I hadn't realised, until searching for your e-mail address, how long it is since I first encountered Jazz Rep (2012). As well as seeing the original show several times, I've been to most of your other ventures over the years.
Which is a lead-in to saying that last night's concert was so good, I just had to let you know how much pleasure it gave me. It was the best yet, one of my greatest musical evenings ever. The astonishing versatility of the band reached new heights. The selection of material, and the creative way in which it was presented, was as near perfect as it would be possible to get.
Unless someone tells me differently, there's no-one else out there doing what you do. The respect for all genres of jazz shines through. You must by now be the best jazz band in the world.
Sincere thanks for keeping the flame alive.
Alan
Something To Make A Noise About
Thursday, 11 August 2016
Countdown to our next Cadogan Hall concert - Mad, Trad & Dangerous To Blow - ANOTHER 100 Years Of Jazz, Saturday 7:30pm, 24th September 2016:
Countdown #20:
"When I go to the Gate, I'll play a duet with Gabriel. Yeah, we'll play 'Sleepy Time Down South' and 'Hello Dolly!' Then he can blow a couple that he's been playing up there all the time.'"
"Lester Young had hired a drummer who wasn't playing what he wanted to hear. During a break, the drummer tried making conversation: 'Say Prez, when was the last time we worked together?' 'Tonight,' sighed Lester."
Lester Young
Countdown #17:
"There are two kinds of jazz: Traditional, where they all play together and try to outdo each other, and Modern, where each player goes on as if unaware of the existence of the others. You must decide which you support and decry the other on every occasion."
Bluff Your Way In Music
Countdown #16:
"By and large, jazz has always been like the kind of a man you wouldn't want your daughter to associate with."
Duke Ellington
Countdown #15:
"Jazz perfectly captures the democratic process in sound. Jazz means working things out musically with other people. You have to listen to other musicians and play with them even if you don’t agree with what they’re playing. It teaches you the very opposite of racism and anti-Semitism. It teaches you that the world is big enough to accommodate us all."
Wynton Marsalis
Countdown #14:
"Jazz was born out of the whiskey bottle, was raised on marijuana, and will expire on cocaine."
Artie Shaw
Countdown #13:
"Finally Beiderbecke took out a silver cornet. He put it to his lips and blew a phrase. The sound came out like a girl saying ‘yes'."
Eddie Condon
Countdown #12:
"Most customers, by the time the musicians reach the second set, are to some extent inebriated. They don’t care what you play anyway."
Charlie Mingus
Countdown #11:
"I never practice my guitar — from time to time I just open the case and throw in a piece of raw meat."
Wes Montgomery
Countdown #10:
"Anyone can make the simple complicated. Creativity is making the complicated simple."
Charlie Mingus
Countdown #9:
"Jazz is not dead, it just smells funny."
Frank Zappa
Countdown #8:
In Another 100 Years Of Jazz we pay tribute to the “Mickey Mouse” bands of the swing era – the bands that definitely didn’t swing! Lawrence Welk was the king of the “Mickey Mouse” bandleaders. Here’s Will Ferrell in a great spoof of the Welk.
Countdown #7:
In Another 100 Years Of Jazz Georgina Jackson not only sings this but plays the virtuosic trumpet solo too! Boy we work her hard!
Countdown #6:
Duke Ellington’s The Mooche. Don't miss our ANOTHER 100 Years Of Jazz concert to see if the band strip down to similar 1928 jungle style feathered bikinis.
Countdown #5:
See 5 sexy boys and a thoughtful and intelligent women play ANOTHER 100 years of jazz.
Countdown #4:
Nick Dawson gets his Mojo working for one day only in 2016; September 24th at Cadogan Hall.
Countdown #3:
"Jazz will endure, just as long as people hear it through their feet instead of their brains."
John Philip Sousa
Countdown #2:
"If you're in jazz and more than 10 people like you, you're labelled commercial"
Herbie Mann
Countdown #1:
The show ends with a version of St Louis Blues encompassing jazz styles from 90 years of the music's history, kicking off in 1914 and ending up in 2004 with this great Peter Cincotti version.
Mad, Trad & Dangerous To Blow - ANOTHER 100 Years Of Jazz, 24th September at London's Cadogan Hall: Tickets Here!
The Jazz Repertory Company: Worth Making A Noise About.
