(EFZ) The Glasgow-bom guitarist is featured both as composer and instrumentalist in this smooth. beautifully controlled quartet session. He has been working in this lyrical. straight-ahead vein (with distinct fusion overtones) for some time. and receiving insufficient credit for it. but the melodic. laid-back feel of his music might continue to struggle to make an impression in a crowded market. That would be a shame. because there is a lot of very good playing here from Mullen and a fine band of label-mate Dave O’Higgins on saxophones. Laurence Cottle on bass. and lan Thomas on drums. (Kenny Mathieson)
I Reggie Workman Ensemble: Altered Spaces (Leo) Not for the faint- hearted. but the standard of ensemble improvisation on this record is often thrilling. and always absorbing. The bass player has added clarinetist Don Byron to older collaborators like Marilyn Crispell and Gerry Hemingway. and the result is questing. exploratory. experimental music-making of a high order. Other new releases from Leo include Anthony Braxton Quartet (Coventry) I985 (2-CD). with Crispell at the piano. and saxophonist Ned Rothenberg‘s solo set The C rux. All praise again (but probably no money) to Leo Feigin for continuing to champion this kind of challenging. mind-expanding artistic activity. (Kenny Mathieson)
I Roots: Salutes The Saxophone/tester Bowie’s Brass Fantasy: The Fire This Time (ln+ottt Records) Roots could have been another tired re-tread ofclassic jazz licks. but proves to be a tribute with teeth from four stylistically distinct saxmen. Arthur Blythe. Nathan Davis. Chico Freeman. and Sam Rivers. underpinned by the great Don Pullen‘s incisive piano. and a tight rhythm team. Recorded live in good sound. as is trumpeter Lester Bowie‘s latest. typically eclectic brass extravaganza. The music. which ranges from jazz standards to Michael i Jackson. is as brash.
. boisterous and irreverent
as ever. and not a saxophone in sight. (Kenny Mathieson)
I Jim Mullen: Soundbites
the most famous llundonians ever born, and with only Eddie Mair, Ricky
mm:- MOONSHAKE
fling Tut’s Wah Wah llut, Glasgow, 15 May.
Remember when ‘indie’ stood for ‘independent’? Tonight’s performers do. For the two English bands, London’s Moonshalte and Binningham’s Pram, ‘independence’ involves a peerless foray into the musically obtuse, abstruse and occasionally-good-deal-of-use, courtesy of their tenancy on Too Pure Records. For Glmgow-based Shriek, it’s a more familiar wade in waters weird and wonderful, via the thoroughly obvious but understandable influence of a certain Yeovil trio, erstwhile residents on said label.
If Polly Jean llarvey had been brought up in Glasgow listening to a plethora of indie records, rather than raised in Dorset on her parents’ blues collection, she would have found her doppelganger in Shriek mainstay Roz ! Cairney, a girl whose now evident 3 songwriting talents, full-bodied vocals: and screw-you lyrics floundered in the | erratic Rhythm Kittens before she cut loose and formed her own ireful trio. Tonight’s overly disjointed performance is not the best introduction to their volatile, haranguing drive, given that they’ve recently lost a guitarist and gained a drummer, but like that PJ woman they have a commanding grasp of the emotional dynamics conveyed by musical light and shade, and a future worth toasting.
Pram are emblematic of Too Pure’s out-on-a-limb ethic, osmosing influences too diverse and left-field to appeal to your average Tut’s attendee, or indeed terrestrial life in general. There’s a redemptive, hypnotic momentum to their plinking keyboards
. and tinny percussion that goes beyond
Glangerspeak, but for the most part
; Rosie’s stylophone training goes a
dirge too far.
As The Wolfhounds’ leading light, Dave Callaghan was one of the unsung indie heroes of the 80s. With the equally angular Moonshake, he seems determined to wallow in this noble obscurity, splicing cacophonous guitars with dub rhythms and doing the alley-cat vocal routine while the group’s other songwriting force Margaret Fiedler whispers bittersweet nothings over equally scratchy experiments. An acquired taste, but their wilfulness is laudable and their originality necessary. (Fiona Shepherd)
V BOOK NOW BOOK NOW
Concerts listed are those at major venues, for which tickets are on public sale at time of going of press.
ROCK
I GLASGOW BARRDWLAND (226 4679) Naughty by Nature. 4 Jun; Brian May. 6 Jun; Galliano. 31 Jul; Levellers. 6—7 Oct.
I GLASGOW CELTIC PARK (227 5511) U2. 8 Aug.
I GLASGOW CONCERT HALL(227 5511) 10 CC. 6 Jun; Nanci Griffith. 8—10 Jun; Squeeze. 26 Sept; Jethro Tull. 11 Oct; Gary Glitter. 23—24 Dec.
I GLASGOW GREEN (031 556 1212) Fleadh. 5 Jun. I GLASGOW PAVILION (332 1846) Saxon. 14 Jun; ELO Part 11. 7 Jul; Errol Brown. 19 Sept.
I EDINBURGH MEADDWBANK (557 6969) Prince. 29 Jul.
I EDINBURGH PLAYHOUSE (557 2590) Brian May. 4 Jun.
I EDINBURGH OUEEN’S HALL (668 2019) Maria McKee. 4 Jun; Indigo Girls. 30 Jul.
I EDINBURGH USHER RALL(228 1155) Little Angels. 6 Jul.
