"Phenomenal...British jazz at its best...the easy equal of jazz anywhere in the world."

On the final run into our next Cadogan Hall concert - 100 Years Of Jazz In 99 Minutes - we've come across the thoughts of Digby Fairweather after enjoying the show on a previous outing:

"Friday brought us drummer/multi-instrumentalist Richard Pite's presentation of '100 Years of Jazz in 99 Minutes'; a formidable show featuring the international standard talents of six of Britain's greatest jazz instrumentalists - Enrico Tomasso, Pete Long, Nick Dawson, Dave Chamberlain, Pite and singer-trumpeter Georgina Jackson. 

Nick Dawson, Dave Chamberlain, Enrico Tomasso, 

Georgina Jackson, Pete Long, Richard Pite

Together - amid a carnival of instrumental exchanges (Pite moving from drums to sousaphone to string bass/ Tomasso from trumpet to trombone and Long playing all the saxophones, electric bass and even some swaggering cornet) they celebrated ten decades of jazz in a brilliantly-conceived (and strongly-planned) presentation moving from Ragtime through the music's history to jazz fusion and world music. 

The standard of playing throughout the show was phenomenal proving -yet again - that British jazz at its best is the easy equal of jazz anywhere in the world. And amid an evening of unqualified pleasure (a few of the many) standout moments included fiery exchanges between Long and Tomasso on 'Work Song'; a drum extravaganza from Pite (including a juggling act with his sticks that Sonny Payne would have loved) and the vocals of trumpeter Georgina Jackson - an exciting and extraordinary new star of whom we'll hear much, much more in the years to come."

 - Digby Fairweather

You too can enjoy the fiery magic on the 8th May at 7pm, Cadogan Hall (tube station Sloane Square) - tickets available here: 

www.cadoganhall.com/tour-dates/the-jazz-repertory-company-presents

100 Years Of Jazz In 99 Minutes Showreel 

From The Jazz Repertory Company

What Do Guinness, Harry Potter, Cameron Diaz and Richard Pite Have In Common?

On Saturday March 12^th at 7.30pm Richard Pite’s Jazz Repertory Company returns to London’s Cadogan Hall (just by Sloane Square tube) with one of its most popular shows – Benny Goodman’s 1938 Carnegie Hall concert.  Goodman finished his Carnegie Hall concert with a twelve minute version of Sing, Sing, Sing which today is, alongside In The Mood, the most popular tune of the swing era.  Richard Pite looks at the enduring popularity of the number and how the original and thinly disguised spoofs are all over today’s film and TV.

You might have seen the new Guinness ad that’s currently running – it’s a one minute celebration of the record producer, talent scout and champion of jazz,  John Hammond.   It’s the second in a series that Guinness is running called “Made For More” (the first was on the coming out of gay Welsh rugby captain Gareth Thomas).   This new ad, featuring a handsome actor playing the less than handsome Hammond, is a beautifully shot monochrome period piece with newspaper headlines, black and white musicians and black and white dancers encapsulating in a brief moment the great achievements of a remarkable lifetime.  

John Hammond Guinness advert

And what is the soundtrack to the ad?  Well, once again, it’s that old favourite Sing, Sing, Sing – that wild piece of minor key riffing, wailing trumpets, ululating clarinet and jungle drums that almost eighty years after Goodman recorded it still crops up everywhere. 

The piece is a good choice for a tribute to Hammond (who was Benny Goodman’s brother in law) as he played the main role in making the 1938 Carnegie Hall concert the first time black and white jazz musicians ever shared a concert stage together.  It was Hammond that introduced the pianist Teddy Wilson to Goodman and he also arranged that the star players of the Duke Ellington and Count Basie Orchestras would appear alongside Goodman’s Orchestra.

