Keep going to the gigs

This weekend the Vortex held a festival for the dynamic Loop Collective. The club was packed for 4 days, with festival promoters from France such as Jazzdor in Strasbourg and journalists including Michael Ruesenberg from WDR in Cologne.
14 bands over the period, including BBC Jazz Award winners Fraud, Gwilym Simcock as a great sideman with Sam Crockatt, Blink, Outhouse......
I made the introductions and spoke to many of the delighted fans. Several even made clear that they found a Valentine's Day in a packed jazz club listening to these band a highly romantic experience. One called Phronesis "pure sex on stage"! Do you agree?
But I forgot to say one important thing. And that is, that people should not think that going to a day of a festival is enough. They need to keep going to gigs throughout the year, wherever and whenever they are. The quality of the music here is amazing and even quite accessible. That's what the festival showed. For bands: no need to underestimate your audiences. For audiences: the music's out there. Go and find it.

Vortex Music Market, 22 February

The Vortex is running its first monthly music market on 22 February from 1-5 p.m.

11 Gillett Square, London N16 8JH
100 yards from Dalston Kingsland station, many buses!

Free for exhibitors and purchasers.
Vinyl, CDs, private collections, private collectors, labels, all welcome.

Nice coffee and food at Ochre Works downstairs.

"This sounds like a rather pleasant way of returning the social dimension to record buying."
(JazzUK, February 2009 editorial)

With shops disappearing and chances for jazz labels to get their music out there declining, this is a way of solving the problem?

To display contact oliver@vortexjazz.co.uk for more information.

More jazz to find or miss

Following on my previous blog about finding jazz hidden away all over the place in London, I return frustrated to have missed a performance of Sonos E Memoria, with Sardinian musicians led by trumpeter Paolo Fresu of which here is Part 1

Misha Alperin is in town soon on 18 February at Kings Place (overlapping with Uri Caine in Greenwich). There's also an interview with Mikhail Rudy who's doing the show with him.
Also watch out for Chris Dave at Charlie Wright's on Wednesday next week. Though I'll be enjoying Liam Noble at the Vortex launching his divine Brubeck album (And of course selling it at my shop!)
Here's some of Chris Dave with his trio.

Progrock and jazz

Progrock seems to where many of the musicians ended in the late 60s and early 70s ended up who didn't want to go into pure rock and didn't feel at ease in the jazz world. Intriguingly, musicians such as Robert Wyatt and Bill Bruford have hooked up more with the younger jazzers in recent years (e.g. Earthworks).
The influence of the classical and intellectual has permeated jazz more and more in recent years, especially as young musicians are able to study in the conservatoires. It also has a common feature with much of jazz today (as pointed out in an article by Laura Barnett in the Guardian) that it has been a male dominated world -even if changing. Though she did forget to mention that the Vortex has an all-female big band (The Vortex Foundation Big Band) with a Babel release!

How to run a jazz club?

Through Seb Scotney, of the LondonJazz blog, pointed out an article about Ronnie Scott's and its present general manager Simon Cooke in the Times recently. Certainly it shows that there is a different mentality that has to run a jazz club in the West End, with high rents and overheads, in contrast with Dalston. Whether it is true to the "spirit" of the music over there is another matter. But perhaps there is no choice? Running a jazz club is a balance between creativity, the musicians and the audiences. They have to feel at home, because that, in my view, generates the buzz that makes a jazz gig special. Given the "looseness" that much jazz has live, it is essential that the ambiance is right. If the club is too prim and proper, then this is lost. "Scruffy", a word used insultingly by Simon Cooke, is not necessarily a negative. As long as it is controlled scruffiness.
The Vortex is having a great period in terms of music and audiences. Over 300 people through the door on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. And not with an "easy" range of music - Buffalo Collision (Tim Berne, Hank Roberts, Ethan Iverson, Dave King), Carol Grimes (returning to live performance after a lay-off through injury after 6 months), London Jazz Orchestra doing the music of Pete Hurt and our Vocals@Vortex night. Tonight, weather willing, it's Yaron Herman and Curios.
It's been, and always will be, very much a case of evolution not revolution. A lot of patience, such as a late night celebration with Carol after the gig, meaning that I got home at close to 3 a.m. A lovely crowd of volunteers who believe in the club. The continued involvement of David Mossman, as founder and everything else.
It was so flattering that Rod Youngs, playing for the singers' night, was so thrilled by the night that he gave me a warm embrace on departure, insisting that we get an extension built asap!
By getting this right - and having a patient landlord to ensure that this occurs - the club is ready to survive the slings and arrows of the recession that we are now in.
So is there a correct way to start and run a jazz club? I don't think so. There is certainly no Jazz Club 101 course at business schools. Long may that be the case. Adaptability, flexibility, creativity.