June 23, 2008
The Lighthouse Project (Tim Garland, Asaf Sirkis, Gwilym Simcock)
Sunday 22nd June
This was a stunning gig. Our party consisted of a pro jazz musician, an amateur classical pianist, and two music-loving normals (of whom I was one) and we were all blown away by it, though possibly not for the same reasons. Sunday 22nd June
The Regal is a BIG venue to do this kind of thing in, which means that, given the relatively small turn out for a late-ish Sunday night contemporary jazz gig, you should be able to get a seat before about 9pm. It was rather lovely to sit listening at a little polished table in the cavernous glamour of the main room, swilling multi-coloured cocktails and being swished from time to time by huge spangles of discreetly low-level pink lights. It's an extraordinarily civilized venue for a gig: like a Parisian jazz den without the sweat and smoke, and of course about 15 times the size.
The warmup set by local jazz group Barcode started very well: full of energy and assurance, with a very on-the-ball, inventive bass player. Unfortunately, the last two-thirds of the set involved vocals from the pianist. He apparently writes the songs, so certainly has a right to sing them. But he has a voice of Sinatra-ish timbre, which when employed in a laidback, homogenously expressive style over nice angular chords reduces the package very much to cocktail jazz. If that floats your boat, great. Anyway, we had some cocktails and felt better about it. At least we were matching.
A word on the cocktails: the bar's all set up to produce some great things, and they offer pitchers at only £14 (cocktails by the glass at just under a fiver really is really quite good for this sort of place, as well). However, because we were there on a Sunday night and they'd "had a big Saturday", the crushed-ice machine was being cleaned and quite a few cocktails were off due to a lack of limes. We thought this was a bit short-sighted, given that Sunday was also a paying night. They could also do with some little printed cocktail menus to take away to your table, too. However, the bar man was very obliging, and cheerfully did some unusual ingredient-related things for us without making a fuss.
The Lighthouse Project set was truly amazing. The songs Tim writes are fed on influences from all over the world - South America, the Middle East, Northumberland - and are attacked with playful zest and consummate skill by Tim Garland on saxophone and bass clarinet, Gwilym Simcock on piano and Asaf Sirkis on drums. The particular strength of the group is their telepathic cohesiveness: they all seem to be very much on the same wavelength about the pieces they play, and yet, because it's such a spare group, without even a bass player, they're able to fling loads of their individual creative talents into it.
Gwilym looks like the nice boy who runs the hotel in the Psycho movies, and he plays jazz like Rachmaninov might on an amphetamine-fuelled all-nighter, a torrent of notes tumbling up and through the rhythm. Asaf has built his own drum kit out of a number of different exotic instruments. I particularly liked the Hang drum: an object like a chunky flying saucer, with a low, bell like note at the centre and delightful "pang" notes when struck round the side. I've never seen such a relaxed drummer. He played the whole set with a beatific, faintly loony grin, loose shoulders, an easy posture, and utterly precise, frenetic hands. And Tim is the honey in the sandwich, handling his saxophone and bass clarinet with impeccable timing and a wild playfulness in his phrasing. Altogether, it sounded like nothing even my jazz pro friend had ever heard before: exciting, investigative and with a freedom in the playing style that is extraordinary to hear when you've got three different brains working on such complex stuff.
If the other bands booked for Jazz in June at the Regal even approach this standard, and the word is that they do, they'll really be worth hearing. And to be able to listen in the comfort and elegance of the Regal makes it fabulous value for £8. It's an excellent way to round off the weekend.
More info at timgarland.com