This month we say farewell to saxophone stalwart Steve Field who is moving to Borehamwood in Hertfordshire to be nearer family. Like many local big band musicians, Steve earned his living outside music. After graduating and spending several years in research he came to Brighton in 1971 to study for a postgraduate certificate in education before teaching Maths and Physics for 40 years. He has also worked for several examination boards and is presently Principal Examiner for one of them. I asked him some questions.
How did you get into music?
I have always played the harmonica, probably because there was so much harmonica music on radio and television. My first LP was Larry Adler playing ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ and my first trip to Ronnie Scott’s was to see Toots Thielemans.
What got you interested in jazz?
While studying for mock O levels in the grim winter of 1962/63 my friends and I used to cheer each other up by meeting up and playing our LPs together.
Mine was Please Please Please Me by the Beatles. Someone brought along a Thelonious Monk album and when I heard the track Ruby My Dear I was knocked out by it and have listened to jazz ever since.
How did you become interested in Big Band music in particular ?
At university I lived in East London and it was easy to get into town, so I spent a lot of time at the 100 Club in Oxford Street.
My favourite band initially was the Alex Welsh Band but when I caught the Mike Westbrook Concert Band one night I was stunned by his compositions and the baritone playing of John Surman. Ronnie Scott had a nine-piece that I saw loads of times that had John Surman and Kenny Wheeler. It was a solitary existence because none of my friends were into the music. I once took a girl to see Westbrook at Ronnie Scott’s Old Place. Half way through the first set she asked me when they were going to finish tuning up and start playing something!
Over the next few years which took me to Bristol and Birmingham I saw Basie, Ellington, Buddy Rich, Stan Kenton, Thad Jones-Mel Lewis and Francy Boland-Kenny Clarke. Down in Brighton, John Dankworth was a frequent visitor.
How, and when, did you come to take up the saxophone.
I got to know tenorman Danny Moss when he ran a jazz club in Worthing. In 1977 he introduced me to a musician who sold me a second hand Yamaha alto. I bought the Tune A Day book for saxophone and taught myself the fingering and how to read music.
A few years ago I asked Phil Paton for a lesson. He told to make up a tune and play it in all twelve keys. Every time I see him he knows what I am going to say… “only another eleven to go”.
When and how did you acquire the other saxes?
From 1983 to 1986, I was playing in Nightshift, a six-piece jazz funk band with a singer. That is where I first met Phil. He and I were both on alto so I bought a new Yanagisawa soprano in 1984 to add a bit of variety. I helped to run a big band at the college where I was teaching and bought a new Yamaha tenor in 1999. Later on, two bands asked me to play baritone, so I went to Rupert Noble who did me a fantastic deal on a new Bauhaus Walstein bari.
Which other bands have you played with?
When I left teaching in 2010, I met up with John to watch Phil playing with the Paul Busby Band at The Brunswick. John invited me to join the Dave Masters Big Band (now the Brighton Big Band). Through BBB, I met Dave Eastman who asked me to join Downsbeat Swing Band, Dave Adkin who asked me to join Big Band Sounds and you, who asked me to join the Sussex Jazz Orchestra. Playing under Mark Bassey’s inspirational leadership at SJO has been an amazing experience. All those individuals mentioned above have been a constant source of encouragement during that time.
Pictured above: Steve performing with SJO, photo by Neil Garrett
Which bands have you played with most recently?
I joined those bands within a period of a few months and have played with them all, over the ensuing eleven years. Leading Downsbeat was a great experience with my limited musical knowledge and in recent weeks I have said tearful goodbyes to a lovely bunch of people in all those bands.
In addition I have depped for the Ronnie Smith Band and the Les Paul Big Band.
Have you any musical activity lined up for after your move?
Mark has given me a couple of contacts in London and I will be following those up as soon as I have unpacked my saxes. Also I will continue to participate in Mark’s online courses.
