We’ve just got another great review from Sean Gregson in the Tasty fanzine (www.tastyfanzine.org.uk) – cheers Sean! The opening of the review goes like this:
I’ll admit, I’m an old romantic (which takes less grooming time than a new one). So, when I first heard the Beats and Pieces Big Band, my mind drifted to a future where I could say, ‘Me? Oh, yeah, I’ve been into them since the beginning’. It’s hard to place the music that they create. Attempting to describe is a challenge in itself. Let’s just say, though, this is a beast.
If that opening paragraph has whet your appetite for the rest of the review (which it really should!) then you can check it out in full here. Also take a look at the similarly great review for HAQ (“What’s so impressive about HAQ is their ability to cut through the shit and get right to those basic emotions we all share, each track offering a truly distinctive and unique journey”) that follows just below…
Posted by on 24/03/2010 at 10:54 in news and tagged ep, fanzine, review, sean gregson, tasty. Leave comments here.
Although we’ve had a facebook group for a while, it seems that all the cool kids nowadays have their own facebook fan pages – so I’ve joined the bandwagon and set one up for us! Don’t join the group that I’ve helpfully linked to above, as that won’t be updated anymore… Using a combination of Artistdata and other amazing trickery, everything should now sync to the facebook fan page which you can find at www.facebook.com/beatsnpiecesbigband so become a fan now!
Remember if you want to be kept bang up to date with everything, you should join the mailing list – the next issue will be sent out very soon so make sure you’re signed up so you don’t miss out on some very exciting news I’ve got for you! And I’m also on twitter if you’d like to REALLY stay in the loop…
Posted by on 17/03/2010 at 16:33 in news and tagged artistdata, facebook, mailing list, twitter. Leave comments here.
There’s an interesting piece on the Guardian website today by renowned American classical music critic Alex Ross – I’ve had his highly recommended book, The Rest is Noise, for ages and tried to get into reading it a few times but always got distracted, should really get back on it… In this article, he’s talking about the etiquette for applause and audience response in the classical concert hall, and it got me thinking about the similarities and differences between classical and jazz audiences.
Ross briefly mentions jazz audiences in his article (“in jazz clubs… people applaud after each solo, as well as at the end of each number”), which obviously simplifies things a lot but I suppose is safe enough to be taken as a general rule. Sometimes, however, clapping by default after a solo is totally inappropriate. I was at a gig recently by a trio that was almost contemporary classical rather than jazz – even though the trio were world class musicians in their own right there was unfortunately not many in the audience (those that were there weren’t even there specifically for the gig as the concert was one small part of a larger event), the music was pretty quiet throughout, and the whole affair was quite intimate. After every single solo though, no matter what the wider musical context, the person next to me (not with me! Just happened to be sat next to me) decided to clap as loud and as forcefully as possible in order to rally the rest of the audience into joining them. As I say the gig was really intimate, the solos were thoughtful, melodic and reflective rather than animated, loud and technical, and having all the musician’s hard work in building up an atmosphere rudely cancelled out by this person’s instant rapturous applause really started to piss me off – I think the musicians were also not impressed as they seemed to be a bit awkward in acknowledging the rather muted, sheep-like applause…
The point of Ross’ article was that people should be allowed to respond to music whenever and however they feel most appropriate rather than having to follow in some sort of etiquette. In the same way that refraining from applause after a massive final cadence in the first movement of a Beethoven symphony feels strange, for example, surely being made to feel duty-bound to applaud after the quietest and most reflective improvised solo in a jazz gig is also inappropriate? Ross quotes the pianist Emanuel Ax, who I think sums it up perfectly – “I think that if there were no ‘rules’ about when to applaud, we in the audience would have the right response almost always.”
Posted by on 09/03/2010 at 16:59 in misc and tagged alex ross, applause, classical, guardian. Leave comments here.
Check out the March issue of Jazzwise (with Curios on the cover), where the Beats & Pieces EP is listed in Mike Chadwick’s Cutting Edge Chart on page 12… How exciting!
Remember you can still get your very own copy of the EP via Efpi Records but hurry as the limited edition handmade CDs are fast running out…
Posted by on 02/03/2010 at 09:13 in news and tagged beats & pieces, cutting edge, ep, jazz fm, jazzwise, mike chadwick. Leave comments here.
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