Hare & Hounds

Saturday 20th November

The Hare & Hounds

More details to follow very soon

There is a great review of the Soil & Pimp gig which we co-promoted with the Hare & Hounds Pub. The review really captures the atmosphere of the gig and this is the first part:

Wow. Now that’s how you put on a show. The hardest working man in show business (Mr James Brown esq) may be dead and buried but, ladies and gentleman, I think we have some contenders for the hardest working MEN in show business. Despite sounding like the sort of ‘services’ offered on those postcards you get on phone booths in London, Soil and Pimp Sessions are actually an ultra cool Japanese ‘Death Jazz’ outfit. Yep, ‘Death Jazz’. I know, a genre for every occasion these days right? Just as you’re scattering some dirt on your loved ones up pops this lot with a brain scrambling rendition of ‘Papa’s Got a Brand New Pigbag’…

You can read the whole review here.

The gig we put on last night (28th July) in The Rainbow Cellar with Dan Nicholls’ Mirror with James Allsopp and  Dave Smith was equally enjoyable.  The contrast between these two events is marked: Soil & Pimp was a great event which was enjoyed in a very active way by a large and enthusiastic crowd while Mirror was very much a listening gig enjoyed by a smaller but positive crowd really into listening to the intracacies of the music.

I think the contrast shows the range of Birmingham Jazz’s activities.

Tony   

Birmingham Jazz presents two nicely contrasting gigs this week.  The Bryan Corbett Quartet (Jam House on Tuesday 20th at 9.30) is a group with four of the top Birmingham players: Bryan on trumpet and flugelhorn, Levi French on keys, Ben Markland on bass and Neil Bullock on drums.  As Bryan now tours in continental Europe a lot with both Us3 and various Czech or Polish bands, the opportunity to hear this great quartet is much rarer.  The last time they played together,  which was at a Rush Hour Blues session in January, it was the first time for 7 months and there was a real sense of occasion with the band immediately gelling and clearly loving playing together again.   Entry is free and the music begins at 9.30.

Soil & Pimp Sessions (Wednesday 21st Hare & Hounds, High St, Kings Heath, doors at 8pm) is a Japanese band which developed a kind of crazy bebop style in Japanese clubs and now tours the world.  It’s a band that will appeal to a clubbing audience without losing the older jazz fan who will recognise its bop style.  They generate a great atmosphere with the audience whipped up by the ‘agitator’ who acts as compere with a megaphone.  This will attract a big crowd and it will therefore be a largely standing audience.

At Rush Hour Blues this week (Friday at 5.30 at Symphony Hall foyer) is Tom Hill’s Outsville, a quartet that features two fine players we areley hear in Birmingham: Ian Ellis on saxophone and Jonathan Taylor on piano. I have always thought that Ian is one of the finest saxophonists in UK, but he has never received the coverage he deserves.

Coming up next week is Mirror, a new trio led by pianist Dan Nicholls featuring James Allsopp on saxophones and Dave Smith on drums.  This is at the regular Jazz Club session at The Rainbow Pub on Digbeth.  This is on Wednesday 28th July at 9pm.

Tony

Neil Cowley in soundcheck at CBSO Centre. Photograph courtesy of Russ Escritt

Two fascinating gigs last week.  The first was trumpeter Erik Truffaz with vocalist/beatboxer Sly Johnson and drummer Philippe Garcia at the Hare & Hounds on Thursday.  I found this to be a most inventive trio that really delivered a unique slant on the interaction between jazz and the more creative side of club music.  Erik Truffaz’s trumpet solos have quite a strong Miles Davis influence and in a sense he is taking Miles’ late experiments with hip hop, e.g. the Doo Bop album, to their logical conclusion.  The interaction between the voice and the trumpet was always interesting and constantly brought out links that were fresh and original.  And Philippe Garcia’s drums added depth and rhythmic sophistication.

