MUSIC ROCK & BLUES
I The hash Can Sinatras Venue, Calton Road, 557 3073. Much-loved Scottish popsters celebrate the release of the long- awaited second album, I 've Seen Everything.
I Bed is My (lo-Pilot, Brittle lilp and Yummy Flt Wee Red Bar, Edinburgh College of Art, Lauriston Place, 229 931 1. 9pm. £3.50 (£3). First gig for Brittle Hip. formed by members of Dawson, Archbishop Kebab, Stretcheads and Badgewearer.
I The Bootsle Tootsie Blues Band Preservation Hall, Victoria Street, 226 3816. 10pm. Free.
I live music Negociants, Lothian Street. 225 6313. 10pm. Free.
WEDNESDAY 2
Glasgow
I Floatation, loverumble and Idle Poor King Tut's Wah Wah Hut, St Vincent Street, 221 5279. 8.30pm. £3. A triple bill of bands from North Glasgow Music College. Their Nerve EP is out now.
I Painted ilarlem RGs, Queen Street, 221 2200. 10pm. Free.
I The Badoos MacSorley’s, Jamaica Street, 221 8499. 9pm. Free. A mix of covers (U2. REM, The Undertones), plus some original material which draws somewhat on those influences.
Edinburgh
I The Velvet ilndergrouud Playhouse Theatre, Greenside Place, 557 2590. SOLD OUT. See feature.
I Bescue Party For Bosnia llow La Belle Angele, Hasties Close, Cowgate. 225 2774. 8pm. £2. With The Basement headlining and others still to be confirmed.
I live music Negociants, Lothian Street. 225 6313. 10pm. Free.
THURSDAY 3
I lied Devils King Tut's Wah Wah Hut, St Vincent Street, 221 5279. 8.30pm. £5.50. I Tempus Flglt Nice’n'Sleazy, Sauchiehall Street, 333 9637. 10pm. Proponents of acid jazz.
I llawson Ventura. King Street, 552 1388. £2. Punky sounds with a rhythmic funk twist to their yelping.
I The Cloud Assassins McCool‘s Ruling Cowboy, Candleriggs. 552 7847. 9pm. Free.
I Southern Comfort Harleys, Quarry Street, Hamilton, 0698 458174. 9pm. Free.
I Dig Ted’s Party Twa Corbies. Cumbemauld, 0236 727473. 9pm. Free. I live Music Halt Bar, Woodlands Road. 332 1210. 9.30pm. Free.
I live Mosic Pythagoras, Sauchiehall Street, 332 3495. 9pm. Free.
I live Music Rockin‘ Horse, Cathcart Road, 649 0184. 9.30pm. Free.
I The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown Preservation Hall, Victoria Street. 226 3816. See preview.
I Moltil Music La Belle Angele, Hasties Close, Cowgate. 225 2774. 9.30pm. £5 (£3.50). Mouth Music continue to improve. The last show they played here was superb — cultural mix'n’match wrapped in stirring grooves, and excellent sound quality — so catch them at this venue if you‘re going to catch them anywhere.
I D! But! Vaults, Niddry Street. 556 7018. 7pm. £1.
I Kettlefish St James Oyster Bar, Calton Road. 557 2925. 10pm. Free.
I Tarot Marrow Subway, Cowgate. 225 6766. 8.30pm.
I First llew Cas Rock Cafe, West Port, 229 4341. 10pm. Free. Glaswegian indies. I live music Negociants, Lothian Street, 225 6313. 10pm. Free.
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The French Connection
Jazz, classical, folk and the unexpected are the principal ingredients of the Kind Of Blue festival, which celebrates a new format with a diverse look at European musical culture. Kenny Mathieson looks forward to a French invasion.
The douce Edinburgh music scene will never have seen anything quite like the goings-on which will make up Nuit Arfr, the centrepiece of Assembly Direct’s Kind Of Blue festival. if the likes of Garbarek and Vitous (see below) or Helene Delavault (of whom more in a moment) are better known representatives of European culture, L’ARFl — L'Assorriotion pour la recherche (1 'un folklore imaginoire - will bring a breath (or perhaps more of a gale) of the unusual and the exotic to the programme.
The heart of the Lyon-based association is a brilliant contemporary jazz big band, La Marmite lnfemale, whose chief musical characteristic is their remarkable diversity; no single compositional or musical voice dominates, and no two tunes sound alike. Before the audience get to La Marmite, however, they will already have encountered several other groups. including the percussion outfit Baron Samedi, and some combination of the Workshop de Lyon quartet, and the Vollat Trois, Trio Apollo and Ces Messieurs trios.
llelene Delavault: stylish decadence
The bands will be playing in various locations within the Assembly Rooms, and the audience will move around the space, in which they will not only encounter L'Arfi’s excellent music, but will also find themselves in a world of paper sculptures, courtesy of visual artist Christine Burl Herscher, who dresses not only the building, but also kits out the musicians with elaborate paper costumes as they play. and will sample the delights of French cuisine. courtesy of the cook who is also part of the artistic troupe.
Every L’Arfr creation of this kind is a little different, according to saxophonist and artistic director Maurice Merle, but is tailored for the particular space from elements they have made use of in other places. ‘Our desire is to use all the different areas of the building,’ he says. ‘and allow people to experience the evolution of the show as they walk around.‘
Both L'Arfi and Assembly Direct prefer to retain the element of surprise and do not want to reveal too much in advance about the details of what will happen. Great music is assured,
however, from this imaginative collective, who have also used jugglers and circus performers in the past. Whatever particular delights they have in store, it should be a memorable, and probably unrepeatable, experience. Some ofthe L'Arfr musicians will also be collaborating in two small-scale related events at the Tron Jazz Cellar, when they will link up with some of our own most experimentally-minded musicians. On the Friday, they play with Dick Lee and Hamish Moore, and on the Saturday lunchtime collide with Tom Bancroft’s Orange Ear Ensemble. The great Helene Delavault will take a very different tack on French culture in her Sunday recital at the Queen‘s Hall. The singer is essentially a classical artist, and made a major impact when she sang the title role in Peter Brook’s production of Bizet's Carmen over a decade ago, but she has also made a speciality of the cabaret repertoire of ‘La Belle Epoque', the turn of the century era of bohemian decadence and artistic ferment in Paris‘s Montmartre. This particular show, L'Absinrhe, is a tribute to one of the great performers of the cabaret style, Yvette Guibert, and Delavault will be accompanied by a pianist who actually played with Guibert in the latter stages of her career, lrene Aitoff. Don‘t expect jazz. but the sophisticated literary songs of the era have a distinctive character which is all their own, and much the same can be said of Delavault's beguiling approach to singing them.
Null Arfi is at the Assembly Rooms on Sat 29. and Helene Delavault is at the Queen Is Hall on Sun 30. See listings for related gigs.
The EOM connection
Jan Barbarek’s ‘Twelve Moons’ made a slice of recording history when it became the 500th release on the hugely influential ecu label last month. As Manfred Eicher, the label’s founder and controlling intelligence, noted at a press conference in Zurich to celebrate the occasion, it was highly appropriate that it should be the Norwegian saxophonist who took this honour, not so much for the number itself, but to mark a creative liaison which is as old as the label. Barbarek readily acknowledged Elcher's influence on the development of his music, as much in the many conversations they have had over the years as in the studio itself. in many ways, he is the quintessential ECM artist, and his brooding, evocative, atmospheric music is a sound very
Miroslav Vitous
close to the heart of the whole enterprise, although certainly not definitive of it. The new album continues his exploration of a pared- down sound-world, moving further away from jazz, and connecting even more closely with folk.
‘like most of my albums, it is a work- ln-progress, documenting the music I have been playing with my current group, which has featured two singers, Agnes Buen Barnes (he worked with
her on the ‘iiosensfole’ album) and Mari Boine. When people ask if I play [an these days, then maybe I have to say no, but the way I play now is very much a consequence of having played fan, and that is always present in my music.’
The saxophonist also makes the point that there has always been ‘a relationship between the various ECM muslcians’ which Eicher has consciously fostered. ‘iAany collaborations have arisen out of those relationships, and it has always been possible to pursue them.’
it is one of those relationships which brings him back to Edinburgh in a duo with the great bass player eroslav Vitous. The pair got together in a trio with Peter Erskine for the ‘Star’ album last year, and have now released a duo set, ‘Abnus’. its spare, haunting, understated melodic explorations on eroslav’s tunes auger well for the concert, and will delight all but those
who still long for an earlier, more directly Jazz-related phase of Barbarek’s playing. (Kenny Matillesou) Jan Barbarek and eroslav Vitous play at the Queen’s ilall on Thurs 27.
34 The List 21 May—3 June 1993