Yarde & McCormack

[Guest]

Hello,

Just wondered if anyone else is listening to Jason Yarde & Andrew McCormack's album Places and Other Spaces? I've always liked a lot of duos (in different combinations) and been a fan of Yarde for some time now.

Went to see them last night for the second time and they're still producing really nice music imho. Wished their set could have gone on longer.

They were supporting Meadow who....well, weren't really my kind of thing...but, you know.

I don't catch much R3 jazz output at the moment (if there's any left...) so just wondering if there's been any mention of Yarde & McCormack? There should be - this is good stuff. First album was lovely too - i think i prefer it actually.

Also, any other current UK jassmusic recommends gratefully received.

dd

[Serial_Apologist]

Welcome to the jass fold, Diogenesedog!

I saw Messrs MacCormack and Yarde a couple of years ago just down the road in Streatham, and thought they were a very well matched pair.

What areas of the music suit you best? Fusion? Contemporary? free jazz? free improvisation? Hard Bop? big band? 30's Swing? New Orleans Revivalism?

S-A

[diogenesdog]

Hello!

Thanks for your nice response SA.

At some point I think I've enjoyed all the styles you mentioned.

At the moment I seem to be enjoying...it's hard to describe....kind of "dreamy" music; but not tedious or fake-ecm-lite stuff . I suppose it borders on free.
I like things that sound like an empty cathedral.
Can I be any more vague?

I was also wondering if anyone's in the UK doing any interesting folk-jazz crossover stuff at the moment?

I'm also interested in pretty much any acoustic music using 'arabic/ eastern scales' (for want of better words to describe).

With all the confluence of cultures etc it feels like this SHOULD be an amazing time for british music, but either I'm not hearing it (probable) or it isn't out there. I mean, I'm listening to Shakti records that were made before I was born...and the world has got a lot smaller since then...yet I don't really hear that kind of thing now?

What you listening to at the moment SA? (anything goes).

dd

[Serial_Apologist]

I like things that sound like an empty cathedral.

Now's the time to visit St Pauls then

Can I be any more vague?

I was also wondering if anyone's in the UK doing any interesting folk-jazz crossover stuff at the moment?

I'm also interested in pretty much any acoustic music using 'arabic/ eastern scales' (for want of better words to describe).

With all the confluence of cultures etc it feels like this SHOULD be an amazing time for british music, but either I'm not hearing it (probable) or it isn't out there. I mean, I'm listening to Shakti records that were made before I was born...and the world has got a lot smaller since then...yet I don't really hear that kind of thing now?

Most of what one might call non-European idiomatics have been well absorbed into the jazz mainstream these days, making it hard to speak of fusions between this and that. To me this represents jazz at its best, i.e. when it leaves other genres to advance (or not) at their natural pace, and take jazz or whatever on board as and if needed, and where transfusions are unselfconscious: as John McLaughlin said, the fusion has to take place inside you, and I think that lends to greater integrity in the music, since jazz has always been strengthened by absorbing.. whereas it could be argued modern classical music (for example) has been weakened thereby, the more it "took on board" in attempts to stay "current". Bartok for example was very disciplined in that respect. I could be wrong, this is only opinion, but I think its more in pop that one finds some kind of grafting process, because the idiom tends to disfavour its own complexification as this will alienate the well-groomed consumer, and there are so many possibilities still to be exploited - how many subgroups within African music have yet to be, er, categorised?

What you listening to at the moment SA? (anything goes).

As happens, not much in the way of jazz at the present time, dgd.

[Byas'd Opinion]

Welcome to the board, Diogenesdog.

Since you were asking about folk-jazz crossover, you might be interested in the interview with guitarist Graeme Stephen on BBC Radio Scotland's The Jazz House tonight (available online at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0169jct). Several of the jazz musicians who emerged in Scotland in the 1980s were interested in introducing folk elements into their music (with mixed success), but the younger contemporary players by and large haven't been. Graeme Stephen's one of the few exceptions: he's producing some interestingly spiky music with his Sextet and Septet. If it was classical music it would be Bartok rather than the cowpat school. You can hear substantial samples on his website (www.graemestephen.com). He also does a lot of non-folk-influenced stuff as a member of recent Jo3 guests Newt and organ trio Breach.

The other UK musician who currently strikes me as doing interesting folk-influenced jazz is, perhaps surprisingly, Courtney Pine with his Europa project, which uses folk elements from all over Europe. It's apparently an exploration of what it means to be Black, British and European, with Pine playing bass clarinet throughout.

[Byas'd Opinion]

I'm also interested in pretty much any acoustic music using 'arabic/ eastern scales' (for want of better words to describe).

With all the confluence of cultures etc it feels like this SHOULD be an amazing time for british music, but either I'm not hearing it (probable) or it isn't out there.

Here's an interesting interview with clarinettist Arun Ghosh, who's well worth a listen: http://britishjazzblog.com/blog/2011...run-ghosh.html