
Venue -  Sunbury Cricket Club, UK

Andy Cleyndert

Tony Kinsey is one of Britain's finest jazz drummers and composers, with scores ranging from jazz and classical, to television and film. He was a founder member of the John Dankworth Seven, later forming his own quartets and quintet that made their mark on British Jazz history and in the hearts of Jazz fans across the globe.

In his playing career he has worked with many of the world's Jazz greats, including Billie Holliday, Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne, Cleo Laine and Oscar Peterson.

Andy Panayi

The members of the Tony Kinsey Jazz Orchestra are amongst the top players in the UK, equally at home on the world stage too. A number of the orchestra have worked with Tony Kinsey since the band was first formed in 1974 when they broadcast and performed The River Thames Suite, a commission from the BBC. Tony is also a man of the moment, here he enlists some of the young bucks who prowl the current London scene like Steve Fishwick (trumpet) and Vasilis Xenopoulos (saxophone).

Ashley Horton

They came from far and wide for the sold out performance at the Sunbury Cricket Club but all is not lost for those who couldn't secure a ticket. The evening's concert was recorded by sound engineer Paul Golding (The Lord of the Rings, Downton Abbey, Mr Selfridge) and will be released later in 2016.

George Hogg

The Embroidery Suite was written by Tony Kinsey and gifted to the Millennium Embroidery to celebrate the opening of the Sunbury Embroidery Gallery in the summer of 2006. The music was first performed at St Mary's Church in Sunbury.

Guy Barker

The Embroidery Project has received enormous support from the local community over the years and this suite is as much a tribute to the people as the artwork itself. Although this marks the 10th anniversary of the music there is every reason to believe that the power of this composition and recording will live on for years to come.



Jimmy Hastings

This blog has had a close relationship with The Sunbury Embroidery Gallery, in recent years as I have commissioned, organised and displayed a set of maps in the 'On The Map' exhibition at the gallery in 2015.  They included both the The Sunbury Dice Game and Sunbury Park: A Map and Nature Trail which are inspired by the nearby park and walled gardens.



Mark Nightingale

Tony Kinsey's Embroidery Suite reads like a map too, a walk of sound perhaps, especially if you follow signposted titles like 'River Life', Life at the Inn' and 'Monksbridge. If you get the chance to buy the CD, close your eyes and take a wander with your mind, for every note is a beautiful thread in the rich tapestry of Sunbury upon Thames.

AL.

Steve Fishwick

Tony Fisher




Bill Geldard

John Horler



Sam Mayne



Vasilis Xenopoulos

 

Shirley Smart Trio - Jewelling currents

Shirley Smart

Shirley Smart - cello
Maurizio Minardi - accordion
Demi Garcia Sabat - percussion

Demi Garcia Sabat

Date - 8 March 2016
Venue -  Performance Space, City University, London
Current Album - Random Road by Melange

Shirley Smart live dates -
6 APRIL - Gypsy Nights with Melange, Brixton Ritzy
21 APRIL - Balagan Café Band, Book and Kitchen
24 APRIL - Last Summer's Tealights, Arts Depot, Finchley

The Shirley Smart Trio presents a fresh new approach to the cello, taking the listener on an improvised journey incorporating music from North Africa, Middle East, Balkans, and South America, and jazz as well as original compositions. Shirley will be heading the London Cello Society's "Beyond Cello" division beginning in 2016.

Maurizio Minardi

The urgency of broken pieces dot the river bed like the hand of an overexcited Seurat. Maurizio Minardi is the stone, the boulders as smooth as the accordionists naked pate. His varied hues and heavyweight shapes shimmering beneath the cool waters of Shirley Smart's cello. She is the flow, her notes run around and over Minardi. Dominating and swamping when the swell is high, yet playful and alive when they work together. Smart has both a river's predictability and unpredictability, remaining mostly within the boundaries of her melodies but dancing and jinking within those running currents. She flows and stops, but always with a wistful race towards the future, to be swept downstream where we can only see the light jewelling on the river's surface.

AL.

Bird - Hypnotise cut

Bird

Janie Price

Date - 7 March 2016
Venue -  Groucho Club, Soho, London
Current Album - Figments Of Our Imagination
Single - Hypnotise

Live dates -
12 April - Tivoli, Utrecht, Netherlands
14 April - De Roma, Borgerhout, Belgium
21 April - Capitole, Gent, Belgium

Bird is an art form in herself. Like all good artworks there is both a nod to the future and a drawing upon the past, whether distant, imagined or just experienced. The world and time push around Bird, 'Lucky' is like waiting for a train and then have it defiantly charge past you when your back is turned. The new single 'Hypnotise', released today, is a charmer, a slight of hand that tangles like a magnetic snake. 'Small Town' as the name might suggest builds brick upon red brick, it is proud to be urban, like much of her work. Light slants through doorways, fragments of people with overlapping lives, the way you cannot stop the glue oozing out of a collage of magazine pieces. She is layered purity and dirty light. 'Small Town' provides us with a front door peephole so that we can look out with safety and guilt. What we see is a world of cut outs, a living breathing world that has been spliced by Matisse's hand. It is clean and crisp, angular and sharp. It is a pinpoint of colour that burns like the sun through this city's lens.

AL.

Firefay - The King Must Die

Carole Bulewski

Adam Bulewski

Firefay
Carole Bulewski - Vocals, piano/keyboards
Adam Bulewski - Guitar and related instruments
Ronnie Maxwell - Bass
Matt Grabham - Violin
James Conner - Drums

James Conner

Date - 12th February 2016
Venue -  Cavendish Arms, Stockwell, London
Current Album - The King Must Die
Review by Grey Malkin on The Active Listener

Conspiratorial album launch of Firefay's The King Must Die at the dark cornered Cavendish Arms in Stockwell, London.

It's not just because Carole Bulewski sings lead vocals and takes centre stage that your eyes are constantly caught in her gaze. She is the geological Arête you tread, the knife edge ridge that plummets to either side with no possibility of escape. You do not know whether to keep your attention permanently on her for fear of what lurks to right and left or to turn back, breaking the spell. You are complicit in this game of enchantments. 

Matt Grabham
 

If The King Must Die then Matt Grabham is the cleaver, the man who must do the fateful deed. He keeps his eyes lowered because he knows he has the power. You can feel it in the crowd, in his pose, in his music.

AL.

Ronnie Maxwell