Jazz breaking news: Schools Out at the Six
Thursday, December 5, 2013
Imagination, enthusiasm and the carefree vibrancy of youth (and that was just the audience) were out in force last night, 4 December, as the 2013 crop of Yamaha Jazz Scholars took over London’s 606 Jazz Club for the launch of The Yamaha New Jazz Sessions CD (pictured left), covermounted to the December issue of Jazzwise magazine.
com/leisure/jazz/jazzwise-mag" target="_blank">Imagination, enthusiasm and the carefree vibrancy of youth (and that was just the audience) were out in force last night, 4 December, as the 2013 crop of Yamaha Jazz Scholars took over London’s 606 Jazz Club for the launch of The Yamaha New Jazz Sessions CD (pictured left), covermounted to the December issue of Jazzwise magazine. Now in its sixth year, the Yamaha Jazz Scholars initiative and the resulting New Jazz Sessions CD launch have steadily become key annual events in the jazz calendar, helping to shine a light on hot young UK talent and give them the chance to record their work in a high-end studio set-up, often for the first time. Organized by Yamaha Music Europe in partnership with the All Party Parliamentary Appreciation Group, Jazzwise, PPL and the 606 Club, this important project has helped bring names such as pianist Kit Downes, saxophonist Josh Arcoleo, bassist Calum Gourlay, drummer Dave Hamblett and guitarist Alex Munk to far wider recognition amongst jazz audiences in Europe and beyond
The Jazz Scholars are each nominated by the Heads of Jazz at seven of the UK’s leading conservatoires and universities, and the 2013 musicians all displayed the high standards of musical skill, composition and creative individualism that have become a hallmark of the scheme. The CD launch presented a jammed bill of five groups, including bassist Angus Milne Trio, pianist Elliot Galvin Trio, drummer Lloyd Haines Quintet, pianist Peter Johnstone Trio and drummer David Ingamells Duo, to a highly appreciative crowd, which included big parliamentary figures such as Ken Clarke MP and Eric Pickles MP, packed in alongside APPJAG co-chair Michael Connarty MP and a host of jazz industry and Yamaha professionals.
Aside from artful drummer Lloyd Haines, a name we’ll be hearing a lot more of, who delivered a table-thumping romp through Monk’s rumbustious ‘Trinkle Tinkle’, the line-up was heavy on piano trios - perhaps not surprisingly given the ongoing trend – who all in their own ways strived to take the form in new directions. The Angus Milne Trio opened the box with space and subtle inward invention, while Elliot Galvin, a founder of the Chaos Collective, showed why he is already being touted as a major name to watch with unexpected quirky twists, riveting angular lines, strong composition and, importantly for a genre known for tight-bottomed seriousness, a wacky sense of humour. Surprise of the night however was the Peter Johnstone Trio, (pictured left) where the pianist/leader, who won Young Scottish Jazz Musician of the year 2012, moulded a robust compositional strength with the dynamic punch of EST and Phronesis and the micro-detailed labyrinthine lines of Brad Mehldau into his own muscular voice that, if there’s any justice, should be set to soar over the next few years.
– Jon Newey
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