Pictured above: Steve leading Downsbeat Swing Band at Ropetackle Arts Centre. Photo by Patrick Billingham
Next time: Whatever news there is, assuming we’re still out of lockdown. If there is anything such as feedback on this column, that you would like me to include in forthcoming editions of Big Band Scene, please send it to me by Tuesday 25th January at g8aac@yahoo.co.uk.
]]>Charms of the Night Sky
(Winter & Winter)
New Jersey-born trumpeter Dave Douglas is a hard man to pin down, a prolific and protean musician whose output varies wildly according to who he is playing with. This is a man, after all, who dared to record a new version of Coltrane’s challenging Ascension with the Rova Saxophone quartet and extras in 1995, has played with John Zorn and numerous other leftfield performers, yet respects Jimmy Guiffre’s The Train and the River immensely, and was bold enough in 2013 to set out to perform in each of the 50 states of the USA. Nothing really defines Douglas expect his exceptional versatility, and his impeccable musical ear.
So my choice of a Douglas recording is, while obviously not typical of his work, certainly an outstanding example of him at his best. In 1997 he formed a quartet featuring Guy Klucevsek on accordion, Mark Feldman on violin, and Greg Cohen on bass – note the absence of drums – to incorporate the often plaintive and contemplative sounds of Argentinian and Eastern European folk music with jazz influences. The group, and the debut set, were known as Charms of the Night Sky, a suitable name for such an aesthetically graceful outfit.
The album works best because of the contrast between the clean, elegiac trumpet lines of Douglas set against the arthritic accordion of Klucevsek and the tentative violin lines of Feldman, Cohen keeping a gentle pulse throughout. It is all delightfully unhurried – although jovially picking up pace occasionally – and in places quite melancholic, but there is also a timeless element to it. The tunes are all Douglas’s, except the three linked Mugshots by Klucevsek, and Herbie Hancock’s Little One, which fits in perfectly.
Difficult to categorise this set, which makes it all the more listenable, and all the more essential.
Simon Adams
]]>2022 sees a new place to experience live jazz. The Winter Garden in Eastbourne will host jazz artists from the local area, together with acclaimed acts from around the UK.
If you’d like tickets for these concerts you can get 10% off the ticket price using the coupon code SJMXMAS10 when buying tickets via the Devonshire Park Jazz Sessions site, https://www.jazzbournemusic.com
The coupon code is only valid until 7th January 2022.
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In this issue Charlie Anderson interviews bassist and composer Terry Pack ahead of the ‘Conference of the Trees’, a festival at Ropetackle Arts Centre in Shoreham in January that features bands associated with Terry Pack’s Trees.
Simon Adams discusses Jump, the debut album from Myra Melford, in his Jazz Essentials column.
We also have album reviews by Eddie Myer who reviews new releases from Jelly Cleaver, Kevin Figes, Harvey / O’Higgins Project, Alex Hitchcock and Kinetica Bloco.
You will also find Big Band Scene, our regular big band column by Patrick Billingham, together with listings for December.
]]>Once an important naval, military and industrial area, it has been for some years undergoing extensive urban regeneration supported by Greenwich Council and other property developers. Some of those investments are already visible in the Riverside area in the development ‘Royal Arsenal Riverside’ which regenerated an abandoned historical area into a vibrant neighbourhood to be the centre of the Greenwich Cultural district.
The new local venue – Woolwich Works – is a project by the Royal Borough of Greenwich to turn five heritage industrial buildings into a new landmark cultural hub for London.
The beautiful venue, comprised of several large to mid-size performance spaces, bars and a café, just opened in September and is partially operating with a full programme of concerts and other events. Resident companies include National Youth Jazz Orchestra, Chineke! Orchestra, Luca Silvestrini’s Protein dance theatre, theatre-makers Punchdrunk and Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair.
I’ve been based at Royal Arsenal for the last 4 years and when I reached out to the Woolwich Works team they were very open to collaborations with me as a local music promoter.
