Phil Manzanera album launch at The Gibson Guitar Rooms

Phil Manzanera live Photo Credit: John Rahim

Phil Manzanara, Gibson Rooms, London.  12/11/08

For Phil Manzanera the Gibson Rooms is an entirely appropriate place to launch the latest phase of a career that spans back over four decades. His axe of choice is naturally the crimson red Firebird that gives his latest CD its title and is set for launch as a signature edition in the imminent future. It’s a guitar that Phil has used since For Your Pleasure era Roxy Music and tonight’s gig and the album reignites a musical partnership that goes back even further than that.

The place is packed as you might expect and as the tiny stage won’t hold the grand piano, which is positioned just below Phil at audience level, making the atmosphere even more intimate than usual. Manzanera seems relaxed as introductions are made and the band launch into Fortunately I Had One With Me, the first of three tracks from the newly released Firebird V11. The track’s title has that sly in-joke feel beloved by the Brit-jazz-rockers and the tune is no let-down in that respect, as the band expand on the themes, cutting across the rhythms with the consummate ease and freedom of true top-flight players: Manzanera’s stinging fuzztone taking the lead. The tune instantly harks back to Phil’s Quiet Sun era and significantly was contributed to the project by Bill MacCormick, one of that combos other noted alumni.

Next up is Mexican Hat a track of oblique intrigue and the only totally improvised piece on the album. As Phil explains, each musician was asked to contribute something unexpected to the piece and it’s notable for some treated piano, the strings littered with random objects and the odd, chanted refrain of AEIOU.

Lezdek Mozdzer’s piano is a revelation throughout the set as he brings the proper jazz element to the party, all bubbling tangets and angular hooks. Charles Hayward also demonstrates why he is so highly regarded as a drummer and Phil delights in the fact that the last time they shared a stage he was just 21, playing a party in West Norwood, a gig that predates Roxy. At this juncture it would be rude not to mention bassist Yaron Stavi, who clearly merits his place on the team, anchoring, melodic and propulsive in equal measure.

The boys take a bow Photo Credit: John Rahim

The evenings musical entertainment is over all too briefly with the title track from the new CD, with Phil once again taking flight from the band’s lilting, expansive theme. The audience whoops and hollers, but that’s all folks, although the band quickly make themselves available to the assembled, for polite personal appreciation, handshakes and the odd question. Your correspondent was in like a flash, but with the weight of others pressing in we agree a post gig e-mail exchange is the best strategy for me to get the inside track.

So here we go…

Phil Manzanera

Proper: How did you approach the compositions for the new album? Do you have a constant stream of ideas and melodies in store or is each record more spontaneous?

PM: For this album I knew I wanted to write some instrumentals and after working mainly on songs with lyrics for the last few years it was difficult. I plugged in my guitar and jammed away for a few hours and recorded whatever appeared. I then picked out the best bits and grew it organically. Sometimes I do have stuff in store but this was custom built!

Proper: Tell us a little of your history with your musical collaborators on this project? They are an impressive team.

PM: I was at school with the drummer Charles Hayward at Dulwich College although he was a few years younger. Even at school he was far better than anyone there at drumming, but also was a strong musical personality writing songs and music too. Leszek Mozdzer I met whilst producing the David Gilmour album at Abbey Road Studios, and whilst he was warming up for the session he played some incredible pieces, which really impressed me. When I was thinking of who was the best keyboardist for this project he was my first choice. Yaron Stavi I met when he came to record bass on Robert Wyatt’s albums at my studio, and then I used him on tracks on my last few solo albums. He is very versatile playing electric and stand up bass.

Proper: How did the signature Firebird come into being and what involvement did you have with its design?

PM:

The signature Firebird came into being as it is a copy of the original created by Ray Dietrich, a famous 50’s American car designer for Gibson as a response to the Fender Stratocaster -dig those fins! I had the only red one that colour so Gibson approached me with the idea of having a signature model which hopefully will come out in 2009. I have the prototype from the factory already and it just needs a few tweaks.

