Posts Tagged ‘In Loving Memory of America’

This concert had everything you need to make a really enjoyable and exciting evening.  It had a very strong theme, that is music inspired by the Charlie Parker with Strings album made in the early 1950s, virtuosic playing from Gilad Atzmon and the Sigamos String Quartet, a combination of  serious musical content and accessibility to keep both  the jazz fan and the more general fan happy, an excellent approach to presentation with clear and entertaining announcements and a good appreciative audience.

What particularly impressed me was the way Gilad and Ros Stephens, leader of the string quartet and Musical Director for the project had developed a mix of material some of which was quite close to the original Parker performances, e.g. April in Paris (or April in Birmingham as Gilad called it!) or Laura, others being arrangements that had taken inspiration from the approach without being on the original Parker album and then others that moved some way away from the theme and drew on the Middle Eastern material that Gilad has been working with recently with the excellent Orient House Ensemble.  This made for an extremely varied evening of music with almost perfect balancing of the material so that we began quite close to the original Parker, then moved away into the Middle East and finally moved back to more familiar tunes.

Gilad was on top form, mostly on alto saxophone showing the Parker inspiration in his solos but building on the bitter sweet aspects of that style by adding in his own very forceful character.  He also played soprano saxophone and clarinet getting a great reedy Arab sound on the latter.  The Sigamos String Quartet added immensely to the evening with their interpretations of Ros Stephens’ excellent arrangements and with their enjoyment of the music they were playing very apparent on their faces.

It all got a very good response from a large audience.  The music is recorded on Gilad’s In Loving Memory of America album

But we were of course the promoters.  Did other people agree with me about the music?

Tony

This project features the UK based Gilad Atzmon with his Orient House Ensemble and the Sigamos String Quartet playing music inspired by Charlie Parker’s renowned collaboration with strings late on in his career. The music has been recorded on Gilad’s album In Loving Memory of America.

Gilad has always been a stunning player in the bebop style, a style he is totally relaxed and fluent in, but he has always sought to broaden his music by incorporating elements of later styles of jazz and also of Middle Eastern music.  Gilad was born in Israel, but has been based in UK for many years.  On this occasion Gilad is on the road with his acclaimed Orient House group, featuring Frank Harrison on piano, and the Sigamos String Quartet led by Ros Stephens interpreting both the  Charlie Parker material, plus some originals by Gilad.

Charlie Parker was of course the great genius of bebop, but late in his short life he felt some dissatisfaction with the confines of small group jazz and sought to expand his range. Out of that came the string project on which Parker played with great intensity and creativity. To be honest, some of the original arrangements for strings were a bit cheesy, but the interpretations of the Sigamos String Quartet put that right with much tighter and darker versions.

Gilad is a great asset to the UK jazz scene and is always coming up with different projects based on his passion for the music. This one promises to be one of his most interesting. He has collaborated regularly with Ros Stephens, especially in her Tango Siempre band.  Gilad has also been a member of the Blockheads originally led by Ian Dury whose life is dissected in detail in the current film Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll. The Blockheads still exist and Gilad still tours with them, but, as far as I am aware, he does not appear in the film.

You can book for the concert at the CBSO Centre on Friday 22nd January here.  There will also be tickets available on the door.

Interestingly, this is one of two projects built around Charlie Parker’s music that Birmingham Jazz is presenting in the first half of 2010.  On April 10th Django Bates brings his Beloved Bird Trio with two Danish players to the CBSO Centre.

Tony