I’m not sure if this was the fourth or fifth time I saw The Cinematic Orchestra, but what I do know is that they never disappoint. When the band got on stage J Swinscoe promised us a selection of tracks from the entire TCO discography, and that is what we got. Most of the tracks started with that recognizable looped sample, when one by one the musicians stepped in. In quite a lot of tracks they kept on building and improvising until it became a real wall of sound. It was not noise however, all the little intricacies and notes were still audible, making for several goosebumps moments. Maybe they took their ad libs and solos a little too far occasionally, but only moments later the groove was back.

Richard Spaven, Heidi Vogel, Stuart McCallum, Tom Chant, Phil France, … they all shone on stage. A question that kept popping in my mind though was why those samples can’t be played by the band? A full size Cinematic Orchestra, wouldn’t that be something? A minor niggle however, I had a marvelous time!

The Cinematic Orchestra

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All pictures © Bruno Bollaert

Next up were Kruder & Dorfmeister. 16 years after their debut, the godfathers of triphop (I bet they hate that phrase!) have swapped their spliffs for tuxedo’s and champagne. They’re touring the globe again with a ‘live’ show, backed by an impressive videowall of 12 big ass screens. The gig was split into three parts: past, present and future. The past was basically nothing more than a K&D Remix Megamix™ – great nostalgia for the fans, who were present in great numbers. It felt very scripted though, which is partly unavoidable with all those visuals, but still…
The present part was more like a regular DJ set, with very long housetracks. I didn’t recognize a lot of tunes although I heard that Christian Prommer version of Nights of the Jaguar. The third and final part of the show showed us a glimpse of the G-stone future but to be honest, it sounded like more of those long house tracks from the present. Assisted by MC’s Earl Zinger and Ras MC they reached a few stomping house peaks. The gig had its moments and the big crowd loved it, but subtle or memorable, it was not.

On sunday we had something more exciting to look out for: Soil & “Pimp” Sessions! Like The Cinematic Orchestra, I have seen them a few times now and they never disappoint either. Their totally of the hook death jazz sound still blows away first time spectators and stays fresh for the long time fans. Of particular interest this time was the J.A.M. intermezzo in the middle, where Josei, Akita Goldman and Midorin played some new tracks from their upcoming second album. I heard superfast Brazillian bossa like only Japanese can play it!
And you can say what you want about Shacho, the agitator of the band, but without him most people would just see a bunch of weird freak jazz musicians on stage. Add him to the picture and you get an entertaining show that the audience can relate to and – most importantly – dance to!

Here are a few beautiful pictures from Jan Vandevyver:

José James and Jef Neve

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All pictures © Jan Vandevyver

Moodio.tv also has a video interview online from earlier this year, where you get some more background info on the record.

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble

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All pictures © Jurriaan Persyn

A couple more over here or join the Beyondjazz Flickr group for more visual candy.

Hypnotic Brass will release a Heritage ep later this month. Make sure you’re on the look out for that and support independent musicians. Oh, and a thumbs up for dj’s Lefto & Azer for great sets in between & after. Great night!

Shacho

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All pictures © Jurriaan Persyn

A couple more over here or join the Beyondjazz Flickr group for more visual candy.

We’ll be sure to drop some tunes from their most recent LP “6″ in the upcoming podcasts. And if you can’t wait, Juno.co.uk always has a great stock of Japan imports and Brownswood re-releases.

Christopher: Carlos, glad to be back in Europe?
Carlos: Yes, I’m glad to be back. Today was a little hectic, flying in from London, but we’ve just come from playing at Paradiso. There’s eight of us who came over. Actually, there’s 4 to 5 times that many people in our ensemble, but we’re traveling with eight.
And I’m happy to be here, seeing some friends, making new friends, and sharing this high vibration.

Dwight Trible (© Jurriaan Persyn)

“Love” studio sessions

Christopher: You’ve just released the third Build An Ark album LOVE part 1, on the Kindred Spirits label. How long did you spend in the studio?
Carlos: The recordings definitely were a process. We started the last couple of weekends of December 2008. It really was a weekends thing, which is very different than the way I usually record this band. Normally we rehearse for a few days, go over all the material and then get into the studio and record it in like two or three days.
This time we took our time more. We did a lot of improvs – which you’re going to hear on LOVE part 2 – and we recorded a lot of songs. We allowed the process to take on a life of its own, rather than being forced into that time period. We didn’t just record and whatever came out right, was going to be on the record; this time we had some things we knew we really wanted to do, so we allowed it to happen and take its own natural course.
We recorded during most of the weekends over the course of two and a half months. And then Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, our music director, wrote some really beautiful arrangements. We did some overdubs and we mixed the record.

Christopher: Were there any highlights? Moments you knew something special was happening when recording?
Carlos: There’s a song on the record called In The Park and at the end of it, there’s this amazing drum, high energy, rhythmic improvisation. That came about when djembe player Leon Mobley and conga player Derf Reklaw sort of conspired – while we were recording the rest of the piece – to go into this thing at the end of it. That was not intended whatsoever. They were actually in the studio that day, to do an intro to the piece. We tried that a couple of times and it didn’t totally work, and then, all of a sudden, when this song is done, they immediately go into this drum thing. I was right there with them and started cueing one musician at a time to join this improv. That was a really wonderful moment.
There was another session we did, that the song World Music came out of, that featured sitar, violin, viola, cello, harp, upright bass and percussion. Violinist Michael White and his wife, vocalist Leisei Chen, joined us that day, together with Kamau Daaood, a poet. That was a really wonderfull session. Maybe three or four pieces from LOVE part 2 (which will be coming out in 2010), came from that day. That one day only, which – I just have to say – was a magical day.

Christopher: You’re surrounded by musicians some of them twice your age. Is that intimidating? Or how does it feel like working with people like Phil Ranelin and Dwight Trible?
Carlos: It’s great. There’s a lot to learn from everyone, actually. We have some youngsters in the band, people from all sorts of ages. Late teens as well as our kids. My son’s ten and a half, there’s other people in the band that have kids that are younger and come around too.
There’s something to learn from everyone and a lot of really wonderful wisdom and experience and insight from a lot of the elders, but equally from everybody. Everybody from the ensemble is in a place in their life, where they’re open to contribute and collaborate and communicate and be part of the collective spirit. The elders are definitely revered and welcomed in the band. It’s very diverse.

Christopher: I guess that’s why Build An Ark works, and makes it special, because of the collaborations. On the liner notes, Jurriaan noticed Azul Niño, and we wondered; that’s your son, right?
Carlos: Exactly, he’s singing on the chorus of one of the songs, as well as a couple of the other kids. That was really nice. It was great to have them there. Azul is also on the cover of the second Build An Ark record Dawn.

Kindred Spirits in Europe and beyond

Christopher: The album’s been released on a Dutch record label. How important is it for you to have a European audience for this kind of music?
Carlos: The European audience have been very supportive. Of course, I’d be happy to have an audience anywhere, as long as people are conscious, and listening, and interested in some sort of exchange and in growing.
I definitely feel there’s a culture, not only of record labels, but of music fans, based here in Europe, and also in Japan – throughout the world in fact, but concentrated in these areas – that really does support the music.
Kindred Spirits is a great name, for a group that is interested in actually supporting music that they love and by people that they feel close and related to.

Christopher: The majority of musicians you’re working with are based in the US. Is there any temptation to work with European or Japanese artists and musicians?
Carlos: I’d love work with Donovan. I got the chance to meet him recently, and that was a great joy. I know for sure, that we’re also interested in presenting Build An Ark in it’s full form. With 30 to 40 pieces, and additional orchestral pieces. It would be great if we could pick up musicians from all over the world and play with them in their hometowns.

Christopher: The lp just got released in Europe this week. What about the States?
Carlos: Back in the States it’s on Dusty Groove. And we made it available at this concert we just did on November 12th, which is also Neil Young’s birthday. We opened for the McCoy Tyner Trio featuring Gary Bartz. That was a really wonderful concert.
Other than that, it’s not available in the US yet, apart from Dusty Groove, based out of Chicago; they’re very supportive.

Christopher: Can we expect any remixes from the first part?
Carlos: Sure, yeah. Who d’you think should do ‘em? I know some people that I’ve always wanted to do a remix.
Christopher: Such as?
Carlos: I’d love to get one from Broadcast (Warp Records ~ Jurriaan) and collaborate with them in some way.

Christopher: You mentioned part two will be coming out in 2010. Is all the material finished for that? Or is there more to come?
Carlos: It’s not 100% mixed. And there’s one very interesting arrangement that will be put on top of the whole thing, but it’s very very close to being finished.

Spaceways Radio

Christopher: You’re doing the Spaceways radioshow. Beyondjazz celebrated it’s 350th show this year, that’s seven years of radio, and we wondered how many years the spaceways radioshow has been going.
Carlos: Well, I just celebrated my 700th show then. I come from celebrating 14 years, just recently. The show is still going great, since fall 1995. The last episode was a Neil Young special, two hours of Neil Young, which was great, great fun.
I feel blessed being able to continue doing radio. It’s been a major part of my life and of my projects, and I value it, greatly.

Christopher: You’ve been doing that since your late teens then? How did you get into that?
Carlos: I started volunteering when I was 16 and got my first show when I was 18. I got into it just because I love radio. Radio in Los Angeles in the early nineties was really good. There were lots of great shows and I knew from early on I wanted to get involved, so I did.

Christopher: How does the show differ now, from the way it was when you started?
Carlos: When I started my tagline was “Hip Hop, Soul, Jazz and World Rhythms” and now it’s “Your sure shot for psychedelic love music, classic and rare recordings from around the world”. So it’s pretty different. A lot of the stuff I played back then, I could still play, but I’ve kind of moved on. I’m in a different part of my life.
I still revisit things that I would consider to be timeless and classic from when I first started. There’s some recordings that I think will always be with me, things that I was right about back then.

Christopher: Our station Urgent.fm is a youth student radio station where we see a lot of young people who want to get into radio. What would your tips for future radio makers be?
Carlos: My advice, I think, is universal. When you’re getting involved in radio, you should be sure that your content and your energy are good. That you’re ultimately writing about things, reporting about things, broadcasting things that are actually beneficial. And that’s kind of up to a person to decide, what exactly is of benefit and is of worth. But I feel like there’s an ultimate awareness, that we should all be a part of, that will lead us in the right direction, that will advise us. And that awareness is in our heart, it’s a vibration of love. Radio is just a wonderful way of amplifying that, and being immediately in touch with the listener, of having real intimate moments and sharing, in a really direct way.
I would just say, I hope people’s intentions and energies are for the best.

Carlos Nino

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All pictures © Jurriaan Persyn

Interview by Christopher of the World Service radioshow and podcast, and close Beyondjazz friend. Pictures by Jurriaan Persyn (more here).
Thanks to Boye ‘t Lam, Antal, Kees Heus and the whole Kindred Spirits and Rushhour family for making this concert and interview happen.

This evening (saturday October 3rd) Brussels’ based On-Point, Laid Back and Onda Sonora will kick ass with their RELEASE party. Part of the Nuit Blanche concept these three crews of well respected music blogs, radioshows, dj crews, documentary makers, … (well whatever) decided to kickstart a project in which they’ll be presenting you new music.

“We’ve got a compulsive need to put other people’s art we like in the spotlights. Through blogs, radio shows, video features, interviews, … . During all the years we’ve been doing this, we’ve noticed that there’s a vast amount of what we would like to call “Bedroom artists” busy in their own familiar surroundings but unknown to most outside of that little universe. This for many reasons. Out of shyness or insecurity, because they don’t know the way to a bigger exposure or simply because the establishment doesn’t bother to look their way.” (from the Release website)

The line up is an ambitious mix of fairly undiscovered bedroom producers, ranging from beat scientists (eg. Dyno), funkateers (eg. JToTheC), house cats (eg. San Soda), as well as a whole bunch of visual artists. Regular listeners of the Beyondjazz radioshow will recognize the producers as we’ve been featuring them in several of our podcast episodes. We expect a mix of tempos and styles, with a fresh and creative vibe.