Proper: What are the general plans going forward? And what about all of your original albums?

PM: Next year will see us playing the Firebird V11 and other material at Ronnie Scotts at the beginning of February, as well as gigs in Poland and Paris. I will be releasing all my previous albums as special collectors editions through my label Expression and Proper Distribution, starting in February with the all Spanish language Corroncho album, and then in March the special edition 801 project with Brian Eno and the Quiet Sun album… Then of course there is the Roxy album to finish off!

Firebird V11 is available now. Click on the sleeve shot below to buy it now.

 

Ian McLagan @ The Jazz Cafe

A warm Sunday evening and The Jazz Cafe in Camden is full to bursting. Thankfully a quick stop off at The Spread Eagle has taken the edge off and the crowd seem to be in agreeable spirits, all eyes front, as a couple of minutes after our arrival Ian McLagan and his Bump Band take the stage. He seems to sense the vibe and with a broad grin, a quick keyboard twiddle and a couple of brief assides to the expectant throng, is into his stride. His rasping voice betrays a few too many Woodbines (or should that be Ogdens Nut Gone Flake) over the years, but is totally right and what he lacks in finese is more than compensated with shear spirit. The trademark piano flourishes and Hammond groove instantly recall his younger days with the (Small) Faces.

Yes there’s a healthy dose of nostalgia in the air and the crowd are immediately on side with references to the two Ronnies (Lane and Wood) enlivening the onstage banter and several of Lane’s songs making the set. But muc of the material is more recent than that, with a healthy number coming from the recent Never Say Never, which is afterall the record that got me along tonight. The songs hold their own with the title track, I’m Hot You’re Cool and Little Black Number (descibed as his only political song) amongst the highlights.

The current band are excellent with Don Harvey on drums having worked with Mac down the years and a fixture on the Austin music scene, which is now their mutual home town. Mark Andes, formerly of Spirit, Jo Jo Gunne and others too numerous to mention completes the rhythm section with some style and offers a vocal lift where required. The guitarist is Jud ‘Scrappy’ Newton who has the Ronnie Wood licks down pat, but enough of his own flair to cover the newer songs.

But the biggest thrilll of the night are innevitably the crowd pleasing Faces and Ronnie Lane songs with Cindy Incidentally, You’re So Rude and Glad And Sorry all getting an airing. Ther are a couple of surprises as well with Lane’s Spiritual Boy and the Small Faces What’s A Matter Baby (a single b-side) ticking the obscurities Geiger Counter to max. The latter apparently rates as Paul Wellers favourite Small Faces song and he was in the audience, prompting  Mac to quip “If you’re the Modfather, then Jeez, what does that make me…”

The evening came through to a rollocking conclusion with Watcha Gonna Do About It and (personal highlight) Debris in the mix. A fine night was indeed had by all.

 

A fine night out in Croydon… No, really.

Some of you out there will be suspiciously marking that title as oxymoronic to say the very least, but courtesy of the Green Dragon and the monthly Dragon’s Ball! a very fine Canadian duo rode into town and rather than shooting up the sheriff, the dragon or anyone else delighted us with a blistering set of alt-country-folk-blues.

Ok! So, Twilight Hotel didn’t actually come all the way to the UK just to play Croydon. The previous day’s appearance in Trafalgar Square for Canada Day probably couldn’t have been a greater contrast, playing the penultimate set of the evening’s festival in front of thousands. Even their hotel staff were suspicious of their request the following day for details of how to get to Croydon. But London prejudices seem lost on the genial Brandy Zdan and David Quanbury, who are relaxed as they open their set to a comparatively modest crowd compared with the previous days exersions.

