Bad Plus
That the dreaded lergy is wider spread than I'd thought makes me feel marginally better.
Mind you, having given Our Kid
a recorder doesn't help the headache. Although I was an acknowledged master of this musical instrument at his age, 8, and that I can still play
Little Bird (not
this one or
this one, and
definitely not
this one) hasn't helped him in the slightest. He only plays one note, and it sure doesn't sound like the
One Note Samba.
So we won't be going to
Java Jazz this weekend.
Ho hum.
And we won't be going to the
Mosaic Music Festival in Singapore from March 11th to 20th either. The lost opportunity to see the jazz songstress,
living legend Shirley Horn, dub poet
Linton Kwesi Johnson, last encountered 20 years ago in Brixton, and the
London Community Gospel Choir, who
sang for the Queen a couple of days ago, is regrettable.
I'd also love to go to
a few jazz gigs in Britain, including, especially including,
Hatfield and the North,
an exhilarating swirl of battered organs, phased guitars, uneven time signatures and baffling and/or funny lyrics sung in English accents, at the Mean Fiddler on March 18th. Then there's Richard Sinclair, the Hatfield's singer, on March 20th in Exeter, accompanied by several
other Canterbury Scene musicians,
Andy Shepherd in several places and .... the list goes on.
So I have to dip into my extensive selection of sounds. Today's Jakartass jazz festival programme includes some fine British sounds from
Provocateur Records and an American trio,
The Bad Plus.
It's not often you sit down at a prestigious jazz club, take off your suit coat, order a dry martini and nod in appreciation of the Black Sabbath and Nirvana covers bellowing off the exposed brick walls. That was, of course, until The Bad Plus began infiltrating the jazz scene with their melodic pop twist to such a rich traditional instrumentation as the contemporary piano trio.
This is
one gig I'd jump out of my sick bed and run to.
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