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GLASGOW JAZZ FESTIVAL Events are listed by date, then city. Submit listings at least 16 days before publication to henry@list.co.uk. Listings are compiled by Henry Northmore. ✽✽ Indicates Hitlist entry
Wednesday 29 Glasgow FREE Late Night Jazz at The Thistle Glasgow Thistle Hotel, Cambridge Street, 552 3552. 10.30–2am. Featuring Manchester-based pianist Dan Whieldon and his group, with special guests Alice Zawadzki (vocals) and Neil Yates (trumpet). ■ Brass Jaw City Halls: Recital Rooms, Candleriggs, 353 8000. 6pm. £10. Rhythm-section-less brass group with plenty of swing and charisma. ■ Clydebuilt City Halls: Club Room, Candleriggs, 353 8000. 7.30pm. £5. It wouldn’t be a jazz festival without plenty of poetry. Twenty of Glasgow’s leading poets give first performances of new works commissioned to celebrate 25 years of the Glasgow Jazz Festival. ■ An Evening with Cleo Laine & Friends City Halls, Candleriggs, 353 8000. 7.30pm. £30. Her Royal Huskiness in concert, with her own daughter Jacqui Dankworth as special guest. ■ The Beat Poets Brel, 39–43 Ashton Lane, 342 4966. 8pm. £8. The surf-rock- jazz septet have covered tunes by Thelonious Monk and appeared onstage with Dick Dale. Join them for a celebration of 25 years of music. Part of Glasgow International Jazz Festival 2011 ■ Ken Mathieson’s Classic Jazz Orchestra featuring Alan Barnes Tron Theatre, 63 Trongate, 552 4267. 8pm. £12 (£10). Veteran drummer and former Jazz Festival maestro Mathieson leads his orchestra and guest sax player Barnes in homages to Benny Carter and Gerry Mulligan. ■ Kit Downes Trio The Glasgow Art Club, 185 Bath Street, 353 8000. 8pm. £10. Subtle interplay and serious grooving from the Mercury-nominated piano trio. FREE Young Scottish Jazz Musician of the Year Final 2011 The Old Fruitmarket, Candleriggs, 353 8000. 8pm. The Scottish Jazz Federation hosts the competition to find Scotland’s best young jazz musician(s). Booking essential. ■ Ryan Quigley Trio with special guest Justin Currie City Halls: Recital Rooms, Candleriggs, 353 8000. 9.30pm. £16. Trumpeter Quigley is also highly rated as a composer; here he deploys some of his pieces with Del Amitri singer Justin Currie. ■ Tommy Smith’s Karma Stereo, 20- 28 Renfield Lane, 353 8000. 11pm. £10. Scotland’s hardest-working and most- garlanded jazzman leads his new quasi- electric jazz/rock/funk/fusion band in music inspired by Scottish, Irish and Middle Eastern traditions. The album has been getting rave reviews; book now.
Thursday 30 Glasgow ■ Dennis Rollins Velocity Trio City Halls: Recital Rooms, Candleriggs, 353 8000. 7pm. £12. The South Yorkshire- bred trombonist cut his teeth in the National Youth Jazz Orchestra and the legendary Jazz Warriors playing with everyone from Dionne Warwick to Cypress Hill; he now splits his time between his quintet Badbone & Co, the large group Boneyard and this small trombone/organ/drum trio. ■ Mulatu Astatke Platform, The Bridge, 1000 Westerhouse Road, Easterhouse, 276 9696. 7.30pm. £14 (concessions available). Astatke came
GLASGOW JAZZ FESTIVAL Music
PREVIEW GLASGOW JAZZ FESTIVAL PROGRAMME HIGHLIGHTS Various venues, Glasgow
A veteran of Miles Davis’ Birth of Cool sessions, the composer of ‘Windmills of Your Mind’ and the man behind countless film soundtracks, not least Jacques Demy’s unforgettable Umbrellas of Cherbourg and Les Demoiselles de Rochefort, Michel Legrand is also a virtuoso jazz pianist. This rare live peformance with a swinging trio should be a treat. (Michel Legrand, City Halls, Glasgow, Sat 2 Jul, 7.30pm.) Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stanko has mellowed since his days with Krzysztof Komeda and Cecil Taylor, and his graceful lyricism should be a weekend highlight. (Tomasz Stanko, Old Fruitmarket, Sat 2 Jul, 6pm. Please note, Lee Konitz was due to perform with Tomasz Stanko but has had to cancel his appearance, due to ill health. The concert will go ahead with Tomasz Stanko and band; those who wish a refund should contact the point of sale.)
