Sunday, 15 December 2013
Watts/Weston/Edwards/Sanders live in Italy
Essential viewing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ittf7T3fhmg
Sunday, 1 December 2013
The Light Vessel - a choral piece by Trevor Watts
To be performed at St Nicholas Church, Harwich 7th December at 7 pm.
Saturday, 30 November 2013
Navacross - Blues Matters
Blues Matters Magazine Writers Poll 2013 results for the best in blues UK........
BEST NEWCOMER:
1. David Migden & The Dirty
Words
2. Little Devils
3. Red Butler
In with a shout: Navacross,
Katie Bradley, Dove & Boweevil,
Grainne Duffy, Jo Angie Harmon
BEST NEWCOMER:
1. David Migden & The Dirty
Words
2. Little Devils
3. Red Butler
In with a shout: Navacross,
Katie Bradley, Dove & Boweevil,
Grainne Duffy, Jo Angie Harmon
Tuesday, 22 October 2013
Concert review - Trevor Watts/Tony Bevan/John Edwards/Mark Sanders at The Vortex 21/10/13
A concert by this 'supergroup', as described in the Vortex brochure, anywhere else in Europe would have had punters hanging from the rafters. It says more for the British audience for challenging music than the music itself that unfortunately this was not the case last night.
Trevor Watts was one of the architects of the very language of European improvised music and his history alone, taking in the Spontaneous Music Ensemble, Amalgam, Moire Music and his Drum Orchestra, not to mention numerous other less permanent aggregations would have signalled a good turnout on the continent.
This quartet played two 45 minute sets of total concentration and invention and at one stage you could hear a pin drop as Watts coaxed filigrees and slithers of near silent breath tones from his soprano.
The detail in the music was incredibly dense with no resort to cliches. The 'rhythm section' of John Edwards and Mark Sanders were rhythmic throughout but without ever needing to lock into a groove or repetitive beat. Sanders used sticks, tom tom beaters, brushes and a bow to extract the maximum of different sounds from all surfaces of his kit and cymbals whilst never losing the feel of the music. John Edwards bass playing was phenomenal - what he doesn't know about or can't do on his instrument is irrelevant! He put in a superb shift - no part of the music unexplored.
One is tempted to say go and see Tony Bevan just to be awe struck by his playing of the gargantuan bass saxophone. Suffice to say though that the sounds he gets from the instrument often bear no semblance to what one thinks this massive instrument should produce! His soprano playing was pretty excellent too! Which brings us to Watts - and to see him wailing over Edwards and Sanders on his alto as Bevan took a rest was a joy to behold.
Next time these guys play together in the UK go to see them. You won't be disappointed and you may be surprised!
Trevor Watts was one of the architects of the very language of European improvised music and his history alone, taking in the Spontaneous Music Ensemble, Amalgam, Moire Music and his Drum Orchestra, not to mention numerous other less permanent aggregations would have signalled a good turnout on the continent.
This quartet played two 45 minute sets of total concentration and invention and at one stage you could hear a pin drop as Watts coaxed filigrees and slithers of near silent breath tones from his soprano.
The detail in the music was incredibly dense with no resort to cliches. The 'rhythm section' of John Edwards and Mark Sanders were rhythmic throughout but without ever needing to lock into a groove or repetitive beat. Sanders used sticks, tom tom beaters, brushes and a bow to extract the maximum of different sounds from all surfaces of his kit and cymbals whilst never losing the feel of the music. John Edwards bass playing was phenomenal - what he doesn't know about or can't do on his instrument is irrelevant! He put in a superb shift - no part of the music unexplored.
One is tempted to say go and see Tony Bevan just to be awe struck by his playing of the gargantuan bass saxophone. Suffice to say though that the sounds he gets from the instrument often bear no semblance to what one thinks this massive instrument should produce! His soprano playing was pretty excellent too! Which brings us to Watts - and to see him wailing over Edwards and Sanders on his alto as Bevan took a rest was a joy to behold.
Next time these guys play together in the UK go to see them. You won't be disappointed and you may be surprised!
Thursday, 19 September 2013
Wednesday, 18 September 2013
Review of Agam by Stuart Masters & Rishi Ranjan in R2 Magazine Sept/Oct 2013
Here is the full text of Dave Haslam's review:
Agam is the result of a serendipitous encounter in a London record shop between English guitarist Stuart Masters and Indian sarode and rebab player Rishi Ranjan. Masters, who tours regularly with The Fingerstyle Collective, has his musical roots in folk and Celtic music as well as both Western and Eastern classical traditions, the latter working to his advantage when playing with Ranjan who is trained in the classical Indian Maihar school of sarode playing.
Although it only clocks in at a little over thirty minutes, Agam is a varied collection that, through one traditional Moroccan tune ('Reb-Oud-Akech'), three joint compositions and four arrangements of pieces by the respected sarod master Bade Baba Allauddin Khan, explores the common ground between their respective musical traditions.
It's arguably fair to say that not all the material here is equally successful and there's a sense that some pieces are still works in progress. That said, when the musicians do gel they do so with startling results, as can be heard on the lengthy title track where the two traditions, although still discernible, combine to create something special and unique. With nicely judged percussion from Dave Engel and table from Mani Singh, Agam is an album that, while it doesn't quite fulfil its potential, hints at greater things to come.
Agam is the result of a serendipitous encounter in a London record shop between English guitarist Stuart Masters and Indian sarode and rebab player Rishi Ranjan. Masters, who tours regularly with The Fingerstyle Collective, has his musical roots in folk and Celtic music as well as both Western and Eastern classical traditions, the latter working to his advantage when playing with Ranjan who is trained in the classical Indian Maihar school of sarode playing.
Although it only clocks in at a little over thirty minutes, Agam is a varied collection that, through one traditional Moroccan tune ('Reb-Oud-Akech'), three joint compositions and four arrangements of pieces by the respected sarod master Bade Baba Allauddin Khan, explores the common ground between their respective musical traditions.
It's arguably fair to say that not all the material here is equally successful and there's a sense that some pieces are still works in progress. That said, when the musicians do gel they do so with startling results, as can be heard on the lengthy title track where the two traditions, although still discernible, combine to create something special and unique. With nicely judged percussion from Dave Engel and table from Mani Singh, Agam is an album that, while it doesn't quite fulfil its potential, hints at greater things to come.
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