Soweto Kinch

with Abram Wilson

Jazz at the Cultch Series


 

 

Date 8 August 2005 at 20.00 Venue Vancouver East Cultural Centrel

Reviewer Kulpreet Sasan


Sweto Kinch is the hot commodity in British Jazz these days. A self-taught musician, he approaches his instrument with a genuine flair and sense of drama. His original sounds remarkable not only for their ferocity and originality but also for their approachablity: he manages to make some of the most avant-garde expressions of modern jazz instrumentalism fully accessible.

The notes don’t leave his instrument and enter the world: they jump out of it. He pushes them out into space, they take off hundreds at a time, disappearing like Pacific waves crashing against the islands shorelines. There is an apparent frenetic energy and pure physicality to his playing that animates the performance and gives it meaning. There is no sense of tragedy being turned into joy, or an attempt at leasant varnish. All the highs and lows, pips, squeaks , and howls are put forth and celebrated for their brief existence. The audience, impressed by the audacity of the playing, is left with little to do but applaud in co-celebration with the artist. And this was just the start of the show.

The next apex was reached when Kinch was joined on stage by trumpeter Abram Wilson. Together the two weaved melodies and combined textures like some kind of musical alchemists. Wilson has a smooth lounge tones that ring back memories of Chet Baker and Miles Davis. The two played off each other, attuning each solo to the one that had gone before and constantly building an organic more holistic unit.

They created the kind of silky, playful, lounge tones that captivated and enthralled the audience. One minute we would be treated to a most eloquent ballad with long intervals, clear tones, and notes held for extended period. The next song would find the band shifting into free improvisations that privilege volume, pips, squeaks and kind of dirty awareness of the instrument before shifting to kind of playful rap (yes, rap) and vocal styling more commonly associated with MTV than institutional jazz.

 

 

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This transition led to one of the show's most exhilarating elements: Kinch’s ability to illustrate the connections between the histories of improvisational jazz to contemporary hip-hop free style. This effortless ability to connect one with the other, to illustrate how the same kinds of improvisational skills required to find interesting melodic elements in the standard jazz form are required to compose and deliver a free-style hip-hop verse in real time was literally a mind-opening event.

He illustrated this most clearly by improvising lyrics based on four words he collected from the audience and composing an interesting and slightly maddening rhyme. This delivery was musical, amusing, reeking of talent, and just exhilarating to witness, like a trapeze artist working without a net. All the while the band was providing a funky backdrop of beats and constantly shifting textures.

Another highlight was the audience participation portion of the evening when the seemingly conservative members of the audience were singing on cue the lyrics “Jazz Planet, Jazz Planet” while Kinch and Wilson delivered rhymes about an imagined planet where art and jazz voracity would be privileged over accounting (poor accountants) and other stable professions.

The rhythm section consisting of Neil Charles on double bass and Troy Miller on drums, were impressive to say the very least. They played with verve and style and constantly created shifting rhythms and structures that forced Kinch to stay on his toes. Charles was particularly amazing in many of his solos throughout the night. His tone was clear, confident, assertive, almost brazen. Miller had a fascinating sense of rhythmic control and propelled the songs forward with zeal and energy, finding just the right time to fill and shift tones and styles.

© 2005 Kulpreet Sasan


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