HERBIE HANCOCK @ ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL (LONDON JAZZ FESTIVAL, 14 NOVEMBER 2010)
When it comes to longevity and mastery of several jazz idioms (and with them anything from piano to Poly-moog and ARP Odyssey), Herbie Hancock is out on his own. Possessor of a delightful lyrical playing style yet also one of the purest and most original composers of his time, Hancock has managed, right from his eponymous debut in 1962 ('Takin Off') to explore musical possibilities without alienating the more mainstream listener.
So it was only a matter of time before the great ambassador and jazz polymath made the transition to humanitarian on record. His latest album, The Imagine Project, brings together a group of pop stars from all corners – Pink, Ceu, James Morrison, K Naan, Jeff Beck – for a world-in-union reinterpretation of standards penned by legends such as Bob Dylan, Bob Marley and Sam Cooke. The aim? To demonstrate the power of music as a unifying force at a time when nationality and religion, now more than ever, seem to be barriers rather than bridges. And the planet? An afterthought, at best.
Believe it or not, Hancock has outgrown jazz. After all he’s achieved in the genre, he’s happy to explore other fields and determine his place in them. On The Imagine Project, he takes the role of conductor or mood conjurer, allowing his extremely talented band to show their chops.
“I don’t look at music anymore from the viewpoint of a musician,” he says. “I look at it from the viewpoint of being a human being. That’s a much bigger viewpoint. When you look at it from the viewpoint of being a musician you actually put walls between yourself and people who aren’t musicians. But if you look at music and look at yourself from the standpoint of being a human being the walls are removed. That means, that we’re all together as one family.
“We got a big fight ahead of us with the environment. The planet is not going to be screwed up. It will just wipe us out. We’re screwing up our future. We have to change our habits. We’re gonna have to make tremendous sacrifices and the motivation to make these sacrifices is taking a kind of collective consciousness that is aware of our common obstacles that challenges the survival of the human species. That’s kind of the hidden message in this record.”
If you’re set on saving the planet, then Sunday is a working day just like any other. The 70-year-old legend sauntered into the Royal Festival Hall on Southbank for his second appearance at the London Jazz Festival, followed by an exciting band of cohorts: Greg Phillinganes on keyboards; James Genus on bass, Trevor Lawrence Jr on drums; Lionel Loueke on guitar and Blue Note vocalist Kristina Train.
And these guys were here to play – believe. Instead of easing in with a mellow selection from The Imagine Project, they launched into a 30-minute version of ‘Actual Proof’, a torrent of ferocious fusion from Hancock’s Thrust LP. Right hand dancing into the unknown, left ruddering the melody. The rhythm axis of Lawrence Jr and Genus going for the gut… A few quizzical looks, otherwise a much needed slap to the face on a cold Sunday evening.
After a little slapstick comedy on the introductions, Hancock launched into lengthy reimaginings of few favourites such as ‘Cantaloupe Island’, ‘Watermelon Man’ and Maiden Voyage, each signature motif bubbling occasionally beneath a rich and dense tapestry of sound woven by each musician, both collectively and individually. Layered, funky but tastefully expanded.
The Imagine Project tracks such as Imagine, Exodus, The Times, They Are a Changin’ and A Change is Gonna Come were commendable attempts to recontextualise dearly loved songs for a mass audience, not least through cross-fertilisation of worlds-apart elements (the vocals of Los Lobos and Tinariwen on ‘Tamatant Tilay’ or the guitar of Jeff Beck and congatronics of Konono No1 on ‘Imagine’, for instance) but the results fell short of the mark. Covers are like quicksand: you’ll sink unless you’ve got something strong and unique to grasp on to. Charity records often adopt this mawkish reverence and fall wide of the mark, consequently.
That’s not to say that the band didn’t have their moments: Kristina Train made all the right sounds on Dylan’s wistful ditty; launching into the mic with her big voice, note perfect and with a wholesome country inflection … but it’s Dylan nonetheless. Unless you’re Hendrix, you’ve lost. The Celtic pipes of the Chieftains (there in spirit) made sense in theory, but the end result seemed rather contrived.
