New Posts on the Book Blog...

A couple of new posts on the book blog - including a review by John Bentham for the Tiger Folk newsletter.

One for Bert...

Bert Jansch is dead and that is both a very sad loss and a great shock as it had seemed that he was up and about again, recovered from his initial problem with lung cancer. There you go... Bert was a big fixture in my younger life, helping me, (after Bob Dylan) convert to an interest in folk/acoustic music and an engagement with the Brit folk scene of the sixties which for a brief few years was actually a cool place to inhabit, mainly because of Bert and his sidekick John Renbourn and a couple of other faces from the Soho scene, centred round Les Cousins in Greek Street but taking in the old Scots Hoose pub at the top of Old Compton Street where I saw him perform some stunning sets with a nonchalant, tousled grace. There were bad nights, apparently. Too much booze and rumours of darker areas, the whole romantic troubadour schtick. But I don't remember seeing any: the occasional wobble but no more. Maybe this is selective, but Bert was probably no more or less of a raker than the rest of us – and we were legion. The music was the main hit: he had, after all, written the late Buck Polly's epitaph after he went down to smack – 'Needle of Death,' hardly a celebration of opiate abuse. But all this was and is irrelevant in the larger sweep of things...

The music. Bill Broonzy is always quoted as a big influence but alongside that, I always wondered if somewhere down the line he had copped an ear to Scrapper Blackwell's percussive acoustic guitar leads from those classic blues tracks with Leroy Carr in the twenties and thirties – that snapping hit on the strings which gave his playing such an edge. Maybe not – maybe he figured it out for himself. But there was a lot of blues – and jazz – in his playing. Listen to the seminal 'Bert and John' where Jansch and John Renbourne blend their guitars into a new style that could go anywhere. Called 'folk baroque' – which always seemed too pretty and limiting to me, but we need our labels, I suppose. Bert was also, in my book, an underrated singer who knew how to place a song over his unique guitar accompaniments, maybe not the most technical of vocalists, but what is technique? It is there to serve the song, and Bert had an intuitive feel for whatever he sang, his slightly gruff delivery giving a vibrato-less edge that cut through to the essence, the emotional weight balanced just right. Never over-emoting, which especially suited his renditions of traditional material, as well as his own material... His voice was a paradox that mirrored his persona – intimate and yet with a certain distance. Down to earth, yet possessing a certain mystique... Returning to his guitar playing, yeah, sure, no doubt he copped some licks from Davy Graham, as who didn't? – but he had rapidly developed his own style and Bert was a much better singer, whose records stand up better as well, in my opinion. Davy, for all his hubristic wonder, lives on in my memory as primarily a live performer, erratically brilliant, with one classic album that he made with Shirley Collins - tellingly, a singer - the rest unfortunately, for me, coming nowhere near capturing his magic on stage. Screw the comparisons anyway. They were both unique, as was and is John Renbourn who came at the music from another angle. Put it all together and you have a style that flows out of the narrow confines of 'folk' into something new and vibrant. A fusion that meant something, as opposed to much of the vacuity performed under that name when jazz met rock (Miles Davis excepted)...

I loved Bert's solo sets and his duets with John R. Memories of nights down Les Cousins mesmerised by the crisscrossing dance they created. But maybe the band Pentangle took the heights of their influences and originalities and expanded them to a different level to create a music that looked back to folk roots without being overtly ridiculous, irrelevant or twee and forwards to the present and future. We all have our prejudices – with regard to 'folk' music plus rhythm section and some amplification, I rate Pentangle very highly as the ones who got it best in the U.K. Fairport, for me, forever lumpy, clumping around like a bunch of cider drunks at a bad barn dance, only redeemed by the sublime Sandy Denny when she was with them. Pentangle were almost emblematic of the Les Cousins cool strain of music that came out of London at that time, jazzy, subtle, blending the guitar styles into the bass and drums to take Bert and John's playing to new exploratory spaces. Although by the time they were coming together, they had moved up the road a bit to the Horseshoe pub on Tottenham Court Road – probably for spatial reasons as much as anything else – bass, drums, guitars and singer would have been a crush down in Les Cousins. And then on to greater glories... But I still cherish the fading memories of that scruffy old crucible of the new on Greek Street where I first was enchanted by Bert.