Dave is playing a seriously battered and ancient looking acoustic in the left handed upside down mode. Brandy sports a gorgeous, cherry red semi complete with obligatory whammy-bar for that extra twang factor, although its her bottleneck that really stuns. Both are excellent players and singers, but more than that, they knit together in stunning harmony and lock into a watertight groove. It’s a special chemistry that exists in their personal lives as well as they first met at the attratively named(??) Trout Forest Music Festival in Ontario in 2002 and have been an emotional bonded and musical twosome since.

The set is mostly from their newly released Highway Prayer album and is well paced. The tunes seems to occupy a special place where Tom Waits, Tarantino, Loretta Lynn, Nancy Sinatra and Dick Dale are gathered to offer encouragement from the sidelines. It’s great to get some of the back story too, when Brandy reveals the female in the coal mines twist to No Place For A Woman or Dave explains the aching Impatient Love as a plea to those country sirens who all seemed to marry so badly. Slumber Queen carries the nightmareish anxiety of the road with the more the miles, the shorter the odds that you’ll end up in some kind of car wreck. The refrain carries the menacing lines “Those that live by the sea start to rust, those on the highway fill up with dust.” It’s a hearfelt testament to 200 plus gigs a year and a lot of miles between them, although paradoxically it’s exactly this road craft that has sharpened their skills so tellingly.

Stand out for me though is the sets clincher and album opener Viva La Vinyl, which Dave explains came about when their CD player broke and they decided not to replace it, returning to the pleasures of the black stuff instead. As a mark of solidarity I spend £3.00 on one of their 7″ singles, get it signed by both and prepare to leave a happier man. And yes the Green Dragon and its fine beer must also take some credit for that.

 

Dr. Jazz Calling

Just a quick bulletin from the front line of all things improv. The BBC Jazz Award nominees were anounced this week at a very slick and surprisingly quick event at Ronnie Scott’s this week. The best way to check out all of the nominees is to go to the BBC Jazz website, where you can also have your say by voting in some of the categories.

As well as Paul Gambaccini’s professional summary of the runners and riders, we were treated to  a couple of sparkling performances, the highlight of which was the Neil Cowley Trio running through We Are Here To Make Plastic. And before you get to thinking this a gloating exclusive you can see it for yourself on YouTube. It is great to see the Trio developing the tunes from the Loud, Louder, Stop album as they play them out and about. Clever stuff indeed.

Amongst the hatful of Proper nominees, special mention has to go to 2 venerable servants of Jazz, both nominated as such, namely Alan Bates of Candid and Oliver Weindling of Babel and the Vortex club. The recognition of their peers and immitators recognises years of commitment to the jazz cause. Suffice to say we raised a glass (well I did at least! Cheers).

By far and away the best way to check out all of this year’s artist nominees is to pick up the BBC Jazz Awards CD, coming out on 21st July through Specific Jazz. In the Meantime those intrigued Mr Cowley should also check out the Properganda podcast for an exclusive inteview and another live track.

 

East Coast Music Awards

No not Norwich, but Fredericton, New Brunswick. So that’s Canada calling and inviting us over to attend the explore the music of the Eatern half of that huge country for 4 days of solid gigging and show cases. As part of a small google-eyed gaggle of British delegates I was mightily impressed with the scale of the event, with nearly 200 artists appearing across a dozen venues. It may have just been luck, but everyone I tried to see came on at the advertised time despite considerable snow and a serious minus 15 overnight low. Obvious highlights included a couple of spell binding turns from the gorgeous Catherin McLellan and the poetic Old Man Ludecke (whose CDs we already have on the books). A host of new names such as Tom Fun Orchestra (coming to these shores soon), Hey Rosetta (passionate and intense), Dave Gunning (classy songs and a killer Long Black Veil), bluesman Matt Anderson (as big as a barn with the personality to match) and the wily Nathan Wiley also impressed. I should also mention two bands that seemed impossibly young for the talent quotient namely Two Hours Traffic and Chucky Danger. Both should have The Shins looking over their shoulders. Watch this space for news of any deals that get struck!!