Neil Cowley won over a good sized audience at the CBSO Centre on Saturday  with his very entertaining show.  This is a trio that has been touring for some weeks and clearly love playing together and that enthusiasm certainly commmunicates itself to the audience. There is also a lot of humour,  in the music, in the announcements, and in the interaction in the band and this also plays its role in making for a very enjoyable evening.  The trio may not have the harmonic and melodic sophistication we heard with the Simcock, Walker, Swallow, Nussbaum group at the end of May, but it makes up for it with rhythmic excitement and excellent interaction within the trio.  Great to see a different audience with a number of school age children sitting on the front row and even in the second set on the floor just in front of the band.

Both groups were touring in support of a CD, Erik Truffaz’s Paris on Blue Note and Neil Cowley Radio Silence on Naim Jazz.

Tony

Birmingham Jazz returns to Hare and Hounds pub where it recently promoted two very successful gigs with jazz fused with other genres, specifically Nils Petter Molvaer’s brilliant blend of ambient sounds with jazz, and Humcrush’s mix of electronics, rock and jazz.  On this occasion (Thursday 3rd June at 9.30) BJ and Hare & Hounds present the Swiss born French trumpeter Eric Truffaz who is one of the most innovative leaders in Europe.  At the moment his particular interest is the blend of jazz with hip hop and dubstep, and he is joined by beatboxer Sly Johnson and drummer Philippe Garcia.  Sly Johnson is a member of the Saian Supa Crew and known as The Mic Buddah and The Beatboxologist.

Tickets (£7) are available from Ticketsellers on 0844 870 0000, or on the door.

Tony

Humcrush is a great duo with two great Norwegian artists, Stale Sorlokken on keyboards and Thomas Stronen on drums.  Stale plays with Supersilent and Thomas plays with Food and therefore both have a wide experience of the musical territory between jazz and electronica, and this is why we are co-promoting the gig with our good friends at Capsule.  The two albums I have of the group are amongst my most played Cds and I love the movement between the more ‘full on’passages and the more ambient gentler episodes.  We have heard something of this mix at recent gigs with Nils Petter Molvaer at the Hare & Hounds and Dan Berglund’s Tonbruket at the CBSO Centre; this one promises to be more towards the full on end of the spectrum.

Alex Bonney’s Leverton Fox featuring Alex on trumpet and Tim Giles on drums are in support.   Doors are at 8pm. You can buy tickets here.

Tickets also available on the door or at:
Box Office : 0844 780 0000
Swordfish – Temple Street, Birmingham
Polar Bear – York Road, Kings Heath

Tony

Thursday 3rd June
Hare & Hounds
9.30pm
£7 ( £5 concessions)

Once again Birmingham Jazz has teamed up with the fabulous Hare & Hounds in Kings Heath.  After the great success of Nils Petter Molvaer in February we present another boundary stretching trumpeter in Erik Truffaz whose music shares an affinity with NPM. Truffaz is adored for his audacious collaborations, his generous personality, as well as brilliant music. For this gig, Erik will be joined by, on the drums, the great Philippe Garcia and on the mic, Sly Johnson of the Saïan Supa Crew.

www.eriktruffaz.com/

Wednesday 21st July
Hare & Hounds, Kings Heath
Doors open at 8pm
£10 advance tickets ( MOTD)

Soil & “Pimp” Sessions is an energetic Japanese club jazz band that have started to receive international recognition. The band consists of six members: Shacho (“agitator”), Tabu Zombie (trumpet), Motoharu (sax), Josei (keyboards), Akita Goldman (double bass) and Midorin (drums). Soil & Pimp were last in Birmingham three years ago at the Jam House so it’s been a while and well worth a try for a lively night out!

Tickets are available at: http://www.theticketsellers.co.uk/

Ticket office : 0844 870 0000

This gig is a co-promotion with Leftfoot

Listen to Soil & Pimp sessions on Spotify:

Nils Petter Molvaer at The Hare & Hounds, Friday 26th Feb / TG Collective at The Polish Club, Saturday 27th Feb
Photographs courtesy of Russ Escritt

It was wonderful and something of a relief that all the set up for Nils Petter Molvaer’s show at the Hare & Hounds last Friday (26th February) went smoothly; it is a very complicated show with a very precise tech and visual spec and thanks to house technical manager Jon Nash and his assistant plus the cooperation of the musicians it all got set up and the show started more or less on time.

I really enjoyed the music.  Drummer Audun Kleive and guitarist Stian Westerhus are brilliant musicians who set up a really interesting framework for Nils Petter Molvaer’s improvisations, building up the tension and occasionally taking the lead in those passages where each member of the trio were really firing.  Nils Petter’s own sound on both trumpet and effects is very beautiful and he mostly concentrates on developing quite long passages where the ambient sound of either the synthesised trumpet or the effects dominate.  Overall this was attractive music with some episodes of really full on intensity.  There were, however, also some down periods when the focus on creating  soundscapes seemed to reduce the level of intensity.  But overall this was a successful gig.

One or two people have commented that the review of the trio’s London concert in The Guardian was too critical; you can read the review here.  Either the London concert was a nervous first concert, or the reviewer missed the point on this occasion.  Peter Bacon has also written a review on his Jazz Breakfast site; you can read it here.

Last night (Saturday 27th February) TG Collective played a warm, very musical and thoroughly enjoyable concert at the Polish Club reminding us all what a charming venue the Polish Club is.  It has a attractive and in a positive way a slightly bizarre feel to it, all added to on this occasion by the presence of its Valentine’s Day and Christmas decorations.  TG Collective with its healthy mix of gypsy jazz, flamenco and more contemporary material, and great musicianship and dancing from Ana Garcia really enthused a good large audience.

Owing to the Nils Petter Molvaer gig on Friday night, I could only catch half an hour of Nick Smart’s Quintet with American saxophonist John Gunther at Rush Hour Blues.  The music struck me as excellent accessible jazz with pianist Malcolm Edmonstone outstanding.

But the gig of the week has to be Trio VD at Jazz Club at The Rainbow Wednesday night (February 24th).  Peter Bacon’s review on his Jazz Breakfast blogsite captures the excitement of the gig – you can read it here. Trio VD are undoubtedly one of the most creative groups on today’s scene and I look forward to seeing how they develop.  The music is highly structured, nonetheless leaving space for improvisation, and it draws quite extensively on elements of contemporary rock music.  It is thus music that should have an appeal to fans who don’t normally listen to jazz.

Tony

Birmingham Jazz is running something of a Norwegian season these days; Tord Gustavsen was at the CBSO Centre in autumn 2009, Nils Petter Molvaer brings the music of his latest album Hamada to the Hare & Hounds on Feb 26th and Humcrush, the duo of drummer Thomas Stronen and keyboard player Stale Storlokken of Supersilent will also be at the Hare & Hounds on 14th April (this one is a co-promotion with Caspule).  The Norwegian scene has  been for some time  arguably the most interesting scene in Europe and we at Birmingham Jazz are very keen to be able to present the best of Norway in Birmingham  Indeed, we have entered into partnership with the Norwegian Embassy in order to be able to do this.

Nile Petter Molvaer has produced some excellent albums for the ECM and Universal labels in recent years, notably Khmer, Solid Ether and np3, but he now seems to be recording for his own label Sula, named after his birthplace.  Nils’ music always brings together jazz, Scandinavian folk music and contemporary dance rhythms, hip hop, electronica and blends them into an intense but beautiful whole.  The latest album Hamada shows the same mix, but there are more of the uptempo numbers and this bodes well for the live show at the Hare & Hounds.  Nils is touring with drummer Audun Kleive and guitarist Stian Westerhus, the latter known for his high energy contributions to the British band Fraud when they played at Cheltenham and toured UK a couple of years ago.  Both these players will undoubtedly take the music further in the direction of a strong rhythmic pulse and powerful solos.

All this should work really well in the excellent informal surroundings of the Hare & Hounds.

Tickets are £10 ( £8 concessions) and available on the door on the night or at www.theticketsellers.co.uk or 0844 870 0000 until 3pm today.

For further details see Nils Petter Molvaer’s website.

Tony

Supported by: