LOREN STILLMAN
A sax man taking the road less travelled
Saxophonist Loren Stillman is making waves on the tough New York jazz scene. and his earlier visits to Scotland have amply demonstrated why he has won high praise from major-league tenormen Joe Lovano. David Liebman and Ted Nash. as well as altoist Lee Konitz. Alto is his own primary horn. and while he has a clear grip on — and obvious affinity with — the mainstream
jazz tradition, his own approach and material leans toward the more daring end of that spectrum.
His adventurous playing is characteristically fluent and inventive, but often with an oblique unexpectedness that brings Wayne ShOrter to mind. and he has a cultivated a rich, well focussed sonority on an instrument that can be astringent, doubtless aided by a classical training. Rather than mining the well-worn standards route.
ACOUSTIC MAYHEM
A trio of six-string cavaliers start a musical uprising
Stillman largely concentrates on his own often complex music. delivered in refined and imaginative fashion. (Kenny Mathieson)
I Henry ’3 Jazz Cellar. 473 2000, 6 Aug, 9pm. £9.50.
JAMIE OEHLERS Lauded post bop horn player makes Jazz Fest debut
Australian saxophonist Jamie Oehlers was runner-up in the prestigious White Foundation World SaXOphorie Award at the Montreaux Jazz Festival
two years ago, but went one better last year and took the main prize. beating off tough opposition that included our own Paul Towndrow. It so happened that his first gig after picking up the award was his debut at Henry's last summer, and he made an immediate and powerful impression. His strong.
Of course, the words ‘acoustic’ and ‘mayhem’ make for rather odd bedfellows, but anyone with a knowledge of this trio’s past endeavours will be more than familiar with their rambunctious approach to six strings. Perhaps the most famous name on the bill, for example, is Dave Arcari, who - in his alternate existence as the Radiotones’ frontman - has carved a particularly specialist niche for himself as the Beefheart-voiced, punk-influenced, slide-playing major dome of Scots alterna-blues. Sharing equal billing will be Lee Patterson, who plays a mixture of traditional Celtic music with a definite homespun country slant. It’s a combination that's worked well enough to earn him the Best Male Performer 2003 award, courtesy of Edinburgh’s well respected open-mic night Acoustic Underground, as well as comparisons to legends of the genre such as Richard Thompson. Finally, Glasgow-born, Highland-based Scott MacDonald is that most well-coordinated of guitarists, the sort that plays a harmonica at the same time. Unsurprisingly, his name has been mentioned in the same breath as those of the similarly gifted Tom Petty and Neil Young, while he’s shared a stage with the
likes of the Cosmic Rough Riders and Eddi Reader.
Although all three are solo artists in their own right, this Acoustic Mayhem offshoot is not new - the trio have supported Edinburgh’s alt.folk man of the moment James Yorkston, and this show promises a new slant on an old, old sound. (David Pollock)
I 1/4rm@Greens/de, 6—74 Aug, 70.10pm, £7.50 (£6).
full-bodied tenor sound and fertile flow of musical ideas were heard in a post-bop approach which was open to both structured and freer material. He drew on imaginative interpretations of classic compositions by Charles Mingus, John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman alongside his own material.
He has featured with Edinburgh-based players on previous visits, but brings along his own band this time. with Sam Keevers on piano, Rodrigo Aravena on bass. and drummer Danny Fischer.
(Kenny Mathieson)
I Henry '3 Jazz Cellar, 4 73 2000, 8 Aug, 9pm. £9.50.
DUKE HEITGER’S NEW ORLEANS ALL STARS
Trad notions gets an
injection of youth
Traditional jazz has largely become the domain of older musicians and older listeners, but New Orleans-based trumpet sensation Duke Heitger would like to change that perception and bring the music he loves — early New Orleans through to Swing — to the kind of audience he reached when he played trumpet on the big-selling debut from the Squirrel Nut Zippers in the late 90s.
‘I think it is a concern for me. It is a problem. and I think the music has to be presented in a fresh manner and in a vibrant way that maybe isn’t always the case at present. I would like to target younger audiences, and it is something I will be working on. What you can't do is change the music to try to Suit — I think that is a big mistake.’
Heitger makes his debut in Scotland with a largely New Orleans- based band at the jazz festival. (Kenny Mathieson)
I Spiege/tent, 473 2000, 6 Aug, 8pm, £72.
FIVEREASONS i
Five lyrical
reasons to go
see Half Man
Half Biscuit j
Half Man Half Biscuit have built up a massive back catalogue of bouncy, shouta/ong numbers that legendary gigs are built on. Their lyrics are a barometer of popular culture — Nigel Blackwell ’s acerbic social commentary has survived Thatcherism and New Labour, spurred on by years of dole-enforced daytime TV viewing and library—loitering. 1 . ‘Irk the Purists’ ‘Husker Du-Du-Du, Captain Beefheart, ELO. Chris de Burgh. Sun Ra, Del Amitri, John Coltrane . . .' 2. “The Bastard Son of Dean Friedman’ ‘Supercalifragilisticb orussiamunchengla dbach! 3. ‘99% of Gargoyles Look Like Bob Todd’ “Have you ever wondered how you get triangles from a cow? You need butter milk and cheese and an equilateral chainsaw.’ 4. ‘Wrolean Knockabout’ “I've been goading D-list Paul Ross for a laugh by unloading outside what he'd call his gaff old fridge freezers. doors all removed like we're told his face at the window next morning's a sight to behold.’ 5. ‘Venus in Flares’ ‘A million housewives every day pick up a can of beans and say “what a marvellous example of synchronisation."’ Liquid Room, 225 2564, 11 Aug. 7.30pm, £72.
5—12 Aug 2004 THE LIST FESTIVAL MAGAZINE 53