Posts Tagged ‘Hare & Hounds’

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   

Pete Wareham & Seb Rochford- Polar Bear

Photograph courtesy of Russ Escritt

The Mostly Jazz Festival was a big success: great music, very attractive setting and wonderful weather.  I think the two main organisers, Gerv and Carl, did a great job in curating the programme and running the festival; everything ran to time and the attendance was very good, especially on the Saturday. Mostly Jazz has firmly established its niche in the summer festival scene and already has a strong identity, which comes partly from the wonderful Moseley Park, but, more particularly, from the healthy mix of jazz with funk and soul in the programme.  Gerv and Carl also did a good job in bringing together various disparate elements of the Birmingham music scene with Birmingham Jazz, The Yardbird, Leftfoot, The Hare & Hounds and the organisers of the Swing Meadow stage all having a strong presence in the festival.

Particular highlights for me were Portico Quartet and Quantic and the Combo Barbaro both of which summed up the way in which certain styles of music work really well in the open air setting.  I enjoyed most of the bands on the small stage programmed by The Yardbird on the Saturday and Birmingham Jazz on the Sunday; two singers, Lizzy Parks and Sara Colman worked particularly well.  I enjoyed much of the Sun Ra Arkestra set, but, for me, it didn’t have the excitement or the ensemble tightness of the band with Sun Ra himself, which I caught back in the day.  I was disappointed with Courtney Pine’s set, which seemed to go too far down the crowd-pleasing road.  But I did think the two contemporary bands on the Main Stage on the Saturday, Led Bib and Polar Bear, worked well and showed that bands in that style also work well in the open air setting.

So a great success for the first Mostly Jazz Festival.  It should develop into a key, if always small, UK music festival that celebrates jazz, funk, soul and other related genres.

There are some excellent photos of the weekend on Russ Escritt’s new website.  There is also a nice review on the BBC Music Magazine siet.  You can read it here.

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:

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:

We have another run of great gigs coming up in the next week, actually eight days!

We start on Wednesday 24th February at The Rainbow on Digbeth with Trio VD led by guitarist Chris Sharkey. For me this is the best of the many young UK bands with a full on approach incorporating a rock influence.  Music begins at 9pm.

There are two gigs on Friday: the regular Rush Hour Blues session presents an American saxophonist John Gunther with a band led by UK trumpeter Nick Smart. The session runs from 5.30 to 7pm.

That leaves just about enough to grab something to eat before heading down to the Hare & Hounds Pub on Kings Heath High Street to hear the ambient music of Nils Petter Molvaer. Nils is a trumpeter from Norway and his trio has two other great Norwegian players: Stian Westerhus on guitar and Audun Kleive on drums.  Music begins at 8.30.

Saturday sees the great jazz flamenco group TG Collective at the Polish Club in Bordesley Street at 8pm.

Finally on Tuesday 2nd March Buffalo Collision play the CBSO Centre at 8pm.  The band features Tim Berne on alto sax with two of The Bad Plus piano trio, Ethan Iverson on piano and Dave King on drums, plus Hank Roberts on cello.

Tony

Friday 26th February
The Hare & Hounds, kings Heath
8.30pm
£10 (£8 Members & Concessions)

A luminary in jazz electronica, Nils Petter-Molvaer has been releasing music under his own name since 1997. As a composer and trumpet player his style draws from a wide palette including jazz, ambient and house as well as hip-hop, rock and pop music. His latest album, Hamada, takes its name from the Arabian word meaning dead but refers to, in this context, impassable areas of desert. The music is angrier and darker than NPM’s previous work and will be perfectly suited to the intimate atmosphere of the Hare & Hounds. The gig features Stian Westerhus on guitar and Auden Kleive on drums.

Tickets available at Polar Bear Records, York Road, Kings Heath
0121 441 5202

Tickets also available at Ticketsellers:
https://www.theticketsellers.co.uk/buy_tickets/events/?id=10010011
or by phoning 0844 870 0000

Listen to Nils Petter Molvaer on Spotify:

Birmingham Jazz has just two gigs left before we take a short Christmas break.  We have The Gannets at the Hare & Hounds this Wednesday, 16th December at 8.30 and the final Rush Hour Blues of the year with The Sub Ensemble at Symphony Hall at 5.30 to 7pm on Friday 18th December. We are also supporting Dan Nicholl’s gig at The Cross tomorrow (Monday 14th December at 8.30) with his new band Hyderabad.
The Gannets are an offshoot of the Guillemots, the indie group nominated for the Mercury Award three years ago, and the group features Fyfe Dangerfield on keyboards.  The focus is on free improvisation with some electronics, but the music differs from much free jazz in that other genres, notably elements of rock, dance music and fusion, all blend into what is a potent mix.  The band features clarinettist Alex Ward, saxophonist Chris Cundy, Dominic Lash on bass, drummer Steve Noble as well as Fyfe Dangerfield.  You can check out a recent broadcast on the Jazz on Three programme here.

The great news about the Sub Ensemble gig at the Rush Hour Blues session is that saxophonist Mike Fletcher is back and will be playing with the band.  Mike had to stop playing a little time ago as a result of problems with his arm, but a long rest has improved things greatly and he is able to play again on a regular basis.  He spends much of his time in Spain now, but is definitely back for this gig.

Tony

Femi Temowo
Sunday 18th October
Live Box at The Hare & Hounds
Kings Heath
7.45pm
£5.00 ( £3.00 concs)

Appearing as part of the Live Box anniversary tour, Temowo is also a key figure in the Soweto Kinch Quartet – who shared Mercury Prize nomination glory for Kinch’s debut album ‘Conversations with the Unseen’. The producer and guitarist has performed with George Benson, Cleveland Watkiss and Jason Rebello, and was a musical director for Amy Winehouse.

www.myspace.com/femitemowo