In anticipation of Another 100 Years of Jazzconcert at theCadogan Hallon September 24th I'm posting a few interesting nuggets about some of the music included in the new show. In the first show (100 Years of Jazz in 99 minutes) we played Livery Stable Blues by The Original Dixieland Jazz Band and In "Another 100 Years" we turn the record over and perform Dixieland Jass Band One Step. Livery Stable Blues is a slow infernal racket - in complete contrast the B side is a much livelier infernal racket. Imagine The Sex Pistols having their guitars confiscated and replaced by a trumpet, clarinet and trombone, then downing huge quantities of lager and being accompanied by their drummer chucking his kit down a fire escape and you get a pretty good idea of how it sounds.
The Dixieland One Step by the Original Dixieland Jass Band
This recording from 1917 is now universally considered the first ever jazz recording. It's odd that white musicians should have pipped African Americans to the post for this accolade but it came about because the black New Orleans trumpet playerFreddie Keppardturned down the offer to record in that year. His reason for refusing was that he didn't want other musicians listening and stealing his licks!
The recording is pretty wild and we should be grateful that 78 rpm records could only hold about two and a half minutes of music. We recreate the rough and ready nature of the music by having four fifths of the band play instruments that they don't really play (they like to think they do but they don't really).
So what do you think of the original and very first jazz recording?
The Jazz Repertory Company's - 100 Years Of Jazz In 99 Minutes
On Sunday 24th September The Jazz Repertory
Company is presenting “Another 100 Years of Jazz” at London’s Cadogan Hall. After 6 years of performing “A 100 Years of Jazz in 99 Minutes” we thought it was time to put together a follow up
so last year we premiered the new show at the Buxton Festival and after a few
more performances and a few tweaks we’re bringing it to London for the first
time.
Another 100 Years Of Jazz
Cadogan Hall 24th September 2016
As with the first show it was fun putting the running order
together. The earlier jazz content is
somewhat easier to choose as there are universally recognised great historic
recordings of huge importance in jazz history to pick from.The most modern selections are much more
challenging as the music has diversified so much – there is a huge amount going
on, from music rooted firmly in the jazz tradition to music which some would
contend isn’t really jazz at all.
High Society Rag - King Oliver Version 1923
So in the weeks leading up to the concert I thought we’d
take a look at some of the music that did get chosen – starting with the 1901
composition “High Society” which opens the show.
Marching through the audience is always a good way to grab
their attention, having a sousaphone creep up behind you is the musical
equivalent of being surprised by a rhino in the Serengeti.In the original 100 Years show we kick off with Justa Closer Walk with Thee and then segue into When The Saints Go Marching In.This recreates the old New Orleans
tradition of the funeral bands when the procession to the cemetery would be
accompanied by sombre and religious tunes but then on the way back the music
would be upbeat and celebratory.
A great deal of music making in New Orleans was al fresco
and a tune like High Society would have been ubiquitous with the many marching
bands working the city.I’ve always
found it fascinating how different the British jazz bands sound to their New
Orleans counterparts when playing this music and I’ve a meteorological
explanation for it.Most of the time in
England if you have an outdoor gig you make sure you’re wearing your thermal
underwear, pack your waterproofs and expect to be numb by the time the gig is
over.To compensate you play a little
faster, a lot livelier and somewhat louder just in an attempt to keep the blood
circulating.In New Orleans it’s the
complete opposite – it’s so humid most of the time just putting one foot in
front of the other can make you break into a sweat.As a result of this New Orleans musicians
have mastered the art of being laid back and generating excitement with the
least possible effort.I’m sure that’s
why the New Orleans sound is unique and so hugely appealing.
Another 100 Years Of Jazz
Cadogan Hall 24th September 2016
"High Society" was written by Porter Steele and
has become a traditional jazz standard.The New Orleans clarinettist Alphonse Picou adapted the piccolo obligato
from its military band orchestration and this virtuosic jaunty counter melody
has become an essential part of any performance of the piece.It’s considered by some to be the first ever
jazz solo – whether it was or not,the
first couple of bars proved very popular with Charlie Parker who frequently
quoted in many of his solos (more about him another time).
Nick Dawson
In true 100 Years of Jazz fashion the virtuosic clarinet is
left in the capable hands of our pianist Nick Dawson, who also happens,
conveniently, to play a mean clarinet.
