2 minute read
ALL THAT JAZZ
BY SIMON ADAMS
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REVIEWS
KEITH TIPPETT & MATTHEW BOURNE
Aeolian (Discus).
Bristolborn pianist Keith Tippett was one of the great British improvising musicians of the last 50 years, working in every format from solo performance to running the 50-piece Centipede (which had 100 feet!). On this double CD set recorded in 2019, he is paired with fellow pianist Matthew Bourne, the first CD a studio set recorded in Leeds, the second a live set from the Union Chapel in Islington.
The music is austere and at times difficult, the two pianists – both percussive in style – improvising in almost abstract fashion, glimmers of light occasionally appearing among the often-dark textures they conjure up.
Tippett died in 2020, making the live set his final appearance on disc. It is a magisterial if demanding way to remember him.
ALICE COLTRANE Kirtan:
Turiya Sings (Impulse!).
I must be fair and point out that this is not a jazz album, as nothing on it is improvised. Instead, it is a set of nine devotional songs recorded in 1981 in an ashram in Los Angeles run by Alice Coltrane, widow of the great saxophonist John. The songs are all quite simple, sung by Alice in Sanskrit over a quietly played Wurlitzer organ. The music is determinately inspirational and spiritual, spacious and intense in its devotional task.
Unlike the Luaka Bop release of her ecstatic music in 2017, it is not overly celebratory or joyous. Its importance, and why this is such a necessary release, is that while her jazz records released on Impulse! define her career, they do not tell the whole story of the musical life of this most extraordinary and inspiring woman. This important album fills that gap.
LIVE JAZZ
Despite the bleak midwinter, live jazz flourishes in Brighton & Hove. A few visiting stars from London and further afield drop in from time to time, but luckily there is a wealth of local talent to hear, playing free gigs nightly in pubs and bars.
The county jazz magazine – for wot I also write! – has a good set of daily listings:
www. sussexjazzmag.com/listings.
The New Generation Jazz Festival takes place at Ropetackle Arts Centre, Shoreham, from February 4–6
Kansas Smitty’s House Band and the wondrous Xhosa Cole on Friday 4
Chelsea Carmichael and Daisy George on Saturday 5, A
lex Hitchcock and Binker Golding on Sunday 6.
