Out of the woodwork

I don't write about every one of my jazz gigs; only for something or someone of note. Tilt played at the Olims Ainslie pub again and it was a great night. Cheers to Nitya who attended and sat in on tenor for a few standards. I played with Nitya when I was returning to jazz, sometime before the onset of CJ. Thrilling from a bass POV was getting out my NS NXT electric double bass. Bought off eBay sometime ago and never played by me in performance. After years on 6-string electric, I had reverted to four string and decided to settle on that (all my practicing had reverted to 4-string double), and, given I've never played 5-string, this (5-stringer) is not optimal and just a little confusing. But it's nice to change back to double bass jazz techniques. The style and approach is different, the rhythms and syncopations sit nicely and are more jazz-contemporary (my busy beat subdivisions on bass guitar are more funky than jazzy) and the thumpy tone of the piezo with these undetermined strings is to die for. So, a good gig and a discovery of something sitting in my cupboard. And a great topic of conversation, and that never hurt any band.

Tilt played at the Ainslie pub. Tilt are James Woodman (piano), Dave McDade (drums) and Eric Pozza (bass: NS NXT). Nitya Bernard Parker (tenor) sat in for a few standards.

Spectroscopics

Raman are mates and I played with Mike and Nitya sometime back when I got back into jazz. I caught them at Smiths. They play around with groove styles, it seems mostly grooves designed by Mike, along with some Indian influences form Nitya. I first thought of Japanese noodles but they are spelt with an e. This spelling suggests Raman spectroscopy from the physicist who discovered the Raman effect (light scattering thorough transparent materials causing changed wavelengths) but I doubt the group thinks of that during a performance. Mike is strong on guitar with a well-developed use of pedals. His guitar can scream. Nitya adds a range of acoustic colours: concert flute and various bamboo flutes, alto clarinet and tenor and soprano sax. Perhaps my favourite was his Indian influenced wordless vocals in the liveliest tune I heard, variously called Sitar and blind snake and Broken sitar and snake. I guess the contested title is a running joke. Certainly, I couldn't guess the title from the wordless melody, but it felt authentic and wordly and had a nice drive. The groove was stronger and the solos easier on this one, the length more indulgent and the tones varied, with solos from guitar and wooden flute and soprano sax. Otherwise, this is instrumentals, blues tunes, virtually unnamed numbers like Groove no.5 and Mike's other song and Mike's blues. But they range widely, as with Highland swing and a latin called Sail. The latin felt comfy; the Highland swing didn't particularly say Scotland to my ears, but it worked as another attractive groove. Good to see old mates playing the scene; too little catchups otherwise.

Raman are Nitya (saxes, flutes, clarinet), Mike Mamontov (guitar), Alan Lee (bass) and Andrew Howard (drums).

For the sake of melody

RAAN was one to close my eyes for. I heard them at the Front. It’s small and intimate. There are never many in the audience and the seats are comfy. RAAN mention that they are influenced by a range of jazz styles as well as Indian classical and European music. I know Nitya from way back and I expected no less. There is jazz here, but the chords are basic and long repeated. But harmonies are European; melody is Asian and Indian. Certainly, I could hear jazz in Nitya’s various saxes and flutes, but also a clear Indian influence. I closed my eyes and was taken away. One Alan provided a steady and mostly uncluttered bass from an interesting fretless acoustic bass. Other Allan’s drums sometimes locked the rhythm and gave it ongoing movement. I liked this, even if it’s a sign of a Western orientation. Othertimes, he played more freely, with colour more than solidity. Either, way, it worked. But perhaps the thing I most enjoyed was the interplay of horn and piano. Pianist Raph is an elegant and clear player. I enjoyed how he echoed melodies from Nitya with melodic accuracy and a sharp rhythmic sense. So, with my eyes closed, I heard a more expansive music than I noticed with eyes opened. With eyes opened, the hords were simple and the rhythms repetitive. With eyes closed, the minimal world-music feel became exploratory and coloured and vibrant. There were substitutions and the like, but this was more a modal, melodic exploration. I have, just in recent days, looked again at the simplest of the Patitucci bass etudes to explore the scale degrees that his etudes are based on. In a major, he avoids the tonic as a passing note. In place, he highlights 7ths, 9ths, runs arpeggios outside 1-3-5, all with fingering apt to the double bass. It’s enlightening and the melodies it makes are different. This music had something of the same melodic feel within the scale. Just one scale, perhaps, but more than just obvious chordal notes to explore it. RAAN may sound more world than jazz to me, but it’s all so mixed up these days that these distinctions are of little purpose other than to orientate. RAAN paints a minimal picture, but it’s nicely expansive with eyes closed and ears open. RAAN are Nitya Bernard Parker (saxes, clarinet, flutes), Raph Wong (piano), Alan Lee (bass) and Allan Penicook (drums)

Nitya plays pop!

My mate Nitya studied at the Jazz School years back, but his interests are really outside that sphere. He played a solo set today at the Beyond Q Bookshop this afternoon, and I went along for a listen. I expected Indian flutes and scales, but mostly got singer-songwriter fare, but it was well chosen and expressed Nitya’s serious and personal side. There was a poetic Leonard Cohen tune that I didn’t recognise, Louis Armstrong’s What a wonderful world, Carole King's You've got a friend, and the like, all played with conviction and sentiment. This was a selection of the more profound end of the pop spectrum, and they are decent tunes and ones that I enjoy. I hadn’t expected a set with Nitya singing with an acoustic guitar. I had expected flutes, Indian scales and the like. Nitya played a raga on guitar and vocals that displayed those Indian tonalities, then another on Southern Indian bamboo flute as a request. Apparently the flute is pitched in E with a modified pentatonic scale (1-2-3-5-7 with various alterations?), and he played with the ornaments and drone accompaniment and conception of this style. These two Indian tunes were my favourites for the session.

I used to play with Nitya in a band that I like to think of as M.E.N.S (Michael, Eric, Nitya and Scott appearing as … M.E.N.S.). (This was the name I liked; we mostly appeared as The Project.) I doubt I’ll never get the fortuitous opportunity to use such a band name in future. Here’s an old pic of our (perhaps motley) outfit. Great to see you about, Nitya.

Nitya Bernard Parker played at the Beyond Q Bookshop.