In October I curated a show by Carmen Souza and Theo Pascal, two award-winning composers and musicians from Cape Verde and Portugal, part of the Black History Month.
In November, as part of the EFG London Jazz Festival 2021 , I’m excited to announce a Jazznewblood partnership with Woolwich Works to host the annual showcase -JazznewbloodALIVE – on November 20th. This is an event that I produce and curate.
The showcase will run 6 different sets starting at 2:30pm, presenting 8 different young talented composers and jazz artists.
The 2021 line-up features Allexa Nava, Kielan Sheard, Scottie Thompson, Morgan Wallace, Miles Mindlin, Sultan Stevenson, Maddy Coombs and XVNGO.
More info and tickets here:
https://www.jazznewblood.org/22-nov-2021
The Woolwich Works team shows commitment to presenting a programme that reflects diversity and supports gender equality. With that in mind, together we curated a new series of concerts called W.LED JAZZ, also part of the EFG London Jazz Festival, over a period of 2 days – Nov.16 and Nov.17. The series focuses on ensembles led by female musicians featuring rising stars like Ms. Maurice by Sheila Maurice-Grey, Juanita Euka, Rosie Frater-Taylor, Rachael Cohen, Raquel Martins and PLUMM.
For tickets and information, please go to:
https://www.woolwich.works/events/w-led-jazz-series-part-1
https://www.woolwich.works/events/w-led-jazz-series-part-2
This new cultural hub faces a lot of challenges in such a socially divided community as Woolwich. But if there is anything with the power to unite and create bonds among people, it is art. All we have to do is support and nurture these essential spaces of culture.
Patricia Pascal
(photo of Sultan Stevenson by Patricia Pascal)
]]>The issue features a piece by Patricia Pascal who writes about London’s new venue Woolwich Works, with upcoming performances from trumpeter Sheila Maurice-Grey who is featured on our front cover (photo by Toby Coulson).
Live painter Gina Southgate interviews both Sheila Maurice-Grey and fellow trumpeter Charlotte Keeffe, and includes paintings that Gina has done of them at Jazz In The Round.
Charlie Anderson interviews Mark Lewandowski. The bassist from Nottingham, who is now resident in New York, is releasing his new album Under One Sky this month.
Simon Adams discusses the classic John Coltrane album My Favorite Things in his Jazz Essentials column.
You will also find Big Band Scene, our regular big band column by Patrick Billingham, together with listings for November.
]]>There’s been a few! Perhaps one of the challenges throughout has been trying to find a balance of staying true & respectful to the original material but still allowing myself to have a voice as a composer and reimagine the songs to challenge and show off the incredible band!
How did you first get into jazz?
I started playing music through having piano and clarinet lessons while at school – I’d listened to little bits of jazz here and there but it wasn’t until starting saxophone lessons at 14 that I started playing more of the music. I actually played saxophone in a couple of the NYJO Academy bands when I was in sixth form which is where I learnt so much about improvisation, playing with other people and big band music.
What did you learn most from your time at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire?
I studied jazz saxophone at RBC – and during my time there I learnt a lot (I’d had very little formal jazz training before) and met so many of my closest friends. What I learnt the most however is perhaps perseverance – there were a whole lot of challenges during my time studying there but despite this, I knew I wanted to be in this industry; I worked hard and managed to find what I was the most passionate about – composition & large ensemble leading!
How has NYJO helped you develop as a composer and arranger?
There’s very few professional level jazz orchestras that regularly rehearse and gig in the UK so it’s a luxury to have this amazing band of supportive friends and peers playing my music. Since leaving RBC in 2019 it has been vital for me to continue learning and growing as a jazz orchestra composer and NYJO has been the perfect opportunity for that.
Who are your favourite arrangers?
Whether I’m doing an arrangement or my own composition, I’m influenced by a lot of arrangers/composers: Duke Ellington, Kenny Wheeler, Maria Schneider, Miho Hazama, Bob Brookmeyer – there’s so many!