Greg Phillinganes fared much better on Sam Cooke’s protest song: helped no end by the unassuming manner in which he ambled up to the front of stage from behind his three keyboards. When he belted out the first few notes, we all gasped in amazement.
Lionel Loueke also deserves special mention for his beguiling, soothing backing vocals and axe wielding throughout. The moments when staccato guitar became drums were particularly impressive. He needs to release more solo work.
By the time Hancock’s set had crept past the 150-minute mark, he’d discarded his jacket and strapped on the ‘keytar’ for a triumphant encore of ‘Chameleon’. The crowd was on its feet and discovering rhythm they never knew they had while Hancock jousted with Loueke, Genus and co. (It still kills me when that bassline drops in the second half – respect to the Ballistic Brothers for sampling that). An uplifting end to the night and an important celebration of both Hancock’s legacy and generosity of spirit. But… Oh to hear the Mwandishi cut loose on a deep jazz record on again… (Amar Patel)
Hancock medley from 13 November (the night before):
LIVE: A ROLLERSKATING JAM NAMED RBMA, RENAISSANCE ROOMS, VAUXHALL, LONDON
"Push your feet out. No, I said OUT. OUT! Dat's it kid… now bend yo knees. A little bit more. Sh*% maaan watch out for the…"
So went my one and only attempt to get a brotha from the D – dressed head to toe in white slacks and string vest crowned with chains – to teach me how to rollerskate. The occasion? Moodymann and Horsemeat Disco hooking up for a four-wheelers' jam down Vauxhall way. Not quite a Saturday (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME3TaoU2l_g&feature=player_embedded), more a school day, but worth breaking your neck for anyway.
The last time I'd been in a rollerdisco I was 14, slippin' and slidin' to Culture Beat or something equally gratuitous; and, so I remember, a damn sight better balanced. How could someone regress so much?
Queuing up to enter the popular Renaissance Rooms, it was evident that KDJ, Red Bull & co had certainly captured the imagination of London town with this event. To many, a rollerdisco is a novelty but in actual fact, the two-floor venue attracts a healthy crowd of punters week in, week out. A quick glance around at the numbers taking to the floor with consummate ease, pushing out with poise and looking fly all the while, confirmed that.
Then there's Detroit, a place where you have rollerdiscos on "every other corner" according to Kenny Dixon Jr in a hilarious but fascinating RBMA lecture the following day. (In fact, KDJ's biennial Soul Skate event is merely an anniversary to a popular pastime in Michigan's fabled Motor City. This definitely ain't no revival.
Having the chance to experience the club environment from a more comic perspective – one where music was secondary to concern for personal safety or performance – was certainly a departure. Rubbing shoulders with familiar faces of London, not to mention Red Bull crew (Benji B, Max Cole) and America's finest (Dwele, Karizma) was a joy. As was the impeccably mixed music ranging from classic Roy Ayers ('Running Away') to the more speed-inducing giddiness of Moodyman's 'Shades of Jae' and the Jazzanova's 'Flashback' remix for Fat Freddie's.
Perhaps less welcoming was the fear: fear of wiping people out on the way to the bar; fear of flying into the urinal on my fifth attempt to reach the loo; fear of dropping my wallet, going down and never coming back up.
By the time the line dancing commenced it was time to wrestle the size 12 shackles from my feet and head home. One thing's for sure: Red Bull's masterstroke of promoting a cultural unique event, as presented by one its most loyal and dedicated communities, was an overwhelming success. Next time though; more practice, less fear. Maybe a visor and some LED skates too. (Amar Patel)
For years, I’ve felt oddly ashamed of my Blur infatuation. Ashamed because the love affair began in ignominious fashion with 'The Great Escape' – a record that has since been derided and occasionally disowned by all four members of the band.
The music snob within me does not enjoy admitting that this was my first Blur record. To hardcore Blur fanatics, revealing that you discovered the band via 'The Great Escape' is like saying you discovered the Beatles via an episode of Thomas the Tank Engine.