JAZZ
I GLASGOW CONCERT HALL (227 551 1) Oscar PV:V.son. 3 Jul; Nina
AVERAGE WHITE BAND Queen’s ilall, Edinburgh, 17 May. As I was somewhere between nappies and Primary line when AWE were at their zenith, I had to ‘research’ this concert by unearthing two dodgy AWB 1 albums from my older sister’s even : dodgier record collection. After 1 l
listening to such wonderful funk and laughing at the ridiculous hairstyles on the sleeve, it seemed sad that such a classic combo should be reduced to 1 playing a small town hall in Edinburgh;| still, it beats Swingin’ 70s weekends at Butlin’s.
Sympathy turned to disappointment as i realised that of the six AWB members who started out many moons ago, only two are left. It was an even bigger disappointment to discover that, of the duo that remained, Onnie Mclntyre was from Glasgow and Alan Gorrie from Perth. The main reason I came tonight was because I felt compelled to pay homage to some of
Ross and Liz McGolgan to choose from, to say I felt robbed is an understatement.
I wasn’t much more impressed with the first 50 minutes. It was all too pleasant. While the cappuccino warmth that they purveyed suited the candle-lit abnosphere, it wasn’t what I or the groove-disciples wanted. Suffice to say somebody must have put something in their half-time pint,
because the next 50 minutes was
bloody marvellous. They put the funk back in it with gusto. The elasticity of youth emerged as elements of the audience got up and strutted their funky gibbon stuff.
If not strictly ballroom it was an eduction in damned fine musical professionalism. They fed off each other, jammed, laughed, hit those harmonies and played supremely throughout. The encore was a fifteen- minute rendition of one of the greatest pieces of music ever written. “Pick Up The Pieces’ was worth the admission money alone. The place was heavin’, with the Average’s getting and
deserving their standing ovation. They -.
left safe in the notion that funk’s not dead and Butlin’s is a million miles away frae the Queen’s llall. (Philip Dorward)
Simone. 7 Jul; BB. King. 8 Jul; Tony Bennett. 9 Jul; Stephane Grappelli. 10 Jul; Bilk & Ball. 12 Oct; Syd Lawrence Orchestra. 30 Oct; Glenn Miller Orchestra. 18 Nov.
I GLASGOW FRUITMARKET (GIJF) (227 5511) Jools Holland Big Band. 1 Jul; Stan Tracey Octet. 2 Jul; Jack Bruce. 2 Jul; David Murray Tn'o. 3 Jul; Joe Pass & Martin Taylor. 3 Jul; Don Pullen. 3 Jul; Tommy Smith & SYJO. 4 Jul; Tommy Smith & John Taylor. 5 Jul; Ahmad Jamal. 6 Jul; Brecker Brothers. 7 Jul; Carol Kidd. 8 Jul; Art Ensemble of Chicago. 9 Jul; Django Bates and Joanna MacGregor. 10 Jul; Herrneto Pascoal. 9—10 Jul. GlJF info from 041 552 3572.
I EDINBURGH OUEEN’S HALL (668 2019) Carla Bley. 30 Jun; Georgie Fame. 8 Jul.
l
FOLK
I EDINBURGH USHER HALL(228 1155) incantation. 20 Jun; Clannad. 22 Jun.
I GLASGOW CONCERT HALL (227 5511) Tom Paxton. 3 Oct.
LIGHT
I GLASGOW CONCERT HALL (227 5511) Pasadena Roof Orchestra. 27 Aug: Rebecca Storm. 17 Oct; Dominic Kirwan. 4 Nov; Tammy Wynette. 7 Nov; Patsy Cline Tribute. 28—29 Nov.
I GLASGOW SECC (031 557 6969) Johnny Mathis. 26 Sept.
CLASSICAL
I GLASGOW CONCERT HALL (227 5511) RSNO Proms. 11—12. 15—19. 22—26 Jun.
I GLASGOW RSAMD (332 5057) Jun Cham Orch. 5 Jun; Glas Cham Orch. 6 Jun; Chamber Group of Scotland. 13 Jun; Zoe Alambicum. 19 Jun; St Mary's Concert. 20 Jun; Jun Orch. 26 Jun; Magic Flute. 28 Jun—l Jul.
I EDINBURGH QUEEN’S HALL (668 2019) Edin Light Orch. 5 Jun; RSAMD Recital. 9 Jun; Lothian Schools. 12—13. 15 Jun; Chamber Group of Scotland. 14 Jun; St Mary‘s. 16 Jun; Haddo House Choral. 19 Jun; Napier Bands. 25 Jun; Come and Sing. 26 Jun; Philomusica. 27 Jun; Scottish Ensemble. 9 Jun. I EDINBURGH USHER HALL (228 1155) RSNO Proms. 4—5 Jun.
I EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL 15 Aug—4 Sept.
= Programme anti tickets
from EIF Box Office. 21 Market Street. Edinburgh EH1 lBW (031 225 5756).
I SUBSCRIPTION SEASONS Programme details and tickets for RSNO. SCO. BBC 850. and CGPO concerts are available from Ticketcentre. Glasgow (227 5511); Usher Hall. Edinburgh (228 1155); Queen's Hall. Edinburgh (668 2019). Tickets for Scottish Opera from Theatre Royal. Glasgow (332 9000); King‘s Theatre. Edinburgh (229 1201).
SD The List 21 May—3 June 1993