And Pentangle came back recently, if only for a brief shot, now that one of the points on the star has disappeared, not as nostalgia but a vital force still, if the reviews are to be believed. Coupled to Bert's resurgent profile, maybe there is some small consolation in the thought that he died at the top his game, after several years of refound fame and recognition. Maybe.

Colour out of Space Returns...

Can't really afford it - but now the book has been published, I feel that I should treat myself.  And my favourite festival over the last few years has been the Brighton bash: 'Colour out of Space.'  Last year it did not happen due to various reasons and there was deep sadness in my autumn.  The previous couple of years - see reviews for 2008 here, here and here/2009 here, here and here - I'd gone down to Brighton for stimulating, exciting, weekends with loads of musics that I really like and some I encountered for the first time at a well run extravaganza, great sound good, great organisation, in a cool location.  This year apparently the festival will split between the Sallis Benney theatre (afternoons) and the Old Market, Hove (evenings).  Full details out later this week, apparently and you can get an early bird inclusive weekend ticket for a mere £25 (link on festival web site - I'm getting lazy).  Been a hermit recently for various reasons so I looking forward to having my ears/brain/eyes stretched. 

Here we go (at last!)... 'Don Partridge and Company' just published...

Finally we got there... 'Don Partridge and Company' has just been published and is available online from my storefront on Lulu/RawMusics HERE... Links also on the book blog HERE...

Available in either paperback hard copy or digital download pdf.

And here's the guv'nor - The Earl of Mustard -  in action, 1968 

Almost there... and a couple of vids on the blog...

The proof of the book has printed and is on its way - once I've checked it, I'll do another, just to make sure everything is ok - then we should be able to go ahead and publish on 27th September. In the meantime, another teaser on the book blog, here... A couple of rare movie clips about the Albert Hall Buskers' Concert of 1969...

New Publication Date...

I've had a problem with some of the embedded photo image files in the master document for the book 'Don Partridge and Company' so I've put the publication date back a couple of weeks while it gets sorted. I spent yesterday re-embedding the images and creating a new master document which has gone back to the on line publisher. Assuming no more problems, I still want to run a few test copies through before publishing, just to double check. New publication date (fingers crossed!): Tuesday 27th September.

Calum Duell...

A buzz going round the extended families tonight - just been sent a vid of Calum Duell, my daughter's young (well, not so young anymore) brother, who is turning out to be an accomplished musician already.
He has a YouTube vid up:





A lot of poise in one so young...

New posts on Don Partridge and Company blog.

A couple of clips of buskers, taken from the film 'The London that Nobody Knows,' have been posted on the Don Partridge and Company blog - plus details of the upcoming publication. Due to go on Wednesday 14th September...

Free downloads at The Lows and the Highs...

Murray Ward of The Lows and the Highs sends this info - grab yourself a bargain!

We've now sold out (or have very limited stock) of a number of our early releases.

You can now download them for free:

HI/LO001 - The (plexus) Collective - Warner/Ward: The Alephs
HI/LO002 - dj_spleenbaby - Gone with the Wind vs. The Last Starfighter
HI/LO003 - The (plexus) Collective - Warner/Ward: Axiom of Choice
HI/LO004 - The (plexus) Collective -Ward: Ekstasis
HI/LO005 - The (plexus) Collective - Warner/Ward/Teledu: Differend
HI/LO006 - The (plexus) Collective - Warner/Ward/Teledu: A Hopeless Task
HI/LO007 - The Failed NASA Experiment - First Frost
HI/LO008 - The Failed NASA Experiment - Ap Helion EP
HI/LO009 - The Failed NASA Experiment - Ohrwurm

Visit The Lows and the Highs... and follow the links to the albums on the Catalogue page...

Stinking Badger...

Then there was Stinking Badger... Dave Teledu, A-Bander and co-member of Plexus with myself and Murray Ward, has a solo album out under this moniker on The Lows and the Highs.  Sonic explorations from north of where I am... Soiling Charge...