Odd, then, that tracks from the band’s “dodgy middle period”, including 'Country House' and 'Stereotypes', stole the show at Blur’s Hyde Park reunion gigs last summer.
Odder still that they were performed so enthusiastically and passionately by the band. It was as if we’d all – Blur included – finally accepted these songs as part of the band’s impressive oeuvre.
Coming to terms with the past, in one way or another, is the central theme of 'No Distance Left to Run', the stunning documentary by Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace. And for the four members of Blur, that means accepting a few hard truths (“We went from being the coolest band in the country to the uncoolest in one single”) and revisiting a few painful memories (“It really hurt me at the time and I felt very, very vulnerable”).
The reunion, in a way, was like therapy for Albarn, Coxon, James and Rowntree and in this documentary we’re given startling access to the healing process. The music, of course, is superb. But No Distance Left to Run is much more than a music documentary. It’s possibly the best film about friendship ever made.
At the heart of it is the fascinating relationship between Albarn and Coxon – former schoolmates whose lives have been intertwined for the best part of 30 years. The most instantly appealing of the two is Coxon, Blur’s enigmatic guitarist, who thoughtfully – and idiosyncratically – tells his story with real charm.
Albarn, the prodigiously talented frontman, is harder to warm to, often preferring to spout pretentious soundbites instead of authentically opening up. On the rare occasion that he lets his guard down (look out for the tears at Glastonbury) the effect is poignant.
But it’s not a two-man show. Uber-suave James and unlikely rockstar Rowntree (“I had a midlife crisis in reverse and decided I was born to be a lawyer or an MP”) chip in with a few fascinating contributions too. Blur’s story is a remarkable one – but also a remarkably complicated one – and it’s to their credit that Southern and Lovelace have managed to tell it in such an affecting and entertaining way. (Paul Foster)
DISC ONE – the documentary
DISC TWO – the concert; a full performance compiled from Blur's two Hyde Park shows last summer
FULL TRACKLISTING:
'She's So High'
'Girls & Boys'
'Tracy Jacks'
'There's No Other Way'
'Jubilee'
'Badhead'
'Beetlebum'
'Out Of Time'
'Trimm Trabb'
'Coffee And TV'
'Tender'
'Country House'
'Oily Water'
'Chemical World'
'Sunday Sunday'
'Parklife'
'End Of A Century'
'To The End'
'This Is A Low'
'Popscene'
'Advert'
'Song 2'
'Death Of A Party'
'For Tomorrow'
'The Universal'
SOUNDBITES:
"One time we all had black eyes from each other."(ROWNTREE – referring to a “grim” tour of America)
"Britpop was 100% Damon’s idea." (JAMES)
“I used to always play with a bottle of wine; I'd have a few swigs beforehand. And during the show I'd have a swig. And whether the audience liked it or not, I didn’t particularly care. I was already in a nice little fuzzy world. That was how I used to protect my fears.” (COXON)
“I find 'me' then a little bit ridiculous. if I’d have been in a band with me then, I'd have had a right good go at myself and say 'just bloody enjoy it'." (COXON)
“Noel chose to take the piss out of me constantly. It really hurt me at the time and I felt very, very vulnerable. Oasis at the time were like the bullies I had to put up with at school.” (ALBARN)
“I just found it very cheap. The whole attention that was put on it. That 'Battle of Britpop'. Working class northerners and shandy-drinking southerners battle it out for number one spot. Do us a favour. I loved the idea of a number one, but I just wanted a really decent number one without the BS. I wanted a number one like bands had when I was a teenager.” (COXON)
[Damon admits that after getting the number one “Graham tried to jump out of a window at one point".]
“I just thought that me doing that would remind people that there were human beings involved. It wasn’t just business and back-slapping.” (COXON in reference to his attempt to jump out of a window)
“We just didn’t hang out any more.” (ALBARN)
“We went from being the coolest band in the country to being the uncoolest, in one single.” [JAMES]
[Graham wrote Damon a letter at the time saying “I want to make music that scares people again.”]
“We decided to give Graham a much freer hand with that record [their fifth album 'Blur'] “and it really was a turning point for the band.” (DAVE)
“The trouble with '13' was things were starting to fall apart between the four of us. It was quite a sad process making it.” (ROWNTREE)
“Hearing the lyrics to 'No Distance…' makes me fall in love with him all over again. It makes me realise, crikey, he is actually like me, he just does it in a different way.” (COXON on ALBARN)
“There was a lot of crying … it was an unpleasant time.” (DAVE on GRAHAM leaving the band)
“I came to realise that this little island that I love so dearly, is in fact just a little island in the northern hemisphere” (ALBARN'S realisation during his time in Africa after making 'Think Tank')
“I just wasn’t really ready to see him.” (COXON commenting on that now legendary story about him seeing DAMON at London Zoo and spending his whole afternoon hiding from him.)
“I think something changed forever during 'Tender'.” (JAMES)
“Playing Glastonbury this year was as beautiful a memory as I will ever have. And as a healing moment, I feel very privileged to have been able to participate in it.” (ALBARN)
“I’d missed Damon quite a lot. I'd started to miss the side of him that made me laugh and I hadn’t really thought about that a lot because I just thought Damon is bloody angry with me.” (COXON)
“I feel closer to Damon now than when I first met him. I think we all are.” (COXON)
“I feel a lot more pre-mid-90s these days – less cynicism." (COXON)
It's been about four years since v1.1 but CDR, London's 'night of ideas and tracks in the making' has finally dropped a second compilation of clubwise originality.
What a pure and simple concept. And who better than Henry Keen of original CDR family members Soundspecies to explain it: "It’s a family, almost a mini-scene in itself with a committed bunch of regular attendees who all come to hear new and exciting music on an amazing rig (Plastic People). It’s a place to talk music (techy or not) and hear stuff you probably have never heard before. It also inspires me to get a track finished every month and know I can hear it publicly, judge the crowd reaction, check the mix etc If you’ve never been, you must!!"
The music industry may have multiplied and mutated since 2006 – thanks to the internet and readily available hardware/software – but Burntprogress (directed by Tony Nwachukwu and Gavin Alexander) continues regardless of market foibles and fickle audiences. Making new music is the core impulse for CDR attendees, not jumping on the latest bandwagon. If it means working into the night in your bedroom after hellish day in a nine-to-five then so be it. And if you're onto something, the speakers don't lie and crowd move accordingly.
Extending the knowledge into 2010, CDR has run sessions and seminars in Derby, Leicester, Nottingham, Birmingham and Berlin besides two notable stop-offs at the Tate Modern and the Big Chill Festival. Even though some of these tracks were first aired at a CDR session over two years ago, a second compilation can only help to take this movement global as like-minded music makers inspire each other, network and, eventually, collaborate.
So lock in for a good few hours as the CDR massive offer 27 tracks of carefully crafted bass music, designed to blow the mind, stir the soul, and work the body. Notable turns from now established names (Bullion's 'Get Familiar', Floating Points' 'Esthian 3', Simbad/Titonton's 'Avanti' and Tom Trago's 'Down on Avenidda 112th') are more than matched by the next wave of hard-working talent such as Duchy (slow-burning ditty 'Rewind'), Guynamite (beautiful song 'Start Again') and JnR Sas (MC Kyza ridin' the fresh 4 x 4 of 'Ravin' for old times' sake).
No need to describe ad nauseam; make of this tunes what you will. What I will say is that the quality is top rankin and testament to the rude health of true London ting, driven daily by Nwachukwu and Alexander. Just make sure you clear the room and turn it up.
The album is now available exclusively at Juno (click on the link below) and at other internet stores from 11 January.
Physical peoples breath easy now; there will be a non-digital release in February. Anyone who bought the lush 12' v1.1 release with liner notes will know how CDR rolls – for the vinyl lovers. The double CD will include extended interviews with the artists accompanied by illuminating portraits. Check the name - makes sense. So please buy. (Amar Patel)
![V/A – BURNTPROGRESS VA2.1 [CDR]](images/reviews/burntprogress2.jpg)