What can audiences expect to hear at the concerts?
It’s a celebration of Amy Winehouse’s beautiful songwriting while reimagining some iconic hits to fit a contemporary jazz orchestra. It’s hopefully a good time!
Is there a piece that you’ve arranged that has a special meaning to you personally?
I really like the lyrics to Wake Up Alone… it’s a really special one which I hadn’t actually heard before starting this project, but it’s a beautiful song.
What plans do you have for the future?
I have a few projects with my own music and my own jazz orchestra in the pipeline … potentially trying to plan an album recording for next year! I love directing and leading a jazz orchestra and so as long as I’m doing that I’m happy!
https://www.oliviamurphymusic.com
The National Youth Jazz Orchestra will celebrate the life and music of their former member Amy Winehouse on Thursday 7th October 2021 at De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea.
Photo by Ellie Koepke.
]]>Yes, there is a lot of Amy Winehouse tributes around, but what makes our show special, the fact that Amy was the featured singer with NYJO when she was 16, with myself being on the original Frank album session in 2003, we will be celebrating the life and works of Amy with a big band of 24 musicians on stage, playing the re-imagined songs of Amy Winehouse, no-one else in the country will sound like this!
What repertoire will you focus on?
We will be taking inspiration and repertoire from the Frank and Back To Black albums, as well as touching on a couple of songs from the Lioness: Hidden Treasure compilation album, these were songs that Amy recorded before or around the time she recorded her Frank album but were previously unreleased.
Tell us about the arrangements for the concert.
We have an amazing composer/arranger called Olivia Murphy who holds the composer’s chair in NYJO, amongst her achievements, she has won the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Jazz Composers Prize in both 2018 & 2019 and most recently won the Jazzlife Alliance’s Young Composer Award which will see her go on to work with some of the most prolific jazz artists of today.
Olivia has made these concerts accessible to the listening ear by taking Amy’s songs and re-imagining them for the big band, from the dramatic moody opening of Back to Black which then snaps into the 60’s style beat that Amy so loved to a New Orleans style, hand clapping, feet stomping version of Valerie, which will get you up and dancing!
Some of the arrangements have been stretched beyond the imagination, whilst other songs have kept their form, making this concert a not to be missed for those who like to hear something a little different whilst retaining the true core and vibe of Amy’s music.
Amy Winehouse had an amazing talent and persona, so how do you re-create her magic on stage?
We have an amazing singer in Lucy-Anne Daniels who will be putting her own vibe into the songs, with her lush voice, you will get lost in her interpretation of the songs, whilst enjoying every moment!
The National Youth Jazz Orchestra will celebrate the life and music of their former member Amy Winehouse on Thursday 7th October at De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea.
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Originally I was a trumpet player in the Jazz Orchestra while I was studying music in London. I kept playing with the band from about 21 up to the cut-off age of 25 but the founding Music Director, Bill Ashton, asked me to stay on to direct the rehearsals and run some educational workshops. Following that, when Bill retired, I applied for the job of Music Director, which has grown to become Artistic and Music Director since that time as NYJO’s activities have evolved.
What music will you be performing at Haywards Heath on 16th October?
It will be a mixture of original compositions by me from my album ‘Coastbound’ and some jazz standards from my favourite jazz composers and performers, such as Miles Davis, Duke Ellington and Count Basie.
You’ll be conducting/performing with a NYJO Sextet. How will that be different from the full orchestra?
Normally I direct the full orchestra and maybe play an occasional trumpet solo so it will be a real treat to be performing all the way through. In a small group much of the communication and direction is done by instinct rather than talking and gestures so by playing small group music in the authentic way it gives all of us a chance to refine and develop our jazz instincts.
NYJO recently moved to new premises, Woolwich Works in South East London. How are you finding it?
