Jazz in the Round.

[rhythmaning]

The fourth Jazz in the Round was last week - the third of the series I've been to (here're the first and second...).

Another three diverse bands. The first, World Service Project were loud, contrived and really not my cup of tea.

The second act was John Russell, apparently a stalwart of the free guitar scene. I'm not a fan of free guitar - I once walked out of a Derek Bailey gig (I found it completely unlistenable to!) - so I wasn't expecting to enjoy this set. I was wrong - it was completely engrossing. It was pretty melodic and rhythmic, though completely improvised.

The headline act were the Arun Ghosh Quintet. I saw them back in November, where they were pretty lively and fun. In the more intimate surrounding of the Cockpit, their energy made them really powerful.

Mixing jazz, rock and south Asian rhythms, with an electric drone running much of the time, this was immensely engaging and enjoyable. The band worked really hard - Ghosh said he was exhausted after the gig.

The energy and power came from the music, too: at one point, Ghosh had the quintet play acoustically, and proved they didn't really need amplification in this space. This was wonderful music - a great gig.

Comments

[fiendish-cat.livejournal.com]

I've met Arun Ghosh ;-)

[rhythmaning.livejournal.com]

I've had several conversations with him on Twitter. Here's what he said about the pictures:

Thank you-some of those are really beautiful & u capture us brilliantly…love the one of Neil [bassist] -will forward it to him-cheers!

Nice to be appreciated...!