Banlieues Bleues 2004

[gnhrtg]

From 6th of March to 6th of April with concerts taking place in various venues around Saint-Denis Cedex, Paris.

http://www.banlieuesbleues.org/

http://www.banlieuesbleues.org/english/english.htm

I was curious whether anyone had heard 4 Walls before. I'll be there that day but primarily to see WHS (Namtchylak/Parker/Drake). I'm dragging a friend along and I really wouldn't want to scare the sh*t out of him with. I'll also be there for the Vandermark 5/Andrew Hill Big Band on the 10th of March. Tickets are €15 per day/venue and €11 for under 25's.

There are will also be solo piano sets by Stefano Bollani and, yes, Paul Bley.

Gokhan

[jaka]

One good occasion for the ones of us in France to hear Max Nagl's Big Four live (w/ Noël Akchote - Brad Jones - Steven Bernstein). Just pointing this out, cos' their CD on HatHut was discussed in another thread lately.

03/19/2004 - 8:30 PM - BOBIGNY : SALLE PABLO NERUDA (31, avenue Salvador Allende)

[gnhrtg]

jaka - Unfortunately I can't make it to Max Nagl but will be there on the 10th and the 25th for Vandermark 5/Andrew Hill Big Band and WHS/4 Walls - will you be there for either of those dates?

Also, what's up with Europa Jazz? I've gathered from jazzvalley that they'll be having some notable bands but the festival site has not yet been updated for 2004 - it's supposed to take place between April and May!

[Pete C]

You folks should consider catching Ethnic Heritage Ensemble.

[gnhrtg]

Pete - yeah, thanks. I was thinking of that one and also Iyer's quartet. I've what amounts to a transportation problem to Paris and back (dislike both cars and driving) so I have to convince one of my friends, none of whom are mad about jazz, that it's a worhtwhile idea to see these concerts so I can ride along with them. Shame, really.

[gnhrtg]

This is far from a review so I'm posting it here rather than the concert reviews section.

Saw both Vandermark 5 and the Andrew Hill Anglo-American Big Band last night. I was blown away by V5 (except, as I'd come to accept, for Tim Daisy - he was OK). Rempis, Bishop, Kessler, and Daisy all had unaccompanied solo sections which they used to great effect with some fine utilization of extended techiniques by Bishop and Rempis. Vandermark's baritone solo on the one ballad they played was, I thought, better - more involved and developmental -than most of his other ballad playing on record. It was on that ballad that Rempis had his unaccompanied solo feature with multiphonics and circular breathing but the solo was a very melodic, controlled - low volume, un-wailing one. They played the first track off "Airport for Lights" and two others. Two Rahsaan pieces, linked, were played as an encore - which I very much dug so will be looking forward to the bonus disc. Overall, I thought everyone involved delivered consistently high-level blowing, except for one somewhat uninvolved solo by Bishop - but then again his unaccompanied solo on the first tune they played left more-or-less everyone awe-struck (with swoops and swells and what have you).

Andrew Hill's ensemble was a disaster for various reasons. Perhaps proper balance might have given a fairer picture of what was going on but you could understand that I was a bit frustrated when 3 trumpets come in screaming when there's supposed to be a flute solo going on (and the guy next to me asks who's soloing, so you can see some people totally lost connection with what was going on on the stage). The only positive was Nasheet's drumming so I kept listening to him for most of the concert.

On the good side both of my friends told me that they really enjoyed V5 so there's a good chance that they'll give me a ride to other concerts to come (like the Brtzman Tentet in May). They even wanted to pick up some disc(s) so after the concert we dropped by the sale stand outside to ask if they had any V5 discs (they did have discs of other participants in the festival) and we had to repeat "Vandermark Five" a couple of times but neither of the attendees had the slightest idea who we were talking about. Now I'd rather have them buy originals than burn them copies but it's not that they didn't try you see.

[gnhrtg]

Also saw WHS (Sainkho/Parker/Drake) and about 45 mins of 4 Walls.
I like sitting close to the stage and talked my friends into being there at about an hour before the show thereby securing our first row seats. WHS played 3 numbers and an encore. I enjoyed each piece considerably more than the one before - the last, third, one, especially, was a real highlight. Overall, however, I don't think Sainkho fits in well with Parker/Drake as in many place they would lock into/shift grooves while Sainkho would simply carry on what she was doing before. Some might want to call this a "mirakle" but it's not for me, at least in such extended doses. In essence, I felt that Sainkho was not as well-versed in improvisation/interaction as were Parker and Drake. This was very obvious in the disastrous encore where I could not only hear but see Drake trying to bring the piece to an end - as nothing much was happenning apart from his excelent hand/frame-drum playing but Sainkho going on, determined to stretch the limits mudanity either because she failed to register Drake's aural and visual signs or because she wanted to take out on us her frustration with the buzz in her monitor at the beginning of the concert. Not only was the encore dull, it also ran 25-30 minutes into 4 Walls time and since we had to catch the last train back to Fontainebleau, we could only stay for the first 25 minutes of their set, a shame as it was geting rather interesting the music too perhaps but what will surely remain in my memory for much longer will be their stage theatrics (Vatcher's especially).

Edit: Let me note that Parker/Drake made the set very worhtwhile nevertheless. Especially impressive was how effortlessly Drake seemed to play.

[relyles]

Did anyone catch Soweto Kinch?