It’s a fantastic facility with lovely rehearsal spaces and for the first time for us the office and rehearsal space will all be in the same building. We were lucky to be able to get in while it was still under construction and it’s been amazing watching the facilities grow and get finished while we were rehearsing. The opening ceremony last week was a real celebration of the local community and the importance of the Arts in everyone’s lives so a real privilege to be able to take part in that too.
NYJO Sextet & Mark Armstrong play at the Haywards Heath Music Society, St Wilfrid’s Church, Church Road, Haywards Heath on Saturday 16th October, 2021.
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Your new album is out on 17th September, and it’s the first one on your own record label.
That’s right. I’m so excited I can’t tell you. It’s been a long time coming but we’re there. It’s ready. It’s very exciting.
You did two albums before with Ubuntu. How different was it doing an album for your own label?
To be honest, I was quite involved in the other two albums because I presented them to Ubuntu once I had recorded them and sorted out the artwork etc. But this time round it’s just been very, very involved because from every stage it has been me. It’s been very much a learning experience and also challenging at times as well, with things that you didn’t think about before. For example, registering everybody and making sure I get all of that right, ordering the inventory, distribution and so on. Whereas before I just handed in the album and hoped for the best but now I’m very much involved in every process. It’s been a learning experience but I’m so so happy that I’ve done it and I’m excited to see where the label goes. We’ve got a lot of projects lined up already which is quite incredible really. So it’s all very exciting.
How did you first get into playing trumpet?
I started playing trumpet in secondary school. It was completely by chance. I’m not from a musical family, by any means, but once I started secondary school we had a very incredible music teacher there called Joe Morgan. We all had to do music in year 7, that was compulsory. But after that you specialised a bit more in subjects. He asked me if I wanted to learn an instrument and I thought ‘why is he asking me?’ but then I thought why not. At that stage I had no real musical knowledge of the different instruments. I knew a piano if I saw one, and maybe a drum kit and guitar but apart from that I just had no idea. I was under the impression that we would have the lessons in a group. I asked one of my best friends at the time what he was choosing and he chose trumpet and guitar, so I put down trumpet and guitar. He ended up with the guitar and I ended up with the trumpet.
That’s how it all started. But to tell you the truth, not long after that, after a few months I joined Kinetica Bloco, where there’s 140 kids, with brass, steel pans, dancers and drummers. I was like ‘Woh!’ and that’s where it sparked my interest straight away. So I was very lucky in that sense. From the beginning I just totally fell in love with it, just from going to Kinetica and meeting people like Claude Deppa, Andy Grappy and Mat Fox. I caught the bug straight away. From then on, after I finished their summer school, I was telling my mum ‘Yes, I want to be a musician’. She just thought ‘Alright, son’ but I didn’t really look back. From then on it was ‘this is what I want to do, it’s what makes me happy’.
So how did jazz come into it?
The jazz came into it with Kinetica, mainly world music with a bit of Afrobeat, we did a bit of South African music like Abdullah Ibrahim, and English folk songs. It was world music. I did that until I was 14 or 15, up to year 9 and 10. That was when I started going to Tomorrow’s Warriors through Kinetica because a lot of the more advanced players were going there. Eventually I just tagged along. So I then went on to Tomorrow’s Warriors and that was where the serious jazz begun. In Kinetica there were loads of us, in the brass section there were 40-50 of us alone. It was just a big sound and you were just part of the mess, whereas when I went to Tomorrow’s Warriors it was a lot smaller, more specialised and in smaller groups. So there was a lot more room for improvisation. I would solo a little bit in Kinetica but there were so many of us whereas when I went to Tomorrow’s Warriors there was more of an opportunity to find your own sound within the group.
Around 14-16 is when I really got into jazz. I was obsessed with Clifford Brown, the Max Roach Quintet and Miles Davis. I knew that this was what I wanted to do.
Gary Crosby and Tomorrow’s Warriors have the ethos of ‘each one, teach one’. That’s something that you’ve gone on to do.
