Wind and rain lashed the streets of
Chapel Allerton in Leeds as, within the confines of Seven Artspace, the
faithful Seven Jazz audience waited good-naturedly for events to unfold. Seven
Artspace has, for a number of years now, provided a home for a variety of
events that would probably have not found an outlet within the city. This
evening was part of a two evening event to mark the fifth anniversary of Seven
Jazz who have helped nurture both established and new jazz talent in the area.
Seven Jazz run a series of
instrumental workshops on a regular basis from Seven Artspace, to provide a
platform for, and encourage, scholars of jazz music. The evening began with
three tunes performed by the twelve piece Saturday afternoon workshop band
under the umbrella of the “English Songbook”. The band itself, made up of
players from an astounding range of ages, tackled “You Were Born to Smile”,
Lennon and McCartney’s “Norwegian Wood” (or “Gledhow Valley Wood”) and
Limehouse Blues. Under the direction of a number of participants, including Kim Macari, the players were allowed the
opportunity to display their personal prowess within the framework of these
tunes and gain experience in a performance setting.
New music made up the remainder of
the evening programme, commissioned specially by Seven Jazz, directed and
composed by trumpet player Kim Macari.
Macari moved to Leeds in 2008 and
studied Jazz at Leeds College of Music. She has had occasion to play alongside
a veritable who’s who of musicians including Tommy Smith, Kenny Wheeler,
Mike Gibbs and Arild Anderson. The ensemble for tonight’s 6 For 7 performance comprises Macari
on trumpet, Riley Stone-Lonergan on
tenor and soprano saxophone, Ant Law
on guitar, Declan Forde on piano, Tom Wheatley on bass and Steve Hanley on drums. “It’s Cold Outside” begins with a meditative
bass solo, before developing into a series of melodic passages that illustrate
how easy it is for these musicians to move among intelligent melodies,
inspirational and rousing solos and the experimental and avant-garde. Each improvisation
displayed a level of sympathy between the individual musicians which was both a
pleasure and a privilege to be part of.
The lullaby “I Need You Here” featuring
trumpet, bass, drums and piano conveys a fragility of playing which at times
became reminiscent of Chet Baker in
its naivety and purity. If circumstances allowed, this would be essential cigar
smoking music. “Puella Aeterna (Eternal Girl)” is measured, yet brimming with
hope and expression. A tune concerned with bees and ants such as Macari’s “Hive Mind” one would expect to
be hectic and demanding, and, hanging on hysterical piano lines, one was
reminded at times of the free form performances of pianists such as Cecil Taylor. Intimate saxophone and
piano, an almost caricature of the husband and wife relationship, characterises
“Delius”, whilst the concluding arrangement of the evening “Settled” is
good-natured and blissful. The
obligatory encore was, good humouredly, provided by “The Usual Suspects” which,
again, was agreeable yet mischievous and frenzied.
The atmosphere within the venue was
welcoming and gracious, and made more so by a raffle during the interval, which
helped draw musicians and audience together as one. For the thirty or forty
people present, an intimacy was created which was entirely conducive to creating
and listening to these intelligent and wholly gratifying arrangements.
