St Ives Jazz Club 30th August 2011

by Jonathon Blakeley

I went downtown to St Ives at the end of September for some chitchat and to get a Jazz fix. It had been a while, but was well worth the trip. The Jazz club is located at the Western Hotel and is a great venue with a warm friendly atmosphere. Sarah Gillespie was on with her quartet promoting her most recent album “In the current climate.” Sarah is a formidable singer with a fantastic range of style, lyric and sense of humour – which is definitely needed when trying to control a ragtag band of jazz musicians.

The band consisted of

• Sarah Gillespie: Vocals, Guitar, flibbertigibbet and boogie-woogie whip cracking.
• Gilad Atzmon: Clarinet, Yackety-yak, Accordion, Scat, sarcastic quips and chutzpah.
• Eddie Hicks: Drumdrum, percussion, daydreams, random razzmatazz & hipperty-skipperty.
• Ben Bastin: Double Bass, Voodoo Grooves, moves and Low funky oscillations.

A funny affair in many ways, Sarah and Gilad like to trade insults and jokes in-between tracks and they make an amusing comedy double act. At one point Sarah joked. “This next song is called big mistake … and is about my ex husband.” Gilad quickly mentioned, “It is not me!” She quipped back “ Well you are always too busy playing with your horn!” …“Oh so now you don’t like me playing with my horn….” Gilad replied.

Eddie Hicks was on drums, I like Eddie a lot, he is a great player with a natural talent and great drive. I really like the way he pushes a track along. At one point during the set Sarah mentioned the English riots and asked whether there had been any trouble down in Cornwall or St Ives. Gilad scoffed at the prospect of riots in Cornwall. “What a riot of artists”. Everyone laughed.

Sarah Gillespie

Later on Gilad reassured everyone that his Clarinet was a properly circumcised Jewish horn, which presumably meant that the Jazz was kosher. Sarah played many of her new tunes all of which showed a great mix of styles, tempos and dynamics. Often tracks would start deceptively slow and then break into bebop jazz collage.

Bebop Jazz

“This next tune started is called Cinematic Nectar…. It started as a Poem then became a recipe” commented Sarah. Gilad right on cue – “Don’t try her recipes… but the song is not bad. ” Obviously Gilad has some PTSD (Post traumatic stress dis-order) brought on by Sarah’s previous cooking attempts.

Along with her own tunes she also dropped a couple of jazz classics that had been given a fresh twist. The Bessie Smith tune – “Nobody loves you when you are down an out” & “All of me. ” The latter featured a fantastic scat solo by Gilad, which slipped in and out of laughter, scat and improvisations, and then back to the tune. Eddie Hick’s wonderful snare work pushed the whole thing along with many a skipping triplet beat. Gilad’s improvisation work was excellent as usual, morphing from melodic hooks such as Gershwin, Beethoven and then in to free messy chaos.

I saw Sarah last year after her first album and she is a great act that is getting better all the time. Her music is accessible, interesting and vivid, with many a magic line that sticks in your head for days and days. Sarah Gillespie and her band are on tour at various select locations for the next 6 months…don’t miss them.

Sarah Gillespie Tour dates 2011-2012

Gilad Atzmon and the Orient House Ensemble 2010 tour

by Jonathon Blakeley

The Orient House Ensemble are currently touring the UK, promoting their amazing new album – ‘The tide has changed’. The following is a review of a performance, at St Ives Jazz Club, Cornwall, on Friday 15th of October 2010. The current OHE line up is

1. Gilad Atzmon – Saxophones, Clarinets, Vocals
2. Eddie Hick – Drums
3. Frank Harrison – Piano
4. Yaron Stavi – Double Bass, Vocals

Serpent charmer

The set started with a Gilad announcing that they were going to play their new album, ‘The tide has changed’, and commenced with the opening track ‘Dry fear’, warming up the crowd with his serpent charmer spell.

The next track required a change of instrument, and for this one Gilad chose his saxophone. He quickly realized that he had left his sax strap up in his hotel room and asked whether someone would retrieve his strap, as he could not play without it. This accident allowed him to improvise and free associate with words. With the strap recovered, a cheer went up from the crowd and the set kicked off with the title track – ‘the tide has changed’ – intense, frenzied and original.

“Obviously I like playing the music but it’s not all about the music, it is Palestine that I am also really interested in. In helping to free the Palestinian People that is very important too…”

The thing that quickly becomes glaringly obvious is that Gilad Atzmon is a chameleon, many different elements in a glorious synergy.

• Jazz Musician/Composer
• Writer
• Blogger
• Producer
• Stand-up Comic
• Political Activist
• Travelling Salesman
• Creative Guru

Ethically sound

What distinguishes Gilad Atzmon from other musicians, aside from his prodigious talent and wicked sense of humour, is his outspoken political opinions. Most other musicians are much more tight lipped, they argue it’s all about the music, and in doing so reveal their blinkered self-censoring approach. The content of their music quite simple & safe. No politics, religion or controversy.

Gilad does not restrict himself in any such manner, and here one sees his Blockhead punk roots. That is what makes him so thrilling and exciting. In a world where musicians are safe, traditional, conventional, he is provocative, surreal and challenging. He says what others are too afraid to say, for fear of upsetting their careers, standing and reputation.

Most activists stand around with a megaphone shouting angrily about this or that, but not offering any solutions. But Gilad is not angry, quite the opposite. Atzmon is a Jazz activist. He is optimistic and offers solutions to the Israel conundrum. Democracy for Palestinians, Israel should give them the vote, it is the only way that Israel can ensure it’s survival. Israel must cease to be an apartheid regime and integrate with the Palestinians.

He dances about with his various voodoo horns, in-between sarcastically mocking the madness of this world. Creating fantasies and fictions here and there, with much wry amusement.

“At this time I was in Kabul, working for MI6 looking for Mujahideen….” he sniggers…Then casually slipping into one of many surreal adverts promoting their albums. “You know we are even offering discount on the Cd’s for volume purchases” he quipped. “It is not that we are desperate, but there is an element of despair…..” he joked dryly. – Gilad Atzmon

Gilad demonstrates Jazz rhythms

Higher dimensions of Jazz

Then back to exploring the higher dimensions of Jazz….the music always so unexpected and joyously random. Ethnic rhythms & eastern scales in a free jazz synthesis. Suddenly one of the band would pull a tune in a new unexpected way and rest would quickly adapt. I must single Eddie Hick out for ‘high’ praise, he dazzled with his drumming and nearly eclipsed Gilad several times, wonderful gob-smacking snare work, bewildering percussion and improvisation. It is wonderful to see people at the top of their game, and this is the best the OHE have achieved so far, amazing virtuosity, musicality and range of emotions. Pushing Jazz to the limits and beyond – Peak Experiences Allow Consciousness Expansion. PEACE. not to be missed.

“There are no rules”- Gilad Atzmon

Tour dates

Gilad – Myspace

Jazza Productions

Sarah Gillespie

Sarah Gillespie’s debut album Stalking Juliet is a highly original, honest album; free of the gloss & auto tune of many modern productions. All the tracks on this album are written by Sarah except for two;
Houdini of the heart &
Call me Stupid, Ungrateful, Vicious and Insatiable, for which Gilad Atzmon shares a credit. As well as playing sax, clarinet, accordion, & harmonica, Gilad also helps out on the arrangements, mixing and production.

Creativity is what is important here and it shows, from the stylish avant-garde hip-hop style lyrics to the saxy licks. Beautiful transformations and great word-smithery abound. Sarah seems fond of double meanings and cryptic clues. Her velvet voice and delivery, change easily to reflect the many moods she conveys.

The overall style is definitely Jazz (Gypsy Jazz, or maybe New age traveller Jazz . How the mighty fall is one of the best tunes, very catchy with accordion atmospherics. Sarah’s lyrics are vivid and memorable, with a tongue in cheek quality. There are some real sweet spots for the audiophiles; Malicious Simone has some delightful melodies….

Call me Stupid, Ungrateful, Vicious and Insatiable is the tenth track and perhaps draws its inspiration from Call Me Irresponsible a 1962 song composed by Jimmy Van Heusen. It is very compelling, with both vocals and clarinet pushing it to the limit. Sarah and Gilad weave a wonderful spell on this, their first joint venture. Above all, Stalking Juliet is original and new; a breath of fresh air, blowing through the Jazz world.

Sarah Gillespie

album reviewed by Jonathon Blakeley

Monday, September 27, 2010

19 September 2010 reviewed by Jonathon Blakeley

Gilad Atzmon &
The Orient House Ensemble

THE TIDE HAS CHANGED – ALBUM REVIEW

The album starts up cheekily enough with

Dry Fear

and the warm inviting voice of Derek Hussey as the Master of Ceremonies. The track is somewhat reminiscent of parts of the Bonzo Dog Band’s Gorilla Album; the atmosphere evoked is that of a party or carnival that is about to start, and so it is….

The tide has changed

is the second track and it kicks into a higher gear and accelerates at breakneck pace, twisting in sexy snakey melodic lines. Furiously fast scales and blasting climaxes peaking into angelic vocal plateaus. Sudden, breathtaking slides down into semi-silence and then the track morphs again & again. Almost psychedelic at times and therefore very hard to classify. Curiously funky.

And so have we

A beautiful subtle tune, lovely playing from everyone and very cool vocals from Tali Atzmon. Gilad & Co use vocals in an original way, refraining from getting into lyrics but using the voice more as an instrument. I like a good song myself. But often the lyrics can taint a good tune. Listening to the Orient Ensemble is a pleasure, it is the kind of music which frees the mind, a lyric would limit it and confine it to the song verse structure and the message of the lyric. Thankfully “The tide has changed” is free of such constraints.

Bolero at Sunrise

This track is gorgeous and enchanting! It gets better the more you listen to it, in fact it is one of those addictive tracks. Music to have sex by, or drink fine wine to. Excellent drumming. Would be wonderful to see a belly dance to this, Perfect tempo chilled and cool. Gradual harmonic deconstruction into BeBop and back again. I like to get lost in music, I know it is good when I can’t remember who is playing or what the track is. I know my boundaries have been pushed and no longer know where I am….. excellent.. So it is with Gilad Atzmon &The Orient House Ensemble, they are unpredictable, surprising, serious one moment funny the next. There is some excellent piano work from Frank Harrison on this album. They all work so well as a team, it’s not just about Gilad.

London to Gaza

One of the best tunes…Wonderful Climaxes, climbing intervals and sweeping slides upwards from Gilad, that lead into screeching distortion. Exquisite chaotic jazz, hard bop at its best. They build it up and then knock it down again and again forever morphing the music before them.

Polymorphic Jazz

The Album finishes as it began, with a party atmosphere created by the baggy whimsical singing and an absence of a lyric – the kind of singing you do when you are drunk and can’t remember the lines. ‘The tide has changed’ is a polymorphic Jazz extravaganza, with many twists and turns and universal in its appeal. The test of good music is this; does it sound good now & will it sound good in the future?. …. The answer is YES!
The Orient House Ensemble are -

1. Gilad Atzmon – Saxophones, Clarinets

1. Eddie Hick – Drums

1. Frank Harrison – Piano

1. Yaron Stavi – Double Bass

The tide has changed is available here to listen and perorder

I had the good fortune to hear and see the Sarah Gillespie quartet last night at St Ives Jazz Club, featuring the irrepressible radical Gilad Atzmon; Hard Bop Jazz de-constructivist.

“Sarah’s quartet featured Gilad Atzmon on accordion, clarinet and sax, Enzo Zirilli on drums and Ben Bastin on double bass.”

They were magnificent Sarah sure can sing, what a voice & very talented, good guitarist as well. Gilad was his usual surly self, wry sarcasm mixed with dry wit. The drummer did the most amazing drum solo as well. Gilad did his best not to out shine Sarah but he is pretty unstoppable, he is such a show off.

One of the most amazing parts was a tune which they broke down and de-constructed and then Gilad started doing some Mad Tabla like scat with Sarah joining in. So rhythmic and fast, he built it up and up playing off against the drummer before firing back in with his clarinet and honking it like Gabriel blowing his horn.

Sarah’s set had a wonderful contrast of dynamics, soft gentle and shimmering vocals and finger picking then surreal slides in to mad anarchic Jazz. Her lyrics were edgy too and a refreshing change from the bland pop tart songs of the mainstream. Sarah is a very intelligent musician and writer with much to say.

Gilad doesn’t play safe, he plays dangerous edgy jazz, wild and Pan like.

For the discerning Jazz aficionado looking for serious eargasms, Gilad is a an unrivalled delight… JB

Musician & Writer

“A formidable improvisational array…a local jazz giant steadily drawing himself up to his full height…”-John Fordham, The Guardian

via Gilad Atzmon – Home.