Open Mics?

This week I went on a bit of a mini-tour of some open mic sessions, performing with Jacqui Sampson as our new folk ‘band’ The Wildest Way.  We had a great couple of nights playing to some great crowds at a couple of marvellous venues in the South East of England.  The tunes we played went down really well (I think!) and we had a wonderful time listening to the other performers around us.

Highlights:  There were some great moments of proper music that it was a joy to be in the audience for.  The best things were the unexpected and quirky things that we wouldn’t have seen at a ‘normal’ gig.  The Schubert lieder performed beautifully on the pub piano, the bizarre but perfectly unanticipated keyboard electronica performance with equally perfect growled vocals, the proper blues played on harmonica and slide guitar showing that melancholy doesn’t have to be sentimental.

Leider at The Brunswick, Hove

Lowlights: The plague of singer / songwriters with mock melancholy angst… [ find yourself another outlet for your therapy! ], The scariest of prima donnas shouting abuse at people closing a door slightly too noisily as they came in to listen during her exquisitely painful creations.. [This could have also been a highlight, as it had Jacqui and me giggling in terror throughout the rest of her performance!]

Great session in action at The Trolley Stop, Tooting, London

I’ve been playing regularly at various open mic sessions for the last 18 months or so.  The first one went to was down in Cornwall a couple of years ago, where I went down and didn’t dare to get my banjo out to play on. [things have changed a bit there...] In my mind I didn’t know of anything like this that happened near me and it was a wonderful part of the Cornish folk thing…. I have since learnt that there is so much of this happening on my doorstep that I had just not realised was there before.  On any weekday night there is a plethora of different venues with various styles of sessions going on with a wonderful cast of local musicians sharing the stage together.

However there are issues that people raise… about how open mics devalue music…  Pubs and venues get used to paying for a single person to run things and bands then miss out on bookings.  But on the other hand bands are expensive and if having an open session means that a pub can actually get live music in this way rather than none surely that is a good thing!  These sessions are also fantastic in that they give a beautiful chance for people of all walks of life to get up and perform in front of a friendly audience. Performers who couldn’t manage (or have no urge to put on) a whole gig can perform and more experience players can try out new material, network and get better known by venues.

I think the issue with open mics is more subtle though.  For me its more about the platform that these sessions create.  Our pubs and the music we play in them should be more shared, and we shouldn’t need a special night, a PA system and a stage to make this happen.  All we need is musicians who are willing to perform in, and with, their community and venues to have the confidence to make it happen.  Pubs should have pianos that are open and encouraged to be used, pub goers should turn up with an instrument and expect to play it.   Everybody should have their own song and be encouraged to sing it!

I have blogged previously about professionalism in music here. Maybe I’m hankering after some rustic idyll that can’t exist in our society, [but if it does let me know! ] but for me the Open Mic session promotes the idea of the professional performer rather than detracting from it.  Musicians end up doing mini gigs, with mini sets of their own music, rather than something collaborative.  The open mic is somehow too much about the ego and not about the musical experience.

I’ll still be going to the sessions near me.  There are some great ones in local pubs and I love performing alongside the other musicians there.  I do love these sessions, both watching and playing at them, but somehow I feel that they and the musicians at them could offer more!

 

After Supper

Performing with Straight No Chaser Big Band, at The Brunswick in November this year.

Count Basie / Neal Hefti classic  After Supper

 

Straight No Chaser: It’s Oh So Nice

Recorded at our regular gig at The Hassocks Hotel, West Sussex, Sunday 2nd November.

 

Love Supreme

What a fantastic weekend of music at Love Supreme jazz festival!

I hadn’t managed to make it down to the last year, but we managed to somehow sneak Straight No Chaser onto the bill for this years event and I am so glad we managed to hustle for the gig!