Scottish jazz festivals can be criticised for their conservatism, but Glasgow is taking some steps in
the right direction with their booking of Italian doom- jazzers Zu. Bassist Massimo Pupillo and saxophonist Luca Mai have serious improv credentials, having worked with Swedish free-jazzer Mats Gustafsson and caught the ear of avant-garde composer John Zorn. Like the Melvins fronted by a woolly mammoth, Zu put the skronk into the sludge. (Zu, Platform @ The Bridge, Easterhouse, Glasgow, Fri 1 Jul, 7.30pm.)
Always one of the Festival’s more intriguing regulars, Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra will be performing throughout the entire Trongate 103 complex, adapting their sound and approach to each space. (GIO, Trongate 103, Glasgow, Sat 2 Jul, 3pm.)
Falkirk’s finest, Bill Wells and Aidan Moffat (pictured), will be performing songs from their long- anticipated album, Everything’s Getting Older at Platform. Wells provides a range of settings for the former Arab Strap bard’s darkly humorous ruminations on life, death and sex, from sombre piano jazz to sparkling electronic pop. (Aidan Moffat & Bill Wells, Platform @ The Bridge, Easterhouse, Glasgow, Sat 2 Jul, 7.30pm.) (Stewart Smith)
from his native Ethiopia to Wales in his teens and by the 60s he’d secured a place as the first African student at the prestigious Berklee College of Music, studying vibraphone and percussion. He fused jazz, Latin rhythms and Ethiopian music into a new sound and made records which were all but impossible to find until they were reissued in the 90s; then Jim Jarmusch used his music in Broken Flowers. See preview, page 98. ■ Scottish National Jazz Orchestra: Worlds of the Gods with Mugenkyo Taiko Drummers City Halls, Candleriggs, 353 8000. 7.30pm. £16. The Scottish National Jazz Orchestra is now arguably the leading big band in Europe, an amazing achievement when you consider that leader Tommy Smith is barely into his forties. Don’t miss their collaboration with Mugenkyo Taiko, the UK’s leading taiko drumming ensemble: certain to be an evening of roaring music. ■ Benjamin Moussay Trio The Glasgow Art Club, 185 Bath Street, 248 5210. 8pm. £8 (£6). French pianist Moussay draws on classical traditions, rock and electronica to create music that’s been praised for its cinematic qualities; he’s been compared to Paul Bley. ■ Gilad Atzmon Orient House Ensemble Tron Theatre, 63 Trongate, 552 4267. 8pm. £14 (£12). Israel-born, London-based alto sax player Gilad Atzmon has a multitude of talents but his brilliantly inventive and mischievous musical voice is like nobody else’s, blending post-bop sophistication with Middle Eastern harmonies and soul. ■ Madaleine Pritchard Brel, 39–43 Ashton Lane, 342 4966. 8pm. £8. Glaswegian singer/songwriter performs material from her new album as well as blues and jazz classics. ■ Terence Blanchard Quintet The Old Fruitmarket, Candleriggs, 353 8000. 9pm. £20. You’ve probably heard Blanchard’s music even if the name isn’t that familiar; he’s been Spike Lee’s composer of choice since the days of Malcolm X. A former Jazz Messenger, he’s played with Mulgrew Miller,
McCoy Tyner, Diana Krall. ■ Warren Vache & Brian Kellock City Halls: Recital Rooms, Candleriggs, 353 8000. 9.30pm. £16. American cornettist Vaché and Scottish pianist Kellock. FREE Late Night Jazz at The Thistle Glasgow Thistle Hotel, Cambridge Street, 552 3552. 10.30pm–2am. Alex Douglas (piano) draws on gospel and choral music as well as jazz. Followed by jam session.
Friday 1 Glasgow ■ Kevin Mackenzie & Steve Hamilton City Halls: Recital Rooms, Candleriggs, 353 8000. 7pm. £10. Piano/guitar duets with original tunes and jazz standards. ■ Riverboat Shuffle Paddle Steamer Waverley, Anderson Quay, Clydeside, 353 8000. 7.30pm. £25. Jazz isn’t all sophisticated harmony and world music fusion; it also has a strong element of men in decorative waistcoats playing
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