Recent Jazz #1: The Township Comets

I realise I haven’t posted here for a couple of months. OK, three months. I haven’t been doing a lot of things to post about – busy working mostly – but there are a few gigs I’ve been to. So I’m going to tell you about those – starting with the Township Comets.

The Township Comets play the music of Dudu Pukwana, a South African saxophonist who escaped apartheid by living – and playing – in London. He used to play a lot when I was starting to discover jazz, and I was a fan. I took some pictures of him playing back in 1984 or so – one of my favourite jazz photos – but not digitised; I’ll have to change that! But I’ve been listening to Dudu’s music for over 25 years (actually, more: my father took me to a gig in 1974; I hated it, so I don’t think that counts!).

Pukwana died in 1990, but he influenced a lot of the young musicians back then; they’re no longer young musicians, obviously, but some of them still get together to play his music: the Township Comets.

The township bob they play is great fun – lively, rhythmic, slightly anarchic. Dance-based jazz, it is hard to sit still. I saw them on a Sunday afternoon in January at the Vortex, and they played to a pretty full house.

Singer Pinise Saul used to sing with Pukwana; she seemed quite a dominating presence in this band, too – at times brilliant, at others irritating. Jason Yarde takes the saxophone role, Chris Batchelor on trumpet, Harry Brown on trombone and leader Adam Glasser on piano. (I didn’t catch the bass player nor drummer – it wasn’t their usual bass player, Jasper Holby.)

Recent Jazz #2: Evan Parker and Co at the Vortex

Back in January, the Vortex had a week of gigs curated by saxophonist Evan Parker. I went to three of them – almost by mistake, since I had expected at least one of the nights to be booked out, but it wasn’t and I couldn’t make my mind up which to skip!

First up was the Alex Hawkins Sextex. I saw pianist Hawkins play with Louis Moholo-Moholo back in the London Jazz Festival, and thought I’d check out his band. This was interesting because I had no idea what kind of music he’d be playing at all. It turned out he featured Orphy Robinson, one of my favourite musicians, and guitarist Otto Fischer, who I’d seen playing with Robinson at LJF in a very free band.

Hawkins’ music was on the freer side of jazz – but a lot of it was clearly written down. This was a fascinating gig – very open, with lots of space. Hawkins played some great solos, and Robinson was great on vibes. I am not sure quite what the cello added to the mix, but the whole was excellent.

I really enjoyed this gig – it was unexpected, different; what jazz should be about.

The next night I caught Django Bates and Evan Parker playing together, with Bates’ Beloved Bird trio. After the previous evening’s excitement, this one left me cold. Maybe I was just too tired, but it really didn’t work for me. I had been expecting an exploration of Charlie Parker – with namesake Evan on sax – but the first set comprised a lot of rather cold improvisation. Some of Bates’ piano work was gorgeous – there was one really powerful slow number – but I found it hard to get into. I left at the interval, surprised at my reaction – I had expected to enjoy it (why else was I there?). (I learned afterwards that Bates had saved the Bird-stuff for the second set. This seems incomprehensible to me: why save the more accessible numbers, the pieces people are most likely to know, for late in the evening? Anyhow, my decision to leave early meant I missed the bit I’d probably have enjoyed most…)

The last night of Evan Parker’s mini-festival featured Stan Tracey and his son Clark in a series of duos and trios. As challenging as Bates’ improvisations, this gig just worked a lot better for me. Stan is a great pianist, Clark an excellent drummer, and they have had many years to get to know each other… The first duet, between Stan and Clark, was magical and exciting; the second, with Stan and Parker, soared – the interplay between two of Britain’s best improvisers was gripping; and the trio, with all three, was great.

Recent Jazz #3: Rhythmica

The last gig I went to was Rhythmica, a free show in the Front Room at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Rhythmica are an offshoot of Tomorrow’s Warriors; they’re a bunch of young guys – kids, even - and on the strength of this gig, they are very talented.

I’d seen pianist Peter Edwards a couple of times before – with Tomorrow’s Warriors, playing Ellington and a suite of Edward’s tunes, and with Abram Wilson’s band. Indeed, I’d probably seen all of Rhythmica playing with the Warriors…

This time round, saxophonist Zem Audu couldn’t make the gig; they played the first set as a quartet, and for the second they were joined by saxophonist Denys Baptiste.

This was another great band. There was a feel of Blue Note – they lloked good, too. They played great music.