Matt Anderson Jazz Quartet at Leeds University School of Music

A new academic year at Leeds and the first term along boasts a pretty good lineup of lunchtime concerts at the School of Music. The first one saw Matt Anderson Jazz Quartet - Matt Anderson (saxophone) Martin Longhawn (piano) Sam Vicary (double-bass) Sam Gardner (drums). This quartet of long-time collaborators and friends was formed during studies at Leeds College of Music; now living further afield, this was a unique opportunity to hear them play together once more.

A really fun hour of music - not my normal style of music but well performed, with very good examples of communality in music making. Pieces by Gardner, Anderson and Longhawn as well as American Songbook classic and final Charlie Parker.

The rest of the Lunchtime Concerts are listed at http://concerts.leeds.ac.uk/

Comments

Pigeon Funk

Notes on a very random purchase. Earlier today I acquired Venetian Snares 'Rossz Csillag Alatt Sz ü letett ' purely on the basis of the language and artwork. Its certainly something different - and most definitely not pop. After a bit of searching: Venetial Snares is, according to Wikipedia, the performing name of Aaron Funk, who seems to specialise in experimental tracks in odd time signatures. Article here . The sleeve notes for this album (whose title is Hungarian for 'Born under a bad star') poses the question: what if, for just a day, we could both be pigeons? Interessant. Apparently this concept (a day in the life of a Hungarian pigeon) is non-typical of Venetian Snares sound, but one could ask, does Mr Funk do 'typical'? On first listening, the sound of this CD mixes classical/traditional Hungarian sounds and breakbeats. but aside from that? Definitely a 'listen for yourself' artist; try the website , fan site or myspace .

Piano salons

Catching up on LinkedIn after a vacation, I came across a link for The Saturday Piano Salon . This caught my eye as I organise and attend an adult amateur piano group here in Ottawa. The Saturday Piano Salon, based in London, is an impressive step up from our friendly afternoons, giving amateur (and semi-professional, according to their site) pianists an opportunity to perform on a Steinway Model D at Steinway Hall. I read the review of their first Saturday event with interest. Maybe next time I find myself in London...

Bits and bobs

Bit of a gig lull these past few weeks but we did go and see Walk The Line, the new film about Johnny Cash. Really enjoyed the film - even if you're not a Cash fan its a good story (and need I mention about the Oscars?) Something else to add to my list when next browsing! Back to new music, recently acquired the new Arctic Monkeys (me too) and Kooks albums (on vinyl). Not quite got all the songs stuck in my head yet but I would recommend them (despite the hype). Bonus disc with the Kooks is an acoustic session of their album recorded at Abbey Road, which I really like as acoustic that's not James Blunt!! Final bob (fraid its unrelated to music): http://www.no2id.net/. I'd like to keep my rights!

PrettyInScarlett

Search This Blog