I have felt for some time that the system of musician collectives has provided an important step forward for musicians and for the development of the jazz scene. At their best musician collectives have given musicians the opportunity to develop their own projects, find and run their own venues and, more generally, take control of their own careers.
In Britain I have had some involvement with various collectives that were formed in the early years of the 21st century, notably the Cobweb Collective in Birmingham (see Wall and Barber, 2015, for a description of the formation of the collective, now rather out of date) and the F-Ire Collective in London. This led to a connection to French collectives through the Jazz Shuttle programme that involved the creation of joint UK French bands that toured to both countries, a project funded by the SACEM, the French equivalent of PRS. I became increasingly impressed by the activities of French collectives such as the COAX Collective and the Onze Heures Collective in the greater Paris region and the Grolektif in Lyon. I was impressed by the way they had been able to create activity for young musicians which they ran themselves, but for which they were able to obtain funding that facilitated both the projects themselves and administrative support for the activity.
The key to success for these French collectives seemed to be that they were formed of a relatively small number of musicians, between 12 and 15, who were all committed to working together in various groups. The fact that they were able to obtain funding for administrative support was also a major factor. This approach contrasted with that of the collectives I was familiar with in Britain, The Cobweb Collective and the F-Ire Collective; these had a large number of members so that the creation of new projects from within the membership seemed less of a priority than the running of gigs for existing bands. Also, these collectives largely failed to raise funds for administrative support.
With these interests in mind, it was fascinating to hear Romain Dugelay at the recent Jazz Connective meeting in Łodz describe the history of the Grolektif collective of which he was a co-founder and the reasons why it had ceased to exist. The collective was set up in 2004 by a group of musicians recently graduated from the jazz course at the Lyon Conservatoire. The first year was devoted to developing repertoire for the bands that members of the collective formed, the second year was devoted to developing original material for the bands. After three years the collective had sufficient funding to support 10 bands and a label, but urgently needed their own venue to provide regular playing opportunities. Thus in 2007 the Grolektif Collectif along with a second collective, the Polycarpe Collectif, helped establish Le Périscope venue in Lyon, actively participating in building and creating a space suitable for creative music. This is now a thriving venue that promotes up to 130 concerts a year in the area of creative music, i.e. jazz, improvised music, hip hop, rock.
After a few years Le Periscope and Grolektif became independent organisations with their own boards and administration, but the links between the two organisations continued to be strong; members of the collective continued to be on the Board of Le Periscope and to use the rehearsal facilities at the club. The activities of the collective continued, but five years later in 2017 it was decided to discontinue the collective. There were two main reasons for this, one was that the members began to differ over what was the right approach to the collective’s activity and a series of disputes weakened the organisation. The other was that the members of the collective had begun to be more established on the French scene and gradually moved off in different directions. In other words, they no longer needed the collective in order to support their careers. The collective had clearly helped to establish the careers of its members, but had served its purpose.
It should be noted here that Lyon has another well-established collective Arfi formed in 1977 and still active. Its website lists 11 groups that are part of the collective.
The parallels with the English collectives I was familiar with are striking. The F-Ire Collective was established in 1998 by Barak Schmool and in its heyday had members such as Seb Rochford, Pete Wareham, David Okumu, Ingrid Laubrock, Julia Biel and supported the early days of bands such as Acoustic Ladyland, Polar Bear and the Ingrid Laubrock Quintet. These players have become major figures on the contemporary British scene, or on the New York scene in the case of Ingrid Laubrock. All these players moved on after a successful national tour in 2005 for the F-Ire Collective Large Ensemble. The collective did recruit new members such as Fred Thomas, Zac Gvi, but has been inactive for a number of years; its last Facebook entry was in 2015.
The Cobweb Collective always focussed on creating spaces for its members to play. It was set up by students on the jazz course at Birmingham Conservatoire (now the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire) who were keen to find a space for student groups to play. It ran a very successful Thursday night session at the Yardbird pub in Paradise Circus for many years, but that became increasingly separate from the collective. Although many excellent groups have formed from the graduates of the jazz course, the collective never really played a role in their establishment and development. The focus was on the venue and this gradually became run by individuals not directly associated with the collective. The successor venue to the Yardbird is the Spotted Dog that runs a very popular Tuesday night session run by graduates of the jazz course and which features mostly young bands from Birmingham or bands from outside the city that are on tour. The two main sets are followed by a jam session. The Cobweb Collective relaunched as the BLAM Collective, but that second formation never really took off, and there has been no active collective in Birmingham for many years. Its main legacy has been the Spotted Dog programme.
In England other collectives such as The Loop Collective, The Lume Collective, the Chaos Collective, all in London, and LIMA (Leeds Improvised Music Association) have played similar roles in establishing the careers of young musicians and in setting up nights in venues that continue to operate after the collective’s activity has ceased.
A number of conclusions arise from these descriptions and observations. Collectives have a key role in providing a stepping stone for young musicians either in their final year on a jazz course or in the years immediately after graduation. These musicians may form new groups and set up innovative projects under the auspices of the collective, but after a number of years will move on and concentrate on their own careers. This phenomenon seems to apply as much in France as in Britain. Collectives thus have a relatively short but active life span. Their main legacy is the creation of venues or nights in venues that have a much longer life.
This is very much a prelinimary set of thoughts and I hope to develop the points made in a future blog that goes into the issues in greater depth.
Reference
Wall, T. and Barber, S (2015) Collective Cultures and Live Jazz in Birmingham in Gebhardt, N. and Whyton, T The Cultural Politics of Jazz Collectives London: Routledge
A visit to Ronnie Scott’s this week to hear a new project of Nikki Yeoh’s based on the music of the French Algerian composer Maurice El-Medioni and featuring a trio with Shirley Smart on cello and Demi Garcia Sabat on drums has led to a reflection on my part on the nature of audience reaction. The trio was appearing as part of Ronnie Scott’s International Piano Trio Festival and an added bonus was the appearance of the Bokani Dyer Trio in the opening set.
This very satisfying experience and the visit to Ronnie Scott’s led me to spend the following evening listening to the recently issued double Cd (Bill Evans: Evans in England on the Resonance label) of Bill Evans playing live with his trio with Eddie Gomez on double bass and Marty Morell on drums at Ronnie Scott’s in December 1969. The music on the CD is very different from that which I heard live at Ronnies; it focusses on Bill Evans’ reworking of show tunes such as Stella By Starlight, Our Love Is Here to Stay etc, though the interaction between the members of the trio and the freedom of the bass and drums was the forerunner of the integration at the heart of both trios I heard at Ronnies.
for Peter Bruun’s All Too Human, a quartet with Bruun on drums, Marc Ducret on guitar, Kasper Tranberg on trumpet and Simon Toldam on keys. This was a fantastic concert with a strong focus on Bruun’s compositions. The language was essentially that of free jazz, but within the context of a structured approach involving rather more composition than improvised solos. Bruun gave a fascinating insight into his writing process when he introduced one tune by telling the audience that the composition came directly from his transcription of a solo by Ducret that Bruun had heard at a concert given by Big Satan, the band that Tim Berne leads with Ducret and Tom Rainey. There had been a certain amount of banter about the tune with Tim Berne claiming – I assume in good humour – that the tune should really be his, and Ducret being unhappy at playing a tune based on a solo of his that he felt had several mistakes.
small room with a large dining table in the middle with places set, candles on the table and everything seemingly ready for a banquet. The musicians were all dressed in white robes with a black sash; they entered the room one by one and invited several members of the audience to join them at the table and have a glass of wine. There then followed a series of musical events around the table and then on the table carefully avoiding any contact between the robes and the candles. The music moved from vocals to passages led by percussion to some free playing. I loved the approach of creating a situation for music very different from that of the concert hall, but I remained uncertain about the actual music. Much of it was excellent, but I still felt something was lacking.
Steve Ajao and the Blues Giants, one of the favourite bands with the audience, and it will take place in the Main Hall rather than on the foyer. Symphony Hall’s Chief Executive, Nick Reed, will be there to outline the plans for the development of the foyer, which will be closing this month as part of the Making An Entrance project. The entrance and the foyers will be refurbished so that there will be a new foyer space specially designed for live music.
It all began 15 years ago when Birmingham Jazz of which I was then Chair agreed with Symphony Hall to run a series on the foyer. The first gig featured the Bryan Corbett Quartet and we were delighted that a large crowd turned up for this first gig and even more delighted that they have continued to come regularly over the 15 years. I well remember that first gig: Bryan Corbett is a brilliant player and his group got us off to a tremendous start playing top class jazz that was accessible to an audience many of whom were just tipping their toes in the water with jazz. That night, A R Rahman, the well-known composer of music for Indian films, was in town conducting the CBSO, and it was very pleasing that many South Asians came early to that concert, either deliberately to hear the jazz, or catching it just by chance, but seemingly enjoying it.
Each track is different, but Track 1 Rain On My Birthday sets the scene and mood for the whole album; it opens with a funky bass guitar beat supported by the bass drum which then leads into a series of short phrases on the keyboard that develop into an attractive groove-based statement. This is further developed by similar lines on the acoustic piano supported by the bass guitar and bass drum patterns, with the piano lines gradually becoming more complex. It winds down with a return to the short phrases on the keys and a conclusion that brings in electronic processing. It is an absorbing track.
The Polish saxophonist Mikołaj Trzaska will be playing two dates in England in July with the Riverloam Trio in which he joins bass player Olie Brice and drummer Mark Sanders. These are at London’s Café Oto on Tuesday 16th July (8.30) and Birmingham’s Polish Club on Wednesday 17th July (8pm). This is the second time they have toured England, the first time being five years ago. They have also played together in Poland a number of times, and will be playing four dates there before the UK dates.
The Hermon Chapel is a beautiful building that has been lovingly recreated as a small arts centre with a stage, comfortable padded pews and a bar serving a range of beers and wines. It is privately owned, but run by two local organisers, Barry Edwards and Claudia Lis. They have created a very warm and friendly atmosphere and, on the evidence of last night, have built up a loyal and curious audience that is ready to try something different in the area of contemporary jazz/music. They have created a niche for this area of music within a programme that also takes in folk music, comedy and opportunities to join various musical activities, including the Oswestry Jazz Orchestra, and ukulele and percussion workshops.
The concert with the Mike Fletcher Jazz Orchestra went down well with the audience. They played one straight-through set with Mike’s reworking of his solo saxophone piece Picasso(s) for a 12-piece ensemble. The work arises from Mike’s PhD work in which he developed an approach to improvisation based initially on his fascination with Picasso’s series of 58 variations on Velazquez’s iconic Las Meninas painting. This led him to devise a similar approach in which he improvised a series of variations on Coleman Hawkins’ solo saxophone piece that fits very well into the project as it has the name Picasso. Mike’s solo improvisation transformed the original piece which was just 3 mins in length into an extended improvisation of about 45 mins.
