African vibe is a must-hear
Oct 5 2009 By Peter Bacon
Western jazz musicians have been returning to a primary source of the music, to Africa, for the last 50 years and more. The drummer Art Blakey made a number of albums in the mid-1960s that took a strong inspiration from that continent, and it’s logical for drummers to make the strongest connections with it.
So it is no surprise that Dave Smith, drummer with the London-based double saxophone quartet Outhouse, should look south. At the end of 2007 the band went out to the Gambia, the tiny coastal country in West Africa surrounded by Senegal.
There they worked with five traditional Sabar drummers – Sabar drums being used often in ceremonies, hit with one hand and one stick, and traced back to the 14th century.
The results were heard to spectacular effect at the 2008 Cheltenham Jazz Festival. The drummers did their thing and Smith locked into it on a conventional drum kit, while Johnny Brierly worked the double bass and tenor saxophonists Robin Fincker and Mark Hanslip played harmony lines or displayed their contrasting improvisational styles up front.
They called it Outhouse Ruhabi, and have now released a CD and are touring the country, arriving at the CBSO Centre in Birmingham on Friday.
Outhouse is one of many exciting young and creative British jazz groups, but add the five drummers to the band and Ruhabi to the name and they become even more interesting and exciting.
The band (with Tom Challenger in for Mark Hanslip on this tour) are likely to sound superb in the lofty acoustics of the CBSO Centre, and if you haven’t heard this band or are even a little wary, please do take a chance on it. I thought they were one of the standout bands of Cheltenham 08.
This is a Birmingham Jazz concert, it starts at 8pm tickets are £13 (£11 for members) and are available from 0121 767 4050 or from thsh.co.uk
* On Thursday, a saxophonist who first created a stir by nodding his hat to the past, and specifically to the great British tenor player who died far too young, Tubby Hayes, shows how he has moved on, absorbed other influences and become his own man.
Simon Spillett has a very classy band in John Critchinson (piano), Andrew Cleyndert (bass) and Martin Drew (drums), and appears at the Biggin Hall Pub in Binley Road, Coventry, from 8.30pm. This is a Jazz Coventry gig and tickets are £10 (£7 students) in advance (on 024 7622 7264), or on the door.
* Providing the rush hour relief in the Free Jazz series in the Symphony Hall foyer at 5.30pm on Friday is John Ruddick’s baby – or should that be bunch of babies? – the Midland Youth Jazz Orchestra. They are all under 25 and play with the kind of aplomb that makes middle-aged men and women wish they hadn’t misspent their youth. Exciting is the word. It goes till 7pm and is free.
