We’re pleased that the 7th edition of Made in the UK 2018 is on the near horizon. Founded by the late impresario and UK artist manager John Ellson and our friend and colleague John Nugent (Rochester Jazz) it’s fair to say that this program is among our most important international collaborations. Interestingly the rest of the world is catching on to the vibrancy of a UK jazz scene that feels like it’s entering another Renaissance period. To think about it in another way, clearly the UK scene has always been amazing. Looking back to the beginnings of the improvisational scene (Bailey, Parker, Stevens, Rutherford, Guy), the Brotherhood of Breath and the South African ex-pat scene in the late 60’s and 70’s, the Loose Tubes in the 80’s, Courtney Pine in the 90’s and right through to the 21st century, the UK scene has been vibrant and right there all along. It’s worth having a look at a recent New York Times article that discusses the vitality of the UK jazz scene and Shabaka Hutchings’ role within. It looks like a good year!
Sons of Kemet
Since I first heard about these guys, I’ve been patiently waiting to hear them live in concert. Shabaka Hutchings (along with the American saxophonist Kamasi Washington) can be counted among a rare coterie of young jazz artists on today’s international jazz scene generating a huge buzz and outsized attention well beyond the jazz hard core, and that has to be a good thing. These guys are crossing over to a new ‘beyond’ jazz audience with Shabaka credited by many for elevating the UK scene to its current high profile position. But make no mistake, this is still hard-core high energy jazz, albeit with some very contemporary hip hop influences and a socio-political message that resonates with progressive thinking people, in this messed up world we inhabit in 2018.
I first heard about Shabaka a few years back from John Cumming (director at the London Jazz Festival), probably at a JazzAhead meeting in Bremen. Ever since he was brought to my attention, I had been interested in bringing him and Sons of Kemet to Vancouver but that unfortunately never happened, so a heartfelt thank you to our new Managing Artistic Director (and long time colleague) Rainbow Robert for making this happen.
Sons of Kemet’s third album – Your Queen is a Reptile, recently released on Impulse, has been generating rave reviews everywhere. The band is truly wicked – a crazy good unusual lineup of two drummers, tuba and saxophone. Along with Shabaka, we’ve got Theon Cross tuba, Tom Skinner and Eddie Hick drums. This concert will be a rave-up up monumental proportions, of that I’m quite sure. (By the way, his other band Shabaka and the Ancestors is awesome too).
Partikel
Partikel started out as a trio with Duncan Eagles (tenor sax), Max Luthert (bass) and Eric Ford (drums) is currently a quartet with last year’s addition of the excellent guitarist Ant Law (who I’ve been enthusiastically following on twitter for quite some time – @AntLawGuitar), they’ve released four albums and risen through the ranks to become one of the most prominent and exciting bands on today’s UK jazz scene.
Counteraction their most recent album (released in 2017 on Whirlwind) features the quartet augmented by a string quartet. A banner year for the band, they had a fantastic gig at the JazzAhead Festival in Bremen (unfortunately I’ve missed the last two editions) and were nominated for the Parliamentary Jazz Awards (Ensemble of the Year) along with Phronesis and Binker and Moses.
With their graceful, sophisticated and smart approach to modern jazz, Partikel will appeal to a broad spectrum of music fans (especially fans of ECM releases). I’m very much looking forward to hearing these guys live for the first time and surely some surprises will be in store for us.
Gwyneth Herbert
We presented Gwyneth Herbert at the festival two years ago for the first time on the Robson Stage – in a duo context with her husband and keyboardist Ned Cartwright – yes, that show was a mind blowing revelation. Her performance had the audience enraptured and begging for more. It was amazing to see the reaction. Much more than a songwriter; Gwyneth is a socially aware artist that goes her own way with an approach that might harken back in time to medieval minstrels of centuries ago, a fusion of poetry and musical accompaniment that is authentic and uncontrived. With echoes of English music hall, music theatre and jazz standards, Gwyneth is nothing short of unique, her delivery is honest and direct, always connecting deeply with audiences in uncanny ways, and that’s a very rare thing in today’s artificial music world.
Her 2013 album, The Sea Cabinet, is a fantastic set of music and remains a personal favourite. Any chance to hear Gwyneth Herbert live is an exciting prospect.
Gwyneth is also presenting at the Annual Colloquium at Robson Square June 22-24. She has the following words to say about her presentation:
“A little more info about this part of the project: as part of the Letters I Haven’t Written tour I am seeking to work creatively with groups that may not usually have their voices heard or have the opportunity to be involved in a performance of this nature. As I think Ned touched on before, partners we’re planning to work with so far include: a prison (including a performance with an ex-convict choir), a vulnerably housed group, various groups of young people, particularly from areas of deprivation, a refugee centre and a charity which works with people with dementia (all in the UK), as well as an orphanage in Mombasa, factory workers in Vietnam… and as many other groups as we can fit into our touring!
In terms of the workshop content, I’ll be working with them to devise individual Letter songs which mine concepts that are important to them and their community – writing lyrics, exploring harmony and melody, whilst giving them a kind of “toolkit” to take away into their own creative practices. With some groups, I’ll also be writing a song in collaboration with / inspired by them that will be performed – with them wherever possible – as part of the Letters performance in their area, and possibly included on a follow-up album of these “touring letters” in 2019. Am including here a live recording of “More than Our Uniforms” – a song written and performed with a group of 12-13 year olds a couple of weeks ago as part of our performance at Roman River Festival in Essex.”
GoGo Penguin
There are numerous piano trios around the world on today’s “jazz scene” inhabiting the space where jazz collides with pop, hip hop, and electronica that owe a large debt to E.S.T (starting in 1993 and ending with Esbjorn Svensson’s death in 2008) or the Bad Plus (founded almost twenty years ago and still going strong with pianist Orrin Evans replacing co-founder Ethan Iverson at the beginning of this year). You’ll know them by their unusual time signatures and rock rhythmic devices.
In 2018 the UK’s GoGo Penguin brand of jazz/pop/minimalism has achieved somewhat of a meteoric rise to the top ranks of a landscape littered with piano trios. Four albums and an EP, plus constant international touring have brought this group to the fore. The album I’ve really lived with is ‘v2.0’ (named Mercury Prize album of the year in 2014). The music stands up very well to repeated listening and proves to be a good example of the band’s tightly wound and controlled minimalist aesthetic. As I listen, it occurs to me that they share some commonality (minimalism) with ECM recording artist Swiss pianist Nik Bartsch. The music by both bands is certainly infectious and moves the body.
In 2015 the band signed to Blue Note, and have since released two albums on the label, the latest is Humdrum Star released earlier this year. Additionally, the GoGos (not to be confused with the other GoGos) are also performing on tour with a new score they’ve penned to Godfrey Reggio’s cult film Koyaanisquatsi.
If I’m keeping correct track, this will be their third round in Vancouver, previous gigs were sellouts at the festivalat the Ironworks and during the year-round season at Frankie’s Jazz Club. This year, they’ll be included in the series at Performance Works at Granville Island, a much larger venue than Ironworks or Frankie’s. This show too will sell out so don’t hesitate to grab some tickets at your earliest convenience! The band features Chris Illingsworth piano, Nick Blacka bass and Rob Turner drums.
