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rhythmaningI'm not sure why Edinburgh Jazz Festival programmed a series of gigs around the influential pianist Lennie Tristano, but it was an interesting collection of performances over two gigs (with an extra bonus later week).
The support act on both gigs were the Roby Glod Trio. Taking Tristano's tunes (and those of his acolytes, Lee Konitz and Warne Marsh) as a starting point, saxophonist Glod lay down dense, fast sheets of notes. Tristano was one of the instigators of "cool jazz"; I found Glod's two sets distinctly cold: interesting to observe, not part of it at all.
The opposite was true of the Kenny Ellis Trio's set. With a chameleon-like Brian Kellock on piano and an alto player (whose name I missed...), bassist Ellis brought some warmth back to the proceedings. Both Kellock and the alto player took to their roles, the saxophonist sounding uncannily like Konitz.
Kellock has a remarkable ability to adopt others' styles whilst sounding completely himself. He brought that skill back to the evening session when he occupied the piano stool for the Martin Kershaw Quintet. They played a wonderful set.
Kershaw on alto was joined by Julian Arguelles on tenor, with Ed Kelly on bass and the ever-excellent Alyn Cosker on drums. The contrast with Glod's opening set was even more striking, with Kershaw and Arguelles proving Louis Armstrong's saying that "...Hot can be cool, and cool can be hot..." In the place of Glod's onslaught, the saxophonists brought a thoughtfulness to play, and produced some lovely music. Where other musicians might produce a torrent of notes, whilst backing a solo by Kershaw, Arguelles played just one over several choruses - a wonderful example of restraint (and circular breathing).
Their subjects - Tristano, Konitz and Marsh - informed their playing but didn't dominate. They adopted the dynamics of those relationships without inhibiting their own creativity.
This was a lovely gig, with some wonderful music.
Later in the festival, I caught another gig that by design it accident echoed Kershaw's quintet. The Pal Nyberg Quartet played two sets featuring Nyberg's originals - and a host of numbers by Tristano, Konitz and Marsh, all of which had been featured by Kershaw. It has a very different feel, not least because of the instrumentation - guitar, tenor, bass and drums. This made it feel a bit fussy to my ears - enjoyable enough, but string in comparison to Kershaw's outing.
The support act on both gigs were the Roby Glod Trio. Taking Tristano's tunes (and those of his acolytes, Lee Konitz and Warne Marsh) as a starting point, saxophonist Glod lay down dense, fast sheets of notes. Tristano was one of the instigators of "cool jazz"; I found Glod's two sets distinctly cold: interesting to observe, not part of it at all.
The opposite was true of the Kenny Ellis Trio's set. With a chameleon-like Brian Kellock on piano and an alto player (whose name I missed...), bassist Ellis brought some warmth back to the proceedings. Both Kellock and the alto player took to their roles, the saxophonist sounding uncannily like Konitz.
Kellock has a remarkable ability to adopt others' styles whilst sounding completely himself. He brought that skill back to the evening session when he occupied the piano stool for the Martin Kershaw Quintet. They played a wonderful set.
Kershaw on alto was joined by Julian Arguelles on tenor, with Ed Kelly on bass and the ever-excellent Alyn Cosker on drums. The contrast with Glod's opening set was even more striking, with Kershaw and Arguelles proving Louis Armstrong's saying that "...Hot can be cool, and cool can be hot..." In the place of Glod's onslaught, the saxophonists brought a thoughtfulness to play, and produced some lovely music. Where other musicians might produce a torrent of notes, whilst backing a solo by Kershaw, Arguelles played just one over several choruses - a wonderful example of restraint (and circular breathing).
Their subjects - Tristano, Konitz and Marsh - informed their playing but didn't dominate. They adopted the dynamics of those relationships without inhibiting their own creativity.
This was a lovely gig, with some wonderful music.
* * *
Later in the festival, I caught another gig that by design it accident echoed Kershaw's quintet. The Pal Nyberg Quartet played two sets featuring Nyberg's originals - and a host of numbers by Tristano, Konitz and Marsh, all of which had been featured by Kershaw. It has a very different feel, not least because of the instrumentation - guitar, tenor, bass and drums. This made it feel a bit fussy to my ears - enjoyable enough, but string in comparison to Kershaw's outing.
