JAZZ THE new MARIO CARIBE QUARTET “9"” 49.2?,99".§".Ed”‘b”'9“' 33‘ 2.8M” _ _
Since settling here in the mid-90s Brazilian bass player Mario Caribe has been a very positive addition to the Scottish jazz scene. both as a key sideman in a range of different bands. and as a leader. His latest band is a successor to the quintet on his 2002 debut album. BaCUri's. It features saxophonist Laura MacDonald. guitarist Kevin MacKenzie and drummer John Rae. all players that Mario feels Will be open to the concept he has in mind.
'l plan to play electric as well as acoustic bass in this band. and this line-up feels right for that. The quintet is a great band. but quartet is a slicker unit. and easier to get together and to sell than the bigger group. l don't really want to pigeon-hole this band with a label. I don't see it as fusion — what I'm looking for is the Vince Mendoza type of vibe. where yOu have an
FOLK
JOHN SPIERS AND JON BODEN Pleasance, Edinburgh, Wed 1 Jun; St Andrew's in the Square, Glasgow, Thu 2 Jun
'We've been walking an incredibly lovely path.‘ says John Spiers. 'lt's happened so quickly that now we're being asked to play as much as we want. As much as we're able. really.‘ With Jon Boden. he's part of the youthful duo that has put a boot up the backSide of English traditional music and song — not by fusing it with Caribbean steel bands. Japanese pop. gamelan orchestra or Polynesian polyrhythm. but by singing and playing with love. enthusism and a great desire to communicate the nation's great musical riches.
The two guys evolved separately. Spiers' dad was. and is. a Morris dancer with the respected Abingdon side. and the yOung lad picked up the tunes by osmosis. Failed relationships with keyboard. mandolin and guitar were forgotten when he suddenly fell in love - with an accordion. Then he married a melodeon. and is staying faithful. even if he admits to the recent purchase of a top quality Anglo concertina. because he feels that ‘the Anglo is so much part of the Morris tradition. which is becoming a sort of secret art‘.
Boden's background was campfire singing and a sustained interest in Irish fiddling. which morphed into a dawning respect for English dance mUSlC and earlier reiiyalist singing stylists like Peter Ballamy.
Jon met John at an Oxford session and so began what has become a very fruitful partnership. Already well quoted in the annual Folk Awards. and currently in the engine room of Eliza Carthy's Ratcatchers band. the boys are also out there fronting the folk big band Bellowhead. ‘We built the music of the band on top of the duo.‘ admits John. ‘Most English dance mUSIC is built on a groove. and we wanted percussion. The drums are a pile of junk. but the drummer gets a brilliant sound. And the bass is a sousaphone.‘
The overall sound is close to La Bottine Souriante — but the strings play sort of disco stuff. and the horn section somds more like a brass band. And Jon sings in a far less pretty way than Eliza.‘ iNorman Chalmersi
68 ‘I’HI LIST 26 May-9 Jun 2005
electric quartet but it sounds like something different.
‘The first record had a lot to do With the Brazilian thing. but that is not the only side I have to my music. and I want to explore that. Laura. Kevin and John are open enough to want to test things out and try new directions — the Brazilian thing will still be in there. but it will be more a case of trying out different directions. I'm trying to develop it organically. I think we will feature maybe half of the new material I am working on. alongside material from other writers like John Scofield.‘
As well as getting together the music for this debut. Mario has also been working on a commission for a forthcoming Scottish National Jazz Orchestra concert featuring the music of Chick COrea.
'I'm doing a rearrangement of 'Armando's Bhumba'. and l've been trying to get that well on the way. I find writing quite difficult and stressful at the time I am doing it. but very satisfying afterwards.‘ iKenny Mathiesonl
JAZZ ROCK JAGA JAZZIST
Mono, Glasgow, Tue 7 Jun; Cabaret Voltaire,
Edinburgh, Thu 9 Jun
Rule books are for wusses and for solid proof look no further than Jaga Jazzist, or just ‘Jaga’ as they are now becoming (‘it’s not just jazz now,’ they say). For their sixth album in ten years they have progressed with the swooping and percussive brass-driven jazz sound that has won them worldwide praise and left crowds bewildered, adrenalised and drenched in sweat.
Jaga were brought to the attention of many in the UK when they signed to the mighty Ninja Tune label in 2002. Ninja released their album The Stix on an unsuspecting public in 2003, and it melded the best ideas about electronics and modern jazz in one gloriously swoonsome package. They had a while to get it right though: the band had been working together for a decade previously, and their 1994 debut Javla Jazzist Greta Stitz was made when some of them were only 14. They've grown and grown since then.
‘There’s some in the band who can play a
dozen instruments,’ says drummer Martin Horntveth. ‘You put all these people in a room together and there’s too many ideas to fit into one little four-minute tune. So for our new record we wanted the chance to explore longer pieces. We had to expand.’
And expand they have, upwards and outwards into a different headspace and another plane. The sound of What We Must is like no album you’ll hear this year; an uncompromising shake up of the rock family tree.
‘We wanted to take on rock rhythms and structures and do them our own way. Some of the band really got into playing guitars so when everyone came together we ended up with this barrage of guitars.’ This barrage invokes the spirit of progressive rock and the indie shoegazing sound pioneered by My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive in the early 903. Imagine this stitched into a lush and funky groove that contains the trippy soul of Terry Callier, the righteous throb of the Mars Volta, the cunning bleeps of Tortoise, all topped with bold brass contusions. Both big and clever.
(Mark Robertson)