The Jazz Repertory Company's

Sing, Sing, Sing at London's Cadogan Hall

Sing Sing Sing certainly does a great job as a movie soundtrack not only because it perfectly captures that brief moment when jazz became the most popular music of its day but because it also appeals to ears raised on rock music – the music doesn’t conjure up rows of middle aged chaps straining the buttons of their tuxedos and peering down at their music stands in bi-focals that say, In The Mood or Jersey Bounce does.  Sing Sing Sing is all about sex, sweat and frenzy.  If Uncle Monty attempted to dance to it at a wedding the ambulance would probably have to be hailed well before the cowbell brings the band in for the final shout chorus.

Sing Sing Sing was written by Louis Prima, best known today for singing I Wanna Be Like You in Disney’s The Jungle Book.   The song was turned into an instrumental feature by Goodman a year later in 1937, taking up both sides of a 78 it was the first extended drum solo on record.  Before then drum solos had been short breaks – a drummer would be lucky if he got eight bars to show off his chops, there were just too many other interesting things to cram into the three and a bit minutes that a 78 rpm side allowed you.

Gene Krupa - Drummer for 

Benny Goodman's Sing, Sing, Sing

Gene Krupa was the right man to carry off this extended drum feature.   A wildly extrovert player with movie-star good looks, he had a way of making moves sitting at his kit that were visually as exciting as the sounds he was making.  Krupa needled Goodman because he commanded most of the attention on stage – Goodman, of course, played like a dream but he looked like a college professor and besides the speedy movement of his fingers and the occasional glint of a spotlight on his specs there was precious little visually to grab a young bobby-soxer – that’s where Krupa came in (and not long after the ’38 Carnegie Hall gig that’s why Krupa went out).

So here’s a quick tour through YouTube to pick out a few of the many times Sing Sing Sing and numerous sound-a-likes have been in the movies.

Let’s start with Benny’s band in1938 in Hollywood Hotel taking the tune for a short spin for a couple of minutes:

Here it is in the 1993 movie Swing Kids  -  a movie about teenagers in Nazi Germany secretly meeting up to dance to it – how the hell those jungle drums didn’t wake up the snoozing fräuleins next door  who would have shopped them to the Gestapo, goodness knows.  However a salutary reminder that shortly after it was recorded you could have been executed for listening to it:

Woody Allen has the record for using it the most in his films, three times now – Manhattan Murder Mystery, New York Stories and here in Deconstructing Harry – Sing Sing Sing goes to hell:

The insatiable demand for Sing Sing Sing sound-alikes led to me getting two separate movie sessions in two days – the first one was for one of the numerous Harry Potter films and then the next day for a delightful movie called Me and Orson Welles.  The more photogenic Zac Efron provided the Krupa licks on camera:

Here’s a trio of spoofs  -  John Williams in Speilberg’s 1941:

The delightful Cameron Diaz dances to something resembling it in The Mask:

And Michael Buble funks it up on the Spiderman theme:

By now those damn drums are probably driving you to distraction so let’s quit whilst there’s still a chance you might want to come and see it live and as it would have sounded in 1938 – March 12^th Cadogan Hall SW1   - see you there.

This is the fourth time the Jazz Repertory Company revival show, featuring Pete Long in the role of Benny Goodman, has been staged at Cadogan Hall and the last three times have all been sell-outs.

Pete Long’s 13 piece band (The Goodmen) includes Enrico Tomasso and Georgina Jackson on trumpets, Gordon Campbell on trombone, the young Australian maestro of the tenor sax Duncan Hemstock and Pite himself in the role of Goodman’s drummer Gene Krupa.   Also featured are Anthony Kerr on vibes and the Chicago chanteuse Joan Viskant.

The Jazz Repertory Company Showreel

Something to make a noise about.

Hundreds Of Reasons To See Us Next Year

In our last blog I doffed my chapeau to a number of jazz greats who would have been 100 years old in 2016.  In part two of our New Years blog as we stand on the cusp of 2016 we look at a few more - one of which is paid tribute to in our next Cadogan Hall show  and a couple more who I include just because I was delighted to meet them years ago. 

Harry James.  Harry was Benny Goodman’s trumpet star at the time of the famous 1938 Carnegie Hall concert (which is back at Cadogan Hall on Saturday March 12^th when Nathan Bray will be taking the role of Harry).

