lITlST 7
IJOE TEMPEBLEY Distinguished File-born saxophonist gets together with some special guests underthe auspices olthe Jazz Festival atthe Edinburgh Jazz Club. Tartan Club. Fountainbridge. 5571642, 16Aug. 8.30pm. £6(£4).
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I THAT SWING THAHG Jump jive, jokes andjaunty jackets trom Scotland’s coolest disciples of Louis Jordan. Book early-this one tends to be stutted. Fringe Club (Venue 2) 1O Aug-1 Sept (not Mon 20), 8.45pm.
I IAN CARR 8. LFO Trumpeter Carr, a major tigure on the jazz and lusion scene, helped form the London Fusion Orchestra back in 1981, and guests with the band lorthis three-day stint.
Moray House Theatre (Venue 108) 556 5184. 13-15Aug, midnight. £5
(£3).
I ALEX SHAW TRIO It's easy to overlook the local talent at Festival time, but Alex Shaw's superb pianism and compendious repertoire ottunes are always worth catching. Plattorm1,Rut|and Street. (Venue 96) 225 2433. 11-19, 25 Aug-1 Sept. 12.30pm. Free.
I THE FAIBER SAX All-woman saxophone quartet with an engaging it lightweight way with classical and popular styles, a niity line in costume changes, andthe odd dance ortwo. Assembly Rooms (Venue 3) 226 2428, 11-19Aug. 6.45pm, £6.50 (£5).
A fresh
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The (‘auld Blast Orchestra have fully justified their decision to keep the band together as a separate entity beyond the confines ()fJOCk Tamson 's Balms. where they first came together to play saxophonist Karen Wimhurst‘s compositions. Despite the difficulties in both rehearsing and getting bookings for an octet of busy and geographically scattered individuals. (‘auld Blast have already racked up a number of successful gigs. and have recently completed their first album. Recorded by Gordon Stevenson. brother of harpist Savourna (whose jazz-tinged trio are at St John's on 27-29 August). the album will be out very soon on his aptly-named Eclectic Records label. Stevenson‘s interest lies in music which. like (‘auld Blast's or Savourna‘s Tweed Journey. also just released. is not
Brilliant Corner
5 Jon Dabner launched his very
successtul Jazz Cate in the wilds at
i Stoke Hewington back in June 1987. A
conscious attempt to create a relaxed, reasonably cheap, but musically hard-edged alternative to expensive, tourist-dominated Soho jazz clubs like Ronnie Scott‘s and Pizza Express, the mix at a pleasant (although oiten crowded) atmosphere, quality vegetarian load and a wide-ranging musical policy quickly swept aside the doubts as to its viability.
The indetatigable Dabner went on to launch a record label, Jazz Cate Records, which has issued a well-received sampler trom the club, Mellow Mayhem: Live At the Jazz Cate, and a couple at sets from the radical Nottingham jazz-lunk outtit Pinski Zoo, Bare Breed and East Bail East (see protile in List 124). Now, in association with Michael Joseph ot the Jazz Management agency, Jazz Cale is coming to Edinburgh tor the duration 01 the Festival.
The Cale will be based in Cale Coste in the Cowgate, and goes under the name 01 Brilliant Corner (3 reterence to the great Thelonious Monk tune ‘Brilliant Corners'). Scotland has never seen anything quite - or perhaps even remotely — like it betore.
Brilliant Cornerwill be open tor
__ music/Jazz
business tourtimes a day, starting with
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easily categorised. but brings together diverse elements in a fresh configuration.
Karen Wimhurst‘s music from Jock Tumson 's Buirns is firmly rooted in Scottish folk. but in highly unconventional treatments; Steve Kettley‘s choppy rhythms. dissonant tonalities. and fierce improvisations reflect his avant-garde jazz background; Iain Johnstone's ‘The Railyard Band at Belsen' has the melancholy. mock-parodic feel of Kurt Weill.
‘1 think different people could listen to the same piece and hear it in entirely different ways.’ Steve Kettley suggests. ‘We could say that it‘s instrumental music with great spirit. and folk. jazz and classical leanings. but when we add my stuff
Saxman Ed Jones
a tree breakfast session trom 103m till noon, two lengthy sessions at 12.15pm (until 4pm) and 7pm (until 11pm), and closing with a Miracle Jazz Jam session trom 11.30pm until 2am, complete with a late licence. As in the London model, vegetarian tood (supplied by Henderson’s in Edinburgh) will be available, and the promotors also hope to emulate its relaxed and triendly atmosphere.
The music, however, is unlikely to be quite as relaxed. Headliners Ed Jones, one at the tiery new breed ol tenor saxophonists emerging on the London scene, South Alrican pianist Mervyn Atrica, Pinski Zoo, and saxman Bammie Bose, well-known tor his work with reggae bands like Aswad, but an accomplished jazz player in his own right, will bring a vibrant, exciting edge to the entertainment.
Pianists Pepe Le Moko and Juwon will conduct the breaktast sessions over the three weeks, while the diverse line-up also includes Fulani, a quartet merging jazz and Alrican inlluences (the excellent South Alrican born trumpeter Claude Deppa will be
tamiliar trom his Scottish visits with
and lain's stuff. it changes again. and possibly in ways even we don‘t fully recognise yet.’
All of these diverse backgrounds and traditions are satisfactorin subsumed within their music. which loses nothing from the lack of dominant roots in a single idiom. but still retains a strong sense ofgroup identity. The (‘auld Blast Orchestra‘s challenge now is to continue developing. but without losing themselves in an excess of eclecticism. They have made an exemplary start along that road. (Kenny Mathieson)
('au/d Blast Orchestra, Acoustic
M usu‘ Centre (Venue 25) 12—13 Aug, I 0.30pm ; S! John '5 ( Venue I27) I8 Aug, lpm;27/1ug, 6.30pm; I Sept. 1pm.
Grand Union Orchestra and Andy Sheppard‘s explosive big band), and singerAnlta Kelsey, a relative newcomer on that London scene. ‘People tend to think at jazz as just one sort of music,‘ says co-promotor Michael Joseph, ‘but it can incorporate everything from Alrican styles through hard lunk to soul. The programme retlects that diversity, and I think audiences will be surprised at the range at music we’re presenting.’ Brilliant Corner will add a new dimension to an already crowded jazz programme during the Festival, and will also provide a tirst opportunity lor
; Scottish audiences to hear players like ' Ed Jones and Bammie Rose. There will ' be no admission charge tor the
breaktast session, while other prices
are pegged at £3 (£2) tor the lunchtime
(12.15pm) sessions, £5 (£4) torthe main evening one (7pm), and £4 (£2) torthe late night jam session, which they hope will teature a wide range at both local and visiting players. Tickets are available trom the Fringe Box ottice. (Kenny Mathieson)
Brilliant Corner at Cate Coste (Venue 31) 557 6849: week one (12—1 8 Aug) teatures Pepe Le Moko (10am), Fulani & Juwon (12.15pm), Ed Jones Quartet 8 Fulani (7pm); week two (19—25 Aug) has Juwon (10am), Mervyn Atrica & Pepe Le Moko (12.15pm), Pinski Zoo 8. Mervyn Atrica (7pm); week three (26 ' Aug-1 Sept) has Pepe Le Moko (10am), Anita Kelsey Band & Juwon (12.15pm), Bammie Bose Ouartet & Anita Kelsey Band (7pm). The late night Jam Session runs trom 12 Aug-1 Sept at 11.30pm.
The List 10— lb August 199047