• dj Azer mixing Belgium’s unreleased finest + vj
  This dj has got an excellent show on the LaidBack radio. Check below for a mix by his hand of tracks that have been sent in for the Release party.
• I-SA + live painting
  i-Sa is a trio of musicians from different directions. The music is mostly inspired by and made from analog synthesizers, old records or whatever’s got ‘that’ sound! i-Sa will tweak, layer drums, add keys … and ‘make it ours’. Up High Collective member SIR-5 will do live graphics & painting during their show.
• InfinitSkills + vj
  You might know the InfinitSkills crew from their beat tapes, or maybe more likely, from their recent release on Jazzy Sport: the Louie Gee Ensemble version of the ‘Scrabble’ classic by Rene Costy.
• JtotheC + vj
  JToTheC, the man the legend, has just released his first (and free) ep on the also new On-Point label that definitely has that raw funk feel to it. Check the documentary and get inspired by the man’s enthousiasm.
• Dyno + vj
  Dyno’s work can be described as challenging, innovative electronic music inspired by tribal drums, crunk, dubstep, 80′s electro and indie folk. We love the man not only for his out-there-spaced-out-challenging beat music, but also for his Mac Fly shop, a small store selling the freshest music … and then some (magazines, kicks and clothes). The best of Belgium in its kind, based in Gent.
• San Soda
  Residing on the We Play House record label of dj Red D (the best you can get when it comes to house in Belgium), San Soda has in a short amount of time gained lots of praise. There’s some banging deep house tracks around. At Release he’ll be doing his first official live show.
• OndaSonora
  The Onda Sonora dj crew keeps it real, no doubt. They’ve been pushing deep music, in all of its forms, by bringing over awesome dj’s from all over for their own parties, and their blog definitely ranks as one of our favourite sites. They’ll be playing the unreleased music that has been sent in for this project.

It’s said to be not only a musical event, though; there’ll be artwork hanging on the walls of the Beursschouwburg. Featured artists include Alex Deforce, who?, Y84, d-composition, Bruno Morez, Sergej Culumarevic, Sir-5 and Lizairo. The works for this exhibition and for the vj’s were partly gathered via the Laid Back flickr pool, an excellent source of inspiration if you like urban and street art.

The night starts at 9PM, concerts at 11PM. We’ll be there. It’s needless to say we’re eager for what this night might bring and look forward to it … and more to come;

“What we can promise about the future is that this will be no one-off. We’re already working on other things in a similar vein. So keep an eye out for RELEASE. We’ve begun a mission which we won’t stop until we think we’ve reached our goal.” (from OndaSonora.be)

And yes, Berlin’s finest dj and producer collective came over with a trumpeter, a saxophonist, a drummer, a bass player, a lead guitar player, a pianist and Detroit’s Paul Randolph on vocals. Axel Reinemer was the only original Jazzanova crew member present, adding sample delicacies from behind his laptop.
If you had asked me before that night, I would’ve considered it to be difficult bringing Jazzanova’s sample and programming masterpieces from their first album live in an exciting way, but the band did pull it off. It really was a live gig, and not just a couple of musicians playing over a backing track.

Daniel W. Best introduced us to the live band, giving an overview of the special band Jazzanova and Sonar Kollektiv has with the 10 Days Off dance festival. (They dj’ed here regularly and once had a night when all 3 rooms exclusively featured Sonar Kollektiv artists on the line up.)
The band played classics like Days To Come, L.O.V.E. And You & I and No Use (where Paul Randolph nicely pulled off replacing the silk voice of Clara Hill) next to new material from the latest album Of All The Things on Verve Recordings.

Jazzanova Live! feat. Paul Randolph

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All pictures by oemebamo

Via Studio Brussel we found a full and high quality recording of the whole gig, which you can listen to here:

 
download the mp3

We also snapped this video in glorious HD during Let Me Show Ya! which gives you an idea of the vibe that night. Highlight of the night was the encore of Boom Clicky Boom Klack, though. So go witness them, if the band’s tour passes anywhere near you!

The Belgian band Briskey had the honour of opening the second weekend of the Gent Jazz festival, focused on cross-over/fusion acts. But we only got there just when Leela James started. Her job was to get the crowd warmed up with her spicy melange of soul and funk: catchy, but not really remarkable. Her show was a mix of highs and lows, while she tried a little too hard to get everyone involved. The audience loved it though, and the tent was buzzing when the headliner came on stage…

Jamie Lidell came, saw and conquered. In just a handful of years he has managed to evolve from an obscure electronica-wizard to a top-notch mainstream performer. Not that he wasn’t good back then, but he sure gets a lot more attention now – the crowd was huge! Not that surprising considering he has four or five ‘hits’ by now, which the spectators could easily sing along.

He skillfully grasped everyone’s attention and didn’t let go until he left the stage. That alone was an amazing accomplishment, given that the band was incessantly experimenting, with live recorded loops, sampling the audience’s ringtones, freaky voice effects, a customized digital saxophone/vocoder, et cetera. Sonically they went all over the place: pop, funk, hard rock, psychedelica, techno, jazz, you name it. As a true chameleon Jamie perfectly fit in. He clearly enjoyed it himself, and we did even more! Check our video of some footage of the concert.

Jamie Lidell (more pictures below) (© Bruno Bollaert)

July 17 – José James & Jef Neve, Rodrigo Y Gabriela

The second Friday opened with the fourth Belgian concert of José James. The vocalist and composer from NYC is slowly but surely building up a heavy reputation in our country, especially after teaming up with Belgian pianist Jef Neve. The two jazz cats seem to get along quite well, and the organisers were smart enough to program them as a duo again. José and his band, including London’s finest Richard Spaven on drums and Glenn Gaddum on bass, played a couple of songs from the debut album (a.o. Park Bench People) and a cover of Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers’ Moaning. We heard some previews of new work too, presumably from the upcoming album on Brownswood Black Magic. Particularly the rendition of a tune called Stay With Me was excellent, with Jef Neve’s piano solo being among the best things I’ve ever heard live. It was a delight to see how much pleasure José and Jef had on stage. So much chemistry, in fact, that Mr. Spaven and Mr. Gaddum were almost background personas for most of the gig. (Also noting that Spaven’s drum solo wasn’t his best yet, in an otherwise great performance.)

José took the time to really elongate the tracks and freely scat all over the place. (Too much? I thought not.) We found this gig definitely a step up from the previous one we saw at Jazz Middelheim, seeing José perform his songs in an even deeper and more thorough way. Check our video of some footage of the concert.

Later that night the sensational Mexican guitar duo Rodrigo Y Gabriela were the top of the bill. Wielding a lightning fast and marvelous technique the two virtuosos made more than a few jaws drop. Strumming, picking, banging and knocking on the strings and the wood around it, the two forged a sort of flamenco-rock-house sound wall that must be heard to be believed. While there may not have been a lot of progress and variation in their set, it was yet another memorable closing act.

José James (more pictures below) (© Bruno Bollaert)

July 19 – Jamie Cullum

The final day of Gent Jazz was all about the British piano wonder boy Jamie Cullum, but not before some local talent gave it a shot. The HoGent Jazz Orchestra is an occasional formation, consisting of graduates from the HoGent music academy, now active in some well-known local bands. They did a very nice job, playing tunes from Moiano, Earth, Wind And Fire, Jim Cole and other soul and funk classics.

Next up was Lady Linn & Her Magnificent Seven, a Belgian band that has made steady progress over the past years, earning the reputation of solid crowd-gathering festival material. They play swing and big band jazz wrapped in a poppy package – the type that gets your hips shaking and your feet tapping in no time – topped with Linn’s sweet vocal cords. I was pleasantly surprised by their performance!

But as said, the true hero of the night was to be Jamie Cullum, and he did not disappoint. He brought a carefully balanced set with both catchy hits, steamy grooves and unpretentious ballads. There was something for everyone – young and old, connoisseur and newb – and thus he managed to bring jazz to a broader public. Not an easy task.

It was the kind of concert where the band is laughing, making fun and enjoying themselves while actually making damn good music. Which subsequently lead to the audience participating heavily. His sometimes long talks between songs were great and didn’t even pull the tension out of the gig.

Jamie Cullum

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All pictures © Bruno Bollaert

Final notes…

While watching Jamie I realized the Gent Jazz crew had successfully tried to bring not only great musicians on stage, but at the same time great performers and entertainers. The Nina Simone Tribute singers, Jamie Cullum, José James & Jeff Neve, Rodrigo Y Gabriela, Jamie Lidell, … they all masterfully entertained the huge audience, which in turn gave a lot of love back.

I’ve never seen so much people at the Gent Jazz festival (it was a record edition), and I truly hope they keep this thing going strong!