Harry James

Harry started his career working full time as a kid in a circus band and when he joined Benny he was a sensational virtuoso and only 19 - you can see him here standing next to Krupa at the drums  ( a comparatively old man – 27 years old!!).

Benny Goodman Orchestra "Sing, Sing, Sing" 

Gene Krupa - Drums & Harry James from "Hollywood Hotel" film (1937)

Harry looks pencil thin – even making 2015’s centenary boy Sinatra look tubby in comparison – and why can’t I buy trousers like his in Marks and Sparks?

Two other centenarians who have nothing to do with any JazzRepertory Company concerts but are included here as I was rather pleased to meet them.

In 1969 my brother bought this terrific album by Moondog  (born in 1916).  The front cover had him looking like a cross between a Viking elder and something out of Tolkein.  He looks as if he was a centenarian but was only 52 years old at the time the pic was taken.    He'd spent most of his musical life as a busker on the streets of New York City so he was quite weather-beaten by the late 60's.  I was glad that CBS had finally invited him indoors to make an album - one which I played over and over and loved it and still do).

Moondog - Moondog (1969)

In 1991 I went to a concert of his in Dartington - it was his 76^th birthday so I invited myself  to his party afterwards and sat next to him (looking pretty much the same as on his album cover) as we both ate his birthday cake – I was too over awed (and full of cake) to gushingly tell him how much I listened to his album when I was 13.

Our last centenarian is the wonderful Slim Gaillard who I met in 1987 when he played a gig at London’s Dolphin Square Restaurant.  In his second number he got his drummer to play a drum solo whilst he shook the hand of every man in the room and then kissed and danced with every woman – the drum solo lasted about 40 minutes but it was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen – Slim’s routine that is, not the drum solo.

If you're interested in some of this music in 2016 be sure to check out our What's On listings at Cadogan Hall. Happy New Year.

The Jazz Repertory Company Concert Showreel

Dying Young Or Living Past Your Sell By Date - No In Between For Our Tributees Next Year

Not many jazz musicians make it to 100 years old.  Ragtime pianist and composer Eubie Blake made it (his most famous compositions were I'm Just Wild About Harry and Memories of You).  More famous than his compositions however was his memorable quote on his 100th birthday - "If I knew I was gonna live this long I'd have taken better care of myself".
 
We’re very keen on anniversaries at the JRC.  We have this deluded idea that if we celebrate something that happened 100 years ago or any anniversary with a nought on the end that the media will be hugely interested in what we’re doing – but of course they aren’t.  Well that’s not going to stop us taking a look at who’s celebrating their 100^th birthdays in 2016.  Here’s just a few of particular interest to us (part 1):

Cat Anderson

It’s the centenary of Cat Anderson in 2016.  He was the high note specialist in various trumpet sections in his career.  He had a long stint with Duke Ellington and his stratospheric notes at the end of Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue from Duke’s appearance at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival take this legendary performance to an even greater peak of excitement.

We will be performing the piece at the 2016 London Jazz Festival at The Cadogan Hall on November 18th as part of our “1956: A Jazz Jubilee” concert.  I’ve decided to put this one on as a rather premature celebration of my own centenary – 40 years early in fact.

Cat’s high notes will be handled by the astonishing young trumpet talent Louis Dowdswell.

A teaser from our Echoes of Ellington concert 

- featuring Louis Dowdeswell

Charlie Christian.    When Benny Goodman appeared at Carnegie Hall in 1939 he was joined by the dazzling electric guitarist Charlie Christian.  Sadly Charlie died of tuberculosis in 1942 aged just 25 but in his very short career he became the great innovator of his chosen instrument.  Goodman called him the greatest musician he ever worked with.

On Saturday June 18^th we reprise our recreation of Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller at Carnegie Hall which features DaveChamberlain in the role of Charlie Christian.  Dave has established himself as one of the country’s finest double bass players so you can imagine our astonishment when he turned up at the first rehearsal for the show with the same model guitar and amp as Charlie and played his famous solos note for note.  Now that’s dedication!

