Thoughts on Nils Petter Molvaer and the Rest of the Week
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
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