Happy Birthday Harry

The music for Harry’s birthday was jumpy and oblique. Tim Willis was the guitarist and composer for The End and Harry was Tim’s nephew. I’m not sure how this music fitted a sixth birthday (this is not the Wiggles) and also not sure how you contemplate modern jazz that produces these sounds. This is such a different music from Miles or, it seems to me, even one of their cited influences, The Bad Plus. I thought perhaps there was surf music in it or rockabilly and even metal. Tim just called it jazz and I was admonished by a mate for seeking categories. Whatever, I find all this refreshing, and this no less than other new forms. There were solos, especially against long crescendos. There were some very complex unison ostinatos, behind drum solos but also elsewhere. There were passages of immense quietness which surprised me given a quintet lineup with two horns. The music wasn’t really loud, even if there were some spots that were. There were drums that were immensely controlled or alternatively explosive. There were guitar and sax solos that were malleable or even purposely indecisive in pitch and richly changing in perverse harmonies. There were melodies that went with and against harmonies, and ones that responded to rhythm section calls. There was guitar that was woody and echoing and dirty as but also simply melodic, even in keys that clashed dissonantly with underlying chords. There was repetition in the rhythm section, with e-bass clarity on Fender Jazz, yet there was also zestful simultaneous soloing on two horns with guitar. There were lots of odd time signatures and changes despite an unnerving apparent simplicity. There was all this, over entertaining melodies that spoke of simplicity and humour. But this is not simple. Not really like The Wiggles.

Great show. There’s a huge variety of jazz happening these days with all historical forms existing together in a formless postmodern quantum realm with influences from wherever. This music that embraces the quirkiest to the most serious and the endless combinations they make. What is jazz? Who knows, but ya gotta love it.

The End comprises Tim Willis (leader, guitarist, composer), John Felstead (tenor), Jack Beeche (alto), Gareth Hill (electric bass), and Nick Martyn (drums).