Some news: Lustfaust... Bitte Nicht Biegen...

 My head has been down these last couple of weeks. Under the radar, as it were...
With the book pretty much finished and almost ready to launch, I've been recharging the batteries. Reading a lot - and one book I just finished, William Gibson's latest, 'Zero History,' made me think of Lustfaust, James Shovlin's conceptual project from a couple of years ago. Then I remembered that one of the people involved with Mr Shovlin, Murray Ward, had just made some material available over on 'The Lows and the Highs,' for whom I sporadically record. Bitte Nicht Biegen. Meant to post this at the time but forgot... As there were only three of the handmade packages, these might have gone, but Murray has also released everything as digital downloads etc. ' One of the great art works of the last fifty years,' as Guido Van Baelen, one of the surviving members of Lustfaust, said in the Berlin Club Ausland one late night last year. (It was very noisy so I think that's what he said).

Lustfaust could have been managed by Hubertus Bigend, Gibson's enigmatic genius...

More teasers from Don Partridge and Company...

Just got the proof copy back and it's looking good so far. There is a new post on the book blog here with a photo from Leicester Square in 1968 and three short extracts...

Poems Twenty Eleven by Rod Warner - now available...

Alongside the book 'Don Partridge and Company' which I have been working on with Pat Keene (and the late Don Partridge up to his untimely death last year) I managed to publish a book of poetry.  'Poems Twenty Eleven,' now available from my Lulu/Rawmusics publish on demand outlet.  Which is here...

Byron Coley reviews: kptmichigan/black stepdad split... from The Wire...

Murrays Ward's label The Lows and the Highs (for which I record the odd album or two) getting more publicity out there.  Byron Coley has some good words for KPTMichigan and Black Stepdad split above in July's Wire... Note: this is a  co-release by The Lows and the Highs and MirrorWorldMusic.

The Lows and the Highs... new releases...

Two new ones from Murray Ward's fine label -

Yajé

Go here...


And one from my alter ego: DJ Whitedog

Go here...

New post on Don Partridge and Company...

A busy summer - there is a new post with some extracts from the book on the Don Partridge and Company blog here...

News from The Lows and the Highs later...

Almost there... Don Partridge and Company will be published in September...

Edging towards the end now - Don Partridge and Company by Don Partridge, Pat Keene and Rod Warner will be published in the first week of September, if all goes well.  I've launched a blog to act as a trailer for the book and that will have publishing details etc when the time comes - here...
The interlocking stories of three young street musicians, ranging from Bohemian Paris in the early 1960's to London - and beyond.  One of them became famous...

Review: Charles Gayle/Bobby Few Quartet at the Cafe Oto, London, Wednesday, June 1st, 2011...

A rum night... I got to the Cafe Oto and found a really good seat, couple of rows back from the stage, fairly central and sat in pleasant anticipation with a pint of the Oto's worthy but foul lager in front of me and somewhere to put it, for a change – the house was busy but did not get as full as it was the last time Gayle was here in January. I had wondered about the line-up: Bobby Few, legendary piano player, cohort of Albert Ayler, Steve Lacy, among others, expatriate musician in Europe for many years, coupled to the king of fire-jazz, the mighty Charles Gayle, my favourite musician of the last couple of years – who does not usually work with a pianist, as far as I know. The bass and drummer, in fact, are members of Bobby Few's current quintet lineup, so Gayle would be the odd man out. Scene set for some interesting accommodations...

First set: some high register trinkle tinkle from Few, then they hit the most conventional jazz groove I have heard for a while, drummer Ichiro Onoe keeping it steady, as Gayle pitched into an abrupt, blocky melody. Few's piano started to rise up, a water image appropriate as burly cycling ripples ebbed and flowed, broken by the occasional smashing chord – which seemed to nark Gayle, who visibly winced a couple of times. In fact, the first set was almost a Bobby Few extravaganza – as Gayle seemed to give up trying to find a way in after a while and left the stage area. Bassist Harry Swift, positioned next to Few, followed him gamely and they fell into freer rhythms when Gayle returned – briefly, as he still seemed unhappy and after a smashing, rattling drum solo from Onoe who was as adept at slipping into freer time as he was in more conventional four four, left again, this time not to return as they took it out as a trio. Maybe some of this had been preplanned to give the headliners adequate exposure? Who knows... Few is obviously a major pianist – yet I didn't quite engage with him on the night. Perhaps I am too much of a Gayle partisan and was influenced by what appeared to be his discomfort...

