So yesterday I mentioned an event I was getting some imagery together for that led me to theInfinite Jukebox. Well this is the gig. Coming out of the Jazz Warriors International stable which is programming all over this year’s London Jazz Festival, it’s rooted in Cleveland Watkiss’s and Orphy Robinson’s ambition to disrupt the stagnant convention of the jazz jam session that they set out to achieve with “Black Top” at Café Oto in Dalston and “Freedom” at Charlie Wrights in Hoxton. Copies of the (un)Real Book are in shreds in the bins outside these venues.
This ambition is not about trashing jazz, but rather re-establishing the values of jazz – cultural syncretism, improvisation and innovation. If the African-American slaves and (self) liberated African-Caribbean musicians that came together in Congo Square had loop machines, samplers and effects units they’d be doing what these guys are doing. But they didn’t in the middle of the 19th century. They had drums, the traditional rhythms of which transformed as they met with the classical instruments, melodies and harmonies brought to New Orleans by visiting Haitians and other Caribbean ex-pats. So we’ll be bringing the spirit of Congo Square with 21st Century technology tothe Pavilion Room above the Vibe Bar in Brick Lane on Tuesday 19th November.
There’s been a last minute venue change, but an appropriate one as the Vibe Bar is where Cleveland and I started our own cultural revolution in technology and live music and art with Club 21st Century back in 1998. So this one’s pretty special for us and it’s gonna be BIG.
We’ll be kicking off with live sets from UNIVERSAL MIND SYSTEMS and PARSHMAUNE before getting into a no-holds-barred 21st century jam led by Steve Lawson, Orphy Robinson & Cleveland Watkiss ”dedicated to exploring sound, frequencies, looping and sampling”.
Visual interaction will of course be provided by yours truly closing the multi-sensory circle or loop(sorry had to go there!).
Oh and it’s free for jam session participants. So make this your Jazz Festival priority and get down to Brick Lane for 7pm.
Facebook Event Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/179726588884784/