Charlie Christian's Stardust Solo 

- Note 1for Note

One other musician featured in the 1939 concert who would have been 100 years old in 2016 is Glenn Miller’s drummer Mo Purtill.    At the original concert Goodman and Miller were slugging it out for the position of top dog and Miller pulled Bugle Call Rag out of the pad and played it at a completely bonkers tempo.  Mo delivers a frantic drum solo which I have to deliver when we perform this piece when we perform this piece.  Damn, it’s fast – I feel like I’ve run a marathon by the time I’m through with it.

Watch out for part two of this post and if you're interested in our concert series at Cadogan Hall in 2016, all tickets and information are available here, including a Christmas special with up to 25% off tickets when booking for all 5 shows.  

The Jazz Repertory Company Showreel

Our Monumental & Impressive Endeavour: Jazzwise On Our EFG London Jazz Festival Concert

Jazzwise – EFG London Jazz Festival – Review by Peter Vacher

Paul Whiteman – Bix, Bing & Rhapsody in Blue – Cadogan Hall, 22 November 2015

The Festival’s final day allowed the fleet of foot and this reporter to speed across the capital to embrace jazz in its period glory and then to take in a bracing look at the music today.  Old and new personified.   Where better than the  vaulted space of the  Cadogan Hall to observe Richard Pite’s Jazz Repertory Company in their monumental and most ambitious project to date?   For that matter, hard to improve on Pizza Express to experience small group modern jazz full on and with no holds barred.

Pite had assembled no less than 30 performers, rehearsed them hard, and produced a programme devoted to the music of the mighty Paul Whiteman Orchestra of the late 1920s, with a particular focus on the period when Bing Crosby [as part of the Rhythm Boys] and cornetist Bix Beiderbecke were with the band.  For Crosby, he had recruited Thomas ‘Spats’ Langham, a man who knows how to warble in the old Groaner’s manner, and for Bix, he had enlisted GuyBarker who, complete with an authentic instrument, recreated Bix’s solos with sensitivity and aplomb.  And that’s not to overlook Richard White as the present-day emulator of C-Melody saxophonist Frankie Trumbauer.

With Keith Nichols as Musical Director and Radio 3’s Alyn Shipton on hand to provide the linking narrative, this impressive endeavour opened with a quintet version of the ODJB’s ‘Livery Stable Blues’, in an apparent harking back to Whiteman’s 1924 Aeolian Hall ‘An Experiment in Modern Music’ concert.  Then came the full orchestra to take us through the best of the Whiteman dance-tempo repertoire, with no hint of period parody, just tight, vigorous playing, underpinned by Marc Easener’s perfect sousaphone lines.   Add in the six strings and the sheer pleasure of hearing some of London’s finest musicians at work on arrangements by luminaries such as Ferde Grofé and Bill Challis and you’ll sense that this was a rare and very special occasion.

Made more so by the triumphant presentation of George Gershwin’s full ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ score, also premiered originally at Aeolian Hall in 1924, with Nick Dawson taking Gershwin’s place as the piano soloist and Pete Long conducting.  Dawson had learned the entire piece and played from memory, his faultless keyboard command and the sheer élan of the orchestral playing making this a truly memorable achievement, with that evocative opening clarinet cadenza handled brilliantly by Mark Crooks.

In a concert packed with moments to savour, just to hear Barker’s recreation of Bix’s sublime solo on ‘Singing the Blues’ was a joy but then so too was violinist Emma Fisk’s recall of Joe Venuti on the small group version of ‘Raggin’ the Scale’, complete with David Horniblow’s bass saxophone and the guitar work of Martin Wheatley.  Whiteman’s reputation hasn’t always been without controversy; on this showing his music was eminently worth preserving and most important perhaps, great to hear anew.

Peter Vacher / 25.11.2015  (PHOTOS BY: John Watson/jazzcamera.co.uk)

Concerts from the Jazz Repertory Company: