Venue:
The Union Chapel, Islington.
Date: 28/02/2015
One of the series of “Daylight Music” free lunchtime gigs put on by Arctic Circle on most Saturdays at the venue.
They were a sixteen-piece band on this occasion (lineup seems to vary), including the composer/arranger/conductor. Two trombones, trumpet, tuba, soprano sax/flute, alto sax, two tenor saxes, baritone sax, piano/electric guitar, electronics/laptop, electric bass, drums, percussion, vocalist and conductor.
These folks are probably big Sun Ra fans, judging by the sound and subject matter. They were playing selections from a forthcoming album about the future colonisation of Mars, “A Place Glowing A Brilliant Red”.
Excellent dynamics, going from total floor-shaking blasts of brass to playing quietly enough to hear the percussionist playing the triangle. Funky rhythm section, well-scored brass ensemble parts and some good free-jazz-squalling wackiness when required. The female singer knows how to sing convincingly in proper-jazz style and all the brass players apart from the tuba guy and the 2nd trombonist played good-to-excellent solos during the performance.
They have a previous album available (which I purchased on CD for a tenner) entitled “From Scratch to Structure”, which is a 7-movement suite about the rise of human civilisation from the invention of language to where we might possibly be heading. These guys obviously don’t shy away from the big concepts.
The audience:
The sort of people you’d expect of a Saturday lunchtime gig in a fairly well-heeled part of North London. Professional types in weekend casualwear and creatives mostly, with kids in tow, sipping tea and munching the cake and quiche served from the kitchen near the entrance. The little 3y.o. (my guess) blonde girl sitting with her mum and slightly older sibling next to me, seemed perfectly happy with the squealing and blasting brass. The band went down a storm with the punters.
It made me think..
As soon as I spotted the tuba, parked near the back of the stage and also spotted the baritone saxophonist and two trombonists, I knew I was probably going to like it. It also made me think it must be a labour of love, as you couldn’t possibly make a living from a sixteen-piece band in 2015.
Let’s see if this Soundcloud preview of their forthcoming album shows up here.
That sounds like a treat. Thank heavens that there are musicians for whom fulfilling their vision is as important as making some money.
Inspiring to read about.
Ahhhh, I’m really sorry I didn’t get to Daylight Music this week, sounds like it was a good one. I particularly wanted to see the Jam Tarts Choir, were they good?
Jam Tarts choir were very good.
An all-pop repertoire, starting with a 2-Door Cinema Club cover and carrying on via “She’s Lost Control”, a Smiths song and “Wuthering Heights”. 60 singers onstage, with piano and occasional trumpet. Some very nice piano indeed, in between the acts from a very self-effacing guy whose name I can’t recall just now.
The opening act was pretty good too. Hayward & Parsons are two guys singing unaccompanied (and unamplified). 2-part folk harmony singing of a very high standard.
All in all, a few hours very well spent. The sausage roll with onion and mushrooms that I had was very tasty too.
Tom Chadd was the chap on the piano this week!
I love daylight music and am pretty sure it would appeal to a lot of Afterworders. As an Arctic Circle volunteer I’ll keep plugging away at gtting a few more to come and join us for a lunchtime gig. Who knows, maybe we could organise a saturday afternoon breakout mingle with music and a beer after.