Lots and lots of lovely music from so many musicians. It was all too much in a way because you start to choose not to listen to some bands that normally would have been an amazing night out on their own, but then again there is only so much jazz that you can take in one serving…

I’m really pleased with our big band set. The guys played amazingly with some blistering solos and finely tuned ensemble sections, despite the wind gusting and blowing sheets of music around before us. I know there were several videos being made of our playing so I hope to share them soon. I’ve already seen one of Susanna Alce singing with us and she was being a star as always, perfectly underplaying the soul in the music.

We chose a set of quite complex arrangements including several of Simons charts, which was a good decision. The crowds seemed to be drawn to the interesting and intriguing music… I’m so glad we didn’t sell ourselves out with a standard repertoire of Gordon Goodwin and Nestico. We did ourselves proud and I think waved a good flag for local Brighton talent at this prestigious event.

So what was the highlight of the event?

Well Jamie Cullum it has to be said was immense. I didn’t think I would have ended up watching him but he played like a complete star with a band to match.

Who else, well there was Laura Mvula with her soul diva voice, but a band she has taken in different direction with strings, harp and arrangements to die for. And of course Courtney Pine, who must have been put on this planet to play festivals in the sun like this. (I’m sure he physically made the sun shine with his music today!)

Snarky Puppy was also up there at the top of my list, complex and soulful but intensely funky. And Slowly Rolling Camera who provided me with the perfect hangover cure.

Really looking forward to this event again next year, definitely hope we can get the band there again too!

 

Frank Holder

Yesterday I had a very nice phone call from local pianist / hammond player Nick Crawford.  He was short a musician for his jazz trio playing the next day and asked if I could help out.  Guitarist Shane Hill had been booked but had gone into hospital.  It is unheard of for Shane to miss a gig so I really hope that he is ok.

Anyhow I was free so I was very happy to come along and help out.  I don’t normally enjoy performing in duo or trio settings with my sax.  There is always the question of what you do when you’re not soloing.  It always somehow feels unbalanced when you play with a piano or guitar and they basically have to leave the music over to them whilst they are soloing…. Occasionally you can weave into their solo, or add bass lines, but it always feels a bit contrived to me…. maybe I’m just not good at it!  But as I said I was happy to help, and it was a nice local gig so no problem at all really.

However when I arrived I realised that the trio was with Frank Holder.   Frank is a living legend, having performed with so many great names through his life time, he is part of the UK jazz history.  But performing alongside him is an absolute pleasure.   He is now 89 years old, but he sings and plays conga with amazing energy and enthusiasm.  Continually playing with melody, rhythm and his audience!  The music he performs is always creative and expressive, and full of spontaneity but what really makes him special is his ability to draw in the musicians around him and his the listeners so that the whole room becomes part of his creativity.

I first played with Frank at a similar gig about a month ago and it was just the same, each tune taking on his energy with him weaving improvised melodies and rhythms around the band, always playing around the tune, without every touching it, whilst fully implying its presence.  It has been a really honour to perform alongside him and I’m really looking forward to the next time.   (Mental note:  must ask Frank to come and sit in with the Big Band!)

 

Wowotastic

 

Well Wowo turned out to be more amazing than could possibly have been expected.  Last time I was down there were some lovely laid back tunes around the camp fire, but this time we were treated to some amazingly talented musicians performing in the sites new and huge tipi.  One of the highlights were Georgia Lewis and Friends, a Brighton based folk group singing with close harmonies and driving rhythms on so many Irish tunes.  I will certainly be checking them out at a gig again soon, and it was a privilege to be able to play alongside them during the evening.   But the talent didn’t stop there as there were performers coming out with top class tunes from all around the tent.  Dave and Mary were also completely excellent (not sure now if Mary was Dave’s accordion or the singer performing after him… but both were great to be honest)  The American tunes from my banjo went down well and I’m looking forward to popping back again at a weekend soon.

The sun was out too for the weekend, and on the Sunday Ceara managed to video me doing a couple of tunes after a very laid back afternoon catching the rays (and recovering from the all night music the previous day!)  Catch a bit of it here: