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:: Saturday, May 27, 2006 ::

Gig Review: Polar Bear & The Bad Plus @ Bath Festival Jazz Weekend, The Pavilion, Bath, 26.05.06

An impressive cross-section of ages and characters have tuned out tonight, of the type I haven't seen since seeing Bob Dylan a few years ago. I hang around the bar waiting to meet a friend in the early part of the night watching a seriously drunk grey bearded jazz head endlessly empting his pockets as best he can, hindered by the fact many of the lose items he carries being attached to his clothing with string, presumably because he'd likely lose them in a drunken stupor otherwise. He evnetually finds his ticket and wonders in without it being checked. Young kids turn up, some looking like they should be out skating, younger ones still turn up with parents. I like this, it's great to see such a varied crowd united in a love of music. But that's what festivals are for.

I'm hear to see Polar Bear, Seb Rochford's jazz ensemble that features Leafcutter John on electronics, (or on Leafcutter John according to the liner notes of the Held on the Tips of Fingers album, reviewed here).

I'm expecting US trio (piano, drums, double bass) The Bad Plus to play first, but Polar Bear take to the stage surprisingly early in the evening. They start with a couple of tunes from the above mentioned album, to my ears faithfully recreating the album versions, with John's Max/MSP fuckery barely in evidence. What is really stunning is seeing Seb play those drum parts live. Like clapping out the intro rhythm to Beartown before smacking the cymbals with his hands grabbing sticks and flying in all guns blazing without missing a beat. We are also treated to plenty of sax solos during the set, but I can't pretend I know anything about sax. I know I liked most of it but in places in went on a little too much for my liking.

It's not until Fluffy (I Want You) that the electronic component really becomes apparent, with some cool sax moodiness punctuated by excellent attacking guitar with sticks strangeness. The game consol controller is broken out for the next track and creates some noises that get some laughs, taking what is often seen as an overly serious and introspective genre into the realms of fun, with musical jokes that everyone can appreciate.

We get several new tracks, one as yet untitled, and most of the recent album. Seb stands up and introduces tracks now and again, his bashful manner endearing him to the audience and making it seem all the more amazing that he has grown such a stunningly large and purposeful afro. Good man for carrying that off. He also passes on a flower he was given to a lady in the front row to the sound of a collective "awhh" you'd expect to hear when a child does likewise.

They are allowed to come back on to play an encore, and it is during this the John really shines. Making noises through the song with a miked up crumpled plastic water bottle he patiently waits through the sax solos for the breakdown where he takes a swig of water and attempts a brilliant reverb drenched gargling solo, much to the delight of the crowd. I hope he does that every night. He then sets about a small pair of palm sized cymbals and ends up running around the stage trying to catch one he inadvertently throws into the air.

A brilliant set in all and I would have loved to heard more. After the interval an announcement explains that The Bad Plus had only just arrived from a very late and diverted flight. They take the stage calmly and play a riveting and impressively tight set. I particularly liked the intro with the chords strummed out on the double bass. The piano work is very good, but didn't seem that unlike some I heard in a random bar a few weeks ago, it's the drums that hold this together. The drummer, David King (I remembered his name but not the others I'm afraid), gurns his way through the set, relishing every time he gets to hit something. Which is even more frequently that you would suspect. He even throws his head back and audible laughs a manical "Ha Haaa!"s in the middle of a solo at one point. He has a great swing shuffle and his playing appears to come mostly from his shoulders. It's fascinating to watch.

Covers of Ornette Coleman's Song X and Aphex Twins Flim (from Come to Daddy) are highlights. The latter probably showing the band at their best technicaly. Not that their own material should be over looked, it was also very good and benefited from the short introductions about their inspiration that brought the same humour to the music I mentioned above. Maybe it wasn't missing at all and I simply don't attend enough jazz concerts?

Some of The Bad Plus's songs aren't quite as strong as the others, especially early in their set, and Polar Bear really kept me rapt throughout, so it would have been a better evening from my point of view if the line up hadn't had to swap around. I'll be looking out for more shows like this in future, comedy jazz does it for me.

Edit: I've added some not very good photos from a borrowed old camera to flickr. It kind of shows the nice lighting, which is a collection of paper shades on either side of the stage that could be lit in different colours from the inside and some abstract projections on squares of what looked like bubble wrap at the back.

:: Dan 27.5.06 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post]    ::
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