Second set: If they had started off originally back in the tradition, here, they were firmly on contemporary ground. More abstract sonically, Gayle using his breath to lightly brush at the back of the notes, foregrounding their production, as Few used the inside of his piano to good effect, laying some keyboard sonorities to match Gayle's excursions. Bass and drums equally at home in this world of sound texture – but I haven't seen Gayle go so far in this mode before, which was fascinating. They were playing as a band now, it seemed, the sax coming onto the notes more, abrupt phrases being stretched and toyed with as he started to take it onwards in some delirious flows of notes that went from high register – where he has immaculate control – to deep, dark burrowings – again slightly unusual for a man who often plays in the middle and higher registers and frequently doubles on alto. Tonight was all tenor – and a powerful statement, at that. Some of the passages here were amongst the best I have heard him play, heart-wrenching vocalised streams that went way beyond the conception of mere 'notes.' As the set progressed he crouched over his instrument, turning his back to the piano and bass, playing straight at the drummer who held his line smartly. Whether this was to block Few out of his ears – who knows? He left the stage again for the trio to take over, much of it piano backed by bass – Harry Swift, eyes closed with concentration a couple of times as he reached for the notes to support Few. The pianist has expressed his knowledge and love of classical music and his florid rolling rhapsodising displays this, disrupted by suddenly, abruptly lashing a crunching chord/cluster across the flow, like a boulder tossed into a stream. Few used hand signals to bring in the other two in accurate unison for these accents and I enjoyed this trio section more than in the previous set, the music seemed more focused. Gayle returned and they went out on a rocking blues, somewhat surprisingly, although it was fascinating to hear his take on a conventional form, oblique runs that stretched and tugged at the twelve bar structure. But the blues (and spirituals – secular balanced with sacred) are never far from the 'feeling' of his music.

I thought the gig was over so hurried off for a piss before I went in search of the 38 bus back to Travelodgeville and returned to discover Gayle at the piano, doing a solo encore – brilliantly. Fragments of stride piano came through here and there, cross-cut to long rolling runs that almost evoked Art Tatum. Some don't rate him as a pianist – but I like his style and find that I follow his logic well enough – tonight, it was as if something had to be proved. I don't know if there really was needle between the two headliners, but maybe this was some kind of a statement. Another criticism of his keyboard playing is that he doesn't leave a lot of space, which is unfair – you could say the same about Tatum, for example - but I have heard him play very simply and delicately when the material dictated, spirituals and folk material, for example. Tonight it was two-fisted take-no-prisoners time – a tour de force, pretty much, knocking on the door of a couple of standards in passing – 'Willow weep for me' and 'Body and Soul' I caught – which he referred to melodically but freely, not binding himself to the overall chordal structures. Free jazz, I guess they call it, of which there is currently no finer practitioner in my opinion. He was superb...

An odd gig, then – it would have been very interesting if they were booked on for another night, to see how these different approaches played out over another couple of sets. Maybe...


Here's a vid of the Bobby Few Trio from last year...

 And one of Charles Gayle, taken at his last Cafe Oto gig in January...

Charles Gayle/Bobby Few...

Back from London yesterday and exhausted - but review of Charles Gayle/Bobby Few gig at the Cafe Oto almost written - for a change! An extraordinary night in many ways... I'm off out with the family today to explore the wonderful sunshine etc - but should get it up by tomorrow...

Charles Gayle...

After the excuses of the last post - onwards! Off to town tomorrow to see Charles Gayle, probably my favourite musician of the moment - at the Cafe Oto, of course. The band, with Bobby Few et al, looks fascinating and I'm really looking forward to seeing how he plays with a piano in the lineup