Most definitely. That’s very accurate when I look back now to when I was doing Tomorrow’s Warriors. It’s set up in different tiers. You have the teeny warriors, then the development group (which was where I was at) and then you started to get the bands that formed from that. So there’s always a band that’s formed. When I was in it we had Rhythmica, which had Mark Crown, Peter Edwards and all of those guys who I suppose were in their early twenties. If you asked them for a lesson they’d be like ‘of course’. I remember going to Trinity and getting lessons from Mark. You also have the more professional bands like Jazz Jamaica, Jazz Jamaica All Stars. Even those guys, every time you asked them for a lesson they’d be like ‘sure, come by’. So it was just what I was used to. Whenever anyone asked me for a lesson I’d be the same. It’s the model that I’ve been raised with. Kinetica also has a nurturing thing. A lot of us that started there younger are now teaching at Kinetica as mentors. It’s very much part of my identity as a musician.
What upcoming releases do you have planned for Banger Factory Records?
The main reason I started Banger Factory Records was because The Banger Factory – it’s a band but especially the last 3 years barring the pandemic, it’s become more of a community. We’ve got the core unit but then there’s loads of people that are within the London jazz scene that are also involved in the Banger Factory. It’s a community of musicians within the London jazz scene. We’ve all got similar interests: we’re chasing this sound. Because we’ve played together so much there’s a unified sound within those different projects, even though it’s completely different music. We’re together and we hang together so much outside of playing that there’s that consistency of sound. When we started the label our first release was going to be Arashi No Ato and our next release was actually going to be a project with me and Artie Zaitz. It’s my first piano album and he’s on Hammond organ. We recorded this album last year and that was supposed to be the second project but then Kinetica Bloco were doing a 21st anniversary celebration recording.
So many people have come out of Kinetica. We’ve got Nubya Garcia, Sheila Maurice-Grey, Theon Cross, so many people. Kinetica said ‘well, you’re starting a label and we can’t think of anyone else who represents us more than you’ . So that will be our second release in September called The Kinetica Bloco All Star Recording. Then we have the Zaitz and Kavuma album out in February next year.
There’s a few projects already lined up because we’ve been recording quite a lot during lockdown. Over the next three years there are quite a few things that are going to come out on the label, which is very exciting.
What’s the meaning of ‘Arashi No Ato’?
Arashi No Ato means ‘after the storm’ in Japanese. We recorded the album just before the pandemic happened. I was like ‘okay, there goes the plan for that release’. But as we worked on it through the pandemic the phrase ‘after the storm’ just kind of stuck. I loved how it sounded in Japanese. I think it’s quite fitting that it’s coming out when it is.
Is there a standout track on the album?
There is one very unique combination on there which is Love Will Find A Way, which has the tuba playing the melody. That was very special, with Theon Cross playing the melody. In the studio he was like ‘man, I haven’t actually played a melody on anything for a long time’. Throughout the album there are quite a few special combinations, of people and instrumentation.
The last track is very different with all of the vocalists.
Yeah, I suppose it highlights the wider community of The Banger Factory on that last track. That also links to the Kinetica album as well because a lot of the people on that last track will be on that Kinetica album or have been involved with it in some way.
The track is One More River by Sam Cooke. Just before the pandemic started I was listening to that song a lot, and even when we got into the pandemic it was just very fitting. So I’m just happy that we got it on the album and we got all those people on there. The people on there are either Kinetica related people or the band member’s girlfriends. So there’s that link. It was very much a family affair. Mussinghi is on there, his son is on the cover, his partner and his brother and then the band members and their girlfriends. It’s very much a community vibe, with the band and the concept. I think that’s what makes it stand out and makes it special.
Arashi No Ato by Mark Kavuma and The Banger Factory is released by Banger Factory Records on Friday 17th September, 2021.
Mark Kavuma and The Banger Factory perform at The Brighton Jazz Festival, Palace Pier on Saturday 2nd October, 2021.
Photo by Joe Hart.
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