Duke Ellington's Bugle Call Rag, London's Cadogan Hall
Always one of the treats for me when he is booked for the Festival is Keith Nichols' Blue Devils Orchestra, this year presenting early Fletcher Henderson arrangements as well as creaky novelty numbers such as Skeleton in the Closet, an old Armstrong number from an early Bing Crosby film. Keith always has some historical gem up his sleeve and in introducing this old piece he pointed out that the song was banned by the BBC until the title substituted the word Cupboard.
Wearing his erudition lightly this is a man who should be touring every jazz conservatoire in the land. Can't leave this area without reference to the amazing blend of statuesque presence and animated projection that is the band's singer Joan Viskant . Why she is not more of a presence on the scene in general I simply do not understand.
Curated and presented by the Jazz Repertory Company, as ever concerned for authenticity, this is a celebration of an historic encounter between two giants of popular music, then at the peak of their fame, both ensembles driven by a musical perfectionist, with star sidemen occupying each and every chair. If Goodman, the sometime King of Swing, had the pick of the jazzmen of those days, Miller knew how to drill his more workmanlike orchestra into a streamlined musical entity which, with the aid of skilled arrangers, produced a body of work that still resonates today. Think of the Glenn Miller estate’s clever husbanding of his legacy through their orchestral franchises which enable successive generations to marvel at the likes of ‘In The Mood’ and 'Chattanooga Choo-Choo'.
Goodman v Miller at Carnegie Hall 1939
The Goodman Miller Tribute Orchestra
Concentrating on the present day, we can safely claim that Pete has the pick of the best musicians around as he transforms Cadogan Hall’s lofty expanse into a packed yet always stately Carnegie Hall. Harking back, America and New York in particular, were not yet at war and knew only one thing: whatever problems might be looming in those heady days, swing was the music of the moment. If Goodman had already arrived then Miller was seen as up-and-coming, already a million-seller in his own right. As was the habit in those far-off times, what better way to establish status than to have a battle of the bands?
Pete Long - Bandleader
Let’s get the setting right - the America Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers decided to celebrate its 25th Anniversary by hiring Carnegie Hall for a week-long series of concerts, with the October 6 date devoted to our two challengers [plus Fred Waring’s Society Band and Paul Whiteman’s mighty orchestra, for added gravitas]. Goodman had already breached the Hall’s stuffy indifference to jazz the year before; Miller was newer to this game. We know the ever-competitive Goodman entered first, all guns blazing, every man striving, before Miller countered, parading his panoply of hits.
The JRC’s re-creation of this fascinating night’s music was debuted at the London Jazz Festival in 2014 and proved to be a SRO attraction, filling the Cadogan Hall to the brim. Expect something of the same this time; after all, where else will you hear diligent application to the principles of big band bravura with star turns from the soloists and ensemble playing of umbilically-connected precision? More to the point, you’ll experience all the vicarious pleasures of great creativity deployed to killer effect and doubtless feel an upsurge of swing fever.
Enrico Tomasso - Louis Armstrong Tribute
If Goodman thought he’d won the day back there in October 1939 with an over-the-top version of ‘Sing, Sing, Sing’ with Lionel Hampton on drums, he was caught out as Miller came back with ‘Bugle Call Rag’, this like a master class in crowd-pleasing swing intensity. All of this will be replicated on the 18th under Pete Long’s benign leadership. What’s more, trumpeter Enrico Tomasso will be the band’s special guest as he recalls two numbers from Louis Armstrong’s appearance earlier in the ASCAP series. There’ll even be a selection of Count Basie pieces, these taken from the band’s celebrated Spirituals to Swing concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall.
Benny Goodman's 'Sing, Sing, Sing' 1939
The Goodman Miller Tribute Orchestra
When it comes to the Goodman sextet numbers, Anthony Kerr will be featured on vibes and Dave Chamberlain, always a stalwart at JRC events, will don the mantle of Charlie Christian, the first great exponent of the electric guitar with head-man Richard Pite on drums. Chris Dean [who knows a thing or two about band-leading] will be playing in Long’s trombone section while taking his chance to emulate the Miller vocalist Ray Eberle with ‘Stairway to the Stars’. Look out too, for sterling work from the trumpeters Ryan Quigley, George Hogg and Georgina Jackson, each a playing powerhouse, and Sammy Mayne, Robert Fowler and Dean Masser starring in the saxophone section.
Ray Eberle 'Stairway To The Stars'
So, veritably, something for everyone and more to the point, a peerless opportunity to cheer on your favourites. Is it to be Goodman or Miller who wins the day? You’d best be there to find out. You know it makes sense. (pp)
